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HISTORY OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION IN NIGERIA. A STUDY OF MUHAMMAD BUHARI ADMINISTRATION
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
The first impression in every issue is the most important as the great father of philosophy Socrates stated many centuries ago. So in the light of the above philosophical truism, the way to begin this conversation is to understand what the concept of human rights is and there is only one way of doing this which is to consult the masters of the scholarly field of human rights for inspirations.
Mr. Manfred Nowak, is the director of the Ludwig Boltzmann institute of human rights at the university of Vienna and was at a time the special Rapporteur on torture at the United Nations. He wrote a beautifully rich handbook on human rights which he intended it for use by parliamentarians but I have decided to quote copiously from it to elucidate the essence and import of the concept of human rights.
This gentleman stated clearly thus; “Human rights have pervaded much of the political discourse since the Second World War. While the struggle for freedom from oppression and misery is probably as old as humanity itself, it was the massive affront to human dignity perpetrated during that War, and the need felt to prevent such horror in the future, which put the human being back at the centre and led to the codification at the international level of human rights and fundamental freedoms. Article 1 of the Charter of the United Nations declares “promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion” as one of the purposes of the Organization.”
Mr. Nowak who visited Nigeria in 2007 on official duty continued thus; “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948, was the first step towards achieving this objective. It is seen as the authoritative interpretation of the term “human rights” in the Charter of the United Nations. The Universal Declaration together with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, both adopted in 1966, constitute what has become known as the International Bill of Human Rights.
Since 1948, human rights and fundamental freedoms have indeed been codified in hundreds of universal and regional, binding and non-binding instruments, touching almost every aspect of human life and covering a broad range of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. Thus, the codification of human rights has largely been completed. As the [then] Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Kofi Annan, has recently pointed out, today’s main challenge is to implement the adopted standards”.
From a lay man’s perspective so as to liberally make for greater understanding by all , I can say that human rights are those essential make ups that defines each and everyone of us as human beings. A music legend in Nigeria who had several brushes with the then military dictatorships of Generals Olusegun Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari [as they then were] in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s once depicted human rights concept in the following dramatic words- ‘Human rights na my property so you can’t dash me my property’ meaning that human rights are inherent rights belonging to each and every individual meaning that governmental authorities or any person for that matter is not in any position to freely donate these sets of rights to another human being.
These sets of rights are universal, inalienable, sacrosanct and binding on all authorities and persons. For instance the chapter four of the Nigerian Constitution contains most of these fundamental rights like freedom of speech; right to life; freedom of assembly; freedom of conscience/religion; freedom of movement and right to respect for the dignity of the human person.
Critically, the freedom from all forms of psychological, physical or emotional torture is the only human right that can not be derogated or qualified and therefore is absolute meaning that on no account should a member of the human community be subjected to torture of any form by any authority or person; in or out of government.
Chapter two of the Nigerian Constitution contains certain socio economic rights such as right to education; right to health and other critically important rights which out to be respected by all.
In Nigeria, the most prevalent human right issue is the use of arbitrary arrest by law enforcement operatives and the use of torture against suspected alleged offenders and this cowardly criminal acts of barbarity goes on all over the place even as very little is done to bring the perpetrators to trial before competent courts of law. The frequent use of torture and other unlawful means by law enforcement operatives must be confronted legally by lawyers and all activists so the perpetrators are named, shamed, prosecuted and punished. To work as lawyers to end the regime of torture is an imperative indeed if you like this duty is a categorical imperative if we will borrow the concept as developed by the great European philosopher Mr. Immanuel Kant.
Another disturbing human right violation in Nigeria is the attacks targeted at soft civilian targets by a range of armed terrorists. The rate of mass killings going on all over is a serious human right phenomenon because if these killers are not brought to effective justice and punished for their crimes against humanity then what will happen is that impunity will become the order of the day and as you all know impunity is the number one enemy of human rights. Every one of us must use our professional calling and talents to vigorously campaign against impunity so that the right to life which is the most basic human right becomes even more relevant and sacrosanct.
Many Nigerians are homeless. Millions are in absolute poverty due to no cause of theirs. Poverty is a serious human right violation that must be redressed by all means and to achieve this lofty objective, Nigerians must say no to corruption and bribery.
