[12] Reporters without Borders cited killing, detention and brutalisation of journalists alongside targeted attempts to shrink the civic space by the Nigerian Government as a reason for the ranking.
"[12] On 24 July 2020, the United Nations official urged the Nigerian authorities to immediately release a prominent human rights defender Mubarak Bala, who has been detained for more than two months without charges, on accusations of blasphemy.
[14] In late September 2020, the United Nations human rights experts urged Nigerian authorities to release singer Yahaya Sharif-Aminu, who was convicted and sentenced to death over an allegedly blasphemous song.
On 12–14 December 2015, the Nigerian Army carried out a massacre of 347 members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) in Zaria, Kaduna State and buried the bodies in mass graves.
[24] On 21 August 2019, four SARS operatives were arrested and charged with murder after being caught on film manhandling and then shooting to death two suspected phone thieves in broad daylight.
[25] On 5 January 2020, three Nigerian Police Force officers were arrested for beating bus passenger Justice Obasi, after he refused to unlock his mobile phone.
[27] On 18 April 2020, the Nigerian Police Force stated that two of its officers were arrested after being caught on film beating a woman at the Odo Ori Market in Iwo, Osun.
Bitrus Osaiah in court for shooting to death his female colleague, Lavender Elekwachi, during a raid on street trading and illegal motor parks the previous week.
[citation needed] On 21 May 2020, Yahaha Adeshina, the Divisional Police Officer of Ilemba Hausa Division, was arresting for assisting Kehinde Elijah and Ezeh Joseph in the 10 May 2020 murder of sergeant Onalaja Onajide.
[34] On 10 November 2019, the Nigerian Police Force issued a statement revealing that Safer Highways Patrol officer Onuh Makedomu was arrested after being filmed accepting a bribe from a motorist in Lagos.
[41] On 21 October 2020, UN Secretary General António Guterres issued a statement criticizing Nigerian authorities, as many protesters were shot dead and wounded during a violent escalation in Lagos.
[43] On 22 October 2020, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari confirmed in a publicly-aired address that Nigeria's controversial Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) had been dismantled, as a response to the demands of the widespread EndSARS protests.
[51] The EFCC also announced that for the first time in Nigeria's history, judges and top military officers including retired service chiefs are being prosecuted for corruption.
They comprise the forceful removal of persons without their assent and against their will on a temporary or permanent basis from their homeland, normal place of abode without clear preparations for adequate compensation and relocation.
[64] In Lagos State, Nigeria, the forced evictions are done with the major purpose of reclaiming the land and building luxury apartments as the population of the country continue to soar creating housing deficits.
[76] Badia is one of the communities slated for urbanization through upgrading from being a slum in the $200 million World Bank-funded Lagos Metropolitan Development and Governance Project (LMDGP).
[81] On 20 January 2020 residents of Tarkwa Bay, a waterfront community was forcefully evicted by security personnel in what has been termed a gross violation of human rights.
In October 2013, Amnesty International recommended that the Nigerian government investigate the deaths of more than 950 suspected Boko Haram members that died under military custody in the first six months of the year.
[85] In 2014, Boko Haram drew international attention from its 14 April kidnapping of approximately 230 female students from a secondary school in the northern town of Chibok, Nigeria.
[91] In a shocking development, it was reported in May, 2021 that the Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has been killed by rival Ismalic state-allied fighters in the northern part of Nigeria.
[95] The Same-Sex Marriage Bill was ratified by President Goodluck Jonathan in January 2014 and has received much condemnation from the West for its restriction of the freedoms of expression and assembly for the LGBT community in Nigeria.
"[95] Shawn Gaylord, Advocacy Counsel of Human Rights First, has said that the Same-Sex Marriage Bill "sets a dangerous precedence for persecution and violence against minorities" not only in Nigeria, but throughout Africa as a whole.
In the widowhood practice, culture demands that when a man of significance within the community dies, his widow must act in a certain way as documented by Akpo Offiong Bassey in her studies of the Cross River State.
[105] Human rights violations also include female genital mutilation, in which Nigeria accounts for the highest absolute number worldwide, affecting 27% of Nigerian women between the ages of 15 and 49 (as of 2012).
Instead of attending school, more than 50% of children living in the rural areas of Nigeria spend more than 20 hours a week working, which is considered the point at which a child's education becomes significantly affected.
Girls are extremely susceptible to disease and domestic violence and are restricted access to education due to the early age at which they give birth and begin caring for their children.
[127] According to the U.S. Department of State, The most serious human rights problems during ... [2011] were the abuses committed by the militant sect known as Boko Haram, which was responsible for killings, bombings, and other attacks throughout the country, resulting in numerous deaths, injuries, and the widespread destruction of property; abuses committed by the security services with impunity, including killings, beatings, arbitrary detention, and destruction of property; and societal violence, including ethnic, regional, and religious violence.
Other serious human rights problems included sporadic abridgement of citizens' right to change their government, due to some election fraud and other irregularities; politically motivated and extrajudicial killings by security forces, including summary executions; security force torture, rape, and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment of prisoners, detainees, and criminal suspects; harsh and life-threatening prison and detention center conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; prolonged pretrial detention; denial of fair public trial; executive influence on the judiciary and judicial corruption; infringements on citizens' privacy rights; restrictions on freedom of speech, press, assembly, religion, and movement; official corruption; violence and discrimination against women; child abuse; female genital mutilation ...; the killing of children suspected of witchcraft; child sexual exploitation; ethnic, regional, and religious discrimination; trafficking in persons for the purpose of prostitution and forced labor; discrimination against persons with disabilities; discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity; vigilante killings; forced and bonded labor; and child labor.
[132]Twelve northern states have adopted some form of Shari'a into their criminal statutes: Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger, Sokoto, Yobe, and Zamfara.
[133] It provides harsh sentences for, among other crimes, alcohol consumption, infidelity, same-sex sexual activity, and theft, including amputation, lashing, stoning, and long prison terms.