Amnesty International has alleged that some states in Nigeria are extorting residents in the name of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions.
According to Amnesty, alleged defaulters of lockdown violations are being extorted through mobile courts in Kano and Kaduna States.
The Director for Amnesty Nigeria, Osai Ojigho said the organisation has been receiving a lot of complaints from Nigerians about the matter during a webinar organised by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD).
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The Director stated that it was wrong for residents to be tried in mobile courts without having lawyers represent them, which is the case in Kano and Kaduna.
Just last week, the Kaduna State Government announced that it made N1.9 million from 640 lockdown violators in 48 hours.
“If people are charged to court, they also need legal services. And part of the problem is that lawyers have not necessarily been grouped as essential services,” she said.
“When you talk about access to justice, it includes the rights of access to lawyers for defence. The courts shouldn’t be prosecuting cases without lawyers.
“We have seen it abused before the COVID-19 lockdown and it is even worse now. We have also received reports about people being asked to offer bribes.
“What international human rights law says is that whatever provisions you make must have three provisions; they must follow legitimacy, must be legal and must be reasonably justified.
“The right to have legal representation to a fair trial is sacrosanct. The state attorneys-general should be advising their principals on how to carry out these prosecutions.
“A lot of thoughts should also go into involving the ministries of justice providing such services for people charged in these courts.”
The Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), said the Commission reported 29 cases of extra-judicial killings carried out by security agencies during lockdown periods across the country.
“During the first two weeks of lockdown, we had 18 extra-judicial killings, and more in the second round, making it a total of 29 extrajudicial killings,” he said.