Mandatory Question SSS Must Answer Within 14 Days Concerning The Death Or Alive Of Detained Zaky El-Zaky, Malama El-Zaky And Pro Biafra Campaigners
(Intersociety, Onitsha Nigeria, 15th January 2017)-The leadership of
International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law
(Intersociety) is deeply pained as it concerns Nigeria’s steady sink
to lawlessness and governance brigandage. Nigeria’s justice and
liberty governance and ethics have been so damaged that their recovery
from the catastrophic damage is practically a difficult task.
Sad too, is the fact that the country now witnesses the rise and
official institutionalization of criminal sainthood; where criminal
entities that have practically taken up arms against the Government
and People of Nigeria and massacred over 25,000 mostly religiously and
ethnically targeted Nigerians such as predominant Christian Ethnic
Nationalities of Igbo and others since 2009, are now governmentally
rewarded and seemed to have been enlisted for national merit awards;
whereas innocent citizens who non-violently assert their
constitutional and international rights to citizenship, development,
identity, worship and self determination, are labelled and treated
governmentally as “terrorists” and “treasonable felons”.
Just recently, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Tukur Yusuf Buratai was
quoted and heavily criticized for describing the Free Chibok Girls
Campaigners as Advocacy Terrorists and their campaign as Advocacy
Terrorism. As we speak, thousands of arrested Boko Haram suspects are
presidentially petted and treated as repentant Boko Haram members or
released in droves as “cleared Boko Haram suspects”; while scores of
innocent, nonviolent and defenceless Nigerians are being violently
attacked by SSS and clamped into incommunicado detention without trial
over spurious criminal allegations of “being terrorists” and
“treasonable felons”.
It is recalled that Major Gen Muhammadu Buhari (as he then was) had in
the dark hours of 31st December 1983 violently ousted the
democratically elected government of Alhaji Shehu Shagari and enacted
Decree No 2 of 1984, cited as the Nigerian State Security (Detention
of Persons) Decree No. 2 of 1984, which allowed for indefinite and
incommunicado detention of Nigerian citizens. The State Security
(Detention of Persons) Decree Number 2 of 1984 also suspended
indefinite the constitutional freedoms or Fundamental Human Rights
Chapter of the then 1979 civilian Constitution and empowered the chief
of staff, Supreme Headquarters, to detain indefinitely (subject to
review every three months) anyone suspected of "acts prejudicial to
state security or contributing to the economic adversity of the
nation." The Decree also authorized any police officer or a member of
the armed forces to arrest and detain such a person at will and
without trial.
The Buhari Administration has also technically suspended the
Fundamental Human Rights Chapter of the 1999 Constitution and taken
refuge in moribund and obnoxious legislations such as Section 27 of
the Terrorism Prevention Act of 2011 as amended in 2013 as well as the
moribund Decree No 2 of 1984 under which scores of innocent Nigerians
including the leader of Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), Ibrahim
Zaky El-Zaky, his wife, Malama Zeenatu and over a dozen nonviolent Pro
Biafra Campaigners and members of IPOB have been clamped into
incommunicado detention for several months without trial.
Under these obnoxious provisions which grossly run contrary and
inconsistent with Section 1 (3) (supremacy of the Constitution above
any other law) and Section 35 (4) (detention of citizens for whatever
alleged crimes not exceeding 60 days without bail and 90 days with
bail, but without court trial) of 1999 Constitution; innocent and
dissent voices are recklessly arrested by SSS, labelled “terrorists”
and clamped into incommunicado detention for several months without
trial and tortured severely in custody. All the citizens presently in
the SSS custody, drawn from IPOB and IMN have never used or advocated
violence. They were arrested in their sleep or shops or on transit.
The arrested citizens are routinely stigmatized and criminalized by
the State and its SSS and where any detained citizen is rarely
arraigned; he or she is expressly subjected to prosecutorial
vindictiveness or slammed with obnoxious and trumped up criminal
charges. Most of them are also arrested in their sleep, detained for
months after which roguish ex parte orders are sought and obtained to
further detain them for 90 additional days with limitless renewal upon
expiration of every three months until the investigation is concluded.
