Borno Govt urged to adopt transitional justice system to sustain peace & development

Ibrahim Umar
Kanempress
16th February, 2023

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO), The Consortium Basic Rights Watch, Mr. Austin Ekwujuru has appealed to Borno State Government to consider the Transitional Justice mechanism in the post-insurgency era as a pathway to sustainable peace and development in the state.

Addressing Journalists on Wednesday in Maiduguri, Mr. Austin noted that Transitional Justice system, consists of judicial and non-judicial measures implemented in order to redress legacies of human rights abuses and such measures could “include truth commissions, reparations programs, and various kinds of institutional reforms amongst others.

”He said: “The steady decline in Boko Haram attacks in North-East Nigeria, particularly Borno State indicates that the country is gradually moving towards the post-insurgency era, hence the urgent need to find pathways to lasting peace and development for the affected populace. ”

”As such, there is no better approach than the deployment of a robust Transitional Justice (TJ) mechanism to ensure sustainable pathways to peace, healing, accountability, and development.

“TJ is informed by a society’s desire to rebuild social trust, repair a fractured justice system and ensure accountability after a prolonged conflict.

”TJ has recently received greater attention by both academics and policymakers. It has also generated interest in the fields of political and legal discourse. In periods of political transitions, from authoritarian, dictatorial regimes or from civil conflicts to democracy,

” TJ has often provided opportunities for such societies to address past human rights abuses, mass atrocities, or other forms of severe trauma in order to facilitate a smooth transition into a more democratic or peaceful future.

In Nigeria, after the transition process from military regime to a democratic regime, a truth and Reconciliation Panel was set up called the Oputa panel.

”Therefore, there is need for TJ mechanisms aimed at healing, accountability, reconciliation and forgiveness. The concept of TJ is therefore a necessary step in moving from a divided and painful past to a commonly shared and developed future.

”The core values of TJ include but are not limited to: i.) Acknowledgement of responsibility and the suffering of victims; ii.) Showing remorse; iii.) Asking for forgiveness; iv.) Paying compensation or making reparation; v.) Reconciliation.

”Notably, the concerted efforts of the government to tackle insurgency especially in Borno state is yielding the desired results as noted in the de-escalation of violence,” Austin said.

”However, the human rights violations that trailed the operations of the insurgents and the counterinsurgency made the young people to be targets of harassments, torture and brutality and these have left an indelible mark on their psyche and ignited a mood to seek justice as a critical pathway for sustainable peace,”

”It’s on this premise that we are organizing this press briefing to advise the state government to take deliberate measures towards establishing a Truth Commission that will drive the TJ in Borno state.

”The Commission amongst other mandates news to support community driven truth-telling, truth-seeking, and restorative justice oriented healing to purposely to promote peaceful coexistence, respect for human rights particularly by state actors and non-state actors as well as foster accountability,” he said.

Mr. Austin also suggested that there was the need for the Provision of a safe and supportive environment for victims of the Boko Haram insurgency to ventilate grievances of violations they have suffered and gain some satisfaction.

He further called on Borno State House of Assembly to be guided by the African Union (AU) TJ policy for effective implementation of transitional justice in Borno state.