By
Emmanuel Onwubiko
Introduction
The term “human rights” is used to refer to inalienable rights
(entitlement) of all humans. The concept dates back to 539 BC when Cyrus the
Great conquered Babylon, freed the slaves and declared that all people had the
right to choose their own religion and established racial equality scripted on
the Cyrus Cylinder. Significantly afterwards, The Magna Carta, 1215 established
new rights and made the king subject to law. It provided as follows:
“No
freeman may be taken or imprisoned or deprived of his freehold or liberties, or
free customs or be outlawed or exiled or in any way molested or judged or
condemned except by lawful judgment or in accordance with the law of the land
nor may justice be sold, or denied or delayed to any subject. And the crown or
its ministers may not imprison or coerce the subject in any arbitrary manner.”
This
greatly influenced human rights globally and in 1948 the UN General Assembly
adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) with thirty broad
articles on all kinds of rights.
Tomorrow,
being the 10th of December, the World will once more gather together as one
human family to mark the epochal and iconic signing into a Universal Law of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) which together with the
International Covenant on Civil and political Rights are key global human
rights and humanitarian laws that are the best and greatest safeguard against
the self-destruction of the World by the members of the Human race. However in
Nigeria the celebration is simply a cosmetic event given the propensity of the
holders of political power to flagrantly and wantonly violate the
constitutionally guaranteed freedoms enshrined in the Constitution of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria. There is indeed rapidly shrinking CIVIC
spaces in Nigeria and there are organised attacks targeting fundamental
rights of citizens from both the executive arm of government and from the National
Assembly whose members are incubating sinister plots to legislate against free
speech and limit access to the Social media through the so called hate speech
legislation. The police operatives who rob citizens and extort them of their
hard earned money are some of the traitors of Human Rights. The Nigerian police
needs to professionalised and reformed just as there istheneed to infuse
efficiency and effectiveness in the law enforcement strategies by the law
enforcement agencies in Nigeria. The way it is now with widespread violent
crimes, there is the need to set up local and state policing institutions to
work in tandem with the Federal police unit.
The Human
Rights Situation in Nigeria:
Human
rights in Nigeria are enforceable as guaranteed under Chapter 4 of
the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, (as amended)
otherwise called fundamental human rights. They include right to life (section
33), right to dignity of the human person (section 34), right to personal
liberty (section35), right to fair hearing (section36), right to privacy
and family life (section 37), right to freedom of thought, conscience and
religion (section 38), right to freedom of expression and the press (section
38) right to peaceful assembly and association (section 40), right to freedom
of movement (section 41), right to freedom from discrimination (section 42),
right to acquire and own immoveable property anywhere in Nigeria (section 43)
right to own property (section 44). Nigeria as a member of the United Nations
has signed on to multiple humanitarian and human rights laws operational
globally including the treaty AGAINST torture but the National Assembly is yet
to domesticate the anti torture treaty as well as some critical international
laws that would effectively criminalise human rights violations by government.
However abuse of human rights under the present administration
is quite alarming and hardly distinguishable from the military era if not
worse. This was aptly captured in the unreported case in Suit
No.FCT/HC/CV/2770/2015 – Mrs Ngozi Umenwa v. EFCC & 2Ors where
the Court berated the EFCC (1st Respondent) for flagrant abuse
of fundamental rights. In its judgment delivered on the 27th day
of January 2016, the FCT High Court per Hon Justice S.E. Aladetoyinbo (rtd)
held thus at pages 13 to 15:
“Parts of the facts admitted by the 1st Respondent are as
follows:
(a) That the Applicant was arrested by
the 1st Respondent and detained in an underground cell for no
reason for two days with effect from 9th to 11th day
of September 2015 in the office of the 1st Respondent in Abuja,
FCT:
(b) That
during the detention, the Applicant was denied all basic amenities despite the
fact that she was passing through her menstrual period at the time of detention
she was not allowed to bath.
One
wonders why EFCC officers are behaving as if they are power drunk in the year
2015. This kind of behaviour had been abolished by 1215 AD in Great Britain by
Articles 38, 40, Magna Carta.”
The Honourable Court continued thus:
“What
some civilization had abolished as far back as 1215 AD is what some of our
security agencies are doing in 2015. In this case, the EFCC officers were
accusers of the Applicant, the investigators, the prosecutor, the judge and the
prison authority, the Applicant was sentenced to two days imprisonment without
trial and without committing any offence, she served the two days imprisonment
in underground cell of the 1st Respondent. The action of the
officers of the 1st Respondent is arbitrary, ungodly and
wicked. The Applicant was meted out with this inhuman treatment... Although the
Applicant was detained for two days between 9th September to 11th September
2015, her detention amounts to torture…. The EFCC cannot be protected by law in
this circumstance when they acted contrary to the law.”
