Lukman Olabiyi
The Police yesterday laid siege to the offices of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) and Sahara Reporters, Ikeja, Lagos.
The action of the police has continued to generate condemnations from different civil society organisations in the country.
Armed policemen had yesterday, laid siege to the offices of the two organisations. The siege was to prevent a planned protest by the groups in the area.
The publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore, has been in detention for several weeks for organising a protest against the Federal Government.
The government had accused Sowore of terrorism and plotting to overthrow President Muhammadu Buhari.
Reacting to the development on its’ Twitter handle, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) urged Nigeria’s authorities to immediately stop the siege to offices of the two organisations ;allow freedom of expression and stopped the nationwide arbitrary arrest of Journalists, activists and protesters.
On his own, executive director, Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Center (RULAAC), Okechukwu Nwanguma, condemned the police invasion of the two organisations’ offices: “It’s a shocking evidence that the democracy for which many Nigerians made sacrifices and paid the supreme price has suffered retreat under the Buhari regime.
“Basic freedoms are being curtailed increasingly from freedom of expression to peaceable assembly to association. Citizens can no longer freely express dissent or criticise people in power.
“Citizen’s gatherings are broken up. These were normal under military rule. But we are supposed to be enjoying the freedoms associated with democracy. But not under the Buhari regime which is becoming increasingly despotic especially since his second term. media freedom is under attack. Journalists are arrested, detained and charged with terrorism for publishing critical reports.
An activist, Olaseni Ajai ,who is also a co-convener of the proposed protest in a press statement entitled ‘Police Invasion of CDHR and sealing up of Sahara Reporter’s Offices: Darker days ahead’, revealed that the intended peaceful protest bordered on the detention of several activists without trial.
According to him: “Early this morning, the police and other security agencies invaded the national office of the CDHR and Sahara Reporters Offices, in another desperate attempt to forcefully stop planned peaceful agitation against the detention of activists without trial scheduled to start by 11am .
“The CDHR is a human rights organisation and Sahara Reporters is a media agency. That their offices could be invaded and sealed in this gestapo like manner this morning in anticipation of protest, only confirmed that the civil rights fought for over the years are crudely being removed by Buhari’s APC government.
“However, our agitation for the immediate release of Omoyele Sowore, Agba Jalingo, Abayomi Olawale (Mandate) and all others currently being held in Buhari detention centres, and for the revolutionary transformation of the country .”
However, Lagos State police public relations officer, DSP Bala Elkana, said the deployment of police to the areas was to maintain law and order in the area “They were there to provide security and to ensure that there was no breach of peace,” Elkana, said.