Abuja: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has reported a slight decline in killings and abductions across Nigeria in October, attributing the trend to improved efforts by security forces.
Despite this progress, the Commission recorded a staggering 406,088 complaints of human rights violations during the month, highlighting persistent concerns around arbitrary detention, police misconduct, and gender-based violence.
The Secretary of the Commission, Dr Tony Ojukwu, SAN, made this known on Monday at the presentation of its October dashboard and observatory reports.
He added that the coin addition resulted in more than 160 reported incidents of human rights violations.
“NHRC continues to reflect concerns around freedom from arbitrary detention, police misconduct, access to justice, sexual and gender-based violence and violation of fundamental civil liberties.
“Our Observatory has recorded incidents of communal violence, insurgent attacks and human rights abuses related to insecurity, which continue to affect communities disproportionately.
“In the month under review, we recorded a general drop in both killings and abductions compared to the previous month of September, a possible indication of the success of our Armed Forces and Security institutions,” he said.
He also spoke on the recent diplomatic events relating to the United States’ threats to intervene in Nigeria’s internal affairs due to the killing of Christians in Nigeria.
He added that there was no doubt that conflicts and insurgency in Nigeria had led to the killings by religious extremists of Christian civilians in parts of Nigeria.
“It is essential to highlight that citizens from other faiths have also been victims.
“As a commission, we hold the view that no life should be lost to conflict or criminality.
“The responsibility of the government to protect lives and properties in line with section 14(2) of the Constitution should be paramount,” he said.
He said that the threat from the United States should be seen as an opportunity to reform the approaches to terrorism and conflict in Nigeria.
He emphasised the need for civilian protection and accountability for perpetrators.
“We should as a nation get the narrative correctly so that we can have the correct diagnosis.
“Boko Haram and ISWAP have the ideology of Islamising Nigeria. I don’t think there is any argument about that.
” Boko Haram and ISWAP believe some Nigerian Muslims are not true Muslims and therefore should be killed like other Christians, hence the attack on mosques and churches.
“This has led to the killing of Christians and Muslims who disagree with Boko Haram. So the common enemy here is Boko Haram, which is surely killing Christians and Muslims in Nigeria for religious reasons,” he said.
Ojukwu lamented the new trend in the killing of farmers as well as in schools.
He appreciated the support of their partners, the United Nations Development Programme, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the Government of Norway, for their support of the Tripartite Partnership Programme (TPP).
“We also recognise the hard work of our State and FCT offices in compiling the data that we presented today.
“Our gratitude also goes to the Media for amplifying our voices and to our esteemed partner,” he said.
Presenting the graphic reports from the dashboard and observatory, Senior Human Rights Adviser to the Commission, Mr Hiliary Ogbonna, lamented the new developments in rights violations.
“There are banishment, right to peaceful assemblies and protests, suicide and criminal acts (mob actions).”
Ogbonna stated that Abuja topped the list of violations of child rights, with 983 complaints, followed by Benue with 860.
He lamented more than 10 cases of defilement.
He stated that the Commission completed 5,698 investigations and conducted 104 visitations to police stations, correctional centres, and places of detention.
