{"id":511,"date":"2022-04-08T19:55:38","date_gmt":"2022-04-08T19:55:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/blog\/?p=511"},"modified":"2022-04-08T19:55:40","modified_gmt":"2022-04-08T19:55:40","slug":"civil-resistance-still-the-only-solution-to-human-rights-abuses-in-nigeria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/blog\/2022\/04\/08\/civil-resistance-still-the-only-solution-to-human-rights-abuses-in-nigeria\/","title":{"rendered":"CIVIL RESISTANCE; STILL THE ONLY SOLUTION TO HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN NIGERIA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Written by
Amos Oluwatoye
Director for Research, BBFORPEACE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For over a decade, young Nigerians have been faced with the challenge of police cruelty. A report<\/a> by Amnesty International examined the use of torture in Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) stations in Enugu and Anambra states, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja and also scanned the lack of accountability by the Nigerian police. This report confirms the police use of torture and other ill-treatment as well as the poor and inhumane detention conditions in SARS stations in Enugu, Awkuzu and Abuja, and argues for effective external and independent oversight and accountability of police officers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2017, Nigerian youths adopted a campaign against police brutality<\/a>.\nThe objective was to campaign against the exploitation of Nigerians by the\nSpecial Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a unit of the Nigeria Police Armed Force\nestablished to ameliorate armed robberies across the country. Nigerians signed\na petition of over ten thousand signatures and submitted it to the National Assembly\ncalling for the disbandment of the police unit, citing various abuses against\nNigerian youths. There were responses from major stakeholders such as the\nNational Assembly, the National Human Rights Commission, the Police Chief, and the\nVice President, but the efforts did not bring much change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Punch Newspaper reported<\/a>\nin October 2021 a series of abuse perpetrated by some officers. One of the\ncases happened In Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital. A young man reported that he\nwas on his way to his office and had his two iPhones with him and was asked by\nsome police officers to alight from the tricycle he was in and prove that he\nwas not a fraudster. They handcuffed him, put him in their vehicle, drove a few\nmeters and threatened to kill him. He maintained composure. When they saw that\nhe did not budge, they let me go. He could have been killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although campaigns, most especially through the mass media,\nhas been carried out to eradicate the societal menace, exploitation of citizens\nby some members of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) still exist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Police Brutality and\nCivil Resistance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Police brutality<\/a> generally\nrefers to various human rights violations by police, which might include\nbeatings, racial abuse, unlawful killings, torture, or indiscriminate use of\nriot control agents at protests.Police brutality of unarmed youth is a\nhuman right issue because unlawful use of force by police on young ones can\nlead to the deprivation of their fundamental human right to life. Unlawful\nforce by police can also violate the right to be free from discrimination, the\nright to liberty and security, and the right to equal protection under the law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Civil resistance<\/a> is\na powerful way for people to fight for their rights, freedom, and\njustice\u2014without the use of violence. When people wage civil resistance, they\nuse tactics such as strikes, boycotts, mass protests, and many other nonviolent\nactions to withdraw their cooperation from an oppressive system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout history and in the present day, civil resistance\nmovements have forced change to happen, even against powerful opponents who are\nwilling to use violence.  Nonviolent or civil resistance has been a\nuseful tool<\/a> for the oppressed in several societies to cause social\nchange such as holding the government accountable, achieving fundamental human\nrights, the campaign against corruption, the campaign against police brutality,\nand other issues undermining the right and freedom of citizens of a nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are key examples on the success of nonviolent or civil\nresistance that has helped to install justice and peace in several societies:  after a decades-long nonviolent struggle by\nthe Indian population against the British led by Mohandas Gandhi, the British gave\nup their occupation of India; in the 1950s and 1960s, African Americans used\nvarious nonviolent methods of action to meltdown racial segregation in the\nUnited States; boycotts and other nonviolent sanctions was used by the\nanti-apartheid movement in South Africa for decades, and the result was that\nthe white-dominated government was forced to negotiate a transition; in 2002, the\npeople of Madagascar organized nonviolent campaign to enforce their\npresidential