By Innocent Anaba in Geneva

Geneva—The Niger Delta Coalition of Universal Periodic Review has called on the Nigerian Government to take necessary steps to bring the perpetrators of the various acts of extra-judicial killings in the Niger Delta to justice.

The coalition, in a report to the 17thUPR session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, going on in Geneva, Switzerland, said: “During the four-year period after the review, rather than Nigeria improving on its record in promoting its citizen’s right to life, the country, particularly the Niger Delta region, has become a killing field, where innocent citizens have been extra-judicially killed in their hundreds by the Police and the various security forces established in different states.

“No officials have been implicated in these acts but the growing regime of impunity in the land has ensured that the culprits go unpunished.  The period under review has witnessed high incidences of the mindless and unlawful killings of numerous citizens by the police and their ilk. Unfortunately, most of these killings have not been investigated and the culprits go unpunished, thereby increasing the level of impunity among security and law enforcement agents in the region and contrary to the expectations inherent in UPR outcome recommendations, as recommended by some countries, Nigeria has not taken the necessary steps to bring the perpetrators of these various acts of extra-legal killings to justice.”

Noting the progress made since 1999 in overcoming a legacy of military dictatorship, with respect to reports of extra-judicial executions by the police, it called on the Nigerian government to ensure that all members of the security forces, including Police, operate within the law, because, “contrary to claims by the Nigeria delegation during the UPR, the Police and other security agents continue to kill innocent Nigerians extra- judicially with impunity.”

It noted that over 50 cases of extrajudicial killings in the Niger Delta between 2009 and 2012, were listed in its report, including January 4, 2010, when a Joint Task Force, JTF, soldier, allegedly shot one Mr Solomon Tonfa and Mr. Sunday Mala to death at Chevron’s Escravos Tank Farm Facility, Delta State of Nigeria.

“Our investigations indicated that in the evening of January 4, 2010, at Chevron Tank Farm in Escravos Gas To Liquid (EGTL) project site, workers who had closed work for the day were being conveyed by the company’s buses to their camp, all in the Escravas.

“Narrating the story, the brother of one of the deceased, Mr. Prince Tonfa, said that the bus was stopped at the 4th gate by OSL security men attached to the oil company.  An altercation between the security men and the workers ensued over carrying out checks on the tired workers. As this happened, it was learnt that one of the JTF officers identified as Hassan opened fire on the workers shooting to death two of them, Mr. Solomon Tonfa aged 47, and Mr. Sunday Mala aged 27 years while others were injured,” the report said.