Eunice Afolabi
The Women’s Aid Collective (WACOL) in collaboration with ActionAid Nigeria and other gender-based groups have described as unethical the assault of a young policewoman by a legal practitioner and human rights activist, Professor Zainab Abiola.
The group collectively gave the condemnation in a statement, noting that Prof. Abiola’s assault of young police orderly by the name of Inspector Teju Moses, was barbaric most unconscionable, degrading, and inhuman.
The groups lamented the fact that it was perpetrated by a supposed civil society actor makes it far more reprehensible exposing both the legal profession, the academia, and the human right family to hatred and embarrassment.
READ ALSO: IGP Condemns Grievous Assault On Police Officer, Orders Express Prosecution Of Case
Prof. Abiola as a supposed trained and commissioned defender of human rights reportedly assaulted her police orderly on Tuesday, September 20, 2022, at her residence in Garki, Abuja, following the officer’s refusal to carry out domestic chores at her residence.
In a viral video, the officer was bleeding profusely on her face, which many described as “overwhelming evidence of culpability on the part of Zainab”.
Prof. Zainab has since been arrested alongside her housemaid, Rebecca Enechido, while another domestic staff, a co-conspirator remains at large.
“While the position of our criminal jurisprudence as it regulates both the investigation and prosecution of the instant case remains sacrosanct, in upholding the presumption of innocence in favor of the culprits, we must acknowledge the efforts of the Nigeria Police in arresting the suspects and hope that the matter will be thoroughly investigated to establish the culpability of the suspects and prosecution therefore to ensure full accountability to such impunity,” a statement signed by WACOL founder, Joy Ezeilo.
“Recall that WACOL as a front-line human rights defender in Nigeria and beyond, in concert with ActionAid Nigeria, and other women groups condemns with utmost dismay and a huge disappointment, the fact that a human rights activist who is supposed to be an ambassador for human rights protection, and who should be at the forefront of the promotion of women’s rights in the country could conversely perpetrate a crime against humanity and her fellow woman.
’This instant case brings to fore the plight of citizen employees of Nigeria who are employed in different security forces, among which are the Nigerian Police Force, Nigerian Army, Navy, Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Customs Service, and other paramilitary formations.
‘’These men and women in service are many times upon recruitment, attached to some civilian VIPs in Nigeria, who do not only abuse them physically and psychologically but use them in manners inconsistent with their line of official duty.
‘’The plight of these service men and women is further compounded by the command and control formation of the force units which makes it a rule for these force employees to obey the orders of the superior without any form of hesitation. Akin to the above postulations is that these force employees do not have a choice in deciding the person of the VIP, to whom they attached anathema inherent in both the legal and administrative frameworks of the various force formations remains in effect, despite the availability of preponderance of statutory provision safeguarding human rights in our laws.
“The Nigerian Police Act, 2020 expressly provides in Section 98 “A person who assaults, obstructs or restricts a police officer or other person aiding or assisting a police officer in the discharge of his duty, commits an offense is liable to a fine of N500,000 or imprisonment for a term of 6 months or both.
“Other laws applicable in Nigeria ranging from the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), to the Penal Code, and the Criminal Code, have made copious provisions that protect human rights, including that of serving police officers. The Constitution of Nigeria under Section 34 provides for the dignity of every person, while the Penal Code applicable in Northern Nigeria, and Criminal Code in the South respectively provide against human assault. Assaulting a police officer in the course of carrying out official duty is a serious felony (section365 of the Criminal Code Act).
“Furthermore, the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act, (VAPP) 2015 and the various corresponding state VAPP laws provide against any form of violence against human persons.
“The alleged criminal act by Prof. Zainab is without equivocation condemnable in all its entirety and should be condemned by all Civil Society Organizations, Non-Governmental Organizations, Women Groups, and every well-meaning Nigeria, that a serving officer and in this case a female gender should be assaulted and brutalized by a fellow female citizen of Nigeria whom she is assigned to as an orderly and for Police protection.
‘’This ugly episode underscores the existing inhuman condition of service, inhuman treatment and the abysmal discrimination which many Nigerian employees are subjected to by their employers.
‘’The trajectory of the case under reportage calls to question, both the character, mental disposition, and psychological well-being of the so-called Very Important Personalities (VIPs), who some of these female officers in the police force are attached to in the line of their official duties.
‘’The irony of assigning officers to VIPs is that these force personnel by the exigencies of their service are enrolled into service and assigned to VIPs under command without the option of refusal to be so assigned to any VIPs, regardless of whether it violates their free will to consent to be so attached to such VIPs. This is not the case with other employer/employee relationships, where the employee has the right to choose the person of the individual employer, he or she wants to work for.
‘’The fallout of the instant case calls to mind the need to review the legal and administrative parameters under which the force personnel, particularly the female gender amongst them are deployed to VIPs. It also underscores the need for psycho–socio assessment and validation to be carried out on these VIPs before police personnel will be attached to thetoto ascertain psychological, social, and emotional well-being to accommodate and work with these police personnel.
‘’The need for an urgent review of the working and posting conditions of the police service personnel, especially the female police officers attached to VIPs remains paramount in the circumstances.
“WACOL in partnership with ActionAid remains committed to ensuring that human rights are safeguarded in Nigeria. We hereby demand accountability on the part of the Nigeria Police in investigating the case under watch. We call for both a thorough and expeditious investigation of the case view, with the ultimate aim of bringing the perpetrators of these inhuman acts to book in the overall interest of justice.
‘’We maintain at all times that torture, inhuman acts, degrading treatment, and punishments constitute violations of constitutionally enshrined rights and there is a state responsibility to protect, prevent and remedy such violations whether committed by state or non-state actors (as in this case). The full weight of the law must be brought to bear on the perpetrators who abuse their authority and privilege with impunity.
‘’We urge Nigerians to respect human dignity and the human rights of one another and refrain from inhuman acts. Finally, we must bear in mind that an inhuman act to one remains inhuman treatment to humanity and all,” the statement added.
Share this
