By Tochukwu Bliss, Abuja
Amnesty International has tasked the Nigerian Government to ensure that security operatives respect and facilitate the right to peaceful protest.
In a statement, Amnesty International’s Nigeria Director, Isa Sanusi, was quoted as saying that such right is “guaranteed by both the country’s own constitution and human rights treaties including the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Nigeria is a state party.”
He also charged Government officials to “refrain from issuing rhetoric to demonize protesters and stifle peaceful dissent.
“Authorities must not use the proposed nationwide protests as a ploy to crackdown on human rights including the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
“People must be allowed to freely exercise their right to peaceful protest. The arrests of at least three people last week for allegedly supporting the protests on social media show the authorities’ intolerance of peaceful dissent.
“The escalating price of food is driving millions of people in Nigeria deeper in poverty while countless families are increasingly unable to afford the costs of healthcare and education.
“The Nigerian authorities must begin to seriously address the underlying issues driving the protests instead of ramping up repression and stifling peaceful dissent.
“Authorities must show the commitment to uphold the country’s constitutional and international human rights obligations by allowing people to freely exercise their human rights including the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association.”
Against the backdrop of shortages and escalating prices of food, commodities and services thereby driving millions of Nigerians deeper in poverty, the masses, using social media platforms, planned to hold nationwide protests to force governments at all levels to recognize the prevailing hardship and high cost of living.
The protests, which began yesterday amid reports of violence resulting in a number of fatalities in some parts of the country, have been planned to last until August 10.
The Nigerian authorities must begin to seriously address the underlying issues driving the protests instead of ramping up repression and stifling peaceful dissent.
