Human Rights Writers Association Of Nigeria (HURIWA) has denounced as “repressive, unconstitutional, reprehensible and despicable,” the forceful quelling by armed police operatives of the Nasarawa State Police Command, of peaceful protest by aggrieved natives against what they perceived as injustice following the Supreme Court ruling by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun returning the governor as winner of the disputed 2023 governorship poll.
Specifically, the Supreme Court, on Friday, affirmed that Abdullahi Sule of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and not David Ombugadu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, said the rights group is also shocked that the state governor, whose pyrrhic victory in the Supreme Court is being denounced democratically by some citizens, rather than call for reconciliation, restoration of unity among the different ethnicities in Nasarawa State irrespective of their religious convictions, sounded bellicose and was quoted in the media as provocatively saying that “protests could not change the judgment of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.”
The Rights group also condemned as despicable, distasteful, and divisive tendency manifested in the alleged public statement attributed to the Nasarawa State governor who ought to be the father of all. “The governor of Nasarawa State who has just won a pyrrhic victory courtesy of the highly biased panel of the Supreme Court, should be magnanimous in victory and reunite his people including those who think that his victory at the court of law was unconstitutional and undemocratic.
The larger interests of Nasarawa State for progress, unity and sustainability of developmental initiatives and religious harmony should dominate the thinking of the governor of Nasarawa State. On no account should his words or actions be divisive and insensitive.”
HURIWA lamented that the lawless Police in Nasarawa State yesterday arrested 38 suspects in connection with the protest which trailed the Supreme Court verdict.
The commissioner of police in the state, Mr. Umar Shehu Nadada who revealed this in Lafia, said 29 motorcycles were also recovered from those arrested.
Mr. Nadada said those arrested violated the peace accord signed by the leadership of the two major political parties in contention, APC and PDP to avoid any action that may lead to breach of peace during and after the judgement.
HURIWA said the police commissioner needs to pick up a copy of the Nigerian Constitution and educate himself to know that the citizens have the inalienable human rights to exercise those freedoms peacefully even as these fundamental freedoms are enshrined in the Grund Norm just as the so-called peace agreement by the PDP and APC is not superior to constitutional provisions that are binding on all authorities and persons in Nigeria.
The Rights group has however demanded the immediate unconditional release of the peaceful protesters because public peaceful demonstration is constitutionally guaranteed and the Nigerian police has no force of law to take away the fundamental human rights guaranteed under the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