election results; Georgians used nonviolent methods of action to corruption\nand enforce election results in their country in 2003; In 2005, vast protests\nin Lebanon brought an end to Syrian military control; In 2006, democratic rule\nwas restored in Nepalis through nonviolent methods; In 2014, citizens of Burkina\nFaso rose up and ended the autocratic rule of Blaise Compaor\u00e9 who had ruled the\ncountry for 27 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On several occasions, civil resistance against police<\/a>\nbrutality has worked in winning justice for the exploited and oppressed. The\nrecent #EndSARS campaign in Nigeria shows the power of using nonviolent\ncampaigns to end police brutality in a nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Civil Resistance; Still\nthe Only Solution to Police Brutality in Nigeria<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In their book, \u201cWhy Civil Resistance Works: The\nStrategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict,\u201d<\/a> Maria J. Stephan and Erica\nChenoweth argues that major nonviolent campaigns have achieved success 53\npercent of the time, compared with violent resistance campaigns with 26\npercent. The rate of success recorded with nonviolent resistance is due to the\napplication of various nonviolent methods of actions<\/a>\nwhich include the following: Public speeches; Signed public statements; Group\nor mass petitions; Slogans, caricatures, and symbols; Banners, posters, and\ndisplayed communications; Leaflets, pamphlets, and books; Newspapers and\njournals; Records, radio, and television; Picketing; Prayer and worship;\nHumorous skits and pranks. These methods are part of the 198 methods of\nnonviolent action mentioned in Gene Sharp\u2019s book, The Politics of Nonviolent\nAction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The October 2020 EndSARS movement is a key example of how\nthe youth mobilized themselves in mass in a campaign against the inhumane act\nof the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, a unit of the Nigerian Police Force. The\ncampaign was a result of the alleged killing of a young Nigerian in Delta\nState, which triggered the movement from the street of Twitter to the streets\nof Nigeria. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, the nonviolent campaign became violent due to some agents provocateurs<\/a>\ntargeted to disrupt the goal of the movement and the inability of the movement\nleaders to coordinate the protesters in maintaining nonviolent discipline.\nConsequentially, some protesters violent acts legalized government violent\nrepression, and the movement lose credibility from sympathizers whose\nproperties were destroyed and stolen by some violent protesters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social media has been a powerful tool for the nonviolent\ncampaigns against the inhumane treatment of young Nigerians by some members of\nthe Nigerian Police Force (NPF). In April 2014, a police officer identified as Tafa Mohammed was arrested<\/a>\nby the Lagos State Command of the force after a video showing how he was trying\nto drown one of his victims in a muddy pond while a crowd watched went viral on\nsocial media. In December 2021, The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police\nCommand arrested four officers extorting money<\/a>\nfrom a commuter at Area 11, Abuja, after the viral extortion video caught the\nattention of the police command. Jude Ogudu, a police sergeant, shot an\nunarmed woman<\/a> in Edo State. Concerned Nigerians took to social media\nin a campaign for justice for innocent woman. In January 2022, the police\nofficer and his colleagues spotted in the viral video were arrested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nonviolent or civil resistance has been a saving grace\navailable to the ordinary people in any society to campaign against any form of\npolitical abuse. The October 2020 EndSARS movement exposed that power does not\nflow through the barrel of a gun; power lies with the people\u2019s decision to\nnonviolently campaign against oppression. The masses are becoming greatly\ninformed on how to leverage the resources available to them to continue to\ncampaign against the inhumane treatment of some members of the Nigerian police\nforce against vulnerable citizens. Even though it is not generally accepted\nthat nonviolent resistance is the answer to police brutality and the\nreformation of the police force, we need to note that violence against the\nsystem is very costly and does not bring a logical approach to resolving the\nchallenges. Civil resistance has brought about justice and peace, and it is\nstill working.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Amos Oluwatoye Director for Research, BBFORPEACE For over a decade, young Nigerians have been faced with the challenge of police cruelty. A report…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":512,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[85,22,23,53,11,7],"class_list":["post-511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-amosoluwatoye","tag-bbforpeace","tag-buildingblocksforpeace","tag-endsars","tag-nigeria","tag-youth4peace"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=511"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":513,"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511\/revisions\/513"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}