THE STATE OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN NIGERIA 2005 - UNDP Nigeria ...

THE STATE OF HUMAN RIGHTSINNIGERIA2005 –2006Being a Report on Human Rights ViolationsMonitored in Nigeria by Network of HumanRights Violations Monitors in collaborationwith the National Human Rights Commission,UNDP and NORADi

Monitoring of Human Rights ViolationsIn line with section 5 (b) of the National Human Rights Commission Act 1995, the Monitoring Unit was setup in June, 2001 with a view to collecting and verifying information on violations of Human Rights, as wellas gather information about incidents, observed events and visit sites where violations are likely to takeplace or have taken place, such as detention centres, prisons, as well as camps for refugees andinternally displaced persons. The unit is also to discuss with government authorities to obtain informationand to pursue remedies and other follow up activities on human rights violations.The Monitoring unit was given the following mandate:­(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)(f)(g)(h)Gather information on Human Rights Violations by­.- Law Enforcement Agencies (Police, the Military, State Security Service (SSS), Directorateof Military Intelligence (DMI), Prisons, Customs, Immigration, National Drug LawEnforcement Agency (NDLEA), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC),Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) etc;- Statutory bodies such as (Nigeria Telecommunication Limited (NITEL), Nigeria PostalServices (NIPOST), Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) etc;- Corporate bodies (Construction Companies, Breweries, Oil and Gas Companies etc);- Private bodies/individuals- Educational institutionsProvide information on thematic areas for the use of accredited rapporteurs and others;Monitor detention centres to ensure compliance with the United Nations Minimum Standardsfor Detention Centres.Monitor compliance of institutions, government or otherwise to the need of disadvantagedpersons and groups.Monitor the conduct of elections into public and political offices;Monitor the activities of the National/State Assemblies and Local Government Councils;Monitor issues of Development, Good Governance and Corruption;Create a link between Monitoring Unit and Legal/Investigation Department of the Commission;The Monitoring Unit in keeping with its mandate has undertaken the annual compilation of Reports onthe State of Human Rights in Nigeria.State of Human Rights in Nigeria ProjectThe project commenced with a proposal to United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and theNorwegian Agency for Development (NORAD) to support activities geared towards the production of anAnnual Report on Human Rights Violations in Nigeria. There was an urgent need to produce aconsensus and indigenous document between the Commission and Human Rights Organizations thatmirrors the State of Human Rights in Nigeria.iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThe National Human Rights Commission acknowledges the assistance of:· United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Norwegian Agency for Development(NORAD) for funding the project.· The Amnesty International, Dutch Section, (Special Programme on Africa) (SPA)· The Nigerian Prison Service for facilitating and providing information and data on human rightsissues in the Nigerian Prisons;· The former Executive Secretary of National Human Rights Commission, Bukhari Bello MFR, forinitiating this project.· The Members of the Network on Monitoring and Documentation of Human Rights Violations inNigeriaq Human Rights Monitor Nigeria (HRM)q Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO)q Constitutional Rights Project (CRP)q Legal Development and Assistance Project (LEDAP)q Borno Coalition for Democracy and Development (BOCODEP)q Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (IHRHL)· Participants at Human Rights Violations Monitoring Fora at Enugu, Kano and Abuja1) Mrs. K. F. Ajoni ­ Executive Secretary, NHRC, Abuja2) Onyinye Ohia ­ WACOL, Enugu3) Eze Anaba ­ Vanguard Newspaper Lagos4) Winifred Nwoye ­ Human Rights Monitor, Kaduna5) Bose Ijelekhai ­ Radio Nigeria, Abuja6) Atinuke Agbogun ­ Constitutional Rights Project, Abuja7) Sarah Orage ­ Legal Officer, NHRC, South – South Zonal Office,Port Harcourt8) Ogbonnaya Ogbonnaya – Institute for Human Rights Humanitarian Law,Port Harcourt9) Madu Nkechi ­ Research Officer, NHRC, Abuja10) Damian Ugwu ­ Civil Liberties Organisation, Lagos11) Mohammed Wuyo ­ Borno Coalition for Democracy and Progress, Maiduguri12) Babangida Labaran ­ Senior Investigation Officer, NHRC, North East ZonalOffice, Maiduguri13) Hafsat Musa Baba ­ Legal Defense Advancement Project, Kano14) Ayinde Soaga ­ NTA, Abuja15) Akergajir Josphine ­ AIT, Abuja16) Lucas Kuyejo ­ Principal Legal Officer, NHRC, South West Zonal Office,Lagos17) Iheme Richmond ­ Principal Investigation Officer, NHRC, Abuja18) Hauwa Juaro ­ Principal Legal Officer, NHRC, North West Zonal Office,Kano19) Okwa Morphy Enebeli ­ Principal Investigation Officer, NHRC,Abuja20) Josiah Atu ­ North Central Zonal Office, NHRC, Jos21) Benadette Ako ­ Information Officer, NHRC, Abuja22) Ibrahim El’yakubu ­ Assistant Director Research, NHRC, Abuja23) Uche Nwokwocha ­ Assistant Chief Investigation Officer, NHRC, South Eastv

Zonal Office, Enugu24) A. A. Yakubu ­ Assistant Director Investigation, NHRC, Abuja25) Tony Ojukwu ­ Deputy Director Legal (Monitoring), NHRC, Abuja( ProjectCordinator)26) Amina U. Ibrahim, Esq. ­ Zonal Coordinator, North West Zonal Office, NHRC, Kano27) Aminu Adamu ­ Legal Officer, North West Zonal Office, NHRC, Kano28) Shehu Abdullahi ­ Public Affairs Officer, NW Zonal Office, NHRC, Kano29) Freedom Radio ­ Freedom Radio, Kano******30) The Manager ­ NTA Kano31) Executive Director ­ Democratic Action Group, Kano32) Executive Director ­ Purdah Women Empowerment Action, Kano33) Executive Director ­ Women Development Network, Kano34) Executive Director ­ Federation of Women Lawyers, Kano35) Executive Director ­ Network of Empowerment & DevelopmentInitiative, KanoResource Persons at Human Rights Violations Monitoring Fora at Enugu, Kano and Abuja1) Festus Okoye, Esq. ­ Executive Director, Human Rights Monitor (HRM), Nigeria2) Titus Mann, Esq. ­ President, Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), NigeriaHarmonization and Editorial CommitteeMrs. K. F. Ajoni ­ Executive Secretary, NHRC, AbujaTitus Mann, Esq. ­ President, Civil Liberties OrganisationFestus Okoye, Esq. ­ Executive Director, Human Rights MonitorOti Anukpe Ovrawah, Esq. ­ Ag. Director, Planning, Research and Statistics Dept,NHRC, AbujaTony Ojukwu, Esq. ­ Deputy Director Legal and Head of Monitoring Unit,NHRC, Abuja( Project Cordinator)A. A. Yakubu ­ Assistant Director Investigation, NHRC, AbujaAmina U. Ibrahim, Esq. ­ Chief Legal Officer and Programme Officer, Law Reformand Review/Zonal Coordinator, NHRC, NWZ Office, KanoIfeoma Nwakama ­ Assistant Chief Research Officer and Programme Officer,Gender and Other Related Matters, NHRC, AbujaOkwa Morphy Enebeli ­ Principal Investigation Officer and Programme Officer,Corruption and Good Governance, NHRC, AbujaIsaac Pitman Wuha ­ Monitoring Unit, NHRC, Abujavi

FOREWORDThe State of Human Rights in Nigeria 2005­2006 produced by the National Human RightsCommission is an affirmation, a testimony and a bold initiative underscoring the new spirit of opennessand transparency in our democracy and human rights institutions created by the government toexercise oversight functions on the activities of other institutions and arms of government.It is a clear indication that the National Human Rights Commission is beginning to realize its truemission of holding a mirror to the problems and challenges of making human rights part of the cultureand values of the people.The State of Human Rights in Nigeria 2005­2006 is also a bold statement that some institutionscreated by the government have the capacity and will to challenge those that abridge the fundamentalrights of the people as guaranteed in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and otherregional and international human rights instruments of which Nigeria is a Party.The work although pioneering in conception and execution, follows in the footsteps of other efforts bydifferent human rights and pro democracy groups to document incidents of human rights violations bythe government, its institutions and agencies.The National Human Rights Commission and its collaborating partners document in a simple andreadable manner, issues relating to extra judicial, summary and arbitrary executions, torture, cruel,inhuman and degrading treatment, freedom of expression and the media, freedom of movement andpeaceful assembly and freedom of thought and religion. It documents violations in police and otherdetention centers. It also contains sections and chapters that x­ray human rights issues relating towomen, children and young persons, health, labor, communal conflicts and violence, food and shelter,corruption and good governance, access to justice, independence of the judiciary, political killings andviolence.The report documents in concrete terms the general conditions in selected prisons across the country.It adumbrates and provides data and evidence on the general conditions of Nigerian prisons rangingfrom their health needs, access to justice, women and children in prison custody and awaiting trialinmates. The report on the prisons makes far reaching recommendations that if implemented by therelevant authorities will improve in a fundamental way, the general condition of Nigerian prisons andcompliment the on going reforms in that sector.I commend the National Human Rights Commission for this pioneering work. The involvement ofleading human rights and democracy organizations in the conception, documentation and production ofThe State of Human Rights in Nigeria 2005­2006 makes it a truly Nigerian report.My hope is that the documentation of the State of Human Rights in Nigeria will be an annual affair andnot a one off venture. It is also my fervent hope that the report will discourage the officials and agenciesinvolved in these violations from further violations and create an enabling environment for a freeNigeria. I am also optimistic that the report becomes a reference material for the Nigerian andinternational human rights community. .vii

TABLE OF CONTENTSIntroductionCHAPTER ONEExtra­Judicial, Summary and Arbitrary ExecutionsCHAPTER TWOTorture, Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or PunishmentCHAPTER THREEPolice Cells and Other Detention CentresCHAPTER FOURPrisonsCHAPTER FIVEWomen and Other Gender Related MattersCHAPTER SIXFreedom of Expression and the MediaCHAPTER SEVENChildren and Young PersonsCHAPTER EIGHTHealthCHAPTER NINEFood and ShelterCHAPTER TENLabourCHAPTER ELEVENCommunal Conflicts and Other Related ViolenceCHAPTER TWELVECorruption and Good GovernanceCHAPTER THIRTEENFreedom of Movement and Peaceful AssemblyCHAPTER FOURTEENAccess to Justice and Independence of the JudiciaryCHAPTER FIFTEENPolitical Killings and ViolenceConclusionRecommendationsviii

INTRODUCTIONThe history of human rights in Nigeria predates the advent of colonial rule. Human rights andfundamental freedoms were recognised in the traditional Nigerian societies. The idea of rightswas not however conceived in the modern notion. Such values as right to family, kin and clanmembership, freedom of thought, speech, belief and association, right to enjoy private property andright to participate in governance of the affairs of the society were jealously guarded.In areas where the Sharia legal system was firmly entrenched, especially in the northern part of thecountry, human rights and fundamental freedoms were specifically protected and guaranteed inaccordance with the tenets of Islam which hold justice and equity in high esteem. The imposition ofEuropean imperialism nevertheless eroded traditional values and liberties fundamental to the people.A major consequence of colonialism in Nigeria was the denial of political and economic rights ofNigerians. It was not until 1922 through the Clifford Constitution that limited franchise was introduced inthe constitutional history of Nigeria by the British Colonial government. The struggle for better politicalparticipation by early Nigerian nationalists led to enhanced political rights in the pre­independenceConstitutions culminating in the Littleton Constitution of 1954.The entrenchment of fundamental human rights in Nigeria in the modern sense could however betraced to the 1960 Independence Constitution and those that followed. The Independence Constitutionof 1960 and the Republican Constitution of 1963 have provisions for the protection of fundamentalhuman rights catering for civil and political liberties. The 1979 and the 1999 constitutions went furtherby having bills of rights in Chapter IV which guaranteed Civil and Political Rights and providing forFundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy in Chapter II, which recognisedEconomic, Social and Cultural Rights. The entrenchment of human rights provisions in ourConstitutions was aimed at creating a society where there is political freedom, social and economic wellbeing of the people.However, despite the guarantee of fundamental rights and liberties in the Nigerian Constitutions since1960, the country has had the misfortune of military interruptions. This had profound and far­reachingeffects on the promotion and protection of democratic values and fundamental freedoms amongNigerians.Nigerians led by human rights civil society groups engaged the military in the struggle for a bettersociety governed by constitutionalism, the rule of law, social justice and respect for human rights. TheCommission was subsequently established in June 1996 to join hands with other stakeholders in thepromotion and protection of human rights in Nigeria. Seven years after democracy, time has come forthe human rights community to assess the gains and challenges of promoting and protecting humanrights in democratic Nigeria.Consequently, it is apparent that there is an urgent need to produce a consensus and indigenousdocument that mirrors the state of human rights in Nigeria. In order to realize this objective, theCommission consulted some major Civil Society Organizations in Nigeria for a collaborative approachtowards the production of a credible report that will form a benchmark for measuring the state of humanrights in Nigeria. The report is also aimed at holding the government, its agencies and institutions,corporate bodies and individuals, accountable for human rights violations committed during the periodunder review. It is also expected that the report would attract attention to areas in need of interventionwith a view to reducing future violations and gaining support to carry out the interventions identified.ix

This report, which is the first of its kind is expected to be produced annually and would continue to bethe collaborative effort of major human rights groups in Nigeria. The major challenge is to sustain thislaudable project and it is hoped that members of the national, regional and international agencies anddevelopment partners will find this effort a worthy cause to support. Future reports will be animprovement on this maiden edition.x

CHAPTER ONEEXTRA­JUDICIAL, SUMMARY AND ARBITRARY EXECUTIONS“Every person has a right to life, and no one shall be deprivedIntentionally of his life, save in execution of the sentence of aCourt in respect of a criminal offence of which he has been foundGuilty in Nigeria…’’Section 33, Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999“Human rights are inviolable. Every human being shall be entitled torespect for his life and the integrity of his person. No one may bearbitrarily deprived of this right”Article 4, African Charter on Human and Peoples’ RightsEvery human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall beprotected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.”Article 6(1), International Covenant on Civil and Political RightsDespite the protection for the right to life provided for by national, regional and internationalinstruments, cases of extra­judicial, summary and arbitrary executions by the Police and other lawenforcement agencies are still prevalent in Nigeria. The entrenchment of democratic rule since 1999has not significantly reduced this practice. The frequent issuance of ‘shoot­at­sight’ orders bygovernment authorities during or upon apprehension of breakdown of law and order has worsened thesituation. Prolonged years of military dictatorship in Nigeria entrenched a culture of disregard for humanlife, particularly on the part of security and law enforcement agencies. This attitude has largelyremained unchanged, seven years after the advent of democracy.Cases of extra­judicial, summary and arbitrary executions have been persistently recorded across thecountry. The following cases were reported during the period covered by this report.At about 6.00 pm on the 2 nd of March, 2005, Inspector James Iyallo and three other junior officers,Corporals Rufus Shima, Yahaya Dadi and Police Constable (PC) Vincent Achuku were deployedfrom No.13 Police Mobile Force Squadron, Makurdi, Benue State for stop­and­search duties atLow Level Roundabout Wurukum.A commercial bus with registration number, XA 344 plying the North­Bank to Wadata route wasstopped by Police Constable (PC) Vincent Achuku, and without searching the bus, he demanded(money) bribe from the driver, Godwin Anuka. The driver pleaded with PC Achuku to let him continuewith his journey and that he would pay on his return trip. This infuriated PC Achuku and he immediatelycocked his service rifle, shot and killed the driver.The leader of the team, Inspector James Iyallo, quickly withdrew the officers from the duty post back tothe State Police Headquarters, Makurdi where the arms issued to the officers were crosschecked andPC Achuku was found to have expended one shell of ammunition issued to him. Inspector James Iyallomade a complaint and PC Achuku was arrested. Achuku volunteered a statement, admitting theallegation against him. The officers on duty with him also made written statements, as well as the busconductor, Austine Anongu, which indicted the suspect (PC Achuku). He was thereafter given an1

orderly room trial and dismissed from the police force. As at the time of this report, PC Achuku isstanding trial before the High Court, Makurdi for culpable homicide.Zainabu Buba, an 80 year old widow, resident in Mile Six, a suburb town in Jalingo, was on 29 thday of March 2006 arrested and taken to a church by Inspector Ayuba Tumba of Jalingo MobilePolice Command. She was subjected to torture and torment on the allegation of bewitching andinitiating two daughters of the said Inspector, (Augustina, 15, and Deborah, 8) into cultism, after whichshe was released. Upon complaint from the family of Zainabu, Inspector Tumba was arraigned beforeChief Magistrate Court 1 on the 11 th of April 2006 for the offences of criminal force and assault,accusing a person of being a witch and, trial by ordeal. He was subsequently granted bail and thematter was adjourned to the 20 th of April 2006 for hearing.While on bail, Inspector Tumba, and three others, namely, Corporal Francis James and PoliceConstables Usman Mohammed and David Joshua stormed the residence of Zainabu Buba, abductedand hacked her to death with a machete on the 19 th day of April 2006, at about 11.00 pm. The violatorshave been charged for the offence of culpable homicide, punishable with death and remanded in prisonby Chief Magistrate Court 2 in Jalingo.According to the Guardian Newspaper of April 12, 2006, Seun Adepoju a 23 years old student ofMoshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta, Ogun State was killed at Shasha Akowonjo, Lagos byPolicemen attached to Odebunmi Afonka Police Station, Shasha Akowonjo, on the 8 th of April,2006, on the allegation that they received an anonymous distress call that armed robbers wereoperating around the area. The Police claimed that upon getting to the area, they found the suspectedarmed robbers in an uncompleted building. They started to run away and the deceased who tried tojump over the fence was shot dead. The corpse was taken to the Police Station and eventually to theGeneral Hospital in Lagos.However, the account of the incident by the deceased’s family, friends and eyewitnesses contradictedthe account by the Police. The witnesses alleged that the police laid a siege to the house where thedeceased was visiting his friends and started shooting sporadically, which scared the deceased and hisfriends and made them to escape from the house. In the process, the deceased jumped from the fenceand sustained injury. Rather than taking him to the hospital, the policemen beat him and dragged himin a semi conscious state, threw him into the booth of his car and drove to Odebunmi Afonka PoliceStation, Shasha Akowonjo, Lagos State. At the Police Station, he was subjected to further torture onaccount of which he died. The police provided no evidence to show that the deceased and his friendswere armed robbers.In view of the public outcry that followed the death of Seun, the Deputy Commissioner of Police at SCIDPanti, Yaba, Lagos State set up a panel headed by him to look into the case. The report of the panel isyet to be made public. The deceased’s body was recovered from the General Hospital, Lagos on the20 th of May 2006 by the family.A preliminary autopsy conducted by Dr O.O Oyewole, a Pathologist at the Lagos State UniversityTeaching Hospital, Ikeja indicates the primary cause of death as “suspected hemorrhage andhemopenitonum” and the secondary cause as “penetrating injury to the chest and abdomen”. Theautopsy report signed by the said Dr O.O Oyewole of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital wasdated 20 th , May 2006.2

On the 11 th of August, 2006, bodies of 12 young men alleged by the police to be armed robberysuspects were deposited by a team of policemen at the Federal Medical Centre in Umuahia,Abia state. Hospital sources confirmed that the police brought in the bodies.The previous day, being Thursday 10 th of August, 2006, the 12 suspects, including a 13­year old boy,had been paraded in the premises of the Abia State Police Headquarters around 9.00 a.m. as armedrobbers suspects.Sometime in August 2006, the Commissioner of Police in Abia State was informed that some robberysuspects were operating from a town called Ohokobe Idume in the suburb of Umuahia. They usually goout for operation around 8­10 pm and come back in the early hours of the morning. The cases of armedrobbery had reached a high point in the area following the withdrawal of the vigilante group calledBakkassi Boys. One Inspector Iyayi was detailed by the C.O.P. to carry out clandestine investigation ofthe information on the movement of the robbery suspects. He confirmed the suspicious movement ofthe suspects as well as their mode of operation. On the night of the 7 th of august 2006, the police wasinformed of the movement of the suspects apparently to go out to rob. The police laid ambush for them.They evacuated the people in the neighborhood before the robbers came back at about 4­5 am on themorning of 8 th August 2006. When they came back, the suspects were surrounded by the police andasked to surrender and raise up their hands. Instead of doing this, the suspects attacked the police withweapons and the police as usual defended themselves by shooting back at the suspects. In the fireexchange that resulted, 4 of the suspects were killed instantly while 12 others sustained serious gunshot injuries. Ammunitions and other materials suspected to be stolen were recovered from themincluding the following;i) One pump action G 3 Riffle No D05 1071 viii) one Panasonic color televisionii) One G 3 Riffle No M690 73806 ix) one rug carpetiii) One Berretta Riffle No 41806 x) one kemko motorcycle no AB­1577 NSiv) One locally made double barrel Riffle xi) One kemko motorcycle no AB­1984 HRCv) 17 life cartridges xii)One Darilong m/c No AE ­3170 BUSEvi) One VCD player xiii) One tool boxvii) One Kenwood Deck with two speakers xiv) One swimming vestxv) Rounds of ammunition.The 12 surviving suspects were said to have confessed to some robbery incidents in the state beforethey died and their corpses were subsequently deposited at the Federal Medical Center, Umuahia. Thecircumstances of their death after they were paraded on the 10 th august suggest they were extrajudiciallyexecuted without due process.When the traditional ruler of the community, Eze Ohaeri was interviewed by the officers of thecommission, he confirmed the incident of gun battle between the police and the suspects in the villageon the 8 th august 2006. He also stated that the suspects were members of an armed robbery gang thathad been terrorizing the village. In fact he said the leader of the gang (Azubuike), one of the deceased,was his relation who grew up in his house before he strayed away and had brought a lot of bad name tothe family and the community as a whole. He could not give account of what happened to the 12paraded and alife on the 10 th august 2006. The officers of the Commission also visited the State CIDoffice at Uzuakoli, Umuahia where the arms and other items recovered from the suspects weredeposited and cited them one after the other.According to media reports, the Police Public Relations Officer in charge of the Abia State PoliceCommand said that he was not aware of the deaths and that he thought the suspects were still beinginterrogated. All attempts to contact him on phone to get further information failed.3

Lugard Monday Ogubochi, a 36­year­old farmer of Ukpeliede Community in Ahoada West LocalGovernment Area of Rivers State was shot dead by soldiers, while Chimezie Uwe and many othermembers of the same community who were at the scene of the shooting suffered bullet wounds.Chief Sunday Alele and some elders of the community were beaten up and seriously injured by thesoldiers.What apparently caused this incident was an encounter between some youths of the community, threejunior officers of the Nigerian Army and four other men. On May 30, 2006, at about 1100p.m, the youthhad observed the soldiers and the four men who were dressed in plain cloths driving towards ShellPetroleum Development Company (SPDC) manifold in Ukpeliede in a Hilux van without a plate number.The youths accosted them, given that it was an odd hour and given the recurrent cases of vandalizationof pipelines and other oil installations in the Niger­Delta region. The four men in plain clothes whoclaimed to be employees of the said company, on sensing danger fled, leaving the three soldiersbehind. The youths took the soldiers to the palace of Chief Joseph Ayipi, the Eze Nweula of Ukpeliede,and the paramount ruler of the community. At the palace, the youths demanded that the soldiers betaken to the police station for proper investigation on their mission at the manifold. While they werebeing taken away, one of the soldiers, Uza Mathew, complained to the chief that his wallet containinghis ID card was missing and that the youths should give it back to him. Chief Joseph Ayipi promised toinquire from the youths if any one of them had seen the wallet and ID card. The youths were amazed atthe claim concerning the ID card and wallet.On June 3, 2006, four days later, while members of Ukeliede Community were having a meeting in thecommunity hall, Eze Joshua Eyibe informed them that soldiers were in his house threatening to invadethe community if the missing items were not returned. Two days later, soldiers arrived Ukpeliede andstarted shooting at random in the course of which Lugard Monday Ogubochi was killed and severalothers wounded. All efforts by Chief Cleta Freeman, a retired police officer in the community to calm theinvading soldiers yielded no result, as their commanding officer (name unknown) said they (soldiers)had not come for dialogue.A day after the shooting and killing of Mr. Lugard Monday Ogubochi, the missing items were found byMr. Reason Opara Egbo from Idu Ekpeye, a neighbouring community and taken to the Ahoada WestLocal Government Chairman, Chief Maxwell Okpokiri, for delivery to the soldiers.Uza Mathew’s ID card©Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Port­Harcourt4

Corpse of Mr. Lugard Monday© Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Port­Harcourt.Chimezie Uwe©Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Port­Harcourt.On February 7, 2006, at about 9.00p.m, 28 year old Adewuyi Daniel Tella of Flat 12, Block 1, No22 Road G Close Festac Town, Lagos was arrested by policemen attached to the Festac PoliceDivision, on his way to visit his sick brother at 22 Road, J Close, Festac Town. On arrest, he wasnot told the reason for it. The following day, his family was asked to come to the police station andidentify his corpse. The police alleged that he had jumped down from a moving police vehicle.In the early hours of July 28, 2006, officers of the Special Anti­Robbery squad from the FederalCapital Territory, Abuja went to the compound of Adulkadir Azeez, 70 years old, where he lives withhis extended family in the village of Garun Kurama, Lere Local Government Area, Kaduna State. Thesound of a gunshot woke him up and he went out to find out the cause. Immediately he stepped out ofhis house, he was shot dead. The policemen then went to his son’s house (Ibrahim Abdulkadir), forcedopen the door and shot him dead too.5

The second son of the old man, Shehu Abdulkadir, heard the gunshots, opened his door and saw hisfather lying dead on the ground. He tried to find out what happened and was also shot dead by thepolicemen.This incident was witnessed by two wives of Abdulkadir Azeez, (Maimuna Abdukadir Azeez and AdamaAbdulkadir Azeez), Shehu’s wife (Zainab Shehu Abdulkadir Azeez) and one of the surviving sons,Huudu Abdukardir Azeez. They were interviewed along with the village head of Garun Gurama, MallamSurubi and 15 other eyewitnesses.The Kaduna State Police Command confirmed that officers of the Special Anti­Robbery Squad, Abujainvaded the village. They claimed that the officers went to the village to recover arms and ammunitionsand were shot at by the villagers. However, the Deputy Governor of Kaduna State visited the villagewith the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of Lere Local Government Council and assured them thatjustice will be done. Up to the time of this report nothing has been done to bring the perpetrators tojustice.On Friday, September 15, 2006, at about 3.00 p.m., a team of over 200 policemen in eight trucksfrom Delta State Police Command drove to Afiesere Community in Ughelli North LocalGovernment of Delta State. On arrival, they started shooting sporadically.According to media reports 1 villagers including women and children took to their heels to avoid thebullets of the rampaging policemen. Those that could not escape were shot and killed or wounded. Thepolicemen then looted several shops and homes before setting them ablaze.When the policemen eventually retreated around 5.30 p.m. 22 persons lay dead, 60 houses and 15vehicles were burnt. The police also set ablaze two corpses while some were taken away and dumpedin the bush. Five other victims, mostly elderly persons also reportedly died from shock over the incident.These killings and destruction would appear to be a reprisal attack on the community for the killing oftwo police officers (Mr. Nnamdi Ngwokor, a Divisional Police Officer and Elias Allison, an Inspector) onThursday September 14, 2006 by youths suspected to be from Afiesere. The police claimed that thetwo officers were on a mission to restore peace in the community when they were ambushed and killedby the youths who also took away their arms and ammunition. They subsequently vowed to arrest allthose responsible for the crime. Hence, the invasion and destruction of the community.RECOMMENDATIONS1. There is need to sensitize the police on the need to have respect for human life and to exerciseutmost restraint in dealing with citizens so as not take human life unnecessarily.2. The practice of killing armed robbery and other suspects by the police before they are tried formallyin a court of competent jurisdiction is unlawful and should be stopped. Any officers found to be involvedin such summary executions should be tried for the offence. They should not be merely dismissed fromservice.3. The right to presumption of innocence in the 1999 Constitution should be respected by all lawenforcement agencies.1Guardian, Sun and Vanguard Newspapers of Saturday September 16, 20066

