SOUTHERN NIGERIA HUMAN RIGHTS UPDATE MAY TO AUG

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 LAGOS 001401

SIPDIS

STATE FOR AF/W
STATE FOR CA/OCS/FROBINSON
STATE FOR EB/ESC/IEC/ENR/BLEVINE
STATE FOR DS/IP/AF
STAT FOR INR/AA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/06/2015
TAGS: ELAB KIRF NI PGOV PHUM PREL
SUBJECT: SOUTHERN NIGERIA HUMAN RIGHTS UPDATE MAY TO AUG
2005

REF: LAGOS 661

Classified By: Consul General Brian L. Browne for Reasons 1.4 (D & E)


1. (U) This is a roundup of various recent incidents
representative of the human rights situation in southern
Nigeria. This summary is organized according to the sections
of the annual Human Rights Report. These incidents have not
been reported in other cables, or they are updates of
previously reported items.

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Section 1 - Respect for the Integrity of the Person
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2. (U) On June 5, six policemen gunned down two youths in
Port Harcourt, Rivers State, in front of their home. The
driver of the youths' vehicle was detained incommunicado for
seventeen days. Authorities initially claimed the two youths
were a pair of known armed robbers. After investigations
revealed that it was a case of mistaken identity, police
attempted to cover the mistake by framing the youths for an
actual armed robbery. The youths' father has lodged an
appeal with the Inspector General's office. (Comment: As can
be seen from the present report, policemen often resort to
the canard of having encountered armed robbers when
questioned about possible improper shootings or
incarcerations. Sometimes, the pretext is so flimsy that it
causes a popular uproar, as happened recently in the Apo
district of Abuja, where police shot six civilians at a
checkpoint, then claimed the victims were armed robbers,
prompting public outrage and a presidential investigation.
End Comment.)


3. (U) On July 15, unknown gunmen murdered PDP politician
Alhaji Lateef Olaniyan, in Ibadan, Oyo State. Olaniyan was
killed after a meeting with prominent Ibadan politician and
PDP powerbroker Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu. Adedibu has been in a
contentious political battle with Governor Ladoja. Sensing a
political opportunity, Adedibu was quick to implicate the
governor in the murder. Governor Ladoja has refuted
Adedibu's claim. This incident will further worsen the
relationship between Adedibu and Ladoja, and may result in
additional political violence.


4. (U) In late July, Human Rights Watch submitted a report
cataloguing serious human rights abuses committed by Nigerian
police. In mid-July UN officials had also condemned similar
incidents of abuse in Nigeria. Philip Alston, the UN Special
Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions,
cited a recent case in Enugu where six persons incarcerated
for "armed robbery" were killed by police in their cells.
Authorities claimed the prisoners were attempting to escape.


5. (U) On July 26, a naval officer fatally shot the owner of
a motorcycle taxi, known locally as an "okada." The shooting
took place after what observers termed a "minor accident,"
and a brief altercation. Seeing the incident as a
manifestation of the haughtiness of those in military
uniform, incensed bystanders began to riot until police
forces intervened. Media sources reported an "unconfirmed"
number of injuries but no casualties.

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Section 2 - Respect for Civil Liberties
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6. (U) On May 2, soldiers and street toughs, popularly known
as "area boys," clashed in Lagos. The incident followed the
killing of a soldier near a military command in the Ikeja
suburb of Lagos. Soldiers alleged some area boys killed the
soldier when he prevented them from collecting illegal tolls
from commercial vehicle operators. During the ensuing melee,
six soldiers were seriously injured while several vehicles
were set ablaze. Soldiers arrested 62 suspected area boys,
handing them to the police for prosecution. On June 15, the
GON ordered all soldiers back to their barracks, apparently
to forestall future clashes between the soldiers and area
boys.


7. (U) On July 11, the 53 Lagos State Movement for the
Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB)
members mentioned in reftel were absolved of two out of three
treason charges. Around the same time, the Federal High
Court in Kaduna granted bail to 17 members of the MASSOB, who
had been held by authorities since April without a bail
hearing or trial.


