“Torture
has become such an integral part of policing in Nigeria that many
stations have an informal torture officer, Amnesty International says.
Both
the military and police use a wide range of torture methods including
beatings, nail and teeth extractions and other sexual violence, it says.
One woman accused of theft in Lagos said she was sexually assaulted,
and had tear gas sprayed into her vagina.
The Nigerian government has not yet responded to the rights group's report.
Extrajudicial executions
The use of torture is particularly extreme in the north-east in the war against Boko Haram Islamist militants, Amnesty says.
The
UK-based rights group says between 5,000 and 10,000 people have been
arrested there since 2009, and executions in overcrowded detention
facilities are common.
A
teenage boy, pictured at the top, was among 50 people arrested by the
army in Pokiskum in Yobe state last year on suspicion being a member of
the Boko Haram.
At
the time he was 15 years old and spent three weeks in custody in
Damaturu and said he was beaten continuously with gun butts, batons and
machetes.
Torture chamber testimony: Chinwe in Anambra state
Arrested
in 2013 along with other hotel staff after two guns and a human skull
were found. They were beaten, detained in a van for hours and then taken
to an anti-robbery squad centre in Awkuzu.
"I was thrown inside a cell. I noticed a written sign on the wall 'Welcome to hell fire'… I was taken to the interrogation room.
"There was a police officer at one end with two suspects who were chained together.
"I
saw ropes streaming down from the ceiling tops, bags of sand elevated
on the perimeter wall fence of the hall and all types of rod and metal
in different shapes and sizes.
"I
heard shouts and screams from torture victims… I saw buckets of water
on standby in case anybody faints or opts to die before appending
[their] signature to already written statements."
The
officer questioned him, tied his hands and legs, passed a rod between
them and elevated him from a perimeter wall. They poured water on him
whenever he passed out. He was charged with murder, has since been freed
on bail and is awaiting trial.
The
boy told Amnesty that melted plastic was poured on his back and he was
asked to walk and roll over broken bottles in a hole, and cold water was
poured on him and others.
The scope and severity of torture inflicted... is shocking to even the most hardened human rights observer”
A former soldier who served at Damaturu confirmed that torture was routinely used at the camp.
"An electrified baton is used on a person to make them talk," he told Amnesty.
"They
tie people with their hands stretched behind their arms… people kept
like that for six or seven hours lose their hands, people kept like that
much longer can even die," he said.
Amnesty says the report was compiled using 500 interviews during 20 separate visits to Nigeria since 2007.
"Across
the country, the scope and severity of torture inflicted on Nigeria's
women, men and children by the authorities supposed to protect them is
shocking to even the most hardened human rights observer," Amnesty's
Netsanet Belay said in a statement.
The 24-year-old woman sexually assaulted with tear gas says the abuse has left her with a permanent injury.
"A
policewoman took me to a small room, told me to remove everything I was
wearing. She spread my legs wide and fired tear gas into my vagina… I
was asked to confess that I was an armed robber… I was bleeding… up till
now I still feel pain in my womb," she said.
She has been charged with theft and remains in custody awaiting trial 10 months after her arrest.
Even
though torture is prohibited under the constitution, Amnesty notes that
Nigeria's politicians have yet to pass a bill to criminalise it.
It says security forces enjoy a climate of impunity and the criminal justice system is riddled with corruption.”
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