A Lagos-based lawyer, Femi Falana, has called on the Nigerian
Bar Association (NBA) to investigate attorney-generals of states
who refused to prosecute suspected murderers in their
jurisdictions.
Mr. Falana made the call in a letter sent to the NBA President,
AB Mahmud, a copy of which was made available to our reporter on
Sunday.
In the letter dated 16 December 2017, the Senior Advocate of
Nigeria argued that unless the NBA is prepared to sanction state
attorney-generals who refuse to prosecute masterminds of murders,
their heinous activities will go unchecked.
Mr. Falana in the letter said it is disturbing that the NBA has
failed to monitor the prosecution of murder suspects arrested by
the police or indicted by the judicial and administrative panels of
inquiry set up by the federal and state governments to probe
violent civil disturbances across Nigeria.
The letter reads inter alia: “We have confirmed that the rate of
killings in the country has been on the ascendancy due to the
refusal of several state attorney-generals to prosecute murder
suspects due to political pressure or sheer negligence of
duty.”
Between 1999 and 2007, Mr. Falana said, an official squad was
fingered in the murder of 70 people in Gombe State.
According to him, the murder charges filed against the suspects
by the Police, were dismissed by the courts at the instance of the
home state government.
He added that the “late Ibrahim Hassan, who demanded for the
prosecution of the culprits, was charged with giving false
information to the Police by the State government.”
In Ekiti, he continued, members of an official squad, which
allegedly killed some politicians and students in Ekiti State
between 2003 and 2006, were arrested by the Police and charged with
murder before a High Court sitting at Ado Ekiti.
But while a retired army captain and his police orderly who
killed the students, Mr. Falana claimed, were convicted and jailed,
both convicts were pardoned by the state governor in 2009.
“As if that was not enough, the murder charges pending against
the other murder suspects were struck out by the trial court in
2014 for want of diligent prosecution on the part of the state
government,” he explained.
The letter stated that the Ahmed Lemu Presidential Panel, which
investigated the 2011 post-election violence in 12 northern states
and Akwa Ibom State, found that 856 people were killed by armed
thugs.
In the White Paper issued on the report, the Federal Government
directed that the culprits be prosecuted, he said, but the
directive was not carried out by the states where the killings took
place.
In addition, he noted that the National Human Rights Commission
under the leadership of Chidi Odinkalu, a professor, found that 55
people were killed in the 2015 pre-election violence in Rivers
State.
The culprits were never prosecuted by the state government and
the failure to prosecute them resulted in the killing of over 100
other citizens by armed gangs and militants, the letter stated.
The lawyer also cited the case of the Justice Mohammed Lawal
Garba Commission of Inquiry, which investigated the December 2015
violent attack on the Shiites by the Nigerian Army, which found
that 347 people were killed and secretly buried in a shallow
graves.
According to him, the White Paper issued on the report of the
commission the state government directed that the suspects be
prosecuted, but the Attorney General of Kaduna state “has refused
to prosecute the murder suspects.”
Other cases cited by the lawyer include the killing of 204
people in Southern Kaduna, as confirmed by National Emergency
Management Agency, NEMA; the numerous suspects arrested and charged
with murder for the September 2017 killing of hundreds of Fulani
people in reprisal attacks in Sardauna Local Government Area, among
others.
The murder suspects, Mr. Falana said, have since been freed by
the state government which terminated the criminal proceedings. He
added that the ‘Fulani’ herdsmen arrested for killing scores of
unarmed farmers were not prosecuted.
He also mentioned the recent killing of thousands of people,
including security personnel in Nasarawa, Plateau and Zamfara
states, saying that the suspects arrested by the Police and the
Army have not been prosecuted by the governments of the affected
states.
He urged the NBA leadership to investigate the issues and “the
affected Attorney-Generals.”
“Having failed to prosecute the murder suspects, the Chief Law
Officers of the states have breached their oaths of office and
subverted the rule of law,” he said.
