Bottom of page                                                                                                               
NEWS & EVENTS:


HURIWA Demands FG’S Action On Kidnapping, Organized Crime

Huriwa Faults President Yar’adua On ASUU Strike, Demands Sack Of Education Minister;

Huriwa Condemns Life Sentence for 27 Soldiers

Huriwa Alleges FG’S Systematic Dismissal of Women in Government

Huriwa Asks Federal Government To Reject UK’S Prisoners’ Exchange Proposal
 
Home
About us
News & Events
Media Publication
Membership
Photos Album
Contact Us
 
   
___------___          HURIWA ALLEGES FG’S SYSTEMATIC DISMISSAL OF WOMEN IN GOVERNMENT  ___------____


HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA, HURIWA, a development focused non-Governmental Organization has on Sunday raised alarm that a pattern of systematic shoving aside and deliberate dismissal of Nigerian women holding high profile Federal appointments and their replacement with men by the President Umaru Musa Yar’adua-led administration has emerged even as it called for the suspension of Nigeria from the United Nations Human Rights Council following Nigerian Government’s persistent interference with the running of the Nigerian Human Rights Commission in flagrant violation of the enabling law governing the institution.
The Rights Group in a statement endorsed by its National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko called for the immediate halt of the deliberate and systematic and well coordinated removal of top Nigerian women public office holders by the current administration because of reasons that are nebulous, logically untenable, puerile and unconstitutional even as it called on the Nigerian Bar Association, the National Council of Women Societies and the Federation of Women Lawyers in Nigeria to protest this emerging pattern of systematic elimination of women in political offices which according to the Rights Group violates Nigeria’s adoption and domestication of various United Nations Human Rights covenants, treaties and the African Peoples and Human Rights Charter which prohibits all discriminatory practices against women.
HURIWA which states that the recent dismissal of the Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises [BPE] Mrs. Irene Chigbue, Executive Secretary of the National Anti-Human Trafficking Agency [NAPTIP] Mrs. Carol Ndaguba, Executive Secretary of National Human Rights Commission [NHRC] Mrs. Kehinde Ajoni and the unpopular removal of the Director General of the National Agency for Food administration and Control [NAFDAC] Professor Dora Akunyili and their replacement with men through less than dignified and transparent methods constitute a gross violation of section 42[1] [a] and [b] of the 1999 constitution of the federal Republic of Nigeria which abolishes discrimination in appointment on the basis of gender. HURIWA has therefore called on the Federal Government to expedite action to pass the United Nations Convention Against all Discrimination of Women [CEDAW] after some modifications and safeguards to protect Nigerian indigenous culture that are humane.
According to the Rights Group; ‘’The pattern of systematically removing women from their positions where they are doing so well for the society and their replacement with men especially in jobs where women are best suited for like the Anti-human Trafficking Agency is reprehensible, condemnable and must be halted now before serious damage is done to the much publicized decision of the current administration to respect the United Nations affirmative action provisions by ensuring equitable representation of women in Government. It is unfortunate that at a time that a huge national debate is ongoing on how the Government can fulfil her solemn pledge to respect the Beijing United Nations conference on gender equity in political appointment and at a time that women constitute less than two percent in the Federal Executive Council of President Umaru Musa Yar’adua and less than five percent in the National Assembly, that the Government embarked on deliberate and systematic elimination of women from public offices and their replacement through unconstitutional means with men. Government ought to be reminded that the World will not take it serious whenever it mouths principle of rule of law and at the same time undermine subsisting laws governing some institutions like the National Human Rights Commission’’.

 
   
  HURIWA FAULTS PRESIDENT YAR’ADUA ON ASUU STRIKE, DEMANDS SACK OF EDUCATION MINISTER;
   
