Fundamental Human Rights - Do you know your rights?

Hello everyone, welcome to all about Nigeria. A podcast where our host talks about Nigeria's history, politics, infrastructure and a whole range of other topics. We would love to hear reviews about all the things we talk about. So join us on Twitter @AllAboutNigeria. Thank you for listening. Hello. I am pleased to welcome you to a new series that we will commence with this episode on the fundamental human rights in Nigeria. The reason for doing this series that we're starting today is because there is so much confusion out there, especially amongst the young persons in Nigeria who unfortunately did not have much experience with them. Law, perhaps in the schools, which is why I always recommend that in our general segments of the curriculum in Nigeria, we should add law 101 so that citizens may be aware of their basic essential fundamental rights. When all persons know what they are, what freedoms they can exercise, it will be much easier for them to insist that whatever law enforcement they come across with, comply with these basic human rights. It's also important to know the limitations of the rights so that we do not all just go out there making a mockery of our rights because we ourselves are standing against the rights that have been given to us. Fundamental human rights as it implies fundamental, that word fundamental, tells us that they are just essential, you know, a necessary base, you know, of central importance, fundamental and their human rights so they're not rights for animals or rights for plants or rights for inanimate objects. So we've got to be human beings to experience and enjoy basic core central rights. Now fundamental human rights did in your start because somebody wished it. It was the first codification or pronouncement was the universal declaration of human rights and this was I think circa December 1948. That was the when the general assembly of the United Nations declared in resolution 217 E that there were going to be a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations and that this standard common is a standard of achievement we're going to be called human rights, you know, and this universal declaration of human rights document which I would ask that we all try to read just for knowledge. It set out for the first time the fundamental human rights to be universally protected and this particular fundamental human rights was trans has been translated to over 500 languages, you know. Now some of these common fundamental human rights which we also have in our laws in Nigeria include the right to life, you know, the right to liberty, the right to fair hearing, right to private and family life, the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, the right to freedom of expression and the press, the right to peaceful assembly and association, mark the words peaceful assembly and association, the right to freedom of movement, the right to freedom from discrimination and we have the right to acquire and own immutable property anywhere in Nigeria. This rights are, as we said, their fundamental and the best way for us to actually know what the rights give us and what the extent and the extent to which we can avail ourselves of the right and the extent to which these rights are limited by law and by the constitution itself. It is important for us to take these rights one by one. So we're going to be doing a series of podcasts on the fundamental human rights and I would enjoy that term as many as feel that they want to ask questions on these rights and the limitations. Consend us on a Twitter handle at all about Nigeria, you can send us questions, you can send us questions also or your thoughts via email and we will definitely endeavor to have them answered. Now the first fundamental human rights in the Nigerian constitution, by the way, all the fundamental human rights are in chapter 4, a specific chapter was created in the constitution to enunciate the fundamental human rights for all Nigerians and the first one is the right to life. This is contained in section 33 of chapter 4 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Section 33 says and I'm quoting in subsection 1 that every person has a right to life and no one shall be deprived intentionally of his life. Save that is except in the execution of the sentence of a court in respect of criminal offense of which he has been found guilty in Nigeria. By this the section, the subsection 1 is telling us that although everybody has a right to life, a right to exist to be a life, this is not a right that does not have a limitation. That right can be curtailed by another law and this law is that if that person has been convicted of an offense that requires that his life should be taken by law, that person automatically loses the freedom that he has of a right to life. So if a person commits murder and he is found guilty and sentenced to death, that person cannot claim when he's been executed that he has a right to life. So as we can see, the rights are there, their limitations to the exercise of those rights. So even though they are fundamental human rights, they must still be within the law. If a person with a fundamental human rights steps outside that law or a particular law that court tells his right to life, he loses legally that right to life. Subsection 2 of this same section 33 which deals with a right to life says that a person shall not be regarded as having been deprived of his life in contravenction