CONSTITUTION REVIEW AND LAND SWAP By Emmanuel Onwubiko

Emeka Ihedioha, the urbane looking gentleman politician from a humble but deeply religious Mbaise, Imo State background has caved a unique niche for himself as one young patriotic Nigerian that believes in  using his innate talents to serve the public good of Nigeria and the citizenry.

The Deputy Speaker of Nigeria’s Federal House of Representatives has on more than one occasion proven his mettle as a man in a hurry to ebb his good name on the political landscape of Nigeria. The latest evidence is the completion of a national assignment given to him alongside his legislative colleagues to collate the report of Nigerians’ views on critical areas that require fundamental amendments in the 1999 Constitution in conformity with section 9[1] of the constitution and in keeping with the yearning and aspirations of Nigerians.

I have decided to make brief comment on the outcome of this national exercise supervised by Deputy Speaker Emeka Ihedioha which is adjudged as one of the best executed national assignments by the political class in the last two decades.

In this same piece, the move by the professional Journalist turned politician – Senator Bala Mohammed the minister of the Federal Capital Territory, to introduce an innovative approach to radical infrastructural development known as land Swap would also be featured in very brief terms hoping that this column will in subsequent editions handle the two thematic areas in more broader perspective.

The thread that binds the two events together is the fact that they passed the test of international democratic best practices of seeking the opinion of the citizens who own the process.

Writing in the book 'DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE AND INTERNATIONAL LAW' edited by the duo of Gregory H, Fox and Brad R. Roth, Mr. Thomas M. Franck who did a chapter titled "legitimacy and the democratic entitlement" stated clearly thus; " Democracy as etymology suggests, concerns the role of the people in governance. The right to democracy is the right of the people to be consulted and participate in the process by which political values are reconciled and choices made..."

 

On the specific issue of constitution amendments which on Thursday April 18th 2013 witnessed the epochal public presentation of the outcome of the nation-wide public debate on areas of amendments, a particular revolutionary idea which sailed through the series of national debate conducted in each of the over 364 federal constituencies, was the collective decision of Nigerians to upgrade chapter two of the constitution which is the fundamental directive principles of state policies to the exalted status of justiciability just like the chapter four of the constitution. 

By this decision which in itself constitute a revolution by Nigerians, the people have loudly told the Federal House of Representatives to include safeguards which will compel public office holders to become legally accountable and responsible to the aspirations and yearnings of the citizenry in the area of democracy dividends and/or delivery of developmental projects to the various constituencies equitably to positively transform the living standards of Nigerians.

Another good decision by Nigerians is the amendment of the draconian and undemocratic immunity clause of section 308 which according to Nigerians should only apply to civil proceedings while the elected governors/deputy governors, president and Vice president serve out their respective terms. Now if the decision reached by Nigerians at the public debates by the Federal House is concurred by the Senate, then public office holders hitherto covered by the immunity clause can be brought to justice for any crime of corruption committed.

Sadly, Nigerians reportedly were too slow to permit the creation of state police which in my thinking is one of the best solutions to the unprecedented rise in social crime which the current federal policing institution has failed to keep in check. Since the Nigerian police Force has failed why not try state and local policing institution?

 

Now we move briefly to the important issue of land Swap in the Federal Capital Territory which is currently buffeted by a groundswell of opposition by the indigenous ethnic groups who are seeking for inclusion in the ownership of the newly worked out memorandum of understanding between the government which will have 40% and prospective investors for the land swap who would have 60%.

My first reaction when I was told by the hard working and forward-looking  media aide of the minister of the Federal Capital Mr. Nosike Ogbuenyi about a public event planned by the FCT minister, is to say that land is a spirit and so it is not a very easy thing to deal with.

My take is that the indigenous owners of Abuja lands which are to be swapped must be adequately carried along by the ministry of the Federal Capital Territory even as I support any reasonably humane move to bring about radical infrastructural development.

The FCT minister said Land Swap is being introduced because resources for infrastructure are dwindling and that government won’t remain “Father Christmass” forever. But I ask, what is inherently evil in being ‘FATHER CHRISTMASS’ as long as the very poor who have no sustainable livelihood are given social housing to promote their constitutionally protected fundamental human right to dignity of the human person? Happily, though, Bala Mohammed who is trained and practiced journalism before venturing into politics should know that the human rights of the weak ought to be protected in every government policies.    

