Rights groups say government is sponsoring violence

The last two and half years in Nigeria have witnessed an alarming spate of violence and gross human rights violations, the Geneva-based World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) and the Lagos-based Centre for Law Enforcement Education (CLEEN) stated in a report on Monday. In over 50 separate and documented incidents, more than 10,000 Nigerians have reportedly been victims of extra-judicial executions, with an average of over 200 executions per incident, according to the report. It was entitled "Hope Betrayed? A Report on Impunity and State Sponsored Violence in Nigeria". Security agents had been responsible for many of the deaths, as well as the accompanying rape, maiming and torture of thousands of women, the aged, children and other defenceless civilians, the report said. "This situation, in which Nigerians now find themselves, presents a reversal of hope from the high expectations and promises that heralded the inauguration of the elected government of President Olusegun Obasanjo," it added. Obasanjo's government started its tenure on 29 May 1999. The OMCT and CLEEN said that the visible roles of the state and its security agencies in the perpetuation of violations had been obscured by the local and international media's portrayal of the situation as ethno-religious in nature, thereby shielding the government from full responsibility for their occurrence and recurrence. Monday's report focused on seven incidents selected from the six geo-political zones of the country: the Ife-Modakeke crisis (Osun State), the Umuleri/Aguleri crisis (Anambra State), the Ode Massacre (Bayelsa State), the Kaduna crisis (Kaduna State), the Jos Crisis (Plateau State), the Benue Massacre (Benue State) and the Odukpani killings (Cross River State). It also analysed the legal framework for holding government accountable, at federal and state level, for the gross human rights violations that occurred. The recommended that the United Nations investigate the Nigerian government for fuelling the ethnic and religious clashes. It also made a series of other recommendations to the government of Nigeria, the African Commission on Human and People's Rights and the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group. For details on how to access the report see: http://www.omct.org