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III. The fuel dispute: crackdown on peaceful protests

On June 20, 2003, less than two months after its election victory, the federal government announced an increase of more than 50 per cent in the price of fuel. Fuel prices in Nigeria have traditionally been kept low through heavy government subsidies. The government’s announcement of a sudden and sharp price increase caused a storm of public outrage across the country, as similar announcements had done in the past. As negotiations between the government and the trade union movement—which led the protests—broke down, the trade unions, under the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), called a general strike from June 30. Massive public demonstrations were organized in different parts of the country, uniting Nigerians from all sectors of society. Defying expectations, the strike was kept up for around ten days. It was eventually called off on July 8 after a compromise on the price of fuel was reached between the government and the NLC, although this did little to pacify popular anger against the government.

The police response to the strike and the protests was brutal. Large numbers of police (both regular police and paramilitary mobile police) were deployed across the country. In a manner reminiscent of the military era in Nigeria, they violently broke up demonstrations and rallies, dispersing protestors with tear-gas and live shots, even when there was no sign of violence. They shot dead several protestors and passers-by, and severely beat people, including several journalists who were covering the events. At least twelve people, and possibly more than twenty, were killed and others were injured. Scores of people were arrested, some apparently at random, on allegations that they had used violence or incited rioting. Union officials were among those arrested, and later released. While there were reports that some protestors had resorted to violence and set up burning barricades, many protests were completely peaceful.¹³

On June 30, on the first day of the strike, four people were reportedly shot dead by the police just outside the federal capital territory, in Mararaba, Karu local government, Nasarawa state. One of the victims was Patrick Daniel Danjaba, a thirty-seven-year-old casual worker with the construction company Julius Berger. He was not taking part in the protest, but happened to be at the scene when the police opened fire. He had been trying to go to work but when he found that there was no transport and that all the roads were blocked because of the demonstrations, he started to make his way back home; he was with a colleague when he joined the main road. A relative told Human Rights Watch what happened next:

At around 2.30 or 3 p.m., when he returned to the roadside, the mobile police were firing. He tried to run. A bullet hit him in the back. When we [his relatives] reached the scene, we found him lying and people around him. He was still alive. We tried to get a vehicle to take him to the hospital but there were no vehicles. A water-seller had a big wheelbarrow. We put him in it and pushed it to the medical centre. At the medical centre, there was no one working because of the strike. We took him to a private hospital but there was no doctor. He was still in the wheelbarrow. We took him to another hospital. A doctor there attended to him but he died while he was being treated.

[…] He was not protesting. He was just passing by.¹⁴

The death certificate from the hospital confirmed that he had bullet injuries and that he died on June 30, at 4.40 p.m.

In addition to those who died, several people were injured by the police in Mararaba. Local residents told Human Rights Watch about four people who were injured, one of whom had three fractures on his arm. They were arrested and taken to the police force Criminal Investigations Department (CID) in Abuja; the police then took them to the national hospital and left them there.¹⁵

On July 1, the news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) asked the police for a response to the news of the shootings in Mararaba. Police public relations officer Chris Olakpe initially confirmed that four people had died, without giving details, but then called the agency back denying that the police had recorded any deaths.¹⁶

On July 1, the police severely beat several journalists and arrested at least two during a large but peaceful protest rally in the federal capital Abuja; the rally was addressed by the NLC president Adams Oshiomhole. A group of more than ten policemen assaulted George Osodi, a photographer working for the news agency Associated Press (AP), who was taking photographs of the rally. A colleague described what happened:

George was one of the first photographers to start taking pictures. The riot police rushed in, grabbed him and pulled him out of the compound. Ten to thirteen of them beat him with whips and rifle-butts and kicked him. They smashed his cameras. They took his bag and cameras. He later found his bag empty; they had taken everything. He had bruises and cuts all over his face and body. They beat him up for a long time; he was trying to protect himself. While they were beating him, they said: “This is for the pictures you people take!” and “You have no right to be here as a journalist.”¹⁷

Two reporters working for the Vanguard newspaper, Funmi Komolafe and Rotimi Ajayi, were also beaten by police the same day. Funmi Komolafe was then arrested by the police, as was Ola Awoniyi, a journalist working for AFP who had asked the police why they had arrested Funmi Komolafe. They were released later the same day.

In the southern city of Port Harcourt, where students organized two large protests, at least two and possibly four people were shot dead on July 2 as police dispersed a protest on the Port Harcourt-Aba express road. Two of the victims died after being hit by stray bullets as police shot at the crowds. One was government traffic warden Chisa Nwoko. The other was trader Izuchukwu Nzenwefe, who was shot in front of his shop which happened to be located in an area where protestors had gathered. No police officer was arrested in connection with either of these deaths. It was also reported that two secondary students were shot dead during the protests. Several students were also beaten by police and arrested in a protest on the Ikwerre Road the same day.¹⁸

The highest number of fatal police shootings was in Lagos. One week into the strike, the protests showed no sign of dying down. On July 7, at least six people, and possibly as many as sixteen, were shot dead by the police in several different locations of Lagos; the exact number of victims has still not been independently confirmed. Some of the victims were protestors, others were hit by stray bullets. Eyewitnesses told Human Rights Watch that in several areas, the police opened fire on the crowds indiscriminately. For example, in Yaba, a young man in his twenties, Tunde Abdulazeez Andoyi, was shot dead as he stood outside his house. Witnesses described the police action in Yaba as completely unprovoked and said the protests had been peaceful until the police started dispersing the crowds. In Akowonjo, at least three people were reported to have died, including Obot Akpan Etim, aged twenty-seven; several others, including teenagers, were injured. At least two people were reportedly killed in Iyana-Ipaja. All the victims were reported to have died from bullet wounds.¹⁹

