Atiku Abubakar, the former Vice President of Nigeria has lambasted President Bola Tinubu for the abuse of human rights especially journalists who are exposing the corruption ongoing in his administration.
In a press release made available by Phrank Shaibu
Special Assistant on Public Communication to Atiku Abubakar, the Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (2023) called for the release of Bristol Tamunobiefiri, who owns the PIDOM Nigeria blog on X.
It was reported that PIDOM was apprehended by a team of 15 police officers who forcibly entered his residence during the late hours of the night and took him away in early August.
Atiku reminded Tinubu that he rode to power over exaggerated claims of being a freedom fighter, but turned against the people by allowing the Department of State Services (DSS), police and even the military to abuse the rights of citizens without any consequences.
He said that in some instances, citizens were arrested in a gestapo manner without the knowledge of their relatives who go about looking for them for several weeks.
The former Vice President said the most affected since Tinubu took office have been journalists whose only crime is reporting the news and exposing government indiscretion.
He argued that the Cyber Crime Prevention Act 2015 had become a tool with which officials in the Tinubu administration were abducting citizens while the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre (NPF-NCCC) had transmuted into the defunct SARS.
Atiku added, “The dangerous trend of enforced disappearances has become a national embarrassment for a country which claims to be practising democracy. On May 1, 2024, Daniel Ojukwu of the Foundation for Investigative Journalism went missing and was presumed abducted by kidnappers until he was later discovered to be in police custody on the orders of IGP Kayode Egbetokun.
“Ojukwu’s crime was that he exposed the corruption of a government official who currently serves in Tinubu’s administration. On July 23, the DSS arrested one Aliyu Sanusi in Sama Road of Sokoto, the state capital for printing and distributing materials ahead of the #EndBadGovernanceProtest. Even the arrest and release of the former BBC Pidgin Editor and current West Africa Regional Editor of the Conversation, Adejuwon Soyinka, clearly shows a pattern, which objective is to intimidate journalists for speaking truth to this government.
“Now, the police have arrested Bristol Tamunobiefiri, who owns the PIDOM Nigeria blog on X, formerly Twitter. After detaining him for over two weeks, he was granted an administrative bail, which will be impossible to meet. This is despite the fact that the Appeal Court, in the case of EFCC V. Emem Uboh (2022) LPEIR – 57968 (CA) held that administrative bail is illegal. Bristol should, therefore, be arraigned in court immediately or released.”
Atiku advised Tinubu to take cases of human rights abuses seriously or Nigeria would remain at the risk of being slammed with sanctions which would prevent western powers from selling weapons, a development he argues could undermine Nigeria’s ability to tackle insecurity.
“Amnesty International still has a pending petition before the Foreign Committee of the US Congress against the sale of weapons to Nigeria due to human rights concerns in line with the Leahy Law. Tinubu would do well to curb these cases of rights abuses by law enforcement authorities who all report to him as commander-in-chief,” the former Vice President said.
Signed:
Phrank Shaibu
Special Assistant on Public Communication to Atiku Abubakar
Vice President of Nigeria (1999-2007) and Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (2023)
Abuja
25th August, 2024.
