HURIWA backs Kukah, others on rule of law
Flays presidential anti-graft committee
THE non-governmental Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has flayed the All Progressives Congress (APC) and those it called “online monsters” for condemning Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah’s advocacy for a rule-based anti-graft crusade.
It appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to call his party faithful to order and activate mechanisms to ensure total adherence to respect to freedom of information and speech, which are the key ingredients for sustaining democracy.
HURIWA said the current administration stands to benefit enormously if it protects the integrity and sanctity of the Nigerian Constitution because Nigeria’s is a constitutional democracy, not a monarchy, whereby the ruler or might is always right.
It also faulted the party’s criticism of the views of the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Kukah, because the new national ruling party, as a by-product of constitutional provisions, must promote greater respect for the rule of law by all authorities and officials, even as the war against corruption and economic brigandage gathers steam.
According to the rights group, there is nothing untoward or sinister in the widely publicised views of the National Peace Committee as represented in the Kukah’s statement, which urged the present administration to abide by due process in its anti-corruption fight.
In a statement by the National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, and National Media Affairs Director, Zainab Yusuf, HURIWA condemned the rash of uninformed and largely illiterate reactions by reactionary elements on social media, who in their overzealous haste to support Buhari poured out venoms on Kukah for only exercising his constitutional rights.
HURIWA also faulted the formation of presidential advisory anti-graft committee, led by Prof. Itse Sagay, when the government should be reorganising and restructuring the existing institutions set up by law to fight corruption. “We had expected the Professor of Law picked to head this contraption called Presidential Anti-graft Committee to have redirected Mr. President to the imperative of strengthening the existing institutional and legal frameworks for anti-graft crusades,” it noted.
Rather, he accepted “to serve in an air-conditioned and well remunerated forum that at best could undermine extant legally created institutions, which cost the public a lot of resources to run.”
HURIWA further asked Buhari to appoint competent professionals to head such anti-corruption agencies as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) and fundamentally restructure them to weed out those already compromised. “President Buhari should have made Prof. Itse Sagay the chairman of a newly restructured, bigger anti-graft agency instead of this piecemeal approach to waging war on corruption,” it added. “It is not late in the day for the government to dissolve that advisory committee and reassign the members to the governing board of EFCC.”
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27 Comments
Where were these loafers whej our rights to decent living was taken away by looters? Kukah is an agent of corruption no matter his pretences otherwise!mr (?bishop) kukah integrity is gone,the popular view is that he participated in the frauds of recent past hence his senseless brazen backmail.
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Pls read your comments. You are insulting someone who has only excercised his right and has said something correct. Remember that this is 2015 and not 1984. Pls go and learn what democracy means. God bless you.
did you people read what the bishop said at all he is a man i respect but i am really dissapointed with his recent actions. pls go back and read what he said b4 coming here to defend him
Abexy or whatever fake name you call yourself, this comment of yours has only portrayed your true characteristics;
UNREFINED, UNCIVILIZED, DIRTY, VULGAR, MYOPIC, DISDAINFUL AND FANATICAL. May God forgive you and heal your leprous mouth.
God bless Kukah, God bless HURIWA, God bless those who will not let themselves be fooled and misled.
Even the human rights watchers have made the same mistake by castigating people who freely spoke their minds; they don’t believe in freedom of speech and yet they watch human rights!
I have upvoted u by error. I don’t see how the Human Rights people have done anything wrong. They are condemning those who insulted Kukah for expressing his views, and in that sense HURIWA is right. Insulting other people in NOT how to express ur freedom of speech!
It was the Holy spirit that caused you to upvote me; if you take it back, it will amount to witch hunt – the new word!
haha
No, the new word is ‘probe’. lol
With all due respect to Bishop Kukah, what is his message to the thieves and looters of our treasury?
Why don’t u respond to the simple point he has made? What is wrong in asking that the rule of law shd be respected? What kind of a country do we want to turn this country to????
The question @Jay Bina asked is valid because it relates to some of Kukah’s comments.There is nothing wrong with asking that the rule of law should be respected and nobody has a problem with that. However, Bishop Kukah said some other things which seem strange; such as things to the effect that because Jonathan conceded defeat in the last elections, he should be celebrated, even if he embezzled all the money in the world. The points raised by the so-called Human Rights Writers’ Association are political.
Well, I must admit I have not read the controversial comments u mention here. However, in the context of this article, there is nothing here that makes Kukah liable to attack as far as I can read. It doesn’t even say here that Kukah has asked for immunity for GEJ, so I really wonder why he shd be attacked.
Yes. Kukah was not attacked for the statements quoted in this article but for other ones he made at the same time. Perhaps deliberately, HURIWA have only mentioned the non-controversial statement in trying to make their point. I have always respected Kukah’s opinions and it is possible that some of his statements came out the way he did not intend.
Yah. I have read the interview and what he said, and I don’t think that people who are condemning him are justified. In the first place he didn’t say GEJ shd be celebrated EVEN IF HE EMBEZZLED MONEY. He said NOTHING like that, except people want to deliberately misread him because of blind partisanship and prejudice. Kukah was speaking about the need for GEJ to be given the respect that is due to him for conceding defeat; an act that helped to douse tensions in the country. He is asking Nigerians to remember where we are coming from as a nation especially as APC members as in overdrive to discredit the past administration for real and mostly imagined crimes.