It is a notorious fact that a poor person is someone without any modicum of dignity because poverty subjects humanity to all forms of irrational deprivations.
As lawyers and professionals of different platforms, we must individually work to bridge the gap between the haves and haves-not.
The danger in not redressing the human right violation that leads to mass poverty is that the country may witness riotous revolution because a hungry man is an angry man.
As part of our services to humanity, let us spare out some moments to render pro-bono legal services to poor litigants whose rights are abused so we can make Nigeria a better place.
There are hundreds of human rights violations in Nigeria which if we document within the context of this lecture we may not depart here even in a year.
Let us reflect on some of those salient human rights development issues I have highlighted as they also embody other variety of human rights violations that must be redressed by all persons and especially by the designated authorities and agencies such as the courts of competent jurisdiction; National human rights Commission and other sister rights-based organization.
Human rights are rights which people have simply as human beings irrespective of their nationalities, religion, citizenship, marital status, occupation, income or any other social or cultural activities (Ehindero, 1998). In other words, human rights are of universal application and implications. Clinton (1997) contends that human rights are the cornerstone of a viable and visible democracy, giving hope to all in society: the strong and the weak, rich and poor, great and small.
If democratic practise in Nigeria must meet up with western democratic standards, then it must address the current problem of gross violations of human rights. Though the desire of the Nigerian people for democratic rule was achieved in 1999, it is yet to overcome the institutionalized violation of human rights by security agencies, especially the Nigerian police force. Thus, this study is aimed at drawing the attentions of the Nigerian government and supporters/sponsors of democratic rule in Nigeria to redirect their effort to ensure that the democratic expectation of qualitative justice hinged on the democratic values of fundamental human rights that emphasizes the dignity of the human person, rights to personal liberty, right to due process and fair hearing, right to life and the right to freedom of movement, which the Nigerian people are largely deprived of.
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
The violation of human rights is not a strange experience in Nigeria. This sad situation has been attributed to decades of military rule in the country (Ahmadu, 2001)), which had attracted sanctions and all sorts of condemnation from the international community. Sadly, however, the end of military rule, and the consequent enthronement of democratic rule has failed to eliminate,
or at least, reduce the cases of violations of human rights in Nigeria. The majority of cases of violations of peoples‟ rights being carried out by the Nigerian police force. Provable incidences of extrajudicial killings, brutality of innocent citizens, use of force to elicit confessional statements from suspects, blatant corruption, et cetera continue to be characteristic of the Nigerian police in our promising democracy. Thus, the lack of trust and confidence in the police by the Nigerian citizens continues to exist irrespective of the hypocritical posters and television advertisements by the police authorities to create a positive image for the Nigerian Police, as the force has become more of an instrument of oppressions and coercion against innocent citizens, and a willing tool in the hands of the rich and powerful in society to intimidate and victimize the common man
This study documents the incidences of human rights violations in Nigeria as well as cases in two communities (Ikeje and Ayingba) in Kogi State using primary and secondary data.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The following questions are to be addressed by the study:
i. What is the extent and nature of human rights violations in Nigeria?
ii. Why has democratic rule failed to address the problem of human rights violations in Nigeria?
iii. What effects do human rights violations have on the victims, the democratic process and the Nigerian police?
iv. How do citizens react to the violations of their human rights in Nigeria?
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
i. To ascertain the extent of human rights violations by the Nigerian police on civilians
ii. To show that there is no difference between military and democratic regimes in Nigeria in terms of human rights violations
iii. To recommend a more democratic, humane and constitutionally acceptable approach to dealing with crime suspects so as to build trust and confidence between the police and the Nigerian people
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This study is very important to the extent that respect for human right is important in democratic governance. It exposes the inability of the Nigerian government to halt the violations of the rights of its citizens by the Nigerian police, and the danger that the practice portends for its nascent democracy.
CHAPTER TWO
Literature review
Social theorist, as well as philosophers, have sought to establish a free and fair society where the aspiration of man ( spiritual, intellectual, social, economic, etc.) could be achieved without artificial hindrances to them, Hence rights had existed under the auspices of synonyms of “natural right, inalienable rights, inviolable rights, absolute right, and fundamental human rights (Ehindero, 1998)
Among such notable social thinkers and philosophers were Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean Jacques Rousseau.
