Nigerian Govt Not Open To Checks, Balances – Stakeholders

Governance in Nigeria since the return of democracy in 1999 has to some extent, according to a school of thought, being repressive. 
They are of the view that majority have been denied the rights to freedom of expression by those in places of authority.
 According to this class of Nigerians, those elected to hold power in trust for the electorates get jittery about checks and balances that can guarantee good governance. 
Consequently, the government through series of laws usually gag and silence the society.
As part of its responsibilities at ensuring that the governed are alive to their responsibility in ensuring genuine democracy, the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) stirred the discussed in Lagos, where stakeholders aired their views on government’s stands on rights to freedom of expression.
At the one-day seminar, tagged Civic Space Guard Conference, theme ” Hushed voices and the media’s defence of the Civic space”, held Thursday, 28th April, 2022 at Providence Hotel, GRA, Ikeja, majority of the stakeholders submitted that government is yet to abide with the dictates of genuine democracy in totality.
In his contribution, Debo Adedayo asserted that successive governments have continuously disrespected Nigerians and their human rights.
Popularly known as Mr. Macaroni, a Nigerian actor, comedian, social media influencer, arrested along other protesters in October 2020 at Lekki Toll gate, during the EndSARS protest in Lagos, posited that Nigeria democracy is cosmetic in nature, adding that it is still same with what was obtained under the military.
” The space has not changed, Nigerian democracy is cosmetic, It’s just a make up, nothing has changed. We’re not enjoying the basic fundamental human rights. The current government is violating the rights of Nigerians, rights expression, rights to movement, dignity and protection of lives and property”.
He however, advised security personnel not to see themselves as targets but as victims of a flawed system.
Also speaking at the occasion, a right activist, founder and director of research and policy at Space for Change (S4C) Barrister Victoria Ibezim-Ohaeri submitted that the civic space in Nigeria is shrinking, adding that Nigerian government is copying bad practices from other countries.
She also noted that most suppression cases were attacks on press freedom, adding that journalists were targeted due to the media’s vast audience.
“The civic space all over the world is shrinking. One thing that you will notice is that there is a lot of copy and paste of bad practices happening all over the world,” she said.
A 2013, 2015 and 2016 honoured of Desmond Tutu Fellow, Ibezim-Ohaeri also noted that governments were thirsty for more power and as a result are hiding behind the façade of national interests to clamp down on freedom of expression.
“This mantra that they call national security or national interest, is the most popular that is used to justify crackdown on the civic space. Once they put anything under that mantra of security, whatever – no matter how legitimate – they can suppress it,” she said.
Referring to the #EndSARS protests, she added, “What is happening in the country is that anything can be stretched to rope security dynamics into it. Look at the #EndSARS. The protesters were charged with terrorism financing. That is another way of overstretching issues that have nothing to do with security and roping it in,” Ibezim-Ohaeri postulated.
However, the Police Public Relations officer, Lagos State Command SP Benjamin Hundeyin in his own submission disagreed sharply with the notion, saying that the civic space in Nigeria had opened up after military rule.
The police image maker however said probably what the agitators meant was that the space is probably not free enough.
“I believe it has opened more than it used to be. A time there was, this place would have been invaded by the SSS. I’m not bringing up fiction, this used to happen. Even if it wasn’t invaded, by the time you are going out, people would be picked up,” he said.
He also noted that only a tiny percentage of officers abuse power and engage in police brutality, but it seemed to be magnified due to the large population of policemen in the country.
Hundeyin also said that protests were often dispersed by police officers acting on reliable intelligence that they could be hijacked.
“As a police officer, if I received Intelligence information that a protest would be hijacked by hoodlums, the first thing I will do is to safe lives by dispersing the protesters, not to begin to ask who are the hoodlums or where they are coming from because I know that I will still be blamed by the society for my actions and inactions”
But in a sharp reaction, a public interest and human rights lawyer Inibehe Effiong counter the position of the police spokesperson,saying that disrupting peaceful protests was above the constitutional rights of the police.
“The police or the military does not have the power to prevent, interrupt or to disrupt protests under the toga of national security, under the pretext of intelligence reports,” he said.
Effiong noted that Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari protested in 2007 after his then political party, the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) lost the 2003 presidential election, claiming it was rigged.
“Then Buhari believed in the right to protest. They were attacked. Mr. Femi Falana represented Buhari pro bono in court and the court declared that Nigerians do not require the permit of the police to protest under any circumstance. You do not need the consent of anybody to protest,” he said.
He said rather than dispersing protests based on attacks by hoodlums, the role of the police was to ensure that such attacks do not occur.
Effiong also noted that journalists should not be afraid of threats of frivolous court charges by the government and urged heads of media organisations to sue government institutions when their employees are harassed.
Another panelists, Olakunle Akinrinade, weekend Crime Desk Editor, The Nation Newspaper, whose unlawful arrest and detention formed the foundation of his fight against societal injustice using journalism said the animosity of Nigerians against security agencies stemmed from past experiences.