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.
 Order online

 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
 Order Online

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
Order online

"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
Order online

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
Order online

“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
Order online

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
Order online

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
Order online

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
Order online

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
Order online
 

(A308) Behind the Wall: Civil Liberties Organization Releases a Damning Report on Prison Conditions, 4/91, 19 pp., $3.00/£1.95

Email Human Rights Watch