Amnesty International has demanded the Federal Government initiate urgent and independent investigation into the death of at least 150 members of the Fulani community, including children, in a military-controlled detention facility in Kwara State.
The organisation on Thursday said the victims were among the roughly 1,500 displaced pastoralists held at the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Orientation Camp in Yikpata after fleeing violent attacks in different areas in the State.
It said the detainees were made to experience unsanitary conditions, after being starved of food, healthcare and freedom of movement, leading to widespread malnutrition and disease.
The Director of Amnesty International Nigeria, Isa Sanusi, said “members of the Fulani community face persecution on two fronts, from armed groups and the military.
“Instead of receiving protection, they are being denied their rights to personal liberty, livelihood, movement, education and healthcare.”
He said Amnesty did field research between April 5 and 11, during which its team interviewed dozens of detainees, survivors and affected families, adding that the result was that of severely malnourished children with visible ribs and extreme weakness.
Sanusi said “members of the Fulani community face persecution on two fronts, from armed groups and the military.
“Instead of receiving protection, they are being denied their rights to personal liberty, livelihood, movement, education and healthcare.”.
The group said its findings followed field research conducted between April 5 and 11, during which its team interviewed dozens of detainees, survivors and affected families.
It added that images obtained from the camp showed severely malnourished children with visible ribs and extreme weakness.
Survivors said they were made to go through harrowing conditions inside the facility, including frequent deaths and mass burials.
Some of the victims told Amnesty International that they had abandoned their homes and animal herds in January 2026 after military authorities ordered residents who were ‘innocent’ to leave their villages to make way for military clearance operations, prompting hundreds to gather at a designated meeting point. From there, they were transported by the military to the camp in Yikpata, where they have been held in prolonged detention.
Amnesty report quoted one of the women detainees at the camp, recounting how displaced families were relocated under assurances of safety but encountered severe deprivation.
According to the woman, “at the camp, we did not have enough food, sometimes only beans in the evening, and even that was not guaranteed.
“Starvation claimed the lives of many children and pregnant women. My twin daughters, Hauwa’u and Hajja, died there. I remember that at the peak of the deaths, we contributed 60,000 naira (US$44) to buy white shrouds for burial because of the increasing number of deaths. We buried three corpses in a single grave.
“A total of 154 people have died from hunger and disease since we were brought there. On the day I escaped, six children died.”
Sanusi said “detaining people based on their identity constitutes discriminatory profiling and exposes them to violence and other human rights violations,”
The organisation urged FG to conduct a “prompt, thorough, independent, impartial, transparent and effective investigation,” and ensure justice and remedies for victims and their families.
It also called for an immediate end to the “arbitrary detention” and warned that such practices violate Nigeria’s constitution and international human rights obligations.
He said “it is unlawful for a security operation to target individuals, whole families and whole villages based on their ethnicity. The existence of the camp puts detainees outside the protection of the law in flagrant violation of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended] and the country’s international human rights obligations.”
But military authorities and the Kwara State government have dissociated from the amnesty report just as they also disowned the said detention camp.
The spokesperson of Defence, Major General Michael Onoja, said “the so-called military detention facility is not under the purview of the military.
“The military has no business whatsoever with that location. You may wish to channel your enquiries to the appropriate government agency for clarification.”
The Kwara State Government, through the governor’s spokesperson, Bashir Adigun, denied involvement in the operation of any such camp, adding that “the state government does not have any cam.”
Adigun said the military was in a better position to respond to the allegations.
The spokesperson of the Theatre Command, Operation Savannah Shield, Captain Mohammed Jamilu Yahaya, said he would verify the claims.
“I just saw this now, (and) I will need to make verifications. I will get (back) to you,” he said in a WhatsApp message.
After a second enquiry, Yahaya said, “still on it, I will get back to you.”
He was yet to keep to his promises just as the military authorities were yet to make an official statement addressing Amnesty’s allegations as at the time of going to press
