Defence Hqs
• One soldier killed, four others injured
• Police, AI trade barbs over report on torture
Tobi Soniyi, Yemi Akinsuyi and Senator Iroegbu in Abuja ¨
During a fierce battle with Boko Haram insurgents for the strategic town of Konduga in Borno State, the Nigerian military said yesterday that it captured one of the sect’s top commanders and killed several others.
The revelation by the military coincided with a damning report released by Amnesty International (AI) yesterday exposing the alleged torture methods and systemic human rights abuses perpetrated by the Nigeria Police Force and military.
Konduga has been the target of multiple attacks in the last one week owing to its proximity to Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, which the Islamist sect has been attempting to capture in its bid to establish an Islamic Caliphate.
But Nigerian troops have consistently repelled the attacks by the sect, resulting in the death of hundreds of the insurgents in recent days.
This was confirmed yesterday by the Director of Defence Information (DDI), Major-General Chris Olukolade, in response to THISDAY inquiries on the ongoing military operations in the North-east.
According to Olukolade, the “seriously wounded high-ranking terrorist leader is being treated in a military medical facility after he was captured in the operations at Konduga”.
“He was among those captured yesterday (Wednesday) while over 60 of his fighters died during the series of attacks they launched to gain access to Konduga and its suburbs,” he added.
The defence spokesman also disclosed that some of the additional weapons that were recovered from the terrorists including 24 rifles, five rocket-propelled grenade tubes, two machine guns, and one anti-aircraft gun as well as a Ford Ranger vehicle. He said another Ford Ranger vehicle was destroyed.
He also explained that in Benishek, Borno State, where troops fought through an ambush yesterday, four motorcycles of the terrorists were recovered, adding that one soldier was killed during the attack, while four others who were wounded are receiving treatment.
In another statement on the battle for Konduga, the Director of Army Public Relations, Brigadier-General Olajide Laleye, said: “In the on-going operations to dislodge Boko Haram terrorists from the North-east, gallant troops of the Nigerian Army conducted offensive operations between 4 pm and 8 pm yesterday (Wednesday, September 17) in the Konduga area of Borno State, killing over 60 Boko Haram terrorists.”
He said the Nigerian Army did not suffer any casualty in the operation, while the “morale of the troops remains very high”.
Alleged Torture Methods Exposed
But despite the troops’ success in recent weeks at repelling the terrorists in parts of the North-east, a damning report by Amnesty International (AI) has alleged that Nigeria’s police and military routinely torture women, men, and children – some as young as 12 – using a wide range of methods including beatings, shootings and rape.
In the report released yesterday and titled: “Welcome to Hell Fire: Torture and Other Ill-treatment in Nigeria”, AI chronicled how people are often detained in large dragnet operations and tortured as punishment, to extort money or to extract “confessions” as a shortcut to “solve” cases.
The report shows that despite denials by the authorities, many Nigerians are tortured daily either to confess to an offence or to offer bribe.
Speaking at the presentation of the report, AI’s Research and Advocacy Director, Netsanet Belay, said: “This goes far beyond the appalling torture and killing of suspected Boko Haram members.
“Across the country, the scope and severity of torture inflicted on Nigeria’s women, men and children by the authorities supposed to protect them is shocking to even the most hardened human rights observer.”
She noted that torture was not even a criminal offence in Nigeria. She therefore called on the National Assembly to immediately pass a law criminalising torture, stressing: “There is no excuse for further delay.”
Compiled from hundreds of testimonies and evidence gathered over 10 years, the report exposes the institutionalised use of police torture chambers and routine abuses by the military in a country that prohibits torture in its constitution but has yet to pass legislation outlawing the violations.
The report also reveals how most of those detained are held incommunicado – denied access to the outside world, including lawyers, families and courts.
The report found torture to be an integral part of policing in Nigeria to the extent that many police stations have an informal “Officer in Charge of Torture” or O/C Torture.
The report also found that an alarming array of techniques, including nail or tooth extractions, choking, electric shocks and sexual violence were used when torturing suspects.
In one illustrative incident, Abosede, aged 24, reportedly told AI how sickening police abuse left her with a permanent injury. She was quoted as saying: “A policewoman took me to a small room, told me to remove everything I was wearing. She spread my legs wide and fired tear gas into my vagina… I was asked to confess that I was an armed robber… I was bleeding… up till now I still feel pain in my womb.”
The report said Nigeria’s military was committing similar human rights violations, detaining thousands as they search for Boko Haram members.
The report cited Mahmood, a 15-year-old boy from Yobe State who was arrested by soldiers with around 50 other people, mainly boys between 13 and 19 years old.
He reportedly told AI that the military held him for three weeks, beat him repeatedly with their gun butts, batons and machetes, poured melting plastic on his back, made him walk and roll over broken bottles and forced him to watch other detainees being extra-judicially executed. He was eventually released in April 2013.
