Mixed reactions as NHRC re-opens right violation cases

While some observers commend the approach as capable of strengthening the country’s democracy, others question the capacity of the NHRC to successfully conduct the assignment.In the letter signed by the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of  Justice Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), the board of the NHRC, chaired by Professors Chidi Odinkalu and […]

While some observers commend the approach as capable of strengthening the country’s democracy, others question the capacity of the NHRC to successfully conduct the assignment.
In the letter signed by the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of  Justice Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), the board of the NHRC, chaired by Professors Chidi Odinkalu and Bem Angwe, executive secretary, was requested to investigate human rights violations in the past 19 years.
In its reaction, the Governing Council of the NHRC at an extraordinary emergency meeting in Abuja on January 15, 2014, considered the referral transmitted to it by the AGF on December 23, 2013, in relation to allegations contained in recent correspondence between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and President Goodluck E. Jonathan.
Specifically, the federal government directed the NHRC to investigate allegations contained in the December 2, 2013 letter by former President Olusegun Obasanjo where the latter accused Jonathan’s government of keeping 1000 political opponents on watch list by training snipers.
 Following the AGF’s referral, the governing council made it clear that Rule 79(2)(e) of the Standing Orders and Rules of Procedure the commission provide for the AGF or Attorneys-General of states to refer appropriate cases to the commission.
Section 6(3) of the NHRC Act (as amended) provides that: “In exercising its functions and powers under this act, the commission shall not be subject to the direction or control of any other authority or person.”
The NHRC said that it considered the allegations contained in the transmission from the AGF to be quite weighty and grave and concluded that they raised issues of serious and systematic violations of the rights to life, access to fair hearing and justice, personal liberty, safety and security, equality before the law and the prohibition against discrimination.
Following its deliberations, NHRC decided, in exercise of its powers under Sections 5 and 6 of the NHRC Act (as amended) and in accordance with Rule 79(2)(a), (c) and (e) of the Standing Orders and Rules of Procedure of the Commission to constitute a panel to inquire.
The panel is to consider whether or not there is or has been state-sponsored killings or assassinations in Nigeria at any time since November 1995 to date.  If so, what organizations, institutions, agencies or persons were or are involved in or affected by such killings.
Whether there is or has been at any time since November 1995, a list of persons to be targeted for watching or for such killings, if, in any of such cases, the perpetrators, known or unknown, were brought to justice or assisted, facilitated or helped by any persons or institutions to evade justice.
Whether the victims of any such killings were or have been afforded access to truth or to effective remedies. The NHRC is also to undertake any other or further tasks related to or necessarily incidental to the foregoing.
Council authorized the Executive Secretary, Prof. Bem Angwe, a professor of Law to immediately issue an invitation or call for memoranda on the above-indicated terms of reference.
The panel of  inquiry consists Prof. Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, as Chair;  Professor Bem Angwe;  Mrs. Eugenia Abu; D.O.C Ezeigwe Esq. and  Alhaji Ibrahim Nikau.
The knotty task of unravelling the country’s numerous rights violations was handed the commission by President Goodluck Jonathan through the office of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) .
The unresolved murder cases are too numerous to mention but prominent among the mysterious political killings in Nigeria include those in Aso Rock of Chief M.K.O Abiola, acclaimed winner of the 1993 presidential elections on July 7, 1998; the assassination in Ibadan, Oyo State of Bola Ige (SAN), former Minister of Justice on December 23, 2001; the shooting in Abuja of Chief Marshal Sokari Harry, former vice chairman South South of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) on March 5, 2003; and the killing on Asaba highway of Chief Aminoasari Dikibo, former vice chairman South South of the PDP.
There are other killings such as the July 27, 2006 killing of Funsho Williams, a PDP governorship aspirant of Lagos; the killing of Ahmed Pategi, PDP Kwara State chairman on August 15, 2002; and the killing in Owerri, Imo State of Chief Ogbonnaya Uche, a senatorial candidate of the ANPP in February, 2003.
Also, there are deaths recorded in Abakaliki on August 24, 2001, the post-election violence of April 2011 which left hundreds dead and several arbitrary killings in places of ethno-religious conflicts in the country within the period.
Also, journalists who were mysteriously killed within the period under review include Enenche Akogwu Channels TV,  Zakariya Isa, NTA,   Sunday Gyang Bwede, The Light Bearer,   Nathan S. Dabak, The Light Bearer,  Bayo Ohu, The Guardian and Edo Sule Ugbagwu, The Nation, to mention but a few.
One of the contentious issues that would confront the panel is that of whether or not President Jonathan can be invited before the panel. This is because the president enjoys immunity under the constitution but it is another issue if he can waive his immunity.
Under Part II of the NHRC Act, the commission is empowered to (a) “deal with all matters relating to the protection of human rights as guaranteed by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and other international treaties on human rights to which Nigeria is a signatory.
(b) “monitor and investigate all alleged cases of human rights violations in Nigeria and make appropriate recommendations to the president for the prosecution and such other actions as it may deem expedient in each circumstance.
(c) “assist victims of human rights violations and seek appropriate redress and remedies on their behalf.”
However, Barrister Abdul Mahmud, the President of the Public Interest Lawyers League (PILL) while lauding NHRC’s bid to probe unresolved murders, argues that the commission does not have the capacity to conduct the inquiry but the police. He called on the Inspector General of Police to re-open all cold case files of all unresolved murders.
“Our view is that it will be punching above its weight. The NHRC does not have the capacity or expertise to undertake such a task. Investigation of murders falls within the competence of the police and no matter the good intentions of the NHRC, we are afraid it is an exercise doomed to fail,” he said.
Esther Uzoma of the Proactive Gender Initiative said the probe and scope is a welcome development. She said the period under review was presaged by the suspension of Nigeria from the Commonwealth of Nations owing to the rights violations of the General Sani Abacha regime.
“So the significance of the period under review, with its attendant casualties, is that it midwifed the birth of our current democracy,” she said.
Also speaking, Peter Odia of the Human Rights and Accountability Initiative (HURAIN) described the commission as a toothless bulldog playing to the gallery, adding “for a start, they have not been able to invite Obasanjo to defend his allegations.”
Former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Lagos State, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, however warned on the possibility of increase of high profile murder cases, unless previous cases are resolved.
Osinbajo, had told newsmen that the lingering murder case of the slain Attorney General of the Federation, Chief Bola Ige ( SAN), remained a sore point on the nation’s police authorities.
He said Ige’s unresolved murder might have given impetus to other high profile murder cases in the country, and called on the police to re-strategise  in order to fish out the killers.
“The reason why somebody would go and kill Funsho Williams in his home is because no one resolved that of Bola Ige and the reason why many people are exposed to this kind of assassination is because the ones on ground have not been resolved,” he said, and expressed worry that in spite of the unresolved murder case of Ige, his case file has been closed, thus creating doubt on the sincerity of security agents in unravelling the murder riddle.
“Nowhere in the world will you close a homicide file because homicide file is always open. In fact, any kind of crime’s file is always open; you don’t close the file and at one point in time or at different times continue to operate with the information that you have,” he said.