The United States Government has released its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices on Nigeria.
\nThe report was signed by the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and covered 2019, the year under review.
\nThe 46-page document comprises seven sections (and dozens of sub-sections). These include Respect for the Integrity of Persons; Respect for Civil Liberties; Freedom to participate in the Political Process.
\nOthers are Corruption and Lack of Transparency in Government; Governmental attitude regarding NGOs\u2019 Investigation of Human Rights Abuses; Discrimination, Societal Abuses and Trafficking in Persons; Worker Rights.
\nThe dossier, which compiled atrocities by the government and its agents, seemed to give more insight into why the Trump administration\u00a0slammed repeated sanctions on Nigeria in the last one year.
\nIt detailed accounts of President Muhammadu Buhari government and its agents\u2019 arbitrary, unlawful, or extrajudicial killings. The Nigeria Police, the Nigerian Military, the Department of State Services (DSS) and state organs were accused of using lethal force to disperse protesters, apprehend criminals and suspects.
\nNoting that authorities did not hold security agencies accountable for the use of deadly force, the report lamented that Federal and States\u2019 panels of inquiry reports are never made public.
\nIt recalled that in 2017, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, while in acting capacity, convened a presidential investigative panel to review security agencies\u2019 compliance with human rights obligations, rules of engagement, and submitted its findings in February 2018. \u201cAs of September (2019), no portions of the report had been made public\u201d.
\nOn attack on Shiites, the statement said as of September 2019, the federal government was silent on further investigating or holding individuals accountable for the 2015 killing and mass burial of members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), and other civilians by the Army in Zaria, Kaduna State.
\nThe US wondered why the report on the 2017 Air Force erroneous bombing of an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in Rann, Borno State, which killed and injured more than 100 civilians, humanitarian workers and Nigerian Army personnel, has not been released.
\nOn disappearances, the world power mentioned that the publisher of Bayelsa State-based tabloid the Weekly Source, Jones Abiri, was held for more than two years in incommunicado detention by the DSS without trial, access to counsel, or family visitation.
\nThe US also referred to the arrest and harassment of Stephen Kefas, Agba Jalingo and the missing Abubakar Idris aka Dadiyata. The blogger and critic of the federal and Kano State governments was abducted from his home in Kaduna State in August 2019.
\nNothing has been heard about him since and the DSS, the state agency notorious for secretly holding Nigerians,\u00a0has denied taking Idris.
\nDAILY POST reported the case of citizen Abdullahi Ahmadu.\u00a0He had been in DSS custody since 2013\u00a0without access to the court or family members before his situation leaked.
\nAnother Nigerian, Anthony Okolie, was\u00a0arrested and detained by the DSS\u00a0for nearly three months for ownership of a phone number recycled after it became dormant.
\nOkolie legally purchased the line from MTN but was secretly kept because the number earlier belonged to Buhari\u2019s daughter, Hanan. The matter is in court.
\nThe United States expressed concern over Human Rights Watch (HRW) report on arrests and detentions of journalists and activists, saying such indicated a growing intolerance of dissent.
\nThe country reiterated concern about the security situation in Nigeria, the murder of innocent citizens, deadly communal\/ethnic clashes, bandits\u2019 attacks, among others.
\nIt said abductions for ransom were still going on and observed that on May 1, 2019, armed assailants kidnapped the nephew of President Buhari and held him for more than two months before he was rescued.
\nThe report confirmed that torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment were carried out by security agencies. It decried the activities of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigeria Police and remarked the #EndSARS campaign on social media.<\/p>\n
The full report can be found at this link: https:\/\/www.state.gov\/reports\/2019-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices\/nigeria\/<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It included findings by groups such as Amnesty International (AI) on illegal detention, inhuman treatment, and torture of criminal suspects, militants, detainees and prisoners.
\n\u201cAccording to reports, security services committed rape and other forms of violence against women and girls, usually with impunity. In April, AI reported at least 10 soldiers in Giwa Barracks sexually exploited female detainees, demanding sex in exchange for food, soap, other basic necessities, and the promise of freedom.