CHAPTER TWOTORTURE, CRUEL, INHUMAN OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENTEvery individual is entitled to respect for the dignity of his person,and accordingly­(a) no person shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman ordegrading treatment;(b) no person shall be held in slavery or servitude; and(c) no person shall be required to perform forced or compulsorylabour.Section 34 (1), Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999Every individual shall have the right to the respect of the dignity inherent ina human being and to the recognition of his legal status. All forms of exploitationand degradation of man particularly slavery, slave trade, torture, cruel, inhumanor degrading punishment and treatment shall be prohibited.Article 5, African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights“Each State Party shall take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measuresto prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction.No exceptional circumstance whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internalpolitical stability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.An order from a superior officer or a public authority may not be invoked as a justification oftorture”Article 2, Convention Against Torture and other Cruel Inhuman orDegrading Treatment or PunishmentDespite the provisions of the above­mentioned human rights instruments, prohibiting torture, cruelinhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the Nigerian Police Force and other law enforcementagencies commit the act of torture with impunity. There have been several reported cases of torture,committed by law enforcement agents, in the bid to either effect arrest or extract confessionalstatements from accused persons. The following are some of such cases.Buduka Nelson, a motor vehicle mechanic, was arrested on May 5, 2005 at Olodi­ Apapa, Lagosby policemen in connection with an alleged theft of a car parked at a car­wash near hisworkshop. He was detained for four days at Trinity Police Station, Olodi­ Apapa, Lagos. He wastransferred to Special Crime Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, Lagos where he was detained foranother 3 days. He was released on bail on May 12, 2005 on the intervention of the National HumanRights Commission (NHRC). While in detention, he was brutally tortured by being hung upside downand beaten for several hours by the Investigating Police Officer (IPO) named Etuk in order to get aconfessional statement from him.The victim suffered serious pain in his body due to the severe beating he received from the police. Hiswrists were swollen and bruised and he limped for several days after his release. He was neithercharged nor arraigned for any offence, despite the incarceration and torture.7

Though the Deputy Commissioner of Police, SCID Panti, Olayinka Balogun and the Assistant InspectorGeneral of Police, Zone 2 Command were informed of the incident, they did not make any comment onthe matter.On June 17, 2005, Moses Dav died in Police detention as a result of torture inflicted on him by thepolice at ‘‘D’’ Division Police Station, Makurdi, Benue State.The police arrested Tersoo John Buter, following the report of a case of breaking and entry which wasreported by one Obiobo at ‘‘D’’ Division Police Station, Ankpa Road, Makurdi. Tersoo admitted theallegation and mentioned the names of Moses Dav, Jime Demekaa, Sesugh Ahura and Denen Iber, asaccomplices. They also agreed that the stolen items were kept at the house of Moses Dav.Consequently Moses Dav was arrested along with the others and taken to ‘‘D’’ Division. Moses Davdenied knowledge of, and participation in the alleged theft. His house was searched, but nothingincriminating was found.At ‘‘D’’ Division Police Station, Corporal Godwin Ameh, the Investigating Police Officer (IPO) torturedthe suspects to elicit confessions for the offence. While others admitted, Moses Dav maintained hisinnocence. Following his persistent denial, Corporal Ameh inflicted severe head injuries with the butt ofa gun and bruises all over his body, and threatened to kill him if he did not admit the offence.Moses became very ill and lost consciousnesses before the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) granted himbail to enable him receive treatment. He was taken to Federal Medical Centre, Makurdi but, he neverregained consciousness. He died on June 17, 2005. A post mortem examination of his body revealedthat his death was as a result of severe head injuries.On May 16, 2006, Patrick Onogburudo, a 38­year­old surveyor of No 2 Owhori Close, EketeInland Residence, Asaba, Delta State was arrested, detained, beaten up and tortured to deathby a police patrol team from Enerhen Police Station, Asaba, Delta State.Onogburudo left home with a friend/fellow surveyor, Elvis Effurun, to see a client, Margaret Agie. Ontheir way back, at about 10.00 p.m. they were accosted by a patrol team from Enerhen police stationled by a Superintendent of Police. They were accused of being armed robbers. Despite their denial andexplanation, the police team beat them up. Elvis managed to escape to alert their client who lived nearthe scene of the ordeal. When he returned, he saw the policemen driving away with Patrick in theirvehicle. Elvis arrived the police station some minutes later with Mrs. Agie. He was immediately clampedinto detention. In the cell, Elvis found Patrick badly beaten and in pains.About 3 hours later, Patrick complained of severe pains in his heart region and collapsed in the policecell. According to Elvis, the inmates of the cell called for help for about 30 minutes before the policeattended to Patrick. After much argument on whether to take him to a private or government hospital,Patrick was eventually taken to Central Hospital, Warri, where he died at about 4.00 a.m. onWednesday May 17 , 2006. Before his death, he told Odwigho Agbiwo, son of Mrs. Agie who was by hishospital bed:“I was beaten up by three policemen. One of them is tall and he was the one that usedthe butt of the gun to hit me severally at the chest, the other one used baton to hit meon the stomach and back, which is why I cannot move from the bed now. Please tellmy brother to hold the police responsible for my death if anything should happen tome.”8

Moments after Patrick died, a senior police officer informed the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Mr F.Jamale that a robbery suspect who was arrested for trying to disarm a police officer, had died whilebeing taken to the hospital, apparently referring to Patrick. This claim was later disproved by the DPOafter investigation. On the order of the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ekpoudom, the perpetrators werearrested and detained in Asaba.On April 6, 2006, a 67 year old man, Chief Clifford Nmegbu of Omulele, Igwuruta, Rivers Statewas abducted at the market square by Tuesday Emmanuel Owhunda, Innocent Nmegbu andIsaac Nchelem Emmanuel. They took him to their house, tied his hands behind his back andsubjected him to severe and brutal beating, which led him to suffer serious bodily injury. He becameunconscious. Presuming him dead, his assailants threw him into the booth of a navy blue Volvo car withregistration number Rivers AG 860 ANB and took him to Igwuruta police station. On regainingconsciousness, he was rushed to Dominion Mandate Hospital, Omunobo at Igwuruta by SergeantChristian and Corporal Williams. He was later relocated to Pamax Hospital, Isiokpo.On April 25, 2006, while still on admission, another attempt was made to abduct Clifford Nmegbu withthe connivance of some policemen from Igwuruta police station who used the same Volvo car. With theintervention of the hospital management,Mr Nmegbu was secretly moved to Onitsha, Anambra State fortreatment and protection. On May 9, 2006, Clifford Nmegbu’s younger brother, Bernard Nmegbu whohad been hiding in fear over the incident, returned home and, was killed on May 12 2006 by unknownpersons who were believed to be working for Emmanuel Owhunda.Clifford Nmegbu’s Solicitor, Ken Aswete, wrote a petition to the Rivers State Police Commissionerdated June 1, 2006. The Commissioner instructed the DPO of Igwuruta to investigate the murder but noinvestigation was carried out. Rather than investigating the petition, the DPO accused PrincewillAzubike, 15, Evans Azubike, 16 and Rex Azunda, 20, all children of Clifford Nmegbu of destroying theproperty of Emmanuel Owhunda, Innocent Nmegbu and Isaac Nchelem Emmanuel, in retaliation for thedeath of their father. They were subsequently arrested, detained and charged to Magistrate’s Court,Igwuruta for willful destruction of property.Wilfred, another brother of Clifford Nmegbu was stabbed on June 16, 2006 and told by hisassailants:“Clifford will be eliminated whenever he is found”. Thereafter, Clifford consulted a humanrights lawyer. While in the lawyer’s office, five heavily armed police men from Olu Obasanjo PoliceStation, Port­Harcourt, in the company of Emmanuel Owhunda, stormed the lawyer’s office andarrested Clifford along with his Personal Assistant, Juliana Uzuoma. Subsequently they were taken toIgwuruta Police Station where they were detained for a day before they were granted bail.However, on July 5, 2006, the Commissioner of Police directed that an autopsy be carried out on thecorpse of Bernard Nmegbu. The outcome of police investigations is still being awaited as at the time ofthis report.On July 14, 2006, Friday Omakoji Abu, adult, male, legal practitioner based in Abuja, went to theCorporate Affairs Commission (CAC) located at Zone 5 Abuja to transact business. Whilemaking payment at Zenith Bank within the premises of CAC, he noticed three people at thelobby of the bank arguing. On inquiry, Friday was informed by one of the three persons that operativesof the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) were in the bank to arrest an employee ofthe CAC. The employee pleaded for them to wait for his superior officer. Friday intervened and askedthem to wait for the superior officer as requested. This advice seemed to infuriate one of the operativeswho demanded to know Friday’s identity. Upon identifying himself as a practicing lawyer, Friday was9

immediately ordered to sit on the floor. He was pushed to the ground, beaten up, handcuffed and takento EFCC office at Asokoro, Abuja.When contacted on September 7 and 8, 2006, EFCC officials declined any comment on the incident.However, a staff of EFCC who did not want to be quoted claimed that lawyers were fond of obstructingEFCC operations.On May 23, 2006, at about 7.30 p.m, Rev. Oliver Asomba, a middle aged priest, in­charge of St.Peter’s Anglican Church, Amaruru, in Orsu Local Government Area of Imo State, was comingback from a meeting in the company of his wife, his one­year­old son and a colleague. His Volvo240 Salon car, registration number (Lagos) DW 783 AAA broke down near Aswaju Police Post inAmaruru Autonomous Community. The car had a bold inscription: “Anglican Church, Amaruru” writtenon it.According to the Daily Sun Newspaper of June 7, 2006, one Police Constable called Ikechukwuslapped Rev. Asomba for parking in front of the Police Post despite Rev Asomba’s explanation that thecar broke down. Other policemen joined in beating Rev. Asomba. His cleric clothes were torn and hewas thrown into detention until 11.30 p.m. of the same day. Rev. Asomba made a formal report to theOrlu Area Police Command while the Diocese petitioned the State Commissioner of Police, Mr.Hezekiah Dimka over the incident. At the time of this report, the police authority had not taken anysteps to redress or, inquire into the situation.Ben Williams is a young man in his mid 20s. He resides at No. 56 Gwarri Road, Sabo Tasha,Kaduna. He reported that on January 29, 2006, he was in his barber’s shop when two men of theNigerian Army and a lady, came to him. The lady claimed that he had stolen her handset. Theysearched his shop after which they bundled him into their vehicle and took him to the Strike Force Baseat Sabo Tasha, Kaduna.At the Strike Force Base, about 5 soldiers beat him with horsewhips and a chain. They also hit him onhis knees with a rifle butt and asked him to admit the theft. After about an hour of torture, and soaked inhis blood, he was taken to their office where he was detained till the next day. He was asked to sign anundertaking to replace the handset and threatened that if he refused, he will be put into an armouredtank where he will suffocate.Upon his release, he filed an action at the Federal High Court, Kaduna against Mrs. C. Yero who madethe complaint against him. The case is still pending in court.RECOMMENDATIONS1. The Nigerian Police and other law enforcement agencies should adopt a human rights basedapproach to investigation. No investigations should be carried out in such a way as to violatehuman rights principles.2. Torture should be made illegal as a means of investigation. In this regard, the National Assemblyshould provide the legal framework for the criminalisation of torture to discourage police and otherlaw enforcement officers from resorting to torture as a means of investigation.3. The Convention Against Torture should be domesticated by the National Assembly to bring Nigeriain line with developments in this area of international law and practice. All law enforcementagencies should be sensitized on the provisions of the said Convention.4. All law enforcement officers proved to have used torture to obtain confessional or any statementsfrom suspects should be appropriately sanctioned.10

CHAPTER THREEPOLICE CELLS AND OTHER DETENTION CENTRES“The State social order is founded on ideals of freedom, equality and justice. Infurtherance of the social order – Every citizen shall have equality of rights, obligationsand opportunities before the law. ”Section 17 (1)(2)(a) of the 1999 Constitution of the FederalRepublic of Nigeria“Every individual is entitled to respect for the dignity of his personand accordingly – No person shall be subjected to torture or inhuman ordegrading treatment.”Section 34(1)(a) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republicof Nigeria“Every individual shall have the right to the respect of the dignity inherent in a humanbeing and to the recognition of his legal status. All forms of exploitation anddegradation of man particularly slavery, slave trade, torture, cruel, inhuman ordegrading punishment and treatment shall be prohibited”Article 5, African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights1. Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person. No one shall be subjected toarbitrary arrest or detention. No one shall be deprived of his liberty except on suchgrounds and in accordance with such procedure as are established by law.2. Anyone who is arrested shall be informed, at the time of arrest, of the reasons for hisarrest and shall be promptly informed of any charges against him.Article 9 (1 & 2), ICCPRThe different categories of prisoners shall be kept in separate institutions or parts ofinstitutions taking account of their sex, age, criminal record, the legal reason for theirdetention and the necessities of their treatment. Thus,(a) Men and women shall so far as possible be detained in separate institutions; in aninstitution which receives both men and women the whole of the premises allocated towomen shall be entirely separate;(b) Untried prisoners shall be kept separate from convicted prisoners;(c) Persons imprisoned for debt and other civil prisoners shall be kept separate frompersons imprisoned by reason of a criminal offence;(d) Young prisoners shall be kept separate from adults.Article 8 of United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment ofPrisoners“All accommodation provided for the use of prisoners and in particular all sleepingaccommodation shall meet all requirements of health, due regard being paid to climaticconditions and particularly to cubic content of air, minimum floor space, lighting,heating and ventilation.”Article 10 of United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatmentof Prisoners11

“The juvenile justice system should uphold the rights and safety and promote thephysical and mental well­being of juveniles. Imprisonment should be used as a lastresort.”“Juveniles should only be deprived of their liberty in accordance with the principles andprocedures set forth in these Rules and in the United Nations Standard Minimum Rulesfor the Administration of Juvenile Justice (The Beijing Rules). Deprivation of the libertyof a juvenile should be a disposition of last resort and for the minimum necessaryperiod and should be limited to exceptional cases. The length of the sanction should bedetermined by the judicial authority, without precluding the possibility of his or her earlyrelease.”Article 1 and 2 of United Nations Rules for the Protection of JuvenilesDeprived of their Liberty“The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the African Charter on Human and People’s Rightsand United Nations Human Rights Instruments prohibits inhuman treatment, torture or punishment topersons in detention for whatever offence. This has been disregarded to a very large extent bydetaining officers. Persons are frequently arrested and detained under inhuman conditions and, torturedto obtain confessional statements. The following cases give an illustration of the situation.Sometime in November 2005, personnel of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) went to Benue Investment Company, Makurdi, to arrest Mr. X. On being informed of thepresence of the EFCC team in his office, Mr. X attempted to run to the Government House forprotection, but was pursued by the EFCC team, and shot at, causing him to have an accident. He waseventually arrested, beaten and taken to EFCC office at Asokoro, AbujaMr. Y, the victim’s cousin stated that Mr. X was arrested in connection with a financial disagreement ina business transaction, involving a company of which he was the chairman. His business partner, Mr.Nwata, reported the matter to a friend, who is an EFCC official. The victim was released three dayslater after paying the sum of One Million, Three Hundred Thousand Naira to Mr. Nwata, being the sumof money owed him by the Company.Mr. Owens, a resident of Ogba in Lagos State, employed three bricklayers, namely, Sola Gabriel,Linus Mobem and Tolani Odunaike to construct a soak­away at his property in Ogba. On May24, 2006, a man unknown to them came to the building site and requested to work with them.Because they needed an extra hand, they allowed him to join them. Before he started work, he askedfor permission to go and eat at a nearby canteen. On the way to the canteen, he collapsed and wasrushed to a nearby hospital belonging to Dr. Adesugba. The doctor tried to revive him, but he died thenext day.The doctor and the workers reported the matter at the Area G Police Station, Ogba. Withoutinvestigating the cause of death, the police arrested and detained the workers, the doctor and theowner of the building on the ground that they were murder suspects. This is despite the fact that therewas no evidence or motive for such suspicion since the doctor’s examination revealed that thedeceased suffered from brain hemorrhage due to acute hypertension.The victims were never charged to court until they were released on the May 27, 2006 on theintervention of the National Human Rights Commission. While in detention, the victims were attackedby criminals inside the police cell, psychologically traumatized and suffered financial losses. Uponenquiries, the Area Commander stated that the victims were detained pending police investigation.12

On February 18, 2006, Babagana Zanna, a 17 year old boy was arrested and detained atBulunkutu Police Station, Airport Road, Maiduguri Metropolitan Council by the police (CrackDepartment). The victim was arrested in connection with the February 18, 2006 religious riot inMaiduguri. He died in detention on February 20, 2006 at about 9.00 p.m. According to the victim’sfather, Mr. Zanna Mulima, during the period of detention, the family was not allowed access to thevictim, but the family was informed of his death by a fellow detainee, Madu Kolo of Hausari Ward,Maiduguri. When the family requested for the corpse for proper burial, the police released it to them.While the corpse was being prepared for burial according to Islamic rites, a nail was found lodged in hishead. The family believes that the nail was driven into Babagana Zanna’s head in the process ofinterrogation while he was in detention, which caused his death. On the grounds of the family’sreligious belief, no autopsy was conducted on the body. Neither was a coroner’s inquest conducted.On August 12, 2006, officers of the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), EnuguState Command arrested Augustina Onyia and Anna Onyia, wives of Chief Ike Onyia in theirvillage Obeagwu Ozalla. They were detained for 5 days along with Master Ikechukwu Onyia, 14at NDLEA Office, Independence Layout, Enugu under dehumanizing conditions. The women believedthe NDLEA Commander acted on the instruction of one Engineer Dom Udeh, a Board member ofNDLEA and a brother to Chief Steven Udeh, that they should be detained until they disclosed thewhereabouts of their husband, Chief Ike Onyia. The Commander of NDLEA, Enugu, Benson Odumureleased the detainees on August 18, 2006, following the intervention of the Commission (NHRC).The women said that their husband was arrested by the Nigerian Police, Udi Station for his allegedinvolvement in the case of a missing water pumping machine at University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital,Ituku Ozalla. The case was later transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Enugu.While investigation was going on, the police granted Chief Onyia bail and Chief Steven Udeh acted ashis surety. Chief Onyia jumped bail and when Chief Udeh could not produce him within a reasonabletime, the Enugu North Chief Magistrate’s Court remanded him in prison.On September 15, 2006 at about 8.00 a.m., Auwalu Yakubu, male, 21, of London Ciki in Ngomari,Maiduguri, Borno State, was arrested by a policeman from Gwange Division of Jere LocalGovernment Area on the allegation of stealing a handset. According to the police, the victim wasarrested on a complaint from a policewoman that she found her handset (Nokia 1100), which had beenmissing, at Yakubu’s shop on September 18, 2006.The victim stated that he was arrested and detained for five days along with Bashiru (who repairshandsets) and Alhaji Omo, without being given a chance to explain their position because thecomplainant is a policewoman. Investigations revealed that the handset was stolen by one Ezekiel anddeposited with Bashiru for repairsOn September 20, 2006, the DPO (CSP G. Abdulazeez) constituted a committee headed by theDivisional Crime Officer, ASP Limawa to look into the matter. Consequently, all the arrested suspectswere released to their relatives on the same day, as none of them was actually involved in the theft.On September 1, 2006 around 2.00 p.m., Abbagana Bulamari, male, 28, driver of Banki town inBama Local Government Area of Borno State was arrested with his car (a Peugeot 404 Pick­Up)by 3 policemen of State CID Headquarters, Maiduguri at Babban Layi Hausari Ward ofMaiduguri Metropolitan Council and detained for 5 days. His relatives’ request on 3 rd September 2006for his bail was refused on the ground that the detainee’s uncle, one Mallam Bako was suspected to bea thief and all efforts to arrest him proved abortive. The police also alleged that the detainee had beendriving a car belonging to the said Mallam Bako.13

In his defence, Abbagana Bulamari stated that he had stopped driving the car of the suspected MallamBako 5 years before, and that he had no knowledge of any nefarious activities of his uncle. OnSeptember 6, 2006, Bulamari was released with his car to his elder brother, Bukar Ngadu.Haladu Shehu, 39, male, and a night guard residing at No 12, Yakasai Quarters, Garko LocalGovernment Area of Kano State was arrested on April 24, 2006, on his way home from work.Along with others, he was accused of raping a 14­year­old girl, Hadiza Garba, in the housewhere he works as a night guard. The mother of the girl reported him to Garko police station, which wasvery close to her house. He was detained at Garko police station along with the other suspects in a verysmall and poorly ventilated cell.While in detention, he was compelled to confess to the commission of the offence. He was seriouslybeaten, resulting in the breaking of his left arm and other internal injuries. Upon release from detention,his wife Aishatu took him to the hospital where he received treatment for several days before herecovered.Amina Abubakar, female, Muslim, housewife, married to one Alhaii Aminu Abubakar residing atKwanar Maggi, Hotoro, Kano was arrested together with her one (1) year old child and 3 othermembers of her family from their residence on June 2, 2006, around 6.30 a.m. by DPOBabagana, after forcefully breaking into the apartment and ransacking everywhere.The arrest was in connection with the search for the head of the family, Alhaji Abubakar. The matterwas a case of goods supplied by one Mr. Gopel to Alhaji Abubakar. Amina and the other members ofher family were arrested and detained at Rijiyan Zaki Police Station, Kano for several days.On a visit to the police station, the DPO claimed that Amina Abubakar and the three other members ofher family were no longer in detention and that the alleged arrest of a child was untrue and unfounded.A petition dated June 5, 2006 was written to the Inspector­General of Police by the family lawyer,Barrister Kehinde Olaitan of No. 37, Niger Street, Murtala Muhammed Way, Kano, and was copied tothe National Human Rights Commission. No response has been received as at the time of this report.Juli Haruna, male, 14, from Kundum Village, a Fulani settlement near Gwagwalada Area Council ofAbuja was arrested by the Police on September 3, 2005 and detained at Garki Police Station. Hewas remanded in police custody together with his four elder brothers for 99 days. They werecharged to Gudu High Court, Abuja on December 11, 2005 for murder. As at September 28, 2006 whenthe NHRC visited Kuje Prisons, the suspects had been in prison custody for 11 months awaiting trial.Investigations revealed that a farmer found an abandoned corpse in a bush close to their settlement inKudum village, near Gwagwalada Area Council of Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The farmer reportedthe discovery to the police. Consequently, the police arrested them on suspicion of involvement in themurder of the deceased.The boy complained that since his incarceration, he was not provided with a bed or mattress and that,he slept on the bare floor. He also complained that he did not understand what was going on in theopen court where he was being tried publicly. The proceedings in court were being conducted in theEnglish language, which he did not understand and no provision was made for an interpreter.On return from a three week business trip, Shino Polo was informed that officers of the EFCC hadbeen to his house several times. On May 19, 2006, he went to the EFCC office at FederalCapital Development Authority (FCDA) at area 11, Garki, Abuja to enquire about the reason for14

the visits. Without being informed of the reason for the visit, he was arrested and detained.Shino Polo was allocated a plot of land at Katampe District, Abuja in 2002, by FCDA which he sold forNine Million Naira to one Nnwaka. While the latter was processing the papers, he discovered the plot ofland had been allocated to another person. He therefore complained to the EFCC and Shino Polo wasarrested and detained for 7 days on allegation of advanced fee fraud. He was released 7 days later,after depositing the sum of 500,000 Naira with the EFCC.According to Ebo Feje of the EFCC’s legal unit, when a suspect is arrested by the EFCC, stringent bailconditions are given, and where they are cannot be perfected, the suspect is detained. He also statedthat the earliest period a suspect is taken to court is within one month of arrest and this depends on thegravity of the offence.RECOMMENDATIONS1) The police authority should train and enlighten its officers and men on how to handle complaintsinvolving human rights violations.2) Human rights education should be integrated into the police training curriculum and madecompulsory in police training colleges. This should also apply to training curriculum for other lawenforcement agencies and subject to annual review based on findings during the course of theyear.3) Government should facilitate the establishment of a mechanism for the payment of compensationand rendering of apology to victims of unlawful arrest, detention and other human rights violations.4) The police and other law enforcement agencies must desist from “hostage taking” 4 as a means ofcompelling the appearance of suspects.5) The police and other law enforcement agencies must desist from using torture as a basic tool forinvestigation.6) The National Assembly should provide a legal framework for criminalizing torture in Nigeria.7) The police and other law enforcement agencies should stop indiscriminate and unlawful arrest anddetention of innocent citizens as a way of investigation.8) The police and other law enforcement agencies should be sensitized on the need to use diversionoptions and non­ custodial measures for juveniles and first offenders. To this end, a mechanismshould be put in place to identify and institutionalize some diversion schemes and non –custodialmeasures suitable for the respective categories of offenders.14 Hostage taking is the practice whereby relations or acquaintances of suspects are taken into custody to compel the appearance of suspects.15

