RULAAC lampoons Buhari over insecurity, urges positive change

The Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC) has berated President Muhammadu Buhari over his failure to curb insecurity in the country, which, according to it, was the thrust of the President’s electioneering in 2015.

RULAAC, at a press conference in Lagos, yesterday, to unveil a ‘Community Access to Justice and Criminal Justice Interactive Project,’ alleged that Buhari was treating terrorists, kidnappers and other criminals with kid gloves.

The event coincided with the commissioning of RULAAC’s new office in Lagos by the Executive Director of Spaces for Change (S4C), Mrs. Victoria Ibezim-Ohaeri.

According to the Executive Director, RULAAC, Okechukwu Nwanguma, the project is implemented with support from Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), now Open Society Foundations (OSF) Africa.

He added: “The general objective of the project is to facilitate the co-ordination and projection of the voices of communities affected by insecurity and promote their involvement in designing and implementing workable solutions to insecurity in their communities, as well as enhance access to justice to poor and most vulnerable groups, who are disproportionately affected by a dysfunctional criminal justice system.”

Seven years of Buhari in the saddle, insecurity has worsened, Nwanguma asserted.

“Bandits, kidnappers, rapists and terrorists have taken over the land and fully in control, with government completely absent. Corruption looks more like the fundamental objective and directive principal of the Buhari administration, with corrupt public officials protected by impunity,” he said.

Ibezim-Ohaeri, who noted that with the new office, RULAAC is transiting to sustainability, which makes the voices of the civic space activists stronger, further said: “When you speak with strong voice, you are bolder and fearless,” she said.

She alleged that government brands civil agitators in the South as terrorists but does nothing to real terrorists in the North.

Also, at the event, Bose Ironsi of Women’s Rights and Health Project asserted that a lot of institutions stand in the way of justice for the poor and vulnerable, adding: “We established Ireti Resource Centre (IRC), Lagos, to enable them (the poor) access justice easily.”

In a goodwill message, Textile, Garment and Tailors Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (TGTSSAN), a member of Trade Union Congress (TUC), lamented insecurity in the country.

The National President, Babatunde Alamutu, who was represented by the National Organising Secretary, Olusanya Omosanya, prayed for Nigeria to get the right leaders in the next general elections.