NIGERIA
World Report
2001 Entry
World
Report 2000 Entry
World
Report 1999 Entry
World
Report 1998 Entry
Nigeria: Crackdown
in the Niger Delta
In this twenty-five page report, Human Rights Watch also
draws attention to the crisis amongNigeria's oil producing communities,
where serious human rights violations have continuedunabated, despite
the relaxation of repression elsewhere in Nigeria since the death of formerhead
of state General Sani Abacha in June 1998. Among the incidents highlighted
is an attack ontwo remote communities in January 1999, for which the Nigerian
army used a helicopter and boatscontracted to Chevron Nigeria. The report
is an update to The Price of Oil, a 200-page HumanRights Watch report on
corporate responsibility in the oil producing communities in Nigeriareleased
in February 1999. The report also examines the military response
to initially peacefuldemonstrations against oil production in the Niger
Delta in late December and early January,concluding that more than one
hundred people, mostly unarmed, were killed by soldiers. HumanRights Watch
urges that those responsible be prosecuted or disciplined. It also recommends
thatNigeria's government initiate an immediate, inclusive and transparent
process of negotiation withfreely chosen representatives of the peoples
living in the Niger Delta to resolve the issuessurrounding the production
of oil.
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The
Price of Oil: Corporate Responsibility and Human Rights Violations in Nigeria’s
Oil Producing Communities
This report is an exploration of human rights violations related to
oil exploration and productionin the Niger Delta, and of the role and responsibilities
of the major multinational oil companies inrespect of those violations.
The Niger Delta has for some years been the site of majorconfrontations
between the people who live there and the Nigerian government security
forces,resulting in extra-judicial executions, arbitrary detentions, and
draconian restrictions on the rightsto freedom of expression, association,
and assembly. These violations of civil and political rightshave been committed
principally in response to protests about the activities of the multinationalcompanies
that produce Nigeria's oil. Although the June 1998 death of former head
of state Gen.Sani Abacha and his succession by Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar
has brought a significantrelaxation in the unprecedented repression General
Abacha inflicted on the Nigerian people, andGeneral Abubakar appears committed
to ensuring the installation of an elected civilian government in May 1999,
human rights abuses in the oil producing communities continue and the basic
situation in the delta remains unchanged.
(2254) 01/99, 224 pp., ISBN 1-56432-225-4, $15.00
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TRANSITION OR
TRAVESTY
Nigeria's Endless
Process of Return to Civilian Rule
In November 1995, the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (chogm),
convened in Auckland, New Zealand, suspended Nigeria from membership in
the Commonwealth pending its compliance with the principles of the 1991
Harare Declaration, which commits Commonwealth members to democratic political
processes and respect for human rights and the rule of law. The suspension
was in protest over the arbitrary execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight
other activists from the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People
(mosop) on November 10, 1995, while chogm was in session, and also over
the persistent hold of Nigeria's armed forces on government and their failure
to return the country to civilian rule. The heads of government stated
that if no demonstrable progress was made towards respect for the Harare
Declaration, including the release of political prisoners, Nigeria would
be expelled from the Commonwealth. Two years later, the Nigerian military
government led by Gen. Sani Abacha has failed to make progress with regard
to any of the principles set out in the Harare Declaration. Over the last
two years, international criticism of Nigeria has become more muted. While
measures imposed in 1993 and 1995 remain in place, certain countries have
expressed frustration with the failure of sanctions to achieve instant
results and have indicated that they should therefore be relaxed. Human
rights and opposition activists in Nigeria, however, are convinced—as is
Human Rights Watch— that the situation in Nigeria would be far worse if
these sanctions had not been imposed. Nigeria's international isolation
should be maintained pending the installation of a civilian government
elected following a transition program that allows all parts of the Nigerian
political spectrum to participate and that respects certain basic minimum
standards, as set out below. Accordingly, Human Rights Watch recommends
to chogm that Nigeria be expelled at the meeting in Edinburgh, taking place
in October 1997, two years after Nigeria was suspended from the Commonwealth
at Auckland.
(A906) 10/97, 52 pp., $5.00/£2.95
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"PERMANENT
TRANSITION
Current
Violations of Human Rights in Nigeria
Despite its stated commitment to return Nigeria to elected civilian
rule by October 1, 1998, the military government continues to violate the
rights of Nigerians to free political activity, including freedom of expression,
assembly and association, freedom of movement, and freedom from arbitrary
detention and trial. Its security forces in Ogoniland and elsewhere persist
in a longstanding pattern of human rights abuses. Head of state Gen. Sani
Abacha continues to hold in arbitrary detention the presumed winner of
the June 12, 1993 elections, Chief M.K.O. Abiola. Nigerians are deeply
skeptical that this military government, after setting aside the fairest
elections ever held in their country, will hand over power to a civilian
government when it has promised to do so. Nigeria appears to be in a state
of permanent transition, still governed by the armed forces a decade after
a program to restore democracy was first announced by Gen. Ibrahim Babangida.
