Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, has warned law enforcement agents against arresting and prosecuting citizens without due diligence.
Fagbemi was speaking at the 17th Anniversary of Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) and Human Rights Annual Lecture on Thursday.
He warned that situations where people languish in detention cells beyond the time allowed under the constitution or by order of the courts, will no longer be tolerated and appropriate sanctions shall be meted out to those found guilty of contravening the laws of the land.
“I wish to remind our law enforcement agents that they must respect the laws of the land and not keep people in detention beyond a reasonable time as stipulated in Section 35 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999.
“Law enforcement agents must do due their diligence before arresting anyone. Situations where people are languishing in detention cells beyond the time allowed under the constitution or by order of the courts, will no longer be tolerated and appropriate sanctions shall be meted out to those found guilty of contravening the laws of the land.
“The government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will not condone any reprehensible action and as the chief law officer of this country, I will ensure no one tramples on the rights of another person,” he said.
The AGF, who said the theme of the lecture, ‘Any Nexus Between Political Leadership and Human Rights,” is both timely and pertinent, commended HURIWA for its tireless advocacy and defence of human rights in Nigeria.
Speaking on the Supreme Court’s ruling on financial autonomy for local government areas, Fagbemi said that for over two decades the third tier of government was almost crippled and all efforts by previous administrations to solve this problem were frustrated.
“But this administration under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu being conscious of the linkage of governance with security and human rights took the bold decision to approach the Supreme Court of Nigeria on this issue and that singular judgement of the apex court would not only improve governance at the local government level but would also significantly improve security and access to human rights.
“This intervention by the judiciary as well as the expeditious passage of the Minimum Wage Bill that was presented by the President to the National Assembly are also pointers to the fact that good governance can only be achieved through collaborations amongst the three arms of government,” he said.
Earlier, the National Coordinator of HURIWA, Emmanuel Onwubiko, said the event which brought to the fore human rights issue in the country, was to promote the well-being of Nigerians.
Onwubiko said promoting human rights would bring about good governance and tackle corruption that have resulted in insecurity and unemployment in the country.
Speaking further, the HURIWA boss called on President Tinubu to cut down cost of governance by jettisoning white elephant projects as well as adopting Oronsanye report on trimming down of government agencies..
“We appeal to the government to drastically cut down on the cost of governance. It is such an intolerable sense of judgement that the government embarks on white elephant projects such as the acquisition of a multi-billion naira mansion of over N20b for the Vice President in this time, that is over 133million households are going through rough and turmoil of multi-dimensional difficulty. While building such a massive mansion for the vice president when the country is the poverty capital of the world?,” he said.
He also commended President Tinubu for scaling up funding of the Nigerian military and urged the security agencies to reciprocate the gesture by upping their game.
In a remark, the chairman of the occasion and former Director General of the Federation, Osita Okechukwu, urged participants to leverage on various issues brought to the fore at the event to deepen good governance and human rights in the country.
In his paper presentation, the lead speaker and Deputy Vice Chancellor (Administration) of Gregory University, Professor Uwaoma Uche, tasked political leaders to ensure that the human rights of the citizens of Nigeria are strictly enforced.
The renowned don advocated the mainstreaming of human rights principles in the policy formulation by political leaders and by the legislators in the making of legislative frameworks.
The University teacher deplored the unprecedented rate of poverty and deprivation in Nigeria and has asked politicians to enforce the human rights provisions of chapter 4 of the Nigerian Constitution.
“Effective political leadership involves ensuring that human rights are not only recognized on paper but also upheld in practice. This includes promoting equality, non-discrimination, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, the right to a fair trial, and other fundamental rights and freedoms,” he said.
The event attracted prominent Nigerians including the Enugu State Labour Party governorship candidate in the 2023 election, Chijoke Endeoga, representatives of Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, the Director General of the National Youth Service Corps, Brigadier General YD Ahmed, the CEO of NDLEA, Brigadier-General Mohammed Buba-Marwa, amongst others.