Echotitbits – Nigeria News

Tag: Human Rights Violation

  • #EndSARS: Governor Abiodun Set Up Judicial Panel, Human Righs Complaints Portal

    #EndSARS: Governor Abiodun Set Up Judicial Panel, Human Righs Complaints Portal

    •   State sets up forensic lab for police investigations
    • Allocate ₦50m as start up funds for victims compensation

    Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, Friday appointed Justice Solomon Olugbemi (retired) as Chairman of the Judicial Panel of Investigation on alleged cases of Police brutalities against citizens of the State.

    The appointment was in line with the resolution of the National Economic Council at its meeting on Thursday.

    The virtual meeting presided over by the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osibanjo, with State Governors participating directed each State Governor in consultation with relevant Federal Agencies to take charge of interaction with #EndSARS protesters, and as much as possible address their legitimate concerns.

    The National Economic Council (NEC) also directed each State to set up Victims Support Fund to “enable payment of monetary compensations to deserving victims” of such alleged brutalities.

    The Governors are also expected to set up Special Security and Human Rights Committees as well as Human Rights Complaint Offices in their respective State.

    Following these directives Governor Dapo Abiodun in a statement issued in Abeokuta gave the list of members of each of the committees and their mandates as follows:

    Judicial Panel of Investigation

    ​Hon Justice Solomon Olugbemi (rtd) – Chairman

    Members:
    • Comrade Olayinka Folarin, Chairman, Ogun State Coalition of Civil Societies

    • Ms Omonajevwe Janet Abiri, International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA)

    • DIG Babatunde Ogunyanwo (rtd)

    • Comrade AbdulJabar Ayelagbe, Chairman, National Youth Council, Ogun State Chapter

    • Comrade Bamgbose Tomiwa, NANS Chairman, Ogun State

    • Ms Aisekegbe Momodu, National Human Rights Commission, Ogun State

    • Mrs. Oluwatosin T. Ogundele – Chief State Counsel, Ministry of Justice, will serve as Secretary

    The Committee is to receive and investigate complaints of Police brutality, human rights violations or related extra-judicial killings; evaluate evidence presented and recommend compensation and other remedial measures, where appropriate.

    Special Security and Human Rights Committee

    • Prince Dapo Abidoun, MFR, Governor of Ogun State ​​-Chairman

    • Heads of the security agencies in the State;

    • Head of any special tactical unit of the Police in the State charged with fighting armed robbery and other violent crimes;

    • Babatunde Adeluola, representing the youth
    Representing the civil society are:

    • Mrs. Peju Osoba of Child First Welfare International, and

    • Comrade Obatungashe Israel Adebayo, Deputy National President, Campaign for Democracy (CD).

    This Committee is charged, amongst others, with the task of ensuring the protection of the rights of citizens by all security and law enforcement agencies; monitor the prosecution of any officer indicted by the Presidential Panel on Police Reforms and entertain complaints of human rights violations from the State’s Human Rights Complaints Office.

    Human Rights Complaints Office:

    • Joseph Ogunniyi, Esq – Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association, Ota Branch – Ombudsman

    • Mr. Bamidele Adebayo, Director, Department of Citizens Rights, Ministry of Justice

    • Mr. Shodeinde Oluwaponmile, Ogun State Coordinator, National Human Rights Commission.

    The Committee will facilitate easy access of complainants to prompt attention and assistance and give regular reports to the Special Security and Human Rights Committee for action.

    Victims’ Support Fund:
    A seed fund of Fifty Million Naira only (N50m) has been set aside as start-up amount to enable payment of monetary compensation to deserving victims.

    In addition to the above initiatives agreed at the National Economic Council meeting, the Governor announced the setting up of Ogun State Human Rights Complaints Reporting Portal that will be accessible to all citizens of Ogun State to upload documentary and audio / video evidence of cases of abuse.

    He also added that Ogun State will be establishing a Forensic Laboratory to aid and support police investigations and crime scene management.

    Furthermore, the State will invest in the continuous training of police officers on investigation best practices, community policing and intelligence gathering.

    The statement added that Gov Abiodun reiterated his Government’s commitment to the protection of human lives and properties. The Governor appealed to protesters to bring an end to the protests and allow a return to normalcy to give room for the implementation of government interventions, especially as the federal government has acceded to their demands whilst the state government has taken full responsibility for the implementation by taking these deliberate and practical steps and actions.

    The Governor assured citizens that the committees need to be allowed a chance to activate measures to end human rights violations and compensate victims of previous abuses.

    The Committees will be inaugurated this week.

  • CAMA: Take over of Churches, NGOs violates human rights – Femi Falana

    CAMA: Take over of Churches, NGOs violates human rights – Femi Falana

    Human Rights Lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana has condemned a section of the 30year old Company and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) recently signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari, stipulating the power of a supervising Minister to remove the Board of Trustees of Churches without recourse to the court.

    The erudite lawyer joined other prominent Nigerians who have criticised the section that sought to regulate Churches and Non Government Organizations (NGOs) in his contribution, as reported by thenigerialawyer.com, to discussions facilitated by a group known as Friends of TheNews, which held on WhatsApp messaging platform.

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    Echotitbits gathered from the report that Falana noted that although, the law isn’t completely new, the addition thereof is nonetheless a violation of the fundamental human rights to freedom of association enshrined in the Nigerian constitution.

