7 MASSACRES/POLITICAL VIOLENCE KILLINGS IN NIGERIA HISTORY.

The following is a list of massacres/political violence killings that have occurred in over the past number of years in Nigeria (numbers may be approximate):

A THREAD

1. 2000 Kaduna riots

The 2000 Kaduna riots were religious riots in Kaduna involving Christians and Muslims over the introduction of sharia law in Kaduna State, Nigeria. It is unclear how many people were killed in the fighting between Muslims and Christians,

that lasted with peaceful intervals from 21 February until 23 May 2000; estimates vary from 1,000 to 5,000 deaths. When in February 2000, the governor of Kaduna announced the introduction of sharia to Kaduna State, of which non-Muslims form almost half of the population,

the Kaduna branch of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) organised a public protest against it in Kaduna city.Muslim youths then clashed with them and the situation spiraled out of control, with massive violence and destruction on both sides. The violence happened in

two main waves (sometimes referred to as "Sharia 1" and "Sharia 2"): a first wave from 21 to 25 February, with further killings in March, followed by a second wave from 22 to 23 May. The initial violence left more than 1,000 people dead; a judicial commission set up by the Kaduna

state government reported the official death toll to be 1,295. However, Human Rights Watch estimated the total number fatalities, including those from March and May and many from February the commission had not counted, to be much higher, somewhere between 2,000 and 5,000.

Several media reported a number of about or more than 2,000 deaths (and 2 to 300 deaths in May).[4][5] Eventually, the army interfered to end the bloody clashes when it became clear the police could not control them.

These became the first so-called "Sharia clashes", the start of the religious riots phase of the Sharia Conflict (1999–present).

2. Asaba massacre

The Asaba Massacre occurred in early October 1967, during the Biafran War, fought over the secession of Biafra (the predominantly-Igbo, former Eastern Region of Nigeria). Asaba (Igbo: Àhàbà) has an interesting ancestral lineage(its origin is linked to Ugboma,

Ezeanyanwu, and Nnebisi) though linguistically Igbo, it was never part of Biafra. The people of Asaba typically identify as Anioma. In August 1967, three months into the Biafran War, Biafran troops invaded the Midwest Region, to the west of the River Niger.

They spread west, taking Benin City and reaching as far as Ore, where they were pushed back by the Nigerian Second Division, under the command of Col. Murtala Muhammed. The Federal troops gained the upper hand, and forced the Biafrans back to the Niger,

where they crossed the bridge back into the Biafran city of Onitsha, which lies directly across from Asaba. The Biafrans blew up the eastern spans of the bridge, so that the Federal troops were unable to pursue them.

The Federal troops entered Asaba around 5 October, and began ransacking houses and killing civilians, claiming they were Biafran sympathisers. Reports suggest that several hundred may have been killed individually and in groups at various locations in the town.

Leaders summoned the townspeople to assemble on the morning of 7 October, hoping to end the violence through a show of support for "One Nigeria." Hundreds of men, women, and children, many wearing the ceremonial akwa ocha (white) attire paraded along the main street, singing,

dancing, and chanting "One Nigeria." At a junction, men and teenage boys were separated from women and young children, and gathered in an open square at Ogbe-Osowa village. Federal troops revealed machine guns, and orders were given, reportedly by Second-in-Command, Maj.

Ibrahim Taiwo, to open fire. It is estimated that more than 700 men and boys were killed, some as young as 12 years old, in addition to many more killed in the preceding days.
The bodies of some victims were retrieved by family members and buried at home.

But most were buried in mass graves, without appropriate ceremony. Many extended families lost dozens of men and boys. Federal troops occupied Asaba for many months, during which time most of the town was destroyed,

many women and girls were raped or forcibly "married," and large numbers of citizens fled, often not returning until the war ended in 1970. The total death toll during early October was in excess of 1,000, although the exact numbers will likely never be known.

3. Lekki tollgate massacre

On the night of 20 October 2020, at about 6:50 p.m, members of the Nigerian Army opened fire on peaceful End SARS protesters at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos State, Nigeria. Amnesty International stated that at least 12 protesters were killed

during the shooting, it is said the number is definitely higher. There have been complaints about missing persons and a few have been confirmed to be hospitalized and in critical condition. A day after the incident, on 21 October, the governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo

-olu, initially denied reports of any loss of lives, but later admitted in an interview with a CNN journalist that "only two persons were killed". The Nigerian Army who were the principal actors in the shooting initially denied that the shooting ever happened,

and that none of its personnel were present at the toll gate. They reaffirmed their position that the video footages of its personnel shooting into the crowd were 'photoshopped'. A week later, however, the Nigerian Army admitted to an investigative panel

in the presence of press, that it had deployed soldiers to the toll gate on the orders of the governor of Lagos State. The governor tweeted the next day and said “It is imperative to explain that no governor controls the rules of engagement of the army.” His tweet was

taken to mean that he had not made any such orders.
On Saturday 21 November, a month after the incident, in response to a CNN documentary on the shooting, the Nigerian Army admitted to the Lagos Judiciary panel of inquiry into the shooting that it had deployed its personnel

to the toll gate with both live and blank bullets. It maintained that it had done so for the 'protection of the force' in case of any attack by hoodlums who had infiltrated the protests. This would the first time the Nigerian Army has admitted to having live rounds at the Lekki

