Former dictator to appear before rights panel

Nigeria’s human rights panel has summoned ex-military dictator Mohammadu Buhari over the 1985 execution of a drug pusher, AFP reported panel officials as saying on Friday. Bartholomew Owoh was publicly executed in April 1985 during the Buhari regime despite public opposition, AFP reported. Owoh was arrested in July 1983 for cocaine trafficking and was convicted under a decree which did not come into force until a year later. Critics protested against the retroactive nature of the conviction. On Thursday panel chairman Chukwudifu Oputa summoned Buhari and his then justice minister Chike Ofodile to explain their role in the execution. The Human Rights Violation Investigation Commission was set up in 1999 to look into rights violations dating back to Nigeria’s first military coup in 1966 and began hearings across the country last year. It is expected to present a report to President Olsegun Obasanjo by October.