Falz Writes President Buhari Over Non-constitution Of NHRC Board

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Folarin Falana, a Nigerian musician better known as Falz, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to reconstitute the governing board of the National Human Rights Commission.

In a letter received by SaharaReporters on Thursday, Falz said that the absence of the governing council as required by law had led to a worsening of the country’s human rights abuses.

He said:

“It has been brought to my knowledge via a statement by your Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, that the Federal Government has accepted the 5-point request of the ENDSARS protests presented by well-meaning Nigerian youths.

The statement went on to state that an independent investigation panel would be in place to investigate the violations of human rights by the defunct SARS and the Nigerian Police.

Quoting Mr. Adesina ‘s statement: The Forum agrees that the National Human Rights Commission will set up this independent panel within the next week.

“It is pertinent to note that section 5 of the National Human Rights Commission (Amendment) Act 2010 empowers the National Human Rights Commission itself you receive complaints and investigate all alleged cases of human rights violations in Nigeria and make appropriate recommendations to the President.

“The detailed and concise provisions of this section adequately empower the Human Rights Commission to look into these cases by itself. The commission need not set up another panel for the exercise of its function.

“As it stands now, the National Human Rights Commission has remained without the Governing Council since 2015 and still remains without it. The unfortunate circumstance has led to the aggravation of human rights abuse.”