BY EDMOND ODOK – A pioneer Nigerian media rights group, Journalists for Democratic Rights (JODER), has condemned the alleged murder attempts on the Chairman of Human Environmental Development Agenda, (HEDA Resource Centre), Mr Olanrewaju Suraju, describing it as a major setback in the fight against corruption in the country.
In a statement signed by its Executive Director, Mr Adewale Adeoye, JODER said the armed invasion of Mr Suraju’s home by five heavily armed men with the obvious intention to kill him clearly mocks Nigeria’s image in the comity of nations.
The group has therefore urged President Mohammadu Buhari to show personal interest in the sordid Monday armed attack on Suraju who leads Nigeria’s most outstanding anti-corruption organisation.
According to JODER, the Nigerian Police authority owes the local and international community the obligation to investigate the armed invasion and ensure the perpetrators are arrested and made to face the wrath of the law.
The statement said; “It was a clear case of murder attempt with a high degree suspicion that the actors are agents of corrupt individuals fighting back to defend sleaze and mismanagement of public funds, a battle that has been the centre piece of Mr. Sujaru’s decade long anti-corruption campaign.”
Adeoye further stated that JODER and thousands of human rights groups at home and abroad stand with Mr Suraju and his organisation at this moment of turmoil.
“We are concerned about the fact that Suraju brought the campaign against corruption in the OPL 245 scam into the front burner of international discourse. We are aware of his yearly documentation of high-profile corruption cases.
“There is an almost irreversible temptation to trace the murder attempt on him to corrupt individuals which he has exposed for the heinous crimes against humanity unless the police prove otherwise”, the JODER statement said.
The organisation lamented the attack has further confirmed the fear that Nigeria is fast becoming one of the most dangerous places to live, especially for those who have chosen the career to fight injustice and lift the country from its stupor.
Condemning the attack in its entirety, JODER said it is saddening that; “The armed men invaded Suraju’s home around 2.3am. They threatened to kill him. They stole his phones, his car key, and private materials some belonging to his wife and children. All these happened in the presence of his little children that watched in awe guns pointed at their father.”
