Foremost Human Rights Group In Nigeria, CDHR, Unveils Its Position On Planned Nationwide Protests

Foremost Human Rights Group

OpenLife Nigeria reports that the position of the foremost human rights organisation in Nigeria, the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, remains clear and focused on the planned protest scheduled to hold in August to end bad governance in Nigeria.

The human rights group made this disclosure Tuesday night through a statement jointly signed by Comrade Debo Adeniran, National President CDHR Nigeria and Comrade Idris Afees Olayinka, National Publicity Secretary CDHR Nigeria.

The statement stated that in an emergency NEC meeting of the organisation held on Tuesday, the 30th of July, CDHR declined joining the planned protest but identified with some of the protest demands as far as end bad governance is concerned.

The NEC resolved as follows;

1. CDHR will not join the planned protest coming August because we were not consulted, and not all demands are meetable, especially within 10 days. Some require institutional interventions.

“Also, CDHR can not go to nationwide protest tagged “10 days of rage” by the organisers, which portrends confrontation and violence. CDHR did not have inputs in the plans, strategies, and tactics of the protest. 

2. CDHR identifies with some of the protest demands of End bad governance in Nigeria. The demands are true, genuine, and realistic.

“The government must, as a matter of urgency, attend to it: inappropriate fuel subsidy removal, hike electricity tariffs, heavy taxes on formal and informal sector, hike in tuition fees, and hyper inflation among others. 

3. CDHR suggests staging an international press conference to channel all the demands of the end bad governance agitators instead of trooping to the streets.

“Public opinion did not generally favour the planned protest and also to avoid being hijacked by unscrupulous elements with different intentions.

“After all, the threat of the planned protest has put the government on serious pressures.

“Some of the political elites have started fleeing the country while the federal government rolls out some measures to ease the suffering of the masses.

“Also, the Nigerian people should be charged to hold all elected office holders accountable, and the government at all levels (state governors, sentors, and the honourable members) given them ultimatum to fix the country. 

4. CDHR charged all the security apparatus to be professional enough to curtail elements of destruction and violence if the protest is held as scheduled. They should not be the one to insight violence on peaceful protesters. 

5. CDHR condemned all comments tagging the planned protest ethinc colouration as some of the demands of the planned protest affect all Nigerian masses

6. CDHR acknowledged recent measures by the federal government to restructure the country and to ease mass suffering: breakthrough in local government autonomy, signing of new minimum wage in to law, selling of crude to Dangote Refinery in naira, crashing the price of 50kg bag of rice to 40,000 naira, subsidising local oil production among others.

NEC, however, direct all our state branches and units to take the above as the position of CDHR regarding the planned protest against end bad governance in Nigeria.