CHAPTER FOURPRISONS“The State social order is founded on ideals of freedom, equality and justice. Infurtherance of the social order –Every citizen shall have equality of rights, obligations and opportunities beforethe law. ”Governmental actions shall be humane. ”Section 17 (1)(2)(a) & (c) of the 1999 Constitution of the FederalRepublic of Nigeria“Every individual is entitled to respect for the dignity of his personand accordingly – No person shall be subjected to torture or inhuman ordegrading treatment.”Section 34(1)(a) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republicof NigeriaThe different categories of prisoners shall be kept in separate institutions orparts of institutions taking account of their sex, age, criminal record, the legalreason for their detention and the necessities of their treatment. Thus,(a) Men and women shall so far as possible be detained in separateinstitutions; in an institution which receives both men and women the whole ofthe premises allocated to women shall be entirely separate;(b) Untried prisoners shall be kept separate from convicted prisoners;(c) Persons imprisoned for debt and other civil prisoners shall be kept separatefrom persons imprisoned by reason of a criminal offence;(d) Young prisoners shall be kept separate from adults. AccommodationArticle 8 of United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for theTreatment of Prisoners“All accommodation provided for the use of prisoners and in particular allsleeping accommodation shall meet all requirements of health, due regardbeing paid to climatic conditions and particularly to cubic content of air,minimum floor space, lighting, heating and ventilation.”Article 10 of United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for theTreatment of Prisoners“The juvenile justice system should uphold the rights and safety and promotethe physical and mental well­being of juveniles. Imprisonment should be usedas a last resort.”“Juveniles should only be deprived of their liberty in accordance with theprinciples and procedures set forth in these Rules and in the United NationsStandard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (TheBeijing Rules). Deprivation of the liberty of a juvenile should be a disposition of16

last resort and for the minimum necessary period and should be limited toexceptional cases. The length of the sanction should be determined by thejudicial authority, without precluding the possibility of his or her early release.”Article 1 and 2 of United Nations Rules for the Protection ofJuveniles Deprived of their Liberty“The rights to liberty and dignity of the human person are fundamental human rights guaranteed bynational, regional and international instruments to which Nigeria is a party. The right to liberty can onlybe derogated from in accordance with strict procedures established by law. Dignity of the humanperson can never be compromised, be it for persons imprisoned or under detention. The state of theprisons in Nigeria clearly deviates from these provisions.KANO CENTRAL PRISONIntroductionThe Kano Central Prison was built in 1910 by the Kano Native Authority. The walls and the bulk ofthe structures within the prison are made of mud. The infrastructures are dilapidated and areyawing for urgent rehabilitation. The lock­up as at October 6, 2006 was 1,069 made up of 929awaiting trial inmates, and 140 convicts. However, the prison capacity is 690 with a staff strength of190. It is therefore obvious that the lock­up is far beyond the capacity of the prison.1. FeedingThe kitchen at Kano Central Prison is dilapidated and no longer in use. The inmates cook their foodin an open space near the kitchen, even during the rainy season. Food meant for inmates areprepared under unhygienic conditions and left uncovered, thereby exposing them to germs andother air­borne diseases.2. BeddingsThe beddings are scanty. Most of the beds do not have mattresses and the few mattresses, pillowsand blankets available are flat and worn out. Some inmates sleep on bare floor at different cornersof the cell. Most of the beddings are lice infested. This is inhumane and degrading and a violation ofSection 34 of the Nigerian Constitution which provides for the right to dignity of the human person.3. Healthcare FacilitiesThe prison has a dispensary. Even though some drugs were in stock, the prison nurse complainedthat they are insufficient to meet the health needs of the inmates.Eleven inmates had psychiatric problems but the prison has no facilities for the handling ofpsychiatric cases. A Psychiatrist comes to see them from Aminu Kano Teaching Hospitalperiodically. 9 inmates were living with HIV/AIDS and 11 inmates had contacted tuberculosis (TB).The TB inmates were isolated and kept in a cell under unhygienic conditions. At the time of visit,there were no retro­viral drugs for HIV/AIDS patients in the dispensary.Two inmates were with gunshot wounds and had carried the bullets in their bodies for 4 months atthe time of the visit. There were no surgical facilities at the dispensary to take care of such inmates.4. Recreational FacilitiesKano prison does not have recreational facilities. Such recreational facilities a football field, lawntennis, table tennis, volleyball and badminton courts, are absent.17

WOMEN AND CHILDRENThe female section of the Kano Central Prison has 27 female inmates. 25 of the inmates are awaitingtrial, 2 are convicts. The female section also houses three children below the age of 13 months whobelong to some of the inmates.· Halima Audu is the oldest female inmate; she claimed her age to be between 60 and 65. Sheis standing trial for conspiracy and culpable homicide punishable with death. She has spentmore than five years in custody awaiting trial.· Hussaina Ibrahim, is a 25 year old married woman, who is also standing trial for culpablehomicide punishable with death, together with Halima Audu. She has also spent more than fiveyears in custody awaiting trial.· Zulai Nasidi, a 28­year­old mother and a trader, married to a Kano State indigene was broughtto prison on October 5, 2006 for a debt of N12, 250 to Laraba Ibrahim. She has her 11 monthsbaby girl with her in the prison.· Abubakar Aisha, 20, married to Awulu Bello was the nursing mother of Abubakar, a 13months old baby at Kano Central Prison. She has been remanded in prison custody for sixmonths on the orders of Magistrate’s Court, Jaba, Kano State for culpable homicide for fightingher cousin Zainab who died a day after the fight.· Tabawa Mohammed, 30 years old, from Kano with impaired speech was arrested andremanded with her 9 month old baby, Her mother Binta and her Sister Tabawa with her 13months baby for family fight.AWAITING TRIAL INMATESs at October 6, 2006, Kano Central Prison housed 929 awaiting trial inmates made up of 25females and 904 males.AIn the female inmates’ cell, some inmates had spent between 2 days and 5 years, respectively awaitingtrial on charges ranging from fighting to murder.Maryam Usman Musa, a 14­year­old juvenile, had spent 2 days in prison custody. She was chargedfor wandering and remanded in prison on the orders of Chief Magistrate’s Court, No­man’s­land, alongAirport Road, in Kano. She has no legal representation.Rebecca James, 16 years old, had spent 7 days on the order of a Chief Magistrate, presiding overSabon Gari Magistrate Court, Fagge Local Government, Kano. She was charged for theft of a CDplayer belonging to her boy friend. Rebecca reported that none of her relations knew she wasremanded in prison. She has no legal representation.Hajiya Halima Audu, age 70 years, was charged for murder and ordered to be remanded in prison bya Magistrate’s Court at Zoo Road,Kano. She has been awaiting trial for as long as 5 years. She statedthat the last time she went to court was on October 3, 2006. She has legal representation.Binta Mohammed, Tabawa Mohammed; Zulai Nasidi; Aisha Abubakar and Fauziyya Mu’azu arenursing mothers. They were in detention along with their children, between ages 1 day to 20 months.Among these nursing mothers, it was discovered that Fauziyya Mu’azu gave birth to a baby girl onOctober 5, 2006 in the cell. Apparently, the prison authorities did not appreciate the need for pregnantmothers to deliver in normal hospitals in order to protect the innocent children from stigmatization andto give them their own identity in life.18

Binta Umar, a 33­year­old woman was 9 months pregnant when Sharia Court of Dorayi remanded herin prison custody on September 26, 2006 (Case No. CR/476/06). The early signs of labour had set in atthe time she was seen by a team of human rights monitors on a visit to the prison. When the monitoringteam requested that the inmate be taken to hospital for delivery, the prison authorities complained thatno financial provisions were made by the government to take care of such emergencies. These includemoney for payment for hospital registration cards and any necessary test before delivery in anyhospital. The situation was so critical that the monitoring team contributed the sum of N10,000.00 toenable the prison’s medical personnel take Binta to the General Hospital in Kano for her delivery.In the male section of the prison, it was discovered that the inmates have been awaiting trial forbetween 1 month and 8 years.Peter Ajah, aged 35, was ordered to be remanded in prison custody by Magistrate’s Court 9,Nomansland, Kano on charges of armed robbery. He has been awaiting trial since 1999. He has nolegal representation.Monday Emma, aged 22, was ordered to be remanded in prison custody by Magistrate’s Court 19,Gidan Murtala, Kano on charges of rape. He has been awaiting trial since 2005. He has no legalrepresentation.DEATH ROW INMATESShuaibu Yahaya, male, 46 years of Tsohon Rogo village in Rogo Local Government Area of, KanoState and Sule Rogo, male, 56 years of Kofar Yamma Ward, Rogo Local Government Area, KanoState were convicted and sentenced to death by stoning by an Upper Sharia Court in Gwarzo LocalGovernment Area of Kano State on July 27, 2006. On June 1, 2006, they were alleged to have raped a14­year­old girl, named Zarau Ali of Rogo Local Government Area of Kano State.Interview with these two convicts who were the only death row inmates at Kano Central Prison raisedthe following human rights issues:­ They were sentenced to death by stoning by an Upper Sharia Court in Gwarzo LocalGovernment Area on July 27, 2006 within 55 days of hearing after 4 adjournments.­ They had no legal representation as they could not afford one and the State did not assign anyto them.­ The convicts wanted to appeal the sentence but had no financial means to do so.­ They were beaten up and sustained head injuries, which were stitched before the policeextracted confessional statements from them. The presiding judge did nothing about theircondition and they had no legal representation to advance their cause.­ That as the monitors came to their cell they assumed that the death sentence was about to becarried out on them. They were in constant trauma expecting their executioners any time avisitor came to the cell.­ They wanted legal assistance to appeal their sentence, as there were no witnesses whotestified against them in the court and they did not believe that the court, which sentenced themto death, had the constitutional power to do so.ACCESS TO JUSTICEcross­section of inmates was interviewed as to whether they have legal representation or not.AFromthe interviews carried out, it was discovered that only one out of every seven inmates hadlegal representation.19

Aisha Mohammed is a 50­year­old lady standing trial for the offence of criminal breach of trust at theShariah Court Gwagwawa, Kano. She could not afford to pay for the services of a lawyer and was notassigned any by the State.Miriam Garba, is a 25 years old lady charged with the offence of culpable homicide at the ShariahCourt Kofar Kudu, Kano, Kano State. She too could not afford to pay a lawyer and was not assignedany by the State.Peter Ajah, is a 35 years old, standing trial for the offence of armed robbery before High Court No.9,Nomansland in Kano State. He has been in detention since 1999 and also cannot afford the services ofa lawyer. He has not been assigned any legal practitioner by the State.Monday Emma is 22 years old, standing trial for rape before High Court 19, Gidan Murtala, Kano,Kano State. He was arraigned since January 2005 and has no money to engage the services of alawyer. He has not been assigned any legal practitioner by the State.Jennifer Ojo, is a 32 year old woman, she was tried and convicted for fighting and sentenced to 3years imprisonment with an option of fine in the sum of N52,000.00. She has been in prison since June13, 2006. She could not afford the services of a legal practitioner and did not get any legal assistancefrom the Legal Aid Council.Hussaina Ibrahim, is a 30 year old young lady convicted of human trafficking and sentenced to 3 yearsimprisonment without an option of fine on July 26, 2005. She filed an appeal before the Court of Appeal,but could not go on with the appeal, as she could not pay for the services of her lawyer. She has notbeen given any legal assistance from the Legal Aid Council to pursue her appeal. She was the onlyfemale convict that attempted appealing against her sentence but could not continue with her appealdue to her inability to pay for the services of a legal practitioner.However, a prison officer, Abubakar Isa, whose duty amongst others includes taking awaiting trialinmates to court, when interviewed claimed that 40% of inmates awaiting trial had legal representation.Ohiwere Elias, a lawyer from the Federal Ministry of Justice, attending to clients at Kano Central Prisonduring the visit confirmed that legal representation was very low.VISIT0RS’ BOOKVisitors book in Kano Central Prison contains records of important visitors such as Administrationof Justice Committee members, judicial officers, legal practitioners, civil society groups, staff ofLegal Aid Council, the National Human Rights Commission among others.The visitors’ book in Kano Central Prison was not properly kept. Most visitors did not indicate theiraddresses and the purpose of visits. They also did not make remarks about their impressions of theprison at the end of their visits. Such remarks would enable the authorities or anybody looking at thebooks to have a clear picture of the state of affairs of the prison.Between 2002 and October 6, 2006, (i.e. in the last four years), the Administration of Justice Committeevisited the prisons once, precisely, on October 14, 2005. Since that time, there was no record of anyvisits by other judicial officers.From the way records were kept, it was difficult to differentiate between legal practitioners from civilsociety groups, the Legal Aid Council, the NHRC and private legal practitioners. However, there wereindications that lawyers visited the prison from the Legal Aid Council, NHRC, Kano State Ministry ofJustice and civil society organisations. Curiously, the records showed that from June 2005 to October 6,20

2006, only one government lawyer from the Jigawa State Ministry of Justice visited the prison. Therecord book shows that 391 legal practitioners visited the Kano Central Prison from March 2006 toOctober 2006.Some of the ATMs do not have legal representation either by themselves or through the assistance ofgovernment. Some inmates have been awaiting trial for a period of six years without appearing in courtbecause of lack of legal representation.In the case of Peter Ajah,cited earlier,he has been remanded in prison custody since March 1999, as arobbery suspect. He was not legally represented in court for about five years. He was assigned alawyer sometime in 2006 (Ajah could not remember precisely when the lawyer was assigned to him)due to the on­going prison decongestion exercise by the Federal Government. This exercise by theFederal Government was as a result of successful Prison Audit Exercise in 2004 carried out by theNational Working Group on Prison Reforms and Decongestion (NWGPRD) in collaboration with theNational Human Rights Commission. 2Recommendations on Kano prison1. Record officers in Kano central prison should guide visitors to properly fill the visitor’s books in theprison, so as to provide the necessary details for data collection purposes.2. Young girls/women awaiting trial for “illegal pregnancy” 3 in Kano central prison should be releasedforthwith.3. The Administration of Justice Committee in Kano State should, in line with its statutoryresponsibilities undertake regular visits to Kano prison.IKOYI PRISONIntroduction.The Federal Government of Nigeria built the Ikoyi Prison in 1961 with a capacity of 800. The lockup as at November 10, 2006 was 1,846 made up of 1,759 awaiting trial inmates and 87 convicts.The staff strength of the prison is 181.The walls and the general structure of the prison was builtwith blocks and cement. Some of the infrastructure is dilapidated and in need of urgent repairs andfacelift due to neglect and overuse.The human rights monitor who went to the prison to asses its condition and that of inmates, was notgiven full cooperation by the prison authority. They claimed that they had not been informed of thevisitation by their headquarters. This accounts for the inability of the monitor to interview the inmatesindividually.FeedingThe kitchen at Ikoyi prison was equipped with boilers and gas cookers; however, the equipment is nolonger in usable condition. Cooking is done with firewood under a sparsely roofed shed and underunhygienic conditions. The kitchen staff complained that the old kitchen and the roof leak during rainfall.The inmates with supervision of the prison staff do the cooking. Water is obtained from borehole, andwhen there is no electricity, from a well. The prisoners are fed 3 times a day according to governmentapprovedweight, which is not enough for the male inmates. The prisoners’ diet is also made up ofmainly cereal without enough fruits and vegetables.2 Report of the National Working Group on Prison Reforms and Decongestion (NWGPRD), February 2005.3See Sharia Legal System21

BeddingsThe beddings are few in number and not enough to accommodate the awaiting trial mates (ATM’s).There are few mattresses and blankets mainly provided by NGO donors. Many prisoners sleep on thefloor of the cells. The general living condition of the inmates is inhuman and a clear violation of theirright to human dignity as protected under the Nigerian Constitution.Healthcare FacilitiesThe prison has a clinic and a laboratory. The clinic staff is made up of 1 Doctor, 1 Pharmacist, 1Laboratory Attendant and 7 Nurses. The clinic is in shortage of drugs, which are usually provided byNGO donors. The laboratory lacks necessary equipment like fridge, incubator and reagents. Thelaboratory attendant is not a trained laboratory scientist and can only carry out limited tests. The clinicdoes not have an X ray machine.The notable diseases suffered by the inmates are tuberculosis, malaria, skin infections, respiratory tractinfections, bullet wounds and other physical ailments that resulted from torture in police cells. Theprison also has 16 confirmed HIV patients and 3 mentally sick patients. The clinic lacks capacity to treatsick inmates due to lack of basic equipment and drugs. Patients are referred to Military Hospital, Ikoyifor treatment, laboratory tests and x rays. Anti­retroviral drugs are also supplied free to HIV patientsfrom the Military Hospital, but the drugs have limited effect due to lack of proper diet for the HIVpatients. The mentally ill inmates are being treated at the Yaba Psychiatric Hospital.The prison does not have vehicles to transport sick inmates to the hospitals; hence the clinic staff hasto arrange for vehicles, which are paid for by the clinic staff or by the family and friends of the sickinmates. The costs of treatments at the hospitals are also borne by the family and friends of the sickinmates.Inmates suffering from contagious diseases were kept in different cells. However, HIV patients were notseparated to avoid stigmatization.Recreational FacilitiesThe prison has recreational facilities namely; football field, table tennis and indoor games like ludo,draughts and chess, which the inmates play inside their cells.Vocational FacilitiesThe prison has a vocational training centre where such skills like carpentry, tailoring, and shoe makingcan be learnt. It also has a school where inmates can study for academic examinations. Teachers andinstructors were drawn from the staff of the prison, inmates and volunteers from outside the prison.However, the training centre and school lack modern facilities, and the general environment is notconducive for proper learning.Religious ActivitiesThe prison has a church and a mosque.Awaiting Trial InmatesAs at 10 November, 2006, Ikoyi Medium Prison housed 1,759 awaiting trial inmates, all males. Theprison is purely meant for male prisoners. The monitor could not interview the inmates as explainedearlier. However, the prison officials at the record office informed the monitor that 10 ATMs have beenin prison for over 10 years. Over 700 have been in prison for more than 5 years and over 1,500 hadspent more than one year in prison.22

Women and ChildrenThe prison does not admit female prisoners. The prison is also not expected to admit juveniles, but thecourts sent juveniles to ikoyi prison. The prison authority in such cases used their discretion to put suchinmates in a cell different from adult inmates’ cells.Death Row InmatesIkoyi Prison being a medium security prison does not admit long term convicts. Accordingly, there areno condemned prisoners on death row or life term servers in the prison.Access to JusticeAccording to the prison welfare department, many of the prisoners lack legal representation due to lackof funds. However, the Legal Aid Council, the NBA and other Non Governmental Organizations doprovide limited free legal services to the inmates.Visitors’ BookThe Officer who was in custody of the visitors’ book was not around as at the time the prison wasvisited. However the prison officials informed the monitor that, the Chief Judge of Lagos State visitedthe prison in 2005 and the Federal Attorney General also visited the prison in September 2006. Thevisits have not yielded results in form of release of prisoners that had spent long periods in prisonawaiting trial or improvement in the welfare of the inmates or prison facilities.Staff WelfareThe prison staff complained of poor conditions of service and poor working environment. The prisonlacks decent offices for the staff. The staff was overworked due to overcrowded condition of the prison.Staff salaries are very poor and they have not been paid for the last 3 months as at 10 th November2006 when the prison was visited by the monitor. The prison officials also claimed that they pay fortheir uniforms.Recommendations on Ikoyi Prison.1. Government should as a matter of urgency, commence reconstruction and face lifting work on theprison.2. Government should provide the necessary facilities to cope with the needs of inmates.3. Adequate drugs and facilities should be provided for the prison clinic.4. Government should provide the Ikoyi prison with an ambulance to transport sick inmates to thehospitals.KADUNA CONVICT PRISONIntroductionThe Kaduna Convict Prison was built in 1915 to accommodate 547 prisoners. However, as at 8 thNovember 2006, the prison had a lock up of 916 inmates both convicts and awaiting trial. Of the916 inmates, 627 are awaiting trial inmates, 161 are convicts, 93 are condemned inmates and 35are serving life imprisonment. 18 of the inmates are females,14 are awaiting trial, 3 are convicts while 1is a condemned prisoner.23

The structures of the Kaduna convict prison are in good condition. Some of the structures have beenrenovated while others await renovation. However, the toilet facilities are overstretched. In cell 1 line 1,one toilet and bathroom serves 43 inmates.FeedingThe kitchen and its surroundings are fairly clean and hygienic. The inmates prepare their food with thesupervision of the staff of the prison. Some inmates, who can afford to do so, prepare their own foodseparately. Most of the inmates complained that the food they are served is not fit for humanconsumption as it is devoid of any nutritional ingredients.BeddingsMost of the cells accommodate between 40 and 60 inmates. Cell 1 line 1 has a total of 43 inmates whilecell 1 line 3 has a total of 53 inmates as at the 8 th day of November 2006. Some of the inmates sleep onthe floor. Although there are double bunk beds in the cells, there are no mattresses, pillows, blankets orbed sheets in the cells. Most of the inmates use old and disused mats as mattresses. Cell 1, line onehas a toilet and bathroom which serves all the inmates in the cell.Healthcare FacilitiesThe prison has a hospital with two wards and a theatre. One ward serves male inmates while thesecond one serves female inmates. Each ward has 11 beds complete with mattresses, bed sheets,blankets and pillows. The prison has a doctor who is on the staff of the prisons. A surgeon, dentist andnurses visit the prison to deal with emergency cases and situations.The prison has 5 mentally ill persons who are usually referred to psychiatric hospitals for observation.There are about 20 HIV and 30 tuberculosis patients. The tuberculosis patients are put in a separatecell. The common ailments among the inmates are scabies, chicken pox, and diarrhea. The drugsavailable to the prison hospital are grossly inadequate and other drugs supplied by prison contractorshave no bearing on the health needs of the inmates.Recreational FacilitiesThe prison has a football field, a tennis and volley ball court. The compound is fairly large and thesurroundings are well maintained.Vocational FacilitiesThere are no vocational facilities in the prisonAwaiting Trial InmatesAs at the 8 th day of November 2006, the Kaduna Convict Prison had an awaiting trial population of 627.Of this number, 613 are male with 14 female inmates.Danjuma Musa is a 34­year­old man from Kafanchan in Kaduna State. He is charged with unlawfulpossession of firearms. He was taken to the Chief Magistrate’s Court 12, Ibrahim Taiwo Road Kadunaon a First Information Report on the 16 th day of June 2004 and the court ordered that he be remandedin prison custody, pending legal advice from the Ministry of Justice, Kaduna. He made an appearancein court in September 2006 and his matter was further adjourned to the 22 day of November 2006. Hehas no legal representation. The legal advice from the Ministry of Justice was still being awaited at thetime of this report.Sheriff Abdullahi is a 28­year­old Islamic Teacher. He was arrested in October 2003 and taken tocourt on a First Information Report. The Kaduna State Ministry of Justice subsequently framed a charge24

of rape and abduction against him. He was accused of raping an 18­year­old girl he allegedly abductedfrom Pambegua in Kaduna State and was taking her to Abuja when she raised an alarm that led to hisarrest. His case is pending before High Court, No. 5 Ibrahim Taiwo Road, Kaduna. The case has beenadjourned to the 20 th day of November 2006. He has no legal representation.Halima David is a petty trader who did not disclose her age She was arrested on the 13 th day ofNovember 2001 at Mando on the outskirts of Kaduna Metropolis and charged with culpable homicide.She was accused of poisoning the food meant for an entire family that led to their death. She has beenin prison custody for a period of six years awaiting trial. Her case is before Kaduna High Court, No. 14.She has legal representation and her matter comes up on the 5 th day of December 2006 forcontinuation of hearing.Farida Murtala (Also known as Martha Onwuzurike) is a 16­year­old girl. Out of frustration she hidunder the cover of darkness and abandoned her baby in front of someone’s house at Badarawa on the22 nd day of April 2006. She came back in the morning of 23 rd day of November 2006 in search of herbaby and was arrested by residents of the area who discovered the baby and took her to the hospitalwhere she died. She was charged to High Court 10, Ibrahim Taiwo Road, Kaduna for culpable homicideand granted bail. She cannot meet the bail conditions and remains in prison custody.WOMEN AND CHILDRENut of the 916 inmates in Kaduna Convict Prison, 18 are females. Of this number, 14 are awaitingOtrial,3 are convicted offenders while one has been condemned to death. The female section of theprison has two cells, one for the convicts and the other for those awaiting trial. There are three nursingmothers with their babies between the ages of 2 months to 5 months in prison custody. Two of themwere interviewed.Rakiya Saidu is a 22­year­old lady who resides at Jaji in Kaduna State and was arrested in place ofher husband who was the accused and presently at large. She was taken to court sometime in July2006 and charged for screening an offender. She has been in prison custody for 6 months. Shedelivered her baby in the prison on the 15 th day of September 2006 and was thereafter taken to theprison hospital where she stayed for three weeks.Hauwa Alhassan is a 30­year­old woman. She was sentenced to two and half year’s imprisonment foraiding and abetting the commission of a crime. Her son of 14 years old, Abubakar Alhassan was said tohave stolen a stabilizer with other children but he was the only one that was caught and is still indetention at the State CID Kaduna. She was arrested because she was said to be the one that sells thestolen products. She came to prison with her child that was 45 days old.DEATH ROW INMATESThere are 93 persons on death row at the Kaduna Convict Prison.Lasisi Yusuf is a 59­year­old man. He is on death row having been sentenced to death for culpablehomicide by High Court No. 2 Lokoja in Kogi State on the 12 th day of August 1996. His trial started in1993 before the said court. He has been on death row since 1996 and was transferred to the KadunaConvict Prison on the 14 th day of August 1997.He does not have money to engage a legal practitionerto appeal his sentence.Taofik Tiaminu is a 52­year­old man. He was arrested in 1990 and charged with culpable homicide.He was convicted in 1994 for the same offence by the said court.25

VISITORS’ BOOKisits to the prison by relevant stakeholders are fairly regular. From the visitors’ book, Justice IsaV Aliyu of the Kaduna State High Court visited on the 27 th day of July 2006, Justice B. U. Sukolavisited on the 31 st of August 2006, Justice G. I Kurada visited on the 28 th day of September 2006, andJustice A. A. Othman visited on the 26 th day of October 2006. There is a monthly roaster, which thejudges of the Kaduna State High Court follow. They visit as a team comprising prosecutors,Magistrates, Sharia and Customary Court Judges and officers from the Legal Aid Council. During suchvisits, some prisoners are released or recommended for release.ACCESS TO JUSTICEany of the inmates do not have legal representation. Although the monthly visits by the judges ofMtheHigh Court is quite encouraging, the number of those with legal representation is low. This isbecause the inmates cannot afford the services of a lawyer and the Legal Aid Council does not havethe capacity to meet up with the number of cases assigned to it.Nana Ahmed is an 18­year­old lady forced into marriage with a man old enough to be her grandfather.She ran away and was arrested on the complaint of the brother of the man she was married to who saidshe had to pay back the bride price paid on her .She was taken to court and brought to the prison onthe 6 th of November and will be going to court again on the 15 th of November 2006. She has no legalrepresentation.Danjuma Musa is a 34­year­old man from Kafanchan in Kaduna State charged with unlawfulpossession of firearms. He was brought to prison on the 16 th day of June 2004. He was taken to theChief Magistrate’s Court 12. He was in court last in September and will be in court again on the 22 dayof November 2006. He has no legal representation.Hauwa Alhassan is a 30­year­old woman sentenced to 2 and half years for aiding and abetting thecommission of a crime. Her son of 14 years, Abubakar Alhassan was said to have stolen a stabilizerwith other children but he was the only one that was caught and is still in detention at the State CIDKaduna. She was arrested because she was said to be the one that sold the stolen products. She cameto prison with her child that was 45 days old. A lawyer did not represent her.Funmilayo Ojo is a 24 ­year­old lady charged with the offence of stealing. She has been taken to the ChiefMagistrate’s Court Kakuri, Kaduna and was brought to the prison on the 30 th day of October 2006. Shehas no legal representation.Sheriff Abdullahi is a 28­year­old man; he was arrested in October 2003 and charged with rape andabduction of an 18­year­old girl. His case comes up in court on the 20 th of November 2006 before HighCourt 5 Ibrahim Taiwo Road, Kaduna. He has no legal representationRecommendations on Kaduna Prison.1. Efforts should be made by the government to decongest Kaduna Convict Prison by releasingawaiting trial inmates who might have served their term of imprisonment if convicted.2. The workshops in the prison should be equipped so the inmates can learn vocational skills thatthey can fall back on when they leave the prison.26

