Democratic Socialist Movement

For Struggle, Solidarity and Socialism in Nigeria

By - DSM

POLICE BULLYING OF AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL AND PROTESTERS MUST END

YRC WARNS THE NPF TO DESIST FROM BULLYING AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL OVER ITS EXPOSURE OF POLICE MISCONDUCT AND BRUTAL CRACKDOWN ON PEACEFUL PROTESTS

WE STAND BY AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL’S REPORT AND DEMAND THE IMMEDIATE SUSPENSION OF THE IGP IN ORDER TO CREATE ROOM FOR AN INDEPENDENT AND TRANSPARENT PROBE

The Youth Rights Campaign (YRC) condemns the recent public statement issued by the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) demanding an apology from Amnesty International over its report titled “Bloody August: Nigeria Government’s Violent Crackdown on #EndBadGovernance Protests” made by the group on the cruel conducts of officers of the Nigeria Police Force during and after the #Endbadgovernance protest last August. The police also demanded that Amnesty International issues a public retraction within seven days of the whole report which it dismissed as baseless, false and misleading.

We hereby warn the Nigerian Police Force to desist from bullying the Amnesty International. We also warn the NPF against any attempt to victimize workers or members of Amnesty International for daring to report the obvious truth.

As far as we are concerned, as a party accused of misconduct and a bloody crackdown, the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) has no moral authority whatsoever to adjudge the veracity of the allegations made by Amnesty International in its report let alone the audacity to begin to demand public retraction and apology. The right body that can cast judgement over the veracity or otherwise of Amnesty International’s revelation is a democratically-constituted and independent panel of inquiry. That President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has failed to constitute such since last year when Amnesty International’s report came out is a clear indication that the President is shielding the police from answering for its crimes against humanity.

This becomes even more unacceptable when a body established by an Act of the National Assembly and funded from the federation account, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), has already corroborated Amnesty International findings. In October last year, the Executive Secretary of the NHRC, Chief Tony Ojukwu SAN, in an interview with Vanguard (20 October 2024), accused the NPF of extra judicial murder of nothing less than 27 people during the protest.

So what then is false about report of the Amnesty International? Why has the police not asked the NHRC to also publicly retract their own claims and apologize for it? We reject this arm-twisting tactics by the Nigerian Police. You cannot kill innocent peaceful protesters and then turn around to begin to threaten those who boldly expose your crime.

For us, the NPF is only exhibiting blatant shamelessness and an attempt to further clamp down on dissent and cover-up the atrocities committed by its officers during the Endbadgovernance protest. The protest had the active participation of thousands of Nigerians who witnessed the gruesome attacks on them by the police – even journalists were not spared. There are numerous media reports confirming the cruelty of the NPF during the protest. The report by Amnesty International is a factual representation of the reality of Nigerians during the Endbadgovernance protests.

NPF, instead of accepting responsibility for the misconduct and attacks it carried out, is only trying to maliciously conceal the obvious truth. The so-called internal probe by the NPF force, where it falsely found itself innocent of the allegations made against it by Amnesty International and other civil society organizations like the Youth Rights Campaign, is an insult to the rationality of Nigerians. How do you become a jury in your case? We ask. The NPF is an indicted party in this case, yet it constituted a probe panel to white wash itself. The Youth Rights Campaign (YRC) rejects the so-called in-house probe and investigation by the Nigeria Police force as it is an attempt to mislead Nigerians and create justification for an attack on dissent especially the Amnesty International.

We reiterate our call for the suspension of the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to allow for an impartial, independent and public probe into the conducts of the police and other security forces during the #Endbadgovernance protest in August. We also call for the setting up of an independent probe panel democratically-constituted by the elected representatives of civil society, professional groups like the media, NBA, etc, trade unions and youth associations to investigate the various allegations against the police and other security agencies which includes usage include the use of excessive force, firing of live bullets, killing of peaceful protesters, torture of detainees as well as other heinous crimes as contained in the report of Amnesty International as well as several accounts of protesters and civil society groups.

We hereby join Amnesty International and all people of good conscience in calling for immediate action to address these injustices. Specifically, we demand the following:

  1. The prosecution of all police officers and officers of all other security agencies including the DSS and the army responsible for the killings of innocent Nigerians during the protests
  2. The immediate suspension of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, to allow for an independent, impartial, and transparent investigation into the human rights abuses and extrajudicial killings that occurred during the #EndBadGovernance protests.
  3. The constitution of an impartial and independent panel democratically-constituted by elected representatives of civil society organisations (CSOs), the Nigerian Union of Journalist (NUJ), the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), trade unions and other pro-democracy organisations and youth groups to ensure transparency and accountability.
  4. The withdrawal of all trumped-up charges against #Endbadgovernance protesters on trial and the immediate release of all those still in detention detained nationwide. We also demand a halt to the continued assaults on democratic rights.
  5. Compensation for all victims of the police brutality and their families to help alleviate the impact of the tragic losses.
  6. The meeting of all demands of the #Endbadgovernance protest in August.

Francis Nwapa

National Secretary

Youth Rights Campaign

Email: [email protected]