…assures all petitioners of opportunity for fair hearing
Controversy has trailed the submissions of the Secretary to the Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Police Brutality and Extra-Judicial Killings in Enugu state, Onochie Obuna Ngwu, which was recently reported by some Nigerian media outlets.
A member of the panel who described the secretary’s reports as misleading, fallacious and deceitful, has publicly dissociated himself from the statements, saying it does not enjoy the support of members of the panel.
It could be recalled that the 8-member panel of Enugu State Judicial Commission on Police Brutality and Extra-Judicial Killings was inaugurated by Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi on Wednesday, October 21, 2020 and subsequently resumed sitting on Friday, October 23 of the same year.
The panel chaired by Justice Kingsley Ude (retd.), was charged with the responsibility of entertaining petitions from victims of the now disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and of police brutality and to investigate the related human rights violations with a mandate to submit its report within 6 months.
However, the secretary of the panel, Ngwu, who claimed that the panel has concluded sitting in a statement to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday, added that the panel received 147 petitions, 60 were treated, while 35 cases were transferred to the administrative panel, because they did not fall within its jurisdiction.
Ngwu also claimed that the remaining 52 petitions were abandoned by the owners, as they refused to appear before the panel, in spite of several reminders.
But in a counter reaction, a member of the panel representing the Civil Society Organizations, Comrade Osmond Ugwu noted that Mr. Ngwu issued false and misleading statements and figures to members of the public, adding that ‘no petition was adjudged to be abandoned by members of the panel.’
Ugwu also noted that the figures of the petitions being presented by the secretary as number of treated and transferred cases, were very strange to members of the panel as they are only learning about it from newspaper reports.
According to the CSO convener, “the panel has not adjudged any petition abandoned. What the Secretary told the Press were false, did not represent the opinion of members who are actually the people that will say that this and that petition is abandoned based on so so and so reason. No petition is abandoned as at today.
Stressing that members of the panel were shocked with the claims of the secretary as he was never authorized to issue statements on its behalf, Ugwu noted that “members read those things on the pages of newspapers. We never discussed them and never mandated the secretary to speak on such matters and have not decided on which petition is abandoned or not. It is not the duty of the Secretary to decide on that. It is the duty of the panel in session to decide and we have not done so.
“Again, on the issue of the panel concluding sitting, it is not true! We have not concluded sitting because there are a lot of petitions that the secretary has not brought to the attention of the panel including the 52 petitions he purportedly said have been abandoned. There is no evidence to show that the Secretary has communicated the owners of the petitions since they wrote to us till date.”
Ugwu added that “what the secretary is trying to do is to shut those people out from getting justice. We cannot conclude sitting until members are convinced that every petitioner is given a fair hearing. That opinion is not the position of the panel at all. We have not concluded sitting. His statement in that regard is also fallacious, deceitful and misleading and he knows that we have not concluded sitting.
“Our resolution on that matter as a panel is that we shall continue to hear petitions until we are convinced that there is evidence to show that every petitioner has been given hearing and fair hearing.
“To buttress that fact, we are going to sit on Monday, 9th August, 2021 to hear 5 petitions. He(Ngwu) sent information to us, reminding us that we are going to sit on Monday 9, to hear memo numbers 12, 27, 55, 62 and 142. So, how can he tell the Press on Monday 2nd August that we have concluded sitting and on Tuesday the following day, 3rd August, 2021, remind us that we are going to be sitting on Monday, 9th August. How does he expect the public or those he is trying to shot off to take us?
“He is misleading the public and presenting the panel in bad light. That statement is capable of instigating the public and I have it as a duty to correct the impression created against the panel I am part of. It is the duty of the panel to fix a date of concluding sitting and not the secretary. Even the numbers he presented representing the concluded and transferred petition are very strange to us as members of the panel. We are getting such information from the Press. That is actually fallacious and a contradiction and I cannot ignore such arbitrariness.
“The opinion of the secretary on these issues do not represent the opinion of the panel and are not true. Information that 35 petitions were transferred to Administrative panel and 60 petitions, are not in the record of the panel members. We read it on the pages of Newspapers. If I don’t put the record straight, our panel will be seen by the public as operating a double standard, particularly, those who may read from the media that we have concluded sitting and on Monday, see us sitting.
To this end, Ugwu noted that “the actions and utterances of the Secretary are trying to create an impression that he has another authority other than the panel members he is deriving power from. Otherwise, he cannot go to the press to speak on issues we never decided on.
“It will also tantamount to injustice and denial of opportunity of being heard and fair hearing to those who submitted petitions to our panel and have not received any information from the panel since they submitted petitions. When they heard or read that the panel has concluded sitting without inviting, they will look maltreated and frustrated and all their hope of getting justice from the panel will be dashed. There are many of them that the panel members have not seen or received from the Secretary and he will go out and announced that they have abandoned their petitions. Secretary has no power to make such declarations. It is the panel in session that has such powers and we have not done so.
