Hunger: Rein In Onanuga Before An Irreparable Damage – HURIWA Tells Tinubu
Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) on Thursday, February 29, 2024 tasked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu rein in his Special Adviser on Communications and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga before he cause an irreparable damage to the constitutional democracy and freedoms that Nigerians worked so hard to put in place.
HURIWA said that it was alarmed that President Tinubu has allowed Onanuga to continue to deploy ‘verbal militancy’ and sabre rattling to attack citizens with divergent positions to that of the Tinubu-led government.
The Rights group stressed that if government officials employ unlawful means to stop citizens from protesting peacefully against economic hardships, it will become inevitable that government is sending open invitation for anarchy and lawlessness on the part of the oppressed people because; “he who stops peaceful change, is calling for violent revolution”.
HURIWA pointedly accused Onanuga of acting as a ‘communications militant’ and not just an ‘attack dog’ of President Tinubu’s government and particularly condemned the open threats made by Onanuga on Sunday against the leadership of the Nigerian Labour Congress.
A statement by Emmanuel Onwubiko, National Coordinator of HURIWA, said that Onanuga arrogantly warned the NLC not to embark on its two-day nationwide protest against hunger and the rising cost of living in the country, adding that it was curious with the coincidence of the warning by the police at the same time against disruption of commercial activities during the protest thereby established a working partnership between the President’s communications strategist and armed security forces.
The Rights group said it wasn’t therefore all together strange, when suspected armed hoodlums were allegedly hurriedly brought into the Federal capital territory to infiltrate the NLC protest and disrupt peace, law and order were it not that the NLC got actionable intelligence and averted what would have been bloody.
The Rights group regretted that the NLC said the day-two nationwide protest over hunger and economic hardship was suspended due to alleged threats on the leadership of the Congress as stated by the Comrade Joe Ajaero, President of the NLC at a news conference in Abuja on Wednesday.
Citing a report that quoted the NLC president Mr. Ajaero, the NLC asserted that it is important that members of the public are made aware of the grievous threats against the leadership of the NLC.
“This is aimed at intimidating and harassing us into abandoning our choice of democratic expressions through the nationwide protests.
“We have been threatened with all manners of consequences that will be meted out to us if we went ahead with the protest. We were not, however, deterred as lifting the heavy yoke of suffering upon Nigerian workers and masses left us with no other choice than to press on,” Ajaero said.
HURIWA said that the NLC president narrated that during the Tuesday rally in Abuja, they received hard evidence of the importation of agent provocateurs just as the NLC president said the agent provocateurs were mobilised to the protest routes and grounds to cause violence and unleash mayhem against peacefully assembled and protesting Nigerians.
HURIWA further said; “Even to the uninitiated and those without thinking faculties, the evidence-based threats against the NLC were made jointly by the President Tinubu’s information and communication strategist Bayo Onanuga and the police and so it is inevitable that these two persons: Onanuga and the police should be held accountable for using unlawful intimidation and threats to frustrate the free exercise of the constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights by the Labour activists.
“We view this increasing verbal militancy by Onanuga and the alleged procurement of armed Lagos hoodlums to physically attack protesters, as very dangerous threats against constitutional democracy.
“The earlier the better that Onanuga’s unguarded verbal militancy and sabre rattling are checked,” it said.
