The Shocking Extra Judicial Killing Video

On Tuesday, 5 August, Nigerians woke up to see a shocking extra-judicial killing video released by the global human rights watch, Amnesty International. In the video footage, some men alleged to be Nigerian soldiers were caught on camera slitting the throats of men accused of being members of Boko Haram. Also in the video, the soldiers were aided by members of the government sponsored militia commonly known as Civilian JTF.

In the most gruesome of the videos, suspects are kept on one side while graves are dug. Then the grave is shown half-full of human bodies. A half-clad man is pulled from a truck and held down while a man in military uniform slices his throat with a combat knife, hurling his body into the pit thereafter. The scene is repeated with another suspect on the same bloodied patch at the edge of the shallow grave. Amnesty International said it got the footage, which may be evidence of war crimes committed by the Nigerian military, from numerous sources during a trip to Borno State.

Chris Olukolade, a Major-General and Nigerian Defence spokesman, has expressed reservation on the culpability of the Nigerian military but said the Defence Headquarters is investigating the matter. According to him, the military considers human right issues seriously and would never condone any proven case of abuse by its personnel. He emphasized that such behaviour runs counter to the training Nigerian troops are given.

In spite of this defence, Nigerians still expressed doubts about the innocence of the Nigerian military given the past proven cases of impunity and lawless acts involving them. A recent case was the Army’s shameful reactions to the alleged killing of one of them by a Bus Rapid Transit driver in Lagos. In spite of Army’s denial of culpability, video released on the You Tube by eye witnesses showed a certain female officer assaulting citizens and destroying public properties.

Also the gory scenes in the Amnesty International latest video is not the first, but probably the most gruesome of such accusations against the Nigerian military. And these actions call for concern on the role this important, strategic unit of Nigerian federation expected to play.

We believe that if indeed the military engage in such acts, these are not only wrong but counter-productive, as they fuel much of the anger that has helped drive the insurgency over the past five years.  It has also been established that alleged extra-judicial killings by Nigeria’s military is the primary reason cited by U.S. and British forces for not giving Nigeria more counter-insurgency support.

In view of this, we demand a quick and thorough investigation of the veracity of the video, while every step should be taken to re-orientate the soldiers on the best practice of respecting the human rights of every Nigerian. These military men should realise that they were civilians before they joined the armed forces. They will return to the society after their retirement. Therefore, they should conduct themselves in a civil manner so that they will earn the love and respect of the larger society.