Sowore: Groups Condemn Attacks by DSS Operative on Protesters

Sowore: Groups Condemn Attacks by DSS Operative on
Protesters

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has
condemned “violent attacks on peaceful protesters demanding the
release of Omoyele Sowore and Olawale Bakare as ordered by the
court.”

In a statement today by SERAP deputy director Kolawole
Oluwadare, the organization said: “We have seen a video footage
apparently showing the use of lethal and excessive force by
Nigerian security agents against peaceful protesters demanding the
release of Sowore and Bakare as ordered by the court. We condemn
the ruthless violence and shocking abuses against protesters.”

The statement read in part: “@UNHumanRights @UN_SPExperts
@davidakaye should urgently respond to the rule of law and human
rights crisis in Nigeria and call on the authorities to end this
brutality. It is high time to ramp up monitoring on the situation
in Nigeria and to send investigators to the country at once.”

“The use of lethal and excessive force violates the very core of
Nigeria’s constitution and international human rights obligations.
This should end immediately, and those responsible should be held
to account.”

“Nigerian authorities should immediately obey ALL court orders
and specifically the court order for the release of Sowore and
Bakare from arbitrary detention.”

Kolawole Oluwadare
SERAP Deputy Director
………
HURIWA condemns non-release of Sowore by DSS and forceful quelling
of protest

The prominent civil Rights Advocacy group – HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS
ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has condemned the Kano state police
command over the extra judicial killing of a 26-year old ‘boy’
Abdulkadir Nasir who was surrendered to the police voluntarily by
his father – Nasiru Madobi.

HURIWA also condemned as abominable and unconstitutional the
failure of the Department of State Services (DSS) to release the
duo of Omoyele SOWORE and Olawale Bakare from the dungeons of the
Secret police even after they met the stiff bail conditions slammed
on them by the Federal High Court presided over by Ijeoma
Ojukwu(Ms).

HURIWA also condemned the reported use of lethal weapons by the
DSS to disperse activists who had gathered on the DSS’ premises to
demand that the DSS obey the Federal High court orders and release
SOWORE and Bakers.

“HURIWA is hereby urging the European Union and the United
States government to impose sanctions on the government of
President Muhammadu Buhari which has become autocratic and has
serially disrespected binding decisions of the competent courts of
law which is provided for in Section 6 of the Constitution.

HURIWA specifically affirmed that the relevant constitutional
provisions confers the judicial powers of Nigeria on the courts as
stated unambiguously in Section 6 thus:” (1) The judicial powers of
the Federation shall be vested in the courts to which this section
relates, being courts established for the Federation. (2) The
judicial powers of a State shall be vested in the courts to which
this section relates, being courts established, subject as provided
by this Constitution, for a State. (3) The courts to which this
section relates, established by this Constitution for the
Federation and for the States, specified in subsection (5) (a) to
(1) of this section, shall be the only superior courts of record in
Nigeria; and save as otherwise prescribed by the National Assembly
or by the House of Assembly of a State, each court shall have all
the powers of a superior court of record. (4) Nothing in the
foregoing provisions of this section shall be construed as
precluding:- (a) the National Assembly or any House of Assembly
from establishing courts, other than those to which this section
relates, with subordinate jurisdiction to that of a High Court; (b)
the National Assembly or any House of Assembly, which does not
require it, from abolishing any court which it has power to
establish or which it has brought into being. (5) This section
relates to:- (a) the Supreme Court of Nigeria; (b) the Court of
Appeal; (c) the Federal High Court; (d) the High Court of the
Federal Capital Territory, Abuja; (e) a High Court of a State (f)
the Sharia Court of Appeal of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja;
(g) a Sharia Court of Appeal of a State; (h) the Customary Court of
Appeal of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja; (i) a Customary
Court of Appeal of a State; (j) such other courts as may be
authorized by law to exercise jurisdiction on matters with respect
to which the National Assembly may make laws; and (k) such other
court as may be authorized by law to exercise jurisdiction at first
instance or on appeal on matters with respect to which a House of
Assembly may make laws. (6) The judicial powers vested in
accordance with the foregoing provisions of this section – (a)
shall extend, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this
constitution, to all inherent powers and sanctions of a court of
law (b) shall extend, to all matters between persons, or between
government or authority and to any persons in Nigeria, and to all
actions and proceedings relating thereto, for the determination of
any question as to the civil rights and obligations of that person;
(c) shall not except as otherwise provided by this Constitution,
extend to any issue or question as to whether any act of omission
by any authority or person or as to whether any law or any judicial
decision is in conformity with the Fundamental Objectives and
Directive Principles of State Policy set out in Chapter II of this
Constitution; (d) shall not, as from the date when this section
comes into force, extend to any action or proceedings relating to
any existing law made on or after 15th January, 1966 for
determining any issue or question as to the competence of any
authority or person to make any such law.”