SOKOTO CENTRAL PRISONIntroductionThe British Colonial Government built the Sokoto Central Prison in 1908. The capacity of the prison is576. As at 10/11/2006, the lock up was 488 with staff strength of 98 regular staff and 97 on attachment.The number awaiting trial was 283 while convicted persons were 205. The building was in deplorablecondition. It was discovered that the last renovation took place in 1999 and a part of the building in themale section had collapsed.FeedingThe kitchen is roofed with zinc and it has a dwarf wall at the front. The floor of the Kitchen is filled withmud and cobwebs lined the roof. Flies were seen perched on uncovered food on the dirty kitchen floor.The inmates under unhygienic conditions prepared the food.BeddingsThe beddings in the female cells were adequate. 150 new mattresses and blankets were donated by aphilanthropist to the female inmates in 2005. Some of the mattresses have been taken to the malesection. The male inmates’ beddings were in deplorable condition as the mattresses were very soft andtattered.Health Care FacilitiesThere is a clinic in the prison with a doctor. He complained that the drugs in stock were insufficient tomeet the needs of the inmates. Most of the drugs in stock were not relevant for the common ailments inthe prison, like diarrhea, malaria and scabies. The clinic had no facilities to take care of inmates withpsychiatric problems. At the time of visit, there were 11 patients in the clinic receiving treatment. Aphilanthropist donated 36 sets of HIV related drugs to the prison for the treatment of inmates living withHIV/AIDS. 30 inmates were isolated from other inmates as they were infected with tuberculosis. Threeinmates had psychiatric problems.Recreational FacilitiesThe prison had no recreational facilities.Vocational TrainingThe convicted inmates were being trained in tailoring, carpentry and welding in order to facilitate theirreintegration into the society after serving their terms. Philanthropists donated these facilities.CHILDREN AND WOMENAs at 10/11/2006, there were no children or pregnant women in the prison.AWAITING TRIAL INMATESThere were 283 awaiting trial inmates in Sokoto Central Prison as at 10 th of November 2006. Of thisnumber, 3 were female while 280 were male. The female cell has 3 inmates who had been awaiting trialfor more than one year.Marliya Idris, female, aged 42, was charged for culpable homicide punishable with death by ChiefMagistrate’s Court 2 Sokoto. She has been awaiting trial for over one year.Aljuma Hassan,female, aged 50, was charged with the offence of culpable homicide after killing herhusband. She was granted bail but this was revoked by the High Court for her failure to attend court on27

the adjourned date. She was being observed as she was suspected to have a psychiatric problem. Shehad no legal representation.Some male inmates charged with the offences of rape, robbery and murder had spent periods rangingfrom one month to ten years in prison awaiting trial.Ifeanyi Arasu, aged 28, was charged for armed robbery by the Sokoto High Court since 1998 and hasbeen awaiting trial. He goes to court every month and there have been series of adjournments. He hadlegal representation from the Legal Aid Council.Aliyu Salihi, aged 50, of Rumbuki village in Silami Local Government Area of Sokoto State, wascharged before Magistrate’s Court 6, with the offence of culpable homicide, punishable with death. Hehas been in prison since October 9, 2006. He had no legal representation.Bashir Mohammed aged 33, of Sokoto South Local Government Area was charged for robbery andattempt to commit culpable homicide at Magistrate’s Court No. 3, Old Police Station Command, Sokoto.He was charged together with one Yahaya Maiwake who is at large. He has been remanded in prisonsince 17/03/2006. There have been series of adjournments, and he has no legal representation.Bello Umar aged 19, was charged for raping an 11year old girl by the Magistrate’s Court, CentralMarket, Sokoto. He was remanded in Sokoto prison since 27/07/2006. He had legal representationassigned by the state.DEATH ROW INMATESHabibu Usman aged 33, was the only inmate. He was condemned to death by High Court 7Sokoto on 25/05/2006. He has been in prison since 1995 after being charged for killing his wifewith a knife and machete because she refused to stay in their matrimonial home. An appeal wasfiled in Kaduna Court of Appeal. He had legal representation from Legal Aid Council.ACCESS TO JUSTICEIn the process of decongesting the prisons by the Federal Government, 10l law chambers were giventhe task of representing Sokoto prison inmates together with Legal Aid Council. However, it wasdiscovered that there was laxity on the part of most of the private legal practitioners to execute thejob effectively. The sum of 300,000 Naira was paid by the state to the legal practitioners to representeach inmate. Yet, some of the lawyers have not showed up at the prison or in the court.The officer in charge of records said that 90 percent of inmates awaiting trial had been assigned legalrepresentation. Some of the inmates interviewed said they have been assigned legal representation butthey were not getting the services.Aljuma Hassan, aged 50, was charged with the offence of culpable homicide after killing her husband.She was granted bail but this was revoked by the High Court for her failure to attend court on theadjourned date. She is being observed as a psychiatric inmate. She had no legal representation.Abubakar Usman, aged 41 and 8 others were charged to court for armed robbery by Magistrate’sCourt 3, Sokoto. They have been remanded since 21/07/2003. They have legal representation providedby the State.28

Ifeanyi Arasu, aged 28, was charged for armed robbery by Sokoto High Court since 1998 and hasbeen awaiting trial since then. He goes to court every month and there have been series ofadjournments. He has legal representation from Legal Aid Council.VISITORS BOOKThe visitors’ book in Sokoto central prison is old but well kept. The pages of the book were properlydivided into columns for visitors to indicate their names, addresses and purpose of visits. Fromthe records, lawyers from Federal and State Ministries of Justice as well as NGOs have beenvisiting the prison regularly. The members of Administration of Justice Committee visited the prison inJuly 2006.Recommendations on Sokoto Prison1 The Federal Government should renovate Sokoto Central Prison and reconstruct the building thathas collapsed.2 Adequate funding to enable the prison out the day­to­day running of the prison effectively.3 Recreational facilities should be provided at the prison, namely, football field, lawn tennis andbadminton courts amongst others.4 Vocational and educational facilities should be provided and improved in the prison.5 Adequate and relevant drugs should be supplied to the clinic at the prison regularly.MAIDUGURI NEW PRISONIntroductionThe Maiduguri New Prison was built in 1954 by the then Regional Government of Northern Nigeria.The prison capacity is 680 but as at November 9, 2006, the lock­up was 375 inmates. Thisnumber comprises 237 convicts, 138 awaiting trial inmates out of which there were 134 malesand 4 females. The prison has staff strength of 153 officers.FeedingThe inmates’ food is prepared under hygienic conditions. The quality of the food was tasted andconfirmed satisfactory. The inmates stated that their rations were adequate and contained varieties ofnutrients like vegetables, beans, starch etc.BeddingsThe convicted inmates have double bunk beds in their cells, but the beddings such as mattresses,pillows and blankets were inadequate. Some inmates sleep on bare floor with mats in both theconvicted and awaiting trial cells.Health Care FacilitiesThe prison had a clinic facility with 8 beds. Drugs were available in the store and supplies were sent onrequest from the headquarters in Abuja. However, there were no drugs for the treatment of psychiatricinmates.29

A Nursing officer solely managed the clinic. There were no medical doctors, pharmacists and otherancillary staff. The clinic also lacked basic health equipment like hand gloves and there was nolaboratory.The prison had 8 psychiatric inmates at its asylum section. These inmates were periodically treated atthe State Psychiatric Hospital Maiduguri.There were no HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis (TB) cases at the date of visitThe prison environment was clean with a soak­away sewage system.The psychiatric inmates on awaiting trial were as follows:Mohammed Ali, aged 32, was remanded by Chief Magistrate’s Court 4 Maiduguri on the 30/10/99 forthe offence of culpable homicide, which involved the stabbing of one Aisha to death with a knife. Hehad no legal representation.Lamba Ali, aged 25, was remanded by Chief Magistrate’s Court 4, Maiduguri on the 5/11/99 for anoffence of culpable homicide which involved killing his mother with a hoe. He was last taken to court onthe 28/6/03 and had no legal representation.Abba Zainabe aged 53, was remanded by Chief Magistrate’s Court II Maiduguri on the 5/4/03 for theoffence of culpable homicide which involved killing one Shettima Bukar with a double barreled gunwhile in the farm. The case is presently at the High Court 10 Maiduguri. He had legal representationassigned to him by the state.Mohammed Bello, aged 36, has been in prison since 27/10/05, charged with the offence of criminalconspiracy, cheating, brigandage with culpable homicide, robbery and mischief with fire or explosivewith intent to destroy a house. His legs were chained, he appeared very sick and in need of medicalattention. He was arraigned before High Court no 9, Maiduguri on the 8/11/06 and he had no legalrepresentation.Musa Tom, aged 25, was remanded by Chief Magistrate’s Court II Maiduguri on the 9/7/01 for culpablehomicide punishable with death. He was taken to court on 3/3/06 but was further remanded because ofhis mental condition. Since then he has not been taken to court and has had no legal representation.Alhaji Bukar Abba, aged 35, was remanded by Chief Magistrate’s Court 6 Maiduguri on the allegationof killing his grand mother because she is old. He was last taken to court on the 30/10/02. He had nolegal representation.Baba Gana Gajimi, aged 31, was remanded by Chief Magistrate’s Court 6 on the 25/3/00 for theoffence of culpable homicide, which involved killing two of his relations with an iron rod. His legs were inchains as a result of being violent. He has been attending court, and he is to appear before the court onthe 27/11/06.BUKAR BUKARAMBE aged 40, was remanded by a Maiduguri High Court on the 27/2/06 on a chargeof culpable homicide punishable with death. He had legal representation provided to him by the state.30

Vocational FacilitiesThere were three training workshops as follows:(a)Carpentry workshop that trains inmates that are serving terms of 3 years and above. As at thetime of this visit, there were 8 inmates on training.(b)(c)Electrical workshopAt the time of this visit there were 5 convicted inmates undergoing training at the workshop.\Tailoring WorkshopThere were 12 convicted inmates currently undergoing training at the workshop.Generally, the workshops had sufficient training materials.Recreational FacilitiesThe prison has a football field, volley ball, lawn tennis and badminton courts as well as table tennisfacility.AWAITING TRIAL INMATESThe awaiting trial inmates as at November 9, 2006 consisted of 138 inmates made up of 134 males and4 females.In the female inmates’ cell, some had spent between 2 days to 2 years awaiting trial on charges suchas court contempt and culpable homicide. The following are the list of some inmates.Halima Bukar, female, aged 29, has spent 23 days in custody. She was charged and remanded byHigh Court 10 Maiduguri on 17/10/06 with robbery and conspiracy. She has legal representationassigned to her by the state.Modu Sumaila, male, aged 18, and 8 others had spent 7 months in custody. They were charged withthe offence of incitement against a class of people (Christian and Igbo tribe) and remanded by theFederal High Court, Maiduguri on the 4/4/06 They have legal representation.WOMEN AND CHILDRENThe female cell of Maiduguri New Prison had 4 female inmates who were awaiting trial as at November9, 2006. There were no children or under aged persons in the prison custody as at that date.VISITORS BOOKThe prison has two visiting books. The first is meant for family or unofficial visitors while the secondis meant for lawyers and other NGOs who come to assist the inmates.The visitors’ books were properly kept indicating details of the visitors and reasons for their visits. Therecords showed a large number of visits from private legal practitioners as well as lawyers from theState Ministry of Justice.ACCESS TO JUSTICEDespite the fact that many lawyers visited the prison, most of the inmates did not have legalrepresentation, as they could not afford it. Below is a list of some inmates interviewed.31

Maimuna Abdullahi,female, aged 36, had spent one year in custody. She was remanded by HighCourt No. 10 Maiduguri on the 8/11/05 for offence of culpable homicide by using an axe to cut thevictim’s neck. She had no legal representation.Mairo Ali, female, aged 26, had spent 2 years and 7 months in custody. She was remanded by HighCourt No. 10 Maiduguri on the 27/4/04 on the allegation of setting a house occupied by the second wifeof her husband on fire, which burnt two children to death. She had no legal representation.The prison welfare officer, ASP S.S Abubakar stated that those charged with capital offences wereassigned counsel by the state but due to non payment to the counsel, they had stopped coming tocourt.DEATH ROW INMATESThe Maiduguri New Prison had no death row inmates.WELFARE OF STAFFThe prison staff complained of poor working conditions and irregular payment of their salaries for threemonths. They also complained bitterly of the state of prison staff accommodation as the structures weredilapidated and in dire need of rehabilitation.Recommendationsi) The building and other infrastructure in Maiduguri prison should be rehabilitated.ii) Classrooms and educational facilities should be provided for inmates.iii) Doctors and other medical personnel should be provided.iv) The accommodation of prison officers should be rehabilitated and made adequate to boost themorale of staff.PORT HARCOURT PRISONIntroductionThe British Colonial Government built Port Harcourt Central Prison in 1918 with a capacity of 804.As at the 9 th of November 2006, the lock up was 2,525 inmates, comprising 2,496 males and 29females. Awaiting trial inmates (ATM) were 2273 made up of 2248 males and 25 females.Convicted inmates were 252 made up of 248 male and 4 females. Out of these, 17 were lifers while 127were condemned convicts (CC). The large number of condemned prisoners was as a result of the factthat Port Harcourt Central Prison is a reception center for condemned criminals from zone E of theNigerian Prisons, comprising Rivers, Bayelsa, Akwa­Ibom, Cross­ Rivers, Imo and Abia States.The male inmates were separated based on their status, i.e. the ATM, CC, mentally ill inmates andLifers. On the other hand, all the female inmates were in one cell, irrespective of their age, status andoffences. Inmates were not separated on the basis of their age.FeedingThe Kitchen is large and well ventilated. The environment was neat and the food meant for inmates wasprepared under good sanitary conditions. The ration for each inmate appeared adequate. The prisonhad a good food storage facility.32

BeddingsAt the male cells, only the Convicted Criminals and some ATMs had bed, mattresses and blankets buta great majority slept on mattresses, mats and blankets only. There were beds in the store, but due tolack of space, they could not be put to use.At the female cells, all inmates had beds and mattresses.Health care FacilitiesThe prison has a clinic headed by a doctor assisted by somenurses and a midwife. There was a pharmacy though the officer in charge complained of insufficientsupply of drugs. Psychiatric and serious surgical cases were referred to University of Port HarcourtTeaching Hospital. The prison clinic provides adequate treatment for inmates with tuberculosis, whilethose with HIV /AIDS are provided with anti retro­viral drugs. According to the medical doctor in­chargeof the clinic, scabies had greatly reduced due to health campaigns and better hygiene.Recreational FacilitiesThe prison uses its main yard as a football pitch. There were cards, draughts and ludo games whichinmates play. Inmates read their books in the welfare officer’s office. Corporate organizations,individuals and the Ministry of Internal Affairs donated these books.Vocational FacilitiesThere were workshops for carpentry, tailoring, blacksmithing and shoe making for the male inmateswhile there were baking and tailoring workshops for the female inmates. The various workshops hadsufficient materials for inmates to use.WOMEN AND CHILDRENThere were 29 female inmates out of which 3 were pregnant.4 of the female inmates were convicts while 25 were awaiting trial.Juliet Egwu, aged 25, had spent 5months in prison custody and was about 5 months pregnant. Shewas charged for robbery and had been to court only once. She stated that she was pregnant beforecoming to the prison.Best Medo, aged 32, was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment, for stealing bracelets. She has sinceappealed against the conviction.Ifeoma Patrick Ani, aged 16 had spent two months and four days in custody. She is standing trial forconspiracy before Magistrate’s Court 1 Elimgbu. She had no legal representation.ThankGod Iroegbu aged 14, charged for cultism has spent about 5 months in custody. He had notbeen taken to a court of competent jurisdiction and was awaiting the advice of the Director of PublicProsecution (DPP) on the matter.VISITORS’ BOOKThe visitors’ books were properly kept. They contained records of visitors such as judicial officers, legalpractitioners, corporate organizations and personal visitors to inmates. The record showed that theChief Judge of Rivers State paid a visit in May 2006, while the Comptroller of Prisons Rivers StateCommand paid regular visits to the prison.33

The International Federation of Female Lawyers, (FIDA) also made frequent visits to the prison, whilethe Minister of Internal Affairs, Ambassador Olujimi Adeniji, visited on the 15th of September 2006.Some Non Governmental Organizations like “Agip Wives” paid visits to the prison as well as manylawyers who visited their clients.ACCESS TO JUSTICEThere is an improvement in the area of access to justice. All those remanded for minor offences arenow arraigned in court on Mondays and Wednesdays. The Federal Government had earlier on,commenced a prison decongestion program and lawyers working in that respect have paid severalvisits to the prison in that regard. About 121 awaiting trial inmates have already been interviewed.Sarah Obi, aged 22, has been in custody for about 5 months and is charged for fighting. She washopeful that she would be discharged by the next adjourned date.Amos Ordu, aged 45years, a robbery suspect, has been in custody for six years without trial and is stillawaiting the DPP”s advice.The Legal Aid Council has an office in the prison to facilitate the provision of legal services to inmates.Most inmates charged with armed robbery, murder and cultism have not been taken to court. Thesegroups of inmates were awaiting DPP’s advice.DEATH ROW INMATESThere was a large number of death row inmates in this prison. However when the monitors sought tointerview the death row inmates, access to them was refused.RELIGIOUS FACILITIESThere was a church and a mosque for the inmates.Recommendations1. The volume of legal advice required from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions(DPP) is quite enormous, a system should be devised to ensure early return of legal advicefrom the DPP’s Office.2. A prison hospital should be built for the Zone E part of the country (that is, South East andSouth­South) considering the large number of inmates in this zone.3. The Governor of Rivers State should exercise his power of prerogative of mercy moreregularly.4. The Administration of Justice Committee should be more visible on ground in Rivers State inview of the number of awaiting trial inmates at Port­Harcourt prison.34

KUJE PRISONINTRODUCTIONKuje prison was built in 1989 and has a capacity of 320, with staff strength of 160. The lock­up asat 10 th November 2006 was 599 inmates, made up of 561 Awaiting Trial Inmates and 38convicts. The cells were overcrowded resulting to a cell meant for 40 people being used by 206inmates. Facilities were overstretched, especially toilets, beds, and mattresses, among others.BEDDINGSThe beds and beddings were not adequate for the inmates. According to Sulaiman Ado, 28 years old,Johnson Onah, 22,Ogbonna Ndubuisi, 27 and, Chukwudi Ezegbunam, 16, inmates rotate sleeping onbeds whereby they take turns to sleep on the few available beds.The officer in charge of Kuje prison, Kabir Umar Funtua, reports on overcrowding in the cells have beenmade to the Prison Headquarters, Abuja, and that he was informed that a contract had been awardedfor the erection of a two­storey building in the prison yard to provide extra accommodation for inmates.HEALTHCARE FACILITIESKuje Prison has a hospital, which was commissioned on 30 th March 2006. There are two medicaldoctors attached to the prison hospital. They are Dr. Idowu Ajayi and Dr Ahmed Yusuf Shaba. Therewas no psychiatrist in the prison hospital; the human rights monitors who visited the prison to asses itscondition observed that psychiatric cases were not appropriately attended to. An example wasAbubakar Mohammed aged 25 who had been in prison custody since 8 th July 2005 on a charge ofculpable homicide. According to Umar Funtua, Justice Bulama of Kuje High Court on learning of themental state of Abubakar, directed that he be taken to Kaduna Psychiatric Hospital. However, up till thedate of visit, Abubakar Mohammed was still incarcerated in Kuje prison. When asked why this was so inspite of Justice Bulama’s directives, the officer in charge of the prison said that the judge’s directive wasverbal and that he needed a written document in order to enforce it.FEEDINGThe kitchen is modern and the cooking utensils are fairly neat. However, the food is not covered aftercooking. The monitors asked the welfare officers how they coped with feeding the large number ofinmates since the lock­up is far beyond the capacity and the prison officers explained that the prisonauthority takes the excess number into consideration when supplying the food. An inmate, SulaimanAdo, 28, reported that the quality of the food was fair but that the taste was below standard.RECREATIONAL FACILITIESKuje prison has recreational facilities such as a football field and badminton courts. However, due to theovercrowding, many inmates said they do not have opportunity to use any of the recreational facilitiesavailable.AWAITING TRIAL INMATESOut of the 599 inmates housed in Kuje Prison as at 10 th November 2006, 561 are awaiting trial inmates.Out of this number, some have been in detention for periods ranging from 2 to 6 years. Reasons for thelong period of awaiting trial range from delays in forwarding DPPs legal advice on their case files to lossof case files and the holding charge practice whereby certain trials are commenced in court whichordinarily do not have jurisdiction to try the cases.Ogbonna Ndubuisi, aged 28 was remanded in prison custody by the Kuje High Court 13 Abuja sinceSeptember 23, 2002. He was charged with armed robbery and he has been awaiting trail.35

Emmanuel Okon , 37 years, has been awaiting trial since 10 th October 2001 on a charge of Armedrobbery before High Court 4 Wuse,AbujaPeter Chukwuemeka, 21years old, is standing trial before Kubwa High Court 9 on a charge of robbery.He has been awaiting trial since 18 th July 2001Haruna Audu 27 years old has been detained in Kuje prison since 19 th December 2002 on a charge ofrobbery. His case is before High Court 16 Kubwa, AbujaACCESS TO JUSTICEA cross section of inmates interviewed said they did not have legal representation. An example was 20­year­old Shuaibu Audu, who was charged with armed robbery before Kuje High Court, Abuja. The courtordered his remand in prison custody on 12 th December 2004. Shuaib said he did not understand thelanguage of the court (English). He also stated that he does not have an interpreter and legalrepresentation.There were also inmates whose cases were stalled because their case files are missing as a result ofmovement of case files from the police to the court and from court to police. Some of these inmatesinclude: Peter Chukwuemeka, Emmanuel Okon, and Haruna Audu.WOMEN AND CHILDRENKuje prison is for male inmates only. Consequently, no women were seen in the prison.The monitors observed that juveniles and young persons were detained in the same cell with adults.They include the following:Mathew Eze, aged 16, was remanded in prison by a Gudu High Court, Apo, Abuja on 13 th January2006 on a charge of Conspiracy and Armed Robbery.Mark Ojo, aged 14, was remanded in prison by Kuje High Court on March 7, 2006 on a charge ofarmed robbery.Chukwudi Ezegbunam aged 16, was remanded in prison custody by the Federal High Court, Maitamaon 2 nd December 2005 on an allegation of belonging to Bakassi Boys, (a local militia group).VISITORS’ BOOKThe visitors’ book contains information about important visitors such as judicial officers, legalpractitioners, the National Human Rights Commission, Legal Aid Council, and others. From the records,the last visit of the Administration of Justice Committee was in March 2006. On that visit, the ChiefJudge of FCT, High Court Judges, Members of Nigerian Bar Association and other members of theCommittee came to carry out the functions under the Criminal Justice Special Provisions Act, 1977 i. e.release from custody.DEATH ROW INMATESFrom the records, there are no death­row inmates in Kuje prison as it is a medium security prison.RELIGIOUS FACILITIESThere is a Mosque and a Chapel at the prison.36

RECOMMENDATIONS ON KUJE PRISONi) Attempts should be made to provide adequate beds for the inmates of the prison especially theawaiting trial inmates.ii) Inmates with psychiatric cases should not be kept in prison custody. The officer in charge of theprison ought to have acted on the directive of Justice Bulama of Kuje High Court by writing to the courtfor a formal order to transfer Abubakar Mohammed to a psychiatric hospital.ENUGU PRISONIntroductionThe Federal Prison Enugu was built in 1915 with a capacity for 638 inmates but currently locks up 886.The break down is as follows:Male Female TotalATMs (Awaiting Trial Mates) 591 9 600Short Term Convicts 3 1 4Long Term Convicts 27 3 30Criminal Lunatics 83 9 91Civil Lunatics 43 11 54Lifers 24 2 26Condemned Criminals 74 1 75Lodger 5 ­ 5CTM (Court Martial Convicts) 2 ­ 2TOTAL 886The cells were generally overcrowded. While some prisoners had beds and beddings, others had not.The women were separated from the men, though both were accommodated within the same prisoncompound. The women were housed in what used to be the prison store. The buildings were old,dilapidated with leaking roofs and the cells had little or no ventilation. Toilet facilities were grosslyinadequate and antiquated.In the male section of the prison, there were different cells for condemned prisoners, convictedprisoners, prisoners on awaiting trial, lunatics and an isolated cell for prisoners with tuberculosis.However, there was no separation of juveniles from adult prisoners. In the female section of the prison,there was no separation by offences or age. All the women prisoners slept in the same cell.FEEDINGThe prisoners were relatively well fed. According to the officers, the prisoners were fed three times aday. The prison kitchen was neat, cooking was done with both gas and firewood depending on the onethat was available. The men do the cooking while the women help in preparing the condiments, suchas cutting the vegetables and peeling melon. Some prisoners are ‘Self­feed’ i.e. they provide their ownfood, usually prepared and brought for them by their families. Others who are on diet for healthreasons like diabetes, ulcer, etc are catered for by the prison kitchen.HEALTH CAREThe prison had a clinic that is equipped to care for prisoners who needed hospitalization. There wasno resident doctor, but doctors from University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH) and Park LaneGeneral Hospital came in regularly to provide medical care for the prisoners and prison staff.37

Prisoners who could not be treated at the prison clinic were referred to either UNTH or Park LaneHospital.RECREATIONAL FACILITIESThe male prisoners had an open space where they played foot ball. They also had a table tennis setand a volley ball court. Mr. Eze, one of the prison staff informed the monitor that most of the items usedfor recreation were provided by ‘Bakassi Boys’ (a militant group) during the period when they weredetained in the prison in 2003. The women had no recreational facilities.VOCATIONAL FACILITIESThe prison had brick making, shoe making, tailoring, carpentry and welding workshops. At the time ofvisit, only the carpentry and welding workshops were functional. The rest had been closed down foryears because of lack of basic equipment, maintenance and inadequate materials for training.Materials and equipment in the carpentry and welding workshops were grossly inadequate.According to the Chief Wardress, Mrs. Ene, between 1997 and 2002 SWEWP (Society for the Welfareof Women Prisoners) an NGO based in Enugu, donated four sewing machines, a knitting machine,soap making equipment and materials, pomade making equipment and materials to train the women,on soap and pomade making. On discharge, the women were assisted with money and equipment bySWEWP to start their own business of soap and pomade making. Some of the inmates had beentrained to be fashion designers while in prison.EDUCATIONAL FACILITIESThe prison had a library filled with old books on science, philosophy, psychology, law, sociology andreligion. There is need for new books relevant to prisoners needs and welfare. According to the welfareofficer, Mr. Effiong, prisoners were not allowed to borrow books, but could study in the library.Some prisoners were also seen attending classes in the hall. The monitor was informed that a systemwas developed to provide interested inmates with basic literacy skills and secondary School educationto prepare them for GCE (General Certificate of Education) O’level. Under this prison educationscheme, some prisoners had successfully sat for and obtained their GCE certificate.WOMEN AND CHILDRENMrs. Chinasa Fustian Mezue­Aso,age 33, was pregnant when she was admitted into the prison on June5, 2003. She was a civil lunatic and gave birth to her daughter while in prison sometime in 2003.Miss Uju Amaechi, 23 years, was in prison custody for the murder of her father Mr Amaechi Okorie.While in police detention, she gave birth to her five month old daughter, Miracle. A closer observationrevealed that Uju has Downs syndrome. There are inadequateJUVENILES41 (Forty­one) juveniles aged between 18 and 12 were awaiting trial at Enugu prison. They werecharged with various offences ranging from armed robbery to robbery, burglary, illegal possession offire arms, being members of MASSOB (Movement for the actualization of the Sovereign State ofBiafra); Murder, attempted murder, cultism, assault, stealing and rape. Some of them were classified aschildren beyond parental control and are usually street/homeless children and likely victims of childtrafficking. There is no separation of juveniles from adult prisoners. Juveniles interact freely with adultprisoners and sleep with them in the same cells.38

