CSOs to Buhari: Inaugurate NHRC governing council to speed up investigation into police brutality

A coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to inaugurate a governing council for the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) that will grant it the full capacity to conduct independent investigation into human rights abuses.

Over the past weeks, there were demonstrations across the country calling for the scrapping of the now disbanded special anti-robbery squad (SARS).

Under the #EndSARS campaign, there were also calls for reform of the Nigeria police force.

Following the nationwide protests, the National Executive Council (NEC) directed all states to constitute a judicial panel of inquiry to investigate cases of human rights abuse by the police.

The NHRC had also revealed plans to set up an independent panel to investigate allegations of human rights abuses against the dissolved SARS unit.

The CSOs, in a statement on Tuesday, however, urged the president to constitute NHRC’s governing council so as to grant the panel the power to carry out its assigned task since the executive secretary of NHRC lacks such powers.

They also condemned the shooting of protesters at Lekki tollgate, as well as the widespread attacks on residents and vandalisation of properties across the country.

“As we continue to condemn the use of ‘live bullets’ on unarmed protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate, on October 20, 2020, we also join our voices to condemn acts of thuggery, hate speeches, and fake news. We particularly condemn the hoodlums that attacked security facilities and personnel of the Nigeria Police Force as two wrongs never make a right,” the statement read.

“We still maintain that the 5-for-5 demand by the #EndSARS movement should be urgently met in the interest of the Nigerian state. One of the demands is the transparent prosecution of the officers responsible for the brutality against citizens. In order to build trust in government, we immediately request the prosecution of the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) officers who have been identified in the killings, torture, and rapes of citizens.

“On this note, we applaud the request of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to the Minister of Justice and the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami, to ensure speedy prosecution of 35 operatives of the defunct SARS. These officers were accused of human rights violations and abuse of office in a report by the presidential investigation panel.

“We are worried that the NHRC which announced its constitution of an independent investigation panel into the activities of the dissolved SARS does not have a constituted Governing Council. We immediately call on President Muhammadu Buhari to grant the Commission the needed capacity to conduct this investigation by inaugurating the Commission’s Governing Council without further delay.

“In Section 7 (3) of the National Human Rights Commission Act, the Executive Secretary lacks the power to act without a Governing Council, thus invalidating any action taken by the Anthony Ojukwu led Commission.”

The groups also condemned the looting of COVID-19 palliative warehouses, adding that such mob action “exposes the rot and corruption in our governance system”.

“We unequivocally condemn these attacks and call on the Governors’ Forum to tell Nigerians why they (Governors) intentionally hoarded food items supplied in good faith by the Coalition. We have read various official statements from some of the state governments and an unofficial statement attributed to the CA-COVID. Some of the statements raise some credibility questions,” they added.

The groups also noted that they have begun the processes of tracking human violation cases in 27 out of the 36 states, and expressed their willingness to support judicial panels of inquiry with live streaming of trials and necessary technology for credibility and transparency purposes.

The CSOs listed in the statement are: Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Enough is Enough (EIE), Partners for Electoral Reform, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Centre for Information, Technology and Development (CITAD) and Yiaga Africa.

Others are Global Rights, Project Alert, Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC), Paradigm Initiative (PIN), Rule of Law and Accountability Centre (RULAAC), HEDA Resource Centre, African Centre for Media & Information Literacy (AFRICMIL), Community Life Project (CLP) , Protest to Power , Social Action, Right to Know, Lawyers Alert, InternationalPress Centre (IPC), Private and Public Development Centre, South Saharan Social Development Organisation.

Also included are Partners West Africa-Nigeria, Centre LSD, Connected Development (CODE), Stakeholders Development Network (SDN), BUDGiT, CWCW Africa, Peering Advocacy and Advancement Centre in Africa (PAACA), Invictus Africa, Alliance for Credible Election (ACE), Prisoners’ Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA), Resource Centre for Human Rights (CHRICED), and Reboot Design.