Izobe Spiff
5 December 2008
opinion
The video footage of a woman being mauled by several armed naval officers in broad daylight on the streets of Lagos, which was recently circulated in cyberspace, is outrageous and sorely distressing. Her offence? Failing to make way for a convoy of Rear Admiral Harry Arogundade. The question that comes to mind is: "For how long will we continue to condone this kind of indiscipline, lawlessness and abuse of power in Nigeria?"
In 1999, following years of oppressive military rule, we ushered in a "democratic" government with a lot of fanfare while the world looked on. Nine years on, it has become imperative that we be reminded of a lesson that nations which adopted the democratic form of government light years ahead of us have learned, that the establishment of a "democratic government" is not an end in itself but a means to an end. That end is the consideration, representation and protection of the interests of the people.
Incidents of brutality by the Police and other armed forces were quite common in the era of military regimes and their occurrence has, unfortunately, not been diminished by the advent of democratic rule. Are we progressing or retrogressing? We are now "supposedly" in a democratic society and, yet, some people still believe that they are above the law.
Surely, a system which does not permit male police officers to conduct physical searches on females cannot condone any exercise of authority by male officers of the law which would result in rough-handling or physical assault of such females. In fact, no one, male or female, should be treated in this horrific and undignified manner.
Is Rear Admiral Arogundade above the law? In that situation, he was the only one who could have called his boys to order but, instead, he approved of this act of shame and looked on while the image of this country was tarnished before the whole world.
If the Rear Admiral thought that there would be repercussions for the actions of his bodyguards and for his omission to act, he would not have permitted such total disregard for the human rights of a fellow citizen protected by our Constitution as well as several international conventions to which Nigeria is a signatory like the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights, the International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Convention Against Torture.
The justification of this barbaric act by the Nigerian Navy's Director of Information, Commodore David Naibada, alleging that the victim provoked one of the naval ratings, is, to say the least, a slap in the face of every Nigerian and a million steps backwards in our struggle for a better Nigeria. What manner of provocation could justify the beating and stripping of one unarmed female civilian by six armed male officers? The act itself speaks volumes about the standing of females in general in our nation.
Abuse of women, physically or otherwise, is generally proscribed within the international community. As a nation seeking to portray a positive image on the global scene, how can we look on as vulnerable members of our society are mercilessly assaulted? Women who stand up for their rights or fight back are sometimes rebuked or condemned for their strong will by a few imperceptive members of our society and left to nurse broken spirits
What gives these officers the right to freely assault civilians? The roads over which they claim undue rights, the uniforms on their backs and the guns they carry are all paid for by tax payers like Uzoma Okere. Is this what our money pays for; brutality and oppression by the same people who are to serve and protect us?
As citizens, the nation is under an obligation to protect, uphold and defend the rights of its subjects whenever and wherever these rights are abused. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ojo Maduekwe, in a speech a few weeks back, talked about protecting the rights of Nigerian citizens in foreign nations. As I pondered the speech, I raised the question within me: "What about the citizens who are routinely abused by the nation; the government of which swore an oath to uphold and defend the rights of the citizens?"
Almost two decades ago, Rodney King became a reluctant symbol of police brutality when amateur photographer, George Holliday, provided evidence that was hard to ignore. The videotape Holliday shot showed several white Los Angeles police officers using their batons to beat King, who had led them on a car chase after they tried to stop him for speeding, was broadcast around the world. There was a global outcry against this kind of brutality and it was described as a racial crime.
In the case of Uzoma Okere, the victim and the perpetrators of the dastardly act share a common race, so how do we describe this injustice done to her? Thankfully, the assault on Uzoma Okere was also caught on tape and is also hard to ignore!
We, as a nation, need to unite in condemning this particular act and demanding that the perpetrators (Rear Admiral Arogundade and his boys) are brought to book and justice is served. That way, we will set a precedent which will serve as a deterrent for other lawless citizens of Nigeria who have total disregard for the laws of our land. The military have been getting away with this kind of behaviour for far too long, so much that the citizenry has developed a complacent attitude about these types of barbaric acts.
Thanks to advancements in technology, it was possible to capture this incident on video. Military personnel are meant to be our "protectors," yet, they are the threat to our lives. How sad!!
The Federal Government needs to step up and let us know the way forward. We cannot continue to allow indiscipline and lawlessness on the part of some people hinder the actualisation of the Nigeria of our dreams. There has to be accountability to the people.
Our President has consistently stressed the application of the rule of law in governance. The application of the rule of law should, and must be extended to every citizen without exception and, until this is done, we will continue to pay lip service to this most important precept of democracy.
Incidents like this remind us that "democracy" is not easily won.
While it may seem to exist on the face of it, we, the people, have to continue to hold those in positions of authority accountable to us. Our society is not under military rule and the obligation to check the excesses of the armed forces lies with the executive government, which we presumably put in place. Too often, rights violations and other injustices evoke long winded commentaries that fizzle out with the occurrence of another newsworthy event.
The fact is that as long as we do nothing, they will persist. We could let these repugnant acts feed our email chains and discussion boards until the physical wounds of the victims heal and the tediousness of demanding reparation wears our indignation thin.
Mrs. Spiff writes on behalf of Female Lawyers Against Injustice
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