\n\u201cAs of September the government had not held any responsible officials to account for reported incidents of torture in detention facilities in the Northeast, including Giwa Barracks.\u201d
\nThe US denounced the \u201cparading of arrestees in public spaces and subjecting them to public ridicule and abuse. Bystanders often taunted and hurled food and other objects at arrestees.\u201d
\nThe report criticised the Justice System in Nigeria, condition of prisons and that authorities sometimes held female and male prisoners together, especially in rural areas. \u201cPrison authorities often held juvenile suspects with adults\u2026.Most of the 240 prisons were 70 to 80 years old and lacked basic facilities\u201d, it said.
\nIt slammed arrests without prosecution and referred to reports of thousands of deaths in custody. The US said the military continued to indefinitely hold women and children alleged to have links with Boko Haram and ISIS-WA (ISWAP).
\nThe US expressed concern over threats to journalists and referred to HRW exposition on arrests and detentions of journalists and activists indicated a growing intolerance of dissent.
\nThe country deplored onslaught against freedom of movement, protests and expressions; intimidation over use of internet, the legislation being used by Federal and State governments to arrest opponents and critics for alleged hate speech.
\nThe US cited the 2019 elections conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). It said there was evidence that military and security services intimidated voters, electoral officials, and election observers.
\nIt noted that many Nigerians believe the Army is a tool of the ruling party in many parts of the country and regretted that several INEC Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) reported DSS operatives intimidated them when they attempted to protect voting materials.
\n\u201cThere were reports that corruption, including vote buying were historically high during the 2018-19 electoral season. Examples of vote buying were apparent in the re-run of the Osun gubernatorial election in September 2018, and during the Kano gubernatorial election on March 9.\u201d
\n\u201cAlthough the law provides criminal penalties for conviction of official corruption, the government did not implement the law effectively, and government officials frequently engaged in corrupt practices with impunity. Massive, widespread, and pervasive corruption affected all levels of government, including the judiciary and the security services.
\n\u201cThe constitution provides immunity from civil and criminal prosecution for the president, vice president, governors, and deputy governors while in office. There were numerous reports of government corruption during the year\u201d, it read.
\nThe US echoed complaints by the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on delays in convictions on lack of judges and the widespread practice of filing for and granting multiple adjournments.
\n\u201cEFCC arrests and indictments of politicians continued throughout the year, implicating a significant number of opposition political figures and leading to allegations of partisan motivations on the part of the EFCC.\u201d
\nThe US added that in April 2019, Supreme Court Chief Justice Walter Onnoghen was convicted of falsely declaring his assets for failing to reveal money held in five foreign bank accounts.
\n\u201cPresident Buhari had suspended Onnoghen over the charges of failing to disclose assets in January several weeks before the presidential election.\u201d
\nThe US recorded that Buhari removed Onnoghen unilaterally without endorsement by the Senate or from the National Judicial Council (NJC) as the law requires.
\n\u201cThe timing and process of Onnoghen\u2019s suspension led many opposition candidates, lawyers, and civil society leaders to accuse President Buhari of meddling with the independence of the judiciary.\u201d
\nThe report further condemned forced labour, sexual discrimination, religious intolerance, early forced marriage, baby factories, violence against children and women, domestic violence and Female Genital Mutilation\/Cutting (FGM\/C).
\nIt called for effective and timely prosecution of rape and other cases, recognition of ethnic minorities, better welfare for workers in the private and public sectors, improved attention to senior citizens, displaced people and persons with disabilities.
\nReport by www.dailypost.ng<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The United States Government has released its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices on Nigeria. The report was signed by the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and covered 2019, the year under review. The 46-page document comprises seven sections (and dozens of sub-sections). These include Respect for the Integrity of Persons; Respect for Civil […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":25025,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5777,7],"tags":[1274,249,577],"class_list":["post-25300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-features","category-news","tag-human-rights","tag-nigeria","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25300\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}