nigeria1213_ForUpload

about living their normal lives,” the civil servant later lamented. “There is not a day that I go to the
market that I do not see one or two of them.” 424
Witnesses from other communities, however, said they were able to file formal police complaints.
In May 2011, a group of Muslim residents from Maraban Rido went to the police headquarters in
Kaduna and filed police reports with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). A Muslim
resident from Maraban Rido provided Human Rights Watch with a list of 35 witnesses who filed
police complaints. The list included the name of the witnesses, the perpetrators they could
identify, and the types of offenses the perpetrators had allegedly committed. 425 But the police did
not take any action, he said. “They haven’t arrested anybody. Up until now the people that we saw
shooting and killing are still in Maraban Rido.” 426
Fulani leaders said that they compiled a report on the attacks on rural Fulani in southern Kaduna
State and submitted it to the state commission of inquiry and the federal panel. They also said
they filed a complaint at police headquarters in Kaduna, but there have been no arrests. 427 In
Gidan Maga, the town where the district head was killed, the Muslim community submitted a
report to the state commission of inquiry and the federal panel of investigation. The report
included names of the persons killed, witnesses, and perpetrators. 428
Human Rights Watch met with the police in Kaduna and Abuja in March 2012 and asked about the
status of the investigations in the specific cases. The deputy head of State CID in Kaduna—who
has been with the investigations department since before the April 2011 violence—showed an
astonishing lack of interest in the case, “I wouldn’t know if they reported [to the police]. There
were a few complaints that came afterwards. It’s possible that a few individuals came and filed
complaints, and the police made some effort but the suspects were not there.” He added, however,
that there were no open investigations from the post-election violence at that time. 429 The head of
the Legal department at police headquarters in Kaduna also told Human Rights Watch that she
was unaware of anyone else charged for the violence apart from those charged following the initial
arrests in April 2011. 430 Human Rights Watch also met with the police commissioner overseeing
424 Human Rights Watch telephone interview with a civil servant from Matsirga, November 12, 2011.
425 List of witnesses from Maraban Rido on file with Human Rights Watch.
426 Human Rights Watch interview with a resident from Maraban Rido, Kaduna, August 17, 2011.
427 Human Rights Watch interview with Ahmadu Suleiman, chairman of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, Kaunda
State Chapter, Kaduna, November 13, 2011.
428 See Muslim Youth Forum, “Gidan Maga Memorandum.”
429 Human Rights Watch interview with B.W. Dakyer, March 13, 2012.
430 Human Rights Watch interview with S.A. Bugaje, March 13, 2012.
115 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | DECEMBER 2013