HURIWA Urges NBA to Sanitize The Judiciary
Oru Leonard
The National Coordinator, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko has on Thursday, November 21, 2019 called on the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to intervene and sanitize the court system in Nigeria to avoid imminent collapse.
Onwubiko who made the call at a media briefing in Abuja with the theme, “State of National Security, Human Rights and Disrespect for Rule of Law By Security Forces”, noted that the Judiciary has ‘rubbished her integrity’.
He stressed on the need for the court to sanitize itself, adding that the integrity of the court system in Nigeria is eroded, especially with the removal of the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen.
According to him, “We now have a court system headed by an authority produced through illegality and nobody is respecting the court again. The court should call itself to order.
“The NBA should sit up as an integral aspect of any kind of sanitization of the court system in Nigeria, they should please intervene and save the Judiciary from imminent collapse. The Judiciary has a terrible problem, they have a crisis of credibility that has to be checked without further delay”, he said.
While making reference to the prolonged detention of the human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore by the Department of State Services(DSS), he said that the greatest threat to Nigeria’s security is the flagrant disrespect of the rule of law by security personnel and elected officials.
He further urged security forces to respect the constitution and stop the attempt to destroy constitutional democracy, stressing that they must comply with court orders.
Furthermore, he condemned the “Hate Speech Bill”, citing it as unconstitutional and challenged the National Assembly to debunk corruption allegations laid against it and to account for the N1 trillion spent in 10 years on “constituency projects”.
In his words, “The Hate Speech Bill scaling the second reading is an insult on Nigerians, there are sufficient laws in Nigeria and the country does not need the hate speech law, it is against democracy.
“The National Assembly should busy themselves by finding the N1 trillion constituency project money that has been stolen. If you are looking for people to kill, let us kill the looters”, he added.
He urged Nigerians to support the Armed Forces in their efforts to fight terrorism and stop demarketing them, adding that a law based war on terror with public support is the panacea to the current insecurity debacle.