At the recently held town hall meeting, we were told the following facts concerning the concept of land swap.

"The policy of land swap which is a development initiative recently introduced by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) involves the granting of land to competent real estate developers who will in turn provide infrastructure, such as good roads, electricity, portable water, storm water drainage, sewer lines and communication ducts to the residents, without any financial or technical demand to the government."

Further, we were told that; "The Land Swap approach to infrastructure funding is not new in the world. It is a land-based financing of infrastructure, which the World Bank has endorsed as suitable for any country that is experiencing budget crisis. Many developed and developing countries like France, Japan, the United States, China, Denmark, Egypt and India found it necessary to adopt land-based financing techniques during periods of rapid urban growth like we are experiencing now in Abuja. The underlying basic philosophy is infrastructure development to keep pace with urban growth".

Even the most hardened doubting Thomas will agree that any initiative aimed at bringing about development in any human community is acceptable but at what cost to the ecosystem and the original inhabitants who would be dispossessed of their ancestral landed property to be awarded to private sector investors whose primary goal is profit? Will the FCT administrators introduce legal framework to protect the ecosystem and stop these private sector investors from destroying some economic trees that promote green environment?

 Another question is what has become of the Justice Akinola Aguda report on the FCT which stated that Abuja is not a “no-man’s-land” but is a land for all Nigerians? Why did the past administrations failed to complete the compensation and resettlement agenda built into the original plan for the Federal Capital Territory? Did government officials embezzle these compensation packages meant for GWARIS and if yes who are the culprits and why are they [thieves who stole the compensation money] still not in Kuje prison?

Importantly, there is a political fact that the six area councils are led by indigenous tribal persons, why have they failed to empower their people with quality primary and post-primary education and why are the original Abuja inhabitants so educationally disadvantaged inspite of the fact that their sons and daughters have over the past decade run the six area councils in Abuja?

 

 

*  Emmanuel Onwubiko, Head; Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria, blogs@www.huriwa.blogspot.com.

 

29/4/2013

NASARAWA AS KILLING FIELD OF POLICE By Emmanuel Onwubiko

Nigeria in the last three years has been in the news for the very ugly reason of the unprecedented violence that have occurred in different parts of the country but with specific dominance in the Northern parts of Nigeria.

The latest of such violent scenarios was the Tuesday May 7th 2013 mass murder of nearly one hundred police operatives in Nasarawa State, North Central Nigeria, by a suspected armed local secret sect known in local parlance as “ombatse” [meaning we have arrived] cult group.

The notorious Nasarawa cult violence has again triggered a national debate on the essence of strict enforcement of the principle of rule of law and the urgent need to end the regime of impunity that is directly responsible for this vicious cycle of bloody violence.

The dastardly criminal act of the massacre of police operatives by armed non-state actors while on lawful duty has again created a national sense of panic, fear and heightened anxiety among the civil populace regarding the ease with which police operatives and specific state institutions such as police stations are speedily collapsing under the heavy bombardment of a range of local armed groups and armed Islamic religious insurgents in Northern Nigeria.

With the screaming headlines in most newspapers regarding the high casualty rate with some asserting that a total of 88 police operatives were allegedly gunned down by the suspected armed local cult group in Alakyo near Lafia, Nasarawa State, most people you easily come across in the streets of major cities and towns in Nigeria will express a unified apprehension that if armed security operatives who ought to enforce the rule of law easily fall prey incessantly to different  armed freelance attackers, then the precious lives and property of Nigerians who carry no weapons, are not guaranteed.

The quick cancellation of his foreign trip while in Southern Africa by the Nigerian President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, is yet another clear indication of apprehension and worry among the highest political power bloc that the threats posed by the different armed violent groups are capable of destabilizing our nation state. But the Presidency has clearly mismanaged the growing cases of sectarian violence and terrorism in the North.

On this Nasarawa incident, Feelers from the presidency are of the clearest indication that the rising insecurity heightened by the assassination of nearly one hundred police operatives in Nasarawa State while on lawful duty, has compelled President Jonathan to cancel his scheduled two day official visit to Namibia.

A statement by the Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the President, Dr. Reuben Abati, noted that in view of recent developments at home in Nigeria, Jonathan had to cut short his visit to South Africa and aborted his state visit to Namibia which was due to start last Thursday [May 9th 2013].