And u must understand the sub-text of Kukah’s words: there are many of us Nigerians who want corruption to be defeated; who like the idea of probing our leaders. BUT MANY OF US DO NOT TRUST this APC and PMB. We know the people in the APC; we know PMB’s antecedents, and we know that this so-called war against corruption is a sham. When we see a real war on corruption, we will know. That’s why we are asking that the probe shd include all those who brought PMB to power – and that it shd include PMB himself.
Finally, remember that PMB said Abacha was not corrupt. Indeed if Abacha was not corrupt, then nobody in Nigeria is corrupt.
I made it obvious in my first post that I was not quoting Kukah word for word, as I said he said things “to the effect…….”. I do not agree with your interpretation of what Kukah said and I can tell you I do not want to deliberately misread him because of blind partisanship and prejudice. I do not agree with many of the other things you said either although I do not doubt that you probably sincerely believe in your views. Whatever anyone thinks PMB’s antecedents are, he is the president and should be allowed to carry out his promise to all Nigerians. If at anytime he violates the constitution the machineries are there to use against him; and I will be one of those to condemn him. As far as I know, he has not thrown anyone in prison on any imaginary charges. Whether or not his anti-corruption drive is a sham, only time will tell. Irrespective of all of I have said, you are entitled to your views and opinion.
Fair enough. Just note that I do not accuse u of partisanship and prejudice. That comment was not directed to you but is just a general response to those who have spoken very violently. And of course, the idea that we are all entitled to our different opinions is what I am in support of, so I cannot condemn anyone for voicing an opinion that is different from mine. As a matter of fact, there has to be room for concession – if the other person makes a valid point, I am more than ready to accept, just that I need to be really convinced first. Thank u.
Brother, let us leave sentiments for once; don’t you know that once Buhari starts the probe, probe will not end with his regime! Also, even if he ends up catching and convicting partisan thieves, and collecting our money from them, it is Nigeria’s gain. Then when the other party comes to power, they should go after the other partisan thieves not attended to by Buhari and recover our stolen money from them; it is Nigeria that wins in the end. Is it not better to get some of our stolen money than to lose all of it?
Birds of the same feather flocks together.
MATTHEW HASSAN KUKAH HAS BEN INDUCTED INTO THE DEN OF ROBBERS THAT HAVE STOLE THE DAYLIGHT OUT OF THIS GREAT NATION OF BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE. NOW TAINTED BEYOND REDEMPTION WITH THE TAR-BRUSH OF THE SATANIC VERSES HE UNSCROLLED ON BEHALF OF THE ROBBERS OF OUR COMMON PARSIMONY , MAY WE DEMAND TO KNOW HOW MUCH KUKAH WAS PAID FOR THAT VILLAINOUS PR SPIN-JOB HE IDIOTICALLY EXECUTED FOR HIS PAYMASTERS? WHY CAN ALL PRIESTS BE LIKE THE HEAVEN-ANOINTED MBAKA WHO SPOKE TRUTH TO POWER AT THE EXPENSE OF HIS OWN PRECIOUS LIFE WHEN COMPROMISERS LIKE KUKAH KEPT MUTE IN SEE NO EVIL, HEAR NO EVIL DO-NOTHING-ABOUT EVIL MOULD? THERE IS GOD OOOOOOOOOOOO AND ULTIMATE JUDGEMENT OF THE IMPARTIAL GOD THAT DOES NOT ENTERTAIN THE LUXURY OF ANY APPEAL! THE NAKED TRUTH IS ALWAYS FAR BETTER THAN THE BEST-DRESSED LIE! KUKAH HAS MISSED THE PLOT AND THE ROAD TO PARADISE. TAKE THAT FROM THE ORACLE.
HURIWA has succeeded in committing the same of fence it accused online commenters; it has exercised its freedom of speech by the way it has criticized and spoken but would not support others to exercise theirs! Human rights watchers indeed!
No, I don’t think u are right in this one. HURIWA condemned those who are condemning Kukah! They are right to do that. They are not condemning people for expressing their views, they are condemning those who are insulting Kukah for expressing his views. It is different.
But Honestly I dont know what overtook Kukah on that day; he should have been more circumspect! He gave himself away too cheaply. A peace maker should not show open bias!
Good talk My dear Adamu
Abdulsalam should disqualify himself from membership this stupid “ANTI-GRAFT” Committee. His membership will only shield from investigation. He has questions to answer on allegations of Dollar-denominated CBN liquidity shipped to vaults in his Minna castle in motorcades of bullion trucks.He is not fit and proper for consideration for membership of that committee except the intention is indeed to shield him from thievery. Jonathan was right, after all, by reminding us of the difference between thievery and corruption. Compared with Fashola corruption, this one is thievery….okay!
Nigeria as a Nation has the highest number of educated, uneducated degree holders, certificate-less Generals and leaders in the world today.
This explains why an average Nigerian will respond to news item in the social media without first reading and understanding the contents, rains insults on anybody who expresses a view that remotely agrees with their conceived mindset.
Why????????????????.
We will review and take appropriate action.