By PATRICK ANYADUBALU

Continued from last week.

INEC no doubt impugned on the right of the citizens to vote for candidates of their choice. The situation is more worrisome when the same INEC that disenfranchised voters on November 16 2013 in some areas quickly organised a supplementary election the next day being Sunday in a predominantly Christian area knowing full well that the Christians will be in the church during the period of purported election.

What INEC did in Anambra State in the name of conduct of gubernatorial election is a charade and should be condemned. It is the right of the citizens to choose who will lead them; one therefore will condemn the activity of those voters who demand money before casting their votes or sell their voters’ card.

RESPONSIBILITIES/OBLIGATIONS
1   It is the obligation of the citizen to obey the laws of the land.
2. Citizens have duty to pay tax as and when due. This may not sound very popular and the reason is understandable as even in the Bible, tax collectors were not popular.
Government should provide basic necessities of life and justify the huge resources accruable to them to encourage the citizens to pay tax regularly.

In the civilized world, their citizens pay tax without prompting because their governments do justify the expenditure of public funds unlike what is obtaining in some areas in the third world.
This is because where a citizen sends his child to private school where he pays highly,
*Buys fuel everyday to power his generator, because of lack of electricity.

*Pays for the electricity he never used.
*Visits the mechanic every now and then because he drives his vehicle on almost unmotorable roads.
*Pays high rent because government has failed to provide affordable housing programme.
*such a citizen feels no government presence therefore will not be encouraged to pay tax to the government.
3. It is the duty of the citizen to learn and obey the national symbols, our flags should be respected and we should not fly torn or worn out flags.

4. We should be able to recite our national anthem.
It is a great disrespect to see people walking up and down when the National Anthem is being played or sung.
5. Our legal tenders especially paper should be respected.

PROBLEMS AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
(i) IGNORANCE: there is still high level of illiteracy in Nigeria that many citizens are ignorant of their rights and even ways of pursuing those rights. However, with organization like CDHR, we hope awareness is being created and the situation will improve gradually.

(ii) POVERTY: A person may be aware of his right but may be hamstrung  to fight for his right because of lack of resources or funds to do so. This is again where I commend such organizations like CDHR and the Lagos State Government for the establishment of the Office of Public Defender where free legal services are offered to the poor. The activities of the legal Aid Council is yet to be felt in the society, therefore government should reorganize the Legal Aid Council and adequately fund the organization to live up to expectations.

(iii) COMPENSATION FOR VICTIMS: section 35 (6) of the constitution provides that any person who is unlawfully arrested or detained shall be entitled to compensation and public apology from the appropriate authority or person. This provision is hardly explored by victims of fundamental rights breaches. In some cases the victim is so traumatized that he preferred to go home and organize himself instead of seeking redress over wrongful detention. Some reasons are adducible as possible reasons like delay in procurement of justice, refusal of the government to pay compensation or obey judgment orders.

(iv) LACK OF ADEQUATE TRAINING FOR THE LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENTS: The law enforcement agents either lack the training or ignorant of the ingredients of the legal justice system. This will enable them to determine cases that are worth prosecuting.

SOLUTIONS
1.     The government should ensure adequate training for the law enforcement agents and insist on strict observance of due diligence.
2.     I suggest that legal practitioners should be assigned to police stations to examine such complaints before taking same to court.
3.     The government should educate the citizens on their legal rights and obligations. This could be made part of the curriculum  in the secondary schools
4.     Government should reconcile the right of the citizens to presumption of innocence with the need to generate revenue for the Government so that accused persons are not necessarily clamped into prison custody.