According to the statement, “the President is returning to Abuja immediately to personally oversee efforts by national security agencies to contain the fresh challenges to national security which have emerged this week in Borno, Plateau and Nasarawa state.”

He noted that the President would on arrival meet with the Chief of Defence Staff, Service Chief, Inspector-General of Police and heads of national security services to review the security situation in the country.             

But lots of critical minded Nigerians have questioned the rationale of the current federal administration to always activate such artificial panic measure and 'fire-brigade' approach whenever violence of such significant proportion like that of the killing of scores of police operatives in Nasarawa State, occurs.

Most thinkers are of the opinion that government at every level must show consistency in its determination to prosecute and punish in the competent courts of law, all suspected mass murderers rather than the selective approach of opting for dialogue and granting of amnesty to individuals indicted for such grave crime against humanity such as the bloody religious insurgency in Northern Nigeria whereby over 5000 Nigerians have been killed with no suspect convicted yet for these bloody violence.  

Majority of Nigerians clearly believe that the lack of political will on the part of the federal government to respect the constitution by ensuring that all mass killers are arrested, prosecuted and sanctioned in compliance with section 6 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria of 1999 (as amended), is the root cause of such boldness displayed by the armed cultists in the recent massacre of police operatives.

Sadly, some reactionary elements in the National Assembly were reported to have canvassed granting of amnesty to the culprits who executed these gruesome decimation of nearly one hundred police operatives In Nasarawa state and the characters who made such unconstitutional and inflammatory demand are roaming freely in the seat of power in Abuja and not yet arrested.

Before extensively dealing with the human rights implication of government’s failure over the years to bring suspected killers to swift justice, it is worthwhile dwelling in some length on the import of the word “impunity” which is the fundamental cause of the growing restiveness and violence unleashed on the public space by divergent armed non-state actors.

For researchers who contributed to the online free Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, impunity means “exemption from punishment or loss or escape from fines".

They  further stated thus; “In the international law of human rights, it refers to the failure to bring perpetrators of human rights violations to justice and, as such, itself constitutes a denial of the victims’ right to justice and redress. Impunity is especially common in countries that lack a tradition of the rule of law, suffer from corruption or that have entrenched systems of patronage, or where the judiciary is weak or members of the security forces are protected by special jurisdictions or immunities.”

Wikipedia recalled that the amended set of principles for the protection and promotion of Human Rights “Through Action to combat impunity”, submitted to the United Nations Commission (Council) on Human Rights on February 2005, defines impunity as “the impossibility, de jure or de facto, of bringing the perpetrators of violations to account – whether in criminal, civil, administrative or disciplinary proceedings – since they are not subject to any inquiry that might lead to their being accused, arrested, tried and, if found guilty, sentenced to appropriate penalties, and to making reparations to their victims”.

The First Principle of that same document states that; “Impunity arises from a failure by States to meet their obligations to investigate violations; to take appropriate measures in respect of the perpetrators, particularly in the area of justice, by ensuring that those suspected of criminal responsibility are prosecuted, tried and duly punished; to provide victims with effective remedies and to ensure that they receive reparation for the injuries suffered; to ensure the inalienable right to know the truth about violations; and to take other necessary steps to prevent a recurrence of violations.”

My conviction for blaming impunity for the widespread cases of violence in Nigeria was even strengthened by a report in some of the Newspapers of Friday May 10th 2013 in which one confessed member of the Nasarawa cult group actively sought to justify the killing of the police operatives by saying that they killed the police operatives in self defense.

The self confessed member of the Omatse sect who spoke with the Hausa service of the British Broadcasting Service [radio] said they killed a total of 90 policemen in “self defense”.

The member of the cult group also stated that they were informed of an impending police assault on their village and therefore mobilized to fight back.

“We received reports that police were on their way to our place, we do not know why ‘they are coming, so we prepared against their arrival”, he said, without disclosing his name.

The cult member in Nasarawa State who volunteered information to the British Broadcasting service on condition of anonymity also said; “They were up to 160 in about 12 vehicles; we stopped them and asked what brought them to our place and they told us that they came for one old man (the Chief Priest). We told them we were not going to allow them into our village unless they gave us a good reason".

He said the police then fired tear gas, and the villagers retaliated by using knives and cutlasses.

