As aggrieved Nigerians take to the streets in different parts of the country to embark on a 10-day protest against hardship, hunger, food shortages and the cost of living crisis brought about by the policies of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, Amnesty International (AI) has called on the authorities and security agencies to uphold human rights and respect the right to peaceful protest of the protesters.
The Country Director of Amnesty International, Isa Sanusi, who gave the charge in a statement on Thursday, warned that the authorities must not use the protests as a pretext to crack down on human rights, including the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
“The Nigerian authorities must ensure that security agencies respect and facilitate the right to peaceful protest, as guaranteed by both the country’s constitution and human rights treaties,” Sanusi said.
“People must be allowed to freely exercise their rights to peaceful protest,” he added.
Sanusi expressed concern over the arrest of people last week for allegedly supporting the protests on social media, noting that the arrests showed the Nigerian authorities’ intolerance of peaceful dissent.
“Nigerian authorities must show commitment to uphold the country’s constitutional and international human rights obligations by allowing people to freely exercise their human rights, including the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association.”
The nationwide #EndBadGovernance protests, according to the organisers, are scheduled to hold from August 1-10, 2024, with many people using social media platforms to organise and mobilise more participants.
While the government and some of its supporters have labelled the protests as attempts to unleash violence and make the regime ungovernable, Sanusi stressed that the right to peaceful protest must be respected.
He also urged the authorities to address the underlying issues driving the protests instead of stifling peaceful dissent.