Checking extra-judicial killings, torture Obtaining confession under duress

Many innocent Nigerians have confessed to crimes they knew nothing about while several others have been either maimed or killed during torture by law enforcement agents, reports JULIANA FRANCIS

“Ropes were tied round my two hands. My two legs were tied, then both legs and hands bended and tied together with a rod passing through in between them and then elevated to a perimeter wall. 

In fact, if you have watched a goat being prepared for suya, then you are close to getting the picture.”
These were the poignant words of Mr. Justin Nwankwo, a former PhD student/researcher at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. He was the manager of Upper Class Hotel in Anambra State. When his boss, Chief Bonaventure Mokwe was arrested on August 1, 2013, over allegations of being a ritual killer and murderer, Nwankwo and other members of the staff were arrested.
Although the court later acquitted Mokwe, his workers, especially Nwanko went through hell in the hands of policemen attached to the Special Anti- Robbery Squad (SARS), Awkuzu, Anambra State. “At the turn of each question and noncompliance, a bag of sand was added at my back, to add extra pain. I cried until I passed out. A cold bucket of water brought me to reality.
From minutes to hours, the torture lasted but never stopped until finally one started confessing lies! You can even confess that you killed General Ibrahim Babangida so that you could be brought down from where you had been tied. From hanging on the beam, they took me down and tied a rope in a strangulation mode around my neck, inserting pin and rope inside my penis,” Nwankwo added. It was because of such increasing cases of torture of suspects, either guilty or innocent, by law enforcement officers that Amnesty International Nigeria, organised a roundtable workshop on the ‘Nigeria Anti-torture Bill and the way forward.’
The essence of the whole discussion was to push government into criminalising torture. It is believed that if torture is criminalised, it will check incidents of people being maimed or extrajudicially killed. Amnesty International’s research as well as researches done by several Nigerian human rights’ organisations indicate that police and military personnel routinely use torture and other ill treatments to extract information and “confessions” and to punish detainees.
In contravention of national and international laws, information extracted by torture and illtreatment is routinely accepted as evidence in court. The Nigerian authorities display an apparent lack of political will to adhere to their international human rights’ obligations. Nigeria as a State is party to several Regional and International human rights mechanisms that prohibit the use of torture and other ill-treatments.
These include the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Convention Against Torture (CAT) and its Optional Protocol (OPCAT), the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The Nigerian constitution also prohibits torture and other inhuman or degrading treatments.
However, Nigeria’s criminal and penal codes fail to explicitly prohibit the use of torture and other forms of ill-treatment to extract information. As such, everyday practice is inconsistent with the constitutional provision prohibiting torture. In a bid to address this problem, a bill to criminalise torture was introduced in Nigeria in 2012 and was passed in June 2015, as part of the 45 bills passed on a single day by the Senate. It was, however, not signed by the President but rather returned to the Senate for amendments.
In response to the increased use of torture by the police and other law enforcement agencies as preferred means of investigation and the nonpassage of the Anti-Torture Bill by the National Assembly, Amnesty International Nigeria, in collaboration with it partners held the two-day workshop with the purpose of strengthening its advocacy about torture in Nigeria as well as pushing for the passage of anti- torture bill in Nigeria.
The Amnesty International Nigeria researcher, who put the programme together, Mr. Damian Ugwu, said: “The workshop aims to bring together stakeholders with experience in documentation, advocacy and litigation across Nigeria to identify systemic challenges and best practices and to chart a way forward on the Anti-Torture Bill. “It will provide an opportunity to exchange information and experiences in advocating legal and institutional reforms on torture.
The meeting will form part of a series of national events Amnesty International is organising that seek to strengthen the collaboration of practitioners to more effectively campaign against the use of torture. “The contributions made before and during the meetings will be reflected in Amnesty International periodic reports on the law and practice relating to the prohibition of torture in Nigeria.
