HRA Chairman Saad Kassis-Mohamed Raises Alarm Over Extrajudicial Killings In Nigeria
Cape Town May 2026: The Human Rights Association (HRA) today raises formal alarm over a documented and worsening pattern of extrajudicial killings by Nigerian security forces and calls on the Federal Government of Nigeria to hold all personnel responsible for unlawful killings to full criminal account, to dismantle the institutional conditions that enable impunity, and to ensure that the right to life guaranteed under Section 33(1) of the Nigerian Constitution is applied without exception to every Nigerian citizen regardless of the security context in which they encounter the state.
On 26 April 2026, Mene Ogidi, a 28-year-old delivery man, was restrained to the ground and shot at close range by Assistant Superintendent of Police Nuhu Usman in Effurun, Delta State. The killing was filmed and the footage was widely circulated. Mr Ogidi was delivering a package and posed no threat to the officer. The day before, on 25 April 2026, Abdulsamad Jamiu, a serving member of the National Youth Service Corps, was shot and killed in his father’s compound in the Dei-Dei area of Abuja by personnel from the Guards Brigade Quick Response Force. The military initially described the incident as a crossfire. The officer subsequently admitted it was a mistake. Mr Jamiu’s family have rejected both accounts. Two killings. Two days. Two different arms of Nigeria’s security apparatus. Neither victim was a criminal. Neither posed a threat. Neither is alive.
The HRA’s review of documented cases confirms that these incidents are not exceptional. They are the most recent and most visible manifestation of a pattern of unlawful killing by Nigerian security forces that has persisted without adequate accountability for years. On 1 January 2026, Timothy Daniel, a 13-year-old boy, was shot in the head by a soldier in Ikot Abasi, Akwa Ibom State. In Owerri, Imo State, the HRA has reviewed documented accounts of the Tiger Base police unit, a facility established to combat kidnapping and armed robbery that has instead been found to operate as a site of unlawful killing, torture, forced disappearances, and systematic extortion. Japhet Njoku, a security guard, died in Tiger Base detention in May 2025 after being beaten to death in his cell. Court-ordered autopsy proceedings have been frustrated on four separate occasions by Tiger Base officers. The HRA has further reviewed documented accounts of individuals shot and killed by police using excessive force during the 2024 protests against governance failures, across multiple states including Kano, Jigawa, Katsina, Kaduna, and Maiduguri, with numerous victims shot at close range.
Five years have passed since the EndSARS protests and the disbandment of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad. The conditions that generated those protests have not been resolved. The HRA’s assessment of documented cases confirms that extortion, arbitrary detention, torture, and unlawful killing by police and military personnel continue without meaningful accountability. The officer who shot Mene Ogidi in Delta State was arrested and dismissed from service. That is a step. It is not a system. A system would have prevented the killing. A system would not require a viral video to trigger a response. A system would not leave the family of Abdulsamad Jamiu disputing a military account that the officer himself has already contradicted.
The HRA notes that Nigeria has a constitutional and international legal framework that prohibits extrajudicial killing without exception. Section 33(1) of the Constitution is unambiguous. Nigeria is a signatory to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, both of which impose binding obligations on the state to protect the right to life and to investigate and prosecute violations. The Federal Government’s failure to implement structural reform of its security forces following years of documented abuse and repeated international findings is not a failure of capacity. It is a failure of political will. The HRA calls on the Federal Government to demonstrate that will now.
HRA Chairman Saad Kassis-Mohamed stated: “Mene Ogidi was restrained on the ground and shot at point-blank range by a police officer in Delta State. Abdulsamad Jamiu was killed in his father’s compound in Abuja by soldiers who later said it was a mistake. A 13-year-old boy was shot in the head in Akwa Ibom. A security guard was beaten to death in a police detention facility in Owerri and officers have refused to comply with a court-ordered autopsy on four separate occasions. The HRA has reviewed documented cases of this pattern across Nigeria spanning years. Five years after EndSARS, the killing continues and the impunity deepens. Nigeria has a constitution that guarantees the right to life. It has signed international treaties that require accountability for violations of that right. The Federal Government must stop managing individual incidents and start dismantling the conditions that produce them. Every Nigerian who encounters a security officer is entitled to leave that encounter alive.”
“Mene Ogidi was restrained on the ground and shot at point-blank range by a police officer. Abdulsamad Jamiu was killed in his father’s compound by soldiers who said it was a mistake. The HRA has reviewed documented cases of this pattern across Nigeria spanning years. Five years after EndSARS, the killing continues and the impunity deepens. The Federal Government must stop managing individual incidents and start dismantling the conditions that produce them. Every Nigerian who encounters a security officer is entitled to leave that encounter alive.”
Saad Kassis-Mohamed, Chairman, Human Rights Association
The HRA calls specifically on the Federal Government of Nigeria to ensure that all security personnel responsible for unlawful killings are prosecuted in civilian courts in accordance with Nigerian law and international human rights standards; to order an independent investigation into the Tiger Base facility in Owerri and all comparable detention facilities operated by the Nigeria Police Force, with findings published in full; to ensure that the families of Mene Ogidi, Abdulsamad Jamiu, Timothy Daniel, and Japhet Njoku receive full accountability for the circumstances of their deaths and access to appropriate remedy; to implement without further delay the structural reforms to the Nigeria Police Force required to end the institutional culture of impunity that has persisted since the EndSARS protests; and to ensure that any expansion of the police force is conditional on mandatory human rights training and subject to independent oversight.
The Human Rights Association is an initiative of the WeCare Foundation, Cape Town, an international human rights organisation working to protect the rights of individuals facing unjust detention, denial of medical care, and due process violations, and engaging directly with United Nations mechanisms to advocate on their behalf. For more information, visit wcrfoundation.com/human-rights-association.