PRESS RELEASE
CENTRE FOR CIVIC
EDUCATION
(a.k.a Transition
Monitoring Group)
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Nigeria’s Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar
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Reminiscent of the dark days of military rule in Nigeria, respect
for fundamental human rights and freedom of association has finally taken a
back seat in the PDP led administration of President Goodluck Jonathan. Sadly,
the police have become a ready and veritable tool in the hands of the People's
Democratic Party (PDP) regime's brazen violation of citizens' rights across the
country.
The frequency of the police assault on the right to assemble is
rising with no end in sight. On October 23, a rally organised by the
Anti-Corruption Network to protest the scandal of N255 million
bulletproof cars bought for the Aviation Minister, Ms. Stella Oduah was
forcibly broken up and the Convener of the event, Mr. Dino Melaye, and 28 other
members of Civil Society Groups were arrested by the Police.
About a week earlier, a group of concerned Nigerians and students
were prevented from presenting a protest letter to the leadership of the
National Assembly over the four-month old strike by University lecturers.
Similarly, police violently dispersed the peaceful assembly and protest by
University dons of ASUU in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
By the same token, lecturers and students were tear-gassed as they
gathered at the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Imo State for a
peaceful rally. In Ondo State, two separate peaceful rallies by ASUU at the
Federal University of Technology, Akure and at the Adekunle Ajasin University,
Akungba were disrupted by well-armed police teams.
And at the University of Lagos, Akoka, police lay siege and
barricaded the Institution's main gate to frustrate a planned demonstration by
students from various Institutions against the continued mishandling of the
ASUU strike by the Federal Government. Even Primary School pupils were
tear-gassed by police in Makurdi, Benue State, as they marched to protest the
continued closure of their schools by teachers' strike.
And in a brazen show of shame last Sunday, November 3, 2013, the
Police apparently acting on orders from the presidency disrupted a meeting of
the G-7 Governors in Abuja. Again on Wednesday, November 6, 2013 the Police
barred Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State from going into the
Port-Harcourt International Airport to receive his guests. It is instructive
that Governor Amaechi who reportedly has been having a running battle with the
President's wife, Dame Patience Jonathan, is also one of the G-7 Governors, a
group of serving PDP Governors supposedly dissatisfied and disenchanted by the
affairs and politics of their Party (PDP).
It is a known fact that since the faceoff between the G-7
Governors and the ruling PDP, the Governors and their supporters has been
subject of increased harassment by the Police and other State Security
Operatives; the Nigerian people are witnesses to these molestations which is
also increasing tension in the land.
TMG considers these actions as reprehensible and a depiction of
high level impunity and crudity in a modern day democratic society. TMG
strongly believes that there can be no half measure practice of democracy;
Nigeria is either a full-fledged democracy in which all citizens
enjoy freedom and liberty to move about and organise in a peaceful
manner or it is purely fascist.
As the build-up to the 2015 election gathers momentum, TMG is
worried about the growing culture of impunity and the unnecessary heating up of
the polity which has the potential to snowball into widespread
insecurity. If the Governors who are the Chief Executives and Chief Security
Officers of their respective States can be so harassed and hounded, what
lifeline is there for the ordinary citizens of the land?
Therefore, TMG calls on elected and appointed government officials
at all levels to exercise maturity and be more tolerant of criticisms and
opposition so as to safeguard our hard earned civil rule, and for all to live
in peace and harmony in a more secured environment.
We call on the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar
to as a matter of urgent national importance address the widening gap between
policing and our hard-earned democracy, particularly with the sad commentary
coming out of Rivers State and the high-level recklessness and insubordination
on the part of the Police in the State. TMG strongly believes that uniformed
institutions and the personnel that constitute them must be subjected to the
global dictates of civilian authority in a democracy.
Finally, we appeal to the Nigerian Police and other Law
Enforcement Agencies across the country to remain alive to their
responsibilities of protecting lives and properties; and to be fair and
considerate in relating with fellow citizens on issues of security no matter
how lowly or highly placed. The police must desist from further acts capable of
portraying that revered institution as an agency of impunity and citizens'
harassment.
God bless Nigeria.
Comrade Ibrahim M. Zikirullahi
Chairman
Chief Eddy Ezurike
Publicity Secretary
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