Prominent pro-democracy and civil rights advocacy group, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has raised alarm that, “the Nigeria Police Force alongside hired armed political thugs are working together with the tacit or assumed approval of the presidency in Abuja to maximally disrupt and sabotage any attempts by opposition parties and most especially the coalition African Democratic Congress (ADC) to hold political meetings in most parts of Nigeria especially in states controlled by the All Progressives Congress (APC).”

HURIWA in a statement on Monday pointed out that the targeted attacks by armed thugs and the illegal and arbitrary restraining order by the police stopping peaceful meetings of ADC in Kaduna, Lagos and Imo State, “followed peculiar pattern of well-coordinated violence sponsored from the highest levels of the central government and the APC governors to disrupt moves by the newly formed political coalition known as African Democratic Congress (ADC) to hold their lawful meetings.”

“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu must as a matter of lawful obligation should direct and Command the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Kayode Egbetokun, to desist from the ongoing police’s coordinated clampdown of opposition politicians,” HURIWA said in the statement by the National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko.

The rights group emphasised that democracy can only thrive in an atmosphere of live and let live. It said that the President should take responsibility for the breaches of peace constituted by armed political thugs sympathetic to the APC who have consistently been deployed by state governments controlled by the APC in Lagos, Kaduna and Imo state to violently disrupt political meetings being held by the ADC.

According to the statement, “Mr. President, HURIWA is a totally non-partisan organisation and we are patriotic pro-democracy organisation that wishes your government well. This is why we are raising this alarm so you Mr. President takes the needed decision to call the police and your governors to order. The chapter 4 of the Nigerian constitution clearly and unambiguously provided abundant provisions for citizens to enjoy their constitutionally protected and guaranteed fundamental freedoms including freedom to hold peaceful assembly.

“HURIWA strongly suspects that all the recently executed violent disruptions of political meetings of the opposition coalition known as ADC are one and the same and it is increasingly becoming clearer that both the police’s top -most hierarchy alongside the National secretariat of the All Progressives Congress and the APC governors are in a well-knitted and in communion to fund these carefully choreographed armed thuggery and violent attacks against politicians of the opposition ADC who tried to hold conferences or lawfully allowed meetings in some of the states controlled by APC. The failure to stop these thugs and police from sabotaging Democratic opposition politics is a colossal failure of the office of the president who is also the leader of the APC and the appointing authority of the Inspector-General of Police.

“These attacks are no coincidences but these are very masterfully coordinated, heavily funded by both the APC in close and mutual partnership with the Nigeria Police Force which has behaved like the armed wing of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).”

HURIWA stated that it is also miffed that miscreants, suspected to be political thugs, invaded a rally organised by the Lagos State chapter of ADC led by a former Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola.

The rally, held at Lion Field in Alimosho Local Council of the state, was organised to receive and welcome the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi, and the party’s 2023 governorship flag bearer in Lagos State, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour.

It was gathered that shortly after the kick-off of the programme, miscreants stormed the venue and sacked all the participants.

The rally was also organised to sensitise residents on the importance of obtaining their Permanent Voter Card (PVC), and urge members to mobilise youths to register during the exercise in preparation for the 2027 general elections in the state.

The miscreants, who were suspected to be supporters of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, inflicted varying degrees of injuries on their victims.

HURIWA recalled that last month, the Kaduna State Police Command stopped a planned political rally by supporters of former presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi, which was scheduled to hold in honour of his birthday.

In a statement issued by the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Mansir Hassan, the Command said it received credible intelligence indicating that the rally, though meant to show solidarity, could be infiltrated by criminal elements intending to cause violence and disrupt public order.

The police warned that all political rallies and public gatherings of that nature remain suspended across the state until the official commencement of political activities as outlined by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The Command further explained that some political parties had officially notified the police of their primaries taking place on the same day as the proposed rally.

It said this clash of events raised security concerns, with fears that it could heighten tension, provoke clashes, and lead to a breakdown of law and order in some areas.

The rights group described the reported disruption of the Odenigbo public lecture organised by the Owerri Catholic Archdiocese in which erstwhile Kaduna state governor and chieftain of ADC, Mallam Nassir El-Rufai, was the guest lecturer as another government-approved thuggery and political violence against political opposition.

It is against the backdrops of these consistent attacks that the rights group has called on World leaders and the United Nations to implore the Nigerian President to allow political opposition parties to carry on with their lawful activities without let or hindrance. “There is a necessary nexus between these violent attacks against ADC and the covert actions of the APC to disorganise politicians of the opposition coalition of ADC through subterfuge.”

HURIWA is therefore challenging the president “to demonstrate his democratic credentials and his zeal to comply by the provisions of the Nigerian constitution by directing both the police IGP and the APC governors to create peaceful atmosphere for all political persuasion to coexist without let or hindrance.”

“It is shameful that the police were reportedly seen doing nothing to stop the armed thugs who had attacked members of the opposition ADC including the dastardly criminal attack in Kebbi State of the immediate past AGF and minister of Justice Alhaji Abubakar Malami (SAN) who had defected from the APC to the ADC,” the rights group said.