CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

Human rights, and the violation of those rights, are matters of wide and continuing concern. Inquiry into human rights, prisons and prison reform has gained new importance and attention in the world today, because the protection of human rights and the problem of prison congestion are issues of global interest. Human rights are rights that every person holds simply by being human; they are inherent, inalienable and equally applicable to all, and the duties they create fall mainly on the state and its agents (Hamzah & Fanneh, 2024). The principal international statement of these rights is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Resolution 217 A (III) of 10 December 1948 (United Nations General Assembly, 1948). Its principles are reflected at the regional level in the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, adopted by the Organisation of African Unity in 1981 (Organisation of African Unity, 1981), and in Nigeria’s own constitution.

The rights guaranteed to every person in Nigeria are set out in Chapter IV of the 1999 Constitution (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999). They include the right to life (section 33); the right to dignity of the human person, which includes freedom from torture and from inhuman or degrading treatment, slavery, servitude and forced labour (section 34); the right to personal liberty (section 35); the right to fair hearing (section 36); the right to private and family life (section 37); freedom of thought, conscience and religion (section 38); freedom of expression (section 39); the right to peaceful assembly and association (section 40); and freedom of movement (section 41). These are the civil and political rights often called first-generation rights. The government is obliged to respect and protect them, and a citizen whose rights are infringed may seek redress in court because they are justiciable and enforceable.

The constitution also contains the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy in Chapter II, covering matters such as health care, education, employment and security. These are commonly described as second-generation, or economic and social, rights. Unlike the rights in Chapter IV, they are not enforceable in the courts, because the constitution declares the provisions of Chapter II non-justiciable (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999). A third group, the so-called third-generation or solidarity rights, emerged more recently and includes the right to development, to peace and to a satisfactory environment; some of these are recognised in the African Charter (Organisation of African Unity, 1981).

Human rights violations have a long history in Nigeria, stretching from the pre-colonial and colonial periods into the post-independence era (Nwachukwu et al., 2014). The period from 1970 to 1999 is of special interest. It began at the end of the civil war and was dominated by military rule, interrupted only by the Second Republic of 1979 to 1983. From 1983 until 1999 the country was under sixteen continuous years of military rule, in which the military not only governed by force but also built violations into the legal system through decrees (Centre for Democracy and Development [CDD], 2021). Decree No. 2 of 1984 allowed indefinite detention without trial, and Decree No. 4 of 1984 punished free speech (CDD, 2021). The student unions were brought under control by the Student Union Activities (Control and Regulation) Decree No. 47 of 1989, and many decrees ousted the jurisdiction of the courts (Hamzah & Fanneh, 2024). Under General Sani Abacha, security agencies reported directly to the head of state, legislatures were dissolved, unions and newspapers were suppressed, activists were arrested and killed, and in 1995 the writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni leaders were executed, which left Nigeria isolated internationally and led to its suspension from the Commonwealth (Hamzah & Fanneh, 2024). In June 1998, one month after Abacha’s death, M. K. O. Abiola, the presumed winner of the 1993 presidential election, died in detention (Human Rights Watch, 1999a). Even after the transition began, decrees allowing detention without trial, suspending constitutional guarantees and barring courts from reviewing executive acts remained in force until they were repealed immediately before the handover to civilian government in 1999 (Human Rights Watch, 1999a, 1999b).

In 1999 President Olusegun Obasanjo set up the Human Rights Violations Investigation Commission, known as the Oputa Panel, which was inaugurated on 14 June 1999 and whose mandate was later extended to cover 15 January 1966 to 28 May 1999, bringing in the abuses of the civil war (Hamzah & Fanneh, 2024; Human Rights Watch, 1999b). The Panel received more than 10,000 petitions, covering torture, unlawful arrest and detention, disappearances, intimidation, murder and assassination, and it held public hearings in 2000 and 2001 (Hamzah & Fanneh, 2024). It found that the police regularly killed suspects unlawfully and then described them as armed robbers, that detention without trial and torture to extract confessions were widespread, that prisons were overcrowded and lacked medical facilities, and that prison officials often needed military permission to treat inmates, so that some died before clearance was given (Hamzah & Fanneh, 2024). Its eight-volume report was never made public and its recommendations were not implemented (Hamzah & Fanneh, 2024).

The violations of particular interest to this study are arbitrary arrest and detention, denial of bail, torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, extrajudicial killings, and violations within prisons, such as poor accommodation, poor feeding, absence of medical care and the mixing of different categories of inmates. The first-generation rights are mostly violated at the pre-trial and trial stages, while second-generation rights are violated through the state’s failure or inability to provide for them.

A large number of people pass through the criminal justice system, and many of them do not enjoy the protection that international instruments and Nigerian law promise. The safeguards are many. They include Articles 3 to 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which cover life, liberty, security, freedom from torture, equality before the law, a fair hearing and the presumption of innocence (United Nations General Assembly, 1948); the corresponding provisions of the African Charter (Organisation of African Unity, 1981); sections 33 to 36 of the Constitution (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999); and the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, revised in 2015 as the Nelson Mandela Rules (United Nations General Assembly, 2015). The provisions concentrate on fair hearing and humane treatment of detainees.

