NIGERIA: SEPTEMBER 19, 2016
International
Justice Appeal For Freedom Of Nnamdi Kanu (Leader Of Indigenous Of Biafra-IPOB)
And Other Victims Of Regime Atrocities In Nigeria
OPEN
LETTER TO:
(1) The Secretary General of
the United Nations
(2) The President of the United
Nations General Assembly
(3) The President of the
United Nations Security Council
(4) The United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights
(5) The United Nations Special
Rapporteurs on :
(a) Truth, Justice &
Reparation
(b) Extrajudicial, Summary or
Arbitrary Executions
(c) Torture and Other Cruel,
Inhuman and Degrading Treatments or Punishments
(6) The Honourable British
Prime Minister & Distinguished
British Parliamentarians
(7) Distinguished European
Union Leaders
(8) The President of the
United States & Distinguished US Congressmen & Women
(9) Distinguished Canadian Leaders &
Parliamentarians
(10) Other Internationally
Distinguished Personalities:
(a) Human Rights Activists
& Groups
(b) Former Heads of UN Bodies
(c) Former World Leaders
(d) Independent Experts on
Justice, Peace, Security and Human Rights
Distinguished
Sirs/Madams,
Onitsha-430003: Southeast-Nigeria: Our name is: International
Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law; abbreviated as
INTERSOCIETY. We are registered (Reg. No. 27239) rights based Civil Society
Organization under the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria. Our advocacy voice or
thematic areas are: civil liberties and rule of law, democracy and good
governance, and public security and safety. We are based in Onitsha, Anambra
State, Southeast of Nigeria. For easy of reference, we can be electronically
visited or accessed via www.intersociety-ng.org.
The purpose of this Open Letter to your highly respected personalities is to seek for freedom of
detained Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) by name: Mr. Nnamdi
Kanu and other victims of regime atrocities in Nigeria. This we respectfully
seek through your informed voices, wise counselling and unbiased diplomatic
interventions, to be appropriately and timely directed to the President of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria by name: Mr. Muhammadu Buhari. Means through which
Mr. Muhammadu Buhari can be reached or communicated are available at the
diplomatic missions of your respective countries in Nigeria or the Nigerian
Permanent Mission at the United Nations (i.e. New York, USA).
This international
justice appeal particularly comes on the heels of the 71st
Session of the United Nations General Assembly, comprising of 193
Member-States, at which President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria has been slated;
likewise other world leaders, to address the UN General Assembly on 21st
of September 2016, in line with the General Assembly’s 2016 session theme: Sustainable
Development Goals: A Universal Push to Transform our World; which seeks
a strong link between sustainable development, peace, security and
human rights.
It is our
informed observation that 70%, if not more of international travels undertaken
by President Muhammadu Buhari since he became the President of Nigeria on 29th
of May 2015 took place in the countries of your highly respected personalities
or at the UN headquarters in New York, USA and a number of its other meetings
and conferences elsewhere. Just recently, too, the US Secretary of State,
Senator John Kerry visited the President and extended his visit to a number of
places designated for him to visit by his host President.
We are
technically aware of the modern workings of international relations. We are
further aware that modern international relations are extensively driven by
Democracy and ICT-powered Globalization. We also know as a fact that modern
democracy is driven by the rule of law; just as the justice aspect of the
rule of law is chiefly driven by the two Latin doctrines of nemo
judex in sua causa and audi alteram partem; which simply
mean that someone should not be a judge in his or her own matter and must hear
the other side before drawing a conclusion; otherwise called fair
hearing.
It is our
knowledge that the modern UN System is strongly built on the principles of democracy,
equality, rule of law and human rights; which in turn, lays a strong
foundation for advancement of international peace and security. As
your highly respected personalities are aware, these are fully embedded in the Principles
and Purposes of the United Nations. We are aware too that your highly
respected personalities are the guidance and custodians of democratic traditions
in your respected countries and have further worked hard at ensuring the
sustenance of the hallowed principles at the UN System and global level.