In the case of Owhoruke v. COP (2015) LPER-24820(SC), the
Supreme Court per Rhodes-Vivour, JSC, pages 22-23, Paras.G-C held thus as
regards investigation and human rights:
“Confessional
statement are most times beaten out of suspects, and the courts usually admit
such statements as counsel and the accused are unable to prove that the
statement was made voluntarily. A fair trail presupposes that police
investigation of the crime for which the accused person stands trial was
transparent. …. It is seriously recommended that confessional statements should
only be taken from suspects if, and only if his counsel is present, or in the
presence of a legal practitioner. Where this is not done such confessional
statement should be rejected by the court”.
Present
human rights violations are done under the guise of fighting corruption to
attract public sympathy but the reality is that no one is guaranteed right to
privacy any more nor is right to life any more sacrosanct and same thing
applies to the ancillary rights to liberty and dignity of the human person and such
other necessities like rights to fair hearing and silence in the face of
accusation. One cannot forget in a hurry how a sitting Chief Justice of Nigeria
was removed from office by the President acting on ex-parte order purportedly
made by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) despite the pendency of a motion
challenging the jurisdiction of the CCT to hear the matter and subsistence of
several Court orders restraining it from doing so.
In the same vein security agencies have replaced the Courts in
recovery of debts which have become criminalized against the warning of the
Court in the case of Igwe v. Ezeanochie [2010]7 NWLR (Pt.1192)
61 at 93, B-C where it held that the Police are not and should not in any
community of civilized people be used as a debt or levy collectors, or in
resolution or settlement of disputes among people as such use of policemen
often lead to infringement on the fundamental right of others.
The high
handedness of security operatives is notorious fact. A case in point is the
attempted re-arrest and indeed the RE-ARREST of the publisher of Sahara
Reporters, Mr Omoleye Sowore, at the Federal High Court Abuja just hours after
his release from 124 day detention by the DSS. Popular human rights lawyer,
Femi Falana, SAN was quoted as saying that the action of the DSS was
unprecedented in the history of Nigeria. The USA Senator and ranking member of
the United States Senate’s Committee on Foreign Relations, Mr Bob Mendez on
press conference on the issue said:
“I
am outraged by the blatant harassment of Omoleye Sowore, an activist and
journalist whose only crime appears to be exercising his right to free
expression….
This
blatant miscarriage of justice is symptomatic of closing political and media
space in Nigeria.”
Also, Senator Cory Booker, a USA presidential aspirant condemned
the incident in the following words via his verified twitter handle:
“It
is appalling that NJ Omoyele Sowore was re-arrested in Nigeria hours after his
release. This is a shocking affront to the country’s rule of law and Nigeria
must cease its dangerous attacks on freedom of expression.”
The United States Department of State via its twitter handle
stated that:
“We
are deeply concerned that Sowore has been re-detained in Nigeria, shortly after
a court ordered he be released on bail. Respect for rule of law, judicial
independence, political and media freedom, and due process are key tenets of
democracy.”
The
respected legal luminary, Mike Ozekhome, SAN best captures the bizarre
situation in the following words:
“It
was a show of extreme shame, disgust and degeracy to see a whole secret security
apparatchik descend to the abysmal gutters of physically invading the hallowed
chambers of a court of law to forcefully arrest a suspect, viet armis, by
resort to crude and unorthodox Hitlerite Gestapo tactics in a supposed
constitutional democracy. The video that went viral about this ugly and
ill-advised outing that has further reduced our worth in the perception of the
international community is condemnable in every sense of the word. It
downgrades us, belittles us, and our humanity and makes us laughable before
civilized nations. We beheld an unarmed helpless and hapless Sowore being
dragged on the floor, helpless like a vanquished prisoner of war (POW) just
taken as a ransom.
Justice
Ojukwu had to be spirited off to her chambers by her security. When a
government that is supposed to respect and protect institutions, citizens’
rights and rule of law, invades and desecrates the SACRED precincts of Court of
law, then we are in trouble. When the same DSS invaded judges homes in October
2016 terrorizing the helpless judges and their families, many uniformed
Nigerians hailed the misadventure as a sign of fighting corruption. I had
vehemently disagreed then, citing section 36 of the 1999 Constitution and
section 7 of the ACJA that inure In us our humanity and human dignity and
respect. I had warned then of a possible descent into anarchy and chaos if the
masked DSS goons were not immediately restrained and halted on their tracks.
Friday’s disgraceful and atrocious outing by the DSS is the clearest exemplification
of a rudderless state in search of a redemptive dues ex machina.
A
government that is short on tolerance to criticism, plurality of voices and
opposition and which serially violates citizens’ rights and disobeys court
orders is a ready recipe for organized disenchantment. Our constitutional
democracy should be modeled on the rule of law and not on the rule of thumb of
a benevolent ruler, even if dictatorial, tyrannical, absolutist and fascist.”