These the Buhari Administration and its SSS do under obnoxious Section
27 of the Terrorism Prevention Act of 2011 as amended in 2013, among
other questionable procedures and processes.
Court orders and other judicial pronouncements condemning detention of
citizens above 60 days and ordering for their unconditional release in
accordance with Section 35 (4) of the 1999 Constitution have been
flouted and disobeyed by the Buhari Administration and its SSS with
reckless abandon.
For instance, the leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, Ibrahim
Zaky El-Zaky and his wife, Malama Zeenatu are the longest serving
detainees without court trial in the history of democratic Nigeria or
since 1999. The Shiite leader and his wife have been held
incommunicado by SSS for over 13 months. They were shot and battered
by soldiers after a thousand of their followers were killed or went
missing between 12th and 14th December 2015 in Zaria, Kaduna State.
While the IMN leader had 18 bullets reportedly removed from his body,
his wife had four bullets removed from her body as well. It is feared
in some informed quarters as whether the IMN leader and his wife are
still alive or have died in SSS custody. Since they were shot half
dead by Lt Gen Tukur Buratai led Nigerian Army and taken into SSS
custody on 14th of December 2015, they have not been brought to public
or allowed access to be seen by their biological relatives.
13 nonviolent Pro Biafra Campaigners and members of the Indigenous
People of Biafra (IPOB) have also been arrested and detained
incommunicado by SSS for several months without trial in the ongoing
violent crackdown launched by the Buhari Administration and its SSS
against IPOB members particularly in the Southeast and the South-south
regions of Nigeria. The Buhari Administration also massacred over 250
of the group’s members and supporters and terminally shot and injured
over 300 others in over eight different locations in Anambra, Abia,
Delta and Rivers States between August 2015 and May 2016.
The names of the solitarily detained IPOB members are: (1) Citizen
Justice O. Udo. He was arrested by SSS in Port Harcourt, Rivers State
in the mid night of 13th July 2016 and thrown into indefinite
detention without trial till date; a period of over six months or 18
days. (2) Citizen Sunday Chukwuka Obasi was arrested by SSS in the
late night of 16th August 2016 in Nnewi, Anambra State; shot at his
two legs and thrown into indefinite detention without trial as at
December 2016; a period of over four months.
(3) Citizens Ikechukwu Ugwuoha, (4) Asochukwu Boniface Ugochukwu, (5)
Sunday J. Okafor, (6) Ekene Onuoha and (7) Joseph Okorie (Ogbuawa)
were arrested by SSS on 24th August 2016 at Ugba Junction, near Aba in
Abia State at about 7.30am on their way back from Kuje Prison (where
they had gone to see their leader, Nnamdi Kanu) and thrown into
indefinite detention without trial till date; a period of almost five
months each. (8) Citizen Bright Chimezie. He was arrested by Police in
Akwa Ibom State at business hours of 16th September 2016 and handed
over to the SSS, which took him into incommunicado detention without
trial till date; a period of four months. (9) Citizen Ndubuisi Arum
(High Chief Oko) was arrested by SSS in Aba, Abia State in October
2016 and detained incommunicado without trial till date; a period of
over three months.
(10) Citizen Eta Stephen Bassey is a 45yrs old Principal of the
Wisdom Child International School in Bokokiri area of Port Harcourt in
Rivers State. He is also the Financial Secretary of IPOB in Bundu
Unit Town Zone 1 of the organization in Rivers State and hails from
Abi Local Government Area of Cross River State. He was abducted by SSS
at the business hours of 3rd November 2016 around Victoria
Street/Aggrey Road area of Port Harcourt in Rivers State where he had
gone to buy “suya” meat and till date; a period of 72 days, he has
remained in solitary detention of the SSS. His mobile phone number as
released by his close associates is +2348034284857.
