Nigeria And Human Rights Challenges

Human rights are the inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled to, simply because he or she is a human being.

Human rights are applicable everywhere and for everyone. These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national and international laws. Such rights include right to life, freedom of speech, right to fair trial and right to liberty.

In 2011, Nigeria recorded a milestone in human rights protection, with the signing into law of some landmark human rights promotion bills by President Goodluck Jonathan.

The bills include the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Amendment Act, 2011 which came into effect in March, 2011, and. the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill was also ratified by the president on May 28, 2011, after it was passed into law by the National Assembly. Before coming into being, the NIIRC Amendment Bill had waited for approval for six months, while the FOI Bill was before the National Assembly for 12 years as successive regimes failed to pass it.

Meanwhile, in Lagos State, the House of Assembly passed the Lagos State Special Peoples Bill, 2010 into law, and it was signed on June 25, 2011, by Governor Babatunde Fashola. The bill provides that people living with disabilities should have equal rights with other citizens; without any form of discrimination.

It also concedes to them the right to enjoy special education and special access to transport and healthcare among others. It also provides for the establishment of a dedicated office for disability affairs.

The state government also inaugurated a Child Rights Implementation committee on October 14, 2011 for proper enforcement of the Child Rights Law enacted by the state.

In spite of these positive developments, however, the year 2011 witnessed some human rights problems or abuses. Arbitrary arrests, prolonged pretrial detention, unlawful killing and torture, were still experienced in the year under review.

The October 11, 2011 arrest of four journalists with the Nation newspaper Managing Editor, Northern Operations, Mr. Yussuf Alli; Abuja Bureau Editor, Mr Yomi Odunuga; Deputy Editor, Lawal Ogienagbon; and Group News Editor (Weekend Publications), Dapo Olufade, over a  publication of a purported private letter from former President Olusegun Obasanjo to President Goodluck Jonathan about administrators of government agencies, was one of those breach of fundamental human rights.

The civil society and the press openly criticised the arrests which, they said, breached the FOI Act.

The prolonged detention of ace comedian, Babatunde Omidina, better known as “Baba Suwe”, between October 12 and November 4, was another violation of human rights. The comedian was arrested on October 12 at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, by officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for allegedly ingesting banned substances.

While giving a ruling on an application for enforcement of fundamental rights brought by Omidina against the NDLEA, Justice Yetunde Idowu of the Federal High Court held that Omidina was unjustly and unlawfully detained without a proof of evidence.

“I have read the NDLEA Act and I have seen no place that any Nigerian should be detained without being charged to court,’’ she said.

She also ruled that Section 35(1) of the Constitution granted every Nigerian the right to personal liberty.

Baba Suwe was later awarded N25 million in damages for unlawful detention by the court.

The suspension of the President of the Court of Appeal (PCA), Justice Ayo Salami, in August by President Goodluck Jonathan, in spite of a pending suit, also raised some fundamental questions about human rights enforcement and rule of laws in Nigeria.

Jonathan approved Salami’s suspension after it was recommended by the National Judicial Council, for allegedly lying against the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Aloysius Katsina-Alu. A suit challenging the recommendation was still pending in court when President Jonathan gave his approval.

It is also a common knowledge that the Nigeria Police Force are fond of parading suspected criminals before the public, even when investigations on their cases have not been completed. This act was challenged on May 13,2011, by the Socio Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and Access to Justice (AJ) which described it as unlawful and dehumanizing.

Both groups argued that the practice violated the doctrine of presumption of innocence as enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution.

According to reports, more than 35,000 inmates are currently detained in Nigerians prisons without trial; in the process, some of them end up spending more years behind bars than they would have if convicted of the crime.

Justice Dorothy Inyamba Idem, the Chief Judge of Cross River State had to set free 24 inmates of the Federal Prison, Afokang, Calabar when she visited the prison, last year.

Expressing dissatisfaction at the delayed prosecution of accused persons, Justice Idem said: “It is a shame that in many cases that have been under investigation for over two years, we do not have records or case files on them, and people are being detained.

“This is tantamount to unlawful incarceration and in the circumstance, some of them have to be set free.”

Commenting on human rights enforcement in the country, human rights activist and lawyer, Mr Bamidele Aturu, urged adequate promotion of human rights in Nigeria as a sure way of deepening the country’s democracy.

Aturu said: “It is about our nation and our democracy; about the need to promote and defend our fundamental human rights as a people.’’

He called on the law enforcement agencies to adequately protect the rights of the citizens while carrying out their duties.

In his own view, the Executive Director of SERAP, Mr. Adetokunbo Mumuni, said parading of suspects by the police was not in line with civilised practice of criminal prosecution.

“ It is against the criminal procedure law. There is no part of the law that says that you should parade any suspect before charging him to court,” he said.

Similarly, Director of Programmes of the AJ, Mr Leonard Dibia, threatened to sue the Inspector-General of Police and the Commissioners of Police in the 36 states of the federation over the issue.

“We are looking for people who have suffered from this form of injustice; once we gather some of these persons and our legal team, we will be filing a suit to challenge this practice because it is not recognised by the law,” he stated.

Obviously as a corrective measure, the Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, has called for speedy trial of pending court cases to decongest the prisons, at the same time, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Mohammed Adoke, has inaugurated a panel to work out the modalities for the decongestion of the nation’s prisons. There is no doubt that speedy trial and decongestion of the nations prisons will go a long way in enhancing human rights in Nigeria. But the greater challenge before the Jonathan government is how to check the excesses of its law enforcement agencies.

Akanni is of the News Agency of Nigeria.

Bukola Akanni