Late former president, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (Rtd), has been described as one of Nigeria?s most notorious human rights violators whose government was so intolerant of opposing views so much so that peaceful protesters were slaughtered like chickens by security forces under the directive of Buhari himself.

Making the damning allegations is the prominent pro-democracy and civil rights advocacy group Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), which also stated that during the eight years reign of the late President Muhammadu Buhari, the entire North West became militarised by armed non-state actors made up essentially of terrorists sharing the same Ethnic orientation like the then president who made no transparent efforts to confront and dismantle the armed Fulani insurgents who made the North West a no-go area and even carried out deadly attacks in the federal capital territory including the invasion of the prison facility in Kuje Abuja in which over a thousand hardened terrorists detained in that facility disappeared and have not been re-arrested till today. The Rights group blamed the late President Buhari for the bombing of the Catholic church in Owo Ondo state in which over 40 worshippers were killed even as hundreds of Churches across the North were bombed and many Christians and Pastors were killed or kidnapped.

Buhari according to HURIWA, would be remembered as the then opposition leader who came to power in the year 2015 with a groundswell of promises to respect the rule of law, promote the human rights of citizens but Muhammadu Buhari?s tenure as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which ended on May 29 2023 after eight years, was characterised by blatant disobedience of a number of court orders, waged unrelenting clamp down on innocent Nigerian youths, and undertook severe attacks on the press freedom.

HURIWA recalled that in his inaugural address for his first four-year term on May 29, 2015, he said ?the federal executive under my watch will not seek to encroach on the duties and functions of the legislative and judicial arms of government. The law enforcing authorities will be charged to operate within the Constitution.?

Besides, in many public statements, the then President pledged that his government would implement transparaent measures to guarantee press freedom and to upholding the rule of law but the Buhari?s administration was a notorious violator of human rights of the citizens and he deployed the security services to harass the then leadership of the National Assembly. He was re-elected on Feb. 23, 2019 and after receiving a certificate of return, the then President Buhari restated his government?s decision to work in compliance with the constitution when he said thus: ?the hard work to deliver a better Nigeria continues, building on the foundations of peace, rule of law and opportunities for all.?

HURIWA however carpeted the administration of the late President Muhammadu Buhari for entering the evil book as the most brutal human rights violator who used security agencies to kill off perceived opponents who dared to stage peaceful protests including the Zaria based Shiite Islamic sect whose membered were mauled down to their gruesome deaths by soldiers and police operatives using the presidential orders handed to them by the late President Muhammadu Buhari.

?If the history of human rights in Nigeria is to be written today, the government of the late President Muhammadu Buhari will rank as the most disgusting thing to have happened in the body politics of Nigeria?

The government of President Buhari staged and continued the brutal clampdown on the members of the pro-secessionists Indigenous People of Biafra including the kidnapping of the Director of IPOB Mazi Nnamdi Kanu from Nairobi Kenya, an action that has recently been deemed as criminal and unlawful by a High Court in Kenya. The government of the then president Buhari created security nightmares in the South-East region of the Federal Republic of Nigeria under the guise of seeking to crush the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). Hundreds of Igbo youths were slaughtered by security forces and armed non-state actors identified as unknown gunmen during the tenure of the late President Muhammadu Buhari. Buhari?s administration allowed armed herders to attack farming communities all across the Country leading to the decision by the south West governors to set up the Amotekun militia which Bihari opposed.

?THERE is no gainsaying, without any shadow of doubts that during the brutal eight years of the Buhari?s administration the press faced several attacks in clear violation of the provision of the Constitution that mandates journalists to hold power to account (section 22). Also, the controversial Cybercrime Act became law in 2015, many media outlets and journalists have witnessed attacks from authorities for doing critical journalism.

The publisher and editor-in-chief of Weekly Source Newspaper in Bayelsa, Jones Abiri was arrested in 2016 by the State Security Service (SSS) for alleged links to armed militancy in the Niger Delta. He was not released until two years later, recalled HURIWA.

Abiri was re-arrested in March 2019 and spent another seven months in prison before being granted bail by the Federal High Court in Abuja, after an intense campaign by media rights activists including HURIWA.

Besides, in the year 2018, police arrested Azeezat Adedigba, a reporter at Premium Times, to track her colleague, Samuel Ogundipe. The latter was in detention for five days over allegations that he had classified documents capable of causing a breach of national security and a breakdown of law and order.

For using his Facebook account to call out the federal government on the poor state of the nation, SSS arrested Ibrahim Dan-Halilu, a former editor with Daily Trust, in Aug. 2019. He was detained in Kaduna for 11 days without access to his relatives.

Buhari?s administration heavily invested in the acquisition of surveillance equipment for its security agencies. Media reports stated that In fact, Nigeria?s Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) has since 2015 acquired equipment to spy on phone conversations and oftentimes, journalists are targeted with this technology.

