The Amnesty International (AI) on Tuesday, advised security operatives in Nigeria to devised alternative means of getting information from suspects other than inflicting pain on them.
Country Director, Amnesty International, Nigeria, Osai Ojigho, who was speaking at a symposium and moot court competition held at the BAZE university, Abuja, emphasised that torture as a tool of getting information from suspects under detention is not only out of fashion but is against the provisions of the constitution.
She described torture as a cruel and inhumane treatment inflicted on the victim not only by security officials on suspects under detention but include all those other inhumane and harmful treatment meted out to others.
"The idea of this symposium is meant to be both an informative and educative session whereby people in society, particularly the students who are in this university and others in Abuja, who are participating today to have an idea of what torture means and why it is important for it to be abolished and why it is important for it to be criminalised in Nigeria.
"There is no need to torture people either physically, mentally or psychologically. This is against the law and a violation of a human rights," she said.
She called on victims of torture to always speak out, noting that their silence is not only justifying violence but encourages perpetrators to continue in the act.
"In trying to find solutions to our problems, it's not by inflicting pain or harm. We need to use other methods like negotiations, persuasion, in order to find solutions to problems.
"Victims of torture have to recognise that what has happened to them is wrong, it's not a fault of their own, and that they should speak out and report this incidents.
"Most often than not, they think that no one would believe them, so your first point of contact is a medical person, a hospital, a nurse, a doctor, Who can at least document what has happened to you and follow it up by finding an NGO nearby," she said.
Meanwhile, Ojigho said the moot competition which would be between the law faculties of ABU Zaria and UNILAG is to give a practical example of what happens in a case of someone who has been tortured and how the law can take its course. On her part, Coordinator, 'Stop Torture Project in Nigeria and Partnership with Universities,' Onyinye Onyemobi, said AI decided to involve youths and students from Nigerian universities because the organisation is convinced of their relevance in eradicating the menace from the Nigerian society.
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