Your highly
respected personalities are aware too that unless these hallowed principles are
guided jealously at all times, otherwise their opposites will set in and
consume the world, leading to eruption of municipal, regional and international
insecurity and violence; otherwise called complex humanitarian emergencies.
That is to say that sustainable development can never find its root under complex
humanitarian emergencies powered by regime atrocities and gross human
rights violations perpetrated by errant and violent Member-States. The
crisis in Syria, for instance, has since gone beyond domestic and regional problems.
It has long become a global headache with most territories under the watch of
your highly respected personalities and the UN System bearing major brunt
including incurring emergency expenditures of billions of dollars to cushion
the effects of influx of Syrian refugees with associated public security
threats.
We have always
paused to ask ourselves and other international watchers how the world including your
highly respected personalities’ countries and the UN System will look if
Nigeria with estimated population of 174million people goes the Syrian way or
erupt into complex humanitarian emergencies. That is to say that if
Syria with less than 25million population could have approximately half of its
population displaced, leading to generation of 3.9million refugees and
6.3million internally displaced persons just in five years; what then will
happen if Nigeria is to explode in a like manner going by ongoing
intensification of triggers of widespread violence; occasioned by current policies
of militarism and militarization of the Government of Mr. Muhammadu Buhari?
We have
carefully studied the ongoing diplomatic interactions and relations between
your highly respected personalities and President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria
and found them commendable. But in spite of their commendable outlook, we still
find such interactions and relations lacking in one key area: regime
atrocities and abuse of office. That is to say that your highly
respected personalities have in the course of the diplomatic interactions and
relations under reference; turned blind eyes to ongoing regime atrocities in
Nigeria under the Presidency of Mr. Muhammadu Buhari. Many Nigerians see this
lukewarm attitude as aiding and abetting of regime atrocities in
Nigeria.
Regime
Atrocities under democracy are taken to mean
State-actor promotion and enforcement of gross rights abuses including
widespread State killings outside the law, disrespect to judicial pronouncements,
criminal stigmatization and trumped up charges. Others are executive
interference in judicial affairs and castration of the independence of the
judiciary; political domination, exclusion and segregation; nepotism and favouritism;
ethno-religious cleansing and adoption of State religion; widespread
insecurity, morality corruption and abuse of office as well as general
governance failure. These are State-triggered structural violence culminating
into deep societal divisions which can snowball into complex humanitarian emergencies.
In quick consequences of these, both negative peace (absence of physical
violence) and positive peace (absence of structural violence) have
grossly eluded Nigeria.
Therefore, our
writing your highly respected personalities is generally predicated on the
above with particular attention centred on the ongoing persecution of Mr.
Nnamdi Kanu and other victims of regime atrocities by the Presidency of
Muhammadu Buhari. It is shocking to inform your highly respected personalities
that till date, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu is not standing trial in any known court in
Nigeria.
For the
avoidance of doubt, the Black’s Law
Dictionary, 9th Edition (2009), defines a criminal trial as a formal judicial examination of evidence
and determination of legal claims in an adversary proceeding. In other
words, a criminal trial is a proceeding preceding issuance of a judicial notice
about intended legal claims and accompanying evidence (charge) before a judge
by the accusing authority (i.e. AGF, Police or DSS) against an accused citizen
in which the veracity of legal claims and accompanying evidence is determined
through formal judicial examination. It is extremely important to inform your
highly respected personalities that none of the foregoing has taken place in
Nnamdi Kanu’s Matter till date.
He has been
detained without trial for a period of eleven (11) months or since 14th
of October 2015. The circumstances under which he is held are unlawful,
illegal, unconstitutional and an aberration to modern international human
rights and justice norms. Your highly respected personalities may recall that
Mr. Nnamdi Kanu is the Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and
Director of a UK registered Radio Station by name Radio Biafra London (RBL). The
IPOB is registered at the United Nations as a body advocating for the
indigenous rights of indigenous people located in the Southeast and the
South-south parts of Nigeria. Both IPOB and RBL earned their recognition and
registration on account of their nonviolence methods in accordance with the UN
mandate or principles.
