Immunity of Nigeria officials will ensure continued human rights abuses Commentary
Immunity of Nigeria officials will ensure continued human rights abuses
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Samuel Abiodun Adebowale [coordinator, Concerned Nigerians Worldwide, Spain chapter; journalist, African News in Switzerland]: "In Chicago (USA), a U.S. District Court admitted a claim to investigate the responsibility of a former Nigerian head of state, Gen. Abubakar Abdulsalami, for gross violation of human rights in Nigeria between November 1993 and May 1999. The case was filed by some Nigerian victims under Abubakar's regime. The court examined "the history of the Nigerian military regime and Abubakar's role in it, the regime's suppression of pro-democracy advocates; its use of arbitrary detention without trial, torture, extra-judicial killing, and restrictions of civil liberties in order to silence opponents." Meanwhile, in Abuja (Nigeria) a Nigerian Federal High Court's ruling barred the ex-dictator from declaring in any court about the alleged human rights abuses during his governance of the country. The court brings into play an Official Secrets Act that was in place during his regime, granting the dictator immunity before the Chicago Court.

Until now the victims have not received any effective remedy either locally or internationally. They were been denied their right to know the truth surrounding the violation of their rights and the assurance that such violations will not be repeated in the future. This lack of remedy, on its own, is a violation of the natural rights of the victims to an effective remedy as enshrined in core international treaties.

It is my view that the alleged widespread violation of fundamental rights while in Nigerian police custody is a process of crime against humanity. And I consider the absolute immunity of the former Nigerian leaders to the crime under their governance as the key factor to its continuity and the reason for its widespread practice. Meanwhile, the collective obligation of the international community to all members of the human family is to perform in good faith every treaty in force and binding upon them. This obligation is incompatible with the usual limitation to words and declarations without any effective or affirmative action to protect the UN charter in Nigeria.

However, I have personally seen and witnessed that the present Nigerian government under President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua is willing to abide by the rule of law and to protect the fundamental human rights of Nigerians. And defiantly, the Nigerian legal systems are under the supervision of the same judges who had served and are loyal to the previous government. They were the same systems that supported the governances who committed the violence cited in Nowak's report. This situation demonstrates the ineffectiveness of an internal remedy and the need for an alternative remedy to redress these violations according to international principles. Only by such redress will the present government willingness be motivated and strengthened to produce some positive and desired changes. Otherwise, we may be indirectly endorsing the continuity of these violations of human rights.

Without a doubt, it is my considered view that there was a failure, by the past leaders, to take all the necessary and reasonable measures within their power to prevent the commission of this crime against humanity. And that the vivid first-hand accounts from two UN mandate holders are beyond doubt to establish a criminal responsibility of those leaders in question. They must be brought to justice. This is the most logical remedy to stop this tradition of violation in Nigeria. Nigeria has ratified the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and the widespread use of torture and other violence falls under the ICC's jurisdiction.

Where are the international judicial bodies having all the necessary mechanisms to redress this crime against humanity? When will they question the concerned Nigerian leaderships and their collaborators about this crime against humanity during their rule? I hereby recall again my summary of Nowak's reports to the UN Human Rights Council; there exists powerlessness and hopelessness in Nigeria, this situation will continue as long as the culture of immunity continues."

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