5 - man panel to probe alleged sniper training claim by Former President OBJ

The Governing Council of National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, yesterday, constituted a five-man panel of inquiry to probe the allegation by former President Olusegun Obasanjo that President Goodluck Jonathan was training snipers and had placed 1,000 political opponents on his watch list.
In a communique at the end of its extraordinary meeting in Abuja, the council said that in line with the provision of Section 6(3) of the National Human Rights Commission Act (as amended), its investigation into the allegation against President Jonathan would not be subject to the direction or control of any other authority or person.
Describing the content of the 18 paged letter of Obasanjo vis-à-vis the allegations contained therein as “weighty and grave,” the Council, said it concluded that the letter raised issues of serious and systematic violations of the rights to life, access to fair hearing and justice, personal liberty, safety and security, equality before the law and the prohibition against discrimination.
Consequently, the Chairman of the Council, Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu is to head the probe panel while the Executive Secretary of NHRC, Professor Bem Angwe, Mrs. Eugenia Abu, D.O.C Ezeigwe, and Alhaji Ibrahim Nikau would serve as members of the panel.
Similarly, the NHRC, constituted another three-man panel to undertake a verification mission into Rivers State with a mandate to identify and verify facts and actors involved in the ongoing crisis in the state and any violation of human rights connected therewith.
The panel which has Mr. Kayode Komolafe as its Chairman, Mrs. Rita Ifeyinwa Njokanmma and Mr. Eric Bell-Gam as members, was further empowered by the Council to recommend any interim measures to ameliorate or prevent further escalation of the situation in Rivers State into serious or massive violations of human rights, as well as, undertake any other or further tasks related to or necessarily incidental to the foregoing.
The communiqué said, “Council considered the referral transmitted to the Commission by the Honorable Attorney-General of the Federation, and Minister of Justice on  December 23, 2013 in relation to allegations contained in recent correspondence between former President Obasanjo and President Jonathan.

Source:Vanguard