Our people say that the head hunter does not allow someone brandishing a matchet to stand behind him. To think that the present leader of the government of Nigeria is a known serial protester. Right from the days of the military government of the 90s in his NADECO days. Then there was the unrelenting protests he led continously against the Goodluck Jonathan government. Not once was he or members of his group arrested or detained or arraigned to be charged.
That this same fellow now as president is stepping almost into the reign of draconism and despotism. That he is absolutely intolerant of the same protests he had used to harass many a government, is really a cause for international concern. That he and his cohorts are responding with such fear and trepidation to protests really bridges on the paranoid. To charge citizens of treason for protesting against issues of life that are really making life miserable in the nation is absolutely ridiculous.
The international community which had expected so much from this president who had claimed in his native tongue that ‘It is his turn’ the Scope News have found out is quite disappointed with how he is managing or mismanaging the affairs of the land.
It is going to two years since the government took off and all the ambassadors of the nation in the foreign fronts were immediately recalled. Yet, till now, they have not been replaced. This means that all activities in the foreign scene are more or less frozen, for there are of course certain decisions which are absolutely above the pay grade of the Charge’ D Affairs running the Nigerian embassies all over the world presently. The investors are waiting impatiently for the Nigerian government to get its acts together, according to a worried European investor with business dealings in Nigeria.
It is muted that if these infringements, interferences and denials of human rights continue in Nigeria, that when eventually the ambassadors are sent, that they may be refused and rejected by some of these staunch democratic states.
It is on record that Nigerian authorities charged 10 protesters who were arrested during protests across Nigeria in August 2024 with treason. This is a charge which carries a possible death penalty, Human Rights Watch said.
Sources available to this medium have revealed that the 10 protesters are among the 124 people arrested in Abuja and other states, including Kano and Kaduna, after civil society-led protests, tagged #EndBadGovernance, began on August 1, calling for an end to economic hardship. On September 2 at a Federal High Court in Abuja police announced the charge of conspiracy to commit treason, for attempting to destabilize Nigeria, seeking to remove the president, waging war against the government, and inciting mutiny, among other reasons.
All 124 protesters, including children aged 14 to 17, were transferred from police custody to correctional or youth detention centers following an August 24 court order to hold them for 60 days until an investigation is concluded and charges are brought against them. This order appears to violate Nigeria’s administration of criminal justice law, which states that pretrial detention orders should not exceed 14 days, following which another application by the police can be made for 14 more days, stating why an extension is necessary.
“In their relentless effort to suppress dissent, the Nigerian authorities are not only violating more rights and the rule of law, but also deepening public distrust in the government,” Ewang, a concerned Nigerian has stated. “The authorities should immediately drop the charges brought against those rightfully exercising their rights and release them immediately.”
Which is easier and more cost orientated? Prosecuting these rightful protesters or addressing the causes of their grievances an their reasons for protesting.
Too many Nigerians are concerned about these highhandedness of this government. One is starting to equate it with the despotic regimes that overclouded the nation in years past.
