IgbereTV reports that the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has called for the arrest and prosecution of all the security operatives who invaded and desecrated hallowed chambers of the Federal High Court, Abuja on Friday for contempt.
The commission made this known in a statement issued on Saturday in Abuja while reacting to the attempt by the operatives of DSS to arrest Omoyele Sowore in the court room.
Also, the International Human Rights Committee (IHRC), Geneva, Switzerland (Nigeria Committee), in its reaction to the development, frowned at what it termed violence by the state against Nigerian citizens.
NHRC said: “The National Human Rights Commission has watched with dismay the conduct of law enforcement officers in facie curie yesterday (Friday) December 6, 2019 at the Federal High Court, Abuja.
“The commission directs all the relevant agencies of government to arrest and try all law enforcement officers involved in the desecration of the hallowed chambers of the federal high court Abuja on Friday December 6 2019 for contempt in the face of the court.”
The commission reiterated the need for law enforcement officials to understand that to qualify as law enforcement agents, the must first of all be law abiding and not be above the law, stressing that as officials paid with tax payers’ money, there should be no room for impunity and utter disregard for the constitution.
The IHRC, in its statement made available to IgbereTV on Satuday, maintained that the gory picture of security operatives forcefully abducting Omoyele Sowore on Friday in the full glare of a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja with a presiding judge on seat was gross violation of his fundamental human rights.
The statement, signed by Dr Kenneth Anozie, IHRC Nigeria Committee spokesman, stressed that the action of the operatives of the Department of State Service (DSS) amounted to descent into anarchy, fascism and grossly violated all known fundamentals of democratic tenets.
The IHRC said: “It is not just about the person of Sowore, but this is a national disgrace by a government which conducts have been severely criticised by all known democratic organs and institutions, both locally and internationally.
“This a blur in the in the democratic efforts achieved in the past 16 years, but especially in the past six years before the Buhari/APC regime came into power.
“We, as a human rights organisation, will not fold our hands and watch Nigeria, which is a signatory to the International Human Rights Commission Charter, and a member of the United Nations subject her law abiding citizens into such violence and gross violation of their fundamental human rights.
“The Nigeria Committee of IHRC, Geneva, is in touch with our international headquarters on these issues and soon, we shall take it up so that such incidences of state sponsored violence against her citizens will be abrogated and confined in the dustbin of history.”
