By Hon Alfa Tijani.
His Excellency, President Muhammed Buhari,
Kindly use your good office and position to investigate allegations of collective punishment and crimes against humanity against tens of millions of Kogi workers as a result of non-payment of their salaries for several months.
I am seriously concerned that non-payment of workers’ salaries by Kogi state government has made life difficult for the workers and their families.
I also urge you, Mr President, to bring to justice anyone who is responsible for the inhumane acts committed against Kogi workers and prohibited under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court to which Nigeria is a state party.
Severe deprivation and mental or physical health challenges faced by Kogi workers as a result of the non-payment of their salaries fulfill the requirements of this provision. This means that individual liability may attach to Yahaya Bello who continue to hide under the excuse of ‘Verification exercise and limited allocations from Abuja’ to deny these workers the fruits of their labour.
The state governor and his conspirators ought to know that their actions and omissions would likely cause serious physical or mental suffering or a serious attack upon the human dignity of workers whose salaries are not paid.
The non-payment of salaries for several months by Kogi state government has reduced workers to ‘bare life’, or ‘life not worth living’, thus taking away their human dignity. The inhumanity of the non-payment of workers’ salaries is illustrated by the serious threats this poses to the workers’ physical and mental health, and family life as well as their ability to contribute to the development of the state. The non-payment of salaries has created an environment of powerlessness for several workers and perpetuated a system of impunity in Kogi State.
Article 7(1)(K) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court criminalises other inhumane acts intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health. The treatment of many workers in the employ of Kogi state government has reached the level of ‘Inhumane Acts’ covered under this provision.
In Kogi State, the inhumane acts include non-payment of salaries unleashed on workers; failure of governor to use the executive authority to ensure a viable and corruption-free state, conflicting judgement in the case of suspension of Local Government Administrators few months ago, failure to provide the necessary administrative, financial and political conditions to facilitate prompt and timely payment of workers’ salaries to the extent that these acts expose tens of millions of workers to inhumane acts while denying them the ability to challenge the illegality of the state government.
Credit: MBM