 
HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA, HURIWA, a development focused and democracy inclined non-Governmental organization has faulted President Umaru Musa Yar’adua’s Ramadan message in which he singled out the members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities [ASUU] for blame over the perennial and incessant industrial actions in the public University system and demanded public apologies from the federal Government to Nigerians for the insensitivity displayed so far by Federal officials towards the plight of public school system including the minister of education Sam Egwu who went partying when the public universities were still on strike.
The Rights Group instead asked the President to sack his minister of Education Sam Egwu for dereliction of duty and his deceptive approach to the negotiation with the striking lecturers which culminated in the unilateral and unfortunate withdrawal of the Federal Government’s negotiation team from collective negotiations with the Academic Staff Union of Universities. The Rights Group blamed the federal minister of education for endangering the future of the Nigerian children in the public school system by his non-challant and incompetent approach to the issues in the current ongoing conflict with the University dons.
Specifically, President Umaru Musa Yar’adua had as part of his message to the Muslem faithful all across Nigeria to mark the commencement of the 2009 holy fasting season demanded that ‘’in the spirit of the glorious season, let me also appeal to our university lecturers to go back to classrooms, certain they can always pursue their claims without resorting to endless strikes that have over the years put the future of our children in jeopardy’’.
But the Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, in a statement by its National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, faulted the President’s comment and laid the blame on the doorsteps of the Federal Government for showing bad faith by its refusal to sign the agreement reached democratically with the members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities [ASUU] eight years ago even as the group stated that the current administration has not demonstrated any willingness to resuscitate and rehabilitate the rapidly collapsing infrastructures in the nation’s public university school system apparently because the Children of the officials of the Federal Government are all schooling abroad while the children of the heavily impoverished Nigerian families are left to their fate in the dilapidated public university school system. The rights group urged the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities [ASUU] to make good its’ recent threat to publish names of federal and state Government officials whose children are schooling abroad.
HURIWA canvassed support for the striking University lecturers from all Nigerians because the ongoing strike action which is legal is aimed at bringing about fundamental improvement and the comprehensive upgrading of facilities and payment of commensurate salary package to the university teachers who for now earn less than elected and appointed political office holders some of whom possess little or no significant academic qualifications compared to the lecturers who labour daily to train the Nigerian children who are the leaders of tomorrow. The Rights Group asked the Federal Government to stop the massive blackmail and propaganda it is waging against the striking university teachers and work out much more democratic ways of resolving the crisis in Nigeria’s public educational system.
HURIWA stated thus; ‘’Come to think of it, why will the President appeal to the university lecturers to go back to the classrooms but is not prepared to sanction his minister of education who has manifestly handled the ongoing industrial action of the university teachers in the most deceptive and incompetent ways and manners? Why will President Umaru Musa Yar’adua blame the lecturers for jeopardizing the future of the Nigerian children because they embarked on constitutionally allowed strike action to press home the demands that will better the future of our children when the facilities in the public university system are upgraded? The president should channel his blame to his officials who have persistently misinformed and misadvised him on the strategies for ending the strike action in the Nigerian public university system’’.
‘’What the President has achieved with this comment on the ongoing strike in the nation’s university system is that he has behaved like a father who flogged the living hell out of his child and seeks to stop him through propaganda from crying aloud to the hearing of neighbours. The federal Government must end the ongoing blackmail against the striking university lecturers and resume normal negotiations in the spirit of collective bargaining to collectively sign an agreement before asking that the lecturers should end their strike’’.
   
