Thread by @ChidiOdinkalu

Addressing the annual conference of @NigBarAssoc in Aug, @MBuhari claimed #HumanRights were subject to his own notion of national security. As #Nigerians in different walks pay wth their lives for growing insecurity, it's impt to address #TheBuhariDoctrine
vanguardngr.com/2018/08/rule-o…

Supporters of #TheBuhariDoctrine of national security easily cite the side comment (dictum) of a Justice of #Nigeria's Supreme Court in the case of Mujahid Asari Dokubo v. Federal Republic of #Nigeria decided when OBJ was President on 8 June 2006.
nigeria-law.org/Alhaji%20Mujah…

In July 2009, during, under OBJ's successor, #UMYA, Yusuf Mohammed, the founder of #BokoHaram was executed extra-judicially by @PoliceNG. His killing became the proximate cause of an insurgency that has triggered multiple forms of lethal violence in #Nigeria

Shortly after the death of Mohammed Yusuf & as the #blowback from his killing began, President #UMYA asked then Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Air Chief Marshall Paul Dike, to examine the security implications & report back to him with recommendations

Not much was made of the #MarshallPaulDikeReport but it anticipated what would become an insurgency. To prepare for that, Marshall Dike in 2010, as CDS prepared & issued a #CodeOfConduct for #Nigerian Armed Forces Personnel on Internal Security Operations (#TheDikeCode)

#TheDikeCode was issued 25 yrs after @MBuhari retired from active military duty & took account of the decision in Asari Dokubo's case. It's still in force, applies to all military personnel & covers everything from religious & community clashes to counter-insurgency

According to #TheDikeCode, "members of the #Nigerian Armed Forces shall use firarms as a last resort with maximum restraint, & respect for the principle of minimum force even in situations of self-defence. Force may only be used when absolutely necessary..."

#TheDikeCode specifically addressed the issue of #HumanRighs vs. National Security & said: "Superior orders or exceptional circumstances such as threat to national security or public emergency are not justification for torture or other cruel or degrading treatment."

In effect, #TheBuhariDoctrine of national security is contrary to #TheDikeCode, which applies as the #CodeOfConduct governing field operations by the military in internal security operations, including counter-insurgency operations.

In addition, #TheDikeCode explicitly prohibits "any acts of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse & requires that women & children shd be afforded "special respect" & protection "against rape, prostitution & any other form of indecent assault."

#TheDikeCode also addresses the role of the military in election duties & precludes soldiers from:
(a) handling election materials;
(b) conveying such materials in military vehicles
(c) voter education;
(d) identification with any political party; or
(e) Collation of votes

#TheDikeCode is not the only statutory instrument to be classified in #Nigeria. Instrument 1 under the National Security Agencies Act issued 27 May 1999 is also classified. A few yrs ago, we found the Prison Standing Orders were also classified.

The question that shd be asked is why, nearly 1 decade after it was issued, #TheDikeCode, a very far-sighted statutory instrument, is still classified & unknown even to the C-In-C, because I suspect, if he'd known about it, @MBuhari may not have uttered #TheBuhariDoctrine

Surely, a basic element of the #RuleOfLaw is that rules must be published & known to the public. It is only by publicizing them that knowledge, which is essential to compliance, can be promoted. #TheDikeCode is a credit to the #Nigerian military. Why can't we promote them?

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