“As a matter of fact, our panel is a human rights violation investigation panel or commission and every petition, complaints or even ordinary memoranda submiitted by anybody must be treated with respect and every seriousness in line with Justice, proper procedures, rule of and due process before any petition is being adjudged abandoned and it is the duty of the panel in a session and not that of the Secretary.
“During the meeting of the panel on Thursday, 29th July, 2021, the panel directed the Secretary to compile all the memos from number one to 147 as contained in the cause list of the panel and update the panel members both in soft and hard copies, the status of each memo vis-a-vis those adopted with dates, those transferred with date, those on the hearing stage and date of last adjournment and those yet to be mentioned with evidence of communication to the petitioners by the panel through the Registry headed by the Secretary. It is from this record that we can, after verification, that a particular petitioner has abandoned his or her petition. We have not received such record till today and as such no panel member has any record of petitions that is said to have been abandoned.
“The figure 52 is read for the first time on the media. The same thing is applicable to the number of the transferred cases and adopted cases. The number of the transferred and adopted cases he submitted to the Press are not known to the members. 35 and 60 representing transferred and adopted cases are read by members on the pages of Newspapers. They are not before us.
“Prior to the meeting and directive of the panel on the 29th July, the panel had on occasions before the commencement of the JUSUN strike and on resumption after the strike directed the Secretary to write to every petitioner acknowledging his/her petition and informing him or her of the next thing expected of him or her and to appear before the panel. To the best of my knowledge he has not done that till date and somebody who does not know the programme of the panel or whether his or petition received any attention cannot be said to have abandoned his or petition. Panel members have severally demanded to see evidence of communication to the petitioners and the Secretary has not produced any. The same is applicable to his claim of radio announcements. No evidence as to the radio used and whether it was through News or on the spot announcements, and how many times. We don’t have such information. Interesting thing is that enough money was approved and released for such purposes by the government to the Secretary. Whether it is utilised for that purpose is what I cannot say.
“The panel resolved that even if there were announcements through radios, it is not enough. We directed him to write to every member through the addresses they provided in their petitions, he refused, anchoring his reasons on lack of fund despite the huge sum of money approved by the governor for the purpose and released to him, with a Bus fueled by the government for that purpose. When he refused writing to the petitioners acknowledging their petitions and telling them what is expected of them, the panel directed him to send SMS to them using the phone numbers provided by them copying members and forwarding copies to us. But till today, none of us has received any SMS indicating communication with them. Sone petitioners who he claimed he sent messages to have come before us denied before him as not being true. 52 petitions are too huge a number to be treated with such a levity. Right to fair-hearing is key to the delivering of justice in this regard.
“Again, people submitted memos through email but as at today, the Secretary has failed or refused to disclose to the members the names of those that submitted petition through the email address he presented to the public through public announcement immediately after our inauguration, despite the directive of the Governor through the Chief of Staff to the Governor to that effect. We have been demanding for this since the day of our inaugural meeting in October 2020 but he has refused to print and circulate them to members or make their names available to members if he believed that they are the same with those that submitted through hard copies. How can he say that we have concluded sitting without knowing the fate of those ones.
“To this end, I wish to use this opportunity to inform the public, particularly those whose petitions are with us and have not been attended to that they still have opportunity of being heard. They should come to Enugu High Court, Old Court 3 to come and know the position of their petitions and know the next thing to do. Any petitioner who feels he or she is not properly treated is free to approach any member of the panel or any human rights organisation and table their case and the organisation will bring it to the notice of the members.
“Even after the information to the Press that has been published stating that 60 petitions have been concluded, 35 transferred and 52 abandoned which when summed up will give 147 petitions, he forwarded 5 petitions to be heard on Monday, 9th August 2021. The memo numbers are 12, 27, 55, 62 and 142. If actually the panel received 147 petitions, concluded 60, transferred 35 and adjudged 52 abandoned as at Yesterday, 2nd August, 2021 and by today, 3rd August forwarded 5 petitions to be heard on Monday, 9th August, it proves the fact that his information as circulated by News Agency of Nigeria and published by Vanguard Newspaper of 2nd August are fallacious, deceitful and misleading. Either that the figures he gave to the Press on the number of purported concluded, transferred and abandoned petitions are false or that the figure he gave representing the number of received petitions is not correct. Again for the fact that after Informing the public that the panel has concluded sitting before today and by today sent memos to be heard on 9th further justifies my position that we have not concluded sitting and that his information to the Press does not represent the position of the panel as it is very fallacious, deceitful and misleading.
“I therefore wish to use this opportunity to appeal to His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Enugu state to consider extending further the tenure of the panel atleast to another 3 months to enable the panel communicate to petitioners as appropriate and give fair hearing to all as justice demands and enable the panel hear all the outstanding petitions, investigate the received and adopted petitions, hear witnesses where necessary to arrive at unbiased conclusion and write reports. Let not the anger of the inefficient Secretariat be transferred to the victims. It is only further extension of time that can enable the panel come up with reports and recommendations that will be credible and acceptable to right conscience and stand the test of time.”