VISITORS’ BOOKSeveral visitors’ books were kept for the following categories of persons, namely;Very important visitors to the prison;Legal practitioners that came to interview their clients;Visitors that came in groups such as NGOs, religious organizations etc.The visitors’ books were generally well kept.AWAITING TRIAL INMATES (ATMS)1. The majority of the inmates at Enugu prison are awaiting trial mates. Five boys namely;i) Jude Ugwu, 15, Male, (iii) Osita Okoye, 15, Maleii) Ejike Ugwu, 14, Male (iv) Chinedu Nduneme, 17, Male andv) Ozuluigbo Nnabuike, 15, Male were admitted into Enugu Prison on 30/11/2001; and have beenawaiting trial for alleged armed robbery and rape of some reverend sisters for 5 years. Though the fiveof them were charged with the same offences, they met one another for the first time at Ogui PoliceStation Cell in Enugu. On an interview by the monitor, the following unconfirmed information wassupplied by the charge mates;Ugwu Jude stated that he was staying with his sister at Poultry Camp I and had gone to sweep theirstall at New Market when the police came and arrested him.Osita said that he came from his village on holidays to stay with his brother, Mr. Obiora Okoye at No. 26Achina Street, Achara Layout Enugu. The police came to the house and asked for the brother but thebrother traveled. They arrested Osita. when his brother came to the police station to ask for hisrelease, the police insisted that he would pay N50,000.00. When the brother failed to pay the sumdemanded, Osita and Jude were taken to new market Magistrate Court where they were for the firsttime told that they robbed a Rev. Sister.Ejike was arrested on his way back from Ogbette Main Market where he had gone to shop forfoodstuffs. He was arrested with the foodstuff and the police demanded N10,000 from his brother for hisbail. When he could not pay,he was taken to court and charged for robbery.Chinedu was arrested while he was washing clothes at mili­ana stream, Enugu. At the time of hisarrest, he was staying with his guardian, one Ifeanyi Ugwu who lived at P&T Quarters, Enugu.Ozuluigbo was arrested by the police around 10 a.m. at ogbette area of Enugu when he was playingfootball by the police. He was a trader on second­hand clothing at Ogbette with his brother. He did notgo to market that day because a member of their union died and all the members decided not to openshops in respect for their late colleague.ACCESS TO JUSTICEOne of the pressing problems of the prison is transportation of prisoners to and fro the courts. EnuguPrison has one Green Maria van that is grounded. As a result of this prisoners were not taken to thevarious courts in Enugu on their adjourned dates and thereby prolonging their trial and stay in prison.Their attendance to court most times were sponsored by their family members who provide vehicles ortransport to convey the prisoner, the warder guard and the police escort to court.39

Generally, justice is not easily accessed by most prisoners in Enugu . Most of them are poor,illiterate/ignorant, confused and abandoned, both by families and the society. Interviews with some ofthe prisoners are quite revealing;Mrs. Veronica Aniemenam 60, a native of Ugwuoba, Oji River L.G.A., Enugu State was admitted intothe prison in October, 2006, awaiting trial for the murder of her husband, Professor Aniemenam, alecturer at University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN). Veronica said that she is the first of the eightestranged wives of prof. Aniemenam. For the past 15 years, she had been separated from thehusband, though they were not divorced. She was in Dr. Nwalisi’s hospital at Amawbia, recoveringfrom a prolonged ill­health of malaria and typhoid; when two of her husband’s relations came to visit herand told her that her presence was urgently needed at Nsukka, because she was too weak to travelalone, she went with her son Chimaobi who had been taking care of her in the hospital.When she got to Nsukka, she was informed that another son of hers, Chekwube who was a student atUNN and was living with the father; had a fight with the father, while they were fighting, Chekwube hithis father with an iron and he slumped. Few hours later, he died at the UNN health Centre. The Prof.had been dead for 9 days before Veronica knew what happened. On the same day, both Veronica andChimaobi were arraigned before Nsukka Magistrate Court who remanded them in prison. Chimaobiwas remanded at Nsukka prison and Veronica at Enugu prison.Sunday Udoson 40, a mobile police officer was convicted and sentenced to death by Okigwe HighCourt No. 2 on 31/12/91 for causing the death of one Man (Name unknown) by accidental discharge.Udoson had expressed his desire to appeal against the judgement. He had paid for the record ofproceedings to enable him appeal but the Registrar of Okigwe High Court, had refused to transfer sameto Court of Appeal Port Harcourt. Udosen remains a condemned prisoner, awaiting execution, inEnugu Prison, and has been denied his right to appeal as provided by the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria.Lack of access to justice, with its consequential effect on prison congestion have assumed a nationalproblem. The Enugu State Chief Judge visited Enugu Prison 3 times in 2006 for Jail delivery. This andother ad hoc measures have not been very effective in decongesting the prison because a holisticapproach needed to be adopted towards the problem of prison decongestion .RECOMMENDATIONSi) Nigeria should explore the possibility of institutionalizing the traditional neighborhooddispute settlement system by which minor offences might be settled by the offender andthe victim without resorting to the courts, especially in the rural areas.ii)iii)The Police should use their discretion more positively with a view to preventingovercrowding in the prison. To this end, they should be more liberal in granting police bailand should not readily oppose applications for bail by defendants;Judges should:(a) Liberalize conditions for granting bail.(b) Be more humane in their sentencing policy;(c) Shift their emphasis to the utilization of the alternative measures toimprisonment including fine, community service and other non­custodialmethods;(d) Reserve imprisonment for only serious crimes.40

(e)Not to order imprisonment for first offenders unless public interest so demandsin which case they must state their reasons in writing for deciding so.iv)That appropriate legislation to implement liberalization ofBail and the suggested positive sentencing policy as well as the introduction of otherrehabilitative non­custodial measures, mentioned in (iii) above should be enacted withoutdelay;a) Government should provide adequate resources and facilities which willenhance speedy performance of the functions of the Police, Ministry of Justice,the Judiciary and the Prisons Services, including the provision of appropriateequipment, stationery, vehicles, qualitative manpower in sufficient quantities.(b)Adjournments of criminal cases should be reduced to the barest minimum;v) The Laws relating to criminal procedure and evidence should be appropriately reformedwith a view to simplifying and expediting criminal trials.JOS PRISONIntroductionThe Jos Central Prison was formerly located at the palace of the Gbomgwom Jos until 1958 when itwas relocated to its present site in West of Mines. The walls and the bulk of the structures within theprison are made of stonewall. There are several cracks in the walls. This may tempt or aid escape andor pose a threat to the lives of inmates should they collapse.The infrastructures are dilapidated and need urgent rehabilitation. The prison staff seat on brokenchairs while the ceiling of some their offices is falling off. The prison as at November 13, 2006contained 774 prisoners made up of 428 awaiting trial inmates, and 346 convicts. However, the prisoncapacity is 1149 with staff strength of 200. It is therefore obvious that there are fewer inmates than thecapacity of the facility.FEEDINGThe kitchen at Jos Prison is dilapidated and needs general renovation. The kitchen is still in use. Theinmates cook their food by themselves in the kitchen. Food meant for inmates are prepared under afairly neat environment but there are patches of cobwebs on ceilings. The kitchen lacks general kitchenequipment like a grinding machine and a deep freezer. The cooking gas has been out of use for a longtime. The kitchen like the prison needs renovation. Water is scarce. The food of the inmates in thecondemned prisoners’ cell was left uncovered, exposing it to germs and other air­borne diseases.BEDDINGSThe beddings are scanty. Most of the beds do not have mattresses and the few mattresses, pillows andblankets available are worn and thin from long use. Some inmates sleep on bare floor at differentcorners of the cell. The beddings are not lice infested but the lighting of the cell is very poor. Thecondition of the cells is inhumane and degrading and a violation of 34 of Nigerian Constitution whichprovides for right to dignity of human person.HEALTHCARE FACILITIESThe prison has a dispensary. Even though some drugs were in stock, the prison Nurse complained thatthey are insufficient to meet the health needs of the inmates.41

Eight inmates had psychiatric problems but the prison has no facilities for the handling of psychiatriccases. A Psychiatrist comes to see them on Fridays from Jos University Teaching Hospital and thePlateau State Specialist Hospital Jos. Fifteen inmates were suspected of living with HIV/AIDS and fiveinmates had contacted tuberculosis (TB). The TB inmates were isolated and kept in a cell underunhygienic conditions. At the time of the visit, the retro­viral drugs for HIV/AIDS available had beensupplied by some NGOs. The dispensary lacks anti biotic drugs as they are mostly in short supply.Inmates with gunshot wounds were sometimes turned. There were no surgical facilities at thedispensary to take care of such inmates. There is neither an ambulance nor funds, to take care ofemergencies. Most cases of child delivery are done in the hospital through the help and generosity ofthe staff. Cases of reference to other hospitals are sometimes not treated due to lack of funds. Forinstance, the case of an inmate with a kidney problem has remained unattended to, due to lack offunds.RECREATIONAL FACILITIESJos prison has recreational facilities. Such recreational facilities include, a football field, table tennisand, a volleyball court. The prison occasionally organizes sporting competition while at sometimesclubs from outside are allowed use of the facilities. The prison also has a recreational centre forrelaxation.AWAITING TRIAL INMATESAs at 13 th November, 2006, Jos Prison housed 428 awaiting trial inmates made up of 4 females and770 males.In the female inmates’ cell, some of the inmates had spent between 21 days and 3 years awaiting trialon charges ranging from fighting to culpable homicide.1 Victoria Daleng, a 23­year­old student of Kaduna Polytechnic. She had spent 3 years in prisoncustody. She was charged for culpable homicide and remanded in prison on the orders of the HighCourt Bukuru, Jos South Local Government Council Plateau State. A lawyer represents her. At apoint the Chief Judge of the state granted her bail but the trial judge who challenged the ground onwhich she was granted bail revoked the bail.2 Virginia Nwankwo, 35 years old, a housewife of a sick husband and a mother of six children. Thehusband is diabetics and high blood patient. She had spent 3 months on the order of a high courtJos. She was charged for unlawful possession of firearms. Her lawyer represents her.3 Asabe Abdulllahi, age 63 years, was charged for murder and convicted in Jimeta. She spentsometimes in Yola prison before she was transferred to jos prison, she has been convicted for3years. She had just spent 24 days in jos prison. She spent 10 years as awaiting person before sheconvicted to death sentence.In the male section of the prison, it was discovered that the inmates have been awaiting trial forperiods between 1 month and 6 years.4 Linus Lawrence, age 39 was remanded in prison custody by the Chief Magistrate’s Court, JosMetropolitan Development Board, Jos on charges of armed robbery. He has been awaiting trialsince 2003. His private lawyer represents him.42

5 Ahmed Suleiman, age 31 remanded in prison custody by the Chief Magistrate’s Court 19, whichsits at Jos Metropolitan Development Board, Jos on charges of armed robbery. He has beenawaiting trial since 2003. His personal lawyer represents him6 Sunday Mba, age 27 was ordered to be remanded in prison by High Court No. 6 Jos on a chargeof armed robbery. He has been awaiting trial since 2003. A lawyer represents him.7 Austine Shaglong, was remanded by the High Court, Jos on charges of armed robbery. He hasbeen awaiting trial since 2000. A lawyer from the Legal Aid Council represents him.WOMEN AND CHILDRENThe female section of the Jos Prison has 4 female inmates. 3 of the inmates are awaiting trial, 1 is aconvict. The female section houses no child.· Asabe Abdullahi is the oldest female inmate; she is 63 years old. She claims that she wasawaiting trial for ten years before she was convicted and to death sentenced to death by a HighCourt in Jimeta, Adamawa State. She has since spent 3 years on death row and keeps hopingthat her lawyer will file her appeal.CHILDRENAs at the time of the visit there was no nursing mother or child in the prison custodyVISITORS’The visitors’ book in Jos Prison contains records of important visitors such as Administration of JusticeCommittee members, judicial officers, legal practitioners, civil society groups, staff of Legal Aid Council,the National Human Rights Commission among others.Visitors to the prison are usually questioned as to the purpose of their visit, which they must state in thevisitors’ book.The visitors’ book in Jos Prison is properly kept. Most visitors do indicate their addresses and thepurpose of visits. They do not make remarks about their impressions of the prison at the end of theirvisits. Such remarks would enable the authorities or anybody looking at the books to have a clearpicture of the state of affairs of the prison.Between 2002 and November 13th, 2006, there were records of visits of the Administration of JusticeCommittee. On different occasions, the Chief Judge of the state has visited the prison. There arerecords of visits by NGOs, Legal Aid Council the Plateau State Ministry of Justice and, religious groups.There is no record to show the visit by the committee on prison decongestion set up by the FederalGovernment. The Federal Government had announced in July 2005, that it would embark upon a prisondecongestion exercise. This was as a result of a prison audit exercise that was carried out in 2004 bythe National Working Group on Prison Reforms and Decongestion (NWGPRD) in collaboration with theNational Human Rights Commission.ACCESS TO JUSTICEA cross­section of inmates was interviewed as to whether they have legal representation or not. Fromthe interviews carried out awaiting trial inmates and the prison officer responsible for the conveyance ofremanded prisoners to court for trial, it was discovered that every seven inmates out of ten or seventyper cent, had legal representation.43

The Legal Aid Council, private lawyers and, human rights organizations, provide some of the legalrepresentation.DEATH ROW PERSONS INTERVIEWEDLINUS EZE, male, 42 years of age. With one other person for culpable homicide punishable with deathby High Court No. 3 Maiduguri, Borno State. They were charged in 1986; the case lasted 22 yearsbefore they were convicted and sentenced to death. They have been on death row for four years now.Msugher Gboko is an automobile engineer; he is 34 year old. He was charged for conspiracy andarmed robbery in 1999 before High Court No.6 Makurdi. He was convicted and sentenced to death onthe 19 th July 2002. His appeal is pending before the Court of Appeal Jos. Before the conviction he hadspent three and half years awaiting trial. His relatives and lawyer have rarely visited him since 2002.Bayo Ajia 35, and ten others, were convicted of culpable homicide by the High Court Ilorin inSeptember 2004. After spending sometime in Kaduna prison, they were transferred to Jos prison on 31March 2005. Their appeal is pending before the Supreme Court Abuja. The lawyers of the All NigeriaPeople Party and a human right organization in Kaduna represent them.Martins Igbaka, 39 years old, was convicted of armed robbery by the Armed Robbery Tribunal Jalingo,Taraba State. He spent 6years and 6 months awaiting trial person before he was convicted in 1999. Heis in his seventh year on death row.Jimoh Michael is 39 years old. He was convicted by the High Court Lokoja Kogi State, for conspiracyand culpable homicide punishable with death.He is a policeman.Simon Edibo, is 54 years old. He was charged and convicted for culpable homicide punishable withdeath by the High Court, Makurdi.He spent one year awaiting trial before the conviction. He has spent 8years on death row. He appealed the conviction but a date is yet to be assigned for the appeal to beheard. A private lawyer represents him.Interview with these six convicts who were among the many others on death row inmates at Jos Prisonraised the following human rights issues:­ A good number of the convicts wanted to appeal their sentence, filed papers of appeal but, theappeals were being delayed by the slowness of the judicial system; some do not have moneyto file an appeal.­ Some claimed to have been beaten up by the police during interrogation during whichconfessional statements were extracted from them.­ As the monitors came to their cell, they assumed that the death sentence was about to becarried out on them. They were in constant trauma expecting their executioners any time avisitor comes into the cell.44

RECOMMENDATIONS1) The States should set up juvenile courts to prevent the situation where children and youngpersons are tried in Open Court and send to adult prisons, thereby stigmatizing the andviolating their rights private trial.2) The States Government should build the capacity of the Social Welfare Department to dealin a humane manner with children and young persons beyond parental control.3) The Police should be sensitized on the need to familiarize itself with juvenile issues in theChild Rights Act to enable it treat such issues in accordance with tenets of Child JusticeAdministration under the said Act.4) The judiciary and the police should be sensitized on the need to use diversion options inorder to decongest the prisons and police detention centres.5) The judiciary should be sensitized on the need refer appropriate awaiting trial persons tothe proper institutions like, psychiatric homes, remand homes, borstal institutions or theprison.6) Special maternal centres should be established for women, pregnant and nursing motherswho are in conflict with the law.7) Male and female borstal institutions and remand homes should be established across thecountry in order to take care of juvenile offenders.8) Awaiting trial inmates who have spent longer time than the minimum period ofimprisonment if convicted, should be considered for immediate release.9) Mechanism should be put in place for speedy trial of all offences especially, capitaloffences.10) Prison inmates above 60 years of age, who have spent five years or more awaiting trial,should be released11) Persons charged with simple offences should be summarily tried.12) Remand homes for girls should be established.13) Government should reconstruct all prisons and provide the necessary facilities to cope withthe needs of inmates.14) That the Record officers should guide visitors to properly fill the visitor’s books in theprisons, so as to provide the necessary details for data collection purposes.15) That the government agencies such as the Nigerian Prisons, the NHRC and the Legal AidCouncil, should be strengthened to enable them perform their statutory responsibility,which include assistance to prison inmates.16) Medical treatment of prison inmates and the provision of healthcare services to pregnantand nursing mothers should be accommodated under the National Health Insurance45

Scheme (NHIS). There should also be increase in the provision of drugs especiallyantibiotic drugs17) The Courts should be more alert to notice cases of torture as it has become apparent thatmost purported confessional statements from the police are not voluntary and mostaccused persons in the Lower Courts have no legal representation to advance their cause.18) There is the urgent need to improve on the lighting of the cell and it environment19) The prison generally needs urgent, comprehensive renovation.20) Funds, fuel and an ambulance, should be made available to take care of emergencysituations.46

CHAPTER FIVEWOMEN AND OTHER GENDER RELATED MATTERSA citizen of Nigeria of a particular community, ethnic group,place of origin, sex, religion or political opinion shall not, byreason only he is such a person­2 be subjected to either expressly by, or in the practicalapplication of any law in force in Nigeria or any executive oradministrative action of any government, to disabilities or restrictions to whichcitizens of Nigeria of other communities, ethnic groups, places of origin, sex,religion or political opinions are not made subject; or3 be accorded either expressly by, or in the practical application of, any lawin force in Nigeria or any such executive or administrative action, anyprivilege or advantage that is not accorded to citizens of Nigeria of othercommunities, ethnic groups, places of origin, sex, religion or politicalopinions.Section 42(1), Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999Every individual shall be entitled to the enjoyment of the rights andfreedoms recognized and guaranteed in the present Charter withoutdistinction of any kind such as race, ethnic group, sex, language, religion,political or any other opinion, national and social origin, fortune, birthor other status.Article 2, African Charter on Human and Peoples’ RightsStates Parties condemn discrimination against women in all itsforms, agreed to pursue by all appropriate means and without delaya policy of eliminating discrimination against women and, to this end,Undertake:(a) To embody the principle of the equality of men and women in theirnational constitutions or other appropriate legislation if not yet incorporatedtherein and to ensure, through law and other appropriatemeans, the practical realization of this principle;(b) To adopt appropriate legislative and other measures, including sanctionswhere appropriate, prohibiting all discrimination against women;(c) To establish legal protection of the rights of women on an equal basis withmen and to ensure through competent national tribunals and other publicinstitutions the effective protection of women against any act ofdiscrimination;(d) To refrain from engaging in acts of discrimination against women and toensure that public authorities and institutions shall act in conformity withthis obligation;(e) To take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination againstwomen by any person, organization or enterprise;(f) To take all appropriate measures, including legislation, to modify orabolish existing laws, regulations, customs and practices which constitutediscrimination against women;47

(g) To repeal all national penal legislation which constitute discriminationagainst women.Article 2, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms ofDiscrimination Against Women( CEDAW)The above mentioned national, regional and international instruments support the elimination of allforms of discrimination against women in the private and public sectors and improvement in levels ofequality and enjoyment of women’s human rights in policy formulation. They encourage increasedaccess by women and girls to education, reduction of disparities in women and girls literacy; enhancedaccess to health information and services amongst others. Despite the provisions, women and girls arestill being discriminated against and treated as mere objects and chattels. Nigeria is yet to match itsobligations with action through the domestication of the CEDAW, which is long overdue.On August 13, 2006, 23 year old Lillian Nwaneto who lives in Port Harcourt, was raped andbeaten by one Obiora. According to Lilian, Obiora had put pressure on her to visit him thoughshe did not know him too well. She eventually agreed to visit him when he persisted. On gettingto his house, Obiora bought suya (local meat kebab) and drinks for her, which she turned down. Shedecided to leave when she realized that Obiora had locked the door. He refused to open the door inspite of much pleading from her. She started crying. Obiora assured her that he would not hurt her ifshe cooperated. She refused to cooperate and was consequently beaten and raped. Her shouts weredrowned by the sound of an electric power generator in the compound.After the rape, Obiora pushed her out and she ran to a neighbor’s house and alerted them of theincident. She later went to Elekohia police station and laid her complaint, from where she proceeded tothe Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital for medical examination. The complainant later withdrew hercomplaint and the police obliged her despite the fact that this is a clear case of violence against women.Halima Bashir, 3 years,lives with her parents in No.112 Yankaba Quarters, Nasarawa LocalGovernment Area of Kano State. She was raped on the 14 th January 2006 around 6:30pm by20­year­old Salisu Abubakar. Her mother had sent her to call her elder brother to come home fordinner when Salisu called her and offered her sweets (candy). She followed him into his room, which iswithin their compound. He then raped her. When he was done, he invited his friend, Abdullahi Sanusi,23, to take his turn. He also raped her. Halima died as a result.She was certified dead at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano by Dr. Shehu Abubakar. Theperpetrators were charged to court, tried, convicted and sentenced to death. They are still in prisonawaiting execution.On April 26, 2006, Miss Fatima Bukar Mustafa, 28, divorcee, petty trader, of Gajiram village inNganzai Local Government Area of Borno State was conducting her business in her shed whenthree political thugs who had come to the village for a political rally stormed her shed. InMaiduguri, political thugs are popularly called ‘ECOMOG’ and they are much feared as they terrorizeand molest the people. She asked them what they wanted to buy. One of them, Bunu Meleh, 25, ofFezzan Ward, Maiduguri pushed Fatima down while the other two Kime Sheriff, 24, of Gamboru Wardand Musa Ajid, 20 of Bululutu Ward pinned her to the ground.When Fatima sensed their intention, she started shouting, struggling and calling for help. No one cameto her aid. People who were around ran away, leaving her with the assailants who took turns to rapeher. They left her badly bruised on her legs, arms and her private part and sprawling in pains.48

When the victim was interviewed, she said that she did not report the matter to the police for fear ofanother attack by the political thugs. Fatima’s father, Alhaji Bukar Mustafa, said that they had not visitedany hospital or clinic to confirm the extent of the injury on Fatima’s private part and had not tested herfor HIV/AIDS or other sexually transmitted diseases.Rita Emenaha got married to Everatus Emenaha on the insistence of her family who wanted her tomarry an Ibo man. Having agreed to marry, she sold her business and used the proceeds to buyand develop a plot of land at Tugun Maje, Abuja. She also, occasionally, gave financialassistance to her proposed husband up to the sum of N500,000.During her marriage, her husband who also frequently made death threats to her often physicallyabused Rita. On a number of occasions, she reported the threats and abuse to the police at Zuba andto her family.In April 2004, Everatus instituted a divorce petition against Rita at the Upper Area Court Gwagwalada,before Hon. Mohammed Usman Akoyi. According to Rita, on two occasions, her husband’s counsel inconcert with the court clerk and judge, without her knowledge or her counsel’s changed the hearingdates. Judgment was given in her absence on 15 th August 2004. Pursuant to the judgment, she wasgiven a court order to vacate the house she built, and ordered to pay N4,000.00 cost and to refundN17,000.00 as dowry paid by her husband on her.She refused to vacate her house but paid the monies as ordered, directly to the Judge who howeverrefused to issue her with a receipt. Within the same week, her house was invaded by court officialswho broke the doors to gain access, removed her property and took them to the court.28 year old Florence Ezechukwu, a graduate of Institute of Management and Technology, EnuguEnugu State, got married to Policarp Ezechukwu in 1992. They live at No. 9 Dan Musa RoadOriapata, Kaduna State and have two children, a boy of 6 years and a girl of 3.Her husband who often accused her of having extra­marital relationships frequently battered her. Aftersuch battering, he would lock her up in a room for up to 3 days or more to prevent her having access toanyone. He would also starve her of food. He tore her National Youth Service discharge certificate toprevent her from attending a job interview. On account of one of such beatings, she lost her six­monthpregnancy in May of 2005.RECOMMENDATIONS(I)(II)(III)There is a need for sensitisation campaign to create awareness on gender related issues inorder to protect women from acts of discrimination arising from cultural practices, beliefsand patriarchy.There should be capacity building/training of judicial officers on gender related matters inthe discharge of their duties with a view to promoting respect for the rights of both men andwomen.Laws, policies and practices that discriminate against women should be reviewed. Inaddition, laws prohibiting and punishing the practice of wife battering and violence againstwomen should be enacted.49

(IV)(V)(VI)Nigeria should be put in place, a mechanism for the promotion of the human rights ofwomen, in accordance with regional and international treaties to which it is a partyThere should be vigorous promotion of girls’ education as a means of enhancing theiropportunities and independence later in life.Poverty alleviation policies specifically designed to empower women should be pursued.This would reduce their dependence on their spouses.50

