US embassy cable - 05LAGOS1401

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 LAGOS 001401 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR AF/W 
STATE FOR CA/OCS/FROBINSON 
STATE FOR EB/ESC/IEC/ENR/BLEVINE 
STATE FOR DS/IP/AF 
STAT FOR INR/AA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/06/2015 
TAGS: ELAB, KIRF, NI, PGOV, PHUM, PREL 
SUBJECT: SOUTHERN NIGERIA HUMAN RIGHTS UPDATE MAY TO AUG 
2005 
 
REF: LAGOS 661 
 
Classified By: Consul General Brian L. Browne for Reasons 1.4 (D & E) 
 
1.  (U) This is a roundup of various recent incidents 
representative of the human rights situation in southern 
Nigeria.  This summary is organized according to the sections 
of the annual Human Rights Report.  These incidents have not 
been reported in other cables, or they are updates of 
previously reported items. 
 
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Section 1 - Respect for the Integrity of the Person 
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2.  (U) On June 5, six policemen gunned down two youths in 
Port Harcourt, Rivers State, in front of their home.  The 
driver of the youths' vehicle was detained incommunicado for 
seventeen days.  Authorities initially claimed the two youths 
were a pair of known armed robbers.  After investigations 
revealed that it was a case of mistaken identity, police 
attempted to cover the mistake by framing the youths for an 
actual armed robbery.  The youths' father has lodged an 
appeal with the Inspector General's office. (Comment: As can 
be seen from the present report, policemen often resort to 
the canard of having encountered armed robbers when 
questioned about possible improper shootings or 
incarcerations.  Sometimes, the pretext is so flimsy that it 
causes a popular uproar, as happened recently in the Apo 
district of Abuja, where police shot six civilians at a 
checkpoint, then claimed the victims were armed robbers, 
prompting public outrage and a presidential investigation. 
End Comment.) 
 
3.  (U) On July 15, unknown gunmen murdered PDP politician 
Alhaji Lateef Olaniyan, in Ibadan, Oyo State.  Olaniyan was 
killed after a meeting with prominent Ibadan politician and 
PDP powerbroker Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu.  Adedibu has been in a 
contentious political battle with Governor Ladoja.  Sensing a 
political opportunity, Adedibu was quick to implicate the 
governor in the murder.  Governor Ladoja has refuted 
Adedibu's claim.  This incident will further worsen the 
relationship between Adedibu and Ladoja, and may result in 
additional political violence. 
 
4.  (U) In late July, Human Rights Watch submitted a report 
cataloguing serious human rights abuses committed by Nigerian 
police.  In mid-July UN officials had also condemned similar 
incidents of abuse in Nigeria.  Philip Alston, the UN Special 
Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, 
cited a recent case in Enugu where six persons incarcerated 
for "armed robbery" were killed by police in their cells. 
Authorities claimed the prisoners were attempting to escape. 
 
5.  (U) On July 26, a naval officer fatally shot the owner of 
a motorcycle taxi, known locally as an "okada."  The shooting 
took place after what observers termed a "minor accident," 
and a brief altercation.  Seeing the incident as a 
manifestation of the haughtiness of those in military 
uniform, incensed bystanders began to riot until police 
forces intervened.  Media sources reported an "unconfirmed" 
number of injuries but no casualties. 
 
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Section 2 - Respect for Civil Liberties 
--------------------------------------- 
 
6.  (U) On May 2, soldiers and street toughs, popularly known 
as "area boys," clashed in Lagos.  The incident followed the 
killing of a soldier near a military command in the Ikeja 
suburb of Lagos.  Soldiers alleged some area boys killed the 
soldier when he prevented them from collecting illegal tolls 
from commercial vehicle operators.  During the ensuing melee, 
six soldiers were seriously injured while several vehicles 
were set ablaze.  Soldiers arrested 62 suspected area boys, 
handing them to the police for prosecution.  On June 15, the 
GON ordered all soldiers back to their barracks, apparently 
to forestall future clashes between the soldiers and area 
boys. 
 
7.  (U) On July 11, the 53 Lagos State Movement for the 
Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) 
members mentioned in reftel were absolved of two out of three 
treason charges.  Around the same time, the Federal High 
Court in Kaduna granted bail to 17 members of the MASSOB, who 
had been held by authorities since April without a bail 
hearing or trial. 
 
