Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has expressed its displeasure at the recent squabble which played out in the media involving popular artiste, Davido, his girlfriend, Ms Sophie who has a child for him and high profile publisher and respected columnist/Political activist Chief Dele Momodu, who incidentally is cousin to Sophie over the custody of the baby.

In a statement signed by HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, the group calls on “all the parties to sheathe the sword and use constructive and private means to find lasting resolution so as to respect and edify the constitutional dignity and fundamental human rights of the little baby who is being used illegally as the ‘punching bag’ in needless cocktail of squabbles by some adults who ought to safeguard and protect her human rights especially the baby’s right to human dignity and privacy enshrined in chapter four of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria of 1999 (as amended ).”

HURIWA stated that, “Specifically, sections 34 and 37 are unambiguous regarding these sets of rights which the baby is entitled to as a human person. Section 34 (1) provides thus; “every individual is entitled to respect for the dignity of his person, and accordingly- (a) No person shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment; (b) No person shall be held in slavery or servitude; and (c) No person shall be required to perform forced or compulsory labour.”

According to HURIWA, “even section 37 provides thus: the privacy of citizens, their homes, correspondence, telephone conversations and telegraphic communications is hereby guaranteed and protected.”

The group added that “the legal reasons backing the Child is enshrined in the Declaration of the Rights of the Child (DRC) built upon rights that had been set forth in a League of Nations Declaration of 1924.

“The preamble notes that children, need ‘Special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth’ which reiterates the 1924 Declaration’s pledge that ‘mankind owes to the Child the best it has to give’ and specifically calls upon voluntary organizations and local authorities to strive for the observance of children’s rights. One of the key principles in the DRC is that a child is to enjoy ‘special protection as well as opportunities and facilities, by law and other means for healthy and normal physical, mental, moral, spiritual and social development in conditions of freedom and dignity.”

As final solution to the dispute, HURIWA pleads for the intervention of the revered traditional King of Ife, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Ogunwusi.

The group advised that, “Other legal means can also be used provided this baby isn't unduly denigrated and her rights wantonly abused by the trio. NAPTIP is very slow to respond to the need to save the best interest of this baby in line with the Child Rights Act of 2003.”

It also admonished media houses, who have been peddling the story, on the need to safeguard the privacy of the child by refusing to publish the toddler’s photograph.

•Photo shows Davido and Sophie when the going was good.

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