As your highly
respected personalities are aware, under the UN System, Rights to Self Determination,
Development and Identities are recognized and enshrined provided their
proponents do not use or advocate for violence. Where violence is resorted to
by their proponents leading to widespread violent conflict between their
proponents and the host political territory, the conduct of such is strictly governed
by the Laws of War or Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Protocols. The
enshrinement of these rights is internationally done by way of Treaty
Laws or International Conventions; which are legally binding on
Member-States that are parties to them.
Regionally and
globally, the Federal Republic of Nigeria has willingly acceded to these treaty
laws and accepted to be bound by their provisions and obligations. Till
date, Nigeria is a party to the UN’s Covenants on Civil & Political Rights
(ICCPR) and Economic, Social & Cultural Rights (ICESCR). As a matter of
fact, Nigeria ratified them in 1993. Nigeria is also a party to the African Charter
on Human & Peoples Rights (ACHPR), which it ratified and domesticated in
1981. Several decided cases by Nigeria’s courts of competent records or
jurisdictions have also upheld their admissibility and enforceability in the
Nigerian Legal and Justice System.
In these three
important treaty laws cited, rights to self determination, development and
identities are fully enshrined. Nigeria’s assent to them is intact till date.
Under the International Law and the UN system, Nigeria is also under
inexcusable obligation to be bound by these treaty laws as well as the
Principles and Purposes of the United Nations particularly in the areas
of respect for human rights and its obligation in the maintenance of
international peace and security. Perpetration of regime atrocities
particularly gross human rights abuses and reckless disregard to rule of law is
the greatest threat to international peace and security as well as sustainable
development.
Nigeria is
further bound by the ten basic standards of the International Law including
tolerance and peaceful management of nonviolent and peaceful assemblies; fair
trial of citizens held under whatever guise; prohibition of solitary
confinement or long detention without trial of detained citizens; prohibition
of torture and custodial killings as well as bringing errant law enforcement
personnel involved in gross violation of human rights to account for their
conduct atrocities.
Under the UN’s
Customary International Law with its principles of substantial uniformity of
practice by a substantial number of States and Opinio Juris(i.e. a
general principle that holds that a non-treaty rule is legally binding on all
member-States of the UN); Nigeria as a member-State of UN is inexcusably bound
by fundamental rules of the United Nations and International Law. Where the
ruling Government in Nigeria or President Muhammadu Buhari pretends not to be
in the know of all these, then the moral and diplomatic responsibility turns to
your highly respected personalities to do so. The authorities of the UK
Government, which colonized Nigeria and co-inhabits Mr. Nnamdi Kanu as one of
its legal citizens, are morally and diplomatically obligated, exceptionally
speaking, to do so; likewise the top leaders of the UN.
Allowing a gross
abuser of human rights to be dinning and winning with your highly respected
personalities without calling him to order morally and diplomatically is
nothing but aiding and abetting. It is also an international conspiracy and
encouragement of citizens’ militancy and violent resistance. It
is like an abomination in human rights community whereby a human parts dealer is asked to
join an organization that is defending human rights. This position of
ours follows our informed observation that your highly respected personalities
are steadily failing in your moral and diplomatic obligations to the good
people of Nigeria particularly as they concern their liberties, lives and
collective security.
We respectfully inform
your highly respected personalities further that Mr. Nnamdi Kanu who is has
been detained for eleven months having been arrested on 14th of
October 2015 by Nigeria’s Secret Police by name DSS (Department of State
Security) is treated sub-humanly by the Presidency of Mr. Muhammadu Buhari.
Apart from the fact that offences slammed on him are trumped up, the conduct
under which he was arrested and detained is also criminally stigmatized. There
is nowhere in the civilized world or law that voice conduct without force of
arms or physical violence of any form constitute criminal offence not to talk
of offences carrying capital punishment.
