Criminal Politics: Violence, “Godfathers” and Corruption in Nigeria

“Other people were running away but he didn’t,” said one eyewitness to the killing.
“Because of that he was stabbed in the stomach and fell down in front of my house.
After five to ten minutes the police came and took the body to the hospital.” 350
Several other eyewitnesses confirmed the incident to Human Rights Watch. 351
According to Gombe’s Federation of Muslim Women Association who treated and
interviewed the victim, in the same month as the boy’s murder, a group of Kalare
raped a girl of fourteen who was hawking food on the street after she asked them for
the money they owed her for their food. Two Kalare youth put her on a motorbike
between them and drove her to the outskirts of town where she was gang-raped by
five men. 352 A representative of the women’s organization that helped the victim after
the incident told Human Rights Watch that “her dress was shredded and drenched in
blood. She could not walk for several days afterwards.” The girl recognized some of
the perpetrators and named them to police. According to the activists who followed
the case, the accused, a known Kalare gang member, was arrested but then released
on bail and has since disappeared. 353
Several months after the polls, the Nigerian media reported that the price of
machetes had fallen sharply throughout Gombe state. Market traders interviewed by
local journalists attributed this to the end of a spike in demand for new machetes for
use in election-related violence. One trader was quoted as complaining that, "Before
the conduct of the general elections, I was selling a minimum of seven machetes
daily but can hardly sell one a day now." 354
Police Inaction and Abuse
The widespread impunity enjoyed by Kalare gang members compounds the
problems of political violence and violent crime in Gombe. It emboldens the gangs
350 Human Rights Watch interview with activist [name withheld], Gombe town, April 20, 2007.
351 Human Rights Watch interview with Dr. Garba, former Permanent Secretary, Gombe State Government, Gombe town, April
24, 2007 and Human Rights Watch interview with eyewitness [name withheld], Gombe town, April 20, 2007.
352 Human Rights Watch interview with official from the Federation of Muslim Women Association, Gombe, April 24, 2007 and
a doctor from Gombe Specialist Hospital [name withheld], Gombe, April 25, 2007.
353 Human Rights Watch interview with official from the Federation of Muslim Women Association, Gombe, April 24, 2007.
354 “Price of Machetes Drops in Nigeria After Elections,” Reuters, July 2, 2007.
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Human Rights Watch October 2007