Abdulrasaq Kamaldeen reports
Students of Faculty of Law in Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto have recounted the tales of Street Law Campaign organized by the school’s Caliphate Law Clinic in collaboration with Network of University Legal Aids Institution (NULAI).
The exercise, held on Tuesday, 26th September within and beyond the University community, was targeted at educating individuals about some of their fundamental human rights including freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, political participation among others.
Speaking with the News Digest Press, Ani Abdulrazak, a 300-level law student expressed his concern about how people’s fundamental rights have been suffering heavy frustration, yet the cases remain unreported.
“The society is engrossed by a series of unreported violations of people’s fundamental rights which include Rights to Freedom of expressions, freedom of speech and that of political participation by both the government and private Individuals,”he said.
“Well, it is usual for people to be taken by initial surprise. I can tell you people were having mixed feelings seeing us coming out in numbers and dressing in black and white carrying banners, playing music, and sharing flyers and addressing them on their rights.”
Mujahid Muhammad Musa, a 400-level law student and assistant Deputy Director of ADR of the Clinic was taken aback by how most people see the infringement of fundamental human rights as a natural cause––accepting it as what God’s destiny for them
“This is so uncalled for. The same thing happened at the Dendima bus stop. The first elderly man we approached, after sensitizing him about his right to freedom of expression how the government arrests and detains persons simply because they’ve expressed themselves, and how NULAI and the Caliphate Law Clinic will come to the aid of wrongly detained (without charge), his response was: “Even if the government tramples your rights, you better submit it to the Will of Allah.”
Meanwhile, she added that: “The campaign was very engaging, it’s a volunteer skill and it will help law students to add it to their CV and it’d go a long way in convincing recruiters.”
“It’s quite fun that people were ready to listen to us, people in their 60s and 70s had listened to us with all enthusiasm. The crux of the matter is that people here in the North are very submissive and take every disaster as natural.”
In an interview Aisha Yahya Zakari, a 500-level student and head of the Clinic
, expressed how she felt about being able to carry out this program.
“Honestly, their serenity and ability to learn is top-notch. Even when the flyer that we shared with them was exhausted, many still requested it. They gave us a listening ear even though they were actively on their business.”
“The benefits are numerous. This is because the majority of them don’t know their rights which are fundamental as citizens. We taught them how they can enforce their rights and the limitations to those rights. It benefited them, honestly,”she added.