The House of Representatives has approved a report on a bill that makes torture and all forms of inhuman treatment in public places and homes in the country a criminal act.
According to the bill, torture in offices, police cells and homes are now offences punishable by law.
The bill was sponsored by Nkiruka Onyejeocha an Abia State lawmaker. It had the long title, ‘Bill For an Act Penalising the Commission of Acts of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishments, Prescribing Penalties Thereof and for Other Purposes’.
The bill was the subject of consideration by the Committee throughout Thursday before it was approved.
The session was presided over by the Speaker, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal.
Defending the bill in an executive summary presented to the committee members, Onyejeocha described torture as a degrading act which are strictly prohibited at all times under international laws, regardless of the person who commits it and what crimes the victim may be suspected of having committed.
“The proposed bill underscores that freedom from torture is a non-negotiable right,” Onyejeocha said.
“No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability, or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification for torture.”
According to the bill acts of torture include ”systematic beatings, head-bangings, punching, kicking, striking with rifle butts and jumping on the stomach, among others.
Meanwhile the House Committee on Environment has summoned the top management of First City Monument Bank over the N924m which was allegedly withdrawn fraudulently from the Green Wall Account with the bank.
Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) Mr. Nta Ekpo, earlier told the committee that the commission recovered the money.
Ekpo also revealed that the mastermind in the fraud case as well as his accomplices were in ICPC’s custody.
