Amnesty urges probe into deaths at Nigerian military-run camp

Human rights organisation Amnesty International on Thursday called on Nigerian authorities to investigate the reported deaths of 150 members of the Fulani ethnic group in a camp run by the country's military.

The victims, most of them children, were among 1,500 Fulani people who had been "arbitrarily detained" at the army-run camp in Yikpata, in the north-central state of Kwara, for the past three months, Amnesty said in a report.

The people were transported to the camp after fleeing escalating attacks by armed groups in Kwara. Amnesty also pointed out the responsability of military operations in feeding violence and insecurity in the area.

Once in Yikpata, the displaced people faced "overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, restrictions on their movements, acute malnutrition and disease," Amnesty said.

The NGO identified at least 100 pregnant women at risk of "life-threatening complications."

"Starvation claimed the lives of many children and pregnant women. My twin daughters, Hauwa’u and Hajja, died there," said a detained woman interviewed by Amnesty.

The military issued conflicting statements regarding the reported deaths.

"The so called military detention facility is not under the purview of the military. The military has no business whatsoever with that location," the director of Defence Media Operations, Major General Michael Onoja told AFP.

But Brig. Gen. Samaila Uba, a spokesperson for the Defence Headquarters, told the New York Times that Nigeria’s military was investigating conditions at the camp.

'Persecution on two fronts'

Amnesty International researchers visited the camp in early April and interviewed 30 people.

Some of the victims said they had abandoned their homes in January 2026 after military authorities ordered residents to leave their villages to make way for military clearance operations.

“Members of the Fulani community face persecution on two fronts — from armed groups and the military," said Isa Sanusi, Director of Amnesty International Nigeria.

Amnesty said the Yikpata camp violates the Nigerian constitution and the country's international human rights obligations.

The group called on Nigerian authorities to "end the ongoing arbitrary detention of Fulani pastoralists in Kwara state."

Several rural parts of Kwara have seen an uptick in violent attacks in recent months, with some blamed on jihadist groups.

In February, jihadists killed at least 162 people in the mostly Muslim village of Woro.