Thread by @Chxta

#Nigeria tells us that today is #ArmedForcesRemembrance Day, a day set aside for our “heroes” in uniform.

We'll do well to remember the lives that have been lost to various atrocities in this blood-stained country of ours... bit.ly/2N8cTdG

While there is no doubt to my mind that many officers in @HqNigerianArmy are heroes, think Sani Bello who saved the life of Gen. Ironsi’s ADC, Andrew Nwankwo, or Usman Jibrin, who flew many Igbo officers to safety during the pogroms of 1966...

or even Mohammed Shuwa, who ensured that Igbos were protected in the area under his command, the fact is that on the balance, @HqNigerianArmy has a murderous reputation, and as I once referred to them, are an equal opportunities brutaliser.

@HqNigerianArmy is only an arm of @NigeriaGov, and this video attempts to chronicle some of the atrocities committed in #Nigeria, by both state and non-state actors.

https://twitter.com/sbmintelligence/status/1349619760229564416

This is one of the tragedies of #Nigeria.

The number of people who have been killed in mass atrocities in the country since “independence” perhaps gets close to the 100,000 mark.

Imagine that!

Close to 100,000 people killed in various forms of mass murder, since 1960.

An average of 1640 each year.

Indeed, #Nigeria is a very violent place.

The real tragedy is that we don’t even bother to remember these human beings. We simply just “move on”.

That can’t be right.

So today, I’d like us to remember those fellow Nigerians, who have been killed after being rounded up.

I will list some of these atrocities below.

The details are in the article I linked at the start of this thread.

The Tiv Riots of the early 1960s in which an unknown number of people, but most definitely in the hundreds, were killed by soldiers.

The anti-Igbo pogroms in Northern Nigeria of July 1966 where up to 10,000 people were killed in revenge for the coup of January 1966.

The #AsabaMassacre of 7/10/1967 where up to 800 men and boys were murdered on the banks of the River Niger.

The Ugep Massacre of 24/12/1975 in which soldiers from @HqNigerianArmy's 13th Infantry Brigade accused the people of Ugep of killing their comrade & killed up to 65 of them in revenge the day before Christmas. It was later found that the soldier had been drunk and had a seizure.

The Bakolori Massacre of 28/4/1980, where the governor of Sokoto, Shehu Kangiwa ordered @policeNG on unarmed demonstrators.

More than 380 were killed according to villagers, but govt claimed that “only 25 had died” in a depressingly familiar pattern of downplaying human life.

The Yan Tatsine riots (I have to plug @TundeLeye here - bit.ly/3inonWk).

More than 5,000 people were killed in different incidents by @PoliceNG and @HqNigerianArmy over the course of four years starting in 1980.

The Umuechem killings of 1/11/1990, where up to 85 people were killed for demanding for roads, water & electricity from @Shell_Nigeria.

The Odi Massacre of 20/11/1999. V.Malu justified killing of up to 2,500 people in retaliation for the killing of 12 policemen days earlier.

The Zaki Biam Massacre which took place over 4 days starting from 20/10/2001. More than 200 were killed.

It is important to note that @HqNigerianArmy COS, Luka Yusuf, apologised for the Zaki Biam massacre in 2007, and President Umaru Yar’Adua also visited Benue to apologise.

The Ogaminana Massacre of 26/2/2008 led to the deaths of more than 50 people at the hands of @policeNG.

#Nigeria is still reaping the consequences of the extrajudicial killings of #BokoHaram members in Bauchi, Maiduguri, Potiskum and Wudil in July 2009.

The 2013 Baga Massacre happened on 19/4/2013.

Some sources say that 185 people were killed after the commander in charge accused the villagers of shielding #BokoHaram members.

In typical fashion, @HqNigrianArmy said that “only 37 people” were killed.

The Quds Day Massacre was on 25/7/2014. @HqNigerianArmy opened fire on members of @imnigeria_org who were taking part in a Quds day procession in Zaria, and killed up to 35 people, including three sons of Ibrahim Zakzaky.

The Nkpor Massacre was the killing of more than 80 pro-Biafra demonstrators in Onitsha.

The @HqNigerianArmy officer responsible ordered his troops to clear the road of all “miscreants”.

Three military trucks were used to cart away heaps of corpses afterwards.

The Zaria Massacre of 12 and 13/12/2015 was carried out because the Shiites blocked the convoy of the army chief and “touched his chest”.

A commission of inquiry by @contactkdsg found that 348 Shiites were killed, although @imnigeria_org says 1,061 people were killed.

The killings of October 2018 in which @HqNigerianArmy opened fire on Shiites marching during a religious procession "in self-defence".

@nytimes found otherwise in this video: bit.ly/3bDQAa1. No one has been held to account.

The #LekkiMassacre of 20/10/2020.

Just three months ago.

Do I need to dwell on this?

We watched it live, and it was in Nigeria’s richest commercial district. #EndSARS

What is the point of all this you may ask?

It is simple: in the 17 state-sanctioned killings I have listed above, not a single person has been brought to book. Indeed in some of them, the perpetrators (or those who shielded them) went on to be rewarded.

That is a clear message that impunity is okay.

That is not a good message to send, and to all who support such extrajudicial killings, the next victim could be me.

It could be you.

God rest the dead.