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Acknowledgments This report was researched and authored by Eric Guttschuss, Nigeria researcher in the Africa division of Human Rights Watch. The report was reviewed and edited by Rona Peligal, deputy director of the Africa division; Clive Baldwin, senior legal advisor; Babatunde Olugboji, deputy program director; and Elise Keppler, associate director of the International Justice Program. The report was prepared for publication by Grace Choi, publications director; Kathy Mills, publications specialist; and Fitzroy Hepkins, mail manager. Human Rights Watch wishes to thank the many victims, witnesses, and other individuals who offered evidence and other information for this report. Human Rights Watch also expresses its gratitude to individuals and organizations who have generously supported its work on Nigeria. “LEAVE EVERYTHING TO GOD” 146
Plateau and Kaduna—two states in central Nigeria—have witnessed horrific ethnic and sectarian violence. Several thousand people have been killed in inter-communal bloodletting in these two states since 2010 alone. Many of the victims—including women and children—were hacked to death, burned alive, or shot simply based on their ethnic or religious identity. The Nigerian authorities have failed, with rare exception, to bring to justice the perpetrators of these serious crimes. Based on field research, including interviews with dozens of eyewitnesses to murder, police investigators, prosecutors, and judges, “Leave Everything to God” examines the major incidents of violence in Plateau and Kaduna, in particular brutal massacres in 2010 and 2011, and documents the culture of impunity that pervades the criminal justice system. The report explores why mass arrests during the violence have rarely been followed by criminal prosecutions, documents how the police have turned a blind eye to witnesses who had the courage to come forward to report crimes, and examines how the Nigerian authorities have often abdicated responsibility for criminal investigations and prosecutions by setting up commissions of inquiry. In the absence of effective remedies through the criminal justice system, aggrieved communities in Plateau and Kaduna have frequently sought retribution by carrying out reprisal killings. These cycles of violence are not inevitable. Nigerian authorities can and should take urgent steps to ensure that the perpetrators of these serious crimes are investigated and prosecuted. (above) Neighbors hold up a photograph of members of a Christian family from the Berom ethnic group who were killed during an attack on Tatu village, Plateau State, on September 4, 2011. Eight members of the family, including two women and four children pictured in the photograph, were shot and killed in the attack. © 2012 Eric Guttschuss/Human Rights Watch (front cover) A woman walks through a house that was burned during the January 19, 2010 attack on Kuru Karama, Plateau State, which left more than 170 Muslims dead. © 2010 Susan Schulman hrw.org
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H U M A N R I G H T S W A T C H “
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Copyright © 2013 Human Rights Watc
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Renewed Violence in Kaduna State, 2
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“Leave Everything to God” Accou
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On a sunny day in January 2010, in
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A mosque burned by mobs on April 18
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(above) A man stands in the rubble
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Photograph allegedly taken of a mob
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A mass grave for the victims of the
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RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE GOVERNMENT O
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RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE PLATEAU STAT
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financial incentives or promise any
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Non-indigenes are often denied acce
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“peculiar attitudes” and will
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The conflict over indigene rights h
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II. Inter-Communal Violence in Plat
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curfew, which was widely ignored, a
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speech to the Nigerian Senate in Oc
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the police to investigate them. 78
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In the pre-dawn hours of January 19
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Satellite image of Kuru Karama 21 m
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communities. 102 When the Muslim le
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didn’t want to see the children [
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ut “[s]he was not able to reach m
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On January 20, some of the Muslim r
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Sabon Gidan Kanar Witnesses said th
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eeders association in Plateau State
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The March 2010 Dogo Nahawa Massacre
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mass grave: 16 men, 16 women, and 3
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man who survived the attack told Hu
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finish.” He continued, “Fightin
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IV. Impunity for the 2010-2013 Viol
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charge them with. Federal prosecuto
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moving about freely. One of the wit
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know us. They are still there in th
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provided Human Rights Watch with in
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Kafanchan Special Judicial Tribunal
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News of the Zango massacre sparked
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2000 “Sharia Riots” In February
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killed scores of people before even
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government, found that 938 people i
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campus chanting pro-Buhari slogans
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Page 87 and 88: The police escorted the convoy of M
Page 89 and 90: men divided the Muslim men and wome
Page 91 and 92: Another Muslim man, whose 19-year-o
Page 93 and 94: Violence in Kafanchan The town of K
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Page 99 and 100: the house. There were 10 men and 12
Page 101 and 102: free.” 405 Communal bloodletting
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Page 105 and 106: about living their normal lives,”
Page 107 and 108: VIII. The Legal Framework Internati
Page 109 and 110: houses, shops, or places of worship
Page 111 and 112: The Nigeria Police Force has also b
Page 113 and 114: IX. The Anatomy of Impunity The fai
Page 115 and 116: arrest those they find at the scene
Page 117 and 118: advice, they refused to do that; [w
Page 119 and 120: more likely to know each other—an
Page 121 and 122: justice. For example, a Hausa woman
Page 123 and 124: villages in Plateau State, and from
Page 125 and 126: emaining cases. 523 The federal tri
Page 127 and 128: We asked the people who have been a
Page 129 and 130: Plateau State Attorney General Edwa
Page 131 and 132: violence to book,” he told Human
Page 133 and 134: Political Compromises That Reinforc
Page 135: who set their homes on fire, those
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