PCC handling 543 cases of human rights abuses in Ekiti ― Commissioner

The Commissioner in charge of Ekiti State office of the Public Complaints Commission (PCC), Mr Kayode Bamisile, has revealed that the Federal Government’s agency had received a total of 543 cases of human right abuses in the state in the last one year.

Speaking with newsmen on Tuesday in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, Bamisile said 160 of the cases have been resolved with victims getting adequate compensations from defaulters, while a total of 383 are still being resolved by the commission.

Bamisile said some of the cases include; breach of contracts, wrongful dismissal from places of works, land disputes, marital crises, delay or withholding of payment of retirees’ benefits, arbitrary official punishment and witch-hunting, arbitrary electricity billing, among others.

He said though the Federal Government agency was not saddled with the responsibility of handling land and marital issues, but clarified that these were being handled on humanitarian ground.

“We are striving hard to sustain our fight against all forms of administrative injustices in accordance with our mandate.

“As of October 2021, we have received a total of 543 cases and out of these, 160 have been successfully closed, leaving a total of 383 pending before the commission,” he said.

Bamisile said the PCC is partnering with agencies like the judiciary,  Immigration, police, Nigeria Correctional Services, Department of State Services, media organisations and other public and private institutions to fight all forms of administrative injustices in the state.

He said the office, which operates under the presidency, had also entered into strong synergy with the traditional leaders on how to reduce land disputes that are fondly rearing their ugly heads and threatening peaceful coexistence in the communities.

According to him, “Our mandate is to deal with cases of administrative injustice from the public and private sectors. We are working with the media organisations to raise the awareness of Nigerians that this office was established to fight for Nigerians and defend their rights.

“As part of our strategies, we have visited all our offices across the 16 local governments and tasked them on the need to work hard and let the people at the grassroots understand what we stand for.”