President
Muhammadu Buhari was in opposition politics for over a decade and was noted for
mobilizing several assemblies against successive administrations. In his
several public speeches then, he was noted as a violent political campaigner,
periodically threatening the authorities and rest of Nigeria, yet he was never
arrested for one day. This was on account of relatively culture of political
tolerance of the referenced past administrations, but months after he became
President, he criminalized peaceful assemblies and ordered his security forces
to shoot and kill any group of people gathered to exercise their constitutional
rights to freedom of association and peaceful assemblies. On account of this,
as much as 250 Pro Biafra activists were gunned down and mass-murdered in about
eight different locations by Nigerian security forces between 30th
of August 2015 and 30th of May 2016. Till date, the perpetrators are still on the
prowl.
As if these were
not enough, President Muhammadu Buhari made a public speech on 30th
of December 2015 during which he vowed to ensure that Mr. Nnamdi Kanu and ors
spend the rest of their lives in prison custody. This signalled the beginning
of persecution of Mr. Nnamdi Kanu. On account of Mr. President’s open bias and
threats, the Judiciary became frightened and terrified. A search for an
amenable, conformist and pro establishment judge to actualize President
Buhari’s open threat commenced and seemed successful, leading to the choice of
one Honourable Justice John Tsoho of the Federal High Court, Abuja Division.
The Judge as expected became bias and hostile; threatening and undermining the
rule of law and its hallowed principles of nemo judex in sua causa and audi
alteram partem; which simply mean that someone should not be a judge in
his or her own matter and must hear the other side before drawing a conclusion;
otherwise referred to as fair hearing.
Apart from
holding Citizen Nnamdi Kanu for eleven months now without trial, four orders of
the courts of constitutional records given for his bail and discharge were all
flouted. This is attestation of President Muhammadu Buhari’s meddlesomeness and
castration of the independence of the Judiciary. Citizen Nnamdi Kanu was kept
in detention for months while the Buhari Presidency was busy searching for a
conformist Judge to jail him at all costs. Since then, it has been one
pre-trial arraignment and gimmickry to another.
As we speak, the
scripted trumped up judgment against Mr. Nnamdi Kanu may most likely have been
written long ago; waiting for a makeshift trial using masked witnesses; an
infamous request from the Presidency of Muhammadu Buhari which Justice John
Tsoho initially turned down but later upturned following a circumstantially
obvious directive and pressure from the Presidency. Citizen Nnamdi Kanu’s Case (still
at pre-trial stage) is scheduled to resume on 26th of September 2016 and
despite calls by well meaning Nigerians and other informed observers on Hon
Justice John Tsoho to hands off the case for obvious bias and hostility, he has
refused to disqualify himself and is bent on doing President Muhammadu Buhari’s
bidding. Citizen Nnamdi Kanu’s lawyers, too, have spoken out and written
several protest letters.
As advocates of
rule of law and human rights, we are not in opposition to judicial processes,
provided they are credible, open and transparent. What we oppose at all times
is the State efforts to use judiciary to pervert the course of justice and
perpetrate gross abuse of the fundamental human rights of the citizens and
undermine democracy and constitutionalism. Sections 35 and 36 of the
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended in 2011; likewise
the UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as well as the Ten Basic
Standards of the International Law and the African Charter on Human & Peoples
Rights contain express provisions entitling citizens to fully enjoy their
rights to personal liberty and fair hearing.
These sacred
provisions include unhindered access of the accused citizens to their lawyers,
adequate time for accused citizens to prepare their own defence, timely
availability of records of proceedings for perusal and other lawful uses by the
accused citizens, custodial detention within the period legally allowed, trial
of the accused citizens in the open court, accused citizens’ right of appeal
and their presumption of innocence until they are pronounced guilty by courts of competent records.
