…Receives 261,483 Complaints
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has described the month of April as the “grimmest” in the past year with respect to human rights situation, lamenting that the month was dominated by widespread rights violations, forced displacements and unchecked violence among others.
The Executive Secretary of the Commission, Dr. Tony Ojukwu, SAN, disclosed this in an opening remarks during the formal presentation of the April 2025 Human Rights Situation Dashboard at the weekend.
This is as the April Dashboard revealed that 278 persons were kidnapped while 570 persons were killed within the month under review.
According to Ojukwu, “Our Observatory has documented alarming trends, widespread human rights violations, forced displacements, and unchecked violence, particularly in conflict-affected states of the country.
“Our Human Rights Situation in April was the grimmest we have seen in almost a year. The killings in Plateau and Benue States as well as the resurgence of the attacks by Boko Haram and ISWAP in Borno state have left hundreds of citizens dead and injured.”
Ojukwu noted that crisis in the middle belt of Nigeria is not new but it has persisted for decades as bloodshed continues while national discourse too often treats these atrocities as commonplace.
He stressed that this must not be allowed to continue, while calling on all to collectively tackle the menace, saying “We must collectively resist the normalization of the horrors that play out when families are slaughtered in their sleep, when children are laid to rest in shallow graves, when survivors are left without shelter, support, or justice.
“Nigeria must honour its national and international obligations to protect and fulfil the right to life and the right to the dignity of human person. Silence in the face of injustice is complicity. Every failure to name these violations, to investigate them, and to hold perpetrators accountable represents a betrayal of our national and moral responsibilities. It is reneging on our national, regional and international obligations to protect human rights.
“As an institution mandated to protect and promote human rights in Nigeria, the National Human Rights Commission urge governments at state and national levels, including our legislatures, the Nigerian Armed Forces and Law Enforcement Agencies to prioritise security of lives as a fundamental obligation of governance and human rights.”
The National Human Rights Commission reiterate our unwavering commitment to ensuring that these atrocities are not treated as routine incidents, but as the urgent human rights emergencies that they are.
He urged the federal government to ensure independent, impartial, and prompt investigations into all reported killings and displacements;
Comprehensive support services for survivors, with particular attention to the needs of women and children;
Accountability for all perpetrators, including state and non-state actors;
and sustained investment in peace building, justice mechanisms, and community-based reconciliation efforts.
Earlier, in a presentation, the Coordinator of the monthly NHRC Human Rights Situation Dashboard, Hillary Ogbonna, said that bandits and militia groups were responsible for majority of the killing incidents with 30 percent share of the killings nation wide.
Further, he disclosed that while incidents of sexual violence is 2,220, domestic violence constitutes 6,135.