(11) Citizen Moses Agbo is a member of the Biafra Family Writers. He
was arrested by SSS on the Christmas Eve of December 2016 after he
visited Citizen Nnamdi Kanu in Kuje Prison and till date; a period of
21 days, he is still held incommunicado by the SSS without trial. (12)
Citizen Udochukwu Nelson, (13) Citizen Echeie Osten and (14) Citizen
Rose... were arrested at their market shops at the business hours of
13th January 2017 by SSS in Rumuola area of Port Harcourt in Rivers
State and they are still being held incommunicado as of today.
Information available at our advocacy disposal also clearly indicates
that all of the SSS detainees are gravely tortured to incriminate
themselves and confess to spurious allegations of their involvement in
“terrorism” and “treasonable felony”. Citizen Bright Chimezie, for
instance, is said to have had his two legs broken by his SSS torturers
in the Akwa Ibom State Directorate of the Service in Uyo.
All the circumstances, processes and procedures under which the above
named innocent Nigerians were arrested, accused, tortured and held
incommunicado are totally foreign, strange and unknown to the
provisions of the 1999 Constitution, the African Charter on Human and
Peoples Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights; all ratified by Nigeria in 1983 and 1993.
By Section 1(3) of the 1999 Constitution, the 1999 Constitution is
supreme, commander-in-chief and general overseer of all other laws in
Nigeria. By Section 35(4) of the 1999 Constitution, Section 27 of the
Terrorism Prevention Act of 2011 as amended in 2013 is dead and
buried; by virtue of its gross inconsistency with the said Section as
it concerns deadline for detention of citizens accused of whatever
crime in Nigeria. By Section 315 of the 1999 Constitution, all other
existing and newly created laws in Nigeria are mandatorily subject to
the provisions of the 1999 Constitution and shall be brought in tandem
and consistency by amendment or modifications with the provisions of
the 1999 Constitution. By Section 287(3) of the 1999 Constitution, the
decisions of the Federal High Court, the FCT High Court and the State
High Court shall be forced in any part of the Federation by all
authorities and persons and by other courts of law with subordinate
jurisdiction to that of the above named courts.
Instances of decided cases also abound. In a landmark judgment
delivered on 17th December 2015 by Hon Justice A.F.A Ademola of the
Abuja Division of the Federal High Court in Suit No FHC/ABJ/CS/873/15
(SSS v Nnamdi Kanu), the Judge while reversing his 10th November 2015
unconstitutional ex parte order for additional 90 days detention of
the Applicant (Nnamdi Kanu) for spurious allegations of “terrorism and
terrorism financing” by SSS held as follows:
....besides, there is no doubt that constitutional provisions remain
supreme and every citizen’s rights are strictly protected and
jealously guarded by Courts-see also Hassan v EFCC (supra). For the
period spanning over two months, the Applicant (Nnamdi Kanu) remained
in Respondent (SSS)’s custody. The Applicant is yet to be charged
formally of all terrorism suspicion before a Court of competent
jurisdiction.
From the foregoing, therefore, this Court holds that: (a) the
Respondents are not ready to grant the Applicant bail as per the Order
of the Chief Magistrate Court; (b) the Respondents lack enough
material to prosecute the Applicant; (c) the Respondents are yet to
make up their mind on the Applicant.
Therefore, whilst the Respondents are pondering on their next steps,
this Court holds that the Applicant’s detention for more than two
months in Respondent’s custody without filing charges before a Court
of competent jurisdiction on suspected crime is contrary to Section
35(4) of the 1999 Constitution.
The Applicant (Nnamdi Kanu) is hereby released unconditionally
pursuant to Section 35 (4) of the 1999 Constitution and in view of the
Respondent’s admission that there is no pending charge against the
Applicant. This landmark judgment was not only flouted and disobeyed
by the SSS, but also the Nigerian Army at the Onitsha Bridgehead in
Anambra State shot and killed over ten innocent citizens and wounded
scores of others in protest.
