CSOs urge Tinubu to halt harassment, threats against Amnesty Int’l 

Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have called on President Bola Tinubu to immediately end the alleged harassment and threats directed at Amnesty International in Nigeria.

They called on Tinubu’s administration to end the escalating crackdown on activists, human rights, journalists and other Nigerians for peacefully exercising their human right
  
“We note that the Nigeria police, in a letter dated January 6, 2025, threatened Amnesty International with a purported legal action over the organisation’s recent report titled: “Nigeria: Bloody August: Nigerian government’s violent crackdown on #EndBadGovernance protests.

We also note that the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) reported that 27 protesters were killed by the police while about 800 people were arrested during the #EndBadGovernance protests across the country in August 2024. Several protesters were reportedly detained without charges or trial. Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, also reported that some 22 protesters were killed while over 2,000 protesters were arrested during the protests in several states,” the group stated.
   
The group raise concern that rather than promptly, thoroughly, impartially, independently and effectively investigating these grave allegations of human rights violations and abuses, bringing suspected perpetrators to justice and ensuring effective remedies and adequate compensation for victims and their families,  the police is deliberately intimidating, threatening and targeting Amnesty International.
  
They mentioned that the intimidation, harassment and threat against Amnesty International, coming after the recent reports of intimidation and harassment of the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), and in the context of the ongoing repression of civic space and attacks against activists, human rights defenders, and journalists demonstrates an alarming crackdown on the civic space and human rights in Nigeria.