NAN – The National Committee Against Torture (NACAT), on Tuesday in Abuja said that the recent report by Amnesty International on alleged torture of citizens by security agents in Nigeria was mischievous and misleading.
Dr Samson Ameh, NACAT Chairman, who stated this during a press briefing on the organisation’s activities, said that the report was bound to mislead the international community and Nigerian public.
He said that Nigeria, a signatory to the UN Convention against Torture, signed the optional protocol convention against torture, and was doing its best to end torture by its security agents.
“If there is any incident of torture, the proper and rightful avenue to take such complaint to is NACAT, which Amnesty International never did prior to its report.
“Right now, there is no pending report or complaint of torture from the Amnesty, civil society organisations, groups or individuals before us, so the report was simply mischievous and misleading.
“We are not answerable to Amnesty but to the United Nations Convention against Torture (UNCAT) office in Geneva to which we send quarterly reports,’’ Ameh said.
He said that the UN body had written to NACAT and had also commended him in particular, saying that before he came on board, the initial impression was that torture in Nigeria was done with impunity.
Ameh said that NACAT had visited prison formations, police stations and courts across the country as part of its activities to sensitise officials on its anti-torture war and need for criminal justice reforms.
“We brought up the concept of the need for the military forces fighting the Boko Haram insurgency to use proportionate force as opposed to disproportionate force against arrested suspected insurgents.
“Therefore, we should be commended as a nation and an organisation and not condemned or cajoled by Amnesty International,’’ he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the Amnesty report published on Sept. 18, accused security agents of torturing suspected insurgents and other citizens.
It claimed that more than 5,000 people were detained since 2009 when the military began its operations against Boko Haram, alleging that many of them were tortured or ill-treated.
The report claimed that the military and police routinely torture women, men and children using a range of methods including beatings, shootings, rape and electric shock to extract confession.
It also said that most of those detained are held incommunicado and denied access to the outside world, including lawyers, families and courts.