of this section, that is section 33, if he dies as a result of the use to such extent and such circumstances as permitted by law of such force as his reasonably necessary for the following. A) the defense of any person from unlawful violence or for the defense of property. B) in order to effect a lawful arrest or to prevent the escape of a person lawfully detained or C) for the purpose of suppressing a riot in direction or mutiny and I would like everybody to focus on this. Section 33 grants a right to life by subsection 1. Subsection 1 of that section 33 begins to lay a foundation as to when somebody's right to life can be taken away from him. And subsection 2 of section 33 now gives us many scenarios in which a person can justify or consequently die in certain circumstances. And these circumstances are for the defense of any person from unlawful violence, or for the defense of property. What this constitution, this subsection is every second, is that in case there is a sort of crime going on, what this Constitution, this subsection is every second, is that in case there is a sort of crime going on, or somebody is beating up, or some violence is there. And some other person, usually law enforcement officer, tries to prevent the death of another person, or violence being done to another person. And in such a circumstances, a person dies. The person who is the one, committed that offense dies, or people around die. This subsection is saying that that is one of the exceptions to the right to life. The second exception is in order to effect a lawful arrest. So if a policeman or anybody who has powers of arrest, is trying to get somebody arrested, and the person perhaps is trying to resist arrest or prevent himself or be arrested, or some other people are trying to prevent their escape of a person who is being lawfully detained. If such in such a circumstances, if somebody loses their right, loses their life, that is not an unjustifiable loss of life. Be cool for within the exceptions to a person's right to life. The third one, which is the one that we all need to be aware of, is that for the purpose of suppressing a riot, an insurrection, or a mutiny, if somebody loses their life, the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria says this may be one of the exceptions to a right to life. That means nobody may pay for that loss of life. But we have to know that the constitution gives us a discretion which is reserved for the courts, because the force that is expected to be used should be reasonably necessary, and only upon a determination by the courts can we actually say whether some force used is reasonably necessary or the other. So this is one of the reasons why I decided to do a series of podcasts because of events that happen. We know that in the insurrection that happened in the United States at the Capitol, where people went in and were doing a lot of things. If anybody had been shot at that time and killed, and the matter was taken before ajudication either by the police board or by the courts, the people who shot those people, that is law officers who shot those people, might actually have been free and not found guilty of any infraction of a right to life. And let's look at this when we consider what happened also in Nigeria during the many riots that we have had. I've heard a lot of people say that, "Oh, they're free to go on a riot, they're free to protest." Yes, you have a freedom to express yourself. But if a riot breaks down or breaks out during any protests or there is an immeutiny or there is an insurrection, then if anything happens and people lose their lives, according to section 33, subsection 2, if law enforcement should do anything at this particular time and people lose their lives, those law enforcement officers would actually be justified to have taken those lives if they used reasonable force. So let us be careful as we make declarations that for example in the Lagos Tech-Lucky toll gate, riots where people were saying that "should soldiers have been there at all, should soldiers have shot." There were people who were massacred with, we've now discovered, didn't happen. Should the soldiers shot? We are told into the air and no record of anybody who died of gunshot has been presented till date since October 2020. So we can see that even in that circumstance, it would be difficult for anybody to see that the freedom or the right to life was taken arbitrarily according to the constitution of the federal Republic of Nigeria. This series would just be like I said earlier on to let us know what freedoms we have and the extent to which the law allows us to have those freedoms and the extent and the confinements that we ourselves must have in exercising our freedoms lest we become further, just canon further. Rights are never absolutes because there is always one law that limits the rights and our end by saying this segment by saying that we all should learn in Nigeria and especially our youths. We all should learn that your right stops where another person's rights begin. So if you're exercising your own rights to make noise, for example, and you begin to encroach into the the noiselessness area of another person, then your right should stop when it becomes a new sense to the other person. There are no absolute rights. There are always rights that have some sort of containment limitations. Thank you will pick up on the next podcast to look at section 34, which talks about respect for the dignity of a person. Thank you.