•MCE moves to sue Senate, House of Reps, police

Joseph Onyekwere (Lagos) and Ernest Nzor (Abuja)

INTER-PARTY Advisory Council of Nigeria (IPAC), yesterday, condemned the clampdown on peaceful protesters by the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) at the National Assembly in Abuja.
 It described the deployment of teargas against citizens, who were lawfully expressing their views, as inconsistent with democratic norms and contrary to the principles of constitutional governance.
 
Also, former presidential candidate, Peter Obi, condemned the teargassing of peaceful protesters demanding credible elections, warning that such actions could further damage democratic integrity in the country.
 However, while condemning the use of tear gas and force against protesters at the National Assembly, the Movement for Credible Elections (MCE) announced plans to file legal action against both the National Assembly and NPF, even as it rejected the newly revised Electoral Bill passed by federal lawmakers.
  Meanwhile, Enough is Enough (EiE) Movement called on Nigerians to take the same energy exhibited in Abuja to Port Harcourt, Kano, Enugu, Ibadan, Kaduna, and every local council in between, to show the ‘unpopular’ legislators that power still belongs to the people.
 
In a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Egbeola Martins, IPAC noted that the right to peaceful protest “is fundamental and inalienable” in any democracy.
 He described any attempt to suppress or intimidate citizens for exercising this right as patently anti-democratic and must be condemned without reservation.
 Martins said: “The NPF, under the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), must recognise that its constitutional mandate in a democracy is to protect citizens and not to intimidate, harass or manhandle peaceful protesters who are simply exercising their civic right to urge the National Assembly to act with caution in the passage of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.
 
“The IGP is, therefore, urged to call his officers to order and ensure full respect for citizens’ fundamental rights going forward.”
OBI, in a statement, expressed concern over reports that security operatives dispersed citizens carrying out what he described as constitutionally protected civic duties while calling for electoral reforms.
 He said, “Today, in our beloved country, harmless citizens performing their constitutionally guaranteed duties peacefully were tear-gassed simply for asking for what is right, free, fair and credible elections in a democratic nation.”
 
The former Anambra governor said the development portrayed the country negatively on the global stage and raised questions about the commitment of political actors to democratic principles.
IN separate statements yesterday by the head of MCE secretariat, Olawale Okunniyi, the group accused the legislature of weakening safeguards for electronic transmission of election results and described the police response to peaceful demonstrators as an assault on democratic rights.
  According to the group, peaceful protesters were dispersed while lawmakers deliberated on provisions that, it said, diluted guarantees for real-time electronic transmission of election results.
  “In any functioning democracy, citizens have not only the right but the responsibility to peacefully demand transparency in electoral processes,” the statement reads, warning that suppressing dissent while altering key electoral safeguards sends a “deeply troubling signal.”

EIE asked every Nigerian, who believes their vote should count, to take urgent action beyond Abuja.
 “We call on citizens across the country to identify the members of the Joint Conference Committee representing their states and constituencies and to make their voices heard directly. Write to them. Call their offices. Show up where they can be found.
  “The same energy on the streets of Abuja must now travel to Port Harcourt, Kano, Enugu, Ibadan, Kaduna, and every local government in between. Protests must be devolved. If those in Abuja are holding the National Assembly accountable at its gates, then citizens in every state must hold their own representatives accountable at their own gates,” the Senior Media Associate at EiE Nigeria, Akindeji Aromaye, stated.
 
According to him, the legislators, who were elected by the masses and funded by the masses, must answer to the masses.
 “If they will not hear us in the chambers of the National Assembly, then we must take this conversation closer to home; to their constituency offices, their town halls and the communities that sent them there in the first place, because that is where their political survival truly lives, and that is where democracy ultimately speaks loudest.”