Convener of a human rights group, Access to Justice, Joseph Otteh, and the Programme Officer Daniel Igiekhumhe revisit the Shiites group proscription and why challenging it in court was necessary.
On Friday 26, a Federal High Court presided over by Justice Nkeonye Maha made an order pursuant to an application brought by the Federal Government.
Ahe “designated the activities of the Shiite organisation in any part of Nigeria “as acts of terrorism and illegality”.
She also made an order proscribing the existence and activities of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria in any part of Nigeria under any guise either in groups or as individuals.
Access to Justice is dismayed by the ruling and orders of the court and regards it as deeply unfortunate.
With respect, the court clearly sacrifices the constitutional and due process rights of the IMN group in the very flawed process it followed to arrive at its decision.
The court, contrary to longstanding judicial practice, allowed and used a decidedly one-sided account of a case to frame its final ruling and orders on the case.
A legitimate judicial process takes account of, and hears the cases and defences of everyone accused of misconduct and/or whose interests would be affected by a court decision and orders.
To that extent, Justice Maha’s ruling is strongly objectionable.
It did not follow nor respect basic constitutional standards applicable to a judicial proceeding, but disavowed inexplicably and without justification.
In a democracy, legislations must pass the tests of constitutionality to be enforceable by a court.
The court ought to have satisfied itself that the legislation under which it acted, which so gravely imperils the fundamental rights of citizens to assemble and move freely, champion their causes and practice their religion, passes constitutional muster. It did not do so, unfortunately.
The ruling has condemned and criminalised a faith community without affording them the basic right to even challenge how the federal government – which has persecuted them over a long period and extrajudicially killed hundreds of their members – characterised them.
Many Nigerians are expressing growing concern that our courts, in a period when they ought to stand resolute as bulwarks of constitutional freedoms, are drawing a blank at critical moments, and giving the raw might of executive power unrestrained leeway over the rights of citizens.
It probably bears repeating that when a Judiciary fails to step up to the plate and safeguard the rights of individuals or groups when threatened, including those who suffer political persecution because of their beliefs or their unpopularity, democracy fails, and then the people are effectively silenced and unable to hold power to any form of accountability.
Justice Maha’s decision has done far-reaching damage, at least now, to the rights of a group and its members to defend their rights peacefully and legitimately.
The court has criminalised them by the stroke of a pen, labelling them as terrorists and exposing them to further risks of criminal jeopardy.
It is a hugely unfair and inequitable thing for a court of justice or of law, to do.
‘Why Presidency’s statement should be withdrawn’
On July 29, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity said with the proscription, security agencies now have the power to take “any necessary action” against the Shiite group as was done to the Indigenous People of Biafra….”
Garba said that with their proscription, “they (Shiites) are not allowed to protest anymore”.
If Mr. Garba’s statements represent the policy of government, then the Nigerian government has issued an open invitation to security and law enforcement agencies to scale up acts of violence and dehumanisation against members of the group and sets no boundaries on what they may do in that regard.
Government’s open call escalates an already tense and volatile situation affecting the group, which has been at the receiving end of repetitive acts of violence from security and law enforcement forces and makes the members of the group even more vulnerable to abuse.
Even acting as individuals per se, Shiites can still carry out protests to express any grievances they have, and they do not need to belong to a specific organisation to exercise their constitutional rights.
Proscribing a group – as constitutionally questionable as that is – is no authority, therefore, for objectifying members of the group, or saying they are open game for security forces.
The statement by the President’s spokesperson will likely be received and interpreted by law enforcement and security forces to mean that any persons associated with the Shiites are expendable, and should be regarded as legitimate targets of unrestrained lethal force.
The statement is virtually an open call to security forces to commit acts of genocide against persons affiliated to IMN in any way.
It assures them that government approves any actions (including killing summarily and arbitrarily), to take down persons suspected of belonging to IMN.
Furthermore, given Nigeria’s context, this statement by Shehu Garba will likely be used to justify violence even against other persons who may have no association with IMN at all.
Law enforcement or security forces can simply place an IMN label on anyone to justify or legitimise an extrajudicial killing, or a violent or brutal treatment of a person, taking advantage of government’s green light to treat anything “IMN” as liable to serious repercussion.
Nigeria has such precedents. As many reports have indicated, many people have been extrajudicially executed by security forces under the guise that they were members of Boko Haram.
Access to Justice deplores the statement as a reckless and dangerous one and denounces it.
Statements like that have no place in constitutional democracies; they undermine the essence of democracy as well as cheapen the value of human life.
Mr. Garba must immediately withdraw the statement, and give a clear rebuttal clarifying that the Statement erroneously misinterpreted the legal effect of a proscription.
About A2Justice
A2Justice is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation working to promote integrity, transparency, accountability and independence in legal and judicial institutions and to protect the rights of individuals and groups to justice.
A2Justice is the 2009 recipient of MacArthur Foundation’s Award for Creative and Effective Institutions.
It is also the 2010 recipient of the first- ever Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Gani Fawehinmi Award for Human Rights and Social Justice.
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