NAN-H-40
Violation
By Edith Nwapi
Abuja, Sept. 23, 2016. (NAN) Two Abuja-based lawyers on Friday expressed concern over alleged incessant violation of fundamental human rights by law enforcement agents.
The lawyers expressed the concern considering the large number of cases of alleged rights violations involving law officers and agencies.
The agencies include the police, the army and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
In some cases, the courts have fined government agencies, such as EFCC, for wrongful detention of suspects.
In interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday, two lawyers called on the National Human Rights Commission to be proactive.
They also called on the citizens to channel their complaints to the right quarters to obtain remedies.
Mr Mathias Ejeh, said that the law enforcement agents had the tendency of abusing their offices.
“Once they are in uniform, they don’t look at other Nigerians as fellow human beings` When they are wrong they are right.
“And also when citizens try to complain to the proper agency responsible for such complaints, what they meet would be disappointing.
“It becomes difficult since the citizens themselves cannot go after those security agents themselves, that is why people take laws into their hands at times,“ he said.
Ejeh narrated the story of a mechanic beaten by four policemen and lost two teeth during the process but the police authorities failed to punish the culprits.
“Why I raised this issue is that if their superiors had allowed them to be punished others would learn from it and desist from such acts.
“ We have laws to protect the rights of the citizens but the implementation or enforcement is an issue and the citizens should also be well informed about their rights.
“The agency in-charge should be proactive and also obey court orders when such is issued,’’ he said.
He said most violations of right were never recorded or reported and people, for fear or not being properly informed, shied away from reporting such cases.
Another lawyer, Mr David Umahi said that the situation was getting better with the coming of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act.
“Before the coming of this Act, our law enforcement agents could do anything to anyone and decide not to obey any order from a court.
“ It is not that we do not have enough laws to protect the right of citizens but the enforcement of it.
“The enforcement of the order of the court too, and the commission in-charge of human rights are not helping out; they should work without fear or favour,“ he said.
Umahi said that Chapter four of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria as amended guarantees the fundamental human rights of every Nigerian citizen.
“The New Administration of Justice Act of 2015 went further to provide that when a person is arrested, if the person cannot be taken to court, he should be taken to a magistrate who shall make a remand order,’’ he said. (NAN)
NEO/JCE
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(Edited by Chukwudi Ekezie)