(Intersociety, Onitsha Nigeria, 15th
January 2017)-The leadership of International Society for Civil Liberties
and the Rule of Law (Intersociety) is deeply pained as it concerns Nigeria’s
steady sink to lawlessness and governance brigandage. Nigeria’s justice and
liberty governance and ethics have been so damaged that their recovery from the
catastrophic damage is practically a difficult task.
Sad too, is the
fact that the country now witnesses the rise and official institutionalization
of criminal sainthood; where
criminal entities that have practically taken up arms against the Government
and People of Nigeria and massacred over 25,000 mostly religiously and
ethnically targeted Nigerians such as predominant Christian Ethnic
Nationalities of Igbo and others since 2009, are now governmentally rewarded
and seemed to have been enlisted for national merit awards; whereas innocent
citizens who non-violently assert their constitutional and international rights
to citizenship, development, identity, worship and self determination, are
labelled and treated governmentally as “terrorists” and “treasonable felons”.
Just recently,
the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Tukur Yusuf Buratai was quoted and heavily
criticized for describing the Free
Chibok Girls Campaigners as Advocacy
Terrorists and their campaign as Advocacy
Terrorism. As we speak, thousands of arrested Boko Haram suspects are
presidentially petted and treated as repentant Boko Haram members or
released in droves as “cleared Boko Haram suspects”; while scores of innocent,
nonviolent and defenceless Nigerians are being violently attacked by SSS and
clamped into incommunicado detention without trial over spurious criminal
allegations of “being terrorists” and “treasonable felons”.
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| Justice O. Udo |
It is recalled that
Major Gen Muhammadu Buhari (as he then was) had in the dark hours of 31st
December 1983 violently ousted the democratically elected government of Alhaji
Shehu Shagari and enacted Decree No 2 of 1984, cited as the Nigerian State Security (Detention of Persons) Decree No. 2 of
1984, which allowed for indefinite and incommunicado detention of Nigerian
citizens. The State Security (Detention of Persons) Decree Number 2 of 1984
also suspended indefinite the constitutional freedoms or Fundamental Human
Rights Chapter of the then 1979 civilian Constitution and empowered the chief
of staff, Supreme Headquarters, to detain indefinitely (subject to review every
three months) anyone suspected of "acts prejudicial to state security or
contributing to the economic adversity of the nation." The Decree also
authorized any police officer or a member of the armed forces to arrest and
detain such a person at will and without trial.
The Buhari
Administration has also technically suspended the Fundamental Human Rights
Chapter of the 1999 Constitution and taken refuge in moribund and obnoxious
legislations such as Section 27 of the Terrorism Prevention Act of 2011 as
amended in 2013 as well as the moribund Decree No 2 of 1984 under which scores
of innocent Nigerians including the leader of Islamic Movement of Nigeria
(IMN), Ibrahim Zaky El-Zaky, his wife, Malama Zeenatu and over a dozen
nonviolent Pro Biafra Campaigners and members of IPOB have been clamped into
incommunicado detention for several months without trial.
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| Sunday Okafor |
Under these
obnoxious provisions which grossly run contrary and inconsistent with Section 1
(3) (supremacy of the Constitution above any other law) and Section 35 (4) (detention
of citizens for whatever alleged crimes not exceeding 60 days without bail and
90 days with bail, but without court trial) of 1999 Constitution; innocent and
dissent voices are recklessly arrested by SSS, labelled “terrorists” and clamped into incommunicado
detention for several months without trial and tortured severely in custody.
All the citizens presently in the SSS custody, drawn from IPOB and IMN have
never used or advocated violence. They were arrested in their sleep or shops or
on transit.
The arrested
citizens are routinely stigmatized and criminalized by the State and its SSS
and where any detained citizen is rarely arraigned; he or she is expressly
subjected to prosecutorial vindictiveness or slammed with obnoxious and
trumped up criminal charges. Most of them are also arrested in their sleep, detained
for months after which roguish ex parte orders are sought and obtained to
further detain them for 90 additional days with limitless renewal upon
expiration of every three months until the investigation is concluded.
