The Nigerian Army, the Nigeria Police and the SSS (internal intelligence outfit) “have now unveiled themselves as official enemies of democracy in Nigeria.
This they now share in common with the country’s malevolent and conscienceless political actors and the earthly paradised religious leaders as well as their foot-soldiers in the Civil Society including some lawyers, activists, mainstream media practitioners and bloggers.”
The above is the position of the Int’l Society for Civil Liberties & Rule of Law (Intersociety) as contained in a statement issued in Onitsha on Sunday, August 4, 2019. It was signed by the group’s Board Chair Emeka Umeagbalasi; Lawyers Obianuju Joy Igboeli, Head of Civil Liberties & Rule of Law Programme, Chinwe Umeche, Head of Democracy & Good Governance Programme; Catherine Ndidiamaka Bernard, Head of Int’l Justice & Human Rights Programme; and Evangeline Chidinma Udegbunam, Head of Campaign & Publicity Dept.
Intersociety said in the statement: “It is saddening and heart-breaking that the publicly armed and catered persons (i.e. members of the army, police and internal secret services) have not only now turned and privatized their publicly procured public defense and security weapons against the general Nigerians and their properties; but also joined the country’s criminal entities (i.e. Boko Haram/ISWAP, jihadist Fulani herdsmen and street criminal entities and persons) in levying war against the general Nigerians.
“Yet these are the same persons whose fundamental human needs and career others including their excreta and those of their families; foods, electricity, personal health including insurance and treatments; education including in-service and out-service courses; housing or shelter including rents; transportation including automobiles; and service uniforms including badges, belts, boots, sets of singlet, pairs of suit and pants; etc, are all procured or serviced at the expense of the Nigerian public funds. Apart from their chronic career daftness including crude unprofessionalism; except threatening, corking and shooting innocent and defenseless Nigerians; they have now become an Nza bird that challenges its creator to a wrestling match.
“Dangers Of Shrinking Civil Space:
The constant issuance of threats of force and use of same by the authorities of the Nigeria Police Force, Nigerian Army and SSS against unarmed and defenseless Nigerians particularly members of democratic forces or expressive democratic forces who organize or involve in pen and voice protests or open street protests or ghost street protests is a further indication of how dangerously the professional ethics including democratic guidance and advancement, of the trio of Nigeria Police, Army and SSS has decayed.
“Apart from now joining hands in total destruction of the country’s democracy, the trio, till date, has no answers to the country’s unchecked killings and property crimes and destructions. What truly remains of the trio is reactive policing or securitization or medicine after death security approaches. Issues of preventive, proactive, electronic and intelligence policing or securitization are no longer locatable anywhere in the confines of the trio; except chasing, threatening, corking and shooting innocent and defenseless Nigerians with reckless abandon; while at the same time red-carpeting, celebrating and shielding the criminal Nigerians and their entities.
“By constantly shrinking the civil space, the authorities of the Nigeria Police, Army and SSS are pushing Nigerians not only dangerously to the wall but also to the point of radical self help or underground radicalization; capable of quadrupling and escalating the country’s criminal enterprises or industries. Also by treating Nigerian criminals and their entities with kid gloves and treating the law abiding citizens the hard way, the authorities of the Nigeria Police, Army and SSS are licensing all Nigerians to become criminals and lawless; thereby turning the country into a jungle where only the fittest survives. If this is allowed, then rifles in the possession of these daft security agencies will become toys or mere boxes of fire matches.
“Dangers of Criminalization of Constitutional Civil Liberties:
The authorities of the Nigeria Police, Army and SSS are dangerously criminalizing the country’s constitutional civil liberties. This they do with reckless abandon, aided by former members of the Nigerian mainstream rights community who are now part and parcel of the APC led central Government of Nigeria. In furtherance of such criminalization, the sacred provisions of the country’s Fundamental Human Rights provisions contained in both 1999 Constitution and the Rights Treaty Laws of the Federation are criminalized and observed in dangerous breach.
“While the citizens’ rights to life, strengthened by Sections 258 and 60 of the Criminal Code Act and the Penal Code Act (for Southern and Northern Nigeria) and dignity of human person or freedom from torture, strengthened by the newly enacted Anti Torture Act of 2017; are clearly and unambiguously provided in the constitutional Sections 33 and 34; Sections 35, 36 and 40 guarantee the fundamental rights to personal liberty, fair hearing and peaceful assembly and association. Importantly, Section 36 (8) and 36 (12) of the same Constitution as well as the country’s Treaty Laws also clearly provide for freedom from criminal labeling and stigmatization including retroactive criminalization, punishment and treatment.
“In this respect, therefore, the authorities of the Nigeria Police, Army and SSS have not only grossly disrespected and undermined these sacred provisions, but also turned themselves into an outlaw. They now pronounce death on any citizen or group of citizens and have it carried out to the letter. Outside the confines of the country’s body of laws including the Rights Treaty Laws and the Constitution, they have ‘manufactured’ their body of laws called ‘National Security and National Interest Laws of Nigeria’; under which civil space and other attributes of democracy are not only caged or stifled, but also have their utterances militarized and their guns flimsily corked and shot in the direct or close range of thousands of unarmed, defenseless and innocent citizens of the country particularly members of the hated and criminalized ethnic or religious nationalities or dissent class.
“Prosecutorial Difficulties Arising from Criminal Labeling of Innocent Nigerians:
It must be noted too that owing to hate or wicked and other unprofessional handling of the public security and policing in the country per criminal accusation, arrest, detention, investigation and prosecution, neither the Police nor the SSS has since 2015 judicially sustained most, if not all the spurious felonious charges slammed on the wrongly accused, arrested and detained citizens. Most, if not all of such trumped up charges have ended up in prosecutorial vindictiveness or long pre-trial detention amid physical and psychological torture and custodial deaths. In other words, not even a single conviction has been secured by the State of Nigeria against any of the wrongly accused, arrested and detained citizens, accused of ‘treason’, ‘treasonable felony’ or ‘terrorism’ since its riotous beginning in 2015.
Contacts: www.intersociety-ng.org, info@intersociety-ng.org, +2348174090052