The National Human Rights Commission equally reacted to
the incident through a statement released on Saturday December 7, 2019:
“The
National Human Rights Commission has watched with dismay the conduct of law
enforcement officers in facie yesterday Friday 6th December
2019…
Accordingly,
the Commission directed all the relevant agencies of government to arrest and
try all law enforcement officers involved in the desecration of the hallowed
chambers of the Federal High Court Abuja on Friday 6th Dec 2019
for contempt in the face of the court.”
Moreover, it seems the intimidation and harassment of judges has
negatively impacted the enjoyment of human rights in the country. Besides the
reluctance of some judges to make bold pronouncement for the protection of
human rights in the face of obvious violations, the current trend of stringent
and onerous bail terms suggest that some judges are tele-guided by the
executive or have become a part of the prosecution which in some cases are mere
persecutions.
Furthermore, the flagrant disobedience of court orders by the
present government has greatly derogated from human rights. In the unreported
case in Suit No.FCT/HC/CV/69/2015-Herfort Ike Ezeudu v. Inspector
General of Police & 1or, the applicant, whose Nigerian and
Canadian passports were seized by the Nigeria police, sued for redress of the
breach of his fundamental rights. The erudite Hon Justice Peter Affen of the
FCT High Court in his judgment on 15th of December 2015 held
the seizure of the passports to be unconstitutional and ordered return of same
“forthwith” to the Applicant, however four (4) years on, the order has not been
complied with.
Imperative for the Protection of Human Rights; A call for
redemption;
The
Preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) clearly states
that recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable
rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice
and peace in the world. In the same vein, Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan
said when you deprive people of their right to live in dignity, to hope or a
better future, to have control over their lives, then you expect them to fight
for their rights.
There is
already a crisis on our hands. Surprise coups, violent revolutions and bloody
confrontations have resulted from similar situations like ours, we are not
immune to them but we cannot afford to have them because of the wider
acceptability of democracy as the best form of government. Nigeria must protect
our constitutional democracy by all lawful means and never allow for the
destruction of constitutionalism because there is no alternative to
constitutional democracy. Moreover, no reasonable human gravitate towards areas
of human rights abuses; the present situation is a minus to the investment
drive of the government. Urgent attention is required to salvage the sinking
sheep before it is completely submerged. The other grave threat to the
enjoyment of human rights apart from the high rate of crime, the breakdown of
Law and order and extra legal killings by supposed law enforcement agents, is
the plan by the current government to dubiously borrow over $30 billion foreign
loans which will inevitably be stolen by officials of the central government
who cannot account for the already accumulated humongous amounts of credits the
government collected from all kinds of institutions and nation's such as China.
Driving Nigeria into the debts trap will enslave us for a life time and this
would mark the end of Human rights protection in Nigeria.
Nigerians
must reject the plot now in the National Assembly to permit the President to
borrow $30 billion USD. There is a general collapse of strategic national
infrastructures such as roads and electricity and the basic necessities of
water and health facilities are not available for the millions of Nigerians
even as government official embark on medical tourism for themselves and their
families to such civilised nations like UK and USA at public costs. The
other time the President spent months in a London hospital at huge expenses to
the tax payers. Government officials spend pubkic fund to sponsor their
children in European schools whereas public educational institutions are
undermined and destroyed. This brings about wide inequality in the society
which is a grave human rights crime. Nigeria has over 12 million out of school
children and the Child Rights law is breached wantonly even as children face
sexual violations by adults and the police aren't sufficiently trained to
tackle the menace. Human trafficking is also a menace.
These are
the major violations of the Human Rights of all Nigerians especially the
millions of commoners. That Nigeria now is the poverty capital of the World
with over 90 million absolutely poor people shows that the state of Human
Rights in Nigeria is precarious and has reached an emergency situation.
Summary and Conclusion
The
present human rights situation in Nigeria is deplorable and does not aid the
cause of the government nor the plight of citizens. It is one which must be
urgently addressed otherwise the country faces uncertainty and most certainly
drifts towards anarchy where even governance is not guaranteed.
President Muhammadu Buhari must be told to set up the governing
board of the National Human Rights commission made up of only credible persons
so the commission can very competently attend to her constitutional mandate
because the commission is being administered as a routine government office and
it has failed in its ombudman's role to promote and protect human rights. The
international Criminal Court in The Hague Netherlands must be compelled to
investigate the killings carried out by armed Fulani herdsmen which the current
Federal government has failed to investigate and punish the mass killers.
Impunity and human rights are strange bed fellows, so the Nigerian State must
eradicate official lawlessness and impunity so Nigerians can enjoy human
rights.
*Emmanuel Onwubiko heads HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) and blogs @www.emmanuelonwubiko.com, www.huriwa.blogspot.com,www.
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