The Amnesty International (AI) on Monday hinted that between January 2012 to August 2023, a span of 11 years, it has recorded at least 555 victims of mob violence from 363 documented incidents in Nigeria.
It added that the incidents are characterised by killings, torture and other ill-treatment, adding that, the victims of the cases detailed in briefing between us 2019 and 2022 alone, totalled 279 cases and 391 casualties recorded.
The Country Director, AI-Nigeria, Isa Sanusi, while presenting the report in Abuja titled: ‘Instantly Killed: How Law Enforcement Failures Exacerbate Nigeria’s Wave of Mob Violence’, said that incidents of mob violence in Nigeria have escalated significantly over the last two decades and that the Nigeria state’s failure to protect victims has created a culture of impunity.
According to him, Tthe alarming increase in the rate of cases prompted Amnesty International to investigate and document the human rights violations arising from the cases through desk research and fieldwork.
He said AI observed different patterns across the various documented incidents and many of the victims studied were tortured to death or narrowly escaped being killed after accusations were made about alleged offences such as theft, witchcraft, rituals involving the use of human body parts, or magical theft of male genitals and blasphemy.
Sanusi said: “Other triggering instances include allegations of shoplifting, rape and abduction. Motorists who accidentally injure or kill pedestrians have been beaten, tortured and killed. Family members and associates of the victims were also subjected to public humiliation and stigma in their communities.”
“For example, mob violence is mostly targeted against theft and witchcraft allegations. In northern Nigeria, it is mostly used against those accused of blasphemy. The endorsement of mob action by religious clerics on issues of alleged blasphemy is another factor that fuels mob violence.
“Survivors live with extreme trauma as the result of such ordeal, their relatives also suffer trauma even if they were not present. There are instances where vigilante groups, community organised security initiatives, who are supposed arrest suspects and hand them over to community leaders for transfer to the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), participate in or even lead mob violence.”
Sanusi, lamented that Nigerian authorities are failing to protect the rights of victims and the families of victims.
He added: “They are failing to ensure justice via prosecution of those who perpetrated these abuses. To compound the problem, senior government officials rarely issue official statement of condemnation against mob violence or call for the investigation and prosecution of offenders.
“When they were informed, they appeared at the scene long after the incident. In other instances, the police were found unprofessional in handling mob violence cases.
“Amnesty International’s fieldwork and desk research reveals that among the 363 incidents examined, the police failed to initially respond in at least 28 instances.
“They failed to process at least 36 cases to the level of investigation and prosecution. When Amnesty contacted the NPF to ask why they were unable to protect victims of mob violence, the NPF claimed that they were not permitted to respond.”
The AI Country Director, however, calls on the local governments to improve the monitoring of mob violence and collection of evidence to prosecute those who engage in these unlawful acts, “the federal government should provide effective law enforcement and ensure that public and crowded areas have adequate security and they should also ensure that the arrests and investigations follow the principles of due process and fair trials.”