Thomas Hobbes (1558-1679) in his notable book “The Leviathan” argued that every man in the primitive society is born with an innate natural right of self-preservation. The threat to this natural right of self-preservation resulting from the war of all in which case the strong had his way against the weak necessitated that men ( both the strong and the weak surrender their individual rights to an absolute ruler who was to ensure that the right of his subjects especially the rights of self-preservation ( or right to life) was protected and held in trust.
Hobbes went further to state that the social contract will ensure that there would be peace and absence of violation of rights of the weak by the strong in the society as the freedom of society member would be yield to a powerful sovereign who will enforce the promise of protection of individuals.
John Locke 91632-1704) in his political writings asserted that the state‟s function was to uphold the superiority and inalienability of individual‟s innate or natural rights to life and liberty. He stressed the need for the state to protect these inalienable and natural rights
In Lockes state of nature, individuals are free but their liberty was not synonymous with freedom to do whatever one wanted. Rather it was limited by the self-evident, God given laws of nature which prohibits a man from committing suicide (since God created man tolivewithout his natural life span), and from harming other people (since God created us as equals not to be debase by one another).
Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) in his book “ the social contract” sympathized with the pitiable state of man in the society by saying that “man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains” how can he live in a free society, where protection of life and properties will be guaranteed? Rousseau envisaged a society where our natural freedom or rights becomes part of our humanity, for him it is a democratic society where the general will prevail over the will of all.
Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), of the natural law school, sought through his writings to present before the state what would allow for peaceful coexistence and the good life. Here he stated that the precept of natural was to “do good and avoid evil” which will help men in keeping their natural and fundamental rights, Thomas Aquinas saw a strong relationship between natural law and natural rights.
Modern Theologians, who are interested in human rights, draw inspiration from the writings of naturalist such as Aquinas. They believe that God is ceaselessly active in history, liberating human beings from all that enslaves and oppresses them; from the exodus to the liberation struggle today God is freeing people, not just from sin and death but from oppressive system and structures (Blackburn et al, 1991)
The resistant position and disposition to absolutism and the concern for free society was instrumental to proclamation of the rights of man by distinguished western European philosopher in the 17th and 18th centuries. It coincided with the period of extreme political and social upheavals, which resulted in the English, American and French revolutions.
The consequences of agitating for human rights were abolition of slave trade, introduction of universal suffrage, democracy and liberation of man from oppressive feudalism. Furthermore it has in the reformation and amendment of laws, constitution and ACT.
THEORETICAL FRAMWORK
THE NATURAL LAW THEORY OR THEORY OF NATURAL RIGHT
Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas are the classical theorist of this school. Central to this theory is the issue of morality and ethics. Naturalist in this context argue that justice demands that man respect the natural rights of one another. This right according to them is not man determined but by God given proceeding from the being of God and discovered by the reason of man.
Between the 16th and 18th century the natural law theory had become an independent and rationalist system professed and espoused by the philosophers of the secular school of natural law. The enactment of the America and French declaration metamorphosed the natural law to the theory of natural rights- a liberating principle, ready at hand for the use of modern man in his challenge against institutions (Ehindero 1998).
The three outstanding characteristics of the natural rights theory are rationalism (because the rights are simple and indisputable, subject to the dictates of reason), individualism (because of the equal inalienable and natural nature of the rights), and radicalism (because the exercise of power is liable to be referred to the end of all political institutions). Natural law theorists contend that the end of all political institutions is the preservation of natural and imprescriptible rights of man.
UTILITARIAN THEORY OF RIGHTS
This theory argues that human right are not individual right but collective rights, and that individual right pose danger to the general welfare of greater number of society members.
The utilitarian theorist replaced rights with duties, the y are consequentially theorists, believing that the consequences of an action, if it will serve the best interest of the greater number of society is most welcome, hence for example the killing of , without due process an armed robber by policemen is okay- if it will maximize the happiness of majority and minimize pain.
