A human rights organisation on the aegis of Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has declared that the unprecedented rate of attacks by terrorists and incessant kidnappings for ransoms by armed non-state actors who operate freely as if there is no government in Nigeria, the people of Nigeria may soon be pushed to the walls and compelled to organise protests bigger than what took place in 2020 when Nigerians from all walks of lives protested nationwide against police brutality.
This was as it castigated the Federal and State governments for shifting their focus on 2027 elections and the re-election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu while the nation’s economy is collapsing.
Against the backdrop, HURIWA applauded the residents of Ekpoma in Edo state for staging peaceful demonstrations against the rising waves of insecurity marked by incessant and unprecedented rate of kidnappings for ransoms.
These were contained in a statement by the Emmanuel Onwubiko, National Coordinator of HURIWA, in which he categorically denounced the attacks by terrorists on schoolchildren and farming communities in the Northern states of Nigeria.
HURIWA said; “It is our projection that going by the global trends of civil protests even in some of the most repressive countries like Iran, the combination of the uncontrollable, unchecked high costs of living, the high rates of youth unemployment, rising costs of electricity energy, poor electricity supplies, high costs of petrol and cooking gas, the collapse of basic infrastructural facilities of health, roads networks, poor public schools and the unpopular taxation regime introduced this month by the current government could instigate protests.
“The protest in Ekpoma Edo state is only but a small sample of what may happen should the Federal government continues to neglect the security of lives and property of the citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” it stated.
HURIWA warned that no amount of armed attacks of protesters by armed goons of the government would be able to stop the coming protests if bad governance continues at the pace we are witnessing in Nigeria.
The human rights organisation justified the actions of the citizens in Ekpoma in Edo state to demand accountability from government and to insists on implementable plan of action by both the administration in Edo state and the federal government headed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who has again jetted to France in the past two weeks without handing over to an acting President.
HURIWA noted that while the president is away, kidnappers, Islamic terrorists and all genres of armed non-state actors have declared war against the citizens, killing, maiming and violently abducting unarmed citizens.
HURIWA carpeted President Tinubu for hypocritically ordering his security chiefs to go after the terrorists that invaded the Catholic boarding school in Niger state for the second time and killed over 40 persons and seized dozens of persons from the school and neighbourhood, emphasising that the government barks like a toothless bulldog towards terrorists while the bloodthirsty killers are expanding their frontiers of attack on mostly soft targets of schools and markets.
HURIWA noted that residents of Ekpoma, the headquarters of Esan West Local Government Area of Edo State, on Saturday staged a protest against the spate of kidnappings in the community.
HURIWA while predicting a nationwide civil protests, said the security challenges confronting citizens all over the country are becoming intractable even with the recent changes in the governance structures of the armed forces and the resignation of the minister of defence and the appointment of the immediate past Chief of Defence Staff General Christopher Gwabin Musa as the new Minister.
According to HURIWA; “The reason is lack of good and charismatic leadership in the person of the number 1 citizen of Nigeria. We are therefore informing the government that Nigerians are losing their patience”.
“The situation of insecurity has escalated beyond the imagination of the people of Nigeria. Never was any Nigerian in the last 30 years ever thinking that the security situation could degenerate abysmally the way it has reached at this moment.
“What makes the situation even the more unbearable and unacceptable, is the absence of good governance and the obvious collapse of the nation’s economy marked by high costs of living, joblessness especially of the most productive segment of Nigerians: the youths.
“These existential crises must be confronted headlong by the President who must and should forget the idea of seeking a second term by all means. The government must work to restore normalcy and stability before the President and others can even contemplate asking the voters who are the citizens to return them back to power. The very existence of Nigeria and the citizens are facing imminent threats of extinction.
“How can any sane person holding government positions be thinking of election instead of working to keep Nigeria and Nigerians alive? This is the time to warn the government that it is playing with fire because the people may have no other option but to take the bull by the horn by instantaneously deciding to protest on the streets and since he who is already on the ground fears no fall, the usual practice of unleashing armed security forces to quell peaceful protesters and to kill protesters wouldn’t work when the coming protests which would inevitably happen this year begins unless the government demonstrates a change of heart or METANOIA,” HURIWA said.
It urged President Tinubu to observe the development unfolding in Iran with the nationwide protests against bad governance and the oppressive, repressive and tyrannical regime in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
HURIWA further said that the warning to Iranian leaders not to kill protesters as made by President Donald John Trump should resonate in Nigeria.
