The Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED) has expressed outraged by the alarming rise in alleged extra judicial killings perpetrated by security operatives across Nigeria.
Comrade Ibrahim M. Zikirullahi
Executive Director of CHRICED, raised the alarm on Wednesday in a statement he personally signed.
According to him, the frequency and brazenness of these incidents—occurring within mere hours of each other—underscore a dangerous collapse of discipline, accountability, and respect for human life within the nation’s security institutions.
“CHRICED is particularly distressed by two harrowing incidents that have once again thrust Nigeria into the global spotlight for the wrong reasons.
” On April 26, 2026, a young National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member was reportedly gunned down inside his father’s compound in Dei Dei, Abuja, by personnel attached to a military brigade guard.
“While initial military statements attempted to frame the killing as a crossfire incident, eyewitnesses have reportedly contradicted this narrative, alleging that the officer later admitted the shooting was a “mistake.” A mistake that ended a promising life. A mistake that no family should ever have to endure.
“On that same day in Effurun, Delta State, Nigerians watched in horror as a police officer—captured on video—allegedly shot a young civilian in broad daylight over a suspected waybill parcel.
“The footage has ignited widespread outrage, reopening deep wounds about the unchecked brutality that citizens continue to face at the hands of those sworn to protect them,” Zikirullahi said.
The CHRICED boss saying that these killings are not random or isolated, stressed that they form part of a persistent and deadly pattern of state violence that Nigerians have protested for years.
He recalled that similar abuses triggered the historic #EndSARS movement, where young Nigerians demanded justice, dignity, and sweeping reforms of the security sector.
“Despite public commitments, MOUs, and reform promises made in the aftermath of those protests, the reality on the ground shows that little has changed. The killings continue. The impunity deepens. The promises remain unfulfilled.
“During the #EndBadGovernance protests of 2024, Amnesty International documented that at least 24 Nigerians were killed by police using excessive force. These were citizens exercising their democratic right to protest economic hardship. Their lives were cut short, and their families left with grief instead of justice,” he added.
He calls on the Federal Government to treat every alleged extra judicial killing as a matter of national urgency and public interest. Investigations must be independent, transparent, and time bound, with full prosecution of any officer found culpable.
“Families who have already suffered unimaginable loss should not be forced to fight alone for justice. The state must shoulder this responsibility,” Zikirullahi said.
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