 
___-------___     HURIWA DEMANDS FG’S ACTION ON KIDNAPPING, ORGANIZED CRIME     ___-----____
   

+ DEMAND RELEASE OF ACTOR PETE EDOCHIE BY KIDNAPPERS,

HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA, HURIWA, a development focused and democracy inclined Non-Governmental organization has condemned the continuous rise in organized crime especially violent abduction and kidnapping of some prominent Nigerians and the inability of all security agents in the country to tackle the ugly incidence just as it tasked the Federal Government to set up a joint military and police task force to be composed of some of the best trained operatives in intelligence gathering to implement far-reaching workable measures to check the trend of kidnapping across the country.
The group canvassed constitutional amendments by the National Assembly to include provisions for the creation of community police and other vigilante groups made up of persons of untainted characters to operate at the rural areas to assist the Federal police and other law enforcement agents with the duty of preventing the occurrence of organized crime and where necessary to arrest and hand over suspected criminals to the Nigeria police for prosecution in the court of competent jurisdiction.
HURIWA in a media release endorsed by its National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko also charged the newly appointed Inspector General of Police Ogbonna Onovo to introduce training programmes on intelligence gathering and anti-kidnapping law enforcement mechanisms for operatives of the Nigeria Police as an effective way of tackling the expanding problem of kidnapping in the country. The group called on the Federal Government to adequately fund the training and re-training of operatives of the Nigeria Police and to view poverty among the Nigerian youths as a grave threat to national security and introduce pragmatic and transparently implemented youth economic empowerment programmes and projects across the country.
The human rights group which specifically mentioned the unprecedented rise in poverty among the majority of the Nigerian youths coupled with unemployment, collapsing public educational system and the ostentatious lifestyles of elected and appointed public office holders across the country as being the factors responsible for the unprecedented rise in social crime, charged the Federal Government to demonstrate more practical commitment and determination to implement comprehensive measures to redress these social crises indicators.
The group specifically condemned the recent kidnapping of the popular actor and film maker Mr. Pete Edochie by some yet to be identified armed gangs at the Weekend and called on the abductors to free him unconditionally because of his immense entertainment value and tremendous contribution to the advancement of Africa’s cultural values.
The Nollywood star actor Pete Edochie was kidnapped at Afor-Nkpor in the Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State on Sunday August 16th 2009 on his way back from official engagement in Asaba, Delta State even as three people were allegedly shot dead by the armed gang because they attempted to foil the kidnap of the popular movie maker who has also used his immense talents to condemn the rise in poverty in Nigeria and also called for a better Nigerian society in more than one thousand films produced locally in which he acted as star performer. Anambra State commissioner of police Mr. Uzor Amakulor who confirmed the incident told journalist that the police operatives have recovered the actor’s sport utility vehicle from which he was abducted by the armed gang.
HURIWA stated that the growing incidence of kidnapping and other organized crimes that go undetected and uncontrolled by all the publicly funded security agents in the Country is an indictment of the current Federal administration of president Umaru Musa Yar’adua as being incapable of providing the constitutionally mandated duty of safeguarding the security of lives and property of citizens as enshrined in section 14[2][b] which states that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary duty of Government and the fundamental rights provisions enshrined in chapter four of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Government, it said, must act fast before further deterioration of the state of Nigeria’s national security.
    
_______--------______         HURIWA CONDEMNS LIFE SENTENCE FOR 27 SOLDIERS          ______--------______
   


HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA, HURIWA, a development focused and democracy inclined non-Governmental Organization has on Tuesday condemned in very resolute terms, the sentencing to life terms’ imprisonment for twenty seven of the twenty eight soldiers standing trial on alleged mutiny charges at the 323 Army Artillery Regiment, Owena Barrack, Akure, Ondo State in a military court martial presided over by Brigadier-General Ishaya Baukat even as the Rights Group stated that the trial process amounted to a gross abuse of section 36 of the 1999 constitution and the entire chapter four of the 1999 constitution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the African Peoples and Human Rights charter because of the trial’s manifest lack of fair hearing and abuse of due process.
The soldiers were arraigned before the military court martial following their protest on July 5th 2008 over non-payment of foreign mission allowances after serving in the peace keeping mission in the former war torn Liberia between August 2007 and April 2008. The now convicted soldiers made up of one sergeant, three corporals, twelve lance corporals and eleven privates including three ladies, were drawn from different military formations across the country for the peace keeping operation. The protest started when the soldiers were informed that the funds available would not be enough for the payment of their statutory allowances and that they should take what was available as the balance would be paid the following week. The Nigerian military hierarchy embarrassed by their public protest arrested and charged them before the military court martial over alleged mutiny.
HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA, HURIWA, which has consistently criticised the trial of the embattled soldiers because it amounted to the denial of the fundamental Human Rights of peaceful assembly and freedom of speech as guaranteed under the chapter four of the 1999 constitution which is the supreme body of law in operation and binding on all authorities and persons in Nigeria, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the African Human and Peoples Rights charter which has been domesticated in Nigeria as a local law asserted in a media release endorsed and made available to journalists by its National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko that the sentencing of the Nigerian soldiers to life imprisonment was arbitrary and should not be allowed to stand the test of time because of its manifest injustice and unfairness to the soldiers who were not offered fair hearing. The Rights Group stressed that the public comment of the president of the military court martial during the course of the trial amounted to biased judgement because the author of the judgment had a pre-conceived idea that the soldiers brought before him for trial were guilty as charged even before the conclusion of the trial process.
The Rights Group questioned why Nigerian citizens in a democratic set up are not allowed the inherent rights to freedom of peaceful assembly to protest an imminent threat to defraud them by their superiors after they undertook an international peace keeping mission? When has it become a crime for Nigerians who are at the verge of been defrauded and they decide in their common good to become whistle blowers? it stated. The media statement averred that; ‘’HURIWA is of the opinion that the twenty seven soldiers should rather be paid their entitlement and the officers responsible for the delay should be charged for alleged financial indiscretion. The soldiers also deserve national apology for subjecting them to dehumanizing treatment after they had successfully done our nation proud in a foreign land as peace keepers’’.
HURIWA appealed to President Umaru Musa Yar’adua in the spirit of the principle of the rule of law to order the immediate release of the so-called convicted twenty seven soldiers and also order that all their legal financial allowances be offered them without further delay because anything contrary will discourage other soldiers from sacrificing their lives and resources on peace keeping missions around the global community.

