Senate Moves To Tackle Extra-judicial Killings

The Senate on Tuesday moved to address the menace of extra-judicial killings in the country with the sponsorship of a bill seeking to amend the National Human Right Commission Act.

The bill titled, “National Human Right Commission Act CAP N46 LFN 2004(Amendment) Bill,2020”, scaled the first reading on the floor of the Senate on Tuesday.

The bill, which was sponsored by Senator Solomon Adeola, seeks to curb the rampant incidence of extra-judicial killings by amending the National Human Right Act, CAP N46, Law of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

The bill seeks to confer the power to investigate and prosecute officers of armed agencies of the government suspected of involvement in extrajudicial killings in the National Human Right Commission.

Adeola said, “My view is that a separate agency of government should be empowered to investigate and prosecute all reported and unreported cases of such extra-judicial killings.

“A well place agency for such task is the National Human Right Commission as the extra judicial murder is a matter of fundamental Human Right to life.”

The sponsor explained that the current internal handling of extra-judicial killing cases by the authorities cannot achieve any justice for victims and their families noting that it amounted to presiding over one’s case.

“Over time the non-investigation and diligent prosecution of suspected extra-judicial killers has led to impunity among some armed agents of the government in whimsically depriving citizens of their fundamental right to life,” Adeola added.

The Senate, however, observed a one-minute silence on Tuesday for Jimoh Isiaka and several other youths whose lives were cut short at their prime during the #EndSARS protest which started on 8th October, 2020.

This was sequel to a motion moved by Senator Abdulfatai Buhari, who drew the attention of the red chamber to the ongoing protests by the youths.

He particularly regretted the protest in Ogbomoso which snowballed into confrontation between the security operatives and the protesting youths in some part of the country.

He said, “The police injured seven protesters and shot dead a young man known as Jimoh Isiaka, a constituent of mine, during the protest.”

The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, urged the protesting youths to sheath their swords in the interest of peace.

He said, “Erring officers would be brought to book. Protesters should sheath their swords so that peace could reign.”