Human rights organisation Amnesty International has highlighted the killing of #Endbadgovernance protesters, treason trial of minors, unprecedented inflation and fatal stampedes at rice-sharing venues under President Bola Tinubu’s watch in its 2025 Annual Report on ‘The State of the World’s Human Rights’.PauseUnmute
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Published on Wednesday, the report, which documented human rights concerns in 2024 across 150 countries in the world, stated that in Nigeria, “journalists and critics of the authorities were arrested, charged and arbitrarily detained.”
The report cited the “arbitrary arrest and detention” of journalists Daniel Ojukwu, Segun Olatunji, Muktar Dahiru, and Fisayo Soyombo and the House of Representatives’ failure to push for the ‘Counter Subversion Bill, which aimed to impose strict penalties on Nigerians who failed to recite the newly approved national anthem, or who criticized politicians or community leaders.
The report alleged that Mr Tinubu’s government placed unlawful restrictions on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
“Security forces arrested and illtreated protesters and used excessive force to quash protests, resulting in the deaths of several protesters,” it noted.
It added, “Following the #EndBadGovemance protests from 1 to 10 August, more than 1,000 people were detained nationwide, and at least 24 protesters were killed in violent crackdowns by the security forces in the cities of Kano and Maiduguri and in the states of Jigawa, Katsina, Niger and Kaduna.”
The human rights organisation further highlighted how Mr Tinubu-led government arraigned #EndBadGovernance, many of whom were children, before an Abuja division of Federal High Court “on bogus charges, including felony and treason, conspiring to destabilise Nigeria, inciting mutiny, and levying war against the Nigerian state”.
On economic and social-cultural rights of Nigerians under Mr Tinubu, Amnesty International stated that an inflation rate of 33.4 per cent, an increase of 9.32% from July 2023, and the high cost of goods and services caused a drop in people’s standard of living.
Between December 18 and 22, the report said 67 people, the majority of them on the brink of starvation, were killed in stampedes while trying to get free meals at charity events.
On 18 December, 35 children died in Ibadan town in Oyo state. On 21 December, 22 people died in Okija town in Ihiala LGA of Anambra. On 21 December, 10 people died in Abuja, FCT.
Bayo Onanuga, spokesperson for Mr Tinubu, did not immediately reply to a request for comments
