Nigeria continues to convulse in indignant protests over allegations that a minimum of 12 individuals have been killed by safety forces at a toll gate in Lagos on October 20. They have been participating within the EndSARS protests in opposition to Nigeria’s notoriously violent Particular Anti-Theft Squad.

Numerous movies of the Lekki bloodbath have been uploaded on-line. Greater than 100,000 individuals witnessed the gradual, agonising demise of a younger Nigerian in real-time on Instagram. Subsequent footage of younger Nigerians affected by gunshot wounds inflicted by the armed forces have bolstered the message of the EndSARS protesters – that Nigeria is a rustic the place persons are killed for peacefully protesting the killing of protesters. A tragic irony.

The day after the shootings, Nigeria’s Socio-Financial Rights and Accountability Challenge requested the Worldwide Prison Courtroom (ICC) to conduct a immediate investigation into studies of the Nigerian authorities’s intimidation and killings of EndSARS protesters. The ICC’s prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, mentioned she was “preserving a detailed eye on developments”.

In mild of the overwhelming world response to the Lekki bloodbath, and due to the wealth of digital proof, the Nigerian authorities is at critical danger of being investigated internationally for what occurred.

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#EndSARS: How Nigeria can faucet into its youthful inhabitants

Historical past of violence

It’s comparatively frequent for armed forces to open hearth on peaceable protesters in Nigeria. Solely two years in the past, the Guards Brigade opened hearth on protesters belonging to the Islamic Motion in Nigeria (IMN) in Abuja. The US State Division reported that 39 individuals have been killed, and a minimum of 100 have been injured because of the taking pictures.

There are numerous similarities between the shootings of October 2018 and people of October 2020. Peaceable protesters have been barricaded, armed forces fired dwell rounds into crowds of civilians indiscriminately, persevering with to take action whilst civilians retreated.

However reactions to each massacres have been markedly completely different. The IMN was portrayed by the federal government as violent, with its targets equated to these of the militant Boko Haram sect. The federal government justified the hard-handed response of Nigeria’s armed forces inside the overarching narrative of a warfare in opposition to a distant, horrible and uncompromising enemy of the state.

The federal government managed the movement of knowledge concerning the 2018 incident, and consequently, the favored narrative. It opened an inside investigation into the incident however didn’t publish its findings, and no navy or police have been held accountable.

In distinction, the Lekki bloodbath was carried out in one of the vital prosperous, densely populated neighbourhoods within the nation. This time, the victims couldn’t be labelled as “terrorists”. They have been younger city-dwellers. Lagos is a business hub populated with tech-savvy, enterprising people. So it comes as no shock that the user-generated protection of the bloodbath was unprecedented in Nigeria’s historical past.

The character of the alleged actions of the Nigerian safety forces fall underneath the jurisdiction of the ICC. There are substantive causes to analyze whether or not crimes in opposition to humanity have been dedicated underneath the court docket’s Rome Statute, together with crimes of homicide, outrages upon private dignity and intentional assaults in opposition to civilians.

The ICC has beforehand famous that Nigerian authorities have hindered the prosecution of crimes when their very own safety forces are concerned. Beneath the phrases of the ICC, as a result of the Nigerian authorities is alleged to be complicit in what occurred at Lekki and would arguably be unable or unwilling to prosecute these accountable, the worldwide court docket would have grounds to analyze.

Digital proof could possibly be damning

Till now, the Nigerian authorities has relied on a three-part technique of oppression: stifling info flows about its repressive acts in opposition to residents, a crippled judicial system and a monopoly of using armed violence to keep up management. This might clarify the previous confidence of Nigerian armed forces to threaten, kill and even fail to eliminate the bodily proof of their actions.

However that’s the place the federal government made a important error of judgement on the Lekki toll gate. Violently participating a peaceable motion which relied on a real-time uninterrupted movement of details about its targets and actions was at odds with the three-part technique. It ought to have been obvious to the federal government that it might not be doable to stifle what came about.

It’s more and more frequent for worldwide prison investigations to depend on open-source intelligence to establish, doc and confirm human rights atrocities by utilizing publicly accessible social media content material. Any investigation would additionally must search for bodily proof and first-hand testimonies to corroborate digital proof.

Taken collectively, these elements not solely neutralise Nigeria’s three-part technique of oppression, however minimise its leeway to evade ICC jurisdiction.

The Lekki bloodbath was carried out in view of a world ecosystem of credible digital forensic specialists, and at a time when the ICC has already demonstrated its willingness to depend on open-source info. The admissibility of digital proof rising from the scenes of the Lekki bloodbath on the ICC is extra possible than ever earlier than. If these movies fulfill the three checks of relevance, probative worth and absence of prejudicial impact, they could possibly be used to prosecute a case in opposition to authorities officers.

Dropping management

The federal government is slowly coming to phrases with this realisation. The Nigerian military has been frantically attempting to regain management of the narrative. The day earlier than the violence in Lagos, it had launched operation Crocodile Smile, an annual train to, “Establish, monitor and counter adverse propaganda within the social media and throughout the our on-line world”.

Within the wake of the violence, the military then issued a collection of statements branding information studies from respected retailers (together with the New York Instances and Reuters) as faux information.

Though the Lagos State authorities has promised to analyze the Lekki shootings, the accusatory denial by the military reveals a realisation it may not get away with a bloodbath within the age of desktop sleuths.

Olamide Samuel doesn’t work for, seek the advice of, personal shares in or obtain funding from any firm or group that will profit from this text, and has disclosed no related affiliations past their tutorial appointment.