Malami is wrong to override national interest above human rights —Activist

During the screening of ministerial nominees by the Senate, erstwhile Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami said he overruled a court order because, in his view, the individual interest conflicts with national interest. As a lawyer, what is your comment on his claim?

The comment attributed to the former attorney general of the federation and hopefully the next attorney general of the federation, depending on what portfolio the President assigns to him, sends an unfortunate message to the public. I watched it on the television. Do not forget that I have a great deal of respect for the office of the attorney general because of the relationship it has with the profession that I practise and as a human right lawyer. To think that attorney general will create the impression that the right of one individual must be subjected to the interest of the entire state, yes, if the court so decides but not within his personal capacity, so when, we now interrogate the issue of right. It is only a court of law that can decide the barometer to determine the importance of a human right violation of the individual versus the interest of the state and national security. It is not in the place of anybody in the executive to do that. It is up to the court to decide whether to enforce the human rights of an individual or under the guise of promoting national security violate or disregard the rights of that individual. Often times, it is not the case. The former attorney general has done a very serious disservice to the concept and understanding of fundamental law on human right. Let me tell you something about the word fundamental, in international law it is referred to as human right in general but in Nigeria it is very foundation of Nigeria. The rights referred to in Chapter 4 of the Nigerian Constitution are equal to the foundation of Nigeria. That is if Nigeria should exist for any reason as a state, this rights must at all times remain. That is why it is extremely difficult, if not the most difficult process to amend the section either adding to or taking away from the rights that are contained in chapter four. It is not in the place of an individual or even the President to consider to detract, from the fundamental, I stress the word fundamental right of Nigerian citizens, because at that point you will be threatening the foundation of the Nigerian State.

A lot of Nigerians think that by proscribing the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), the Federal Government may be creating another security monster in the country. Do you share this view?

Yes. From the outset I have believed that it was needless for security forces to engage the Shiites followers in the manner that they did. There is limit to the application of force when controlling crowd. Whatever forms of provocation the Shiites have put up at the initial time when they had an encounter with the convoy of the Chief of Army staff in Zaria, there was poor management of the incident. Remember that it is the responsibility of the state to protect the people. In a law enforcement situation as it was at that time, there was obviously, there should have been a minimised record of violence, not to record such a large number of persons being killed just to enforce a particular law or protect the life of the Chief of Army Staff. Again, to now think that there have been various court orders that say release this man to go and attend to his health. It is only a healthy and living person that can answer to any criminal charges. In defiant of those Court orders, the government has kept the leader of the IMN members Sheikh El-Zak-Zaky in detention.

Many of the boys and girls, who claimed that their parents were killed in the encounter with the security forces in Zaria have taken to the street protesting saying look release this man according to the court order. I think the government should have taken a better course other than that of confrontation that has led to unknown number of deaths. To further exacerbate the problem, there is this reported swift proscription of the group terming them as terrorists, in order to legally give ground to the government to arrest anybody who is associated with them as a member in order to charge them with terrorism related offences. The goal of justice is for people to learn how to have confidence in the system where they do not have to refer to self-help whereby a people see the system to be unjust and can never guarantee justice. And this sense of personal injustice is to the extent that self-help becomes the only thing that can resort to, then you are inviting anarchy, you are inviting an unnecessary violent conflict.  A well-meaning government must realize at all times that it has to restrain itself, it has to confine itself to the standard of justice, especially in compliance to the orders of the court. If a government does not do that, then it is going to create a sense of injustice, which is just one step to the resolution of a people to resort to self-help, which is the basis for violent conflicts across the world, especially on the continent of Africa.

 What will be your counsel to both the group and the governments, especially as an advocate of peaceful resolution of conflict?

I will start with the group, it must appreciate the fact that for it to practise its own religion, there must be a peaceful polity. It will not pay the group to disrupt a peaceful polity.  On the other hand, the government has a higher responsibility to maintain peace in the polity. Peace oftentimes and most times can be maintained with the process and assurance of justice. Clearly, the members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria have not been enjoying justice as the court has declared it. To think that the court has granted bail to El-Zak Zaky and for some extra-legal reasons, the government is not complying with the orders simply shows that it is fallen short of justice thereby inviting self-help. While the group must realize that religion is allowed and assured in Nigeria, it can only do so in time of peace. It must contain itself and aided by the need for peace in the society and the government must stop unnecessarily provoking the group by refusal to obey court orders and by unnecessarily stereotyping the group and vilifying it by making IMN appear to be a criminal group whereby it is not.

The ministers-designate for the next level agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari will soon assume office. Do they inspire promise of a greater Nigeria in your estimation?

Absolutely not! Nigerians I maintain, watched helplessly and disappointingly, both in the delayed nomination of the ministers and in the quality of the persons that are contained in the list of ministerial nominees now ministers-designate. Many have talked about the fantastic performance of Festus Keyamo, but that has been Festus Keyamo before now. The difference is that he stood on the soap box and talked about the things that he knew. He has always been of the human rights community but governance is beyond that. This particular list has quite a large number of people who have records. Their records are lackluster; they have records of failed opportunities and they have just been returned.  I join many Nigerians to agree that the list of ministers is a political reward one for those who have worked for President Buhari in the election; not persons who possess that expertise and administrative acumen in translating policies into practical reality of improved living standards for the people. They do not have the credibility or the pedigree; they do not have the track records.

For Keyamo, who belongs to our community, now that he is both a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I hope he comes back to himself. That Keyamo, who has always stood for the poor and the oppressed, I believe he might be driven by a populist and welfare motivation. Apart from him, I cannot point at any of the others who will be inspiring in that list. Is it the large number of former governors that we have or those members of the last cabinet of the last tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari, who have failed abysmally in their areas and portfolio? For me, it is not a very hopeful team and if you are talking about next level, it might be the next level downward, certainly, not upward with this team.