Initially, the police repeatedly denied any knowledge of the killings in Lagos. A Nigerian television journalist who had been in Akowonjo and had seen the victims’ bodies asked the police for a response; they continued to deny that these incidents had occurred, even though he told them he had seen the bodies.²⁰ The public relations officer for Lagos State police was quoted as saying: “We wonder where Oshiomhole [NLC president] got his fact from that the police was the one that did the killings, let them produce their evidence and show us the corpses of those killed […] We are yet to receive any case of death recorded during the protest […] The allegation is completely untrue as the police was given stern warning not to use firearms during the riot.”²¹ Eventually, under intense pressure and following widespread publicity of these incidents—graphic reports of the shootings, including footage of the victims, were shown on private television stations— they conceded that a number of people may have died but continued denying responsibility for their deaths, claiming that some had been killed in accidents in the general confusion, or that they may have been killed by armed rioters.²²

Information gathered by Human Rights Watch indicates that orders to the police to shoot protestors in Lagos may have been issued from the highest level, from the police force headquarters in Abuja. On July 7, at the height of the protests in Lagos, a man who was arrested in Abuja in connection with an unrelated incident was taken to the police force headquarters. While he was waiting there, at around 11 a.m., he overheard a telephone conversation between a senior federal police official (who was in the same room as him) and the Commissioner of Police for Lagos State; he was able to hear part of the conversation because the speaker on the telephone was switched on. According to his testimony, the Commissioner of Police for Lagos State reported that people were protesting in large numbers in the Ikeja area of Lagos and asked for advice on what he should do. The senior federal police official replied that if the situation persisted for more than thirty minutes, the police should shoot the protestors on sight.²³

In July, the House of Representatives and the Senate (the two houses of the National Assembly) set up inquiries into the shootings during the protests. The Senate’s investigation was carried out by five members of the Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources. Its proceedings took place in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt between July 23 and August 2. It collected evidence from a range of witnesses, including victims and relatives of victims of the shootings, senior federal and state police officials, and representatives of the NLC. The police who testified to the committee denied that the police had shot anybody, claiming they had only used tear-gas. They claimed that the protests had turned violent and that some of the rioters were armed. They stated that eight people had died in Lagos, but that seven of them had died as a result of motor accidents. However, the committee’s report points out inconsistencies and contradictions between the testimonies of state and federal police officials, and identifies several cases in which injuries had clearly been caused by bullets. In particular, it highlights the case of Obot Etim, stating “there is a consensus that he died during the riot from bullet wounds. The only controversy is whether it was the police that did kill him as alleged by Labour [the NLC].” It also highlights the case of Abdulazeez Tunde Andoyi, in which witnesses named a deputy superintendent of police who they alleged had shot indiscriminately, killing Tunde Andoyi and injuring one other person in the leg; the report states “on the whole, there is a lot to suggest that the police is culpable in the death of Tunde Andoyi.” The report confirms that in addition to the above cases which occurred in Lagos, at least two people were killed in Mararaba, stating “the assertion from the police that nobody died cannot be correct,” and that not all those who were shot were rioters; the police had denied that anybody was killed in Mararaba, claiming that rioters had turned to violence and that four people had been injured.²⁴

The conclusions of the Senate committee’s report state that the “police reaction to situation like the one we had during the crisis under question remain inhuman. The slightest provocation by citizens elicits a very bloody reaction.” Its recommendations include a request for the Police Services Commission—a body set up in 2001 to provide independent oversight over the activities of the Nigerian police force—to investigate three of the cases of killings in Mararaba and two cases in Lagos. Most of the remaining recommendations focus on the need for broader reforms and training within the police force, including the creation of a special Civil Protest Response Unit whose officers would not be armed with lethal weapons.²⁵

At the time of writing, the report of the House of Representatives’ investigation into events during the protests is not yet available. The Lagos state government also set up a judicial commission of inquiry, the outcome of which is not known.

Partly as a result of these inquiries and the high level of media coverage of the events, several policemen were reportedly questioned about their actions during the protests, as part of an internal police investigation. However, by October 2003, Human Rights Watch was not aware that any police officer had been arrested or charged in connection with the shootings, or that disciplinary measures were taken against those involved in these incidents.

Human Rights Watch raised these cases directly with federal government and police authorities in Abuja. Lawrence Alobi, Commissioner of Police for Operations, denied that anybody was killed by the police in Lagos; he claimed that there was a stampede and that some people were run over by a vehicle. He denied that anyone was killed in Mararaba; he said that some had been injured, but that these were “miscreants”, not striking workers. He also denied that anyone was killed in Port Harcourt or that any force was used there. In a subsequent meeting, Lawrence Alobi told Human Rights Watch that the police were under threat from the protestors and that no policeman would shoot an unarmed protestor. He said that there was no need for further investigations and dismissed suggestions that such investigations might be useful. He said he had never heard about any photographers being beaten by the police.²⁶

When Human Rights Watch met the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, he denied that orders had been given to the police to shoot or to kill, and stated that individual police officers would only resort to live bullets if they were unable to disperse the crowd and if they were being threatened. He said that a state commissioner of police would not have to obtain the authorisation of the Inspector General of Police to use live bullets, that they would be justified in doing so if the situation were violent, but not if they directly shot someone who was “minding his own business”. However, he also stated that “if in the process one or two lives were lost to save others from being killed, this shouldn’t create a reaction and it is lawful.” He told Human Rights Watch that the police were investigating the reported shootings and that if a case were established, the police officers would be tried.²⁷