The Women Aid Collective (WACOL) in collaboration with the ActionAid Nigeria (AAN) and other women groups have condemned the alleged assault on a young police orderly, Insp. Teju Moses, attached to one Prof. Zainab Abiola, describing it as “unethical “.
The groups made this known in a statement by Prof. Joy Ezeilo, the founding Director of WACOL, made available to the reporters in Abuja.
Ezeilo also condemned the act perpetrated by Abiola, who doubles as a legal practitioner and human rights activist, saying that such act “is unconscionable, degrading and inhuman treatment”.
“The reported ugly and nefarious act of brutality is despicable and condemnable without equivocation.
“And to have been perpetrated by a supposed civil society actor makes it far more reprehensible and exposes both the legal profession, the academia and the human right family to odium and embarrassment, considering the peculiar background of the suspect, as a supposed trained and commissioned defender of human rights in the society.
” Prof. Zainab was allegedly reported to have assaulted her police orderly on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022, at her residence in Garki, Abuja, following refusal by her said orderly to carry out menial and domestic chores at her residence.
” The trending and viral audio clip available all over social media showed the orderly Insp. Teju Moses bleeding profusely on her face, and which the media reported to crystalise overwhelming evidence of the act,” she said.
Ezeilo said that this development should bring to the fore the plight of Nigerians, who were employed in different security forces, among which were the Nigeria Police Force, Nigerian Army, Navy, the Immigration Service, Nigeria Custom Service, and other paramilitary formations.
She said that these group of persons were many times upon recruitment, attached to some civilian VIPs in Nigeria, “who do not only abuse them physically and psychologically, but use them in manners inconsistent with their line of official duty.”
According to her, the plight of these service men and women is further compounded by the command and control formation of the force units which makes it a rule for these force employees to obey the orders of the superior without any form of hesitation.
Akin to the above postulations is that these force employees do not have a choice in deciding the person of the VIP, whom they are attached to.
“This anathema inherent in both the legal and administrative frameworks of the various force formations remains in effect, despite the availability of preponderance of statutory provision safeguarding human rights in our laws.
” The Nigerian Police Act, 2020 expressly provides in Section 98 that a person who assaults, obstructs or restricts a police officer or other person aiding or assisting a police officer in discharge of his duty, commits an offence is liable to a fine of N500,000 or imprisonment for a term of 6 months or both,” she said.
The professor of public law added that WACOL in partnership with ActionAid demanded accountability on the part of the Nigeria Police in investigating the case under watch.
She also called for both a thorough and expeditious investigation of the case in view with the ultimate aim of bringing the perpetrators of these inhuman acts to book in the overall interest of justice.
” We maintain at all times that torture, inhuman acts, degrading treatment and punishments constitute violations of constitutionally enshrined rights and there is a state responsibility to protect, prevent and remedy such violations whether committed by state or non-state actors, as in this case.
” The full weight of the law must be brought to bear on the perpetrators who abuse their authority and privilege with impunity,” she added.
Ezeilo, however, urged Nigerians to respect human dignity and the human rights of one another and refrain from inhuman acts, bearing in mind that any inhuman act to one remained inhuman treatment to humanity and to all. (NAN)
