Human Rights Complaints in April Doubles Jan-March
…as Commission Receives 261,483 Complaints
By Raphael Ekpang
Abuja (Core Reporters) The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) April’s Dashboard has shown that there was an upsurge in human rights violation cases across the country. The commission received 261,483 Complaints, the number that is higher than January to March 2025’s Complaints put together.
However, In his speech at the commission’s monthly human rights situation Dashboard presentation in Abuja, the Executive Secretary, Dr. Tony Ojukwu (SAN) said the number of complaints received in April by the Commission represented only the visible portion of a much deeper crisis. “Our Observatory has documented alarming trends, widespread human rights violations, forced displacements, and unchecked violence, particularly in conflict-affected states of the country. “
Ojukwu said, “ Our Human Rights Situation in April was the grimmest we have seen in almost a year. The killings in Plateau and Benue States as well as the resurgence of the attacks by Boko Haram and ISWAP in Borno state have left hundreds of citizens dead and injured.
“Nigeria is a signatory to international human rights instruments and have also enacted constitutional provisions and laws protecting the human person. In particular, section 14(2)(b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria provides that “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government”. This immutable constitutional injunction and governance imperative has come under series of violations over the course of April 2025.
“The crisis in the middle belt of Nigeria is not new. It has persisted for decades. Yet the bloodshed continues, and our national discourse too often treats these atrocities as commonplace. This must not be allowed to continue. We must collectively resist the normalization of the horrors that play out when families are slaughtered in their sleep, when children are laid to rest in shallow graves, when survivors are left without shelter, support, or justice. Nigeria must honour its national and international obligations to protect and fulfil the right to life and the right to the dignity of human person.
“Silence in the face of injustice is complicity. Every failure to name these violations, to investigate them, and to hold perpetrators accountable represents a betrayal of our national and moral responsibilities. It is reneging on our national, regional and international obligations to protect human rights,” he said.
While presenting the April situation Dashboard, Mr. Hillary Ogbonna, said North Central has continued to lead other regions with the number of human rights violations, saying that in April NC recorded 93, 091 cases, followed by the North West with 54, 051, South South with 39, 312, South West -30, 420, North East-28, 417 and South East with 16, 192 complaints.
On Gender based violations, domestic violence has continued to top the chat with 6, 135 I’m April, as well as Sexual violence with 2, 220 and Rape with 11 complaints.
Child’s abandoned has remained on a steady increase. Ogbonna noted that has been the real issue in Child’s rights violations, saying that it triggers multiple human rights violations.
He pointed out that the month of April recorded 570 killings across the country with 60% domicile in Benue, Borno and Plateau. Benue recorded 139 killings in April, likewise Borno with 85, Plateau 119 and other 33 states including FCT together recorded 227 killings.
These killings did not included death by accident of any kind, but rather death orchestrated by the action on none actors such as Bandits, Boko Haram, Lakawura, Vigilante among others.
