BLACK’S Law dictionary 9th edition page 1627, defines torture as ‘’The infliction of intense punishment to extract a confession or information or to obtain sadistic pleasure”
The Anti-torture Act 2017 section 2(1) states that “Torture is deemed committed when an act by which pain and suffering whether physical or mental is intentionally inflicted on a person to
(a) Obtain information or confession from him or a third person;
(b) Punish him for an act he or a third person has committed or
(c) Intimidate or coerce him or a third person for any reason based on discrimination of any kind.
Sub- section 2 thereof itemised torture to include
Physical torture, cruel inhuman or degrading treatment causing exhaustion, disability or dysfunction of one or more parts of the body such as systematic beatings, head banging, striking with rifle butts among others.
What could be gleaned from the above is that torture involves physical mental, psychological infliction of pains so as to extract information among others.
Right from the colonial days, the British found torture as a veritable tool for extracting information from helpless Nigerians and subjecting people to the whims and caprices of the oppressors. It was easy for the British to arrest, detain, torture, exile some and even massacre others.
When the colonialists left the shores of Nigeria on Nigeria attaining Independence, many heaved a sigh of relief that era of torture was gone. Today, this ugly and unlawful trajectory has not only remained with us but appears to have assumed more alarming and devastating dimension.
Hardly a day passes without allegations of persons in security custody crying out against torture and other inhuman and degrading treatment including sexual assaults.
Some suspects are even alleged to have died of torture in custody and more often than not no action is given let alone taking action against such unlawful acts.
Similarly, our law courts are sometimes inundated with cases of torture, inhuman and degrading treatment especially while facing interrogation from security operatives all in a bid to extract information from the suspects.
See for instance, Osamwonyi v State, an accused person during an interrogation, was taken to a room called Juju House where his legs were bound together, hands bound together behind his back and a pole was then passed between his legs and hands with which he was lifted above the ground before being further physically torched by his interrogators who are law enforcement agents.
See also Effionayi & Ors V State. Here, the accused person was hand cuffed and his legs folded back and tied together with his hands. A pipe was then put through the legs and hands and the accused was lifted up and placed on a ‘Y’ shaped pipe stuck to the ground where some police officers tortured him until some information was extracted from him.
The courts in these two instances had no difficulty in refusing to act on evidence or information extracted through such act of torture) and inhuman treatment.
This is in tandem with section 3(2) paragraph 2 of the ANTI- TORTURE ACT 2017 which states thus” Any confession, admission or statement obtained as a result of torture shall not be invoked as evidence in a proceeding, except against a person accused of the torture as evidence that the confession, admission or statement was made”
This position of the law is also encapsulated in the evidence Act 2011.
Such acts having no regards to the dignity of the accused are clearly unlawful and expectedly, the courts have never hesitated in deprecating same.
Indeed, the laws as much as possible has remedies for any victim of torture so long as the victims are ready to invoke the laws.
For instance, the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria precisely, section 34(1) clearly provides “Every individual is entitled to respect for the dignity of his person and accordingly-
(a) no person shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment.
Similarly, section 8 (1) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015, states that “A Suspect shall be accorded humane treatment having regard to the dignity of his person.
(b) not subjected to any form of torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
This has been again restated in section 64 (a) and (b) of Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Delta state(ACJL)2022.
Under the constitution, a victim of torture has a remedy in applying to a court of competent jurisdiction for the enforcement of his fundamental rights guaranteed under chapter four of the constitution.
To effectively do this there is the need to consult a lawyer who will take the necessary legal step for the enforcement of the rights.
Indeed section 46(1) of the constitution donates this right of remedy to a victim of torture or any person whose fundamental right is violated to seek redress thus “Any person who alleges that any of the provisions of this chapter has been, is being. or likely to be contravened in any state in relation to him, may apply to a High Court in that state for redress.
Same right to remedy is provided for by the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure ) Rules 2009. one of the entitlements of the Applicant is award of damages by the court against the violator of the fundamental rights.
Under the Anti-Torture Act 2017, torture is a criminal offence and a person who perpetrates the act is liable on conviction to jail term not exceeding 25 years and if the torture results to death such offence will be treated as murder.
For the avoidance of doubt, section 8 (1) of the Act, provides,” A person who contravenes section 2 of this Act commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 25 years”.
Sub-section 2 thereof states “Torture resulting in the loss of life of a person is considered as murder and be tried and punished under relevant laws”
Sub-section 3 provides that “The penalties specified under this section shall without prejudice to the prosecution of other crimes and legal remedies under existing laws, including right to claim for compensation”
Under this ACT, a victim of torture may seek assistance from Human rights Commission, and non- governmental organization . See section 5 of the Act which states thus” A person who has suffered torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, or any interested party on his behalf may seek legal assistance in the proper handling and filing of the complaint from human rights commission and non-governmental organizations and private persons”
Any person who authorised or witnesses torture even without personally participating is liable as the principal actor. see section 7 of the Act. No circumstance is accepted as justification for torture under the Act .See section 3 (1). From the totality of our discussion, it is absolutely clear that torture is unlawful and punishable by our existing laws.
Inspite of the clear provisions of the laws, the virus called torture has continued to eat deeply into our society especially at the investigation and interrogation stages of cases handled by law enforcement agents.
One of the reasons for the persistence is that victims more often than not sleep on their rights to remedies or are even ignorant of such remedies.
It is not too late to know your rights and activate same. Always consult a Lawyer whenever confronted with threat or actual act of torture.
Those who take delight in perpetrating humiliating, degrading and inhuman treatment should know that they run the risk of 25 year jail term or even capital punishment for murder when such barbaric act leads to loss of life.
Commanding officers of security agencies should also be circumspect as they stand risk of liability as the principal offenders. Indeed our society will be better if cruel, degrading, inhuman treatment is obliterated in our system.
The culture of impunity, recklessness, lawlessness and barbarism must stop now.
Human rights organisations, Non-governmental organizations, the mass media and opinion leaders should also join in the campaign against torture or any form of degrading treatment of citizens whether in custody or not.