These the Buhari Administration and its SSS do under obnoxious Section 27 of
the Terrorism Prevention Act of 2011 as amended in 2013, among other
questionable procedures and processes.
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| Asochukwu Boniface |
Court orders and
other judicial pronouncements condemning detention of citizens above 60 days
and ordering for their unconditional release in accordance with Section 35 (4)
of the 1999 Constitution have been flouted and disobeyed by the Buhari
Administration and its SSS with reckless abandon.
For instance,
the leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, Ibrahim Zaky El-Zaky and his
wife, Malama Zeenatu are the longest serving detainees without court trial in
the history of democratic Nigeria or since 1999. The Shiite leader and his wife
have been held incommunicado by SSS for over 13 months. They were shot and
battered by soldiers after a thousand of their followers were killed or went
missing between 12th and 14th December 2015 in Zaria,
Kaduna State. While the IMN leader had 18 bullets reportedly removed from his
body, his wife had four bullets removed from her body as well. It is feared in
some informed quarters as whether the IMN leader and his wife are still alive
or have died in SSS custody. Since they were shot half dead by Lt Gen Tukur Buratai
led Nigerian Army and taken into SSS custody on 14th of December
2015, they have not been brought to public or allowed access to be seen by
their biological relatives.
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| Bright Chimezie |
13 nonviolent
Pro Biafra Campaigners and members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB)
have also been arrested and detained incommunicado by SSS for several months
without trial in the ongoing violent crackdown launched by the Buhari
Administration and its SSS against IPOB members particularly in the Southeast
and the South-south regions of Nigeria. The Buhari Administration also
massacred over 250 of the group’s members and supporters and terminally shot
and injured over 300 others in over eight different locations in Anambra, Abia,
Delta and Rivers States between August 2015 and May 2016.
The names of the
solitarily detained IPOB members are:
(1) Citizen Justice O. Udo. He was arrested by SSS in Port Harcourt, Rivers State in the mid night of 13th July 2016
and thrown into indefinite detention without trial till date; a period of over
six months or 18 days. (2) Citizen Sunday Chukwuka Obasi was arrested by SSS in
the late night of 16th August 2016 in Nnewi, Anambra State; shot at
his two legs and thrown into indefinite detention without trial as at December
2016; a period of over four months.
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| Ekene Onuoha |
(3) Citizens Ikechukwu Ugwuoha, (4) Asochukwu
Boniface Ugochukwu, (5) Sunday J. Okafor, (6) Ekene Onuoha and (7) Joseph
Okorie (Ogbuawa) were arrested by SSS on 24th August 2016 at Ugba
Junction, near Aba in Abia State at about 7.30am on their way back from Kuje
Prison (where they had gone to see their leader, Nnamdi Kanu) and thrown into
indefinite detention without trial till date; a period of almost five months
each. (8) Citizen Bright Chimezie. He was arrested by Police in Akwa Ibom State
at business hours of 16th September 2016 and handed over to the SSS,
which took him into incommunicado detention without trial till date; a period
of four months. (9) Citizen Ndubuisi Arum (High Chief Oko) was arrested by SSS
in Aba, Abia State in October 2016 and detained incommunicado without trial
till date; a period of over three months.
(10) Citizen Eta Stephen Bassey is a 45yrs old
Principal of the Wisdom Child International School in Bokokiri area of Port
Harcourt in Rivers State. He is also the
Financial Secretary of IPOB in Bundu Unit Town Zone 1 of the organization in
Rivers State and hails from Abi Local Government Area of Cross River State. He
was abducted by SSS at the business hours of 3rd November 2016
around Victoria Street/Aggrey Road area of Port Harcourt in Rivers State where
he had gone to buy “suya” meat and till date; a period of 72 days, he has
remained in solitary detention of the SSS. His mobile phone number as released
by his close associates is +2348034284857.
