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By George Mgbeleke

PROMINENT Pro-democracy and civil rights advocacy group; HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) expresses grave concern over emerging warnings from continental and global health authorities indicating a renewed and expanding Ebola threat across parts of Africa.

The situation, if not urgently contained, carries significant risks for Nigeria given our population density, cross-border mobility, and historically vulnerable health surveillance systems.

In a statement signed by National Coordinator Human Rights Writers Association, Comrade Emmanuel Nnadozie Onwubiko,reports from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that no fewer than ten African countries are currently assessed to be at risk of Ebola transmission due to ongoing outbreaks in Central and East Africa. The countries identified include Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Zambia.

The agency has attributed this elevated risk to a combination of factors, including high population movement across porous borders, insecurity in conflict-prone regions, and weak health infrastructure in several affected states. These conditions create fertile ground for cross-border disease transmission.

This warning comes in the wake of earlier emergency declarations by the World Health Organization (WHO) which classified the outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern due to its lethality, rapid transmission potential, and historically high fatality rates.

Ebola remains one of the most dangerous viral diseases known to humanity, spreading through direct contact with infected bodily fluids and often progressing rapidly to severe hemorrhagic illness, organ failure, and death if not contained early.

HURIWA’S POSITION: NIGERIA CANNOT AFFORD COMPLACENCY:
HURIWA is alarmed that, despite these clear and credible warnings, Nigeria has yet to publicly communicate a comprehensive, structured, and visible national preparedness framework comparable to the coordinated response mechanisms effectively deployed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The PROMINENT CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATION HURIWA recalls that during the COVID-19 crisis, Nigeria demonstrated that coordinated federal-state collaboration, daily public briefings, and mass sensitization campaigns were essential in limiting the spread of the virus. That same urgency and transparency must now be replicated—without delay.

We are particularly concerned that there is currently insufficient public-facing information outlining:
The Federal Government’s updated Ebola preparedness strategy
The level of readiness of isolation centres nationwide
The state of border surveillance and screening mechanisms
The deployment status of rapid response teams across states
The communication strategy for rural and high-risk communities
Silence or ambiguity at this stage is unacceptable.

URGENT CALL FOR A NATIONAL EBOLA PREVENTION AND RESPONSE PLAN:
HURIWA therefore calls on the Federal Government of Nigeria to immediately activate a full-scale National Ebola Prevention and Preparedness Framework coordinated by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in collaboration with state governments.

This framework must include:
1. NATIONAL AND STATE-LEVEL EMERGENCY ACTIVATION
Every state must have a clearly defined Ebola response protocol, not a centralized document sitting in Abuja without implementation at the grassroots.
2. BORDER AND ENTRY POINT SURVEILLANCE
Enhanced screening must be enforced at all land borders, airports, and seaports, including surveillance for travelers from high-risk countries.
3. DAILY PUBLIC ENLIGHTENMENT CAMPAIGNS
The Federal Government must immediately launch continuous awareness programs across:
National television networks
Radio stations in all geopolitical zones
Community broadcasting systems
Social media platforms
These messages must be delivered in English, Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, and other major Nigerian languages to ensure nationwide comprehension.
4. HEALTH SYSTEM READINESS AND TRANSPARENCY
The government must urgently disclose the readiness status of:
Isolation centres
Personal protective equipment stockpiles
Ambulance and emergency response systems
Laboratory diagnostic capacity
5. FRONTLINE HEALTH WORKER PROTECTION
Medical personnel must be provided with adequate training, protective equipment, and risk allowances to prevent hospital-based transmission.
6. PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY AND DAILY BRIEFINGS
We demand the reintroduction of structured, regular national briefings to keep citizens informed and prevent misinformation, panic, or rumor-driven anxiety.

A MATTER OF NATIONAL SECURITY AND HUMAN SURVIVAL:
Ebola is not merely a medical issue; it is a national security threat, an economic disruption risk, and a humanitarian emergency in waiting. Any delay in response could result in devastating consequences for Nigeria’s healthcare system and economy.
The lessons of past outbreaks are clear: early detection, rapid communication, and aggressive containment save lives. Delay, denial, and silence cost lives.
HURIWA therefore warns that Nigeria must not wait for confirmation of local cases before acting. Prevention is always more effective—and far less costly—than crisis response.

CONCLUSION
HURIWA calls on all relevant authorities, including federal and state governments, health agencies, and border security institutions, to treat this warning with the urgency it deserves.
Nigeria must move immediately from passive observation to active prevention.
Anything less would be a failure of leadership and a betrayal of public trust.

By George Mgbeleke

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has launched a blistering attack on the Federal Government over what it described as “dangerous silence and double standards” surrounding controversial comments by Islamic cleric Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, demanding his immediate investigation and possible prosecution under Nigeria’s anti-terrorism laws.

In a fiery statement issued on Saturday by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, the rights group warned that Nigeria risks legitimising terrorism if influential figures accused of making statements perceived as sympathetic to bandits continue to escape scrutiny.

HURIWA said the nation was stunned by Gumi’s recent appearance on AIT on May 19, during which he reportedly urged Nigerians to “learn how to live with terrorists” while also suggesting that bandits depend on kidnapping proceeds to sustain their war against government forces.
The organisation described the remarks as reckless, provocative, insensitive, and potentially capable of emboldening violent criminal gangs that have turned large parts of Nigeria into killing fields.

