The Presidential candidate of the Action Alliance, (AA), Hamza Al-Mustapha, has promised to unbundle the Nigeria Police, and also the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation to curb several cases of abuse in the country.
In the case of the Nigeria Police, he promised to severe the law enforcement activities from investigation of cases to make the institution function better, while he will embark on holistic reforms that will separate the office of the Attorney-Gerneral of the Federation from that of the Ministry of Justice office.
Al-Mustapha, who spoke at a Town Hall meeting the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, organized for all the 18 presidential candidates of political parties contending at the 2023 General Elections, said should he win the 2023 presidential election, he would establish a central body that would be saddled with the responsibility of investigating cases.
Reeling out some of his plans, Al-Mustapha, who is a former intelligence officer that served as Chief Security Officer to the late military head of state, General Sani Abacha, said: “An area that requires reform, is the issue of policing itself.
“From 1981 to date, our police have actually gotten it wrong. We shall separate the primary responsibility of the police from the secondary responsibility.
“The primary responsibility of police which is law enforcement must go to the police, while the investigation goes to another body, centrally.
“Police will then have a re-orientation because we believe that if we have the two powers merged in the police, we will continue to have human rights abuses.
“We shall also carry out reforms in Ministerial offices. The office of the Attorney-General shall be separated from that of the Minister of Justice for obvious reasons so that there shall be checks and balances.
“We shall encourage the Judiciary to come up with reforms to meet up the standard of the day, meaning that we will support judicial criminal investigation trials to use electronic means so that there shall be a speedy trial for inmates”.
Besides, the AA presidential candidate said his administration would also pay close attention to the rehabilitation of prisoners and convicts.
He decried the current situation where rather than rehabilitating inmates, prison facilities in the country have turned to places where persons that were illegally detained, are kept as awaiting trial inmates.
“Some have also stayed longer in detention because of activities in judicial reform.
“We in Action Alliance have already looked at the problems in Nigeria, with me as an example, who was heavily persecuted for 15 years, with torture in 5 years and 2 months that I survived.
“With my experiences, we have now brought together and presented our manifesto, believing that the prison will become a protecting point from psychological to physical, in terms of education and productivity, in our economy and social life”.
He said prisons under his administration would be separated, such that convicts and awaiting trial inmates are not kept in the same facility.
“Al-Mustapha promised to give attention to education, reforms, re-orientation, and rehabilitation while the military and paramilitary bodies shall be discouraged from going into the primary responsibility of the police deliberately so that less they play into police role, the lesser abuses we shall have.
On his part, the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, AAC, Omoyele Sowore, bemoaned the fact that women and children usually suffer the brunt of rights violations by both state and non-state actors.
Sowore blamed the state of human rights in the country on what he termed as “regimes of impunity that had no regard for the rule of law”.
He said his administration would ensure the enforceability of all the rights in the Constitution, including the right to decent living, education, and jobs.
“It is the violation of these rights, over the years, that make our leaders look down on us”, he added, insisting that the 1999 Constitution was imposed on the citizens.
“This has further made it more difficult for the rights in the Constitution to be respected”, Sowore noted.
Other presidential candidates that were at the Town Hall meeting, were; Adewole Adebayo (Social Democratic Party), Prof. Christopher Imomulen (Accord Party), Sani Yusuf ( Action Democratic Party), Prof. Peter Umeadi of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, sent a representative.
Each of the candidates was given 10 minutes to speak on their manifestoes in relation to human rights.
However, the program, which was part of activities to mark the 2022 International Human Rights Day, ended without candidates of the leading political parties- the Peoples Democratic Party, All Progressive Congress, and Labour party- showing up despite being invited.
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