THE NIGERIA Labour Congress (NLC) has expressed apprehension over what it called a growing trend of abuse of the fundamental rights of Nigerian citizens and organisations.
NLC’s concern, contained in a statement signed by its president, Comrade Joe Ajaero, on Saturday, followed a siege laid on the national headquarters of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), Ikeja, Lagos State by personnel of the Nigeria Police.
“We are alarmed by a growing trend by the police to abridge the fundamental rights of citizens and organisations.
“From alleged senseless killing of protesting citizens during the protests against hunger and bad governance, the police raided and carted away valuables from the headquarters of the Nigeria Labour Congress on Wednesday night,” Ajaero said in the statement.
He said NLC’s worry arose as police personnel laid on the National headquarters of CDHR. “Reports available to us indicate that truckloads of police personnel have cordoned off the place (where a symposium on education was scheduled to hold) since the early hours of this morning.
“Given the fact that the CDHR neither invited the police nor lodged a report of a threat, we consider the police deployment an unwarranted intrusion and an attack on the right of CDHR to conduct its lawful businesses peacefully,” said the NLC, adding that the action of the police coming three days after its raid on the NLC “is suggestive of a calculated dark agenda.”
It warned the police: “We would want to remind the police and those on whose orders they are acting that they cannot cow Nigerians into submission…. their powers do not extend to abridging the rights of the citizenry.”
The statement reads in full:
WHAT ARE THE NIGERIA POLICE UP TO?
Our attention has been drawn to the siege laid to the National headquarters of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights at Ikeja, Lagos by the Nigeria Police.
Reports available to us indicate that truckloads of police personnel have cordoned off the place (where a symposium on education was scheduled to hold) since the early hours of this morning.
Given the fact that the CDHR neither invited the police nor lodged a report of a threat, we consider the police deployment an unwarranted intrusion and an attack on the right of CDHR to conduct its lawful businesses peacefully.
Accordingly, we urge the police to pull out of the precincts of CDHR immediately and unconditionally.
We are alarmed by a growing trend by the police to abridge the fundamental rights of citizens and organisations.
From alleged senseless killing of protesting citizens during the protests against hunger and bad governance, the police raided and carted away valuables from the headquarters of the Nigeria Labour Congress on Wednesday night.
That three days later they are at the premises of another civil society organisation is suggestive of a calculated dark agenda.
We would want to remind the police and those on whose orders they are acting that they cannot cow Nigerians into submission…. their powers do not extend to abridging the rights of the citizenry.
We would also want to remind them that we are in a democracy and not a police state.
We would similarly want to caution against starting an agenda that will be undemocratic.
Let them pull out now.
Comrade Joe Ajaero
President
