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| Former President Goodluck Jonathan (2010-2015) failed to earn a place in AI's good books. |
Global watchdog, Amnesty International, has said Nigerians have been suffering since the organization began its operations in Nigeria on June 1, 1967.
The rights organization made the disclosure on Thursday as it marked its diamond jubilee, and is away from its 54th anniversary of operating in Nigeria.
It said there has been countless rights violations in the country since it began taking records, and added that it could not tell the difference between military juntas and democratically-elected leadership in Nigeria because no leader for the past 50 years did enough to improve the wellbeing of the people.
The organization said Nigerians deserve to live with dignity and to enjoy the right to due process of law, but sadly, they have non of it as perpetrators of injustice are not prosecuted.
Even if former president Goodluck Jonathan, whose administration was regarded by Nigerians as the best since the country gained its independence in 1960, wasn't able to earn a place in the good books of Amnesty International.
The statement by the organisation’s Country Director, Osai Ojigho, reads: “At 60, Amnesty International is geared to do more for the protection and promotion of human rights. The organisation will broaden its work in Nigeria to ensure that suspected perpetrators of human rights violations face justice, and that victims enjoy access to effective remedies.
“The organisation will continue to insist that authorities respect the rights of everyone. People deserve to live with dignity and to enjoy the right to due process of law. Our research work from 1967 shows a pattern of disregard for human rights. This must change.”
She said: “From the 1960s to date, the work of Amnesty International Nigeria shows that while some successes have been recorded in some areas like Child Rights Act and Anti-Torture Act, suspected perpetrators continue to enjoy a sense of impunity for human rights violations.
“Attacks by Boko Haram insurgents continue to pose danger to lives, as they now intensify attacks in Borno State and beyond. Failure to address violations by the military in the fight against Boko Haram has denied the hope of getting justice for hundreds of victims.
“Nigeria consistently failed to bring suspected perpetrators to justice. In most cases, victims of human rights violations hardly get justice. Failure to bring violators to justice is a stain on Nigeria’s image. Nigeria’s law enforcement and judicial system must be empowered to deliver justice.
“Not much has changed about human rights in Nigeria since 1967 and the concerns remain flagrant disregard for human rights, failure of authorities to protect the people, threats to human rights, including the right to freedom of expression, suppression of dissenting voices and lack of accountability.
“Incessant killings and the stunning failure of the authorities to end them and bring suspected perpetrators to justice have been and continues to be a threat to the right to life in Nigeria.
“From the days of military’s heavy-handed rule to the years of civil rule and up to today violation of human rights by both state actors and abuses by non-state actors continue to be matters of concern.”
The global organisation said Nigerians always resort to protest when their rights are breached, adding that the said space is now being appropriated by the authorities, which won’t still get the victims justice.
The statement reads in part: “Alarming escalation of attacks, abductions for ransom and frequent killings across Nigeria have left people feeling more unsafe, showing utter failure of the Nigerian authorities to protect lives and properties.
“Amnesty International started working on Nigeria on June 1 in 1967 with an intervention on the Nigerian civil war which ended in 1970. Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka was declared a prisoner of conscience, for being detained solely for his dissenting opinions. Between 1968 and 1969, the annual report documented and expressed concern over suspension of human rights in the context of the civil war.
“On April 10, 1978, six Nigerian students were killed and many were detained while protesting staggering increase in student fees. From then on Nigerian youths continued to face violent crackdown for exercising right to freedom of peaceful assembly. From June 12, 1993 pro-democracy protests, occupy Nigeria protest of 2012, to the #EndSARS protest of 2020 Nigerian authorities continue to violently repress peaceful protests."