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Toll Gate. Admits it's admission of partaking, nonetheless, the Nigerian Army continues to deny that its members shot at and killed protesters. Nigerian disc jockey DJ Switch, made a livestream video of the shooting on her Instagram account. Though many other eyewitness videos

and footages surfaced in the aftermath of the shooting, the livestream would prove to be one of be decisive evidence of the shooting. In a video made on October 23, she clarified that she witnessed the shooting of seven people at the time she was live-streaming on Instagram.

She said that armed soldiers and police officers, shot at her and other peaceful #EndSARS protesters at the Lekki toll gate on the night of 20th October and among them, were officers of the disbanded SARS unit. She also said that the number of the dead increased to fifteen, but

that she did not get a chance to record further, as her phone battery had died. She further said at least 15 people were killed in the shootings and that her and other survivors took the victims’ bodies to the soldiers who took them away. She has since left the country for

Canada following threats to her life.

On November 18, a month after the incident, CNN aired a six-minute documentary on the shooting, the independent investigation showed geolocated photographs of victims and eyewitness accounts, as well as the families of victims,

alongside verified trended videos of the shooting using timestamps and data from video files. CNN said that Nigerian authorities refused to comment when they were contacted for clarifications. The documentary also revealed that in collaboration with the Balkan

Investigative Reporting Network, CNN was able to establish that several of the bullet casings from the Lekki Toll Gate, originated from Serbia from where Nigeria had imported bullets every year between 2005 and 2016. The documentary has given rise to another wave of outrage,

this time mostly towards the Nigerian authorities' changing narrative in the face of naked evidence. In its response, the Nigerian Army insists that its members were 'professional in their conduct' and did not breach rules of engagement. Nigeria's Minister of Information,

Lai Mohammed, accused CNN of 'irresponsible journalism' and described the documentary of the product of fake news and disinformation. On November 24, as part of its investigations into the shooting, CNN obtained and released CCTV footages from government surveillance cameras

overlooking the toll gate presented to the Lagos Judiciary panel of inquiry investigating police brutality, the abuses of the disbanded SARS and the toll gate shooting. The CCTV footage and other footages from the scene at the time showed soldiers shooting at protesters

from both ends of the Toll Gate. Corroborating a previous testimony given by the Lekki Concession Company to the panel, the footage stopped at about 8 pm because the CCTV had been tampered with ostensibly to provide cover for the shooting.

Though yet to provide any counter evidence, Nigerian authorities continue to deny that soldiers shot at protesters.

4. Persecution of Igbo

From June through October 1966, pogroms in the North killed an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 Igbo, half of them children, and caused more than a million to two million to flee to the Eastern Region. 29 September 1966, was considered the worst day;

because of massacres, it was called 'Black Thursday'.
Ethnomusicologist Charles Keil, who was visiting Nigeria in 1966, recounted: The pogroms I witnessed in Makurdi, Nigeria (late Sept. 1966) were foreshadowed by months of intensive anti-Ibo and anti-Eastern conversations among

Tiv, Idoma, Hausa and other Northerners resident in Makurdi, and, fitting a pattern replicated in city after city, the massacres were led by the Nigerian army. Before, during and after the slaughter, Col. Gowon could be heard over the radio issuing 'guarantees of safety' to all

Easterners, all citizens of Nigeria, but the intent of the soldiers, the only power that counts in Nigeria now or then, was painfully clear. After counting the disemboweled bodies along the Makurdi road I was escorted back to the city by soldiers

who apologized for the stench and explained politely that they were doing me and the world a great favor by eliminating Igbos.

5. 2013 Baga massacre

The Baga massacre began on 16 April 2013 in the village of Baga, Nigeria, in Borno State, when as many as 200 civilians were killed, hundreds wounded, and over 2,000 houses and businesses worth millions of Naira were destroyed.

Refugees, civilians officials, and human rights organizations accused the Nigerian Military of carrying out the massacre; some military officials blamed the insurgent group Boko Haram.

On the evening of 16 April, members of Boko Haram engaged government soldiers at a military post outside Baga, killing one of them. According to residents, soldiers returned with reinforcements supported by armored vehicles.

Soldiers then allegedly doused homes in Baga with gasoline and set fire to the village, shooting villagers who attempted to flee. Some attempting to escape into Lake Chad drowned there, while others were able to escape into the surrounding bush.

