Edo to set up Public Defender Office to fight rights abuses

EDO State government is to set up a Public Defender Unit to provide free legal aid to victims of human rights abuses.Governor Adams Oshiomhole, who stated this on Monday at the unveiling of the Edo State High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, said too many people were being victimised and intimidated but were unable to fight for their rights.The governor said: 'Just recently, the police in the state arrested an innocent man and charged him for murder without any convincing evidence.'I have now decided to set up a public defenders unit that will provide free legal aid to all those who are victims of police abuse of power or by any functionary of the state. 'Government may not be able to deliver food to all the citizens but government must not tamper with the citizens' rights. 'I have directed the Ministry of Justice not to assist the police to detain innocent citizens. My task in Edo State is not only to build roads, hospitals and other physical infrastructure but I also have the responsibility to ensure that the freedom and rights of citizens are not trampled upon.'He noted that 'everybody is equal before eyes of God and everybody is special in the eyes of God. That one is richer than the other cannot be a yardstick to think that one is more special than the other. The attitude of the court should be that, before the law all men are equal.'In the past, many Nigerians used to believe that those who were powerful were above the law.'He lamented that a man was convicted and sent to prison for years for stealing a rabbit while those who embezzled public funds running into billions of naira were left off the hook.He urged the bar to take special interest in gross abuse of judicial powers, adding that the courts should not aid and abet the security agencies when they go about victimising innocent citizens.On his part, the chairman on the occasion and the first executive governor of Edo State, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, said the legal profession was one of the most conservative professions, adding that the system was in dire need of modernisation. In an address of welcome, the Chief Judge of Edo State, Honourable Justice Cromwell Idahosa, said the review of the rules had become imperative because over the years, the rules had become obsolete.
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