Today marks a grim milestone. Mubarak Bala has been held by police in Kano State, Nigeria for 100 days without access to his lawyers or his family and without appearing in court. His whereabouts remain unknown.
Today, after 100 days without seeing her husband and without knowing if he is alive or dead, Amina Ahmed has sent an appeal to the Nigerian Senate asking for the smallest things—to be given proof Mubarak is still alive and to be allowed to see him. In an open appeal to The Senate President, Sen. Ahmad Lawal and the Speaker of House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, she says:
“…above all, I beg you Senators and Honourable members of House of Representatives, the men and women who swear to God to uphold the rule of law in my country, on my bended knees, I beg you please let me have proof that Mubarak is alive, please let me see my husband and let Mubarak hold his son again. This is all I ask of you.”
Nigerian courts have proven they cannot protect a Nigerian citizen when religious interests are set on denying him his rights. Worse than that, the delays, excuses and prevarication in bringing Mubarak to court, show the Nigerian Judicial system is thoroughly corrupt. It is a feeble puppet of religious interests, not a courageous defender of the Constitution and human rights.
If Mubarak has done wrong, why do the authorities not bring him to court and prove their case? Perhaps the answer is simple. They have no case. They have fanatical Muslims baying for blood and they have no stomach, or no desire, to stand up for the rule law.
Let’s hope the good men and women of the Senate will restore the justice perverted by the police and the courts.
The full text of the appeal is shown below.
