A POLICE spokesman has said that 162 people are to be charged over their alleged involvement in the recent massacre near the Nigerian city of Jos, with some likely to face the death penalty.
They are accused of a variety of offences, including terrorism and murder, while others face less serious charges of rioting, arson and unlawful possession of arms.
“In its resolve to deal decisively with perpetrators of violence in the nation, the Nigeria police has concluded [the] investigation into the mass killings in Dogo Nahawa, Rasat and Jeji villages ... which occurred on March 7th , 2010,” police said.
In all, 164 had been arrested, with two to serve as prosecution witnesses; 41 people will face murder charges with another 121 charged with the other offences.
The arrests follow several months of bloody violence in and around Jos, which straddles the unofficial border between the Muslim north and Christian south of Nigeria. On March 7th, hundreds of people, mainly women and children, were murdered as ethnic Fulani herdsmen, who are mostly Muslim, attacked Christian villages, setting homes on fire and killing people with machetes.
In January, more than 300 mainly Muslim people were murdered, in what is thought to be an escalating struggle over dwindling resources. Regular fighting over farming land is becoming commonplace in the area.
The UN special investigator on freedom of religion has said the massacre could have been prevented had authorities addressed deep- seated tensions between Muslims and Christians, while the country’s security forces are coming under increasing criticism for their lack of action during the attacks.
However, there are doubts as to whether there will be any prosecutions, so overburdened is the Nigerian justice system.
In January, it was reported that about 42 people were arrested and transferred to Abuja over previous massacres in the region, said Chidi Odinkalu, director of the Open Society Justice Initiative in Abuja, “but not much has been heard of them since”.
Mr Odinkalu added: “There is speculation that most of those people have made bail and nothing has happened, so it is still early days yet as to whether or not these people will be prosecuted and what evidence the police will have to support prosecution. The jury is still out.”
