In continuation of his advocacy for the respect for human rights of Nigerian citizens and recognition/protection of the rights of victims of crime, the Chairman of the Police Service Commission, DIG Hashimu Argungu (rtd), has led a strong delegation to the Human Rights Commission in Abuja to deliberate on issues with its Executive Secretary, Dr. Tony Ojukwu, SAN, and members of the management team.
The meeting took place at the corporate headquarters of the Human Rights Commission in the Federal Capital Territory.
The PSC Head, Press and Public Relations Ikechukwu Ani, in a statement on Tuesday, said that Argungu, in his remarks, frowned at the parade of suspects in chains and neglect of victims of crime.
He however noted that more efforts are still required of the human rights body to cripple human rights abuses in Nigeria.
The PSC Chairman mentioned extra-judicial killings, illegal arrests, searching and detention, as well as sexual abuses as some of the issues still haunting the nation’s human rights record, charging the Commission to find a way to curb them to the barest minimum.
He called for balancing of the justice system where attention should also be given to victims of crime and not only the suspects.
The PSC Chairman said it was a mockery of the criminal justice system, stressing that some of the Nigerian laws are obsolete and needed fresh impetus.
DIG Argungu remembered his days as a member of the anti-SARS panel which sat at the Human Rights Commission office, noting the cooperation he enjoyed throughout the period.
The PSC Chairman welcomed a collaborative partnership with the Human Rights Commission and announced that PSC will henceforth involve them in its recruitment processes.
Responding, Dr Ojukwu told his visitors that the Human Rights Commission is building a digitalised platform for the processing of human rights cases.
He said that the platform would be linked to the PSC so that the two government agencies would, in partnership, take the war against abuses to the next level.
The Executive Secretary, who said that the nation could not continue to watch the abuse of the human rights of citizens, appealed to the PSC Chairman to partner with his Commission to give the nation something to cheer on.
He also expressed hope that with DIG Argungu, who was a member of the panel on the anti-SARS riot and Chairman of the PSC, most of the unresolved cases would be brought to conclusion.