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| Moses Agbo |
(11) Citizen
Moses Agbo is a member of the Biafra Family Writers. He was
arrested by SSS on the Christmas Eve of December 2016 after he visited Citizen
Nnamdi Kanu in Kuje Prison and till date; a period of 21 days, he is still held
incommunicado by the SSS without trial. (12) Citizen Udochukwu Nelson, (13)
Citizen Echeie Osten and (14) Citizen Rose... were arrested at their market
shops at the business hours of 13th
January 2017 by SSS in Rumuola area of Port Harcourt in Rivers State and they
are still being held incommunicado as of today. Information available at our
advocacy disposal also clearly indicates that all of the SSS detainees are
gravely tortured to incriminate themselves and confess to spurious allegations
of their involvement in “terrorism” and “treasonable felony”. Citizen Bright
Chimezie, for instance, is said to have had his two legs broken by his SSS
torturers in the Akwa Ibom State Directorate of the Service in Uyo.
All the
circumstances, processes and procedures under which the above named innocent
Nigerians were arrested, accused, tortured and held incommunicado are totally
foreign, strange and unknown to the provisions of the 1999 Constitution, the
African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights; all ratified by Nigeria in 1983 and 1993.
By Section 1(3)
of the 1999 Constitution, the 1999 Constitution is supreme,
commander-in-chief and general overseer of all other laws in Nigeria. By
Section 35(4) of the 1999 Constitution, Section 27 of the Terrorism Prevention Act
of 2011 as amended in 2013 is dead and buried; by virtue of its gross inconsistency
with the said Section as it concerns deadline for detention of citizens accused
of whatever crime in Nigeria. By Section 315 of the 1999 Constitution, all
other existing and newly created laws in Nigeria are mandatorily subject to the
provisions of the 1999 Constitution and shall be brought in tandem and
consistency by amendment or modifications with the provisions of the 1999
Constitution. By Section 287(3) of the 1999 Constitution, the
decisions of the Federal High Court, the FCT High Court and the State High
Court shall be forced in any part of the Federation by all authorities and
persons and by other courts of law with subordinate jurisdiction to that of the
above named courts.
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| IPOB Leader Nnamdi Kanu |
Instances of decided cases also abound. In a
landmark judgment delivered on 17th December 2015 by Hon Justice
A.F.A Ademola of the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court in Suit No FHC/ABJ/CS/873/15 (SSS v Nnamdi
Kanu), the Judge while reversing his 10th November 2015
unconstitutional ex parte order for additional 90 days detention of the
Applicant (Nnamdi Kanu) for spurious allegations of “terrorism and terrorism
financing” by SSS held as follows:
....besides, there is no doubt that
constitutional provisions remain supreme and every citizen’s rights are
strictly protected and jealously guarded by Courts-see also Hassan v EFCC
(supra). For the period spanning over two months, the Applicant (Nnamdi Kanu)
remained in Respondent (SSS)’s custody. The Applicant is yet to be charged
formally of all terrorism suspicion before a Court of competent jurisdiction.
From the
foregoing, therefore, this Court holds that: (a) the Respondents are not ready
to grant the Applicant bail as per the Order of the Chief Magistrate Court; (b)
the Respondents lack enough material to prosecute the Applicant; (c) the
Respondents are yet to make up their mind on the Applicant.
Therefore,
whilst the Respondents are pondering on their next steps, this Court holds that
the Applicant’s detention for more than two months in Respondent’s custody without
filing charges before a Court of competent jurisdiction on suspected crime is
contrary to Section 35(4) of the 1999 Constitution.
The Applicant
(Nnamdi Kanu) is hereby released unconditionally pursuant to Section 35 (4) of
the 1999 Constitution and in view of the Respondent’s admission that there is
no pending charge against the Applicant. This landmark judgment was not only flouted
and disobeyed by the SSS, but also the Nigerian Army at the Onitsha Bridgehead
in Anambra State shot and killed over ten innocent citizens and wounded scores
of others in protest.
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| Ibrahim El-ZakyZaky |
Similarly on 1st
December 2016, another Abuja Division of the Federal High Court, presided over
by Hon Justice Gabriel Kolawole declared the continued detention of the leader
of IMN, Ibrahim El-ZakyZaky and his wife, Malama Zeenatu without court trial as
unconstitutional and ordered for their unconditional release within 45 days as
well as payment of monetary compensation amounting to N25Million each to Malam
Zaky El-Zaky and his wife, Malama Zeenatu.
