Federal Govt Claims Amnesty International lied in its report

THE Federal Government, yesterday, described as arrant falsehood, the recent report by Amnesty International which rated Nigeria very high among countries that have made torture a common investigative technique.
Amnesty International had in the report, alleged that security agencies in the country usually torture and inflict injuries on suspects within their custody.
Debunking the report, Chairman of the National Committee Against Torture, Dr. Samson Ameh, SAN, said that it had became necessary to “disabuse the minds of Nigerians and the international community on the wrong information being peddled by Amnesty International about Nigeria. The report was deliberately negative.”
Addressing journalists in Abuja, Dr. Ameh, maintained that Nigeria was a signatory to the United Nations’ Convention against torture, adding that the Federal Government had equally ratified the optional protocol of the UN Convention against torture.
Ahmed said, “The protocol enjoins countries that have ratified the convention to establish national torture prevention mechanism. Soon after the ratification, Nigeria constituted the National Committee Against Torture as its national torture prevention mechanism. Nigeria has been consistently taking steps to make sure that torture is eliminated in this country. This was why the National Committee Against Torture which was inaugurated on September 28, 2009, by the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, with a membership that cuts across all sectors of the society.”
Besides, he noted that the committee’s terms of reference included to, “Receive and consider communications on torture from individuals, civil society organizations and government institutions as well as visit to all places of detention in Nigeria and promptly, impartially examine any allegation of torture therein.”
The committee, according to him, was made up of nineteen members including the Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission, Prof. Bem Angwe, former Director General of the National Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Prof. Epiphany Azinge, Olawale Fapohunda, Mrs. Rhona N. Dimude, Mrs. O. O. Fatunde, Mrs. Joy Bob-Manuel, a representative of the Inspector General of Police, among others.
Ameh said his committee had visited several prisons and detention centres across the country, saying they had also made recommendations to the federal government on the need to quickly arrest the dilapidated condition of prisons in Nigeria. He said there was need for government to build more prisons as a way of addressing the problem of prison congestion. “More courts should be built and judges appointed to fast track justice delivery in the country”, he added.

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Breaking News : Northern leaders back FG deal with Boko Haram over kidnapped Chibok Schoolgirls

Chibok Girls

As the Federal Government explores ways of rescuing the girls seized by terrorists from their school in Chibok, Borno State, over a month ago, two northern groups have said that there is nothing wrong with the plan by the government to negotiate with the insurgents in order to free the captives.

Chairman of the Northern Elders Council, NEC, Alhaji Tanko Yakassi, and the National Coordinator of Northern Politicians, Academics, Professionals and Businessmen, NPAPB, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, in separate interviews with Vanguard yesterday, threw their weight behind the plan by the Federal Government to dialogue with the sect in a bid to free the more than 200 girls in its custody.
Meanwhile, President Goodluck Jonathan has rejected the idea of a swap of Boko Haram prisoners for the schoolgirls, Britain’s Minister for Africa said after talks with him in Abuja, yesterday.
“He made it very clear that there would be no negotiations with Boko Haram that involved a swap of abducted schoolgirls for prisoners,” Mark Simmonds told a news conference.
The northern leaders, who are delegates to the ongoing National Conference, said the Federal Government had no option than to negotiate in good faith with the sect to return the children to their parents and end their agony.
He said: “As far as we are concerned, discussion with the group is a step in the right direction. There is no substitute to dialogue. What we want in this country is peace.”
The leader of NPAPB, Mohammed, said that despite the provocation by Boko Haram, the Federal Government should seize the offer made by the sect and dialogue in utmost good faith to free the children.
According to Mohammed, the attention of the Federal Government and men of goodwill should be focussed on securing the release of the children unharmed and returning them to their parents.
The Second Republic politician, who described Boko Haram as a repugnant group that does not represent the interest of anyone, asked the government to learn lessons from what the sect had done in recent years and bring it to an end.
While welcoming the assistance of the United States of America, USA, to help find the missing school children, Mohammed said that all other conditions should be subordinated to saving the children.

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Britain Threatens Nigeria To Reverse Gay Marriage Law Or Face Sanction

THE Federal Government on Thursday disagreed with the British Government over the recently passed same-sex marriage bill

as the Senate president, David Mark insisted that the law is irrevocable in spite of the threat by the foreign nations to withdraw assistance to Nigeria on account of that law.

While the British Government said that Nigerian government should rescind its decision to punish individuals who engage in same sex marriage with 14 years imprisonment, the Federal Government said that the foreign mission should hold whatever assistance or aid to Nigeria tied to such gifts with ulterior motive.

The British Prime Minister, Mr David Camevon, said that Britain would not give any assistance or aid to countries that were opposed to same sex marriage.

The British High Commissioner in Nigeria, Mr Andrew Lyod, who held a closed door meeting with the Jigawa State governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido, asked the Nigerian government to rescind its decision on punishing individuals involved in same sex marriage, adding that such a law infringes on the fundamental rights of choice and association.

This is just as the Canadian government has also condemned the passage of a bill criminalising same-sex marriage and gay activities in Nigeria by the Senate, saying that the bill, if assented to by President Goodluck Jonathan, would trample upon the fundamental human rights of homosexuals and gay people.

The Canadian government, in a statement by its Foreign Affairs Minister, John Baird, on Thursday, called on Nigeria to reverse the bill so as to allow all its citizens to enjoy basic rights.

The Canadian government said: “Canada calls on Nigeria to immediately ensure that all its citizens enjoy basic rights. A bill passed by Nigeria’s Senate would, if ratified, disregard basic human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

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