Police Brutality And Breakup Of FOI Colloquium-A Precipitious Tilt To The Dark Days Of Military Dictatorship – TMG

Yesterday, Tuesday, November 13, 2013; the Police in Abuja viciously disrupted and singlehandedly cancelled a two day Freedom of Information (FOI) colloquium organised by the Anti-Corruption Network at the NICON Luxury Hotel in Abuja.

This is about the fourth time in one week that the Nigerian Police on orders of the Inspector General of Police, Muhammed Abubakar will unconstitutionally interfere with a peaceful assembly of the people; this is illegal and an infringement of the fundamental rights of the Nigerian people to peacefully assemble, organise or protest.

Instructively, the Inspector General of Police by virtue of the powers of the Constitution is responsible and accountable to the President and Commander in Chief, so there is really no possible way that the Jonathan Administration can extricate itself or deny knowledge of these sad commentaries in the political landscape. Furthermore, it is a lamentable paradox that the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2011 was passed into law by this Administration; and that is something that FOI Colloquium aborted by the Police seeks to address and strengthen.

Evocative of the dark era of Military Dictatorships, where police brutality and the cycle of violence was the order of the day, the Jonathan Administration is becoming increasingly restive and intolerant of dissenting views; from the crippling of protest marches and civil disobedience to the muzzling of labour unions, the Administration is patently nervy and out of control.

These developments in the political climate in indeed worrisome, and we call on the Administration to put a stop to it now. TMG calls on the Nigerian people to speak up and say no to these tyrannical tendencies.

Comrade Ibrahim M. Zikirullahi

Chairman

Chief Eddy Ezurike

Publicity Secretary

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