There have been 24 documented incidents of extra-judicial killings by security personnel across Nigeria since the COVID-19 lockdown began, the Centre for Law Enforcement Education in Nigeria, (CLEEN) says.
The statistics from the CLEEN Foundation is the outcome of the analysis of data provided by volunteers of the organization in all 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The Federal Government had on Monday 31st March 2020, commenced enforcement of restriction of movement in Lagos, Ogun and the Federal Capital Territory Abuja (FCT), for an initial 14 days period because of the outbreak of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the country.
On Tuesday 13th of April 2020, the restriction on movement was extended for another 14 days due to the rising incidents of the pandemic.
The Executive Director, CLEEN Foundation, Dr Ben Olugbuo said since the first index case of the COVID-19 was detected in Nigeria on February 24th 2020, the Foundation has been observing and documenting public responses to the pandemic particularly the response of law enforcement personnel in enforcing emergency orders and government’s response to curbing the spread of the virus.
According to him, a breakdown of the 269 observation reports collated across the six geo-political zones, shows 154 reports on citizens’ compliance to government directives, 82 reports on the conduct of security personnel enforcing government directives and 33 reports on human rights violations by Security Personnel enforcing government directives on COVID 19.
“Out of the total documented cases of extrajudicial killings, 12 deaths were recorded in Kaduna State, Abia State recorded 5 deaths, Anambra State two, while Delta, Niger, Ebonyi, Rivers and Katsina states recorded 1 death each. Notably, 18 of the incidents have been confirmed by the National Human Rights Commission except those that occurred within the last few days,” he said.
Olugbuo revealed other observations of the Foundation to include brutality and extortion of Citizens by Security Operatives while gaps identified include lack of synergy between the Federal and State Governments’ COVID-19 Taskforces and the increased insecurity of the citizens.
“There is no coordinated and centralized synergy between the Federal and State governments in tackling the pandemic. The Federal Government enforced a total lockdown in Lagos and Ogun states and the Federal Capital Territory which are highly prone to the COVID-19 pandemic. We observed that Osun State with a high number of confirmed cases was not listed by the Federal Government. However, the state government has taken proactive measures by declaring a total lockdown.
“In Ogun State, we have observed that the state government delayed the lockdown for five days contrary to the Presidential Order.
“In Edo state, despite increasing incidents of confirmed COVID-19 cases, the state government has not declared a total lockdown.
“In Cross River State, the state government directed all civil servants to resume work on the 14th of April and enforced a “No Mask No Movement Policy” in the state,” he noted.
The Foundation emphasized the need for improved synergy between the Federal and the State Governments on the coordination of COVID-19 responses across the nation, urging the Nigerian Governors’ Forum to support and complement the efforts of the Presidential Task Force across the states.
It also recommended that security agents embrace the rights-based approach to enforcing the restriction of movement directives while security agents indicted for human rights abuses should face the full weight of the law.
“Government should provide personal protective equipment and codes of conduct for all security agents deployed to enforce the restriction of movement. Their welfare should also be made a priority.
“We advocate for complete transparency in the distribution of palliatives to vulnerable Nigerians and ensure they reach the poor and vulnerable to avoid the potential security implication of perceived imbalance.
“We appeal to the general public to embrace the public health advisory of Nigerian Centre for Disease Control and comply with directives of the Federal and State Governments on the COVID-19 pandemic,” the Foundation recommended.
