Barrister Jumai Meshelia is the head of the Borno State office of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). This amiable rights activists hardly has time for her personal life because everyday is about hard work in her office. In spite of the lingering insurgency in the state which has taken so much from her in the area of arbitration over resultant marital and rape issues, she never gets tired of going back to her old office on Bama Road in Maiduguri to respond to myriad of issues that get to her table. She had a review interview with Sam Kayode on her activities in 2022 which culminated in the 16 days of activities to sharpen the wits of stakeholders on how far the state has gone in terms of progress on some vexed issues like rape and what to expect in 2023.
What is it about the 2022 activities of the national human rights commission that is different from 2021?
What makes 2022 unique is that it was the 75th commemoration of the international human right day, that coincides with the universal declaration of human rights with the theme dignity, freedom and justice for all. This is what makes it unique. And it’s unique in the sense that, dignity for human beings makes people have that freedom and justice and fairness to anybody as far as we are human beings. So for us as a commission, we commemorated it in the 36 states of the federation including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). So for us honestly it’s a great celebration, because we have all the relevant stakeholders in our midst, we had the Commissioner of Police, the representative of the theatre Commander in the person of Brigadier General Idris, the Garrison Commander. We had the Controller of immigration, the NSCDC Commander, we had the representative of Commissioner of women affairs, her own is because of issues that they are having there at the commission of women affairs. So you can see the high caliber of people that are here. So if you talk of the issues of human violation, the people, the distinguished participants were happy so that at least, they can voice out their concerns that they have with security men listening. You can see during the plenary session a lot of issues were asked, and I commend their efforts for being all on top of all the questions that they were asked and their work in what they are doing in the state. We had the representative of the civil society, we had the women too on it. So they spoke a lot about issues around human rights violation and the role that all the security agency that are ensuring and respecting the rights of women in the state
Lets zero down on the impact of your activism in the state over the years, can we say things are getting better or just averagely?
It’s improving, this is because people are now cautious of their rights they know how and where to report each of the human right violation, and having known of their rights, they try to respect other peoples right. And whenever such issues comes on they don’t take laws into their hands, they report immediately. You can see from the two scenario, the drama presentation on the stage. You have seen how people were conscious of how and where to report issues of human rights violation, issues of early marriage was highlighted and you have seen how the girl child was able to know how where to report issue of anything that affects her rights.
Looking at the state and the extreme secrecy and shame phenomenon when it comes to some crimes like lingering rape, can you say Borno within a scale of 1 to 10 has started opening up, let’s say 6/10 or we are still around 2/10?
No, we are around 7/10, because people can open up and report issues. People are ready to come out and say their minds despite the threat, the intervention that people are coming to seat and tell them they should not report.
But 7/10, when we have a school proprietor who doesn’t want a suspected rape case to be prosecuted and they are fighting to kill that case if possible?
You can see the level the father has taken his steps in ensuring that, no matter what, he wants justice for his daughter unlike then that it should have been shredded out or kept in secret, protecting it such that if I allowed it to go viral my daughter will not get somebody to marry. That is what makes it different.
A five year old? Who will remember the case of this small girl 10, 15 years from now. Who is going to remember except her?
Some people then, before the consciousness of awareness people felt that such issues should not be talked in the middle of people, it should not be discussed at all. But now they know that there are people, we are here to support them no matter what and justice will be done to them. And the case is with the ministry of justice for legal advice.
Will the ministry be under pressure to drop such a sensitive case?
No, no, no, for legal advice.
What if the school tries to apologise and settle out of court with a huge plea bargain amount, will it be permissible?
No, with the recent Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) law, it’s not permitted. The VAPP law said, “he who admits, there is punishment for death”.
You admitted now, so there is no issue of settlement. There is no issue of settlement under VAPP law. If you settle that will be abetment, you are abetting for the continuation of appropriation of certain crime. Even if the money speaks and I like what the father said, because the father was saying that no matter who is the person, he is not going to proceed and say he has forgiving them. He wants justice for his daughter.
Finally, what would you say are the highest points of the 16 days of 2022 activity?
The commemoration of the international human right of last year was so special in the sense that we have gotten the normal support from stake holders.
We have equally seen the commitment of the relevant stakeholders’ in the cause of fighting human rights violation. And that shows that, whosoever is in conflict with the law will not go free. He will be punished. We enjoin every person to ensure the fight for human rights, because only human rights commission is everybody needs.
