…Total Number of Complaints ; 365,224 in August 2025-Ojukwu
…An increase of 10% compared to June-July 2025
By Folusho Alade
The National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, has again expressed worry over the increasing cases of human rights violations in the country, saying the incidences of human rights abuses, violations, killing and other forms of rights violations recorded in the month of August 2025 are appalling.
Speaking on Tuesday 16th, September 2025 while presenting its August 2025 human rights situation dashboard at the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja the executive secretary of the National human rights commission NHRC, Dr Tony Ojukwu, SAN,OFR said the commission is not relenting in its efforts through in the ‘Protection of Human Rights of Forcibly Displaced Persons through Information/Data Collection and Documentation in Nigeria’ initiative, spotlighting the plights of IDPs, Returnees, Refugees and Asylum Seekers tracked from May to July 2025.
Ojukwu said in the month of August 2025 the commission received 365,224 complaints of human rights violations and killings from across its 38 collections centres with Zamfara and Katsina states leading with incidences of banditry, with mass killings like the tragic loss of 50 worshippers in a Katsina mosque and abductions of 45 in Zamfara’s Bakura. In urban centers like FCT and Kwara, mob justice surged, with lynchings over theft and blasphemy allegations, reflecting a crisis of trust in law enforcement.
Giving a breakdown of the complaints, the commission disclosed that the North Central topped the chart with a total of 152,870 cases, followed by the North West where 70,000 cases were recorded. The North -East recorded 68,578 cases, south east with 45,848, South-South with 14,041 and the South- West recording 13,864 cases all in the month of August, 2025.
A breakdown of the figures from the dashboard showed the that Benue state, topped the charts for cases of human rights complains with 43,419 cases, followed by Borno state with 35,107 cases, Kaduna with 29,250, Niger state with 23,107, Plateau with 21,578, others are Imo, Sokoto, Kogi, Enugu and Bauchi states completing the 10 top states with cases of rights abuses .
The dashboard presentation also revealed the top five states with recorded cases of killings with Katsina topping the charts with cases of 64 killings recorded, Benue recorded 41,Plateau state-39, Zamfara 25 and Sokoto recorded 17 to complete the top five states.
For the perpetuators of killings in the month of August under review, the unknown gunmen UGM killed 65 persons, bandits killed 135 persons, Lakurawa terrorist group 22, book haram 35,cultists 5 and others 44.
A summary of the August 2025 human rights abuses and infractions revealed 450 cases of kidnappings, 306 cases of killings, child abandonment recorded 368 cases while 14 cases of killing of armed forces/law enforcement agents were recorded.
According to Ojukwu, the NHRC Observatory observed a rise in violations against vulnerable groups. Sexual and gender-based violence targeted minors, with cases of rape against girls as young as 2 in Ekiti and 7 in Ondo.
In his words: “Our Dashboard on the Human Rights and Internal Displacements reveal humanitarian crises of immense proportion. Multiple factors such as raging conflicts, banditry, and climatic disasters have thrown up internal displacements impacting on the human rights of poor and already traumatized populations. Our engagement with community protection action group members in project documented 8,966 displacements between May to July and a cumulative 53,261 from February to July. These are not just mere numbers. They represent Nigerians who have been exposed to multiple human rights violations, impacting on their dignity and humanity.
“The National Human Rights Commission with the support of our partners, UNHCR have also documented rising incidences of numbers of populations of returnees and refugees across our project sites. Between the months of May and July, there were a total of 10,710 Returnees to communities, 5,191 refugees and 2.275 Asylum Seekers in the same period.
Ojukwu however called on the relevant stakeholders, including governments, humanitarian organisations to make provisions for the full enjoyments of human rights for these populations of concern.
“Our constitution as well as our regional and international human rights obligations enjoins us to protect the human rights of all without discrimination based on status or origins. We should walk the talk”, he said
The NHRC also used the occasion of the presentation to thank partners and stakeholder in the fight against human rights abuses.
“We used this opportunity to thank our state offices, partners, and civil society allies and all whose contributions continue to make this work possible. We also extend our appreciation to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, United Nations Development Programme and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights for their support to the National Human Rights Commission”. Ojukwu concluded.
The National Human Rights Commission NHRC has the mandate to promote and protect human rights in Nigeria.
Since January 2024, the NHRC in partnership with UNDP, OHCHR and GANHRI has produced monthly dashboard on human rights situation.
The Dashboards contain data from complaints lodged at the NHRC 38offices across Nigeria and human rights violations monitored through NHRC Human Rights Observatory.
NHRC Dashboard has presented situational data on the rights of Children, women and other vulnerable populations.
