…Documents 23 Incidents of Extra-Judicial Killing Across the Country

…Wants PPE for Security Agents Deployed to Enforce Restriction Order

…Calls for Federal, State Governments Coordination to Defeat COVID-19

CLEEN Foundation, a leading civil rights group that monitors the work of security agencies, has decried rising killings of citizens by security agents deployed to enforce the lockdown by the federal and some state governments across the country in the wake of the spread of COVID-19.

In a report signed by its Executive Director, Dr Benson Olugbuo and released on Monday night, the group also slams the inadequate provision of protection kits to the security agents involved in this assignment.

For the purpose of this report, CLEEN Foundation established a COVID-19 Nigeria Security Support Group (CNSSG) which includes state coordinators and volunteers in all the 36 states and the FCT. The state coordinators and volunteers observe the activities of security agents deployed to monitor the restriction of movement within their localities through Tella, an online data capturing application.

The group also adopted a triangulation approach by tracking developments across the states from reliable secondary sources of information and generated 269 observation reports collated across the six geo-political zones. These are disaggregated as follows:

• 154 reports on citizens compliance to government directives;
• 82 reports on conduct of security personnel enforcing government directives and
• 33 reports on human rights violations by Security Personnel enforcing government directives on COVID 19.

According to the report, there are 23 documented incidents of extra-judicial killing across the country. Out of this number, 12 deaths were recorded in Kaduna State. Abia State recorded 5 deaths, Anambra State 2 deaths, while Delta, Niger, Ebonyi and Katsina states recorded 1 death each.

Notably, 18 of the incidents have been confirmed by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) with the exception of those that occurred within the last few days.

“In Akwa Ibom state, a health professional and staff of the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital on essential duty was brutally assaulted by a police officer. In Lagos state, our observers reported instances where officers of the Nigerian Army subjected some persons to untoward physical exercise for flouting the stay-at-home order.

“Certain areas in the Federal Capital Territory witnessed intimidation by security personnel as the officials resorted to the use of force to send people back to their houses along the Airport road. Furthermore, in Ekiti state, our observers reported acts of brutality by NSCDC officials and officials of the state taskforces involved in rights violations. In Ebonyi State, the Governor allegedly directed security agents to shoot at sight anyone that tries to run away from the State isolation center,” the report says.

“The presence of security personnel was adequate according to 42% of the observers, somewhat adequate by 22% of observers, very adequate by 5% of observers and not adequate by 31% observers respectively. It was observed that some areas where there was no compliance can be attributed to absence of security personnel and in some cases non enforcement of the directives by security personnel.

“The findings reveal that majority of the security personnel were not wearing basic protective materials to curb the spread of the pandemic such as face mask and hand gloves according to  60% of observers while 20% of the security personnel were observed to be wearing protective kits.

“The findings indicate that majority of the security personnel did not use force at all according to 57% of observers. 34% reported the use of force by few of the security personnel while 6% and 3% noted that all/most of the security personnel used force while on Covid-19 enforcement duty.

“The findings indicate the overall conduct of the security personnel to be good by majority of the observers 43%, followed by 29% who rated the overall conduct of the security personnel to be poor and 28% who rated the overall conduct to be fair.

It observed some mix grill on the issue of compliance to the lockdown

“We have observed in several parts of the country, the refusal of citizens to adhere to the stay at home order and observation of guidelines of social and physical distancing. In certain areas of the Federal Capital Territory especially within the Abuja Municipal Area Council, there was a high level of compliance with the restriction of movement order.

“However, places like Abaji, Kwali had minimal compliance level as travellers continue to ply the Abuja-Lokoja highway. In Jikwoyi, some drinking bars still operate in the night and while street football still takes place during the day. In Kogi state, motorists and tricycle operators were observed operating normally without observing the social distancing policy. In Nasarawa state, citizens were observed carrying out normal daily activities in parts of the state with little restrictions and no observation of social distancing.

“Oyo and Ondo states in South West Nigeria did not impose a total restriction of movement as transporters, markets carried out their normal activities. However, there are bans on political, social and religious gatherings and closure of boundaries with neigbouring states. Movements within the states were observed not to be restricted. Feedback from our observers in Ogun state indicated that markets were overcrowded thereby breaching the social distancing guidelines. In Lagos state, our observers stated that people were seen engaging in different sporting activities including early morning jogging and street football.

“In South South Nigeria, commercial transporters in Edo state especially at the state capital Benin City were observed carrying four persons on each row (4-4-2) of their buses contrary to the Government directives of (2-2-1) and law enforcement agents were seen not to be stringent with enforcement. Social distancing was also seen to be less prioritized in the newly relocated markets in the state.

“In Rivers state, most transporters especially in the Obio-Akpor Local Government Area were seen transporting the regular number of commuters despite the restriction in movements. In Delta state, we observed that some in Warri resisted the state Taskforce enforcing the restriction of movement directives.

 “In South East, reports from our volunteers in the five states in the region show that the stay-at-home-order was partially observed by the citizens with movement restriction observed to an extent. For an example, in Imo State, the sit at home order is active to some extent.  However, people were seen moving around freely for their daily businesses. In Enugu State, our observer noted that many people boycotted the stay at home order from the government to shop for Easter at a poultry market in Nsukka.

On the distribution of palliatives, the group says, 31% of our observers indicated it was not applicable in their states, 30% indicated no provision of palliatives by government, 18% noted they don’t know, 18% indicated low/moderate provision of palliatives by government while 3% indicated full provision of palliatives by government.

In its recommendations, CLEEN Foundation counsel that,

“There is the need for improved synergy between the Federal and the State Governments on the coordination of COVID-19 responses across the nation. The Nigerian Governors’ Forum should support and complement the efforts of the Presidential Task Force across the states.

“Security agents must embrace rights based approach to enforce the restriction of movement directives. Furthermore, officers of security agencies 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 group says.