Atiku faults Tinubu’s focus on protesters above security reforms

Govt’s action, coup against Constitution, says Aborisade

Former presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has criticised Bola Tinubu’s administration for imposing death sentences on harmless protesters amid the ongoing violence in Northern Nigeria.

Atiku stated that despite the tragic bloodshed in Yobe, which had claimed numerous lives, and the widespread destruction across several villages in Katsina, Sokoto, and other towns in the Northwest and Northcentral regions, the government appeared to remain detached and preoccupied with inconsequential matters.

In a statement, yesterday, on his X handle, Atiku lamented that the turmoil had extended to the South, where the disquiet caused by Boko Haram and the unsettling political discord threatened the nation’s peace.

He lamented that amidst the grave challenges, the Federal Government was preoccupied with stifling dissent and resorting to draconian measures, such as imposing death sentences on protesters.

He said the atrocity in Yobe was a stark testament to the failure of the current security framework and demanded immediate and comprehensive reform.

In his comment, Femi Aborisade, an Ibadan-based human rights lawyer, yesterday, knocked the Nigeria Police Force for charging #EndBadGovernance protesters with treason and terrorism.

Aborisade said the Federal Government and its agent had committed a coup against the Constitution of the country.

The labour lawyer stated this in an interview with The Guardian in Ibadan.

He reiterated that it was the right of the people to exercise freedom of peaceful protest to resist economic hardship, adding that the right to peaceful protest was inalienable.

Aborisade noted that the step signposted an overthrow of constitutional democracy, saying: “The arraignment of peaceful protesters on counts of treason and terrorism allegations is a coup against the written Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended. It is, therefore, a monumental disservice to the sacrifices of lives, blood and deprived freedom suffered by ordinary people in fighting against military dictatorship.”

It signposts the overthrow of constitutional democracy and announces a reign of terror and tyranny, which must be resisted through peaceful mass action. Section 40 of the Constitution guarantees the fundamental right of peaceful assembly and revolt against government policies, which the people perceive to be punitive, pernicious and against their interest.

“The critical question is whether the exercise of the constitutional right of peaceful assembly and mass action can result in the offences of treason, treasonable felony and/or terrorism.

By the provisions of the law, which provide for the offence of treason, peaceful protest, which is guaranteed under Section 40 of the Constitution is not treasonous.  The offence of treason involves levying war against the Sovereign and it is punishable by death. Any person, who forms an intention to remove the President during his term of office, otherwise by constitutional means, is guilty of treasonable felony and is liable to be sentenced to life imprisonment.

The offence of terrorism is also punishable by death.”