Specific information on whether family members of escaped prisoners in Lagos and/or Edo State are being arrested while the escapee is being sought could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate. However, according to Amnesty International, in 1997, relatives of General Akinrade, who had been charged with treason, but who was living in exile at the time, were arrested and detained without charge for several weeks (1998, 264).

Amnesty International also reports in northern Nigeria security forces drove the family of Yakub Al-Zakzaky from their home. Yakub Al Zakzaky, an Islamic scholar and preacher, was detained incommunicado for 10 months for "inciting public disaffection and sedition" (ibid.). Unidentified assailants looted the home of Frank Ovie Kokori, one of the two leaders of the oil workers detained without charge for his "involvement in a two-month strike by oil workers in 1994." His wife and son were also threatened after his wife had made a public appeal for his release. (ibid.). Al-Zakzaky was released in January 1999 (Country Reports 1999 Feb.2000)

Country Reports 1997 states that relatives and family members of wanted suspects were regularly placed in detention without criminal charge to induce suspects to surrender to arrest (1998, 263). According to Country Reports 1999, "both the Governments of Abubakar and Obasanjo continued to release political detainees from previous regimes" and "Turner Ogboru, a civilian relative of one of the alleged coup plotters, was released in 1998. Turner Ogburu, a lawyer arrested in 1990 for allegedly participating with his brother, Great Ogboru, in the 1990 coup attempt, was convicted by a special military tribunal that year, granted a pardon in 1993, ordered released, and then rearrested in 1995."

Nonetheless, "police and security forces continued the practice of placing relatives and friends of wanted suspects in detention without criminal charge to induce suspects to surrender to arrest, although this was done much less frequently than under the Abacha regime. There were calls by human rights groups for the police to end the practice" (ibid).

A human rights consultant on Nigeria at the Africa Fund in New York, now on assignment at the UN, agreed with the above information adding that because of the inefficiency in the Nigerian criminal system, escapes from Nigerian prisons are not unusual. He added that during the Abacha regime which ended with Abacha's death in June 1998, the harassment of family members of prisoners was also not uncommon (28 Feb, 2000).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please see the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Amnesty International. 1998. Amnesty International Report 1998. New York: Amnesty International USA.

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1999. Feb. 2000. United States Department of State. http://www.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/1999_hrp_report/nigeria.html [Accessed: 29 Feb.2000]

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1997. 1998. United States Department of State. Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office.

Human Rights Consultant on Nigeria, African Found, New York. 28 February 2000.

Africa Research Bulletin. 1998-1999.

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1998. 1999.

Human Rights Watch World Report 2000.

Keesing's Record of World Events 1999.

Four oral sources consulted did not provide information on the requested subject.

Internet Sites including:

Amnesty International

Human Rights Watch

Search engines including:

Google

Metacrawler.