The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Tuesday urged the police to release Ms. Gloria Okolie or charge her to court.
The Executive Secretary of the Commission, Mr. Tony Ojukwu, made the call while reacting to the alleged illegal detention of Okolie by the police authorities for 67 days.
” Such unprofessional conduct cannot be tolerated in the 21st Century of policing and perpetrators of such heinous crime must be immediately brought to justice,” he said.
Ojukwu also decried the practice of illegally detaining citizens by some law enforcement agencies beyond the Constitutionally stipulated “reasonable” time.
” The Commission is therefore using this medium to demand the immediate and unconstitutional release of the detainee or in alternative charge her to a court of competent jurisdiction so that she will enjoy the right to fair hearing and the opportunity to defend the allegations against her, if any.
“We will not hesitate to condemn such unprofessional conduct which undoubtedly resulted in further violation of the rights of the lady in question because her rights to freedom of movement and liberty among several others had been allegedly violated with impunity by the very personnel charged with the responsibility of protecting the lives and property of citizens”.
“On our part as a national institution saddled with the responsibilities of promotion, protection and enforcement of rights of citizens and foreigner’s resident in Nigeria” Ojukwu said.
He stated that the commission had not missed any available opportunity to educate and train Police personnel and indeed other law enforcement agents on human rights issues.
” I recall efforts of the Commission in assisting the government to reform and reposition the Nigerian Police Force.
” The in-depth investigations into cases of human rights violations by the Independent Investigation Panel on allegations of human rights violations by the defunct SARS conducted by the Commission and the various states are testimonies to our determination to bring sanity to the system and banish impunity like SARS was disbanded.
“There is no official state policy in Nigeria that approves the act of inhuman and degrading treatment” he said.
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