Human rights group says soldiers didn’t kill innocent citizens in Zamfara

The Coalition on Conflict Resolution and Human Rights in Nigeria says the Nigerian military did not kill anyone during a riot in Zamfara state last week.

Some internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Tsafe local government area of Zamfara had taken to the street to protest the high rate of insecurity in recent times.

There were reports that military personnel shot some of the IDPs dead.

But the human rights group dismissed the reports that soldiers opened fire on innocent protesters.

Maxwell Gowon, executive director of the coalition, said the group conducted a preliminary investigation into the anti-bandit protests held by youths in parts of Zamfara state following reports that the rights of citizens might have been violated.

Gowon said investigation showed that the protests were hijacked, in some instances, by hoodlums that have been specifically recruited by some political players in the state.

The report reads in full:

The Coalition on Conflict Resolution and Human Rights in Nigeria is made of CSOs and NGOs that work in the area of monitoring the level of adherence to human rights by government security agencies. The Coalition was occasioned by the growing allegation of abuses against the personnel of these agencies and the need to ensure that no Nigerian and any human being is unduly abused, including being extrajudicial killed.

The Coalition conducted a preliminary investigation into the anti-bandit protests held by youths in parts of Zamfara state following reports that the rights of citizens might have been violated. The review was under pressure to gather information before they are manipulated, whether deliberately or inadvertently. Researchers sent out by the Coalition interviewed witnesses, protestors, troops and their commanding officers.

The protesters were legitimately expressing their grievances against perceived lack of action against bandits that have been killing people in some parts of the state. The protests were hijacked in some instances by hoodlums that have been specifically recruited for that purpose by some political players that respondents were not willing to name.

These hoodlums were solely responsible for the destruction and mayhem that characterized what organizers had intended as peaceful protests with the intention of drawing attention to their plight. Property were destroyed and some people injured by the hoodlums. They then tried to shift the blame for this destruction on the responding security agencies that were drafted to the scenes to maintain order.

The military was deployed to contain the situation when the protests became unruly and violent beyond what the Nigerian Police Force and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) could manage.

The military, with other responding security agencies, managed the protests consistent with the recognized rules of engagement.

There was no evidence that the military massacred, brutalized or indiscriminately arrested protesters.

Since the military is already on some form of operation in the area, efforts should be made to provide troops with modern combat equipment and other logistics to ensure that the area can be cleared of killers in a matter of weeks.

The Nigerian Police Force should be mandated to make special deployment to Zamfara state as part of preventive measures so that bandits are stopped before they strike.

The report presented by this coalition should be addressed with dispatch to ensure that the government is able to identify the hijack of legitimate protests by hoodlums as a red flag which must be given urgent consideration. There is the danger that other legitimate gatherings could be hijacked and deployed for violence.