Human Rights Watch has blamed the Nigerian authorities for largely ignoring sectarian clashes in the nation middle belt region that have killed over 3,000 people since 2010. The Nigerian police rejected the findings of the international watchdog that perpetrators have gone unpunished because of police inefficiency.

The African Director at Human Rights Watch, Danie Bekele said “Witnesses came forward to tell their stories, compiled lists of the dead, and identified the attackers, but in most cases nothing was done. The authorities may have forgotten these killings, but communities haven’t. In the absence of justice, residents have resorted to violence to avenge their losses,” he said of a new 146-page report entitled ‘Leave Everything to God’.

Human Rights Watch has blamed the Nigerian authorities for largely ignoring sectarian clashes in the nation middle belt region that have killed over 3,000 people since 2010. The Nigerian police rejected the findings of the international watchdog that perpetrators have gone unpunished because of police inefficiency.

The African Director at Human Rights Watch, Danie Bekele said “Witnesses came forward to tell their stories, compiled lists of the dead, and identified the attackers, but in most cases nothing was done. The authorities may have forgotten these killings, but communities haven’t. In the absence of justice, residents have resorted to violence to avenge their losses,” he said of a new 146-page report entitled ‘Leave Everything to God’.

The report was based on interviews with 180 witnesses and victims in Kaduna and Plateau states which have witnessed series of violence. The Plateau State Police Commissioner, Mr Chris Olakpe while rejecting the finding said “That is totally untrue and unholistic. All the gunmen that have been arrested in Plateau have been taken to court”.

Olakpe did not however give details of any convictions but his counterpart from Kaduna State said he won’t comment until he had seen a copy of the report. Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Abubakar last year stated that Nigeria’s Police Force had fallen to its lowest level with officers perverting justice, locking up innocent people and carrying out torture and extra-judicial killings. The IGP claimed that policing has however improved following an overhaul ordered by President Goodluck Jonathan in 2012.

Reacting to the report, Mr Yiljab Abraham who is the Plateau State Commissioner for Information said Human Rights Watch had reported hearsay and its reports were “not objective or balanced”.

Jos, the capital of Plateau state, was at the centre of some of the worst recent violence when around 1,000 people were killed in a series of massacres in 2010. Post-2011 election violence in Kaduna state resulted in around 800 deaths in three days, in what began as northern grievances about perceived political alienation but quickly morphed into ethnically-focused attacks.

The unrest risks drawing in Islamist sect Boko Haram, an al Qaeda-linked group which wants to impose sharia (Islamic) law in northern Nigeria. Most of the sect’s attacks are contained further north but it did claim a 2011 Christmas Day bomb attack at a church in Jos.

The report by Human Rights Watch found that although police often make mass arrests following clashes, no legal process was followed which would enable a prosecutor to link suspects to crimes. “In the vast majority of cases, the authorities will quietly drop the charges,” the report said. Some police will not investigate a case unless the complainants pay them, while others don’t want to arrest suspects for fear of sparking further violence.

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Impunity responsible for violence in Middle Belt Nigeria – Human Rights Watch