Dr Kelechi Akubueze
By Sam Kaye, Maiduguri
The rule of law and empowerment initiative also known as Partners West Africa Nigeria (PWAN) recently hosted a media town hall meeting on human rights, the Police act 2020 and regulations across Nigeria. The meeting which attracted reporters from key north east states of the federation had speakers like Zainab Waziri of PWAN and Dr Kelechi Akubueze of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). The new police act was exhaustively handled by participants bringing out so many questions associated with police governance that needed answers and deeper understanding of the police act. The fact that every police man should be educated about the police Act was fully agreed. Also that police training Colleges should enshrine the new act and that of the child rights act in the curriculum of their training colleges also rang a bell. This is so that errors would not be coming up in the dispensation of justice in the country as it did in the case of the trials of minors using the wrong processes of the law.
One of the speakers spoke to us on his town hall experiences after the interaction with newsmen in the one day session which took place in maiduguri recently. Below are extracts of the short interview with Dr Kelechi:
Could the pronouncements of President Tinubu on the end bad government case of minors arraigned in court recently by the police be applied legally to the entire country or just Abuja?
The answer is a definite yes because in the first place, that pronouncement came as a result of an embarrassment that the President faced when he was accosted with the sight of seeing those minors being arraigned in court with adults.
The Nigerian law excludes minors from being arraigned in court. Therefore that was a terrible misuse of power and it was very wrong. The directive was not only for one state but it should have applied to all the states of the federation that the very error was committed. It was a terrible error to arraign minors who were malnourished and collapsing before a court of law. It was bad optics. Very wrong.
But who do you think is culpable in this?
I think its the police and the DSS. This is because since the word treason came in, the DSS would have been involved. Especially with the issue of flying of the Russian flag and the reaction of the States. They are both culpable in this error.
What can such a damning optics impute for the country?
Its a wake up call for all. A call to action for citizens to actually rise up against such misuse of power by the police and such misrepresentation of the laws of the country. Its actually laughable. One wonders what is treasonable about some minors carrying flags holding a piece of cloth and a particular colour on it. It is really laughable within the international community. Are they trying to tell us that those hungry minors have anything to do with Russia?
What can the rights activists do about this wrong as it is also trendinmg in Borno as we speak?
They should speak out against it but most importantly take action because there are minors still incarcerated somewhere in the country. Pressure should be mounted on the government to release those minors and the police who should have read the directive of the President concerning them to release these kids and drop all the charges against them should act.
Do you think it is important we translate the child rights act into different languages so that the police can understand the nitty gritty even as they battle to understand the new police act?
Its very necessary but let me make this observation. Even when you translate this law into Nigerian languages, has it occurred to you that most of the people may not know how to read or write in their own languages. For instance how many people know how to read and write in Igbo, Yoruba, Fulani, Tiv, Hausa or idoma? It is a big challenge which is why we need to keep on educating the people on this. And also, this is where you guys in the media need to come in too to contribute in educating the public as regards the police act so these people who enforce the laws would do the right thing at all times.(www.krestnews.com)