Between July and August this year, 467 persons were killed in four states of Nigeria alone, including Kaduna, Benue, Katsina, and Plateau, according to Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) report released Friday, September 6.
Of the number, 142 killings occurred in Kaduna, 137 in Benue, 112 in Katsina, and 76 recorded in Plateau State.
The Commission further claimed that 1,200 #EndBadGovernance protesters were arrested and detained by security agencies during the same period. It expressed concern that some of the detentions have exceeded constitutional limits.
According to Hillary Ogbona, the Senior Human Rights Adviser to the Executive Secretary of the Commission, the NHRC has received 414,200 complaints about human rights abuses in the last two months.
NHRC Chides Govt On Protests
The Commission cautioned the government to see protests not as crimes but as legitimate ways for citizens to express grievances against unfavorable government policies and programs. It decried the government’s tendency of lumping genuine protesters with criminals.
The government should not attempt to stop the protest but to guide it.
“Looting and destruction of private and public properties are not protests but acts of criminalities which should not be regarded as part of peaceful protests.
“From this side, it is a fact that private and public properties were looted during the last protest, and we, as a result of this, appeal to the government to identify and evaluate the losses to victims to support them as some of the victims may not be able to rise again,” he added.
The NHRC appealed to the government to adopt a human rights approach to lawful protests and investigate their root causes, which were often related to justified economic and political situations.
The Commission vowed to monitor the ongoing prosecution of protesters in court to ensure that the human rights of suspects are protected.
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 reports 467 deaths and the arrest of 1,200 protesters in Nigeria between July and August 2024. NHRC urges the government to adopt a human rights approach to lawful protests.){kind=link}