The Rights group said the Inspector General of police Mohammed
Adamu should be compelled by President Muhammadu Buhari and the
National Assembly headed by senate president Ahmed Lawan to
immediately arrest all the police operatives responsible for the
brutal killing of the Kano boy so they are prosecuted and legally
sanctioned for premeditated murder. HURIWA is also worried that
Nigeria has speedily regressed to a state of impunity and
lawlessness by armed security forces.

The Rights group also wants the National Assembly to constitute
a special police detention facilities’ audit teams to undertake
forensic audits of all police cells with a view to shutting down
all identifiable “death camps” administered by the police whereby
suspects are held, tortured and extra-legally executed by the
police.

HURIWA canvassed that credible civil Rights advocacy groups
should be included in the police audits teams that will undertake
the assessment tours of police detention centres all across Nigeria
to find out the torture chambers administered by the Nigerian
Police Force.

HURIWA lamented that despite the existence of abundance of
knowledge of ‘execution and torture chambers and cells’ even known
to the public in which hundreds of suspects may have been
extra-legally slaughtered by the police, the National Assembly and
the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) are not in a hurry to
transparently expose these evils, name, shame and prosecute
indicted police operatives.

HURIWA in a statement by the National Coordinator Comrade
Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director, Zainab
Yusuf, recalled that police in Kano TORTURED to death a 26-year-old
man, Abdulkadir Nasiru, after his father took him to police station
for questioning even as HURIWA gathered from media reports that the
father handed over the son to the Madobi Police Station after
policemen went to his residence in search of him over a case of
neighborhood gang fight.

HURIWA recalled that Madobi, the father of the deceased told the
media that as a law-abiding citizen, when his son returned home he
took him voluntarily to the police station for interrogation.

HURIWA quoted the media as reporting the bereaved father as
stating that“A quarrel ensued when a policeman started slapping and
beating him in my presence after an argument. When another officer
joined the quarrel to beat him, he started retaliating.”

HURIWA recalled further that the father stated to the media that
three more policemen soon took sticks to beat his son to a pulp and
added that the situation made me leave the police station
immediately as I could not stand the pain of seeing my son being
beaten on a simple matter that can be resolved among parents.

HURIWA states thus: “This classical case of targeted execution
of the 26 year old Citizen demonstrates the lack of respect for the
sanctity of human life which is covered under section 33(1) of the
Nigerian constitution and states thus: “Every person has a right to
life, and no one shall be deprived intentionally of his life, save
in execution of the sentence of a court in respect of a criminal
offence of which he has been found guilty in Nigeria.” The United
Nations rapporteur on torture and extra-legal executions had on two
occasions’ indicted Nigerian security forces including police over
wanton extrajudicial killings of suspects but till date nothing has
changed.”

HURIWA also stated that the implication is that most people
wouldn’t trust the Nigerian police force with information of any
known crime since their operatives have become torture experts and
extra legal executioners in flagrant disregard of the
Constitution.

Emmanuel Onwubiko
Cordinator HURIWA