MORE DETAILS EMERGES AS BUHARI IS DRAGGED BEFORE ECOWAS COURT
Vanguard reports that Femi Falana
who is the solicitor to registered trustees of the Socio-Economic Rights
and Accountability Project (SERAP). It said the “failure to prevent,
account for and investigate killings, raping, maiming of Nigerians and
other residents, and destruction of property across the country by
herdsmen, the military and police.” Part of the suit read: “The
Plaintiff contends that the Defendant is responsible for these human
rights violations and abuses by the military, police, herdsmen and other
unknown perpetrators which have not been adequately prevented,
investigated or prosecuted by the authorities.
These responsibilities are
heightened when an observable pattern has been overlooked or ignored,
such as is the case in this suit.” “The Plaintiff also contends that the
obligation to secure the right to life is not confined to cases where
it has been established that the killings were caused by an agent of the
State. Nor is it decisive whether those affected or their families have
lodged a formal complaint about the killings with the competent
investigatory authority.”
“It is contended that the mere
knowledge of the killings by the military, police, herdsmen and other
unknown perpetrators on the part of the authorities have ipso facto
given rise to an obligation under Article 4 of the African Charter on
Human and Peoples’ Rights to carry out an effective investigation into
the circumstances surrounding the killings and to identify the
perpetrators and bring them to justice, and to provide reparations to
victims.”
“Moreover, the Defendant has a
responsibility for those killings, raping maiming and destruction of
property where authorities knew or ought to have known of an immediate
threat and failed to take measures that might have been expected to
avoid those attacks and killings.”
“The Plaintiff further contends that the Defendant has positive
obligations to provide a framework of security for the protection of
life, and to protect the lives of those individuals at risk from
unlawful attacks by the military, police, herdsmen and other unknown
perpetrators.
The lack of accountability for the attacks by the
military, police, herdsmen and other unknown perpetrators across the
country has continued to create a culture of impunity which clearly is
not compatible with the rule of law in a democratic society.”
“The Plaintiff contends that the
Defendant has a positive obligation to take measures to secure the right
to life, right to security and dignity of the human person and right to
property, and to prevent attacks and killings by the military, police,
herdsmen and other unknown perpetrators across Nigeria.” “Human life has
a special value and dignity which requires legal protection.
It should
be pointed out that those affected in the present case include the most
disadvantaged and vulnerable sectors of society.” “By interpreting the
African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights so as to impose on the
Defendant obligations to prevent, account for and investigate killings,
raping, maiming of Nigerians and other residents and destruction of
property, whether or not the Defendant is directly or indirectly
responsible, the ECOWAS Court of Justice will be demanding from the
Nigerian government a commitment to securing these rights and to the
reform of the very structure and modus operandi of its legal
institutions.
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