According to HURIWA, at a time when communities are being sacked daily by armed groups, schoolchildren abducted, travellers kidnapped on highways, and farmers driven away from their lands, no public figure should make statements that appear to rationalise terrorism or portray mass murderers as unavoidable partners in coexistence.

The group backed calls earlier made by activist lawyer Deji Adeyanju for Gumi to face prosecution under the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, insisting that the law clearly criminalises not only direct acts of terrorism but also support, encouragement, justification, or ideological sympathy capable of aiding terrorist operations.

HURIWA accused the Federal Government of operating a selective justice system, arguing that authorities have aggressively pursued separatist figures such as Nnamdi Kanu over alleged inflammatory broadcasts while allegedly overlooking repeated controversial comments linked to armed bandit groups in the North.

“The fight against terrorism cannot be selective. A nation that punishes one set of voices while shielding others destroys the moral foundation of justice and weakens public trust in the rule of law,” the group declared.

HURIWA further warned that failure to decisively address statements perceived as sympathetic to terrorists could send a dangerous signal that violent groups enjoy ideological protection from powerful interests.

The advocacy organisation said Nigerians are exhausted by bloodshed, mass abductions, and insecurity, stressing that leaders—especially religious leaders—must speak in ways that strengthen national unity and support security efforts rather than create ambiguity around terrorism.

The group therefore called on the Department of State Services, the Office of the National Security Adviser, and the Attorney-General of the Federation to immediately launch a comprehensive investigation into Gumi’s statements and determine whether criminal liability exists under extant laws.

HURIWA maintained that no democracy can survive where terrorism is normalised through rhetoric, defended through silence, or treated with political caution

By George Mgbeleke

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has strongly condemned the sudden withdrawal of Governor Siminalayi Fubara from the governorship primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC), describing the action as a disappointing act of political cowardice, surrender to intimidation, and subtle endorsement of the entrenched godfatherism allegedly being orchestrated in Rivers State by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.

HURIWA said Governor Fubara’s explanation that he withdrew in the interest of “peace and unity” cannot erase the obvious political reality that Rivers State has gradually become a battleground where democratic freedoms are allegedly being suppressed and where elected officials are compelled to operate under fear, coercion, and political intimidation.

The Rights group stated that if Governor Fubara truly believed in the mandate freely given to him by Rivers people, he should have courageously subjected himself to the democratic process instead of withdrawing at the last minute and openly pledging support to a political arrangement many Rivers people already suspect has been predetermined by forces loyal to Wike.

According to HURIWA, the withdrawal confirms growing fears that both the APC and the PDP structures in Rivers State are under the overwhelming political influence of one individual and that whoever eventually emerges as candidate from either platform may simply end up functioning as a political mole or surrogate loyal to Wike rather than to Rivers people.

HURIWA said this dangerous situation now leaves all genuine opposition parties in Rivers State with only one patriotic option — immediate coalition and unity.

The Rights group therefore called on all opposition political parties, civil society organisations, youth groups, labour unions, women groups, student movements, professionals, and democratic stakeholders in Rivers State to urgently collapse their structures into one formidable coalition and jointly present a single consensus governorship candidate capable of confronting the Wike political machinery and rescuing Rivers State from political capture.

“HURIWA believes that the time for fragmented opposition politics in Rivers State is over. Any opposition party that insists on contesting separately under the current circumstances would merely be helping to divide the resistance votes and indirectly strengthening the continued domination of Rivers State by entrenched political interests,” the group stated.

The association warned that the battle ahead is no longer about party supremacy between APC and PDP but about the liberation of Rivers State from what it described as external political control and economic exploitation allegedly enabled by powerful forces around Wike and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

HURIWA further reminded Rivers people not to forget what it described as the unconstitutional removal of Governor Fubara and the controversial imposition of an illegal interim military administrator arrangement which allegedly operated for six months without accountability to the people.

The Rights group expressed outrage that till date, no transparent account has been rendered regarding the multi-billion naira allegedly expended during the period of that “illegal contraption.”
According to HURIWA, Rivers people deserve to know how public funds were spent, which contracts were awarded, who approved the expenditures, and why no independent audit or legislative scrutiny has been conducted on the billions allegedly deployed during that period.
“It is deeply disturbing that while Rivers people continue to struggle economically, nobody has been held accountable for the huge public funds allegedly spent during the six months of unconstitutional governance imposed on the state,” the statement added.
HURIWA further stated that Governor Fubara now appears politically weakened and reduced to what many observers consider a lame-duck governor unable to independently defend the democratic mandate freely entrusted to him by Rivers voters.
The Rights group warned that history would not be kind to political actors who remained silent while Rivers State was allegedly transformed into a political estate controlled through intimidation, federal might, and godfatherism.
HURIWA therefore issued a passionate appeal to all opposition leaders and democratic stakeholders in Rivers State to immediately commence negotiations towards the emergence of one consensus governorship candidate before it becomes too late.
The association fixed 12 noon today as the moral deadline for coalition talks to begin in the interest of rescuing Rivers State and restoring democratic accountability.