Rights group condemn use of force, life ammunition on protesters

By Angel-Linda Ike

Global Rights has condemned the use of force, teargas, and live ammunition to disperse protesters in some parts of the country

The Group said deploying dangerous ammunition rather than non-lethal weapons to disperse protesters is out of step with International human rights standards.

The Executive Director of the Group, Abiodun Baiyewu in a statement said lethal force must always be an instrument of last resort when other tools of de-escalations have failed.

He maintained that Nigeria law enforcement and security agents’ primary focus during peaceful protest should be to protect the protesters as they exercise their constitutional rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, stating that it is wrong for them to stand idly while thugs threaten protesters and Journalists who are covering the protest.

The group called on the Nigerian government to respect its citizens’ rights to protest and desist from further aggravating protesters across the country, calling on protesters to be law abiding and peaceful in their conduct.

“We restate our stance because of our concern that the #EndBadGovernance protests which have swept Nigeria since the 1st of August continue to occasion a plethora of human rights violations and abuses.

“Our core concern is the overzealousness of Nigerian law enforcement agents to unlawfully arrest and intimidate peaceful protesters.
“Worse still, their disproportionate force intimidates protesters. They have continued to deploy teargas and live ammunition to disperse protesters in Lagos, Abuja, Akwa Ibom, Kano, and Nasarawa States.

“We are equally concerned about the #EndBadGovernance protests being used as a basis to engage in hate speech. We have observed the vitriol against certain ethnicities, in particular, the Igbos, who were threatened against participating in the protests in Lagos State solely on the grounds of their ethnicity.

“Social media recorded the frequent use of the hashtag #SendIgbosHome, particularly on X (formerly Twitter). This divisive hashtag re-echoes the ethnic profiling and hate speech that were propagated in Lagos around the 2019 and 2023 general elections. This sort of divisive and hateful rhetoric is a threat to the social cohesion of the entire country.

“We call on law enforcement agents to investigate and apprehend the purveyors of this form of ethnic profiling and hate speech and immediately demand accountability of those who promote such hateful and divisive language.

The group also expressed concern over the significant difficulties in accessing the Internet in major city centers across the country,

“It is difficult to accept the government’s argument made by its Minister of Communication, Mr Bosun Tijani that the Nigerian authorities did not instruct telecommunication companies to throttle internet access of Nigerian citizens as a countermeasure against the protests.

“The antecedents of the Nigerian Government give it no credibility on this issue, especially considering the Twitter ban in 2021 which still serves as a landmark moment in the effort to restrict the freedom of expression and information in Nigeria. Consequently, we ask the Nigerian government to cease hindering internet access across the country.

“We reiterate that their focus should be on addressing the underlying issues of insecurity and inflation currently underpinning the protests,” he stated.

The statement reiterated Global
Rights’ commitment to promoting citizens’ rights to participate in their governance and their right to dissent. Sueing all parties to engage peacefully and respectfully as it continues to monitor the current protests while demanding accountability of all involved.