According to residents, the soldiers continued burning homes in Baga on April 17. Brigadier General Austin Edokpaye stated that only six civilians and one soldier were killed, while the army killed 30 "Boko Haram terrorists."

He further stated that only 30 "thatched houses" were burned and that the fires were started by Boko Haram's weapons. Residents and civilian officials alleged that as many as 200 people were killed and more than 2,000 homes were burned.

Casualties were reported to be especially high among children and the elderly. By April 17, 193 wounded victims had been admitted to a local health clinic.

Satellite images analyzed by Human Rights Watch indicate that at least 2,275 buildings were destroyed and another 125 buildings were severely damaged.

6. Dele Giwa (The Flaming Journalist) Bomb letter assassination.

Sumonu Oladele “Baines” Giwa was born in 1947 to a family who worked in the palace of Oba Adesoji Aderemi, the Ooni of Ife. After his secondary school education in Ile Ife, he headed to Brooklyn College,

USA to study English. In 1974, he married an American nurse. After his graduation in 1977, he proceeded to Fordham University for his graduate school. Upon return, he landed a job with Daily Times newspaper. He went on to marry former senator Florence Ita Giwa

but the marriage lasted 10 months. In 1984, he and other journalists Ray Ekpu, Dan Agbese and Yabuku Mohammed founded the Newswatch magazine. The magazine redefined investigative journalism in Nigeria.

That same year, he married to Olaufunmilayo Olaniyan. In 1985, the paper attracted the attention of the new military administration of General Ibrahim Babangida which it praised in the beginning.

By 1986, he had become a terror and irked the new administration because of the Newswatch criticisms.
He had written about the newly introduced Second-Tier Foreign Exchange Market (SFEM) and stated that if SFEM ( “God’s experiment”) failed,

people will “stone their leaders in the streets”. This did not go down well with the government who invited him to the State Security Service (SSS) office on the 19th of September 1986.

On the 9th of October, the deputy director of the SSS Lt. Col. A.K. Togun organised a meeting with airport journalists to state that any report that will embarrass the government be given to the SSS before publishing it.

Col Togun alleged that this meeting was also held with Dele Giwa and Alex Ibru of the Guardian Newspaper.
Again, on the 16th of October 1986, Giwa was questioned by Col Halilu Akilu of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) on the allegation that he was speaking

to people about arms importation and for attempting to write the “other side” of the story on the removal of Ebitu Ukiwe as Chief of the General staff to General Babangida in the cover of Power Games: Ukiwe loses out. After his return,

Giwa told his friend Prince Tony Momoh, the minister of Communications that he feared for his life but Momoh joked that it should not be taken seriously. The following day, a staff of DMI requested for his office number from his wife. Attempts to reach him at his office failed.

The following day, Giwa called to find out why there was a call and Akilu told him not to bother. 40 minutes after that, Giwa received a parcel which it turned out was a letter bomb. He was rushed to the hospital where his last words were to his friend and medical director

of First Foundation Medical Centre, Ikeja. According to a report, the veteran “ ‘in burning pains took a look at the Medical Director who was said to be his friend and told him: “Tosin, they’ve got me.”

He died on this day in 1986 at the age of 39.

7. M.K.O. Abiola death.

Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, (born August 24, 1937,Abeokuta, Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria—died July 7, 1998, Abuja, Nigeria), Nigerian business executive, philanthropist, and politician who is hailed as a figure of democratic change in Nigeria.

Abiola was born and raised in poverty but was a hard worker and a bright student. He attended the University of Glasgow, Scotland, on scholarship, graduating in 1963. He then studied at the Institute of Chartered Accountants, also in Scotland, graduating in 1965.

Abiola began working for ITT Nigeria in 1968; by 1971 he was its chief executive and chairman, posts he held until 1988. During that time he amassed an immense private fortune and became owner of a publishing house, a newspaper syndicate, and an airline, among other enterprises.

He was voted International Businessman of the Year in 1988. Abiola made generous donations for building schools, mosques, churches, libraries, and various development projects across Nigeria and became a popular public figure.

He also supported liberation movements in southern Africa and campaigns for reparations for slavery. After nearly a decade of military rule, democratic elections were held in Nigeria on June 12, 1993. Abiola ran as the presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party

in a two-party race. Observers declared the election to have been the freest and fairest in Nigerian history. Initial results indicated that Abiola, who had garnered votes across ethnic and religious divides, would be the clear winner of the election.

Before the official results were announced, however, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, the military leader, annulled the election. This provoked a political crisis. Abiola rallied domestic and international support in claiming the presidency that he appeared to have won,

which led to his 1994 arrest on a charge of treason by the military regime then led by Gen. Sani Abacha. During his imprisonment Abiola was deprived of outside news and subjected to solitary confinement and abuse that included negligent medical care.

His release seemed imminent following the death of General Abacha in June 1998. However, Abiola died suddenly under mysterious circumstances, arousing suspicions of foul play, although a heart attack was officially declared to be the cause of death.

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