News

CASTRATION OF RAPE OFFENDERS: NHRC Urges El- Rufai To Withhold Assent

Published

5 years ago

September 21, 2020

Alhassan Bala,Abuja.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has expressed concern over the recent amendment of the Kaduna State Penal Code Law No.5 of 2017, providing stiffer penalties to the offence of rape, including castration of offenders, saying that castration in this regard negates human rights standards and principles and therefore should be jettisoned.

The Commission is therefore calling on the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai to withhold his assent to the amended Penal Code Law until the State Assembly expunges the aspect of the law that stipulates castration of culprits “because this is contrary to Section 34 (1)(a) of the Constitution of Nigeria and its implementation therefore constitutes a violation of right to dignity of human person”.

Executive Secretary of the Commission, Tony Ojukwu Esq. who stated this in Abuja weekend while reacting to new Kaduna State House of Assembly legislation on rape and other Sexual Gender Based Violence (SGBV) observed that the said amendments violates Section 2(ix) of Anti-Torture Act of 2017, which outlaws “mutilation such as amputation of essential parts of the body such as the genitalia, ears or tongue and any other part of the body”.

According to the Executive Secretary, the amendment violates principal corpus of international human rights norms, including article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, both of which provide that no one shall be subject to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. “Which means there can be no justification for torture, no exceptional circumstance whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as justification for torture”, the human rights Chief Executive Officer recalled.

The Commission, whilst acknowledging the power of the Kaduna State House of Assembly under section 4(6) and (7) of the Constitution of Nigeria “to make laws for the peace, order and good government of the State or any part thereof,” states that in this circumstance, legislative power has not been exercised for the common good, for human rights and dignity of citizens of Kaduna State, he emphasised.

Ojukwu therefore restated that torture cannot be justified even with criminal jurisdiction exercised in accordance with internal law such as the Penal Code Law of Kaduna State, otherwise it will be tantamount to legislating torture.

The Chief Human Rights Officer in Nigeria cited the 2017 Penal Code Law, wherein the offence of rape carried a sentence of 21 years imprisonment for the rape of an adult and life imprisonment for the rape of a minor, and “the Commission considers these provisions to be comprehensive in line with national best practices, whereas the new amendment is capable of undermining the progress Nigeria is making in the protection of human rights and advancement of the rule of law.

He stated the readiness of the Commission to work together with Kaduna State and relevant stakeholders to implement a state-wide strategy of combating rape and other sexual and gender-based violence(SGBV) which will be focused on social mobilisation and communication, enhance reporting of rape and SGBV cases, effective investigations and prosecution based on the pre-existing legal regime.

News

President Tinubu Announces Buhari’s Passing ,Directs VP To UK To Accompany Body Back Home

Published

6 hours ago

July 13, 2025

Nigerian Tracker

President Tinubu announces President Buhari’s passing, directs VP Shettima to the UK to accompany body back home

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has announced the passing of his predecessor, President Muhammadu Buhari.

President Buhari died today in London at about 4.30 pm, following a prolonged illness.

President Tinubu has spoken with Mrs Aishat Buhari, the former President’s widow and offered his deep condolences.

President Tinubu has also directed Vice President Kashim Shettima to proceed to the United Kingdom to accompany President Muhammadu Buhari’s body back to Nigeria.

Former President Buhari was twice elected Nigeria’s President in 2015 and 2023.

He also served as military head of state between January 1984 and August 1985.

President Tinubu has ordered flags at half-staff as a mark of respect for the departed leader.

Bayo Onanuga
Special Adviser to the President,
Information and Strategy
Sunday, July 13, 2025

News

Breaking:Former President Muhammadu Buhari Is Dead

Published

7 hours ago

July 13, 2025

Nigerian Tracker

Late Former President Muhammadu Buhari

The immediate past President of Nigeria Muhammad Buhari is dead .

According to his former media aid Bashir Ahmad posted on his Facebook page that Baba is dead.

In another statement by former senior special assistant to Buhari on media Garba Shehu made the following statement in his X handle as follows

“INNA LILLAHI WA INNA ILAIHIR RAJI’UN.

The family of the former president has announced the passing on of the former president, Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, this afternoon in a clinic in London.

May Allah accept him in Aljannatul Firdaus, Amin.”

Signed,
Garba Shehu
13-07-25.

News

ADC urges Tinubu to disclose his whereabouts for five days after BRICS summit

Published

10 hours ago

July 13, 2025

Nigerian Tracker

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has challenged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to tell Nigerians where he has been for five days since the end of the BRICS Summit in Brazil according to the gazette.

The president, who returned in the early hours of Sunday, had been missing from public view since the end of the Summit in Brazil without any official explanation as to his whereabouts.

The full statement read:

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) extends a weary welcome to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for finally returning to the country five days after the end of the 2025 BRICS Summit, which held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Since the summit ended on Monday, July 7th, all the other world leaders who were in attendance returned home, briefed their citizens, and got back to work. But our President? He only reappeared in Abuja in the early hours of Sunday, July 13, without a word, without a briefing, or any explanation as to why his return to the country had been delayed.

A whole five days is significant in the life of a country, especially a country like ours battling with several existential challenges of insecurity and a tottering economy that has made life increasingly difficult for the majority of Nigerians. The president was not on holidays, he was on official duty. We therefore cannot wish those five days away, and we demand a clear explanation for them.

The ADC also notes with concern that this disdain for accountability around the President’s overseas trip has become a distinct hallmark of this administration.

In January 2024, a so-called “private visit” to France turned into a two-week disappearance. No photos, and no statements from our President.

In April 2024, President Tinubu travelled to the Netherlands and then to Riyadh for the World Economic Forum. The summit ended on April 29th, 2024, but there was not a word from him until May 8th, 2024. Those were nine days of unexplained vacuum.

In August 2024, President Tinubu flew to China via Dubai. After his engagements in Beijing, he vanished from public view on September 5th and mysteriously surfaced in London on September 11th. He was missing for six days—no explanations, no letter transmitted to the National Assembly, just silence.

And in the same August 2024, the President also embarked on yet another “brief work stay” in Paris. He remained incommunicado for three days, then quietly returned, as if the nation does not deserve to know.

Each episode of Mr. President’s mysterious disappearances has sparked all manners of speculations and rumours that are not only unhealthy to the polity, but also endangers Nigeria’s perception in the eyes of the world.

We urge Nigerians to take note. A president that disappears without explanation cannot be trusted to be present to solve the crises that we face. A president that vanishes without accountability has no moral authority to demand sacrifice from citizens. Most importantly, a ruling party that makes excuses for these serial disappearances has nothing but contempt for the people it governs and has no regard for accountability.

Signed:

Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi

Interim National Publicity Secretary

African Democratic Congress (ADC) and Spokesman of the Coalition.