The Chief Justice and President of the Supreme Court of Kenya, Justice Willy Mutunga, on Monday urged the Federal Government of Nigeria to be mindful of the rights of innocent citizens while prosecuting the war against the Boko Haram terrorists in the North-East.

Justice Mutunga, who was in Nigeria to attend among other events, the 55th Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association, spoke at the headquarters of the National Human Rights Commission in Abuja.

He noted that in prosecuting the war against terror, there must be search for balance between security and rights, adding that achieving such goal was usually a difficult one even in developed democracies.

He said that it was necessary to find the balance for the stabilisation of the society, adding that due process of law and rules of engagement must be followed.

Justice Muntuga said, “These strategies must conform to the principles of rule of law so as to avoid infringing on the rights of innocent citizens. To do otherwise is to put the citizens in a very difficult situation of double suffering.”

He added that “inhuman and murderous as they (the terrorist) are, they cannot be our teacher and we cannot therefore treat them as they treat us.”

“As painful and unpopular as this statement may sound, terrorists, rapists, murderers, drug traffickers…they have their rights under our Constitution.

“Terrorists are not our teachers, so, the question is why do they deserve our sympathy? But we take high moral grounds of morality. People who don’t deserve sympathy are taken through a humane process of administration of justice.

“But the war against terrorism must be fought in a way that citizens must be able to tell the difference between state actions and those of terrorists.

“To effectively respond to terrorism threats, it is also critical that we continue building and enhancing the capacity of our security and criminal justice systems,” Mutunga said.

He charged the NHRC to be independent and not to cover up cases of human rights abuses but to also look holistically into the issue of corruption, human trafficking, piracy and terrorism.

In his reaction, Executive Secretary of the NHRC, Prof. Bem Angwe, restated the commitment of the Federal Government to end the Boko Haram insurgency within a reasonable time frame.

He also said that the Nigerian government had taken steps in ensuring the protection of the rights of citizens while he also solicited the support of the Kenyan Government in the fight against corruption and terrorism.

Meanwhile, shortly after playing host to the Kenya Chief Justice, the NHRC boss called on the Federal Government to review the National Health Insurance Scheme to address some of its noticeable grey areas.

Angwe said he was going to invite the Chairman of NHIS to the Commission for explanations as to why beneficiaries of the scheme were having difficulties in accessing medical services.

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