Six years after, Amnesty International wants justice for murdered 640

Nigeria authorities have failed families of 640 recaptured detainees of Giwa Barracks, slaughtered by soldiers of the Nigerian Army, exactly six years ago, said Amnesty International, (AI) Nigeria, yesterday.

The global human rights group said on March 14, 2014, Boko Haram insurgents attacked Giwa Barracks in Maiduguri and fought their way into the detention facilities and freed several hundreds detainees. 

AI claimed it received credible evidence that, as the military regained control, more than 600 people, mostly unarmed recaptured detainees, were extra-judicially executed in various locations across Maiduguri. 

“We have repeatedly called on Nigerian authorities to initiate independent and effective investigations to ensure that those behind the massacre that happened six years ago face justice,” said Osai Ojigho, Director Amnesty International Nigeria. “Despite repeated promises by the present government to establish various committees to investigate the March 2014 killings, not a single person has been held responsible or brought to justice for the mass killings that is among the most horrific incidents perpetrated by the military in the ongoing conflict in the Northeast.”

The statement from the group, yesterday, said the fact that not a single person has been brought to justice for the Giwa Barracks massacre shows lack of genuine commitment to protecting human rights and a deliberate attempt to shield human rights violators from facing justice. 

The group added that families of victims have been waiting for justice in the last six years, and their wait is only getting longer and strengthening an already pervasive culture of impunity within the Nigerian military.