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Nigeria
1184. By letter dated 6 August 2004, the Special Rapporteur notified the Government that he had received allegations concerning Gbenga Faturoti, a correspondent for the "Daily Independent" newspaper, Osun State. On 25 June 2004, he was beaten by a group of policemen in Osogbo. Gbenga Faturoti was sitting in the press gallery covering a session of the House of Assembly of the State Parliament when his mobile phone rang. The Assistant Superintendent of Police (whose name is known to the Special Rapporteur) ordered the journalist’s arrest and detention for failing to switch off his mobile phone. A police sergeant (whose name is known to the Special Rapporteur) slapped him in the face twice while other policemen dragged him on the floor out of the House before he was arrested. In the process, he sustained injuries to his body.
1185. By letter dated 26 November 2004, the Government informed that on 25 June 2004, during the lie-in state of the former Minister of Internal Affairs, the Speaker of Osun State House of Assembly appealed that everyone present should switch off all mobile phones and observe a minute silence. During this his phone rang. This was viewed as an act of disobedience and he was ordered out of the Gallery. As he was remorseful, he was allowed to stay. No formal report of manhandling or torture was lodged with the police.
1186. Valentine Nwankwere, a businessman. On 2 January 2001 he was shot in his car by a policeman (whose name is known to the Special Rapporteur), who was accompanied by other policemen, and sustained a bullet wound to his right thigh. Valentine Nwankwere was taken to the Nwaorubi Police Station, Mbaitoli Ikeduru Local Government Area, Imo State, where he was chained and locked in solitary confinement. His two cousins were also locked up but later released. He was later transferred to the Crack Squad Department, Owerri, where he was held in the “Mortuary Cell”. Valentine Nwankwere was not taken to the Federal Medical Centre Owerri until eight days had elapsed.
1187. By letter dated 30 November 2004, sent jointly with the Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, the Special Rapporteur notified the Government that he had received allegations, concerning Uja Emmanuel, a correspondent for The Sun newspaper, Makurdi, Benue State. On 21 July 2004, when he went to the Benue State Police Headquarters to investigate the alleged abduction and detention of a fellow journalist by police, his camera and tape recorder were destroyed by police officers acting on the orders of the Assistant Commissioner of Police (whose name is known to the Special Rapporteurs). The Assistant Commissioner of Police also ordered his men to beat the journalist as a deterrent to others.
Urgent appeals
1188. On 3 May 2004, the Special Rapporteur sent a joint urgent appeal with the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and the Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, regarding Buba Galadima, a member of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) and chairman of the mobilization committee of the CNPP. According to the allegations received, he was arrested at his office on the evening of 29 April 2004, by intelligence officers from the State Security Services. He is being detained incommunicado without charge.
1189. On 9 July 2004, the Special Rapporteur sent a joint urgent appeal with the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and the Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, regarding Kola Oyelere, a correspondent for the Nigerian Tribune newspaper. According to the allegations received on 4 July 2004, he was arrested by the police of Kano State. He was detained in a cell in the State Criminal Investigation Department, tortured, and prevented from taking his medication for typhoid fever. The next day he was charged by a Kano State Magistrate with publishing false information. This was in connection with an article he co-authored, entitled "Panic in Kano as fresh crisis looms", 4 July, the Sunday Tribune. His case will be heard on 29 July, and pending the completion of the police investigations, he was remanded in custody.
1190. On 8 September 2004, the Special Rapporteur sent a joint urgent appeal with the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, regarding Raphael Olatoye, age 47, production manager of Insider Weekly magazine, Cyril Mbamulu, age 32, distribution officer, and a security guard. According to the allegations received, on 4 September 2004 around 2pm, at the magazine’s office in Lagos, Raphael Olatoye was arrested by officers of the State Security Service (SSS), and taken away to an unknown location. The SSS officers arrested Cyril Mbamulu and the security guard the next day and took them away to an unknown location. They are reportedly detained without charge. The magazine has published stories critical of the government. The SSS officers are occupying the building.
1191. On 20 September 2004, the Special Rapporteur sent a joint urgent appeal with the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, concerning Isaac Umunna, an editorial consultant for the Lagos-based weekly "Global Star" and general editor of the London-based magazine "Africa Today". According to the allegations received, on 9 September 2004, he was arrested by members of the State Security Service (SSS), and detained at its Lagos State headquarters. On 14 September, he was suffering from diarrhea and was taken to the SSS clinic where no doctor was available to attend to him. On 15 September, his wife was told that he had been transferred to another location.
1192. By letter dated 25 November 2004, the Government informed that he was invited by the State Security Service (SSS) to its headquarters in Abuja on 16 September 2004, in connection with national security investigations, and was released on the same day. He was seen off to the Abuja Airport by officials of the SSS, where he boarded a flight to Lagos.
1193. On 26 October 2004, the Special Rapporteur sent a joint urgent appeal with the
Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, the Special Rapporteur
on freedom of religion or belief, and the Special Rapporteur on violence against women,
regarding regarding Ms. Hajara Ibrahim, age 18, from Lere Local Government Area of
Bauchi State, and Ms. Daso Adamu, age 26, from Ningi Local Government. According to the
allegations received, they were both sentenced to death by stoning by sharia courts in Bauchi State following trials which were considered as unfair by their current legal representatives.
On 5 October 2004, Hajara Ibrahim was sentenced by a sharia court in Tafawa Balewa, after
she reportedly confessed to having had sex out of wedlock. According to the sharia court
judge, the sentence was subject to the approval of the Governor of the Bauchi state. Ms.
Ibrahim is currently seven months pregnant, and her sentence is supposed to be carried out
after she delivers the baby. The male co-accused was acquitted for lack of evidence. It is
further reported that, with the help of a local non-governmental organization (NGO), Hajara
Ibrahim appealed the sentence. Her appeal is scheduled for a hearing on 25 October 2004. On
15 September 2004, Daso Adamu was handed the same sentence by a sharia court of Ningi
area for extramarital relations. The male co-accused was acquitted for lack of evidence. She
was detained in Ningi Prisons with her three-month-old daughter, and released on bail
following the intervention of the local NGO. She has appealed her sentence, and her case at
the Upper Shari’a Court, Ningi was adjourned till 3 November 2004.
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This report has been published by Equipo Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights on July 27, 2005.