A prominent civil rights advocacy group, Democracy Watch Initiative (DWI), has asked the federal government to investigate and prosecute officials implicated in widespread human rights violations during the eight-year administration of former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, from 2015 to 2023.
In a press release issued yesterday, DWI’s director of Strategic Communication, Dr. Tunji Bamidele, accused El-Rufai’s government of fostering an era of “violence, oppression and blatant disregard for civil liberties” even as it pursued ambitious infrastructural and governance reforms.
The group painted a grim picture of a regime that allegedly prioritised political power over the protection of fundamental rights, citing a litany of incidents that it said left an indelible stain on Nigeria’s democratic fabric.
Key among the allegations are the 2015 Zaria Shiite massacre, where security forces under the state’s watch clashed violently with members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, resulting in dozens of deaths and the 2019 Kajuru massacre, a brutal outbreak of ethnic and religious violence in the southern Kaduna region that claimed numerous innocent lives.
It described the Kajuru incident as a “harrowing reminder” of how El-Rufai’s leadership failed to address underlying conflicts, instead exacerbating divisions and perpetuating a “cycle of violence” that still haunts the area.
The group also spotlighted the systematic demolition of properties owned by political opponents, which they labelled as retaliatory tactics to silence dissent.
Other flashpoints include the arrest and incarceration of journalist Jacob Onjewu, accused of inciting violence during his coverage of trader protests in Kasuwan Barci over uncompensated business demolitions, and the unresolved 2019 abduction of prominent Twitter activist Abubakar Idris, known as Dadiyata, whose disappearance became a symbol of the era’s repressive climate.
“While the former governor attempted to implement infrastructural and governance reforms, his tenure was overshadowed by a series of egregious human rights violations that cannot be overlooked,” Bamidele stated in the release.
He decried the administration’s “alarming intolerance for dissent,” including the suppression of protests, harassment of opposition figures, and erosion of judicial authority through resistance to court decisions.
DWI called on the federal government to “take decisive action” by arresting and prosecuting those responsible for these “atrocities.” The group extended its appeal to international human rights organisations, urging them to amplify the call for accountability and support victims of the alleged abuses. “The protection of human rights must be at the forefront of Nigeria’s governance agenda,” Bamidele emphasised, warning that El-Rufai’s legacy serves as a “cautionary tale” against leaders who mask authoritarian tendencies behind promises of progress.
The press release, signed by Dr. Bamidele and dated September 7, 2025, underscores the ongoing relevance of these issues amid broader national conversations about governance and accountability in Africa’s most populous nation. El-Rufai, who has since transitioned to national politics and served briefly as a federal minister, has not yet responded to the allegations as of this reporting.