Mehkurydiaries

There are numbers too large to be allowed to remain rumours. In Borgu, Niger State, residents say hundreds of people were abducted during coordinated attacks in August. Some estimate about 600. A youth association now says the number may be close to 700. The authorities have not supplied a verified figure. One month later, families are still asking the country to count the people it failed to protect. That should disturb us almost as much as the kidnapping itself. Counting is not paperwork performed after rescue. It is the beginning of rescue. You identify who is missing, where they lived, who saw them last, their ages, medical conditions and families. You build a record strong enough to resist forgetfulness. A person who has not been counted is easier for power to misplace. Nigeria is usually comfortable with large numbers. Billions are budgeted. Thousands of officers are deployed. Committees multiply faster than rabbits with government stationery. But when citizens disappea...

Thirty-seven people went into custody in Niger State. They did not come out alive. Many were artisanal gold miners. Some were teenagers. They had been arrested during raids on suspected illegal mining sites. They were suspects—not men sentenced to die in a locked room. Accounts of what happened remain disputed. The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps initially suggested a disease outbreak. Survivors told Reuters that nearly 70 detainees were crammed into a cell measuring roughly five square metres before officers allegedly sprayed an unidentified substance. The cause of death is now under investigation. The investigation must establish the facts. But the moral fact is already standing in the doorway: arrest is not conviction. A uniform is not a small courtroom with no appeal. Nigeria has grown dangerously familiar with punishment arriving before judgment. The poor are arrested first, explained later and sometimes buried before the paperwork learns their names. The presumption of...