Politics
HUMAN Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has asked the federal government of Nigeria to stop forthwith the attempt by some Presidency officials such as Mr. Bayo Onanuga to criminalise peaceful protests and other peaceful civic actions to advocate for accountability, transparency and good governance.
HURIWA has therefore condemned the unnecessary shenanigans and unsubstantiated claims made against the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 election Mr. Peter Obi, as made by the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy Mr Bayo Onanuga. Both the Labour Party and Mr. Peter Obi’s media office have rubbished the wild allegations by Bayo Onanuga.
The Rights group affirmed that the statement by Bayo Onanuga amounted to a reckless, careless, ruthlessly lawless rumour mongering which is overheating the public space unduly. HURIWA has asked President Tinubu to call Mr. Bayo Onanuga to order and caution him to stop behaving and speaking like a fascist because only in fascism or totalitarianism is peaceful assembly by the citizens to agitate for good governance criminalised. Democracy thrives on hearing the positions of all sides and any democracy that doesn’t allow peaceful protest is sick.
HURIWA has also through a media statement by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, absolutely condemned as unconstitutional and illegal, the nation’s security services for the arrest and arbitrary detention of Mr.Junaidu ‘Abusalma’ Abdullahi, a Kano-based TikToker, for mobilising mass protests over the country’s widespread hunger.
In a statement HURIWA said it completely backed Amnesty International in demanding the immediate release of Mr Abdullahi, accusing the Nigerian government of punishing him for exercising his fundamental rights.
“The Nigerian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release social media activist Junaidu Abdullahi (Abusalma), who was imprisoned in Kano for posting a viral TikTok video calling for a peaceful protest against widespread hunger across the country. #FreeAbusalma,” Amnesty International was quoted to have stated.
HURIWA said peaceful demonstrations are legitimate and legally recognised means of passing on a message from the citizens to the government on the way forward in the area of framing and implementation of economic, sociopolitical policies that would culminate in the enthronement of good governance and the strict adherence to the democratic and constitutional principles of transparency and accountability by government officials.
The Rights group said it is shameful that someone who claims to be speaking for a democratically constituted central government headed by Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu a tested civil society leader known to have organised, funded and participated in several pro-democracy protests in the past, is now pontificating like a tyrant in his opposition of civil protests. It is equally shameful to even recall that Mr. Bayo Onanuga is a trained journalist and yet he is the person who is deploying incendiary and unprintable terms in denunciation and repudiation of peaceful protests. Such a crying shame!
“It is a fact that the costs of living crisis has become highly combustible and most Nigerians are approaching the points of deaths. Why is this government driving people to their early grave with poor economic policies but yet doesn’t want the dying people to protest? This is wickedness at an unprecedented rate. This is absolutely reprehensible and despicable.”
HURIWA warned that if the government doesn’t want people to protest peacefully then it is directly telling the hungry and dying population to do their worst which might result in very unpredictable and unpleasant turn of events. ” The government should chase after the black goat now that it is still daytime.”
A.I
July 21, 2024 @ 19:10 GMT|
Tags: HURIWA