CHAPTER SIXFREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND THE MEDIAEvery person shall be entitled to freedom of expression, includingfreedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas andinformation without interferenceSection 39(1), Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 19991. Every individual shall have the right to receive information. 2. Every individual shallhave the right to express and disseminate his opinions within the lawArticle 9, African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights1. Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference2. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall includefreedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardlessof frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through anyother media of his choice.Article 19, International Covenant on Civil and Political RightsSir Vincent – Evans aptly noted in 1994 that “…in any healthy society, the individual should be free toexpress his views, offer his criticism and canvass his ideas for change and improvement, provided hedoes not seek to propagate his ideas by violent means” 2 .The right to freedom of expression is a fundamental right, provided for under the 1999 Constitution ofthe Federal Republic of Nigeria and other Human Rights Instruments to which Nigeria is a party. Thisright may be curtailed only for the protection of national security or of public order, or of public health ormorals. The scope of curtailment should however not be incompatible with the enjoyment of the rightitself. The passage of the Freedom of Information Bill (FIOB) by the National Assembly in November2006 is a welcome development. The Presidents’ assent is being awaited to make it operational inNigeria.Although human rights instruments provide for the freedom of expression and media, the incessantincrease in import tax and the production materials used by the newspaper industries since theinception of the present administration in 1999 has greatly reduced access to information through themedium of print media. The implication of this upward review of import tax in the last seven years is thatmost newspapers/ magazine houses have drastically cut their rates of production, in addition toincreasing their cover prices many fold.The readership also could not access vital information as they used to, because of the economichardship that makes the purchase of newspapers and magazines very difficult for a majority ofNigerians. A survey carried out by the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria published on the11 th September 2005 revealed that about 20 persons read a copy of a daily newspaper, which equallymeans that a copy of the same paper is not available to the same number of readers.2125 Comments of sir Vincent – evans reproduced in Dominic McGoldrick, The Human rights Committee: Itsrole in the Development of the International covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Clarendon Press Oxford,1994.51

The perpetrators of these violations are the federal and state governments who continue to impose thetaxes, thereby making production of these materials very expensive and unaffordable to members ofthe public.Our findings showed that the right to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and informationwithout interference as contained in Section 22 and 39 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republicof Nigeria has been greatly violated since 1999.On the June 14, 2006, Gbenga Mike Aruleba, a television journalist with African IndependentTelevision (AIT) was arrested from his office, at Kpaduma Hill, Asokoro District, Abuja, at about9.30 a. m, by six men from the State Security Service (SSS) in Abuja. He was arrested inconnection with a discussion that took place on 13 th June 2006, on the programme, “Focus Nigeria”,which he anchors on AIT. The subject of the discussion was the purchase of a presidential jet for theuse of the President of Nigeria. The plane was speculated to be a used aircraft and purportedlypurchased at an inflated price.Mr. Aruleba was arrested without warrant, allegedly on the orders of Col. Kayode Are, the DirectorGeneral of SSS. He was detained in an under­ground cell in the premises of the State Security Service,Maitama, Abuja, for more than 24 hours and was eventually released at about 6.30 p. m. on 15 th June2006. He was instructed to report to the SSS office every Monday. When he reported as instructed onMonday, 26 th June, 2006, he was detained and charged to court the next day, 27 th June, 2006, togetherwith Rotimi Durojaiye, a reporter with the Daily Independence Newspaper, who had been arrestedearlier that day in Lagos and flown to Abuja, in connection with the aircraft story as published by thenewspaper. They were charged before the Federal High Court, OAU Quarters, Asokoro Abuja, presidedover by Justice Babs Kuewumi for the offences of Conspiracy, and Seditious Publication with intent tobring to hatred and contempt or excite dissatisfaction against the person of the President of the FederalRepublic of Nigeria, contrary to Section 51(2) of the Criminal Procedure Act, an offence which attracts ajail term of 2 years or an option of N2000 fine. The two journalists were denied bail on the ground thatthe bail application argued by their lawyers was not written but oral. The Judge ordered that they beremanded in the cell of the State Security Service and be presented in court on the 29 th June 2006.They were granted bail on 29 th June 2006, upon formal application by their lawyers in the sum ofN500,000.00 each, with sureties, and required to deposit their International Passports with the Court.Meanwhile, in a decided case, State Vs. Ivory Trumpet Publishing Ltd & 3 Ors (1984) 5 NCLR pages736 @ 756, Justice Alpha Belgore JCA as he then was, had made a pronouncement that the law ofSedition as contained in Section 51 (2) of CPA is obsolete and therefore not applicable in the modernday Nigeria. By this statement, the Learned Judge pronounced the law of Sedition dead.Investigation revealed that the Management of AIT had rendered unreserved apology to the FederalGovernment in respect of the publication through their medium consequent upon which the matter waswithdrawn from Court by the Government.On March 10, 2006, at about 16.30 hours, a team of operatives from the SSS office in Kadunastormed the office of 65 year old Adamu Sambo, a publisher, at No. A15 Katari Road, Barnawa,Kaduna. They insisted that he should sign a warrant of search that they had come with. Theyproceeded to seize about 3,000 copies of a book entitled “Obasanjo, the Lust for Power and its TragicImplications for Nigeria” written by Prof. Abubakar Sadiq, a lecturer at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.The book condemns President Obasanjo’s speculated ambition for a third term in office. The operativesseized other items including computer diskettes, private letters, articles and other materials written by52

various persons and clients of the publisher. They then sealed up the office and took him to SSS officein Kaduna, where he was detained for one day before he was released.While in detention, he was compelled to write a statement disclosing the number of copies of the bookproduced by the publisher. He was forced to make an undertaking to cease further production of thebook. They gave no reasons for their action.Adamu was released the next day, 11 th day of March 2006. None of the confiscated items was releasedto him. He was instructed to report to the SSS office on the 13 th day of March 2006, and informed thatthey would call on him anytime they needed him.RECOMMENDATIONS(i) The judicial authorities should rigorously enforce the freedom of expression and of thepress as provided for in the Constitution as they form the bedrock of democracy.(ii)(iii)(iv)The President should, as a matter of expediency, assent to the bill on Freedom ofInformation, which has been passed by the National Assembly. This will enhance the rightsof Nigerians to be informed about the activities and decisions of government and itsagencies and promote good governance.Government and its agencies must realize that the freedom of expression and of the pressguaranteed under the constitution means that in the absence of a court order, the mediamight not be interfered with in the course of disseminating information.Media practitioners are urged to verify the authenticity/veracity of their stories before goingto the press.53

CHAPTER SEVENCHILDREN AND YOUNG PERSONS“In every action concerning a child, whether undertaken by an individual,public or private body, institutions or service, court of law, or administrative orlegislative authority, the best interest of the child shall be the primaryconsideration.”Section 1, Child’s Rights Act, 2003“In all actions undertaken against the child by any person or the legal authoritythe best interest of the child should be the primary consideration”.Article 4 (1), African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of theChild“In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private socialwelfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, thebest interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.States Parties undertake to ensure the child such protection and care as is necessaryfor his or her well­being, taking into account the rights …”Article 3, International Convention on the Rights of the ChildThe security, welfare and interest of the child are vital to the growth and development of anynation. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) was adopted by the UN GeneralAssembly Resolution 44/25 of 20 th November 1989. It is the most comprehensive andcomplete statement on children’s rights. The convention eventually came into force on the 2 nd ofSeptember 1990. This landmark document of the UN ensures justice, peace and freedom forchildren who constitute over half of the world’s population.Although Nigeria has ratified and domesticated the CRC and is party to the African Union Charteron the Rights and Welfare of the Child (AUCRWC), studies have however shown that most of thechildren live without basic necessities of life, significant for their survival and development. Thisposes serious challenge to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).At the regional level, Nigeria ratified the African Union Charter on the Rights and Welfare of theChild (AUCRWC) in 2001. Nigeria in July 29, 2003, domesticated the provisions of the CRC andAUCRWC, through the enactment of the Child’s Rights Act (CRA), which focuses on the followingfour key principles:· Survival· Development· Protection, and· ParticipationDespite the fact that Nigeria is a party to the CRC, AUCRWC and has enacted the CRA, childrenare still maltreated, neglected, sexually exploited and physically abused. Some of the most widelyreported violations include the following· Street trading/hawking· Street begging54

· Child labor and child trafficking· Harmful customary practices, such as child marriage, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) andtribal and tattoo marks· Exploitation of children mainly for commercial purposes, political violence, and thuggery e.gAbuse and exploitation of the “Almajirai” 3The violations against the rights of the child can be greatly reduced by the passage andimplementation of child rights laws in the various states of Nigeria. As at the date of this report, onlyten states have passed the child rights law since the domestication of the Child Rights Act in 2003by the National Assembly. The rights guaranteed for the development, education, survival,protection and participation of children are contained in the Child Rights Act 2003 and all states inNigeria should pass and implement child rights laws for the prevention of the violation of the rightsof children in Nigeria.On March 7, 2006, a 12 year old boy Seye Ajibade and his mother Janet Ajibade were arrested bythe police from Oke­Odo Police Station, Lagos and detained for allegedly causing a grievousbodily harm to Seun Adenrele a young lady of about 20 years. They were detained for two daysbefore being released on bail.The husband and father of the victims, Mr. Ajibade, stated that there was a fight between his son, wife,Seun Adenrele and her father over a misunderstanding. In the ensuing fracas, the said Seun Adenrelewas injured in the eye.The matter was reported at the Oke­Odo police station, Lagos and the police without due regard to theage of the child, arrested him and his mother and detained them in the cell with adult suspects. Uponinquiry on the wrongful detention of the child in adult cell, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) stated thatthis was so as there were no special facilities for child offenders.Contrary to the law, the child was charged and arraigned in open court along with his mother, forcausing grievous bodily harm. Through the intervention of the National Human Rights Commission, theMagistrate ordered the placement of the child at a remand home in the interim.Abdul Saliu, 13, was seen wandering around Jabi park vicinity in Jabi District, Abuja on June 23,2006. On being interviewed, he relayed how he left his home in Kogi State, some weeks earlier.Prior to leaving home, he hawked sachet water at Okene bus stop for his mother. Abdul wasthreatened with beating by his mother on his inability to render proper account of sales on a particularday. To avoid being beaten, he ran away from home, hid inside a lorry loaded with farm produce andeventually fell asleep.While asleep, the lorry left for Abuja. At a stop over at Gwagwa, a suburb in Abuja, Abdul woke up andfound himself in an unknown place. He told the lorry driver his story and pleaded that he be taken backto Okene. The driver handed him over to one ‘Princess’, living in Karmo, another suburb in Abuja andpromised to pick him up on his way back to Okene. At Princess’ place, he was forced to do domesticchores, denied food and constantly beaten up. After two weeks of waiting to be returned home, Abdulran away and ended up at Jabi park and joined a host of other homeless boys who work as porters andtouts in the park.3Almajeri describes street Children in Northern Nigeria55

After a series of counseling by staff of the National Human Rights Commission, Abdul agreed to returnto his mother at Okene and he was taken back and reconciled with his family.Tunde Adeniyi, a one year old baby was injured when the police shot at a commercial bus withregistration number Ondo, XB 998 REE, at a police check point in Ataoja area, Osogbo, OsunState, on June 13, 2006. The child’s father, Ismaila Adeniyi, and another passenger,FunkeOyinlola were also injured in the shoot out. They were taken to State Hospital, Asubiaro, Osogbo fortreatment by the police at the insistence of the other passengers.An eyewitness told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that a team of mobile policemen, stopped thecommercial bus and demanded for money.The driver gave them 20 Naira, which to the policemen wasinadequate. As a result, one of the mobile police personnel shot at the bus, thereby hitting the abovementionedchild and the two others.Upon receiving the news of the incident, Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola of Osun State, the AssistantInspector­General of Police in charge of the zone, Mr Tunji Alapini and the StatePolice Commissioner, Sulaiman Fakai visited the victims in the hospital. The policeman who shot at thebus, was arrested and is being prosecuted.Joshua Olayemi, Osun State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), stated that the incident wasregrettable, describing it as “mishandling of weapons”. He further noted police efforts to retrain itspersonnel in the handling of weapons as a strategy aimed at curbing extra judicial killing.CHILDREN IN PRISONIntroduction:Detention of children in prison is a disturbing phenomenon. Such detention infringes on children'sright to survival and development. The details of children incarcerated in Kuje and SulejaPrisons, as at 28 th September 2006 are as follows:1. Basiru Rabiu, aged 16. He resides at Jabi Motor Park and was charged with stealing atelephone handset and a wristwatch before Jiwa Magistrate’s Court who ordered hisdetention in Suleja prison since July 2006.2. Musa Mohammed, aged 17, from Niger Republic is a case of hostage taking. He is asecurity guard to the suspect (his boss) who was accused of stealing rods and is at large.The police arrested him for theft since his boss was not found. He was arraigned beforeJabi Magistrate’s Court on 26 th September 2006. Human rights monitors saw him in SulejaPrison and he said he was detained on 26 th September 2006. He pleaded not guilty to thecharge. There was nobody to take him on bail so; the Magistrate ordered his remand inprison.3. Ejike Nwokoye, aged 17. He resides in Suleja. He works as a telephone­technicianapprentice.He is charged with Theft/Conspiracy before Magistrate’s Court, Old NitelRoad, Suleja,Niger state.He has been in detention in Suleja prison since September 2006.56

4. Abdullah Mohammed, aged 16. He resides at Jiwa Mosque, Federal Capital Territory(FCT). He is charged with stealing a car radiator before Jiwa Magistrate Court. He wasgranted bail in the sum of N10,000.00 (Ten Thousand Naira only) but lacks surety to takehim on bail. He was detained in Suleja prison on 25 th September 2006.5. Lawal Ibrahim; aged 16. He resides in Deidei –Motor Park, Abuja. He is being accused ofstealing the sum of N30,000.00 (Thirty thousand Naira only). He was arraigned before JiwaMagistrate’s Court on 13 th September 2006 and subsequently detained at Suleja prisonthat same day.6. Osita Ezeanochie; aged 17. He resides in Zuba Spare­parts Market. FCT. He was broughtto Abuja to serve as an apprentice. He is being accused of stealing N104, 000.00 (onehundred and four thousand naira only). He has been in detention at Suleja prison sinceJune 2006.7. Kabiru Umar; aged 16. He resides at Madala Market Madala­Suleja. He was charged withtheft before Jiwa Magistrate’s Court, FCT. He is being accused of stealing a telephonehandset and a wristwatch. The Court granted him bail but he has no surety to take him onbail. He has been in Suleja prison since June 2006.8. Busayo Ogundele; aged 17. He resides in Gwagwa FCT, Abuja. He was charged before aJiwa Magistrate Court, FCT. Abuja for stealing a telephone handset. He has been grantedbail but he has no surety to take him on bail. He has been detained in Suleja Prison sinceJune 2006.9. Saheed Alalade; aged 15. He resides at Block 132, Area C Mopol Barracks, Nyanya. Hewas charged with Murder before Gudu High Court Apo­Abuja. Saheed said a fight ensuredbetween him and three others, which led to the death of one of the assailants. He has beenin detention in Suleja Prison since September 2005.10. Mathew Eze; aged 16. He resides at Passo Village, Gwagwalada and he is a commercialmotorcycle operator. He is charged with criminal conspiracy and armed robbery beforeGudu High Court, Apo FCT. He said he came to collect a motorcycle from his boss’ housein Gwagwalada, Abuja. Police came to search the house, saw him there and arrested him.He was detained from 1 st December 2005 to 13 th January 2006 at Gwagwalada PoliceStation. He was relocated to Area Command FCT where he said he was detained from 13 thJanuary 2006 to 20 th March 2006 when he was charged to Gudu High Court, whichordered his remand at Kuje Prison. The boy said his parents are deceased and, hisrelatives do not know where he is. He had been in detention at Kuje Prison since March20 th , 2006.11. Chukwudi Ezegbunam aged 16. His residential address (before imprisonment) is UmodeVillage Isialangwa LGA, Abia State. He is an orphan. He is charged with being inpossession of a barreta pistol without a license. The boy said he was going to buy breadwhen police arrested him along the road. He cannot remember the date but said it wasaround November 2005. He was charged before Federal High Court Maitama Abuja on 2 ndDecember 2005, which ordered his remand in Kuje Prison. However, he was later grantedbail but could not process the bail due to onerous bail conditions. He was asked to bring aperson living in Abuja who has property worth N200, 000.00 (two hundred thousand naira)to stand as his surety.57

RECOMMENDATIONS1. Children should not be tried in open court. It is recommended that Government should establish afunctional Juvenile­Court system to deal with cases of children in conflict with the law in compliancewith section 204 of the Child Rights Act (2003).2. More remand and borstal homes should be established in the country – at least one in each geopoliticalzone. These remand and borstal homes should be properly staffed and equipped withnecessary tools and equipment.3. The courts, police and prison staff should be made aware and sensitized on basic human rightsstandards and practices in dealing with Children in conflict with the law.4 Discretionary powers should be granted to senior prison officers to bring cases of wrong admissionof children to prison custody, to the attention of the court. They may in such cases apply to courtafter physical observation or advice of the prison medical/social welfare team for such a childto be remanded in a facility meant for children.5 States that have not passed the Child’s Rights Law should take steps towards doing so.6 Implementation of the Child Rights Law by states that have passed the Law should be expedited toenable the children reap the benefits accruing to them under that legislation and reduce theviolations of child rights in Nigeria.58

CHAPTER EIGHTHEALTH“The State shall direct its policy towards ensuring that –the health, safety and welfare of all persons in employments are safeguarded and notendangered or abused;there are adequate medical and health facilities for all persons”Section 17 (3) (c) & (d) Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,1999“Every individual shall have the right to enjoy the best attainable state of physical andmental health. 2. States Parties to the present Charter shall take the necessarymeasures to protect the health of their people and to ensure that they receive medicalattention when they are sick”.Article 16, African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights“The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to theenjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health”.Article 12 (1), ICESCRThe 1999 Constitution of Nigeria provides that government shall direct its policy towards ensuring thatadequate medical and health facilities are provided for all persons. Nigeria is a party to both the AfricanCharter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social andCultural Rights. The two instruments recognize the rights of every individual to the enjoyment of thehighest attainable standard of physical and mental health.However, most Nigerians do not have access to medical and health facilities. Nigerian governments atlocal, state and federal levels need to put more resources in the provision of adequate medical care tothe citizens. This is to ensure their enjoyment of their right to health, which is very important toNigerian’s realization of the Millennium Development Goals. Below are some of the cases of violation ofthe right to health in the country.Hajia Rakiya Sani, 47­year­old widow and Mallam Shehu Abubakar both living and carrying ontheir businesses at No. 322 Badawa Quarters, Nasarawa LGA of Kano State were arrestedaround 10.00 pm on January 21, 2006, by policemen from Badawa Police Station, and taken intocustody. The policemen stormed the business premises and arrested all persons found at the premises.At the police station, a police officer named Jonathan Aboki informed them that they had informationthat Mallam Shehu and Hajia Rakiya were selling hard drugs such as indian hemp and cocaine. Theyboth denied the allegation. While in police custody, Hajia Rakiya complained to the police authorities ofher asthmatic condition and that she needed urgent medical attention. She pleaded with them to allowher go to hospital but they refused. On January 22, 2006, she became unconscious and the policequickly took her to Murtala Muhammed Specialist Hospital Kano, where she was confirmed dead59

around 5.30 pm by one Dr. Musa Tukur. The medical report issued by Dr. Tukur stated the cause ofdeath as acute asthmatic attack.When contacted the DPO of Badawa Police Station, Kano, Mr. Muhammad Gana denied the fact thatRakiya died as a result of their negligence and refusal to allow her seek medical attention.Muhammed Balogun is aged 35. He hails from Oyo State, Nigeria. Balogun’ s story illustrates the caseof a psychiatric inmate in the prison. Monitors who went to Suleja prison on 27 th September 2006 talkedto Balogun in his cell. He exhibited signs of mental illness as he was hallucinating and talkingunintelligibly.The Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners provides in Article 82 that “Persons whoare found to be insane or of unsound mind shall not be detained in prison and arrangement shall bemade to remove such people to mental institutions as soon as possible’’.Balogun was arrested in Zuba, a suburb of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja on 15 th September2005 on an allegation of wandering. He was detained in Zuba Police Station from where he wascharged before Upper Sharia Court, Madalla FCT on 29 th Sept. 2005, for an offence of “belonging to agang’’ contrary to Section 306 of the Penal Code” The court ordered his imprisonment for 3 years or anoption of fine in the sum of N10, 000Balogun’s imprisonment is a violation of his Right to Health and Right to Life as provided by Article 16of African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and Section 33 of 1999 Constitution respectively.Besides, his detention in prison is also inhumane and degrading and therefore violates Section 34 ofthe Nigerian Constitution and Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as hishealth is likely to continue to deteriorate in the absence of psychiatric attention which he deserves butwhich he is not getting.RECOMMENDATION:Balogun and other inmates suffering from mental sickness should be removed from prison andtransferred to a psychiatric institution for proper medical care in compliance with Article 82 of the UNStandard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.60

CHAPTER NINEFOOD AND SHELTER“The State shall direct its policy towards ensuring –that suitable and adequate shelter, suitable and adequate food… are provided for allcitizens”Section 16 (2) (d), Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999“The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to anadequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothingand housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions. The StatesParties will take appropriate steps to ensure the realization of this right, recognizing tothis effect the essential importance of international co­operation based on freeconsent”.Article 11, International Covenant on Economic, Social and CulturalRightsHuman rights are universal, indivisible, interrelated and mutually reinforcing. The enjoyment of civiland political rights cannot be meaningfully attained without the realization of economic, socialand cultural rights. Food and shelter are amongst the basic necessities of life. Insufficient foodand shelter affects the mental and physical well being of a person. The United Nations is committed toensuring that majority of the world’s population have access to food and shelter. This is very importantto the realization of the Millennium Development Goals.Despite being party to international and regional human rights instruments that guarantee the rights tofood and shelter, most Nigerians still live below poverty level and do not have access to adequatestandard of living including food and shelter. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rightshas noted that the right to housing must not be interpreted in a restrictive sense, rather it should beseen as the right to live somewhere in security, peace and dignity.Since 2003, there have been a series of indiscriminate demolitions of houses in the Federal CapitalTerritory, as well as evictions in other major cities in Nigeria. Below are some reports on demolitionsand evictions that have taken place in the country.Abomb blast occurred at the 2nd Brigade Military Headquarters (Bori Camp Barracks), Port­Harcourt on April 28, 2006. The barracks houses both military and civilian people, who have coexistedpeacefully since after the Nigerian Civil War in 1970.On May 1 2006, Governor Peter Odili of Rivers State in a state broadcast blamed the bomb blast on thecivilians living within the barracks and advised the Brigade Commander to return the barracks to itsoriginal status of housing only soldiers. This made the Commander to order the Military Public RelationsOfficer, (MPRO) Major Sagir Musa to evacuate the civilians residing at the barracks within one week.The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), a local militia group, claimedresponsibility for the bomb blast. In spite of this claim, the Commander insisted the civilian populace61

should leave the camp within the stipulated time. Combat ready soldiers forcefully evicted civiliansnumbering about 1,500 to 2,000 on May 8, 2006.Some of the civilians had built houses and owned farmlands within the barracks, and others weretenants to some soldiers to whom they paid rents. The civilians interviewed lamented the deprivation oftheir sources of livelihood, farmlands, houses and other property. Maureen Etuk, an evictee, widow andmother of five, claimed to have lived in the barracks for 10 years and owned a farm from which she andher family eked out a living.Musa Yahaya a yam seller looking frightened, confused and lost, claimed to have lived in the camp forover 12 years. The yams stored in his home could not be removed before the expiration of the deadline,resulting in the loss of his source of income.Major Sagir Musa stated that the decision of the military was right, as the civilians were illegaloccupants of the military barracks.RECOMMENDATIONS1. Government should take steps to make Chapter 2 of the 1999 Constitution justiceable2. Government should provide alternative shelter before embarking on demolition of houses andproperty.62

CHAPTER TENLABOUR“The state shall direct its policy towards ensuring that:­(a) all citizens, without discrimination on any group whatsoever have theopportunity for securing adequate means of livelihood as well as adequateopportunity to secure suitable employment:(b) conditions of work are just and humane,(e) there is equal pay for equal work without discrimination on account of sex,or on any other ground whatsoever;Section 17 (a),(b),(e ), Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,1999“Every individual shall have the right to work under equitable and satisfactoryconditions, and shall receive equal pay for equal work”Article 15, African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights“The state parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to theenjoyment of just and favourable conditions of work which ensure in particular:(a) Remuneration which provides all workers, as a minimum, with(i) Fair wages and equal remuneration for work of equal value without distinction of anykind, …(ii) ( b) Safe and healthy working conditions;…”Article 7, International covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural RightsThe Nigerian government has through its various reforms programmes been trying to put in placeappropriate policies and programmes to generate employment for many of its citizens. Some of theseprogrammes include, the poverty eradication programme and the provision of funding for small scaleindustries. But the effects of these are yet to be felt in the polity. It will be recalled that one of thecardinal objectives of the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategies (NEEDS) isthe generation of adequate employment for the people. This objective has not yet been fully met.During the period covered by this report, many public servants were laid off without being paid theirentitlements. The criteria for the exercise were not transparent. Those who are in employment lackconducive working environment and are under paid.Labour law in Nigeria establishes workplace health and safety standards, prohibiting some forms ofexcessive and compulsory overtime. However, there was no proper enforcement due to insufficientfactory inspectors at the State and Federal Ministries of Labour. The Workmen’s Compensation Actrequires employers to compensate injured workers and dependent survivors of those killed in industrialaccidents. The government department charged with enforcement of these laws has been ineffective inidentifying violators. The labour laws do not provide workers with the choice of moving themselves outof dangerous work situations without loss of employment.63

George Ikeokwu, a 38 year old, construction worker, an indigene of Onitsha in Anambra State,was a staff of an Italian Company, Gitto Constructioni Genarali, Nig. Ltd, which is handling theconstruction of the National Christian Centre, located opposite the Central Bank of NigeriaAbuja. Ikeokwu alleged he had worked with the Company for 15 months but was dismissed becausehe became incapacitated by an industrial accident.According to Ikeokwu, on the 15 th of May 2005, at about 2.00 a.m., while on night work, hesufferedelectric shock, lost consciousness and was taken to the site clinic within the construction site. At dawn,Jude Adure, the Personnel Manager to the company, directed that he be moved to Zankli Hospital,located at Mabushi, Abuja. He was therefore transferred from the site clinic to Zankli at about 10.00a.m. where he was admitted and diagnosed to be suffering from paralysis, due to the shock. Ikeokwuspent two months and seven days (16 th May – 23 rd July 2005), at the hospital. While at the hospital, hewas visited twice, by representatives of the company, in the first two weeks of his admission. While stillrecuperating at the hospital, Ikeokwu was issued with a dismissal letter. He was dismissed withoutcompensation and the company did not pay his hospital bills. His family had to pay the bills and takehim home.Meanwhile, in the appointment letter issued to him before assumption of office, the company stated thathe should be paid one­month salary in lieu as compensation. His monthly salary was N17, 000. But hewas neither paid the one­month salary in lieu nor paid for the period he was on admission in thehospital. When Ikeokwu went to the company premises to complain against this treatment, he was notallowed inside. Upon investigation, Johnson Ekpe and Ephraim Okonkwo, who are employees of thecompany, alleged that two other staff of the company had suffered a similar situation as they too, weredismissed without due process and no compensation was paid to them.This is a violation of Ikeokwu’s right to favourable condition of work as provided by Article 23, UniversalDeclaration of Human Rights, and Article 15, African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, as well asthe provision of the Workmen’s Compensation Act.RECOMMENDATIONS1) Construction companies in Nigeria and indeed all employers should be sensitized on the needto follow due process in the termination of employment of their staff.2) Workers in Gitto Constructioni Genarali, Nig. Ltd should be paid compensation for injuriessustained in the course of their work, as stipulated under the Workmen’s Compensation Act.3) There is need to review the Workmen’s Compensation Act with a view to bringing it into linewith the present economic realities of the country.64

