Why amnesty for Boko Haram fighters is ineffective -NHRC boss

The Executive Secretary/CEO of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Dr Anthony Ojukwu, has said the policy of amnesty for repentant Boko Haram is not effective due to the seeming abandonment of the victims of the insurgency. He said this on Wednesday in Abuja at the 5th 2024 National Summit on Mass Atrocities, organised by […]

The Executive Secretary/CEO of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Dr Anthony Ojukwu, has said the policy of amnesty for repentant Boko Haram is not effective due to the seeming abandonment of the victims of the insurgency.

He said this on Wednesday in Abuja at the 5th 2024 National Summit on Mass Atrocities, organised by Global Rights-Nigeria and Open Society-Africa, with the theme ‘A Standing Responsibility to Protect’.

“While the victims still feel neglected and cheated, they feel that the repentant insurgents are getting more attention than them,” Ojukwu said.

He also said the return of some of the repentant Boko Haram insurgents to extremism after they were previously empowered was also a factor to be addressed.

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“The NHRC’s approach recognizes that while military action can dislodge insurgents, it cannot guarantee lasting peace on its own. Therefore, the commission emphasises rebuilding communities and enhancing the welfare of citizens to sustain security through human development,” he said.

The Executive Director, Global Rights, Ms. Abiodun Baiyewu, said in the past five years, over 24,816 people were killed in incidents of mass atrocities across Nigeria, while 15,597 were kidnapped.

“As is obvious to all, we are at a precarious moment in our nation’s trajectory. For the past seven days, enraged Nigerians have taken to the streets to demand an end to bad governance. Overcome by impossible costs of living and the continued metastasis of the nation’s multiple forms of insecurity, they have felt the need to demand for the government to fulfill their end of the social contract that is implicit between citizens and their government.

“For the government to step to the plate and fulfill its constitutional mandate of ensuring the welfare and the security of all citizens. The gravity of our situation is further underscored by our data, which reveals that in the past five years alone, at least 24,816 people have been killed, and at least 15,597 have been kidnapped in incidents of mass atrocities across Nigeria.

“These numbers are not mere statistics; they represent lives disrupted, dreams shattered, families torn apart, and communities left in anguish. The abducted and the dead are not the only casualties of endemic insecurity, there are over 3.4 million internally displaced people within our border, and about 100,000 refugees in our neighbouring countries.

“In 2023 alone, at least 457,000 people were displaced across Nigeria, with insecurity accounting for 291,000 of these displacements, nearly double the 148,000 recorded in 2022,” Baiyewu said.

Speaking on the dynamics of mass atrocities in Nigeria, the Chair, Community of Practice Against Mass Atrocities, Dr Ken Henshaw, said mass killings in Nigeria are on the rise and extended to every part of the country, taking on new patterns and audacity.

He said data available to the organisation shows that Nigeria recorded a total of 4,416 mass atrocities killings in 2023, including 1,136 in North West, 904 in North East, 1,600 in North Central, 344 in South East, 272 in South South and 160 in South West.

He said the killings were as a result of insurgency in South East, robberies and kidnapping in South West, banditry, and farmer-herder clashes in North Central and gangs in South South.