NIGERIA. 2,987 PEOPLE KILLED UNLAWFULLY IN 2004

September 6, 2005: the Nigeria Police Forces were indicted as major perpetrators in a rising incidence of unlawful killings in the country, with over 2,980 people killed in 2004, a figure which represented a 400 per cent increase over a corresponding figure of 756 extra-judicial deaths in preceding year, 2003. While 2,987 individuals lost their lives in 349 cases in 2004, there were only 177 recorded cases in 2003.
Above figures were contained in a 109-page report titled: "Impunity in Nigeria: Report of Extra-judicial, Arbitrary and Summary Executions in Nigeria, 2004," a document compiled by Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP).
"Out of the total deaths arising from extra-judicial and summary killings in 2004, none has been resolved or prosecuted conclusively. The report shows that the increasing rate of such executions in 2004 with a correspondingly decreasing rate in resolved cases, means the accountability capacity of the Nigerian state, with respect to life and human security, is increasingly declining at an alarming rate.
The high impunity rate underscored the apparent inability of government to deal with the continued gross violation of human rights in the country," he decried.
"We want to see concrete action, offenders prosecuted, docked and tried for murder. Over 150 judgments were given against the Police in the last 10 years, but none has been effected. It all boils down to the issue of administration of criminal justice system in the country. We are in a state of helplessness where poor people's rights are infringed upon. There is a high level of violence all over the country. Crime control activities should be more proactive than reactive". (Sources: All Africa, 07/09/2005)