CHAPTER ELEVENCOMMUNNAL CONFLICTS AND OTHER RELATED VIOLENCEA citizen of Nigeria of a particular community, ethnic group, place of origin, sex, religion orpolitical opinion shall not, by reason only that he is such a person­(a)(b)be subjected either expressly by, or in the practical application of any law in forcein Nigeria or any executive or administrative action of the government, todisabilities or restrictions to which citizens of Nigeria of other communities, ethnicgroups, places of origin, sex, religion or political opinions are not made subject; orbe accorded either expressly by, or in the practical application of any law in forcein Nigeria or any executive or administrative action of the government, todisabilities or restrictions to which citizens of Nigeria of other communities, ethnicgroups, places of origin, sex, religion or political opinion.Section 42, 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of NigeriaFor the purpose of promoting national integration, it shall be the duty of the State to­(a) Provide adequate facilities for and encourage free mobility of people, goods andservices throughout the federation.(b) Secure full residence rights for every citizen in all parts of the Federation(c) Encourage inter­marriage among persons from different places of origin, or ofdifferent religious, ethnic or linguistic association or ties; and(d) Promote or encourage the formation of associations that cut across ethnic,linguistic, religious or other sectional barriers.Section15 (3), 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of NigeriaEvery individual shall have the duty to respect and consider his fellow beings withoutdiscrimination, and to maintain relations aimed at promoting, safeguarding andreinforcing mutual respect and tolerance.Article 28, African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights1. Any propaganda for war shall be prohibited by law.2. Any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement todiscrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law.Article 20, International Covenant on Civil and Political RightsNigeria has recorded very serious cases of communal conflicts and related violence despite theprovisions of the 1999 Constitution, and international human rights instruments. Hate and prejudicehave led through violence, to the internal displacement of communities and the loss of lives andproperties. Government has in a substantial number of cases failed to protect lives and properties.65

The degree of human rights violations and abuses arising from the recent crises in Onitsha,Anambra State caused alarm among human rights communities. It was a period characterized bya momentum of lawlessness and which perpetrators both state and non­state actors imposed astate of fear and violence on the state. Indeed, it was a period when law and order completely brokedown and, there was no respect for human life and dignity. Victims of the relentless attacks andencounters were not only the members of the warring factions but also, innocent civilians caughtbetween the crossfire and used as human shields by either of the groups.The bloody clashes that led to scores of death and injuries and destruction of properties worth billionsof naira, was the aftermath of conflicts between armed groups like the Movement for the Actualizationof the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO)and the Government Agents, the Police and Military Forces.In January 2006, a bloody clash involving suspected militants belonging to the Movement for theActualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and National Association of Road TransportOwners (NARTO) erupted in Ogbaru Main Market, near Upper Iweka in Onitsha, Anambra State.The bloody clash, which left several people, including innocent bystanders dead and injured, was aclimax of a protracted power tussle between several armed groups in Onitsha and its environs for thecontrol of several lucrative revenue spots especially motor parks and markets in the state. Theperpetrators of the violence were largely dissatisfied young men whose hostility towards theeconomic/political reform of the Anambra State government led them to pursue a violent agenda in adesperate move for survival and relevance in Anambra State. The clash reoccurred few weeks later,between 26 th and 28 th April 2006, this time, at the Onitsha Main Market (a sprawling internationalmarket reputed to be the biggest in Africa). This second clash was between members of the NigerianPolice Force and militants belonging to the MASSOB. Though it is not clear what caused this round ofclashes, the police claimed that they moved to stop the criminal activities of the militants. However, theresidents of the affected neighborhood said the police fought alongside members of the NARTO thugs,to dislodge MASSOB militants. About six people were reported killed in this clash.Between June 15 and 20, 2006, fresh crisis erupted in Onitsha, Anambra State. Members of variousgroups including the NARTO, Anambra Vigilante Services (AVS), MASSOB, BAKASSI Boys andNational Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), fought for control and power over territory andresources, with NARTO allegedly colluding with the police to terrorize motorists at car parks andunleash terror on the city. Houses were burnt and police vehicles were seized and set ablaze, theOnitsha prison was attacked and about 204 prisoners set free. The cost of the crisis has been put atabout N1. 3 billion per day in terms of losses to businesses.There was also loss of lives ( 1 See Ruben Abati, Gurdian Newspapers, June 2006)In a swift reaction,the Inspector General of Police set up a Task Force to clamp down on the armed groups specifically theMASSOB. The Task Force led by DCP John Haruna swung into action, raiding several known militant’shideouts in the city. The militants fought back wounding several policemen and in one instance, set apolice armoured tank on fire.This report chronicle events that led to the political violence in Onitsha as a case study of both theorchestration of violence as a political tool and the devastating impact of gangsterism on human rights.This was not an isolated crisis. In the past the fight often involve several armed groups and gangs,which often led to the state government, the various commands of the police force such as Zone 9Command Umuahia, state Police Command, Area command and even the Divisional Police command66

acking different groups according to where their interest lies. The federal government responded byinstructing the police to restore sanity to the embattled commercial city.The genesis of the crisis dates back to the era of Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju who was Governor ofAnambra State between 1999 and 2003. Prior to Mbadinuju’s administration, the motor parks in thestate were administered by the NURTW, which also controls most of the motor parks in Nigeria. Early inthe administration of Mbadinuju, Chief Nweke Ogbodu, who was a leader of NURTW was assassinatedby unknown gunmen. It was suspected that his killing was connected with the struggle to control thelucrative motor parks in the state. The assassination of Chief Nweke created an opportunity for the rivalNARTO to move in. They found an ally in some politicians in the state notably Chief Chris Uba whoconvinced the governor to cede the parks to NARTO. It was alleged that huge sums of money runninginto millions of naira, changed hands between some powerful individuals in the state and top officials ofthe Mbadinuju administration.Having secured the right to manage the parks and mindful of dangers posed by rival groups likeNURTW, and desirous of increasing its fund drive, NARTO set about consolidating its hold on the motorparks by recruiting and arming thugs and unemployed youths in the state. This was the situation beforeChris Ngige succeeded Mbadinuju as Governor of Anambra State in May 2003.During the tenure of Chief Chris Ngige, NARTO became increasingly drawn into the political crises inAnambra state.(Insert Foot note, explaining power struggle and Chris Uba) With it’s Chief Patron ChrisUba, being a major actor in the Anambra crises, it was only natural that NARTO would take sides withhim.Thus during the November 2004 invasion of Anambra State Government House, many blamed NARTOfor carrying out the burning and looting on behalf of some disgruntled politicians in Anambra state. Wellaware of NARTO's growing threat to his administration, Chief Chris Ngige, whose security details hadbeen withdrawn by the Federal Government (insert footnote on ruling of Justice Egbo Egbo), resortedto building alternative alliances and power base. Aware of the growing popularity of MASSOB,Governor Ngige wooed the Organisation and it now assumed the role of providing the Governorprotection and security. Meanwhile MASSOB, a supposedly non­violent self­determination groupgradually became infiltrated by armed gangs leading to the formation of an armed wing known as theBiafra Commandos (BCOM).Well aware of the treat posed by NARTO, whose allegiance lay with Chief Uba, his political adversary,Chief Ngige made many attempts to dislodge NARTO from the motor parks with the help of MASSOB.NARTO successfully resisted those moves with the active support of the police. It is alleged that in theevening of January 5, 2006, Anambra State officials reportedly sent a 30 man armed vigilanteoperatives to join forces with BCOM militants to fight NARTO. Several witnesses said that the policewere drafted in the parks to provide security to NARTO operatives. One journalist described thescenario thus” It was an ugly sight. Several policemen were seen loitering atthe premises of NARTO and major motor parks in the state.67

Known touts who also double as NARTO officials were seenwith police orderlies while the governor and chief executive of thestate does not even have one. ” 4The apparently close relationship between MASSOB and the Ngige government coupled withMASSOB’s growing profile, led to several groups, politicians and armed gangs to align with MASSOB.Police or MASSOB did not confirm this allegation, though corroborated by several sources includingjournalists and politicians.Following the annulment of Ngige’s election as Governor by the Court of Appeal, Enugu in March 2007and the subsequent swearing in of Mr. Peter Obi of All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) asgovernor, the political equation in the state changed. With the Peoples Democratic Party striving toregain power in 2007, the rising profile of ex Governor Chris Ngige who has defected to another partyand Peter Obi’s APGA which was now in power, the stage was set for further crisis. Several armedgroups began to emerge with most of them actively funded and loyal to known political figures andparties in the State. Among the identified armed groups in the states are:· High Tension or Ota boys· Biafran Commandos (BCOMS)· Awada Vigilante group (NTU boys)· Emma Nnewi Boys· Asoanya Boys· Ikuku Boys· NARTO· OBJ/Atuegwu Boys· NURTW· ASMATA BoysMost of the names widely peddled as leaders or promoters of these group were people variously linkedwith past vigilante activities in the state such as the Bakassi boys. The groups are mainly made up ofunemployed youths ready to do anything to survive the harsh economic situation.Meanwhile the removal of Chief Ngige deprived the BCOMS (erroneously called MASSOB) of theirsource of livelihood. The group diverted to other activities including criminal practices to sustainthemselves. They succeeded in gaining control of some motor parks. They began to dabble into civildisputes, imposing themselves as judges and deciding disagreements or misunderstandings arisingfrom business or contractual relationships. The party adjudged to be at fault would be compelled tomake certain payments at the risk of being tortured or killed. Their operational bases include, ApakaForest Reserve in 33 Area of Onitsha, Mkpor Area, Silas Works in Silas Street, Mkpikpa Layout,Okpoko, a suburb of Onitsha.The June CrisisThe struggle for control of the economic potentials of the motor parks and the bitter struggle for thepolitical control of Anambra State set the stage for the June crisis. The immediate cause however wasan attempt by MASSOB militants to dislodge NARTO from the lucrative Upper Iweka Motor park onJune 15.Following several bloody clashes between militant MASSOB activists and NARTO boys in severalmotor parks in Onitsha and its environs such as in January 2006 and between April 26­28 2006, which4Interview with an Onitsha based Journalist September 13, 200668

claimed several lives, the Federal Government set up a Task Force to rid Onitsha of all criminal armedgangs. DCP John Haruna and ACP Tanko headed the task force. The task force went about looking forMASSOB activist or anybody remotely connected to MASSOB. They raided every densely populatedarea in Onitsha, arrested and detained hundreds of youths without trial. Many sources, includingMASSOB, claim that about 200 people were arrested; many of them being released after several daysin detention. There were widespread claims that most of them were asked to pay for “bail” with amountsranging from N5, 000 to N20, 000.From Thursday June 15, 2006, the police commenced the second phase of their operation to ridOnitsha of “MASSOB and other criminal elements” Areas targeted for this operation included MpikpaLayout, Okpoko, Ntutaku,Anumudu, and Iyiowa Odekpe all in Ogbaru Local Government Area, FeggeHousing Estate, Odoakpu, Inland town, Woliwo Layout, Abakpa Forest Reserve, 33 and GRA, inOnitsha North and South LGA, Omagba Phase 1 &2 Ugwu­agba , Awada layout and Oba all inIdemmili Local Government Area.Some of the above listed areas were known to be hideouts of BCOM militants. In several of theseareas, the police merely rounded up youths between the ages of 20 and 30 and labeled them MASSOBmembers. It was not clear how the operation degenerated into a bloodbath but several sources blamedthe police for the crisis. While MASSOB claimed that the police joined with NARTO to fight MASSOB, aclaim corroborated by several residents and journalists, the police claimed that they were attacked byMASSOB who also burnt their armoured personnel carrier and a Tata bus. Several corpses were seenin several parts of the city after the crisis. At least 50 people were reportedly killed between 15 th and17 th June 2006 in Onitsha. Three people were killed at the busy Onitsha­ Owerri Road; three were killedat Okpoko area of Onitsha while one was shot dead at Obodo Ukwu Road. Nigerian Red Crossstatistics however put the death toll at 28, with 6 buildings destroyed. It was not clear which group wasresponsible for which killings but the warring groups, namely MASSOB, NARTO, and the police,contributed to the killings. Prince Moses Igwe, the Public Relations Officer of MASSOB in Onitsha gavethe names of their slain members whose bodies were recovered after the attack as Kelechi Enyinwa,Johnson Chigbo, Arinze Obodozie, Iruabuchi Odinfe, Emmanuel Udokwu, Richard Uko, ChimezieOnuigbo, Onyeka Asoanya, Azubuike Gideon and Ikechukwu Iwu. The corpses of some of those listedas dead were yet to be seen as at the time of this report.On June 14, the police announced that it had killed as many as 11 MASSOB “hoodlums” during severalraids in Ogboko and other suspected MASSOB hideouts. The Igbo Youths Congress, a NonGovernmental Organisation, said it counted about 30 corpses in different parts of the city includingAbagana, Enugwu­Ukwu and Awka, the state capital. The organisation claimed that one ChiefIloegbunam’s residence at Fegge Onitsha was invaded by about 20 mobile policemen on Friday, June30 by 2 a.m. The policemen who also robbed them of their jewelry and, unspecified sums of moneyallegedly raped his wife and daughters. 5 While this particular incident could not be comfirmed, the caseof rape and robbery by policemen during this period was rife and many residents insist they witnessedoccasions when policemen raided neighborhoods and forced residents to surrender their money,jewelry and, mobile telephone handsets. 6Also, on June 30 at about 7 p.m., along Owerri Road, two sisters, Winifred Ejike and Julie Nneka Ejikewere allegedly raped by a team of policemen. The same policemen killed their cousin, Mr. Cletus Egbe,who was with them. 75Interview with the coordinator, Ibo Youth Congress, Lagos. August 15, 20066CLO interview, Onitsha August 13, 20067Press statement by the Global Peace village network July 3, 2006. Lagos69

THE ROLE OF VARIOUS GROUPS IN THE CRISESSecurity AgenciesThe police would seem to be worst culprit in the massive violations of human rights that occurred inOnitsha following the total breakdown of law and order during the June crises. From June 17, there wasindiscriminate killing and arrest of citizens, mostly youths, accused of being MASSOB members orsympathizers. In most cases the police would swoop on gatherings of youths or search house to house,rounding up youths who were accused of being MASSOB members. While some were executedsummarily, others were forced to buy their freedom with money. Those that could not afford to pay weretaken to police stations where they underwent various kinds of harrowing experiences duringinterrogation. This was the testimony of several witnesses who were interviewed in the course of thisresearch. Many witnesses also told of several unprovoked killings by the police and soldiers during thecrises. For instance, on Tuesday, June 27, 2006, two young men identified as MASSOB members wereshot and killed along Port Harcourt Road, Fegge Onitsha. Another witness said that he saw about eightunidentified corpse at Fegge the same day. There were also reported killings in Ihiala, Anaekwe,Ukpor,Ofili and Akaokwa Streets and also at Port Harcourt Road, all in Onitsha. On June 30, 2006, fourunidentified persons between the ages of 25 to 30 were killed at Alor Street by Ukpor Street in Onitsha.Residents said that the young men were brought out of a Mitsubishi L300 in front of No. 23 Alor Streetby men of the mobile police and soldiers. They were brought out of the vehicle and shot point blank.Their corpses were loaded back into the same vehicle and taken to an unknown location. Two otheryoung men between the ages of 25 and 30 were also killed on the same day at Ozubulu Street FeggeOnitsha. They were all residents of No. 61 Ozubulu, Street Fegge.Apart from widespread extra judicial killings of suspected MASSOB members and sympathizers,security operatives, mainly members of the Mobile Police Unit and the Joint Military/Police teamengaged in widespread extortion, torture and humiliation of citizens. There were about five checkpointsbetween Onitsha Bridge and Upper Iweka, a distance of about two kilometers. This securityarrangement was replicated across the city. These roadblocks became an avenue for extortion,harassment and torture of innocent citizens. It was at these checkpoints that some of the worstatrocities were perpetrated. For instance, on June 30, 2006, eight youths between the ages of 30 and40 were rounded up by a team of mobile policemen at one of these checkpoints on Port Harcourt Road.They were stripped naked by the policemen and made to roll in muddy stagnant water in a gutter. Theywere forced to drink the contaminated water from the gutter, then, their bodies were lacerated withknives and rubbed with powdered teargas.According to Comrade Mark David Mark, MASSOB Assistant Director of Information, 22 MASSOBmembers and 12 other persons were killed in Fegge, Onitsha South Local Government area; 36MASSOB members and 11 other persons in Akpaka forest at Onitsha North Local Government Area;28 members and 11 none members were killed and 17 taken away at Idenmili North Local GovernmentArea. Also killed were 42 members in Okpoko, Ogbaru Local Government Area. 22 members and 17none members were also injured in the same area. Members of MASSOB in Nnewi, Awka, Nsugbe,Odekpe, Ekwulobia­Okoh,Awkuzu, Aguleri and Umuleri also suffered casualties. MASSOB alleged thatabout 280 of its members from the above mentioned areas were arrested by soldiers, taken to the armybarracks, slaughtered and given mass burial. 8Some on this list, according to MASSOB leaders include Mrs Chioma Uwa, a pregnant woman killed atNo. 53 D­ line Okoko, Onitsha, Mr John, a Motor mechanic at Okoh Youth Mechanic Workshop along8MASSOM Mourn 760,quit trouble spot in Onitsha, page 12, DAILY SUN: August 24, 200670

Onitsha/Owerri Road, Mr Johnson Okafor, Ugochukwu Ezendu, Ifeanyi Ojele, Paul Ifeanyi who were allkilled on 17 th July 2006 at Onitsha. On 19 th of July Victor Okunoja was killed by the police at OgbaruMain Market alongside two okada (commercial motorcycle) riders. The organization also alleged thaton July 22, 35 MASSSOB members were killed at Nkpikpa forest, a MASSOB base, while 65 peoplearrested during a MASSOB meeting at Mgbuka, Obosi road on 22 July were later killed in the armybarracks. On 21 st July, 15 Christian worshipers were also dead at Saint Luke Church, Okpoko..Some of these allegations were corroborated by several sources including Onitsha residents. Severalwitness indeed said that they witnessed several raids by men of the Mobile Police Unit or the JointPolice/military squad. A resident described how on how police rounded up several youths on the 30 th ofJune 2006.“ They came suddenly from the blues. It was about 6 pm, most people wereindoors. A police vehicle with about 12 policemen suddenly ground to a stop infront of 25 Mbonu Ojike Street. There were also soldiers with them. They startedshooting indiscriminately in the air. They started arresting people indiscriminately.They just throw you inside their vehicle after giving you several kicks with theirboots and the butt of their guns. They broke several doors with their boots. Aboutten persons were taken away. Among them were Fabian Eze, a panel beater,Celestine Anioke, a motor mechanic, Joseph Mbachu,and Harrison Okeke.” 9This scenario appeared to have been replicated in several parts of Onitsha and its environs. At AkokwaStreet, Fegge , Onisha, two residents said that on the same night (June 30 th ) several armed membersof the Mobile Police Force , armed with automatic weapons, held the entire street hostage the wholenight.“several residents were brutalized, some personal effects like money,jewelries, handsets and wrist watches were forcefully taken away fromthem. Some young women, both married and unmarried were sexuallyharassed” 10A shopkeeper at Mbaukwu Street recounted what happened:“a group of soldiers came into the street one day, shooting into the air, forcingresidents to flee. Soldiers then went into several shops and helped themselves todrinks and money left behind. All the money I had in the drawer, my sale for the daywas stolen by the soldiers” 11There were no indications that residents to the police authorities to alert them of the excesses of theirmen lodged complaints. One serious dimension to this brutality was the allegation that the solders whowere sent to help the police in restoring peace to Onitsha were engaging in “ethnic cleansing” Somewitnesses told the CLO that the rampaging soldiers mostly northerners indeed told them that they wereon a revenge mission, to avenge their brothers and sisters who were killed during the February 2006Religious riot. 12Most residents of Onitsha seem to hate and mistrust the police. This deep­seated distrust andanimosity between Onitsha residents and the Police was highlighted by most people spoken to in thecause of the preparation of this report. Mr. Uchenna Nwankwo, a social commentator based in9CLO Anambra state branch interview with an Onitsha resident. July 200610CLO interview. July 6,200611Emeka Uzoka, interview with IRIN news.com12In February 2006, an estimated 400 people mostly from the northern part of the country were killed in Onitsha and several parts ofSouth East in a wave of reprisal killings following the killing of Christians in the North as a fallout of the offensive cartoon of ProphetMuhammad in a Danish newspaper.71

Anambra State described the police in Onitsha as “exhibiting the characteristics of an occupationalarmy.”, a charge repeated by several residents and journalists in Onitsha.“They routinely arrest masses of hapless citizens and road users in thetown on trumped up charges for the sole purpose of extortion. Scores andhundreds of innocent men and women in Onitsha are known to behabitually arrested in frequent Police raids on such mean charges as notcarrying the purchase receipts for cellular phones or handsets and suchpersonal items like wristwatches. In some other cases, peopleare apprehended for all manner of invented charges over vehicular (motorand motorbike) particulars, wandering and even offences unknown to thecriminal code. 13This kind of relationship between the police and the residents explains why police stations, vehicles andpersonnel are often the first target by mobs during disturbances in Onitsha.MASSOB:There is no doubt that MASSOB played a central role in the crises. Originally formed in 1999, as aorganisation to fight for the rights of the former Eastern Region of Nigeria to self determination, thegroup has recently delved into several issues that often pitched them against the law.In the past, the group leaders including Chief Uwazurike, its founder and president, have maintainedthat MASSOB is a non­violent organisation fighting for the self­determination of the former Biafran 14territory.While the crisis lasted, MASSOB/BCOMS was variously accused of abducting, torturing and killingseveral people. On Wednesday June 28, 2006, Bishop Chibuzor Opoko , the Methodist Archbishop ofOnitsha was attacked with members of his family in Onitsha by suspected MASSOB activists. He wasstriped naked and assaulted severely by his attackers who accused him of pointing out their hideouts tothe Police. Several other abductions and killings were also attributed to this group. It is however difficultto identify groups responsible for particular violations since none of the groups wears any uniform thatmark them out. MASSOB in some occasions fly “Biafran” flag and chant solidarity songs. For instance,the burning down of several police stations including the burning of the Central Police Station, Nnewi onJuly 22, 2006, which left about two policemen dead and 17 others injured, was attributed to MASSOBand NARTO. Each group consistently accused the other of being responsible for the violence whilemaintaining her innocence. Police however maintain that all the mayhem committed while the criseslasted, was by MASSOB.From their operational bases in Akpata Forest, 33 Area, Mkpor Area, Silas Works in Silas Street,Mkpikpa Layout, Okpoko, a suburb of Onitsha., the groups occasionally ventured out to attack rivalgroups like NARTO.Several witnesses admitted seeing MASSOB militants confronting the police during the crises. Forinstance, the gun battle between the police and militants on June 16, 2006 which led to the burning of apolice armoured carrier and a bus was attributed to BCOMS, the armed wing of MASSOB. Similarly, theJune 21, 2006 invasion of Onitsha Prisons by militants was reportedly carried out by MASSOB. Awitness, a prisoner, confirmed this:13Uchenna Nwankwo. Understanding the Onitsha Crises, Posted on the Web July 05, 2006.14Biafra is the name given to a secessionist group comprising the former eastern region in the 1960s. The attempt by the group lead by Col EmekaOjukwu to seceded from Nigeria in !966 lead to a 30 months civil war: The rebellion was crushed and the Biafran leaders fled into exile marking the end ofBiafra.72