  
 
__----__     HURIWA ASKS FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO REJECT UK’S PRISONERS’ EXCHANGE PROPOSAL    __----__
   

HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA, HURIWA, a development focused Non-Governmental Organization has Yesterday asked the Federal Government to reject the recently proposed prisoners’ exchange programme of the United Kingdom’s foreign and commonwealth office[FCO] whereby some eight hundred Nigerian-born but British based and convicted prisoners could be transferred to serve out their terms in Nigerian prisons.
Recently, national dailies in Nigeria reported that the United Kingdom is desperate to repatriate over eight hundred Nigerian prisoners serving various terms in British prison facilities for sex, drug, immigration and other minor offences. Specifically, the United Kingdom’s foreign and commonwealth office [FCO] recently invited some Nigerian Federal legislators and the Comptroller-General of Nigeria Prison service with the sole aim of hastening the prisoners’ exchange. The Nigerian delegation was led by the senate committee Chairman on Interior Mr. Olalekan Mustapha [from Ogun East Senatorial zone on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party].
The Rights Group in a media statement endorsed by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and made available to Newsmen condemned the attempt by the British officials to coerce their Nigerian counterparts to accede to the Prisoners’ exchange programme even without the necessary legal framework and of course without the consent of the Nigerians detained in the respective British Prison facilities for offences they committed in the course of their stay in the United Kingdom.
HURIWA stated that the plot by the British Government to surreptitiously and cleverly convince the Nigerian Government with phantom promises of handsome financial lifeline in order for Nigeria to accede to the UK’s prisoners’ exchange proposal in the shortest possible time ought to be rejected because quiet apart from the abundant facts that going ahead with the prisoners’ exchange violates the subsisting law in the United Kingdom which requires as a matter of necessity that prisoners serving their terms of conviction in any of the United Kingdoms’ prison facilities must offer voluntary consent before they could be transferred to another jurisdiction or country. The Rights Group also stated that the subsisting law in Nigeria regarding the operations of the Nigeria Prisons does not allow for Prisoners convicted in foreign jurisdictions to serve out their terms in Nigeria.
HURIWA stated thus; ‘’ We in the Human Rights community in Nigeria reject in totality, the sinister plot by the United Kingdom’s Foreign and Commonwealth office to use Nigeria as the dumping ground for prisoners who allegedly commit offences in Britain instead of allowing them to serve out their terms in the country where such offences were committed in the first place. Will the United Kingdom also freely transfer to Nigeria’s treasury all the taxes paid into the British treasury by the hundreds of thousands of credible Nigerian expatriate workers who are working so hard to develope the economy of the United Kingdom? Why should the United Kingdom pick and chose the type of burden to transfer to Nigeria because of their internal economic constraints?’’
The Rights Group reminded the Nigerian authority that going ahead with the UK’s proposal on the prisoners’ exchange will violate the Nigerian Prison Act and section 12 of the 1999 constitution which makes it mandatory that the National Assembly’s consent and approval must be obtained before any bilateral agreement between Nigeria and another country could validly be passed. HURIWA also warned that the terrible inhumane condition of the prison facilities in Nigeria will invariably lead to discontent and possible prisoners’ revolt should the Nigerian and United Kingdom’s Government go ahead with the illegal prisoners’ exchange even as Nigeria could face several cases of Human Rights violations by the Nigerian British based prisoners’ if they are repatriated without their democratic and voluntary consent.
                                     Go back   Go to Top  >  Photos  Gallary  > go to home page  >  contact >  membership form
   
©Copy right 2008 Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria.
Powered by: Abison World of Creative