Belay said: “The military in Yobe State even arrested and beat a 12-year-old boy, poured alcohol on him, forced him to clean vomit with his bare hands and trod on him.
“Soldiers pick up hundreds of people as they search for those associated with Boko Haram, then torture suspects during a ‘screening’ process that resembles a medieval witch hunt.”
According to her, torture happens on this scale partly because no one, including in the chain of command, is being held accountable.
She said Nigeria needed a radical change of approach, to suspend all officers against whom there are credible allegations of torture, to thoroughly investigate these allegations and to ensure that suspected torturers are brought to justice.
The report further found that for most of the torture allegations against Nigerian state security forces documented by AI, no proper investigations was carried out and no measure was taken to bring suspected perpetrators to justice.
The report noted that when internal investigations within the police or the military took place, the findings are not made public and the recommendations rarely implemented.
AI said not one of the hundreds of cases researched by it that was a victim of torture or other ill-treatment has been compensated or received other reparation from the government.
The report stated that government was aware of the problem and had set up at least five presidential committees and working groups over the last decade on reforming the criminal justice system and eradicating torture.
However, the implementation of these recommendations has been painfully slow.
Belay said: “Our message to the Nigerian authorities today is clear – criminalise torture, end incommunicado detention and fully investigate allegations of abuse.
“That would mark an important first step towards ending this abhorrent practice. It’s high time the Nigerian authorities show they can be taken seriously on this issue.”
Police Refute AI’s Report
However, in a swift reaction, the police high command yesterday refuted the AI report on Nigeria, stating that the “country was not hell fire”.
In a press statement issued by the Force Public Relations Officer, Emmanuel Ojukwu, a Commissioner of Police (CP), the police described the report as “blatant falsehood”.
The statement said: “The attention of the Nigeria Police has been drawn to an online publication entitled, Welcome to Hell-Fire: Torture and Other Ill-treatment in Nigeria.
“While we do not question the freedom of Amnesty International to earn its relevance and bread, the Nigeria Police takes serious exception to some blatant falsehoods and innuendoes contained in that report.
“For one, it smacks of indecency and intemperate language to liken our dear nation Nigeria, to hell fire. That cannot be true. We believe that Nigeria is a growing nation, green and largely peaceful.”
The statement added that while the police and other operators in the criminal justice sector are undergoing systematic reforms, and aligning themselves with the demands of democracy, “there is no gain saying the fact that the Nigeria Police Force has since improved its operational efficiency and effectiveness”.
“Since the dawn of democracy in 1999, the Nigeria Police Force has significantly improved on its human rights records, owing largely to training and re-training, community policing, attitudinal change and structural transformation.
“In its report under reference, Amnesty International did admit in its methodology that it visited some police formations and interviewed some family members of suspects.
“At no time in its report did Amnesty speak or interface with the police authorities. This obviously shows its disdain and apparent lack of character where the democratic tenets of fair hearing are concerned.
“The report covered a seven-year period of 2007-2014. I dare say that some of the issues raised have since been dispensed with and settled.
“The truth is torture or ill-treatment is not, repeat, NOT an official policy of the Nigeria Police.
“The Code of Conduct of Officers and our regulations prohibit torture and incivility to members of the public. We are versed with international best practices, and the dictates of the Nigerian Constitution as regards human rights. So the police do not routinely torture suspects. It is not systemic or endemic.
“Whenever instances of human rights abuses are brought to the notice of superintending officers, the offending personnel are promptly sanctioned in line with the laws and regulations.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the Nigeria Police Force has a zero tolerance for corruption and abuse of power. There is no immunity for impunity in the Nigeria Police Force,” the force added in the statement.
Continuing, the statement maintained that the Nigeria Police is women-friendly and do not target sex workers, nor do they routinely adopt rape as a weapon.
“Instead, the force has established a family and human trafficking unit to protect the rights of women, children and the vulnerable members of our society,” it stated.
The police, however, said they shall meticulously peruse the AI document and investigate any current human rights abuses linked to any officer or formation.
“Any identified and established case of malfeasance or misconduct shall be treated in line with the laws and regulations of the country,” the statement said.
“We crave the indulgence of Amnesty International to, for the first time, furnish the police with specific details of its allegations to enable us reach the end of justice for the alleged victims, and to enable us improve our service delivery.
“The Nigeria Police Force remains responsive to the yearnings of Nigerians for improved safety and security,” it added.
AI Responds to Police
But in an immediate response to the police’s denial of the allegations contained in the report, Belay, in a statement last night, said: “We’re disappointed that the Nigeria Police Force have responded to our report with allegations of indecency and lack of temperament, two descriptions better applied to their treatment of detainees.
“The police decision to deny the findings before careful reading of the report or examining the accusations made in it echoes their attitude to criminal investigations - apportioning blame before ascertaining the facts.
“Their pledge to investigate abuses rings hollow so long as they continue to refute our evidence of systemic torture, gathered from more than 500 cases and including testimony from current and former police officers.”