Sad, pathetic and traumatizing to the national conscience as this recent brutal murder of scores of policemen is, it is unfortunately a continuation of a sinister pattern whereby the policing institution created by section 214(1) of the Constitution seems to have abysmally failed to discharge her constitutional duty of enforcement of the rule of law and the prevention of crime of all ramifications. The political authority has also not helped matter because they have failed to take cognizance of professional competence and merit as the precondition for appointment to the offices of Inspector General of Police and the respective state police commissioners. When an institution is headed by a leadership not properly picked based on merit, what you will see is the growth of failure of discipline which will gradually cripple the institution and disable it from discharging its constitutional duty to the citizenry.

Now, to the question of what constitute the qualities of a good officer to head the Nigeria police, I think I will borrow extensively from a recent research by Times Magazine editorial writer major Miller who asked some of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Chief critics, supporters and stakeholders to weigh in on what qualities are needed in a new police chief.

One respondent said the three qualities necessary for a police chief include recognition that change is a fragile process, secondly, an appreciation of the history and diversity of the constituency; and thirdly, recognition of the relationship between crime and social injustice. Of the three qualities mentioned above, the first which is recognition that change is a fragile process is of particular interest to us in Nigeria.

In offering further explanation the respondent said that the police department changes when the culture changes and it can fall backward if the new Chief fails to preserve an ethos of respect not just of the law, but of justice.

In appointing heads of our security agencies, consideration must be given to merit, competence, discipline and commitment to serve the nation and not the god-father as is the case now in Nigeria whereby most police chiefs are concerned with providing security to the political elite than the members of the law abiding public and thereby consistently neglect the all-important issue of intelligence-driven training for their operatives.         

A number of factors have been blamed for this systematic collapse of the national mechanism of law enforcement symbolized by the Nigerian police force. Issues of corruption; indiscipline and lack of efficient and effective training and equipping of the police operatives with the modern facilities to combat crime are particularly notorious for operationally crippling the Nigerian police force as an institution.       

Erstwhile chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Salihu Modibbo Alfa Belgore who delivered a paper in December 1st 2006 during a national conference on rules of court procedures and laws of crime, was of the considered opinion that the incompetence of the police operatives in investigating and prosecuting crime, is responsible for the sophistication and spread of such violent crime of epochal proportion.

Justice Belgore had rightly observed thus; “Preliminary Investigation has been abolished in many states and it should not be re-introduced. The police should be better equipped to face the sophistication of criminals who seem to move ahead of the police and security agencies.” 

“As much as possible, every State Command of the Nigeria Police should have an up-to-date document analysis laboratory and finger print experts. In addition, more graduates in the sciences and engineering should be recruited into the Police force and other agencies that investigate crime and they should be properly trained in the new sciences, e.g. DNA tests, “he stressed on practical steps to improve police crime fighting capacity, he stated thus; “The present Police Facilities in Lagos, Ibadan, Enugu and Kaduna are in serious decay and should be renovated and upgraded in the interest of effective administration of justice.

Indeed, instead of recruiting general duties officers, specialists should be recruited and trained at the best institutions in the world. Adequately equipped training institutions should also be established in Nigeria and such personnel should be trained by expert instructors initially brought from reputable institutions overseas.”                       

The question that has to be responded to in pragmatic terms by the federal government is why successive administrations including the current one have neglected the all important necessity to build effective, formidable, well-disciplined, well-equipped and rights-based Nigeria police Force.

Section 4 of the police Act stated that; “The police shall be employed for the prevention and detection of crime, the apprehension of offenders, the preservation of law and order, the protection of life and property and the due enforcement of all laws and regulations with which they are directly charged, and shall perform such military duties within or without Nigeria as may be required by them by, or under the authority of, this or any other Act.”

On the human rights implication, the Nigerian government is obliged to protect all Nigerians including police operatives on lawful duties from being wasted and assassinated by armed non-state actors and whenever such unfortunate incident happens, it is the constitutional duty of government to bring perpetrators to Justice.

It is a crime against humanity for the federal government to negotiate with mass murderers because under the obligation to fulfill, states are required to take positive action to ensure that human rights can be exercised. Article 8 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) affirmed that; “Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law”.

In the same vein, section 33(1) of the constitution provides that; “Every person has a right to life, and no one shall be deprived intentionally of his life, save in execution of the sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offence of which he has been found guilty in Nigeria.”

The Nigerian constitution imposes a primary duty on the Federal government to provide security and welfare of the people including protecting police operatives on lawful duties from being killed.       

