Another report of the wife of the president, Aisha Buhari, allegedly involved in human rights abuses has been released.
Development Diaries reports that a former special assistant to the president’s wife, Zainab Kassim, has filed a lawsuit for the enforcement of her fundamental rights against Aisha Buhari and demanded N100 million as damages from her and other respondents.
The recent investigative report carried out by Foundation for Investigative Journalism’s (FIJ) ‘Fisayo Soyombo revealed the inhumane treatment meted out to Kassim.
According to the report, Zainab was sacked by the wife of the president without notice after which she was physically assaulted by her and illegally detained by the Nigerian police over the deletion of an Instagram post on Aisha Buhari’s official account.
The report read in part, ‘For trying to defend herself against the accusation of deleting the Instagram post, the First Lady told the policemen to give Zainab 12 “mouth slaps”, that is, to hold the lips with which she was talking, and hit them!
‘She then ordered Zainab to lie down, and instructed Ruth Rabbi Adamu, her orderly, to beat her. Ruth unhooked her belt and started to whip Zainab. Still dissatisfied, the First Lady snatched the belt from Ruth and lashed it at Zainab’s skin by herself’.
The allegations of human rights abuse by the wife of the president are not new as there have been other cases among the first lady’s staffers, with many of them underreported, according to FIJ.
In November 2022, Development Diaries reported that Aisha Buhari came under criticism for allegedly ordering the arrest and detention of Aminu Muhammed over an alleged defamatory social media post.
Muhammed was a 500-level student of the Federal University Dutse who tweeted that Aisha Buhari was feeding fat on the wealth of poor Nigerians.
Section 34 of the Nigerian Constitution, as amended, states that every individual (Nigerian) is entitled to respect for the dignity of his person, and accordingly no person shall be subject to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment.
With the allegations leveled against the president’s wife, both in the past and present cases, we wonder why no action has been taken by security agencies in the country.
Is their silence an indication that the wife of the president is above the law? Is she allowed to constantly abuse state power and institutions to her benefit?
President Muhammadu Buhari, Aisha’s husband, in December 2017, signed into law the Anti-Torture Act 2017.
The president took that action in acknowledgment of Nigeria’s obligations under the United Nations Convention Against Torture, Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and its Optional Protocol.
In fact, Section Four of the Act provides that a person alleging that torture has been committed, whether the person is the victim of the offence or not, has a right to complain to the police, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) or any other relevant institution or body having jurisdiction over the offence.
The country is therefore expected to respect the commitment it has made towards protecting human rights.
The NHRC has a duty to deal with all matters relating to the promotion and protection of human rights as guaranteed by Nigeria’s constitution, the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and other international and regional instruments on human rights to which Nigeria is a party.
We, therefore, call on the NHRC to investigate all alleged cases of human rights violations against Aisha Buhari and make an appropriate recommendation.
We also call on the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba, to immediately order the investigation into these allegations. He must ensure that the police are not being used by the high and mighty in Nigeria to violate human rights.
Photo source: Daily Nigerian
