A human rights activist and Nigerian Coordinator of Liberty International Organization, Comrade James Anyim Agbai has condemned the rising cases of banishment of some people from their homes by some of their kinsmen over some unresolved issues and allegations.
This is even as he has stated that many victims of human rights abuses in Abia State have received free legal services from his office.
Agbai spoke at the NUJ Press Centre, Umuahia on Thursday while reviewing the activities of the organisation across the country.
He revealed that his office had handled several cases involving victims of banishment, widows’ mistreatment and persecution of orphans.
Agbai frowned that a minor problem that required amicable settlement in some families, usually resulted in some aggrieved family or community members declaring an innocent person as unwanted in their own homes or communities, even when the matter was still under police investigation.
He recalled how some innocent members of a family in Amaekpu Ohafia , Abia State were sometime in 2020, attacked and chased away from their homes because of new yam festival and traditional rights, on the orders of some highly placed members in the community.
He went on to note that a lot of abuses take place in several places on daily basis, regretting that most of the atrocities received little media reportage.
According to him, many victims of police harassment in parts of Abia State secured their freedom courtesy of his office.
“Instability in marriage institution, custody of children, land disputes, ezeship/chieftaincy tussles, illegal arrests, banishments and breach of contract in working places are the major causes of human rights crises in parts of the country”, he said.
The Liberty International Coordinator however blamed part of the problems bedevilling victims on illiteracy, refusal to open up to the press and poor knowledge of their rights as enshrined in the Nigerian constitution.
