I. Summary
On November 28-29, 2008, deadly clashes between Muslim and Christian mobs and the excessive use of force by security forces left hundreds dead in Jos, Plateau State. Muslim and Christian authorities have collectively documented the deaths of more than 700 people in the two days of violence. In responding to the inter-communal violence, the Nigerian police and military were implicated in more than 130 arbitrary killings, mostly of young Muslim men from the Hausa-Fulani ethnic group. Human Rights Watch documented 133 of these killings but believes that the actual number of arbitrary killings by security forces may be substantially higher than these figures. While most of the inter-communal violence took place on November 28, the vast majority of the killings by the police and military came on November 29, the same day that Plateau State Governor Jonah Jang issued a "shoot-on-sight" order to security forces.
Human Rights Watch researchers documented 15 separate incidents of arbitrary killings by the police during which at least 74 men and boys, all but two of them Muslims, were killed. The vast majority of police killings were perpetrated by the anti-riot Police Mobile Force, commonly referred to as the MOPOLs. Human Rights Watch also documented eight incidents involving the arbitrary killing of 59 men by the military. According to witnesses, all of these victims were Muslim men, most were young, and nearly all were unarmed at the time they were killed.[1]
In December 2008 and February 2009, Human Rights Watch carried out 18 days of on-the-ground research in Jos. Human Rights Watch researchers conducted 151 interviews with Muslim and Christian witnesses, victims, and perpetrators of the violence, human rights activists, religious leaders, local and international journalists, businessmen, Red Cross officials, lawyers, police and military authorities, Plateau State government officials, members of political parties, and electoral officials. Human Rights Watch has in addition conducted extensive research into government discrimination against "non-indigenes" in Nigeria and the causes and context of violence in Plateau State, including the major outbreaks of sectarian violence in Jos in 2001 and Yelwa in 2004.
Human Rights Watch urges these investigative bodies to investigate the allegations of widespread killings by security forces as well as the circumstances surrounding, and consequences of, Governor Jang's shoot-on-sight order. These investigative bodies should ensure that their findings are made public and call on government authorities to prosecute without delay those responsible for the killings and destruction of property, irrespective of which side of the conflict they are on. Human Rights Watch further urges these investigative bodies to call on the federal government to address the root causes of the violence, including passing nationwide legislation banning all forms of discrimination against "non-indigenes" with respect to any matter not directly related to traditional leadership institutions or other purely cultural matters.
[1] In addition to the 133 arbitrary killings, Human Rights Watch also documented incidents where the military shot and killed a Christian man in the Alheri neighborhood of Jos, and an unspecified number of Muslim youth outside the Fatima cathedral. In these incidents, however, it is unclear from the witness statements whether the military were justified in their use of deadly force.