Torture: Start prosecution of culpable officials, NGO tells FG

Access to Justice, a non-profit organisation, has called on the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister for Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), to start the prosecution of law enforcement or security officials found to have tortured their victims. In a media advisory jointly signed by Joseph Otteh, convener and Deji Ajare project director of A2J […]

Access to Justice, a non-profit organisation, has called on the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister for Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), to start the prosecution of law enforcement or security officials found to have tortured their victims.

In a media advisory jointly signed by Joseph Otteh, convener and Deji Ajare project director of A2J to mark June 26, 2021 as the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, the organisation said the prosecution will send a strong message of “intent” to Nigerians.

The day is set aside by the United Nations to support victims of torture and to push for the elimination of torture.

In 2017, Nigeria passed the Anti-Torture Act (ATA) in an effort to end the use of brutal and inhumane tactics in law enforcement/security operations.

The ATA is built on the UN Convention against Torture (1984) among other things to abolish torture, cruel and inhuman treatments as well as criminalise their use.

Unfortunately, the Anti Torture Act has been mostly a window dressing, and no real effort has been made, in practice, to abolish the use of torture by the Nigerian government.