Sheik Ibrahim
Zakzaky; leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) is another major
victim of President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime atrocities. Sheik Zakzaky had
been detained incommunicado for over nine months or 270 days after he was shot
severally, battered and blinded by soldiers, during which as much as 809 of his
followers were also massacred. The massacre took place on 12th and
14th of December 2015 while they were peacefully and nonviolently
marking their annual religious event in Zaria, Kaduna State of Northwest
Nigeria. The Government of Kaduna State had publicly admitted burring in mass
graves of 347 bodies of the massacred IMN followers alone. Till date, the
blinded Sheik has neither been produced publicly nor put on trial in any court
in Nigeria; a period of over 270 days and none of errant soldiers that
perpetrated the heinous crime has been arrested and put on trial.
We hereby call on your highly respected personalities
to:
1.
At all times, manually and
electronically, advice and task President Muhammadu Buhari on modern workings
of democracy, human rights and rule of law.
2.
Investigate and condemn all
forms of human rights abuse particularly unprovoked attacks and killing of
unarmed citizens, criminalization and stigmatization of rights to freedom of
association, peaceful assemblies and freedom of expression; and reckless use of
State violence in public governance approaches.
3.
Task him to preserve and
protect at all times the sanctity and independence of the Judiciary and the
National Assembly as well
4.
Task President Buhari to publicly
renounce his abominable pronouncement made on 30th of December 2015
during his maiden Presidential Chat; upon which the Judiciary has been
frightened and become terrified to the extent of conducting its proceedings
(i.e. Hon Justice John Tsoho in Nnamdi Kanu’s Case) according to the dictates
or whims and caprices of the President
5.
Urge President Muhammadu
Buhari to steer clear of Mr. Nnamdi Kanu’s ongoing Court Case and allow a level
ground for the accused and his accusers (Buhari’s Presidency) to proof their
cases.
6.
Allow constitutionalism to
be strictly followed in Mr. Nnamdi Kanu’s Case including the need for the
proceedings or proposed trial to be conducted in the open court in accordance
with Section 36 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as
amended in 2011, as well as the ICCPR and the ACHPR Treaty Laws.
7.
Urge President Muhammadu
Buhari to end his obvious meddlesomeness in Mr. Nnamdi Kanu’s Case and the
Judiciary and direct his Attorney General to proof the Federal Government’s
allegation that Citizen Nnamdi Kanu is a treasonable felon or an
insurrectionist; or withdraw the bogus charges against him for want of
evidence.
8.
Urge President Muhammadu
Buhari to produce publicly dead or alive the Leader of the Islamic Movement of
Nigeria, Sheik Ibrahim Zak El-Zaky, who was shot and battered and detained incommunicado
since December 14th 2015; a period of nine months or 270 days.
9.
Urge President Muhammdu
Buhari to refrain from making further mockery of the rule of law and citizens’
constitutional liberties by arresting and clamping citizens into detention for
over three months without trial; contrary to Section 35 of the Constitution of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended in 2011.
10.
Urge Mr. President to end
his clamp down, indiscriminate arrest and long detention without trial of Pro
Biafra activists across Nigeria or any part thereof, particularly members of
the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and release all their members
languishing in various DSS cells across the country without trial.
11.
Urge President Muhammadu
Buhari to immediately reverse himself concerning his violence prone style of
governance particularly his anti human rights stance, divisive and sectional
governance as well as his policies of militarization and militarism.
Yours in the Service to Humanity:
Emeka Umeagbalasi, B.Sc., Criminology & Security
Studies; M.Sc. (c), Peace & Conflict Studies
Board Chairman, International Society for Civil
Liberties & the Rule of Law-INTERSOCIETY
Mobile Line: +2348174090052
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.intersociety-ng.org
Obianuju Igboeli, Esq., LLB, BL; LLM (c)
Head, Civil Liberties & Rule of Law Program
Mobile Line: +2348034186332
Chinwe Umeche, Esq., LLB, BL
Mobile Line: +2347013238673
Head, Democracy & Good Governance Program
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