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Human rights in the aftermath of #EndSARS

The #EndSARS protest was a popular repudiation of a crude police culture and rejection of human rights violations. Young Nigerians seized the opportunity to draw lines in the sand, reset the boundaries of allowable conduct and with one voice stating that they would never again allow any institution or set of individuals to oppress them and or continue to barbarically denigrate their fundamental rights. In the protest, the youth affirmed the sanctity, inalienability and inherent nature of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

What were at stake in the protest were the rights to life, human dignity, freedom of expression, personal liberty, fair hearing, peaceful assembly and association. It was a protest to stop extrajudicial killing by members of the vicious police unit, Special Anti-Robbery Squad, illegal prolonged detentions, affirmation of the dignity of the human person to freely express himself in his dressing and comportment without let or regimentation by a police unit who illegally stigmatised, and problematised some forms of dressing. The reaction at the topmost level, of the Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.)-led Federal Government in calling for a truce and agreeing to take steps to address the complaints of the youths impressed many Nigerians.

However, while the President was giving reassuring words, his key appointees have been taking steps which signal their disagreement with the position of their principal and appointor. We have a situation where the police went after the organisers of the protest and arrested and charged some of them to court. As if acting in concert, the Central Bank of Nigeria proceeded to identify the bank accounts of individuals involved in the protest and got orders of court to freeze their accounts. The immigration authorities stopped a Nigerian citizen with valid travel papers from travelling to another country, seized her passport, detained her for some time and thereafter released her. All of this happened within a space of a couple of days. Clearly, the foregoing does not demonstrate that the Federal Government is working as a team with the purpose of redressing the wrongs earlier committed against the youths by the SARS team.

The action of the CBN in identifying the accounts of the #EndSARS leaders and freezing the same was wrong because it seeks to punish individuals simply because they exercised their fundamental rights. This could not have been the intention of the 1999 Constitution crafters when they provided for these rights. They provided for rights which all institutions and agencies of government are under obligation to facilitate rather than obstruct. The other angle to the accounts freezing is that the CBN and other agencies have demonstrated beyond doubt that they have the capacity to scrutinise and identify bank accounts with irregular or unclear deposits and withdrawal of funds. This raises the question as to why such capacity had not been exercised in the national interest. Why has the CBN not been able to isolate and freeze the accounts of the sponsors of Boko Haram? Why has the CBN allowed political officeholders to move public funds from account to account and eventually steal them? When the law enforcement and anti-corruption agencies charge matters of this nature to court, there is usually no evidence and the cases become intractable and, in many instances, the state cannot secure a conviction. Yet, we have an efficient CBN. Should such incredible and wide-ranging powers and capacity not be used to fight corruption and looting of the treasury?

Stopping a citizen from travelling out of the country is against the constitutional provisions on freedom of movement. This is the freedom to move in any part of Nigeria, to leave the country and proceed to any part of the world once the citizen has valid travel papers. To be stopped by government officials from travelling, in an arbitrary manner, which cannot be justified under any known law, is worrisome in a democracy. Even if such a law exists, it must face the test of whether it is reasonably justifiable in a democratic society. The last time we had this kind of violations were during the deranged Abacha dictatorship.

The police authorities through the Inspector General of Police agreed with the protesters that there were severe policing abuses when the IGP scrapped SARS. The fact that judicial panels of inquiry have been set up across the federation to investigate the crimes committed by the rogue SARS officers also shows that the protesters were not crying wolf when there was none. So, why are the police just going after protesters and arresting them?

It is imperative that the President stops all these his appointees on their tracks, from the CBN Governor, the IGP, to the Immigration boss. Nigerian youths await the promised change in policing, and nothing has fundamentally changed. Nigerians in general are going through a lot of economic and social hardship, a hardship which is beyond what has been experienced in the last 40 years. High levels of unemployment, inflation and a general fall in the standard of living are a feature of our daily life. Continued oppressive actions by the authorities may lead to a mother of all protests which cannot be assuaged by mere words. If the authorities, whether in the CBN, police or immigration, continue to act with impunity, Nigerians have a right and duty to resist tyranny and oppression. Make no mistakes about this. The message to the youths is clear: the gains they thought they had won are being reversed.  The President must caution these officials in order to avoid a national burst more than the concluded protest.

Furthermore, in the light of this reality, the President should give marching orders to the CBN, the police and other relevant agencies to produce the sponsors of terror groups like Boko Haram. They should also ensure that looted public money is traced and frozen, the criminals successfully prosecuted without stories of the lack of evidence. Public institutional resources and capacities must be made to work for the public good and not for the private interest of a few, no matter how highly placed. These resources should also not be dedicated to working for a regime’s interest which is far subordinate to the national interest.