“They came about 2.10 am, shooting indiscriminately into the air.When they approachedthe gate of the prisons, nine hoodlums, armed with locally made pistols, pump actionguns, machetes, axes and other dangerous weapons and ordered the prison officials toopen the gate. They dealt machete cuts on prisons officials whom they felt were notcooperating and were in possession of the keys to the cells. They went to the cells,broke them open with axes and machetes and marched the prisoners to Akpaka ForestReserve, their base. Early on Monday morning, they conveyed the inmates on motorbikes to an unidentified place in Onitsha town” 15Indeed MASOB has also been named in several acts of violence and extortion within Onitsha. AnOnitsha resident described MASSOB activities thus:“It is true that MASSOB started out as a non violent group but it is not exactly nonviolent anymore. Thousands of unemployed street boys flocked to its ranks and theyhave been intimidating residents, with some of them even bearing arms” 16There were several reported cases of abductions of individuals by MASSOB activists who were madeto pay ransom in cash or foodstuff like bags or rice in return for their freedom. When the police invadedAkpaka Forest, the stronghold of MASSOB, they claimed to have recovered several arms andammunition as well as several dead bodies who were likely killed by the group.It must be noted however that while the police did attributed every act of violence that occurred inOnitsha within the period as the handiwork of MASSOB, other groups including the police were alsoresponsible for acts of violence in Onitsha during this period.NARTOPrior to the administration of Governor Chinwoke Mbadinuju 17 , NARTO was seen as a docile tradeunion while the rival union, Nigerian Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) was more notoriousfor lawlessness. The NURTW managed all the motor parks in Anambra State. The assassination ofChief Nweke Ogbodu, Chairman of the NURTW changed the balance of power and NARTOsuccessfully challenged the NURTW exclusive control of the parks. According to one journalist,“ Some groups went to some powerful people in Mbadinuju’s government to cede the parkto them in return for a large sum of money running into Millions of Naira. This money wasactually sourced from politicians led by Chief Uba.” 18With the political support of Governor Mbadinuju, NARTO became the most powerful group in the state.One journalist described NARTO as a parallel government in Anambra State. NARTO was in totalcontrol of all the motor packs throughout the tenure of Governor Mbadinuju and Governor Chris Ngige,between 1999 and mid 2006. Occasional challenge by rival NURTW was quickly repelled by acombination of NARTO militants and the police. An Onitsha based journalist described the activities ofNARTO thus:“They, (NARTO operatives) openly extort money from transporters. They intimidatetravelers at will. Drivers who refuse to pay them had their cars confiscated. They even15Bright Chukwujekwu, one of the freed prisoners who voluntarily returned to the prison. Quoted by the vanguard NewspaperJune 20 , 200616Kene Ezeanyi, interview with IRIN news.com September 5 200617Chief Chinwoke Mbadinuju was elected governor of Anambra state in May 29 1999.. His four year tenure in Anambra stateremain the most tumultuous in the history of the state with several armed groups emerging to compete for the vast resourcesof the state.18CLO interview with a journalist in Onitsha , August 14 200673

detain and torture drivers or anybody that dares to challenge them. All these while theywere protected by the police. The police guard their premises and offices. Their operativesalso enjoy police protection. Sometimes it was difficult differentiating between NARTO andthe police. This is because they rode in the same bus and often times when theyconfiscate vehicles they will ride alongside the police to their office. 19While NARTO’s link with politicians in the state, especially Chief Chris Uba is widelyacknowledged; the organisation insists it is purely a trade union organisation. Chief Ugbuaja aformer chairman of NARTO provided the most indicative proof of the hold of powerful politicianson NARTO. According to him he was removed on the instance of Chief Chris Ubah who effectedhis “overthrow” with the help of mobile policemen.NARTO was variously identified as having masterminded the burning and looting of AnambraState Radio House in 2004 and the burning of the government house in November 2004. In bothinstances, the police were said to have merely ‘looked the other way’.To NARTO, the present crises in Onitsha and its environs was an attempt by other groups, notably theMASSOB and the state government to dislodge it from the lucrative motor parks in the state. This, theorganisation had made it clear in the past, it would never tolerate. The state governor was said to haveinvited the warring groups several times in the past, including NARTO, to find a lasting solution to thelingering crises without success. It was reported that on one occasion, the NARTO leaders in themeeting had warned the governor:” You know you are a gentle man. It is better you concentrate on federal allocations andoverlook Onitsha because this impending crises will definitely consume you” 20It was actually to checkmate the activities of NARTO that the former governor of Anambra state ,Chief Chris Ngige resuscitated the disbanded Anambra Vigilante Services (AVS) and MASSOBto achieve a balance of force.Anambra State GovernmentFor the new government of Anambra State, the Onitsha Crises was an acid test. No sooner had thegovernor, Mr. Peter Obi assumed office in March 2006, after a protracted court battle, than the crisesresumed. While the governor made sincere efforts to bring peace in the state through dialogue, it wasclear that the various combatants in the state were not ready for a peaceful resolution of the crises.After the outbreak of violence on June 15, the governor appealed the warring parties for restraint whileproscribing MASSOB and NARTO. He followed it up by announcing a dusk to dawn curfew in Onitshaand surrounding towns like, Ogbaru, Okpoko, Nsugbe, Oba, Mkpor and Obosi. However these initialmeasures were totally ineffective as violence escalated and both MASSOB and NARTO insisted thatthe government cannot proscribe them. It was at this point that the governor invited the military to helpthe police quell the violence. He gave the police a ‘shoot at sight’ order against perpetrators of unrest.Announcing the order Governor Obi said:“I have said it every day, all of us know what the problem is and those behind it. Theproblem is easy and can easily be solved. All we want is let every group leaveOnitsha and by that I mean MASSOB, NARTO, AVS, whatsoever. So, what police19CLO interview with a Journalist in Onitsha , August 14, 200620CLO interview with a journalist. Awka, August 14, 200674

should do is to direct that every body leaves and any of them who does not leaveshoot on sight. They must leave: that is all”It was unclear whether this order from the governor triggered the massive killings, looting andother human rights violation perpetrated by soldiers and policemen during the crises.Whilethe crises was on, the government continued to dialogue with all stakeholders in the statewith a view to restore peace.A case of communal conflict with the resultant violation of the rights of citizens was reported at theoffice of the National Human Rights Commission by one Mr. Jimoh Fakeye and the CommunityDevelopment Asociation of Ayetoro – Itele, Ado­ Odo Ota Local Government of Ogun State on the 7 thMay 2004. The matter was promptly monitored and investigated through visitation to the village which isthe scene of the conflict, interviewing parties to the conflict and the Nigerian Police.The incident occurred on the 13 th May 2004 after series of events that culminated in communal clashand the subsequent attack of Mobile Police men on a faction in the Ayetoro / Itele Community.Investigation revealed that the Itele Community is divided into two factions, headed by two families­theAlagbeji family and the Adogun Atele Family. The Alagbeji family was headed by Chief Arowolo Akanleand the Adogun Atele family is headed by Chief Jimoh Oluwole Akapo. The root cause of the mayhemthat engulfs the whole community has to do with land issues and Chieftaincy tussles which have beensubjects of litigation in various courts.The various clashes between the different factions in the community led to serious violation of thefundamental human rights of the residents of the community. The Nigerian Police drafted mobilepolicemen into the community apparently to quell the riots that are taking place. However, investigationrevealed that the mobile policemen took side with the Alagbeji faction and hounded the followers ofAdogun Atele into exile.The communal clash and the intervention of the police on the side of a faction led to indiscriminatearrests and detention of members of the opposite faction, looting of properties and physical assault andtorture of the members of the Adogun­Atele faction. The police arraigned some suspected arsonistswho allegedly belong to the faction causing trouble. The counsel to the Adogun – Atele family is ChiefVO Odunaiya and Victor Kolade & Co. is the counsel to the Alagbeji family.Many of the victims were arbitrarily arrested and detained, some lost their properties through armedattack on their homes and some were physically abused by thugs and policemen. Mr Jimoh Fakeyewho lodged the complaint was attacked and driven into exile by the Mobile Policemen while his propertywas looted. Another victim Chief Abiodun Odutala who allegedly belong to the Alagbeji Faction wasattacked by thugs and his property looted by hoodlums. Other victims like Chief Jimoh Akapo who is thehead of the Adogun Atele family,Chief E S Olowookere,Ms Sherifat Owotolu, Ms Jamiat Amusa werehounded out of the community by thugs and policemen and their properties were looted. One MrNojimu Ogbara was arrested, brutalized and detained by Mobile Policemen. The victims are not allowedto return to their homes by the police until the time of filing this report which shows that the humanrights violation still subsists.Gross violations of human rights were perpetrated by both factions to the disputes and the mobilepolicemen drafted in to restore peace in the community. Photographic evidence of victims that wereassaulted is also available. The police released an investigation report dated 30 th July 2004 signed by75

Mr. David Omojola a Deputy Commissioner of Police at Zone D Command, Onikan , Lagos in whichthey stated their own side of the story.The gross violations that resulted from the communal conflict both on the part of the police anddifferent factions in the community is in violation of articles, 3,5,7,8,1,13,&17 of the UDHR, Art.,2, 10,1of ICCPR, Art 2,3,4,6& 9 of African Charter on Human & People’s Rights and Section35,39,41,& 42 ofthe CFRN.We recommend that a judicial panel of inquiry should be set up to look into the immediate and remotecauses of the conflict that engulfed the entire community and recommend appropriate measures toredress the injustices and human rights violations perpetrated by the police and other parties to theconflict.RECOMMENDATIONS(i) Law enforcement and security agencies must be neutral and non­partisan in theiroperations especially in disputes between political and social groups.(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)The provisions of the Constitution on the maintenance of law and order are unsatisfactoryas they give the governor of a state no control or authority over the police within theirdomain.There is need for the establishment of peace forums in all states and communities thathave suffered destructive and violent conflict to enable stakeholders to dialogue with eachother with a view to finding solutions to the problems.Public inquiries, judicial or otherwise, should be established to investigate each instance ofviolent conflict to ascertain the roles played by individuals, groups and public agencies,damage to property, loss of life and injury, for purposes of punishment and compensation.Findings of such inquiries should be made public.Government should evolve a mechanism that enables early detection of impendingbreakdown of law and order to enhance timely response.In view of the frequency and intensity of violent conflict throughout the country, the Federaland States Governments, Non­Governmental and Community Based Organisations shouldcollaborate on a sustained peace building program in the affected areas.76

CHAPTER TWELVEFREEDOM OF MOVEMENT AND PEACEFUL ASSEMBLY“Every person shall be entitled to assemble freely and associate with other persons, and inparticular, he may form or belong to any political party, trade union, or any other associationfor the protection of his interests…“Every citizen of Nigeria is entitled to move freely throughout Nigeria and to reside in any partthereof, and no citizen of Nigeria shall be expelled from Nigeria or refused entry thereto orexit therefrom…”Sections 40 & 41, Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999“Every individual shall have the right to assemble freely with others…”“Every individual shall have the right to freedom of movement and residence within theborders of a State, provided he abides by the law…”Articles 11 & 12, African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights“The right of peaceful assembly shall be recognized…”Article 21, International Covenant on Civil and Political RightsFreedom of movement and right to peaceful assembly are guaranteed by national, regional andinternational human rights instruments. Individuals and groups have the right to move freely,associate and assemble peacefully without hindrance. Right to peaceful assembly also includesnon­use of force to compel associating with others. The right to hold rallies, protests anddemonstrations, form and join a trade union of one’s choice is an essential component of the right topeaceful assembly and association.Sections 40 and 41 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 provide for freedom ofassociation and movement. Nigeria is also a party to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rightsand the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. However, the government – national, stateand local, frequently violates these rights.In February 2006, a group of women under the aegis of (Concerned Mothers) were attacked withteargas and arrested by a team of policemen from the Lagos State Police Command while staging apeaceful demonstration on the state of aviation industry in Nigeria.The women protested to showtheir concern over the crash of Sosoliso Aircraft in December 2005, which claimed the lives of about 67students of Loyola Jesuit College, Abuja.Agroup of politicians including the Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar, GeneralMuhammadu Buhari, a leading All Nigerian Peoples’ Party (ANPP) politician and formerpresidential candidate, amongst others who were opposed to the amendment of the Nigerian77

constitution to extend the tenure of office of some political office holders, were not allowed access toSheraton Hotel & Towers in Abuja, where they were to hold a meeting against the plan.A detachment of policemen from Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Command Headquarters led by theFCT Commissioner of Police sealed off the venue of the meeting. The police said that it did not allowthe meeting to hold because of security reasons. The action of the police was clearly a violation ofSection 40 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which guaranteed the right topeaceful assembly and association.RECOMMENDATIONS1. Government should comply with the provisions of the Constitution that guarantee civil andpolitical rights.2. Nigeria should be more committed to its regional and international human rights obligations.3. The Nigeria Police should be sensitized on their role in the promotion and protection of rights tofreedom of movement and peaceful assembly.78

CHAPTER THIRTEENACCESS TO JUSTICE AND INDEPENDENCE OF THE JUDICIARY“The State social order is founded on ideals of freedom, equality andjustice. In furtherance of the social order – The independence, impartiality and integrityof courts of law, and easy accessibility thereto shall be secured and maintained. ”Section 17 (1)(2)(e) of the 1999 Constitution of the FederalRepublic of NigeriaAny person who is arrested or detained in accordance with section (1)(c) of this sectionshall be brought before a court of law within a reasonable time and if he is not triedwithin a period of­(a) two months from the date of his arrest or detention in the case of a personwho is in custody or is not entitled to bail; or(b) three months from the date of his arrest or detention in the case of aperson who has been released on bail.He shall (without prejudice to any further proceedings that may be brought against him)be released either unconditionally or upon such conditions as are reasonablynecessary to ensure that he appears for trial at a later date.Section 35(4) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.“The National Assembly shall make provisions:i. For the rendering of financial assistance to any indigent citizen of Nigeria,where his rights under this Chapter has been infringedor with a view to enabling him to engage the services of a legalpractitioner to pursue his claim.”Section 46 (4)(b) of the 1999 Constitution of the FederalRepublic of Nigeria“Every individual shall have the right to have his cause heard. This comprises: (a) the right toan appeal to competent national organs against acts of violating his fundamental rights asrecognized and guaranteed by conventions, laws, regulations and customs in force; (b) theright to be presumed innocent until proved guilty by a competent court or tribunal; (c) the rightto defense, including the right to be defended by counsel of his choice; (d) the right to be triedwithin a reasonable time by an impartial court or tribunal.”Article 7, African Charter on Human and Peoples' RightsStates parties to the present Charter shall have the duty to guarantee theindependence of the Courts and shall allow the establishment and improvement ofappropriate national institutions entrusted with the promotion and protection of therights and freedoms guaranteed by the present Charter.Article 26 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights.1. Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person. No one shall be subjected toarbitrary arrest or detention. No one shall be deprived of his liberty except on suchgrounds and in accordance with such procedure as are established by law.79

2. Anyone who is arrested shall be informed, at the time of arrest, of the reasons for hisarrest and shall be promptly informed of any charges against him.3. Anyone arrested or detained on a criminal charge shall be brought promptly before ajudge or other officer authorized by law to exercise judicial power and shall be entitledto trial within a reasonable time or to release. It shall not be the general rule thatpersons awaiting trial shall be detained in custody, but release may be subject toguarantees to appear for trial, at any other stage of the judicial proceedings, and,should occasion arise, for execution of the judgment.4. Anyone who is deprived of his liberty by arrest or detention shall be entitled to takeproceedings before a court, in order that court may decide without delay on thelawfulness of his detention and order his release if the detention is not lawful.5. Anyone who has been the victim of unlawful arrest or detention shall have anenforceable right to compensation.Article 9 International Covenant on Civil and Political RightsThe 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the African Charter on Human and PeoplesRights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights all recognize the importance andcentrality of access to justice in the protection and defense of human rights. They also recognize andstress the need to secure the independence of the courts to make access to justice and themachineries of justice a reality. Despite these provisions and the guarantee for fair hearing, theNigerian reality is far from achieving this.On September 7, 2005, Mr. Obi Samuel, a 26 year­old student of the University of Nigeria (UNN),Nsukka, Department of Political Science was arrested by Police Officers from Nsukka PoliceArea Command at Nsukka Main Market. The police detained him and accused him of being amember of MASSOB (Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra). He denied thisallegation.On March 27, 2006, the father, Mr. Sunday Obi of 97 Onuiyi Road, Nsukka, and the Faculty officer forthe Department of Political Science UNN, Mr. Pat (surname unknown) were interviewed. Mr. Patconfirmed that Samuel is one of their students and that he was well­behaved boy. He was shocked tohear that Samuel was detained in prison for being a member of MASSOB. His father stated thatSamuel is level headed and a hard working student. According to him the police had searched hishome, Samuel’s room and the entire compound, and did not discover any thing suggestive of MASSOBmembership or cultism. All his efforts to get his son released were in vain.The police stated that Samuel was arrested with others when the police disrupted an unauthorizedmeeting of MASSOB and the members went on rampage. The Nsukka Police Area Commander, Mr.Salami Ahmed, admitted that some persons arrested may not have been members of MASSOB andmay not have attended the said meeting or participated in the rampage, but that the police was underinstruction that all arrested persons were to be transferred to the State Criminal InvestigationDepartment (CID), Enugu. Mr. Promise Oke and Ernest Ani, the police officers that investigated thematter at the CID said that they conducted a thorough investigation and submitted their reports, buttheir instruction was that all arrested persons were to be arraigned in court, despite the fact thatevidence so far had not implicated Samuel.80

On September 9, 2005, Samuel and others were arraigned before Enugu North Magistrate Court II on a“Holding Charge” for treason and treasonable felony, contrary to section 37(2) and 41(c) Criminal Code,Laws of the federation 1990. The offence attracts the death penalty on conviction. They were remandedin prison custody while awaiting trial. Subsequently, on March 3, 2006, charge No. FHC/EN/CS/243/05was filed at the Federal High Court II, Enugu against Samuel and five others. All suspects pleaded notguilty to the charge. The case was adjoined to April 5, 2006 to enable the Federal Prosecutor file trialinformation. On the adjourned date, the Prosecutor was not in court and the court further remandedthem in prison custody.On the August 13, 2003, Mr. Collins Ifelika, a 29 year old trader and member of Rosicrucian Orderof AMORC, who lives in Gwa­gwa a suburb in Abuja was arrested by the police and taken toGwagwa Police Station over an allegation of child kidnapping. After spending three months inpolice custody, Mr. Ifelika was later charged to court and remanded in Suleja Prison where he stillremains up till now.Collins Ifelika’s ordeals begun when a co­tenant, Mr. Adeyemi raised an alarm that his son wasmissing. A spiritualist informed Mr. Adeyemi, a driver by profession that his co­tenant was responsiblefor his missing son. Six days later on August 13, 2006, Mr. Adeyemi reported the matter to the policewho arrested Collins Ifejika over the missing child. The Investigation Police Officer, Stephen Usmanlater charged Collins with kidnapping before Magistrate Court’s, Jiwa, Abuja. Mr. Shuaibu theMagistrate remanded Collins at Suleja Prisons while awaiting the report of the DPP, in order to decidewhether to file charges against Collins at the High Court.In July 2006, the Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory, Hon. Justice Mohammed Lawal Gummivisited Suleja Prisons and examined the case file of Collins. Justice Gummi then ordered that the casefile be brought to his office by the DPP to ascertain why Collins should not be release d from detention.Up to the time of this report, the DPP had not complied with the directives of the Chief Judge andCollins is still in detention.Georgina Ahamefule, 47 years old of No. 19 Magbesa Street Kirikiri, Apapa, Lagos, worked asSenior Nursing Aide with Imperial Medical Centre, No. 65 Brickfield Street, Off Apapa Road,Lagos. In October 1995, she was sacked because of her HIV status.Sometime in 1995, Georgina fell sick and the hospital treated her since she was its employee. A HIVtest was carried out on her without her consent, and without the benefit of pre­test and post testcounseling. On being confirmed HIV positive, the hospital sent her to Lagos Universal TeachingHospital (LUTH) for a confirmatory test, still unknown to her, on 19 th October 1995. The confirmatorytest was still carried out on her without necessary counseling. When the confirmatory test turned outpositive, she was asked to invite her husband to the hospital. At this point she still had no idea aboutwhat was going on. LUTH informed her husband of her HIV positive status without her consent, and thenecessary post counseling.In 2001, Social and Economic Rights Action Centre (SERAC) a Lagos – based NGO, filed a suit at IkejaHigh Court, Lagos for unlawful termination of appointment, against her employer. When the case cameup for hearing, the trail judge was reported to have denied her entry into the court room, except expertevidence was proffered to show that persons in court would not be infected with HIV by her presence.Based on the pronouncement by the trial Judge, SERAC filed an appeal to against the request forexpert evidence.81

Due to incessant adjournments, the appeal has not been heard to date. The next adjourned date isJanuary 16, 2007.RECOMMENDATIONS1. Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) should ensure that case files sent to them bythe police are not unduly delayed, in order to reduce the number of cases awaiting trial arisingfrom the “holding charge” syndrome.2. The Administration of Justice Committees should undertake regular visits to prisons preferablyon monthly basis. This is to assist the Committee in the early identification of cases where lackof access to justice has caused undue detention.3. Mechanism should be put in place for the regular review of the activities of lower courts,especially Customary, Magistrates and Sharia Courts. This is because of the number of casestried in these courts, which has the direct impact on indigent litigants and their access tojustice.4. The National Assembly and the Attorneys­General of the Federation and the States shouldprovide the necessary legal framework for the provision of pro bono services to all persons inneed.5. The Legal Aid Council, the National Human Rights Commission, the Nigerian Bar Associationand civil society groups offering pro bono legal services should be adequately funded to set upa mechanism, whereby such services will be readily available to all persons in need.82

CHAPTER FOURTEENPOLITICAL KILLINGS AND VIOLENCEEvery person has a right to life, and no one shall be deprived intentionally of his life,save in execution of the sentence of a court of law in respect of criminal offence ofwhich he has been found guilty in Nigeria.Section 33(1), 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of NigeriaHuman beings are inviolable. Every human being shall be entitled to respect for his lifeand the integrity of his person. No one may be arbitrarily deprived of this right.Every individual shall have the right to the respect of the dignity inherent in a humanbeing and to the recognition of his legal status. All forms of exploitation anddegradation of man particularly slavery, slave trade, torture, cruel, inhuman ordegrading punishment and treatment shall be prohibited.Every individual shall have the right to liberty and to the security of his person. No onemay be deprived of his freedom except for reasons and conditions previously laid downby law. In particular, no one may be arbitrarily arrested or detained.Articles 4, 5 and 6, African Charter on Human and Peoples' RightsEvery human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law.No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.Article 6, International Covenant on Civil and Political RightsDespite the provisions of these human rights instruments on the sacred nature of human life, peopleare still deprived of their lives in circumstances that are prohibited by law. The following cases are fewexamples of lives arbitrarily taken under circumstances that can be referred to as political killings.On the July 2, 2006, the body of Mr. Jesse Aruku was found in a drainage on Miango Road in Josmetropolis of Plateau State. The deceased was the General Manager of Plateau State TourismBoard and a governorship aspirant.Jesse Aruku went out at about 8.00 pm of the night of 1 st July 2006 to buy drugs. When he had notreturned by midnight, his wife called him on his mobile phone and he assured her that he would comehome later, that he was in a meeting. At about 2.00 a.m, she called again and someone else answeredthe phone and promised that the deceased will be released after they had “finished dealing with him”.His corpse was found the following day, with evidence of strangulation and stab wounds.On May 27, 2006 at about 2.00 to 3.00 p.m., along Giwa Barracks Road, Maiduguri MetropolitanCouncil, Borno State, a group of political thugs popularly called “ECOMOG” who are reputed tobe supporters of the ruling party in the state, All Nigeria Peoples’ Party (ANPP) in Maiduguriclashed among themselves over the sharing of the sum of N2m (Two million Naira) allegedly given tothem by the state governor as poverty alleviation loan on the 24 th May 2006.83

The crisis started when a group, led by one Musa Banana, manipulated the sharing in favour of hisgroup. The other group, known as “Bulunkutu”, protested. This led to the clash, which left one, ModuTably, aged 31 years, Secretary of El­Kanami Football Club with a cut on his arm while many otherpersons suffered various injuries.The clash happened near Giwa Barracks, Maiduguri. About 16­armed soldiers in a white Hilux pick­upvan, drove to the scene of the clash and shot in the air to deter the groups. In the process, Alhaji Zaki,aged 28 years, a member of Musa Banana group was shot on the leg. He was taken to the hospital andhe survived.The Military Command said that they received a distress call that some political thugs were fighting veryclose to the Governor’s residence and that they shot in the air to disperse them. They claimed to beunaware of anyone being shot.RECOMMENDATIONS(i) Law enforcement agencies must promptly investigate and unravel political killings as not doingso encourages revenge killings, which can lead to general political violence and a breakdownof law and order. In that regard, the capacity of the police especially, in terms of crimeinvestigation and detection needs to be urgently enhanced.(ii)(iii)Law enforcement and security agencies, especially the police, must never take sides tacit orotherwise, in disputes or disagreements between or within political parties or groups.Political parties must be open, transparent and democratic and observe due process in theirinternal affairs as the absence of these attributes frequently leads to factionalization andviolence.84

CONCLUSIONGENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS1. Most Ailments and physical disabilities experienced by prisoners are as a result of torture inpolice cells. Therefore, the use of torture by the police as a means of eliciting confessionsshould be relentlessly pursued as an illegal procedure with dire consequences.2. The judiciary and the police should be sensitized on the need to utilize diversionary optionswhich include non custodial measures in order to decongest the prisons and police detentioncentres.3. Government should endeavor to provide basic bedding materials for prison inmates.4. The courts should be sensitive to the age of crime suspects and ensure that juveniles are notsent to prison but to appropriate borstals and remand homes.5. The judiciary should be sensitized on the need to send crime suspects who by their evaluationare of unsound mind to psychiatric hospitals and institutions and not to prison.6. The juvenile justice system operators should as a matter of priority put reform mechanisms inplace to ensure speedy trial of suspects.7. Awaiting trial inmates who have spent longer time than the minimum period of imprisonment ifconvicted should be considered for immediate release.8. The prison authorities should consider urgent improvement in the quality and quantity of foodgiven to the inmates.9. Special diets should be considered for HIV positive inmates and other ailing prisoners.10. Government should review the salary and conditions of service of the prison officers andtraining and re­training of officers should be embarked upon.11. States should take steps to establish the child justice administration system as provided in theCRA 2003 in order to prevent the prevailing situation where children and young persons aretried in open court and sent to adult prisons.12. The State Governments should build the capacity of the social welfare departments in order tofacilitate the appropriate handling of matters of children and young persons beyond parentalcontrol.13. The police should be sensitized on the various issues in the child rights act so as to enable ittreat such issues appropriately and in accordance with the child justice administration systemunder the said Act.14. Special maternal centres should be established for pregnant women and nursing mothers whoare accused of crimes.85

15. More borstal institutions and remand homes should be established across the country to takecare of juvenile offenders in those parts of the country and remand homes for girls should beestablished.16. Mechanisms should be put in place to ensure speedy trial of all offences especially, capitaloffences.17. Prison inmates aged 70 and above, who have spent five years or more awaiting trial should bereleased immediately.18. Persons charged with simple offences should be summarily tried.19. Government should renovate all prisons and provide the necessary facilities to cope with theneeds of inmates.20. Government agencies such as the Nigerian prisons, the National Human Rights Commissionand the Legal Aid Council, should be strengthened to enable them effectively perform theirstatutory responsibility, which include assistance to prison inmates.21. Medical treatment of prison inmates and the provision of healthcare services to pregnant andnursing mothers should be accommodated under The National Health Insurance Scheme(NHIS).22. The Legal Aid Council should be properly funded and adequately staffed for them to respondproperly to the large number of awaiting trial inmates with no legal representation.23. Condemned prisoners who have spent more than 10 years should have their sentencescommuted to life imprisonment.24. State Chief Judges should during their routine visits to prisons release pregnant women andnursing mothers who are in prison for very minor offences so they can tend to their babiesoutside the prison environment.25. All legal practitioners assigned to represent inmates under the 2006 prison decongestionprogramme of the federal government should be properly monitored to ensure that the inmatesget the benefit of the efforts to decongest the prisons by providing access to justice to awaitingtrial inmates.26. Nigerian Bar Association should discipline lawyers paid by the federal government to assistawaiting trial inmates under the 2006 prison decongestion programme who have failed todischarge their duties diligently.27. The Nigerian Bar Association should encourage lawyers to take cases on pro bono basis inorder to accelerate access to justice.28. The Administration of Justice Committees should address the cases of lunatics in prison andpersons awaiting trials.29. The government should provide adequate bed and beddings for prison inmates.86

30. The Ministry of Justice should accelerate the processing of cases of inmates awaiting DPP’sadvice.31. In order to reduce cases of missing case files; any officer in charge of a case and in whosecustody a case file is, should be made accountable for such case files when declared missing.32. Government should explore the possibility of institutionalizing the traditional neighborhooddispute settlement system by which minor offences might be settled by the offender and thevictim without resorting to the courts, especially in the rural areas.33. The police should use their discretion more positively with a view to preventing overcrowding inthe prison. to this end, they should be more liberal in granting police bail and should not readilyoppose applications for bail by defendants;34. Judges Should:a. Liberalize conditions for granting bail.b. Be more humane in their sentencing policy.c. Shift their emphasis to the utilization of the alternative measures to imprisonmentincluding fines, community service and other non­custodial methods.d. Utilise imprisonment for only serious crimes, and no imprisonment for first offenders.35. That appropriate legislation to implement liberalization of bail conditions be put in place.36. Government should provide adequate resources and facilities which will facilitate speedyperformance of the functions of the police, Ministry Of Justice, the judiciary and the prisonsservices, including the provision of appropriate equipment, stationery, vehicles and qualitativemanpower.37. The laws relating to criminal procedure and evidence should be appropriately reformed with aview to simplifying and expediting criminal trials.38. Prisons need to be supplied with ambulances to help convey inmates who need emergencytreatment, to hospital.39. That the record officers should guide visitors to properly fill the visitor’s books in the prisons, soas to provide the necessary details for data collection purposes.40. The courts should be more alert to notice cases of torture as it has become apparent that mostpurported confessional statements from the police are not voluntary and most accused personsin the lower courts have no legal representation to advance their cause.41. There is the urgent need to improve on the lighting of the cells and it environment.42. The prison generally needs urgent, comprehensive renovation.43. More funds should be made available to take care of emergency situations.87