The legacy of this history is still visible. In March 2024 the Nigerian Correctional Service held 78,519 inmates in custodial centres with a capacity of 64,192, and 70% of them were awaiting trial (TheCable, 2024). The congestion shows that problems in the administration of criminal justice that were present during the years under study have not been resolved.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Between 1970 and 1999, Nigerians suffered extensive violations of their human rights. Most of these occurred under military governments that were authoritarian in leadership and in the use of security forces, and that issued decrees allowing detention without trial and excluding the courts from reviewing executive acts (CDD, 2021; Hamzah & Fanneh, 2024). The violations included extrajudicial killings, assassinations, arbitrary arrest and detention, torture, restrictions on the press and on associations, and abuses in prisons (Hamzah & Fanneh, 2024). The police and security forces acted with impunity, and the failure to punish those responsible reinforced a culture of excess in the handling of civil unrest (Hamzah & Fanneh, 2024).

After the return to civilian rule, attempts were made to deal with this past, but they were incomplete. The Oputa Panel was not allowed to investigate the conduct of the police and army, its report was not published, and its recommendations were not implemented (Hamzah & Fanneh, 2024). Scholars have noted that little has been written on human rights violations during military rule in Nigeria (Hamzah & Fanneh, 2024). It is against this background that this study examines the history of human rights violations in Nigeria from 1970 to 1999.

1.3 Research Objectives

The following objectives guide the study:

1. to examine the nature, extent and types of human rights violations in Nigeria between 1970 and 1999;
2. to identify the political and socio-economic factors associated with the violation of human rights;
3. to ascertain the remedies that have been available or adopted against human rights violations; and
4. to make concrete recommendations to policy makers and relevant institutions and agencies for the protection of human rights in Nigeria.

1.4 Research Questions

In the light of the problems stated above, the study seeks answers to the following questions:

1. What were the nature, extent and types of human rights violations in Nigeria between 1970 and 1999?
2. What political and socio-economic factors are associated with the violation of human rights?
3. What remedies have been available or adopted against human rights violations?
4. What concrete recommendations can be made to policy makers and relevant institutions and agencies for the protection of human rights in Nigeria?

1.5 Significance of the Study

This study concerns the rights and freedoms of ordinary and under-privileged people, in particular suspects awaiting trial, who make up the bulk of the prison population and are most affected by the weaknesses of the criminal justice system (TheCable, 2024). If its recommendations are implemented, such people will know more about their rights within the criminal justice system.

The study will highlight the areas in which people have rights and in which violations by government agencies are less likely once people are aware of those rights, especially those set out in the Constitution and other statutes (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999). It will also draw the attention of those engaged in the administration of justice to the ethics of their professions, so that corruption, extortion, infringement of rights and the harassment of suspects can be reduced.

It will benefit policy makers by showing areas of rights violation that need correction. It will also contribute to the historiography of human rights and governance in Nigeria, an area in which scholarship has been limited (Hamzah & Fanneh, 2024), and it will serve as a reference for future researchers. Respect for human rights is now a yardstick for international recognition and acceptance, so the country as a whole stands to benefit.

1.6 Scope of the Study

The study covers the period from 1970, when the civil war ended, to 1999, when civilian rule returned. It is concerned mainly with arbitrary arrest and detention, denial of bail, torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, extrajudicial killings, and violations of the rights of prisoners and detainees, set against the military decrees and political events of the period. Events after 1999 are mentioned only where they help to explain the continuing effects of earlier violations.

References

Centre for Democracy and Development. (2021, August 1). Nigeria’s human rights record: An assessment of the last two decades [Policy brief]. https://www.cddwestafrica.org/reports/nigeria-s-human-rights-record-an-assessment-of-the-last-two-decades/

Federal Republic of Nigeria. (1999). Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999.

Hamzah, K. A., & Fanneh, M. (2024). Dealing with human rights abuse in Nigeria: General Abacha onslaught 1994–1997. Uzu Journal of History and International Studies, 9(2), 96–112.

Human Rights Watch. (1999a). World report 1999: Nigeria. https://www.hrw.org/worldreport99/africa/nigeria.html

Human Rights Watch. (1999b, December 1). World report 2000: Nigeria. https://www.refworld.org/node/23056

Nwachukwu, S., Aghamelo, A., & Stanley, N. (2014). An account of human right violations in Nigeria: Pre-British, British and post-independence. European Scientific Journal, 10(10), 230–239.

Organisation of African Unity. (1981). African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

TheCable. (2024). NCoS: 70% of inmates across prisons awaiting trial. https://thecable.ng/ncos-70-of-inmates-across-prisons-awaiting-trial

United Nations General Assembly. (1948). Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Resolution 217 A (III)).

United Nations General Assembly. (2015). United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules) (Resolution 70/175).