(A803) 9/96, 52 pp., $5.00/£2.95
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THE OGONI CRISIS
A Case-Study of Military Repression
in Southeastern Nigeria
Two years after the annulment of the June 1993 presidential election,
which was widely viewed to have been won by Chief Abiola, the Nigerian
political climate was volatile and human rights violations pervasive. The
repressive tactics of the government of Gen. Sani Abacha, who seized power
in November 1993, generated increasing skepticism throughout the country
about the promised transition to democracy. This report focuses on the
military crackdown in Ogoniland, which began in late May 1994 following
the murders by a mob of four Ogoni leaders who were branded as pro-government.
In the wake of the murders, which occurred under disputed circumstances,
the Rivers State Internal Security Task Force embarked on a series of punitive
raids on Ogoni villages characterized by flagrant human rights abuses,
including extrajudicial executions, indiscriminate shooting, arbitrary
arrests and detention, floggings, rapes, looting, and extortion.
(C705) 7/95, 44 pp., $5.00/£2.95
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“THE DAWN OF A NEW DARK AGE”
Human Rights Abuses Rampant as
Nigerian Military Declares Absolute Power
The military government of Gen. Abacha, in a bid to destroy the pro-democracy
movement after using abusive and illegal means to break an oil workers’
strike for democracy, is steadily bringing the country closer to chaos
and collapse. We are concerned not only about how the regime’s human rights
abuses are adversely affecting the victims themselves, but also about how
these abuses are contributing directly to the creation of a climate of
ethnic and regional mistrust and violence. The abuses include the promulgation
of harsh decrees that seek to silence the critical press, place the government’s
abuses above the scrutiny of the legal system, and permit long-term detention
without charge of opposition figures.
(A608) 10/94, 20 pp., $3.00/£1.95
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DEMOCRACY DERAILED
Hundreds Arrested and Press Muzzled
in Aftermath of Election Annulment
On June 12, 1993, Nigerian citizens overcame ethnic and regional rivalries
in an effort to rid themselves of military rule and hold a legitimate presidential
election. Gen. Babangida and his cronies, however, have shown no intention
of allowing civilians a significant voice in government and annulled the
election and postponed his exit from politics. The brutal crackdown by
military and security forces that followed the election’s annulment has
resulted in over a hundred deaths and hundreds of arrests of pro-democracy
demonstrators.
(A511) 8/93, 20 pp., $3.00/£1.95
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THREATS TO A NEW DEMOCRACY
Human Rights Concerns at Election Time
Prior to the June 12 presidential elections, the Nigerian military
government stepped up attacks on civil institutions, raising fears about
its intentions to leave office as promised and, if it does leave, about
the future stability of the country. The government’s actions have included
arresting and threatening human rights activists, closing two publications,
arresting and detaining journalists, taking over the national bar association
and threatening striking academics.
(A509) 6/93, 23 pp., $3.00/£1.95
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MILITARY INJUSTICE
Major General Zamani Lekwot and Others
Face Government-Sanctioned Lynching
Fifteen Nigerians are currently imprisoned, awaiting death by hanging
for their supposed participation in ethnic-religious riots in northern
Nigeria in May 1992. All constitutional guarantees were suspended for the
trials, there is no right of appeal, and none of the trials even approached
the stringent due process requirements for the imposition of the death
penalty that are established by international standards.
(A504) 3/93, 11 pp., $3.00/£1.95
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ON THE EVE OF “CHANGE”
Transition to What?
On or before October 1, 1992, Nigeria’s government will hand over the
reins to civilian leaders of the Third Republic. In this report, Africa
Watch shows how years of military rule have sapped the courts of the power
to play a vital role in shaping a new democratic society. Bannings and
detentions have brought Nigeria’s once lively universities to their knees.
Government reorganization has all but destroyed the labor movement. The
press, known as the freest in Africa, has lost much of its original vibrancy,
due to press closures, detention of journalists and censorship. Without
adequate time to organize before October 1, 1992, the Third Republic will
begin its new and fragile existence in peril. This report illustrates that
although President Babangida has declared his intention to be the last
military ruler of the country, he is doing everything possible to ensure
that the flaws of the new government he has created will serve as a pretext
for the military to seize power once again.
(0456) 10/91, 62 pp., ISBN 1-56432-045-6, $7.00/£5.95
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(A308) Behind the Wall: Civil Liberties
Organization Releases a Damning Report on Prison Conditions, 4/91, 19 pp.,
$3.00/£1.95
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