Amnesty International Report 1994 - Nigeria

Hundreds of critics and opponents of the government, including journalists, human rights activists and trade unionists, who were detained, mostly without charge, were prisoners of conscience. More than 40 people arrested in 1992 in connection with religious riots remained held without trial. Several dozen members of the Ogoni ethnic group were extrajudicially executed by security forces. At least 26 people were sentenced to death, most after grossly unfair trials before special tribunals; some death sentences were subsequently commuted and no executions were reported. Although transition to civilian rule was due to be completed in August, a military government remained in power at the end of the year. In January a two-chamber National Assembly was inaugurated and a Transitional Council chaired by Chief Ernest Shonekan was established to run day-to-day government affairs until the return to civilian rule scheduled for 27 August. However, its powers were severely restricted and the National Defence and Security Council, headed by President Ibrahim Babangida, effectively retained political control. Candidates of the only two political parties allowed (which had been established by the military government), the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the National Republican Convention (NRC), contested a presidential election on 12 June. Although it was evident that Chief Moshood Abiola of the SDP had been successful, on 23 June President Babangida annulled the results of the election, citing malpractices. International observers, however, judged that the election had been fair. The refusal to announce the results of the election led to protest both at home and abroad. The military authorities responded by introducing repressive new laws, suppressing the news media and detaining critics and opponents. They repealed legislation providing for transition to civilian rule. President Babangida maintained, however, that his military government would relinquish power as scheduled. On 26 August he resigned and appointed an Interim National Government headed by Chief Shonekan, which undertook to organize a fresh presidential election and to hand over power to an elected civilian government by March 1994. On 17 November, however, following a High Court ruling that the Interim National Government was illegal and strikes in protest against increased domestic fuel prices, the military once again intervened. Chief Shonekan was forced to resign and was replaced as head of state by former Defence Minister General Sani Abacha, who dissolved the National Assembly and all other elected bodies and banned the two political parties. He established a predominantly military Provisional Ruling Council and subsequently appointed a Federal Executive Council composed largely of civilians. The new military government promised a constitutional conference in early 1994. On 5 May the government promulgated the Treason and Treasonable Offences Decree No. 29 of 1993, under which anyone whose actions or views were deemed "capable of disrupting the general fabric" of Nigeria could be sentenced to death. The decree was suspended on 21 May, after national and international protest, but was not repealed. In July Nigeria acceded to both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Journalists, human rights activists and trade unionists were among hundreds of prisoners of conscience detained during the year. In the months preceding the June presidential election dozens of journalists were arrested. Malam Aliyu Hayatu, editor of the independent Reporter newspaper, was arrested in March and charged with "inciting public disturbances with intent to endanger public peace" for criticizing the military authorities. He was released on bail but was not tried. The newspaper was closed. There were further arrests of journalists following the military authorities' decision to annul the results of the presidential election, including four editors of Tell magazine who were arrested in August. On 16 August the military authorities promulgated a decree which proscribed several newspapers closed the previous month; the ban was lifted in November. After the military authorities failed to announce the election results, the Campaign for Democracy (CD), an alliance of pro-democracy groups, called for a week of protest in early July. Hundreds of people were arrested during demonstrations in Lagos and other towns, and more than 100 people died in clashes with security forces. It appeared that in some cases the security forces opened fire indiscriminately. Among those arrested were three leading CD members: its chairman, Dr Beko Ransome-Kuti, also President of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights; Femi Falana, a lawyer and President of the National Association of Democratic Lawyers; and Chief Gani Fawehinmi, a prominent human rights lawyer. All three had been arrested previously. They were charged with sedition and conspiracy. Although bail was granted, the authorities continued to detain them under legislation allowing administrative detention of security suspects for renewable periods of six weeks. They were freed in late August, shortly after the Interim National Government came to power. At the same time Chief Shonekan announced that detained journalists were to be released. Three staff members of the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), a non-governmental human rights organization affiliated to the cd, were also arrested in early July. The CLO had been a particular target for harassment since the beginning of the year. Wale Shittu, Femi Adenuga and Emmanuel Nweke were arrested by police in Lagos, charged with sedition and released on bail after a month, but were not tried. Joseph Akinjala, Deputy Secretary General of the National Union of Petroleum, Energy and Gas, was arrested in August and held for several days after threatening to call a strike if President Babangida did not leave office on 27 August. There