8.  (U) On August 6, thirty-two people held in Enugu by the 
Bakassi Boys, a vigilante law enforcement group, died.  The 
group subsequently abandoned some 62 other detainees and 
fled.  The people were seized as "armed robbers" and kept in 
a windowless, poorly ventilated shop for days.  Riots erupted 
when the dead bodies were discovered by police. 
 
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Section 3 - Respect for Political Rights:  Citizens' Right to 
Change Their Government 
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9.  (U) On May 16, gunmen attacked two key Alliance for 
Democracy (AD) figures in Osun State.  The gunmen killed a 
top AD financier, Alhaji Alabi Olajoju, and abducted and 
later released the majority leader of the Lagos State House 
of Assembly, Jide Omoworare.  The two leaders were returning 
to Lagos after attending a political rally for the AD Osun 
State gubernatorial nomination of Chieftain Raufu Aregbesola. 
 Aregbesola, Lagos State Commissioner for Works and 
Infrastructure, alleged the attack was politically motivated, 
specifically accusing Osun State's ruling Peoples Democratic 
Party Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola of involvement.  However, 
the Osun State police commissioner told journalists the 
initial investigation suggested a robbery attack.  An AD 
member who witnessed the incident similarly reported it 
looked more like a robbery than an assassination plot. 
 
10.  (U) On July 19, political supporters of Senator Ibikunle 
Amosun's gubernatorial bid clashed with Governor Olugbenga 
Daniel's security forces in the Ogun State capital, Abeokuta. 
 The governor's security detail responded with tear gas and, 
according to some witnesses, the governor's detail fired 
shots into the crowd.  Senator Amosun was later suspended 
from political activity for one month by his party, the PDP. 
 
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Section 5 - Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking 
in Persons 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
 
11.  (U) Speaking at the launch of a new report, "Nigeria: 
Unheard Voices - Violence Against Women in the Family," on 
May 31, Stephane Mikala, Deputy Director of Amnesty 
International's Africa Programme, estimated in certain 
communities of Lagos State, up to two-thirds of women have 
experienced physical, sexual, or psychological violence in 
the family.  Mikala further stated that husbands, partners, 
and fathers are responsible for most violence perpetrated 
against women.  Culture places a stigma on the victim rather 
than the perpetrator.  Itoro Eze-Anaba of the Legal Defense 
and Assistance Project (LEDAP), a contributor to the report, 
added that discriminatory laws exacerbate the problem.  For 
example, the penalty for indecent assault on a man is more 
severe than the penalty for the same offense against a woman. 
 
 
12.  (U) On July 26, a member of the Ebonyi State House of 
Assembly, Ms. Dorothy Obasi, announced that her state would 
enact a law to prosecute traffickers as well as parents 
complicit in this illicit trade.  Ebonyi State has among the 
highest incidence of child trafficking. 
 
13.  (U) On August 2, the spokeswoman for Women's Consortium 
for Nigeria (WO-CON) stated over 15 million children are 
engaged in child labor in the country, many of them in Ogun 
State.  (Comment: This number is pulled from a 2000/2001 
study conducted by the Federal Bureau of Statistics.)  WO-CON 
executive director Bisi Olateru-Olagbegi said Nigeria, and 
Ogun State in particular, are strategic locations for 
traffickers engaged in sourcing, transit, receipt, and export 
of human beings, particularly women and children. 
Olateru-Olagbegi was speaking in Abeokuta at the opening of a 
human trafficking sensitization program organized by WO-CON 
with assistance from the Ambassador's Self-Help Fund. 
 
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Section 6 - Worker Rights 
------------------------- 
 
14.  (U) On July 10, Nigerian Ports Authority workers 
disrupted a meeting of the Bureau of Public Enterprises at 
the Apapa port in Lagos.  Several people were reportedly 
wounded by police who intervened to bring the situation under 
control. 
 
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Comment 
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15.  (C) Comment: While incidents involving key political 
figures receive most of the local headlines and perhaps even 
attract some international attention, the real human rights 
challenge is that average Nigerians are deeply concerned 
whenever they come into contact with law enforcement 
personnel.  One's life can change if you happen to encounter 
the wrong policeman, manning the wrong checkpoint, at the 
wrong time.  A person can be detained, beaten, or worse. 
Since the days of military rule the pervasive attitude among 
law enforcement officers is that their jobs require them to 
keep the population in check and to augment their salaries by 
extracting money from the population. This has and will 
continue to lead to unnecessary and oft tragic abuses until 
there is systematic change in the law enforcement mindset. 
End comment. 
BROWNE