8. (U) On August 6, thirty-two people held in Enugu by the
Bakassi Boys, a vigilante law enforcement group, died. The
group subsequently abandoned some 62 other detainees and
fled. The people were seized as "armed robbers" and kept in
a windowless, poorly ventilated shop for days. Riots erupted
when the dead bodies were discovered by police.

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Section 3 - Respect for Political Rights: Citizens' Right to
Change Their Government
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9. (U) On May 16, gunmen attacked two key Alliance for
Democracy (AD) figures in Osun State. The gunmen killed a
top AD financier, Alhaji Alabi Olajoju, and abducted and
later released the majority leader of the Lagos State House
of Assembly, Jide Omoworare. The two leaders were returning
to Lagos after attending a political rally for the AD Osun
State gubernatorial nomination of Chieftain Raufu Aregbesola.
Aregbesola, Lagos State Commissioner for Works and
Infrastructure, alleged the attack was politically motivated,
specifically accusing Osun State's ruling Peoples Democratic
Party Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola of involvement. However,
the Osun State police commissioner told journalists the
initial investigation suggested a robbery attack. An AD
member who witnessed the incident similarly reported it
looked more like a robbery than an assassination plot.


10. (U) On July 19, political supporters of Senator Ibikunle
Amosun's gubernatorial bid clashed with Governor Olugbenga
Daniel's security forces in the Ogun State capital, Abeokuta.
The governor's security detail responded with tear gas and,
according to some witnesses, the governor's detail fired
shots into the crowd. Senator Amosun was later suspended
from political activity for one month by his party, the PDP.

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Section 5 - Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking
in Persons
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11. (U) Speaking at the launch of a new report, "Nigeria:
Unheard Voices - Violence Against Women in the Family," on
May 31, Stephane Mikala, Deputy Director of Amnesty
International's Africa Programme, estimated in certain
communities of Lagos State, up to two-thirds of women have
experienced physical, sexual, or psychological violence in
the family. Mikala further stated that husbands, partners,
and fathers are responsible for most violence perpetrated
against women. Culture places a stigma on the victim rather
than the perpetrator. Itoro Eze-Anaba of the Legal Defense
and Assistance Project (LEDAP),a contributor to the report,
added that discriminatory laws exacerbate the problem. For
example, the penalty for indecent assault on a man is more
severe than the penalty for the same offense against a woman.



12. (U) On July 26, a member of the Ebonyi State House of
Assembly, Ms. Dorothy Obasi, announced that her state would
enact a law to prosecute traffickers as well as parents
complicit in this illicit trade. Ebonyi State has among the
highest incidence of child trafficking.


13. (U) On August 2, the spokeswoman for Women's Consortium
for Nigeria (WO-CON) stated over 15 million children are
engaged in child labor in the country, many of them in Ogun
State. (Comment: This number is pulled from a 2000/2001
study conducted by the Federal Bureau of Statistics.) WO-CON
executive director Bisi Olateru-Olagbegi said Nigeria, and
Ogun State in particular, are strategic locations for
traffickers engaged in sourcing, transit, receipt, and export
of human beings, particularly women and children.
Olateru-Olagbegi was speaking in Abeokuta at the opening of a
human trafficking sensitization program organized by WO-CON
with assistance from the Ambassador's Self-Help Fund.

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Section 6 - Worker Rights
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14. (U) On July 10, Nigerian Ports Authority workers
disrupted a meeting of the Bureau of Public Enterprises at
the Apapa port in Lagos. Several people were reportedly
wounded by police who intervened to bring the situation under
control.

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Comment
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15. (C) Comment: While incidents involving key political
figures receive most of the local headlines and perhaps even
attract some international attention, the real human rights
challenge is that average Nigerians are deeply concerned
whenever they come into contact with law enforcement
personnel. One's life can change if you happen to encounter
the wrong policeman, manning the wrong checkpoint, at the
wrong time. A person can be detained, beaten, or worse.
Since the days of military rule the pervasive attitude among
law enforcement officers is that their jobs require them to
keep the population in check and to augment their salaries by
extracting money from the population. This has and will
continue to lead to unnecessary and oft tragic abuses until
there is systematic change in the law enforcement mindset.
End comment.
BROWNE