Security agents killed 13,241 Nigerians extrajudicially in ten years — CDD

According to the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), security agents have killed 13, 241 Nigerians since 2011.

According to the report, extrajudicial killings by state actors have become the country’s leading cause of death.
This was revealed in the ‘Democracy Watch Reports,’ a collection of reports that look at the state of democracy in Nigeria since May 1999, which was formally launched in Abuja on Monday.

While giving an overview of the report, CDD Director Idayat Hassan said that unlawful killings went largely unpunished, partly due to Nigeria’s Force Order 237, which allows officers to use lethal force in ways that violate international law, and partly due to government corruption and a culture of impunity.

Nigeria’s successive governments have used extrajudicial killings to quell secessionist uprisings and terrorist activities.

“It is important to note that extrajudicial killings by state actors have become the country’s leading cause of death. In fact, since 2011, state actors have killed 13, 241 people,” she said.

She went on to say that detainees awaiting trial made up more than 70% of the prison population, with more than 20% awaiting trial for more than a year.

Despite 22 years of uninterrupted democratic governance, she said Nigeria’s democracy was still suffering major setbacks and that Nigerians had not reaped the benefits of democracy.

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Adebayo Olukoshi, Director of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) for Africa and West Asia, gave the keynote address and expressed concern that, despite the efforts of the election management body, Nigeria had continued to face an assault on its electoral integrity, as well as significant social and development deficits.

Olukoshi, who spoke on the topic of ‘The State of Democracy in Nigeria Over the Last Two Decades,’ emphasized the need for Nigeria to rethink its democratic process.