were further arrests of CD members and supporters during September and October. Most were released uncharged after a short time. Dr Beko Ransome-Kuti was again arrested in October, together with more than 20 others, including his daughter, Morenike Ransome-Kuti, a lawyer, Olusegun Mayegun, former president of the National Association of Nigerian Students, and Chima Ubani, CD General Secretary. They were released shortly afterwards but 17 of them, including Dr Ransome-Kuti, were charged with unlawful assembly and disturbing the peace; their trial was adjourned until 1994. Ken Saro-Wiwa, N.G. Dube and Kobari Nwiee, prominent members of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), were arrested in Port Harcourt in Rivers State in June. They were charged with unlawful assembly, seditious intention and seditious publication. They were released on bail after several weeks but had not been tried by the end of the year. The Ogoni community has campaigned against environmental damage and inadequate compensation for destruction of land and crops by oil companies. In June there were reports that more than 40 members of the Kataf ethnic group, arrested during 1992 in connection with religious riots, were still held without trial (see Amnesty International Report 1993). Seven had been acquitted by Civil Disturbances Special Tribunals in late 1992 and early 1993 but remained in Kaduna Prison. Sixteen others, against whom charges had been withdrawn or whose trials had been adjourned, also remained held and at least 21 others remained in detention without charge or trial. Nine army officers, convicted after a grossly unfair trial in connection with a coup attempt in April 1990, remained held (see Amnesty International Report 1992). At least three other soldiers remained held in connection with the coup attempt. One had been acquitted and two appeared to be held without charge or trial. There were reports of ill-treatment by police both of pro-democracy activists and criminal suspects. In August Morenike Ransome-Kuti (see above) was beaten by police in her home in Lagos. Okey Uzoho, a leading member of the NRC, was beaten when arrested by police on 20 November; he was subsequently admitted to hospital. Prison conditions remained extremely harsh and amounted in some cases to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. In October the CLO reported that eight prisoners under sentence of death in Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison were held in appalling conditions. Held in small, dark cells with no toilet facilities, they were rarely able to wash and one mentally ill prisoner was chained to a wall in an isolation cell. The security forces extrajudicially executed dozens of members of the Ogoni ethnic group in Rivers State. In April security forces were reported to have opened fire on peaceful demonstrators in Biara; 11 people were injured. Shortly afterwards, further shooting by the security forces at Nonwa resulted in one death. In early August at least 35 members of the Ogoni ethnic group, including children, were killed in Kaa by armed men, some in uniform. Although local officials claimed that the incident was an ethnic clash between the Ogoni and neighbouring Andoni people, there was evidence implicating the security forces. Several hundred other people were reported to have died between July and September in violent clashes between members of the Ogoni and Andoni communities. There were further allegations that the security forces were implicated in aggression against the Ogoni community. There was no official investigation into any of these killings. Seventeen prisoners, all but two from the Kataf community, were sentenced to death in February and March after grossly unfair trials before two Civil Disturbances Special Tribunals in Kaduna. They were convicted of culpable homicide in connection with the riots in Kaduna in May 1992. Some of them, including Zamani Lekwot, a retired army general, had already been tried for unlawful assembly and released. They were immediately rearrested and charged with culpable homicide on substantially the same evidence, with no right of appeal to a higher court. Convictions and sentences were referred to the military government. In March a High Court in Lagos granted a temporary injunction restraining the government from executing Zamani Lekwot and others sentenced to death. The case was subsequently referred to the Supreme Court. However, in August President Babangida commuted the death sentences to five years' imprisonment. Five others were reported to have been sentenced to death in March and April by a Civil Disturbances Special Tribunal in Bauchi, in connection with religious riots in Bauchi State in 1991. Four other death sentences were reported, including two passed in October by a Robbery and Firearms Tribunal in Benue State. No executions were reported. In September a High Court in Maiduguri, Borno State, granted refugee status to 244 Chadians arrested in 1991 and 1992. The court also ruled that their arrests and detention at a military camp had been illegal, and granted an injunction restraining the federal government from deporting them. Over 200 Chadians had been illegally deported in 1992; at least three were tortured to death or extrajudicially executed by the Chadian authorities (see Amnesty International Report 1993). Amnesty International repeatedly urged the government to release pro-democracy activists who were prisoners of conscience. In February and March the organization urged the government to commute the death sentences imposed on Zamani Lekwot and others convicted after unfair trials before Civil Disturbances Special Tribunals. Amnesty International called for the release of Ken Saro-Wiwa and other members of the Ogoni ethnic group and, following killings by the security forces in Rivers State in May and August, called for an independent inquiry and for immediate steps to be taken to prevent further killings. No replies were received from the government.