The National Human Rights Commission has said it received over 6,000 cases of human rights violations during the 2023 elections.
The NHRC Executive Secretary, Tony Ojukwu said while some of them were resolved on the spot by the Independent National Electoral Commission, others were being prosecuted by the Nigeria Police Force.
Ojukwu who stated these in an exclusive interview with The PUNCH in Abuja also raised concern over the rate of torture of citizens by security personnel.
He said, “Cases of human rights violations can also constitute criminal offences because where you have arrested people violating election-related cases and you torture them, those criminal cases are also going in court. I cannot say how many cases are going on in various courts in the whole country that involved human rights violations during elections.
“The ones that are reported here are the non-criminal ones which will either relate to things like hate speech, and denial of voting rights. Some of the human rights violations were resolved on the spot because our Situation Room received about 6,000 or 7000 complaints but most of them are non-live cases.
“There are cases you call INEC on the spot, they go there and resolve that, or you call the Commissioner of Police that people are being denied to vote and they go there to resolve.
“The police are prosecuting everyday, and a lot of cases are reported with the police prosecuting. Some of the 6,000 cases are resolved on the spot. Most of the cases you see lingering in the court are where somebody is hurt or somebody’s hand was broken or somebody’s car was smashed.
“But most of the criminal cases are going on in the courts, including infractions by party thugs. During campaigns or rallies, people did certain things and police arrested some people.”
Ojukwu advised that any citizen who has evidence of torture should come forward to complain.
He said, “Those who have been tortured must come out to complain, and it is through that process that you can get credible cases that will go to court and the issue of the Anti-Torture Act is put into effect. So, it all depends on the members of the public too.
“If the members of the public are not complaining, if these cases in the court are not decided on the grounds that they were obtained through torture, it is going to be difficult. But I know that there are so many ongoing cases. and I am sure that there are new cases that people will be charged to for this.”
