The wife of the Enugu State Governor, Clara Chime, has called the report of the National Human Rights Commission concerning her allegations of victimization by her husband, false and cooked in order to protect the Governor’s reputation.
In a letter sent to her counsel, Femi Falana (SAN), Mrs. Chime said the report did not respect her dignity and was not truthful about her medical condition.
Mrs. Chime said, “I am very disappointed to read what has been narrated by the National Human Rights Commission. Apart from the fact that the information was largely false, it showed lack of sensitivity in publishing sensitive medical detail.
“This has the effect of tarnishing and damaging my reputation. It is as though the commission set out to ridicule me. I made it clear to them that I had a nervous breakdown and found it inexplicable as to how hallucinations featured as part of my symptoms.
“It is important to make this clear, so that the public should be made aware of this and that the Commission should recognise part of her ethos in protecting human dignity. It has been suggested by some quarters that the Commission appears biased already because of the profile of the person whose reputation is at stake.
“I want to believe that the Commission would approach my case with open mind and in particular recognise me as a victim of crime. I hope that common sense would prevail and that the Commission should now retract the damaging publication and stop stigmatising me.”
In a reaction to her claims, the Chairman of the NHRC, Chidi Odinkalu said the NHRC had not commented on her health in its report.
Odinkalu said, “The commission takes seriously its responsibility to fully respect the confidentiality of parties before it and to reach its decisions only on the basis of law and evidence.
“I should clarify that the team that the commission sent to Enugu did not include any medical personnel. It had neither a mandate nor the expertise to pronounce on such matters and has clearly not done so. This is evident on the face of the statement by the Executive Secretary.
“Allegations also that the commission may have been compromised in the conduct of the case are both factually inaccurate and manifestly unfounded.”