THE VALUE OF RIGHTS THEORY
The theory advocates the benefits of rights. It argues that rights are treasures because of the protection they give to people in the society. For example human rights allow for freedom of worship in most democratic societies, it allows for the preservation of life, freedom of movement, etcetera.
Applicability ofthe Theories To The Present Study.
As shown by the various theories, human rights are for people to „enjoy‟ not because of where one belongs in the ideological divide or social status or any other artificial consideration but by the fact “all men are born equal” and as such are determined by virtue of membership of human race or society.
The utilitarian theory of right is applicable in this study because for human rights of individual which ought to be at the centre of democratic governance works for the majority in the society. The hatred of the masses for the police profession casts an aspersion on the function role of the police in the sustenance of democracy and protection of lives and property, finally, the value of rights theory shows the pragmatic benefits of enforcing human rights of citizens and the dangers that indifference to human right can throw a society into.
Bunton et al (2003) reported that human rights violation in Nigeria are high and respect for fundamental human rights of persons by the police was very poor, in their work they asserted that “operation fire for fire “(an anti –robbery police fighters) were the most frequent human right violators, as they committed extra judicial killings in apprehension and detention of crime suspects. The report claims that former inspector –General of police TafaBalogun told the
„Country Reports on human rights practices “that from March 2002 until November, police killed more than 1,200 criminals and arrested more than 2,800” and that the force operated with impunity in the apprehension, illegal detention and sometimes executin of criminal suspects.
Sizani (2001) asserted that respect for human rights must be the foundation for building lasting peace and justice. He further noted that fundamental human are at risk in Africa and court must be especially vigilant protection.
Myers (1996) stated that although democracy is not about utopia it is about the hope of women and men to live freely as individuals in a society that holds the promise of liberty and justice for all, and about commonly held values of equality and freedom. Because of frequent violations of human rights by Nigerian police, the confidence of the public in police has been gravely battered.
Amuwo (1995) argued that the perceived significance of an African conception of human rights rendered almost nugatory by practical statistics and leadership-centred actions and policies.
In the report of the study carried out by human rights watch on Nigeria for 2005, it was asserted the president (Obasanjo) empowered the men of the Nigerian police force to kill with impunity, this assertion by human right watch cannot be ignored as the presidents, in several cases had ordered reprisal attacks on civilians who had clashed with security forces.
Ogbunwezeh (2003) stress that Nigerians are not only living in the shadows of torture, they are at present enslaved in a valley of death, where the police are kill masters. In his article Human Right and the maintenance of international peace and security in Africa; Professor Amadu (2001)
asserted that respect for human rights, their promotion and protection have become conditionalties in international political transaction especially between the developed countries of the North and the third world. Violations of fundamental human rights of people are one and the same in the direction of injustice. This is why Esiemokhai (1998) describe injustice as unholy practice of knowingly hurting others through the blatant denial of other people‟s right and privileges.
Agwu (2003) asserts that the right to human dignity is in a serious imperilment and can only be projected by strengthening human right groups and social forces that will ensure the implementation and extension of the right to dignity beyond the statute books.
CHAPTER THREE
3.1 Methodology and procedure
In this research the researcher among other methods used the descriptive research method. The descriptive research is concerned with the collection, presentation, analysis and interpretation of data for the purpose of describing vividly existing conditions, prevailing practices and beliefs, attitudes, on-going procures etc. the descriptive research goes beyond the description of the conditions or phenomena to include discovery of meaning. It also focuses a discovery of trends that are developing. The main objectives of descriptive research is to get detailed and factual information about issues, events, problems and describe the events as they are.
The descriptive research method enabled the researcher to describe in a systematic mannerhistory of human rights violation in nigeria. a study of muhammad buhari administration
. The essentials of the descriptive research cannot be over-looked, it is a research that gives the true picture of the whole situation or problem. It gives the basis for eliciting possible policies for alleviating problems. It also saves time. The data for the descriptive analysis was generated through various types of data collection; they are interviews, which are structured interview and unstructured interview, also through an empirical investigation. They all will be discussed below.
INTERVIEWS:
Interviews involve eliciting information from the respondent through some verbal interaction between the interview and the respondent. It is a face to face interaction situation in which one person the interviewer questions, which are responded to orally. The questions which are properly framed, allows the respondent easy understanding of the information that are being sort for.
