The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has urged the newly appointed security chiefs to uphold the constitutionally guaranteed rights of Nigerians in their quest to rid the country of insurgency, kidnapping, banditry and all forms of criminality.
The National Coordinator of the organisation, Emmanuel Onwubiko, on Sunday in Abuja at a press conference urged the Major General Lucky Irabor-led security team to borrow a leaf from the nation’s immediate past Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, which he said, institutionalized measures at eliminating rights abuses of Nigerians and promoted military and civil relations while in office.
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He also backed President Muhammadu Buhari nominating the immediate past service chiefs as ambassadors, saying they were qualified and competent thus their nomination was based on merit by Mr. President.
This is as he frowned at the Amnesty International (AI) International Criminal Court (ICC) and others for unjustly criticising the Nigeria security, especially the army.
He said that that though the military is constitutionally charged with the defence of the nation’s territorial integrity; the increasing spate of insurgency in the land, made it imperative for the armed forces to be drafted to assist the Police in restoring peace and sanity in the country.
“The involvement of the armed forces in the fight against Boko Haram enjoyed legal backing in the Nigeria’s Constitution and the Armed Forces Act, which empowers the President as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces to determine its operational use,” Onwubiko said.
He said, “In discharging the constitutional responsibilities, there have been allegations of human rights violations against the Nigerian Army by local and international human rights campaigners, like the Amnesty International, Transparency International and Human Rights Watch among others.
“These allegations border mainly on extra judicial killings, torture, extortion, arbitrary arrest and detention as well as sexual philandering or exploitation. Others are poor detention facility and pitiable medical access and supplies to suspects in military detention centres.
“In order to respond and or address these accusations, the Chief of Army Staff; Lt. Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai (as he then was), initiated and institutionalized certain measures intended to eliminate rights abuses by the personnel of the Nigerian Army.”
He said that Buratai was responsible for the several court martial sessions constituted to try erring military officers for sundry offences, thus the new security chiefs should not to shield any officer found to have abused professional ethics of soldiering.
He added that another laudable initiative by the Buratai’s leadership to ensuring human rights protection by soldiers and checkmate right abuses was the establishment of Human Rights Desk at the Army Headquarters and in all the formation headquarters across the nation.
“Under Buratai, any confirmed case of rights infraction was met with maximum punishment. This way, human rights abuses were also drastically curtailed in the Nigerian Army,” he said.