A Lagos-based lawyer, Femi Falana, has called on the Nigerian
Bar Association (NBA) to investigate attorney-generals of states
who refused to prosecute suspected murderers in their
jurisdictions.
Mr. Falana made the call in a letter sent to the NBA President,
AB Mahmud, a copy of which was made available to our reporter on
Sunday.
In the letter dated 16 December 2017, the Senior Advocate of
Nigeria argued that unless the NBA is prepared to sanction state
attorney-generals who refuse to prosecute masterminds of murders,
their heinous activities will go unchecked.
Mr. Falana in the letter said it is disturbing that the NBA has
failed to monitor the prosecution of murder suspects arrested by
the police or indicted by the judicial and administrative panels of
inquiry set up by the federal and state governments to probe
violent civil disturbances across Nigeria.
The letter reads inter alia: “We have confirmed that the rate of
killings in the country has been on the ascendancy due to the
refusal of several state attorney-generals to prosecute murder
suspects due to political pressure or sheer negligence of
duty.”
Between 1999 and 2007, Mr. Falana said, an official squad was
fingered in the murder of 70 people in Gombe State.
According to him, the murder charges filed against the suspects
by the Police, were dismissed by the courts at the instance of the
home state government.
He added that the “late Ibrahim Hassan, who demanded for the
prosecution of the culprits, was charged with giving false
information to the Police by the State government.”
In Ekiti, he continued, members of an official squad, which
allegedly killed some politicians and students in Ekiti State
between 2003 and 2006, were arrested by the Police and charged with
murder before a High Court sitting at Ado Ekiti.
But while a retired army captain and his police orderly who
killed the students, Mr. Falana claimed, were convicted and jailed,
both convicts were pardoned by the state governor in 2009.
“As if that was not enough, the murder charges pending against
the other murder suspects were struck out by the trial court in
2014 for want of diligent prosecution on the part of the state
government,” he explained.
The letter stated that the Ahmed Lemu Presidential Panel, which
investigated the 2011 post-election violence in 12 northern states
and Akwa Ibom State, found that 856 people were killed by armed
thugs.
In the White Paper issued on the report, the Federal Government
directed that the culprits be prosecuted, he said, but the
directive was not carried out by the states where the killings took
place.
In addition, he noted that the National Human Rights Commission
under the leadership of Chidi Odinkalu, a professor, found that 55
people were killed in the 2015 pre-election violence in Rivers
State.
The culprits were never prosecuted by the state government and
the failure to prosecute them resulted in the killing of over 100
other citizens by armed gangs and militants, the letter stated.
The lawyer also cited the case of the Justice Mohammed Lawal
Garba Commission of Inquiry, which investigated the December 2015
violent attack on the Shiites by the Nigerian Army, which found
that 347 people were killed and secretly buried in a shallow
graves.
According to him, the White Paper issued on the report of the
commission the state government directed that the suspects be
prosecuted, but the Attorney General of Kaduna state “has refused
to prosecute the murder suspects.”
Other cases cited by the lawyer include the killing of 204
people in Southern Kaduna, as confirmed by National Emergency
Management Agency, NEMA; the numerous suspects arrested and charged
with murder for the September 2017 killing of hundreds of Fulani
people in reprisal attacks in Sardauna Local Government Area, among
others.
The murder suspects, Mr. Falana said, have since been freed by
the state government which terminated the criminal proceedings. He
added that the ‘Fulani’ herdsmen arrested for killing scores of
unarmed farmers were not prosecuted.
He also mentioned the recent killing of thousands of people,
including security personnel in Nasarawa, Plateau and Zamfara
states, saying that the suspects arrested by the Police and the
Army have not been prosecuted by the governments of the affected
states.
He urged the NBA leadership to investigate the issues and “the
affected Attorney-Generals.”
“Having failed to prosecute the murder suspects, the Chief Law
Officers of the states have breached their oaths of office and
subverted the rule of law,” he said.