“Discrimination is the selection for unfavourable treatment of an individual or individuals on the basis of: gender, race, color, ethnic or national origin, class, age, marital status, or family responsibilities, or as a result of any conditions or requirements that do not accord with the principles of fairness and natural justice.”
With laws, they change as you move from country to country, but one thing that remains consistent is that of human rights. In Nigeria what is seen as a fundamental human right can be found under Chapter 4 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, there are 11 rights explicitly stated, they are the right to; life, dignity of human persons, personal liberty, fair hearing, private, and family life, freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, freedom of expression and the press, peaceful assembly and association, freedom of movement, freedom from discrimination, and to acquire and own immovable property.
The experience of minority groups in Nigeria is a travesty. Many of these minority groups face discrimination not only by other members of society but by the government and governmental institutions. A prime example of this would be the treatment of women and members of the LGBTQI groups, in this case, I will focus on the treatment of women. In the month of April 2019, over 100 women were arrested from places of leisure in the nation’s capital while they were out at night, on suspicion of soliciting and prostitution. During the arrests, it was alleged by the victims that they were sexually assaulted and physically assaulted by the arresting officers, their only crime, being women. At the hands of the Nigerian police force, they experienced gender-based violence and sexual harassment. Many were not given the right to bail or fair hearing prior to charging. In some cases, many were given extortionate amounts for bail and when they could not meet the bail terms were then subjected to rape in return for their release and safety. These raids were carried out by the Abuja Environmental Protection Board, under the guise of reports of noise pollution in these places of recreation, work, and leisure. It is good to note that only women were arrested in these raids and their male counterparts in these institutions were left to go free, even those that came with their spouses were separated. Many of these women faced physical violence, molestation, and sexual assault by the very institutions created to protect them. A few weeks after the first raid of 30 women, another raid was carried out this time arresting 70 women. Although these women were charged with prostitution, most of them were convicted as idle people, either paying a small fine or spending a night in jail. In a press conference the Inspector General of the Nigerian Police Force, supported the unlawful arrests but made the claim of not knowing about the molestation and assaults, and said that a panel will be set up to reprimand and investigate whoever took part in the heinous acts; up until this day nothing has come out of this.
The National Human Rights Commission on hearing of this tragedy, set up a committee with various NGOs and invited the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), to which they severally ignored the invitation and when they finally attended, denied all accusations and carried not to blame the women, their dressing and activities for their unlawful arrest, even though the officers claimed to be in the arresting area due to noise pollution and the women, only being a casualty. The AEPB claimed they were within their mandate when these arrests were made and in fact, the “scantily clad” women deserved it. The public enraged at this took to the streets of Abuja peacefully to protest this unjust act, of which I was a part of, the protest was taken to the FCT Command of the Nigerian Police Force were we were faced with armed policemen. We were taunted by some of the policemen as most of us were women, but all in all, it was a quiet protest, we got to address the head of the police FCT and express our grievances.
This is just one example of Nigeria’s complete disregard for women and minority groups, it is evident that women in Nigeria do not hold the same worth, value, or position as their male counterparts, and this stems from inception. Inequality is practiced in the workplace, in schools, from primary and beyond, and even at home. The girl child, is given fewer opportunities, and due to this has a lesser chance of succeeding in life, and are also more economically disadvantaged, and due to this are unable to stand their ground in such situations. In this example, sex for bail could be held over them not only because of authority but their inability to pay due to economic and social gender disparities in Nigeria. As a woman in the typical Nigerian society, you are expected to be highly moral, to conduct yourself in a way the patriarchal society of Nigeria approves of, when you do not, you are seen as wayward and deserving of unfair treatment.
In this example alone, over half of the fundamental rights stated in the constitution were breached, in my opinion, a right to life, dignity of human person and personal liberty, as stated under S.33, S.34, and S.35, chapter 4 of the federal constitution, these women were violently and sexually harassed while exercising their right to freedom of self-expression, under the Constitution, they are afforded a right to protection, against unlawful arrest and torture (in this case rape). The right to fair hearing, S.36, was also breached in this case, as many of the women were unlawfully arrested, were not given the option of a lawyer at the point of arrest and charge, and were also not given the option to defend themselves, or a right to proper bail and many if not all were presumed guilty of prostitution before proven innocent. Most importantly the arresting officers breached S.42, right to freedom from discrimination, the Act states that “ A citizen of Nigeria of a particular community, ethnic group, place of origin, sex, religion, or political opinion shall not, by reason only that he is such a person…”, these women were arrested and treated this way because of their gender, and the expectations that the arresting officers and public have of the Nigerian woman.
Apart from being women, some of these women also committed the crime of being economically disadvantaged and this ties back to the economic aspect of gender discrimination, many women in Nigeria and around the world are not paid up to or even half of what their male counterparts are being paid; leading to economic disadvantage. Many women, in this case, especially the single women could not afford to pay their bail, and those that could were not subject to sex for bail, in many of these cases, their husbands, fathers, or partners bailed them out. Here the theory of intersectionality comes in, therefore being poor and a woman, has worsened the situation of these women.
The treatment of these women is a prime example of the everyday gender-based violence women in Nigeria face. The Nigerian society is an inherently patriarchal and paternalist society, up until now, nothing has been done to avenge the victims of this crime. Life has moved on. Every day there is a new story of a woman being harassed, molested, abused, and it has become common practice to question the victim as women are seen as the inferior gender and that need to be guided, and are incapable of taking care of themselves and when they do fall prey to these hardships it is solely by their doing through their attitudes, dressing or general preferences. Gender discrimination in Nigeria is systemic and structural. Many of the women arrested were reprimanded for how they dressed, their economic power, class in society and religion. If your hair and body were fully covered, then you had no reason to be arrested or even out at odd times of the night, as a self-respecting woman. Unlike the male counterpart that will be overlooked in the same nightclub as you, because he was fully clothed. Sentiments like these were expressed by leaders and key members of the police force and AEPB, many of which being women. Which leads me to ask, in archaic societies, like that of Nigeria, how much of a role do women play in the discrimination of their own kind? Is it a fault of theirs or a result of the systematic oppression of women in society? Can it be unlearned? Also, how can we effectively use the law to protect and better the experiences of minorities in Nigeria?
