The Executive Secretary National Human Rights Commission Mr. Tony Ojukwu SAN has said the door of the Commission is open daily to receive complaints bothering on police brutality.
Ojukwu made this statement in Abuja during a courtesy visit by an NGO, YOUTHHUB Africa to the headquarters of the Commission.
The Executive Secretary who was represented by the Director Corporate Affairs and External Linkages, Mrs Halimat Oyedele said the NHRC remains committed to addressing any form of human rights violation in Nigeria and that the commission can be assessed across the 36 states of the Federation.
Earlier in his opening remark, the leader of the delegation, Programme Manager YOUTHHUB Africa, Mr. Olusegun Medupi said the purpose of their visit was to familiarize themselves with the Commission.
Mr. Medupi commended the efforts of the Commission in making sure that the youths were represented at panel, while requesting to know if more petitions could still be submitted since the panel is no longer sitting.
Mr. Medupi further urged the Commission to maintain the good record of the success story it has made in Ebonyi state where a widow who was allegedly denied of her husband’s entitlements was given what was rightfully hers, after the Commission intervaned. He said such gesture will give hopes to the less privileged who suffer human rights violations the most.
The programme manager YouthHub Africa also disclosed the intention of his organization to collaborate with the Commission as he sought to know avenues where future cases of violations will be handled with the End of the SARS Panel sittings.
Deputy Director civil and political rights Mr. Halilu Adamu said that payment of compensation to victims of police brutality by the Commission does not mean that the Commission has stopped receiving complaints bothering on police brutality. He said the Commission was established for the purpose of seeking appropriate redress for victims of human rights violations, therefore victims of violations or their families can continuously file their complaints to the Commission whenever the need arises, and it will be followed to the later. “The conclusion of ENDSARS panel sitting for us does not mean the end of investigating complaints against the police.”
In her contribution, Deputy Director Pubic Affair, Mrs. Fatimah Agwai Mohammed stated that the Commission has achieved a lot in the area of seeking redress for victims of human rights violation. She cited an example of a police officer who defiled two minors (who are also sisters) in Maiduguri, “with the intervention of the Commission and other stakeholders, the culprit is presently serving a jail term, she added. She said there were several other cases where the Commission has intervened on behalf of victims “and they remain grateful to us for our intervention” she said.
