For Immediate Release:

Nigeria: Government Critics at Risk After Political Killings

(New York, September 19, 2002) - Critics of the Anambra state government
in southeastern Nigeria have been receiving death threats following the
assassination of Barnabas Igwe and his wife on September 1, 2002, Human
Rights Watch said today.

Igwe, chairman of the Onitsha branch of the National Bar Association
(NBA), had been an outspoken critic of Anambra state Governor Chinwoke
Mbadinuju. Close colleagues who had also criticized the governor have
faced threats and intimidation before and since his assassination.

"There is strong, credible evidence that Igwe and his wife were targeted
for political reasons - because of Igwe's and the NBA's public criticism
of the Anambra state government's performance," said Peter Takirambudde,
executive director of the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch. "Their
deaths highlight the risks faced by other critics of the government."

Human Rights Watch called for an independent and impartial investigation
into the killings and the prosecution of those responsible.

Barnabas Igwe and his wife Abigail, also a lawyer, were killed in
Onitsha on September 1, the day after they returned from the
southwestern town of Ibadan where they had attended a national
conference of the NBA. They were traveling home when a group of
assailants attacked them with machetes and shot them several times, then
ran them over with their vehicle. According to the police, the
perpetrators did not steal anything from the victims.

In the days preceding the killing, Igwe and other close colleagues who
had denounced abuses by the state government received direct threats
from senior officials in the Anambra state government, face to face and
through telephone calls on personal mobile phones. The threats were
explicitly linked to criticisms by Igwe and his colleagues of the state
government's failure to pay the salaries of government workers for
several months. The lawyers had given the government a 21-day ultimatum
to pay the salary arrears or resign; they had made these calls in public
statements, widely broadcast through the media. State government
officials had previously made repeated attempts to silence them, for
example by offering bribes to withdraw their statements, which they
rejected.

Human Rights Watch is urging the Anambra state and federal governments
to take all measures necessary to ensure the safety of Igwe's colleagues
and to take prompt action against any official engaged in intimidation,
threats or other abuses.

"We were alarmed to hear that people very close to the victims have been
receiving death threats even since the killing of Igwe and his wife -
including the very day after the killings, when at least one person was
told that he would be next. We are extremely worried for their safety,"
said Takirambudde.

Human Rights Watch is also concerned at reports that the police
attempted to prevent a rally from taking place in Onitsha on September
18, organized by the NBA to express solidarity for the victims and to
demand action. Apparently the police had been told that there would be
violence at the rally. However, the organizers were simply planning a
peaceful protest to condemn the killings and commemorate the victims.

"The authorities are responsible for ensuring that the police protect
those taking part in peaceful demonstrations, whatever their message,"
said Takirambudde.

Human Rights Watch also called for the immediate release of two
relatives of Igwe, who were arrested on September 12 for distributing
posters protesting the killing and demanding justice, and detained by
police in the state capital Awka.

In response to accusations by the NBA and others that he was personally
involved in planning the killing of Igwe and his wife, Governor
Mbadinuju announced that he would set up a panel of inquiry. He has
denied any involvement in the killing and has reportedly offered three
different theories: that Igwe and his wife were killed by armed robbers
(a theory the police have ruled out); that Igwe may have been targeted
by people from his local community; and that the governor's own
political opponents had orchestrated the killing with the specific
intention of blaming it on the governor.

"Only an independent investigation can reveal the truth and identify the
real perpetrators," said Takirambudde. "In view of the pattern of
politically-motivated abuses in Anambra state in the last few years, and
the impunity which has protected those responsible, we believe that an
investigation should be set up by the federal government - especially in
the face of allegations that the Anambra state governor himself may be
personally implicated."

Investigators should not include members of the state government or any
other individuals who may have a direct interest in the outcome of the
investigation.

"We are calling on the police, judicial authorities and federal
government of Nigeria to ensure that those responsible for the murder of
Igwe and his wife, as well as other cases of political killings, are
brought to justice promptly and to end the impunity which has protected
the perpetrators of such abuses until now," said Takirambudde.

Human Rights Watch said that the Anambra state government should
cooperate fully with the criminal investigation and should initiate
disciplinary measures including suspension, as appropriate, of any state
government officials responsible for issuing death threats.

This is not the first time that opponents of the Anambra state
government have been targeted. In a report published in May 2002, Human
Rights Watch and the Lagos-based Centre for Law Enforcement Education
documented several other cases of politically motivated killings,
arrests and torture by the Bakassi Boys, a vigilante group used by the
Anambra state government to intimidate its opponents. Among those
targeted for their perceived opposition to the state government were
Prophet Eddie Okeke, killed in November 2000; Chief Ezeodumegwu G.
Okonkwo, a local government chairman killed in February 2001; and
Ifeanyi Ibegbu, minority leader of the Anambra State House of Assembly,
detained and tortured by the Bakassi Boys in August 2000. No one has
been prosecuted in these cases.

For more information, please contact:

In London, Carina Tertsakian: +44-20-7713-2783
In Brussels, Jean-Paul Marthoz: +32-2-732-2009
In New York, Peter Takirambudde: +1-212-216-1834

--
Jeff Scott
Africa Division
Human Rights Watch
Phone: +1-212-216-1834
Fax: +1-212-736-1300
http://www.hrw.org/africa/index.php
en français, http://www.hrw.org/french/africa/