Government must take effective measures to bring to an end the growth of Ethnic and religious militias who have armed themselves with weapons of mass destruction and now constitute grave threats to the territorial integrity of Nigeria. Measures to stop the proliferation of small arms and light weapons that flood Nigeria from the porous borders must be checked even as Nigerian government must build modern and well -fortified security infrastructure in all our international borders.

*  Emmanuel Onwubiko, Head; HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA, is a former commissioner with the Nigerian National Human Rights Commission.  www.huriwa.blogspot.com.

14/5/2013

LUNATICS IN NIGERIAN PRISONS By Emmanuel Onwubiko

Uju Agomoh, the executive Director of one of Nigeria’s best known credible civil society organizations – Prisoners Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA) has done a lot of advocacy activities around the issues of the illegality of prolonged detention of mentally challenged persons in the heavily dilapidated, derelict and decrepit archaic infrastructure we today call Nigerian Prisons.

In several speaking events around Nigeria, Uju Agomoh who is vastly travelled globally, has canvassed an end to the unconstitutional practice of detaining persons who are mentally challenged in the antiquated prison facilities in Nigeria that are lacking in medical and/or psychiatric facilities. Sadly, the political administrators heading the highly incompetent ministry of interior don't give a damn about what to do to change this evil status quo.

Many years after Mrs. Agomoh kick-started her campaign to end the impunity of detention without medicare of persons afflicted with mental retardation, this tireless human rights advocate, may have finally got the institutional support of the Federal government because a recently released 2012 prison audit report by the National Human Rights Commission of Nigeria which was publicly validated by the National Assembly of Nigeria and other leading human rights stakeholders, disclosed that there are many persons that are mentally challenged who are detained in prisons across the country who ought not to be there in the first instance.

With the 2012 prison Audit report publicly presented on Thursday May 16th 2013 in the nation’s capital, it is believed in critical cycle that the President Good luck Jonathan-led administration would activate effective mechanism to release these persons with mental illness in Nigerian prisons to be treated in psychiatric hospitals spread across Nigeria.   

Conversely, it is also expected that since most of these lunatics in Nigerian prisons were sent to those prison facilities by the justice ministries and prosecutorial institutions working for the various state governments whereby this ugly phenomenon is noticed, these state governments must take immediate action to release and medically rehabilitate these category of hapless inmates.

The National Assembly and the state Houses of Assembly must also introduce effective legal frame work to make it almost impossible for lunatics to ever be sent to prisons rather than sent to psychiatric medical facilities for attention. As it is, the current bunch of politicians at the state levels are not in the right frame of mind to effectively carry out this revolutionary project of ensuring that lunatics are taken to the appropriate psychiatric facilities for proper treatment and rehabilitation and not locked up in the prisons to die.

In the year 2012 prison audit report introduced to the public by the National Human Rights Commission of Nigeria, some of the prisons audited across the country had mentally ill inmates in detention, despite the fact that these facilities have no qualified psychiatrics or the facility to take care of their special need.

For instance, in the North East Zone 4 out of 37 prisons had 20 mentally ill inmates in prison. In the North West they were 50, while in the South South they were 79. Also, in the South West, they were 121, 289 were found in the South East zone, with Enugu having 136.

Lunatics in Nigerian prisons are as follows; South South - 79;  North East - 20; North Central  -  44;      South West -  121;  North West  - 45; and  South East - 363; making a total of (672) six hundred and seventy two.

There are other sad tales from the prison audit report just issued which importantly stated that sanitation of those prison facilities have become so bad and deteriorated thereby exposing many of these prison inmates to unfathomable health predicaments.

On state of sanitation of Nigerian prisons, the report has it that; “Though there is every effort by the inmates to keep the cells clean and tidy, the age of the infrastructure [some of these prisons were built in 1925] and overcrowding in some cells frustrated the effort. In most of the prisons, the water cistern toilets were broken and there was no water to flush after use in some instances".

"In some, they used the bucket system and that created a lot of stench in the cells. Some of the prisons where the bucket system of toilet is still in use are Gassol and Serti prisons in Taraba State, and Misua prison in Bauchi State; Otukpo in Benue State, Pankshin in Plateau State and Ilorin in Kwara State. In some other instance there exist sewage system, the sewage systems were either broken or filled up. The prisons also lacked basic toiletries like soap or disinfectants”, so says the report.

