‘‘I have seen human degradation made so bestial by constant suffering and hunger…Scientists have been proved wrong by Nigeria’s standard. No one will ever forget how Nigerians have been cruelly and brutally treated. No one will ever forget this conspiracy. No sane Nigerian will ever forget this traumatic experience.’’ – Nowinta’s book, 2009: Where We Are (pages 161/162)
Pebbles with Igbotako Nowinta
For some weeks now the civil society in Edo State, Nigeria has really been active .That shows that the seed which a few of us sowed in the early nineteen nineties has blossomed beyond every imagination.
I remember then, how as Chairman of the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CDHR), Edo State (1995-99) in collaboration with the Civil Liberties Organization (CLO),under the leadership of Comrade Paul Ohonbamu, we electrified the city on the need for the revalidation of the June 12, 1993 Presidential Election.
I can recollect how Reverend David Ugolor, Executive Director of Africa Network for Environment & Economic Justice (ANEEJ), convened a meeting that led to the fruitful collaborations with my organization, CDHR on proactive activism in Edo State.
When the iconic human rights and pro-democracy activist, Gani Fawehinmi answered the call of God, the civil society groups saw the need to immortalize him in Edo State.
The farewell activities for that giant Senior Advocate of the Masses (SAM) snowballed into the birth of the Gani Fawehinmi Movement for Good Governance (GFMGG).
It was indeed the Secretariat of Africa Network for Environment & Economic Justice (ANEEJ) that co-hosted the GFMGG meetings for the few years that we operated as a single most vibrant civil society body.
The period when the cream of the civil society leaders fused into a dynamic force in Edo State under the banner of the GFMGG to me was one of the greatest moments/years that I will continue to relish.
It was indeed during this memorable epoch that the civil society succeeded in getting one of us as Senior Special Adviser (SSA) on Civil Society to Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, Governor of Edo State.
Specifically, without the frontal role of GFMGG Comrade Efosa Kayode Iyasere would never have emerged as SSA Civil Society, which he is still savoring today.
Facts are sacred! The role of Comrade Kaduna Eboigbodin of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) ,Reverend David Ugolor of ANEEJ, late Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde(former Principal Private Secretary to Comrade Adams Oshiomhole) etc., can never be obliterated in this regard.
Today, one is happy that the boys that we brought up in the civil society movement have decided to take the bull by the horns in the business of human rights within such splinter bodies like Network of Civil Society Organizations of Nigeria ( NECSON), Edo State Civil Society Organizations etc.
I am therefore using this opportunity to advise our younger Comrades in Edo State to remain focused and never allow recalcitrant, selfish and demonic politicians to use them against the train of progress, sanity and rationality. Money is good but certainly it is not everything!
One of the things that actually caught my attention during the recent proactive actions of the civil society groups in Edo State was the timely and Germaine issue of the need for the establishment of a Public Defender Unit in the state.
The office of a Public Defender Officer is long overdue because of the horrible spate of extra judicial killings in Edo state and other cases of mind boggling abuse of human rights.
In this state we have had terrible extra judicial murders like Osagie Odion Egbon, Ibrahim Momodu and others with the Police displaying unprofessional and unconstitutional behavior most times.
Therefore, the move by Rev. David Ugolor of the Africa Network for Environment & Economic Justice (ANEEJ) with other civil society organizations to sensitize the general public calling for an end to Human Rights Violations in Edo state and elsewhere in the country, is an idea which time has come.
It must be recalled that in 2012 the government of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole promised to set up the Public Defender Unit to protect the rights of citizens as guaranteed by the Constitution in Nigeria.
By initiating and organizing the One Day Sanitization Rally recently in Benin City, Rev. David Ugolor has scored another first in the proactive business of human rights campaigns in Edo state.
Without doubt the office of the Public Defender Unit, if established by the Edo state government will go a long way in checking, controlling and preventing the present lopsided and incoherent human rights situations.
The Public Defender Unit will promote free legal aid to victims of human rights abuses; promote efficient management of all criminal justice institutions; speedy dispensation of justice; protection of the rights and interests of suspect and victims of crime.
The Criminal Procedure Act and the Criminal Procedure Code were replaced recently with the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, which is now operational in the federation.
I throw my weight behind Rev Ugolor’s ‘Stop Rights Violation’ rally of Wednesday November 11, 2015 and urge Comrade Adams Oshiomhole to be the first to domesticate the Act in Edo state.
We are dog-tired of unlawful arrest, detention and blatant oppression of the weak and marginalization in the society.
We all must stand up now to nip in the bud the nauseating practice of second/third class citizens in Edo State criminal justice delivery system!
Nowinta wrote WHERE WE ARE – A CALL FOR DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION IN NIGERIA
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