Similarly on 1st December 2016, another Abuja Division of the Federal
High Court, presided over by Hon Justice Gabriel Kolawole declared the
continued detention of the leader of IMN, Ibrahim El-ZakyZaky and his
wife, Malama Zeenatu without court trial as unconstitutional and
ordered for their unconditional release within 45 days as well as
payment of monetary compensation amounting to N25Million each to Malam
Zaky El-Zaky and his wife, Malama Zeenatu.
The duo had been in solitary detention without trial since 14th of
December 2015. They were shot severally at close range by Nigerian
Army and a total of 22 live bullets were reportedly removed from their
bodies: 18 bullets from Malam El-Zaky’s body and four from his
wife-Zeenatu. It is unclear whether they are still alive or dead in
SSS custody. Today marks the expiration of the 45 days judicial order
for their unconditional release and as expected, it is again flouted
and disobeyed by SSS.
Yesterday being 14th January 2017 marked 390 days or 13 months since
Malam ZakyZaky and his wife Malama Zeenatu were taken into SSS custody
and detained incommunicado without trial. This is unheard of in the
history of democratic Nigeria or since 1999. Citizen Nnamdi Kanu and
Citizen Dave Nwawuisi have also marked 450 days or 15 months in
solitary detention yesterday having been arrested by SSS on 14th
October 2015. Citizen Benjamin Madubugwu had also marked 18 months or
540 days in solitary detention having been arrested since July 2015.
The trio of Kanu, Nwawuisi and madubugwu have remained at pre-trial
proceedings or detained without bail till date.
We are therefore compelled to add our advocacy voice to that of the
Legal Defense team of Citizen Nnamdi Kanu and ors who disclosed in the
open Court on 10th January 2017 that “nine IPOB members who visited
Nnamdi Kanu in Kuje Prison have been killed by SSS after they were
arrested and taken into its custody”. This is in addition to the fact
that Citizens Justice O. Udo, Sunday Chuks Obasi, Ikechukwu Ugwuoha,
Asochukwu Boniface Ugochukwu, Sunday Okafor, Ekene Onuoha, Joseph
Okorie, Bright Chimezie, Ndubuisi Arum and Eta Stephen Bassey have
been solitarily held dead or alive by SSS for several months after
they were arrested and detained without trial. Since the dates of
their arrest, their families, lawyers and physicians have been denied
access to them.
Consequently, the authorities of the SSS are hereby called upon to
produce publicly and bodily alive the named solitary detainees in its
custody including Malam Ibrahim Zaky El-Zaky and his wife-Malama
Zeenatu. Their public presentation must be covered by the trio of
dependent and independent print, visual/audio visual and online media.
The solitary detainees, who must include all the 13 detained IPOB
members, must not only be publicly and bodily produced, but also be
made to speak to Nigerians independently and coherently in live media
coverage.
These the SSS must do within two weeks; otherwise all Nigerians
including this Organization shall have cogent reasons to conclude that
some or all of them including the detained Islamic cleric and his wife
have been killed by SSS in its custody as alleged. We also demand for
immediate and unconditional release of all 13 detained Pro Biafra
Campaigners and the leader of Shiite Muslim and his wife.
As we have repeatedly demanded, the SSS and the Buhari Administration
must end violent crackdown on nonviolent Pro Biafra Campaigners and
members of the Shiite Muslim Community. Such huge State energies and
resources being wasted in persecuting Pro Biafra Campaigners and
Shiite Muslims shall be adequately channelled towards the terrorist,
felonious and genocidal activities of Boko Haram and Fulani terrorists
that killed over 2000 innocent citizens in 2016 alone.
Note: The attached pictures are: 1 Citizen Ekene Onuoha, 2 Asochukwu
Boniface, 3 Bright Chimezie, 4 Moses Agbo, 5 Justice O. Udo, 6 Ugwuoha
Ikechukwu, 7 Sunday Okafor and 8 Ndubuisi Arum (High Chief Oko).
Signed:
Emeka Umeagbalasi, Board Chairman
International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law (Intersociety)
Call Line: +2348174090052
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.intersociety-ng.org
Obianuju Joy Igboeli, Esq.
Head, Civil Liberties & Rule of Law Program
Call Line: +2348180771506