The report which rightly criticized this bad state of sanitation of these prisons, reminded the Nigerian authority thus; “The UN Standard Minimum Rules on the Treatment of prisoners and other international, Regional or National laws have set a benchmark for the treatment of prisoners. In each of these human rights instruments, it is stated that prisoners are to be accorded with dignity and human being shall not be treated in a dehumanizing manner, even when his/her freedom to liberty has be taken away by the instrument of law".

Writing specifically with reference to what they observed, the report is of the opinion that; “The standard of facilities in the Nigerian prisons are appalling, to say the least. Most of the prisons audited lacked facilities that would aid the wellbeing of the inmates as well as the reintegration of inmates back in the society after their release from prison”.      

The report also observed that most prison facilities in Nigeria are deficient in vocational; Recreational; health; educational and transport facilities.

Substantially, the findings of the investigators who visited the 173 prison facilities all across Nigeria, show that Nigeria has failed to respect international humanitarian and human rights laws in the administration of these facilities.

According to the report; “The dignity of the human person is an inherent right. In Furtherance of that, the need to adhere to minimum standard in protecting the welfare of inmates cannot be overemphasized. Despite the fact that the inmates are legally deprived of their freedom of movement, their right to the dignity of the human person cannot and need not be compromised. Section 34 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), provides that “every individual is entitled to respect for the dignity of his person”. Similarly, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provide as follows: “all persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human persons”.

The report passed a vote of no confidence on Nigerian prisons thus; “It was observed during exercise that the wellbeing of the inmates was far from the minimum standard provided under the laws”.

Nigerians are also aware that of late, a lot of prison wardens have lost their lives to the violence viciously launched by armed terrorists who have successfully organized jailbreaks to free their detained members and the Federal Government has made no concrete effort to build better protected prisons. This criminal neglect on the part of Government is a grave crime against humanity. The plan by the National Assembly constitution review committee to transfer prison from the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent is not the best way out as most state governments are too poor to run good prisons.

With the above background in mind, it is therefore inexplicable that the Federal government rushed into lobbying the National Assembly to amend the prison Act  without introducing bold, positive and revolutionary ideas that will change the face of the prisons and improve the security and welfare of the inmates and officials.  This government has succeeded in signing an agreement with Britain that will allow for the prisoners’ exchange partnership with the government of United Kingdom to make it easier for Britain to transfer Nigerian-born but United Kingdom-based persons convicted for sundry crime in the United Kingdom back to Nigeria to serve out their prison terms.

The question to be asked is why rush to accept heavy indirect financial bribe from the government of Britain just so that Nigeria can accede to the prisoners exchange programme aimed at decongesting the British prisons that are built with modern and functional infrastructural facilities when Nigerian prisons are in very bad shape and overstretched?

Even going by the recent prison audit report, Nigerian prisons are over-populated even as majority of the inmates are awaiting trial persons.            

“Across the prisons the number of Awaiting Trial inmates was far above that of convicts. In the 173 prisons audited, out of 50,645 lockups, the number of convicts was 13,901 compared to awaiting trial inmates of 35,889. Besides the awaiting trial inmates, Ikom prison in Cross River State had 5 lodgers, Ahoada Prison in Rivers State and Benin prison in Edo State, had 2 and 1 lodgers respectively; (lodgers are persons kept in prison without an order of court detaining them. There are no records of such inmates in the prison records).”

I therefore ask, are these derelict prison facilities in Nigeria the places whereby these repatriated British based prisoners be transferred into?

It would be recalled that when this sinister move by government to sign the controversial prisoners exchange treaty with the United Kingdom was exposed, most critical stakeholders opposed it and raised suspicion that the then federal government headed by late Umaru Musa Yar’adua only wanted to rush the agreement so as to find a way to bring back the incarcerated former Delta State governor James Ibori [Yar'adua's political friend] who was jailed in Britain for sundry offences bordering on theft of Delta State fund.

With these sad tales emanating from the Nigerian prisons, it is therefore inconceivable that any British based Nigerian prisoner could voluntarily accept to be repatriated to serve term in prisons facilities in Nigeria that are absolutely sub-human and filthy.

* Emmanuel Onwubiko; Head; HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA; blogs@www.huriwa.blogspot.com; www.huriwa.org.

17/5/2013