On Sunday, August 14, 2016, the proscribed Boko Haram
terrorist sect released a video showing some of the abducted Chibok
girls. Shortly thereafter, the Nigerian Army declared three persons
wanted over alleged links with the terrorist organization and for
concealing information from the federal government on the whereabouts of
the girls who were kidnapped on April 14, 2014. The three persons are
Ahmed Bolori, Aisha Wakil and Ahmed Salkida, a journalist. Mrs Aisha
Wakil, a lawyer and human rights activist and Ahmed Bolori, a social
worker. As soon as the announcement was made Mrs Wakil reported herself
to the army but was released and asked to await further instructions.
She and Mr. Bolori have since been admitted to “administrative bail” by
the army after meeting some conditions including the submission of their
international passports. Thus, the planned pilgrimage to Mecca by the
duo has been aborted by the army without any legal basis.
In justifying the decision to declare the three persons wanted the
Nigerian army spokesperson, Colonel Sani Usman, stated that "There is no
doubt that these individuals have links with Boko Haram Terrorist sect
and have contacts with them. They must therefore come forward and tell
us where the group is keeping the Chibok girls and other abducted
persons to enable us rescue them...We rely on the relevant laws of the
land and in particular the Terrorism Prevention Act (as amended) where
Nigerians could be punished for failure to disclose information about
terrorists or terrorist activities." In his reaction to the serious
allegations of withholding information and maintaining contacts with the
terrorist organization the wanted journalist, Ahmad Salkida who is in
exile in the United Arab Emirates stated via his Twitter that the video
in question was sent to him before the girls' abductors uploaded it on
Youtube.
Realizing that we are under a constitutional democracy which requires
that the infringement of the rights of any citizen be justified in law
the army has relied on the provisions of the country's anti terrorism
legislation.
Notwithstanding the gravity of the allegations of maintaining
contacts with a terrorist movement and concealing information from the
federal government, it is submitted that the decision of the Nigerian
army to declare the "suspects" wanted is ultra vires, illegal and
unconstitutional in every material particular.
Since the wanted persons are not serving military personnel who are
subject to service law they cannot be investigated or tried under the
Armed Forces Act Cap A20 LFN, 2004. Furthermore, under the Terrorism
Prevention Act 2011 as amended the army has not been authorized to
perform any duty whatsoever. In other words, the powers of arrest,
investigation and prosecution under the Act have been vested in the
Nigeria Police Force and the State Security Service. In the
circumstances, the Nigerian Army ought to have made available to either
the Police or the SSS any evidence or information concerning the alleged
links of the three persons to the terrorist body.
Thus, by declaring the three persons wanted without any legal
authority the army has usurped the statutory powers of both the Police
and the SSS.
In the process, it has breached the fundamental rights of the
'suspects' to personal liberty, dignity of the person and fair hearing
guaranteed by the Constitution.
In addition, the freedom of movement of Mrs. Wakil and Mr. Bolori
whose passports have been illegally impounded has also been violated by
the army. Even under the defunct military dictatorship in Nigeria the
arrest and detention of journalists as well as the closure of media
houses by security operatives were declared illegal by several courts.
Indeed, on several occasions, the ruling military oligarchy was ordered
to pay monetary damages for the breach of the human rights of
journalists and very many other citizens. For instance, the Punch
newspaper was awarded reparation of N22 million over the 1994 closure of
its business premises and detention of its editor, Mr. Bola Bolawole by
the combined team of armed soldiers and mobile policemen under the Sani
Abacha junta.
In Civil Liberties Organisation v Nigeria (2001) AHRLR 75 some
journalists who reported s phantom coup plot against the Abacha junta
were tried before a Special Military Tribunal. They were convicted and
jailed for being accessories after the fact of treason. The complainant
dragged the federal government to the African Commission on Human and
Peoples' Rights in Banjul, The Gambia. As the federal military
government had no defense to the allegations of mistrial the African
Commission held that the arrest, investigation and prosecution of the
convicts violated Article 7 (1) of the African Charter on Human and
Peoples Rights. Similar trials of civilians by military courts in
Mauritania and Sudan have been vitiated by the Commission on the ground
that they failed to meet the independence test.
Although military dictatorship was terminated in Nigeria 17 years
ago, the armed forces have continued to subject the civilian population
to untold harassment and intimidation. On a regular basis, individual
citizens have been arrested, beaten up or killed in cold blood while
communities have been invaded by armed soldiers. In many instances, it
has been a tale of "sorrows, tears and blood" in the words of the late
Fela Anikapo-Kuti. In one of such encounters 348 unarmed civilians
including women and children were massacred in Zaria, Kaduna state last
December. As if that was not enough the army decided to bury the bodies
of the deceased secretly in a mass grave. Even though the national
leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, Sheik Ibraheem El-zakzaky and
his wife were not at the scene of the military they have been detained
without trial for over 9 months.
Even though the country is under a democratic dispensation the
federal government has failed to restrain the armed forces from
subjecting journalists and indeed all citizens to intimidation. Sometime
in 2014 the Nigerian army arrested two journalists (who are staff of
Aljazeera News Agency) in Maiduguri, Borno state. When all efforts by
their employer to secure their release proved abortive our law firm was
instructed to challenge their illegal incarceration in a military
custody. But as soon as we filed an application for the enforcement of
the fundamental right of both detainees to personal liberty at the
federal high court the Chief of Army Staff ordered their immediate
release.
However, while the armed forces deserve commendation for the success
recorded so far in the counter insurgency operations in the north east
region the military authorities ought to ensure that the human rights of
citizens are respected. Since journalists and other civilians in combat
operations are entitled to full legal protection under the Constitution
and the Geneva Convention the Nigerian Army should be directed by the
Chief of Army Staff to stop any further harassment of the "wanted"
persons. As a matter of urgency, the National Human Rights Commission
should make it clear to the members of the armed forces that we are no
longer under military dictatorship when the fundamental rights of the
Nigerian people were violated with impunity.
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