Expert Wants Victims To Report Human Rights Abuses

A Port Harcourt-based lawyer and a legal assistant to a High Court Judge, Mrs. Blessing Kpalukwu, has attributed the high rate of human rights abuses in Rivers State to the inability of victims to report such cases to the appropriate authorities.
Mrs. Kpalukwu who stated this while speaking with newsmen in Port Harcourt at the weekend, expressed regret that some of the victims were not aware of the existence of their rights.
She went further to condemn the acts of the law enforcement agents, who abused the sights of the citizens that they were supposed to protect. She stated that the law was no respecter of person. “They just feel it’s their legal right to do whatever they want to do,” she said.
Mrs Kpalukwu called for the establishment of the rule of law in the country. She said the rule of law could only be entrenched in the country when the leaders and lawmakers themselves obeyed the law they enacted and noted that “most times the people who made the law are the ones who violate it the most, they don’t even bother about the enforcement of the law.”
She stated that for the rule of law to be established in the country, it had to first start from the leaders and those that enforce the law.
Mrs Kpalukwu expressed misgiving over the ability of the present government to establish the rule of law in the country.
Mrs. Kpalukwu criticized rotational presidency which she said was not in line with majority rule. She said in a country like Nigeria where we have tribalism and sectionalism, rotational presidency did not have to do with majority rule. She stated that if the presidency was to be rotated amongst each tribe, then it wouldn’t be true democracy.
“It doesn’t have to rotate from one tribe to another, you have to just bring out a person irrespective of the tribe and let the majority of other tribes decide,” she said.
Also speaking, an Oyigbo based medical doctor, Dr. Bright Kalu, has said that rotational presidency was in line with democratic principles.
Dr. Kalu also noted that for the entrenchment of the rule of law in the country, there must be prosecution of offenders.
He pointed out that abusers of the rights of others must be brought to book.
According to him, “the reason why the country is prone to human right abuses from law enforcement agents is lack of control. Nigeria pays little attention to issues that matter most.”
Mr. Kalu stated that the trend could be checked if government was more proactive in the protection of citizens’ rights.

Gideon Victory & Ekeke Favour