    File photo: Human Rights Lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN).

    “I have read the law. It was badly drafted. A government that set out to facilitate the ease of doing business could not have come up with a 604-page business law (CAMA 2020).”

    “But it is not a completely new law. Registered NGOs were regulated in the past in line with the practice in all democratic societies. The only addition which is objectionable is the power conferred on the commission to take over and manage NGOs on allegations of misconduct. It is illegal because it is a violation of the fundamental right to freedom of association guaranteed by section 40 of the Constitution”, Falana emphasised.

    On Sunday, August 16, 2020, presiding Bishop of the Living Faith Church Worldwide, David Oyedepo vehemently rejected the section of the CAMA law pertaining to taking over administration of Churches.

    File photo: Founder and Presiding Bishop of Living Faith Church Worldwide (a.k.a, Winners Chapel), David Oyedepo.

    Oyedepo, during his sermon and before his hundreds of congregation questioned the rationale behind the inclusion of religious centres and charity organisations into the Company and Allied Matters Acts (CAMA) that states that:

    “The commission may by order, suspend the trustees of an association or a religious body and appoint an interim manager or managers to coordinate its affairs where it reasonably believes that there has been any misconduct or mismanagement, or where the affairs of the association are being run fraudulently or where it is necessary or desirable for the purpose of public interest.”

    The very vocal cleric stated that the decision, which others described as an attempt to gag the church, was “borne out of jealousy of the church’s growth”.

    Oyedepo went on to argue that: “The church works on the pattern delivered by God not the pattern of man. The government has no power to appoint people over churches. This is a secular nation. The church is the greatest asset of God in this country. Please be warned. Judgment is coming. The Lord says I have been still but now I will arise.

    “Anybody that is in this deal is taking poison. This will never work. I am waiting for a day when anybody will appoint a trustee over this Church… You can’t gag anybody. We own this country together. It is only in Africa that people who are over 80 years still run around to become president. I know that it is the prosperity of the church that is making them jealous. But I am going to live to see an army of many winners soar greater. In this church shall emerge one of the largest concentrations of giants on earth”, Oyedepo said.

    Also interesting in the submissions of people who participated in the discussions facilitated by Friends of TheNews group.

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    According to thenigerialaw.com, a veteran journalist and former Associate Editor at The Guardian, Lade Bonuola, who was part of the discourse “forwarded a contribution from another platform to enrich the thread”.

    The thread reported to have been forwarded by Lade Bonuola below:

    “If you guys know the amount of things hidden in that 604 pages of the new Companies Act, you’ll start weeping. The Corporate Affairs Commisson has just been made a monster. You see that NIPOST regulation fixing N20m as licensing fee? That is small stuff compared to what CAC will do.

    The sector that will be worst hit are the churches, mosques, charity organisations, schools, NGOs etc. The CAC can now arbitrarily remove and replace the “owners” or leaders of these organisations. Also, CAC can convert/take over the monies in their bank accounts.

    Every sector will be hit. In the old Act, small fees were clearly prescribed for certain things.E.g, the Act may say if you fail to do XYZ, you’ll pay N50 for each day of default.The new Act has removed all those meagre fees & gives CAC power to make regulations prescribing fees.

    Online vendors who operate under a business name other than their government names, are now risking conviction in court if they don’t register their business names with CAC.

    The most damning revelation from my review so far is that, a private organisation has been written into the new Companies Act and has been emboldened through the back door to:

    1. generate revenue; and
    2. regulate an aspect of law practice, accountancy etc.

    The private org is Business Recovery and Insolvency Practitioners of Nigeria (BRIPAN). S. 705(C) of the new CAMA requires that to qualify as insolvency practitioner,you must be a lawyer/accountant AND a member of BRIPAN. On BRIPAN website, membership fee ranges from N90k – N250k.

    BRIPAN is not a chartered institute (like ICAN, ICSAN, CIPM) or a statutory body. It is a private association formed by private citizens. Remember how Lagosians fought against Alpha Beta being written into the Lagos Land Use Charge Law (albeit unsuccessfuly)?

    In similar fashion, some people have successfully slipped in BRIPAN (a private organisation) into an Act of the National Assembly and the President has signed it into law. How did our law makers not see this while deliberations on the bill were ongoing?

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    Another curious provision in the new CAMA is S. 851 which empowers CAC to now act as a ‘court’ or tribunal of some sort. So if CAC imposes fees on your small business, before you can go to court to challenge those fees, you must first appear before CAC panel & make your case.

    The panel is made up of guess who? Registrar General of CAC, 5 officers of CAC & someone from the Ministry of Trade & Investment, which is the Ministry overseeing the CAC. In effect, the CAC is now a Prosecutor & Judge in its own case. Goodluck if you have a case against CAC.

    One of the narratives touted by the govt regarding this new law is that, it’ll aid ease of doing business. While I agree that on face value,some sections of the law will aid this,I am simply drawing our attention to other sections which will become a clog & make things difficult.

    Another narrative is that, with this new law, you wont need a lawyer to either incorporate a business or carry out many post incorporation activities as you can do them yourself. Truth is, many lawyers will grapple with this new law. If this is so, what are your chances as a layman?”, the thread, according to thenigerialawyer.com read.