The aim is to also develop an advocacy strategy targeting the National Assembly. “The meeting will include panel discussions covering a range of issues relating to the prohibition of torture and its practical application in the country, such as prevention of torture and related ill-treatment, accountability and reparation process as well as the identification and analysis of recurrent problems and best practices.
We hope to have an outcome document agreed by the participants of the meeting which will serve as its communiqué and can be used in public advocacy and awareness raising activities across the country.” The event witnessed a large turnout of participants, including Nwankwo. There were also members of the civil society organisations, journalists and lawyers. During the discussion, it was discovered that members of the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) are also habitually being harassed and threatened by law enforcement agents. A lawyer, Mr. Nathaniel Ngwu, said Nigeria had nothing that criminalised torture.
He said: “Whatever we can do to criminalise torture, will help to make a strong statement. The Anti-Torture Bill is not popular. So many people, including police and politicians would prefer armed robbers to be killed. No policeman had ever been jailed for torture. If you have ever seen, let me know. Policemen have been jailed for killing, but not torture.
When Amnesty International was given access to Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) cells, we saw people with gunshot wounds. Some of them summoned courage to tell us they were tortured and injured in SARS detention.” A human rights activist, Mr. Justine Ijeoma, working in Rivers State, recounted an incident where a naval officer tortured a father of two to death because the deceased, a phone repairer, could not fix his girlfriend’s phone on time.
“After the torture, he could not walk. He was carried by his father in-law to the hospital. He died in the hospital, cursing the naval officer,” Ijeoma said. It was agreed that criminalising torture will make law enforcement agents to begin to face the consequences of their actions. “These law enforcement agents often get transferred after killing people through torture. They most times, get promoted, rather than being disciplined for their crimes against suspects,” Ijeoma added.
It was also argued that torture continues because whenever such incidents are reported, the police hierarchy would just sweep the matter under the carpet, while telling the complainant, “We shall look into the matter.” Ijeoma said that while atrocities of SARS in Rivers State appeared to be declining, those of Anti-Cultism and Anti-Kidnapping Squads are snowballing. According to him, extra-judicial killings are on the increase in Rivers State. The activist also said that there was a burial site for people killed extra-judicially in a military barracks.
According to him, military personnel now carry out raids. “We are in the era of fear. We need to rise up in this dispensation. We are becoming too silent. We need to demand that the United Nations (UN) Special Repertoire on Torture visit Nigeria. If we continue to keep quiet, we shall be consumed,” Ijeoma said.
Another human rights activist, Justus Uche, working in Anambra State, said torture was an everyday occurrence in Nigeria. “The headquarters of torture is SARS in Anambra State. Suspects are often leg-chained, hand-chained and hung suspended in mid-air. Anytime a family member is being tortured, it means you are being tortured. If any Nigerian is violated, it means we have all been violated.
Torture is not a crime itself that is why we need the Anti-Torture Bill,” Uche said. Another participant, Mr. Malachy Ugwumadu, spoke of another form of torture. He recounted the story of a lady, who enjoined the Nigeria Air Force (NAF) and was raped by her instructor who was HIV positive. She reported the matter to NAF hierarchy, but nothing was done about it. Rather, she was victimised until she resigned.
He said: “She pushed for justice, but was detained and chained.” Ugwumadu argued that Nigeria would be a better nation, if some laws are looked into. One of the recommendations the gathering came up with to ensure torture is criminalise is that a coalition should be formed to drive the process of ensuring the passage of Anti-Torture Bill. It was agreed that Amnesty International should be the temporal secretariat of the coalition.
The secretariat, it was also decided, should obtain a copy of the Anti-Torture Bill currently with the Law Reform Commission and harmonise it with all the existing anti-torture bills already submitted to the Senate and House of Representatives. Other recommendations are that the coalition should adopt the hash tag #SupportAnti-tortureBill for its twitter account. Social media platforms should be created for advocacy and campaigns.
Media tools, electronic, print, blogs etc., should be deployed for advocacy and campaigns. Giving his concluding remark, Ugwu said: “The Anti-Torture Bill is a very important bill that is expected to reduce the occurrence of torture in Nigeria as well as hold perpetrators accountable. The large turnout of stakeholders as well as the enthusiasm from participants showed how committed participants were to the need to address the problem of torture in Nigeria.”