By George Mgbeleke <\/p>\n
Pro-democracy and civil rights advocacy group Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) condemns in the strongest possible terms the escalating war against freedom of expression, civic engagement and constitutional democracy being waged by the Department of State Services (DSS), the Nigerian Army, the Police and other coercive institutions of the Nigerian state.<\/p>\n
What Nigerians are witnessing today is the dangerous weaponisation of state power to silence critics, terrorise activists and criminalise dissent. The arrest, detention and oppressive prosecution of civil rights voices such as Omoyele Sowore, Mark Chidiebere and others amount to a direct assault on the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.<\/p>\n
Nigeria is gradually sliding into authoritarianism under a democratic facade.<\/p>\n
The case of activist Mark Chidiebere, reportedly arrested for speaking about the poor feeding and welfare conditions of troops fighting terrorists, is a disgraceful example of how low this government has sunk in its intolerance of truth.<\/p>\n
Mark Chidiebere is a prisoner of conscience.<\/p>\n
What he reportedly said is not new. Serving and retired military personnel have repeatedly raised similar concerns publicly. Instead of addressing the welfare crisis affecting troops risking their lives daily, the DSS and military authorities are wasting taxpayers\u2019 money hunting down citizens for speaking uncomfortable truths.<\/p>\n
HURIWA asks President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and members of the political elite:
\nDo you feed your families the same way many of our troops are allegedly fed in the theatres of war?<\/p>\n
How much is budgeted yearly for feeding at Aso Rock, the Presidency and top government offices?<\/p>\n
Why should political office holders live in obscene luxury while soldiers battling terrorists face neglect, poor welfare and inadequate support?<\/p>\n
We demand that President Tinubu immediately slash by at least 50 percent the bloated feeding and welfare budgets attached to the Presidency, the Vice President\u2019s office and top government functionaries, and redirect those funds toward the welfare, feeding, medical support and operational needs of troops confronting terrorists and bandits across Northern Nigeria.<\/p>\n
It is morally indefensible for politicians to feast while soldiers bleed.<\/p>\n
HURIWA is also alarmed that public institutions, including sections of the judiciary, increasingly appear captured and weakened by executive influence, thereby enabling politically motivated prosecutions and suppression of constitutional freedoms.<\/p>\n
The growing climate of fear, intimidation and abuse of power under the current administration is becoming more frightening than some of the darkest periods of Nigeria\u2019s military dictatorship.<\/p>\n
History will not be kind to leaders who use security agencies as instruments of repression against their own citizens.
\nWe call on the international community, democratic governments, the United Nations, the African Union, the European Union and global human rights organisations to urgently place Nigeria under close democratic and human rights watch.<\/p>\n
The DSS, Police and military authorities must immediately stop the persecution of activists and critics and focus instead on improving the welfare and working conditions of their personnel, many of whom are themselves victims of Nigeria\u2019s worsening economic hardship and inflation crisis.<\/p>\n
Nigeria belongs to the people \u2014 not to a handful of powerful individuals who believe criticism is a crime.<\/p>\n
We therefore demand:
\nImmediate and unconditional release of all detained civil rights activists.
\nAn end to politically motivated prosecutions and harassment of dissenting voices.
\nRespect for constitutional freedoms of speech, association and civic participation.
\nIndependent investigation into abuses committed by security agencies against civilians.<\/p>\n
Immediate improvement in the welfare and operational conditions of troops and security personnel.<\/p>\n
Democracy dies when citizens become afraid to speak.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By George Mgbeleke Pro-democracy and civil rights advocacy group Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) condemns in the strongest possible terms the escalating war against freedom of expression, civic engagement and constitutional democracy being waged by the Department of State Services (DSS), the Nigerian Army, the Police and other coercive institutions of the Nigerian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13562"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13564,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13562\/revisions\/13564"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}