Nigeria is a Country of about 250 million citizens in multi-State, multi-religious, multi-cultural, multi-tribal State protected by the 1999 Nigerian Constitution.Section 38 to 41 of the 1999 Constitution speaks to freedom of expression, freedom of Association, dignity of persons, freedom of movement etc, the VAPP Act 2015 as well as Anti-torture Act 2017 Speaks to the rights of Nigerian citizens and prohibits anything that violates these rights in these laws.
The government whose role as enshrined in the constitution are expected to ensure the making, promotion, preservation and protection of the rights of citizens at all cost through law enforcement officers like the NPF, DSS, NSCDC, Army etc. #UDHRBut despite the rich laws backed up by legislations like CEDAW, UNCAT, UDHR, amongst others, respect for Human Right have been a scarce resource in Nigeria.
It is bad enough for citizens to be oppressed by fellow citizens, or foreign investors like Lloyds in Nigeria but to be oppressed by the Government saddled with the responsibility of Protection of Lives and property is the murder of Justice!Government through State representatives now or its law enforcement officers torment citizens in variety of ways, through forceful extortions on the way, collection of bail monies, investigation money, unlawful arrest, kidnapping, unlawful detention, incommunicado detention, assault, torture, brutality, forceful coercion for confessional statement, tribal and religious sentiments in handling cases that have led to the death of people like Joshua Gwebe Alabama in Nassarawa etcBut worse was detaining Rhoda Jatau because she spoke about the failure of Nigerian government to bring Murderers of Deborah Samuel 200 Level student of Shehu Shagari College of Education to justice. Deborah only corrected fellow student to only write only issues relating to Studies on the WhatsApp group but was murdered by religious bigots who were not there to study. The Leadership of the school, school Security, Nigerian Police Force till date have failed to neither arrest, prosecute, punish those involved in the killing, no expulsion either it means they were all involved and they played their part of silence, doing nothing till date, “what a One Nigeria”.
Same Government, people who could not arrest people for murder hurriedly arrested Mrs. Rhoda Jatau for urging them to do their work on false charges of “inciting public disturbance, contempt of religious creed and cyber stalking”! how low can the criminal justice actors go! Justice has a face in Nigeria in tribalism and religious sentiment, how rotten has the Nigerian State become! Our leaders should hide their faces in shame.
Mrs. Rhoda was in detention incommunicado without access to bail for doing nothing wrong…..Oh, finally she was released on bail with court hearing on the 19th December, 2023 because of citizen’s outrage cos of abuse of her right! “Does it mean the government or law enforcement officers do not know its laws, or the law is afraid of religion”, “what happened to Rule of Law” or religion is the Law in Nigeria Now!The precedence set by some politicians, government is that Nigeria is an Islamic State now! So, it is a crime being a Christian! that is why all the above is happening in different states in the north and daily killing in Kaduna, Benue, Plateau State without culprits punished.
As well as the new trend of blocking State and Federal roads in the name of prayer! Religious intolerance has no place in a Democracy! Unfortunately, the conspiracy is real.Nigeria as a country is supposed to be govern by Nigerian 1999 Constitution not by Islamic or Christian laws! All State and Federal Leaders are to ensure compliance to Nigerian Laws, Nigerian Courts not religious laws or religious leaders or religious courts. Religion is personal! It can’t and should not take the place of laws.
But as citizens we ought to respect each other as well as beliefs but to take advantage of dominance of a particular religion in a particular State to victimize another citizen because of her religion is criminal and violation of her rights. What happened to Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act 2015, what happened to Anti-torture Act 2017, that you detain a married Woman, Wife, Mother of Five children for 18 months for encouraging you to do the needful! This is Bad, it shows that our law enforcement officers either lack knowledge of Nigerian laws, feign ignorance of the law, either patriotic to their religion instead of Nigeria therefore do what ever they are being told or because they are in position of authority can do whatever they can and nothing will happen as always! What is the essence of Laws and Courts then, or gain of Correctional Centers with unnecessary awaiting trial persons? Wastage of Nigerian resources.
The Courts used to be the hope of common man but Nigeria happened so justice now have a face shrouded in tribalism, party affiliation and religion.It is time for citizens to wake up and take back their country from corrupt politicians, ethnic and religious bigots, who have crumbled the giant of Africa to a place of japa! Seat of embezzlement, where contracts of security are given to individuals not state actors, where one mineral in one Zone is used to finance the country and the ones in other locations are privatized or used only by some persons! Nigeria Why?Murder of about 100 citizens in Kaduna, about 200 in Plateau and 100,000 displaced in Benue, yet we are not at WAR, nobody was and is held accountable as always by either the Military or the government. It begs the question of rule of Law, why other persons can commit crime “Murder’ and nothing happens but others would be charged for murder! The military have always done this yearly! Before Kaduna, we had Konshisha, Ukum, Niger, Taraba, we have Imo, how about Rivers State! Protectors turned predators, these crimes should not be allowed to go without people responsible been held accountable and punished adequately for abuses of human rights. Victims of these litany of abuses by law enforcement agents, particularly the military, should be compensated, to cushion the loss of relatives and property. Nigerian Lives should Matter!Citizens die daily due to poor health care services, despite the billions allocated for the sector! The hospitals still use manual tools and equipment, nothing has changed. Billions budgeted by Federal and state governments but same leaders travel abroad for treatment, so what happens to the common man without paid jobs! In-order to address this abnormally All elected office holders must be made to receive healthcare services from public healthcare centers only, this would make them pay attention to improving the state of the health sector. It should also be the pre-requisite for contesting for elections.