FCT agencies have agreed to suspend nightclubs raids – NHRC

The National Human Rights Commission said on Sunday that it had reached a resolution with the Abuja Environmental Protection Board and other agencies of the Federal Capital Territory Administration to suspend the raids on nightclubs and other leisure places in Abuja.

The Director Corporate Affairs and External Linkages of the NHRC, Lambert Oparah, said in a statement that the resolution was reached at a meeting between the representatives of the NHRC, the AEPB and some civil society organisations.

Oparah recalled in his statement that the NHRC had on May 10, 2019 issued summons on the Director of the AEPB following complaints received from some civil society organisations “about allegations of raids on nightclubs, arrests, molestation and sexual assaults on some women by agents of the FCT led by the AEPB.”

He said in obedience to the summons, the Coordinator of the  Abuja Municipal Metropolitan Council, Alhaji Baba Lawal, alongside the Directors, Security Services, Social Welfare, Development Control and AEPB, appeared before the NHRC on May 16.

He said the representatives of the various civil society groups led by the Head of the Amnesty International, Mr Osai Ojigho, were also in attendance.

The statement read in part, “At the end of the meeting, the summary of the resolutions  was as follows:

“That further raids by the FCT Task Force should be put on hold pending the mainstreaming of human rights into their operations.

“That issues concerning the distortion of master plan of the FCT should be targeted at business owners and the FCT officials themselves who approve such alterations and not the innocent citizens of the FCT using the facilities provided.”

It was also resolved that an investigation would be “carried to fish out and bring to book those officials and security agents who perpetrated the various acts of violation and impunity in the course of the raids.”

“A meeting among the clubs, similar business owners, and the FCT be facilitated by the NHRC to reduce noise pollution in Abuja, ensure respect for the right of others, the rule of law and compliance with official regulations,” the statement added.

He noted that the Executive Secretary of the NHRC, Tony Ojukwu, had observed at the meeting that the allegations  of the molestation of women in the FCT had raised a lot of public concern.

He added, “The right to freedom of movement, association, leisure, recreation and privacy are necessary entitlements of the people of Nigeria and the FCT in particular.”