The duo had been
in solitary detention without trial since 14th of December 2015.
They were shot severally at close range by Nigerian Army and a total of 22 live
bullets were reportedly removed from their bodies: 18 bullets from Malam
El-Zaky’s body and four from his wife-Zeenatu. It is unclear whether they are
still alive or dead in SSS custody. Today marks the expiration of the 45 days
judicial order for their unconditional release and as expected, it is again
flouted and disobeyed by SSS.
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| Ndubuisi Arum |
Yesterday being
14th January 2017 marked 390 days or 13 months since Malam ZakyZaky
and his wife Malama Zeenatu were taken into SSS custody and detained
incommunicado without trial. This is unheard of in the history of democratic
Nigeria or since 1999. Citizen Nnamdi Kanu and Citizen Dave Nwawuisi have also
marked 450 days or 15 months in solitary detention yesterday having been
arrested by SSS on 14th October 2015. Citizen Benjamin Madubugwu had
also marked 18 months or 540 days in solitary detention having been arrested
since July 2015. The trio of Kanu, Nwawuisi and madubugwu have remained at pre-trial
proceedings or detained without bail till date.
We are therefore
compelled to add our advocacy voice to that of the Legal Defense team of
Citizen Nnamdi Kanu and ors who disclosed in the open Court on 10th
January 2017 that “nine IPOB members who visited Nnamdi Kanu in Kuje Prison
have been killed by SSS after they were arrested and taken into its custody”. This is in addition to the fact that Citizens
Justice O. Udo, Sunday Chuks Obasi, Ikechukwu Ugwuoha, Asochukwu Boniface
Ugochukwu, Sunday Okafor, Ekene Onuoha, Joseph Okorie, Bright Chimezie,
Ndubuisi Arum and Eta Stephen Bassey have been solitarily held dead or alive by
SSS for several months after they were arrested and detained without trial.
Since the dates of their arrest, their families, lawyers and physicians have
been denied access to them.
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| Ugwuoha Ikechukwu |
Consequently,
the authorities of the SSS are hereby called upon to produce publicly and
bodily alive the named solitary detainees in its custody including Malam
Ibrahim Zaky El-Zaky and his wife-Malama Zeenatu. Their public presentation
must be covered by the trio of dependent and independent print, visual/audio
visual and online media. The solitary detainees, who must include all the 13
detained IPOB members, must not only be publicly and bodily produced, but also
be made to speak to Nigerians independently and coherently in live media
coverage.
These the SSS
must do within two weeks; otherwise all Nigerians including this Organization
shall have cogent reasons to conclude that some or all of them including the
detained Islamic cleric and his wife have been killed by SSS in its custody as
alleged. We also demand for immediate and unconditional release of all 13
detained Pro Biafra Campaigners and the leader of Shiite Muslim and his wife.
As we have
repeatedly demanded, the SSS and the Buhari Administration must end violent
crackdown on nonviolent Pro Biafra Campaigners and members of the Shiite Muslim
Community. Such huge State energies and resources being wasted in persecuting
Pro Biafra Campaigners and Shiite Muslims shall be adequately channelled
towards the terrorist, felonious and genocidal activities of Boko Haram and
Fulani terrorists that killed over 2000 innocent citizens in 2016 alone.
Note: The attached pictures are: 1 Citizen Ekene
Onuoha, 2 Asochukwu Boniface, 3 Bright Chimezie, 4 Moses Agbo, 5 Justice O.
Udo, 6 Ugwuoha Ikechukwu, 7 Sunday Okafor and 8 Ndubuisi Arum (High Chief Oko).
Signed:
Emeka Umeagbalasi, Board Chairman
International
Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law (Intersociety)
Call Line:
+2348174090052
Obianuju Joy
Igboeli, Esq.
Head, Civil
Liberties & Rule of Law Program
Call Line:
+2348180771506
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