Also during the last elections conducted by the administration, journalists were harassed and arrested while carrying out their duties.

Under the nose of the then President Buhari, the officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) became ruthlessly notorious for clamping down on Nigerian youths as they subject them to public shame through media parades in their hunt for internet fraudsters. Their names and pictures are spread on social media, before a trial has convicted them.

Buhari?s administration was remarkable for committing several cases of extrajudicial killings even when Section 33 (1) of the 1999 Constitution guarantees the right to life for all Nigerians but the manner security agencies, including the army, were deployed to suppress civil liberties was some of the most egregious violations of constitutional freedoms in the World in the 21st century.

HURIWA recalled vividly that around December 2015, the Nigerian Army launched an attack on members of the country?s Shia community, killing hundreds of people just as today, many families still carry the scars. The military claimed that the Shia Muslims attempted to assassinate former Chief of Army Staff when the incidents occurred but multiple sources who spoke with the media, however, insisted the soldiers killed scores without any threat to Buratai?s safety. The National HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION OF NIGERIA exonerated the then Army chief General Tukur Buratai of the unlawful killings.

HURIWA recalled that the IMN members were planning to celebrate the first day of Rabi? al-Awwal when the soldiers arrived at the venue of their programme. As the arguments between the soldiers and the IMN members got intense, the soldiers reportedly opened fire on the people, killing scores. They later proceeded to the residence of El-Zakzaky, where hundreds of people were hiding.

According to Amnesty International, the incident led to the death of hundreds of people and many were allegedly buried secretly by the army in a mass grave and 23 families were said to have been wiped out of existence.

In October 2020, soldiers in another case of gross human rights violations inflicted a war-grade assault on the Oyigbo community in Rivers state, after mobs suspected to be members of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) killed some security personnel.

Even as the military authorities claimed that troops were deployed to the town to fish out terrorists who murdered soldiers and police officers, on-the-ground investigations revealed that soldiers inflicted bloodshed on the town.

Reliable information emerged revealing how soldiers sent on a peacekeeping assignment to Cross River communities fighting over a parcel of land at the boundary for nearly a century became murderous in Aug. 2022.

HURIWA observed that although the International Humanitarian Law, to which Nigeria is a party, provides that the military must take precautions to minimise harm to civilians during armed conflict, soldiers deployed to Nko used extreme force on residents. The rules of engagement governing internal military operations were flagrantly violated by the military forces with the tacitly approval of the late President Muhammadu Buhari.

HURIWA notes that the Nigerian Police have a history of brutality and disrespect for the rule of law. For years, its officers have been accused of disregarding the human rights of accused persons, violently suppressing protests, infringing on fundamental rights, and corruption. HURIWA recalled that the Nigerian Police degenerated under the watchful eyes of Buhari just as many cases of extra legal execution of detainees in police detention facilities were alleged.

All of these led to the #EndSARS protests against the activities of the operatives of the police?s Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS). For weeks in October 2020, many Nigerian youths protested against all forms of irregularities by the police unit. The protests led to the disbandment of the police tactical squad.

But soldiers were deployed by Buhari to the epicentre of the nationwide protests at Lekki Tollgate on Oct. 20, 2020, killing a number, how many is still not confirmed. Many innocent Nigerians were also arrested randomly after the incident. Media reports claimed that over 40 peaceful protesters were killed and their corpses stolen by the military forces responsible for the dastardly crimes of crime against humanity.

Aside from this, security forces used excessive unnecessary force, including lethal force, against peaceful demonstrators on different occasions, a development that grossly negates the core democratic tenets of freedom of assembly, association, and expression.

?It was painful that #RevolutionNow protesters, June 12 protesters, Yoruba Nation agitators, and many other groups were criminalised by security operatives who under Buhari did not see protests as an essential element of democracy,? Kemi Afolabi, a concerned Nigerian brutalised during a protest in 2021 told the media.

HURIWA recalled that there was also a pattern of failure to comply with court judgements under Buhari?s administration. This, according to human rights lawyers, was a mockery of the law.

Under his watch, the SSS became notorious for disobeying court orders and he did not at any point publicly condemn the security operatives for disobeying the courts.

HURIWA alluded to the case of Omoyele Sowore, an online publisher arrested in 2019 over allegations that he wanted to overthrow Buhari. Despite a court order that freed him on bail, he was not released until he spent 134 days in detention. Even in broad daylight, SSS invaded the court to re-arrest him after he had been granted bail.

The Buhari?s administration no doubt disregarded court judgments with impunity and has entered the history book as one administration that made impunity and lawlessness by government officials as the hallmarks of his eight years of administration of Nigeria.

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