3.2 The empirical investigation
The researcher conducted a detailed empirical investigation in selected states in Nigeria. The method here was based on sustained participant observation approach (Scott, 1965). Data were collected through interviews, study of secondary material and observation. The observation is an investigation method used to obtain direct information method used to obtain direct information on the behavior of individuals, objects or situations. It involves watching people, situations phenomena and getting first-hand information relating to particular aspects of such people, events, situations or phenomena.
Information relating to certain aspects of human behavior can only be obtained in the particular settings where such behaviors are exhibited. Use of interviews are discussed above. Secondary materials are those source of information which other people did not participate or witness the events. The author of a secondary source material tries to collect and synthesize a pool of materials, which include encyclopedia, dictionaries, textbooks, journals and periodicals, newspapers and magazines as well as publications. Extensive use was made of personnel interviews. In this research the researcher concentrated on focused interviews. This involved the use of guided questionnaire sheet which are designed to assist the researcher to obtain desired information from the respondents. This technique was aimed at giving the respondents the freedom to answer questions asked, while the interviewer occasionally directed the discussion towards the course that will enable him obtain the required information.
3.3 Reliability of data collected
interviews used where the structured interviews and unstructured interview. The structured interview is a rigidly standardized and formal kind of interview. The questions were presented to the different respondents, in the same order and choice of alternative responses, and it is restricted to predetermined list. The structured approach allowed for reliable data analysis. In the unstructured interview, which is a flexible type of interview which contains very few restrictions on the respondent’s answers, the respondents were encouraged to express their thoughts freely.
The secondary materials that were studies were those relating to internal topic. These include textbooks, publications of government, newspapers, journals and periodicals. The textbooks were gotten from the library to provide detailed information and knowledge. Generally, the textbooks provided interpretation in the topic. The government publications like books, pamphlets, e.t.c. from different government agencies and parastatals contain very rich information concerning the topic, they included statistical reports, research reports, official reports, laws and other materials that are not readily available elsewhere.
The newspapers on the other hand provided current information concerning peoples’ views and opinions in the area of study. The formed valuable sources of information from where good ideas have been obtained to be helpful in designing and executing a very good work
3.4 RESEARCH DESIGN
In this study, the research method had great emphasis toward the descriptive sample survey. This approach was adopted here because the researcher worked with a much number of potential variable of interest with little previous knowledge of theory that would inform us on where to begin. It is considered that a more flexible and exploratory approach will be needed.
A possible compromise between the exploratory research of the single participant observer and a much more systematic and standardized approach is the descriptive sample survey. In this sample survey, a premium is placed on certain kinds of standardization, here the research was concerned with the methodology areas.
This final to collect data in such a way that all respondents are confronted with rarely identical questions.This seems is concerned with sampling are the question of generalization in making results. The third is with specifying standard criterion for data analysis procedure so that different analysis may reach similar conclusion based on the available data.
3.5 Population of the study
The available population of the affected states is two hundred and fourteen (200), the information was obtained from the records of various sources.
3.6 Instrument for data collection
Two instruments where used in the study and it yields a lot of contribution and contents.
i. Oral Interview: The research used face-to-face interview with the interviews with the respondents to obtain the necessary information needed from the organization.
ii. Questionnaire: The research used questionnaires to gather information from the respondents. The questionnaire contains difference questions. Some option from which the respondents were, required to choose
3.7 Validation of the instrument
The instrument was subjected to both content and face validity by supervision, after all the corrections, the validated instrument was taken back for conformation to ensure that suggestions and observation were incorporated.
3.8 Reliability of the instrument
The instrument was subjected to test, retest reliability test. The result showed a good internal consistency.
3.9 Methods of data collection
The data for this study where obtained from primary data where obtained from respondents, through direct interview and questionnaire method.
The secondary data were obtained through the stocks of material from the researchers’ friends and associates and National library. More so, an experience from observation was very helpful in this research work.
3.10 Methods of data analysis
The analysis of data was organized along the following lines. Descriptive statistical analysis was used to indicate percentage scores of all the respondents. The calculation of respondents were equally drawn up on the table.
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