Date Published: 06/01/09
PRESS STATEMENT 31 ST MAY 2009
STOP EMERGING DICTATORSHIP
FREEDOM THREATENED: PUBLIC ORDER ACT
‘The provisions of the Act are unnecessary. We are in a democracy and Nigeria has joined the civilized society’. ……..Justice Olufunmilayo Adekeye, JCA. December 11 th 2007.
‘Every person shall be entitled to assemble freely and associate with other persons, and in particular he may form or belong to any political party, trade union or any other association for the protection of his interest’. Section 40, 1999 Constitution Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Conference of Nigeria Political Parties {CNPP} calls on the Peoples Democratic Party {PDP} leadership and indeed President Umaru Musa Yaradua to stop the emerging dictatorship and the threat it poses to freedom and his rule of law paradigm.
We are making this passionate appeal, based on information reaching us that the PDP leadership has instructed the Inspector General of Police {IGP} to forthwith appeal to the Supreme Court for reinstatement of the Public Order Act; which was voided first by Justice Anwuli Chikere of Federal High Court Abuja, on June 26,2005 and upheld by Appeal Court, in a unanimous judgment read by Olufunmilayo Adekeye ,JCA, on December 11,2007, following a suit filed by CNPP.
The Inspector General of Police, Mike Okiro, consequent upon this order, immediately briefed senior police officers at the Force Headquarters last Wednesday, there and then, the Legal Department was mandated to proceed with the appeal to the Supreme Court.
For the avoidance of doubt, whereas we are not afraid to loose the case or intend to deny the police the right of appeal; however the motive is at variance with the spirit and letters of our Constitution, African Charter on Peoples Rights, UN Declaration on Human Rights and, clearly show cases Nigeria’s dangerous slide to dictatorship.
CNPP has for the umpteenth time warned that our democracy cannot grow, if at every junction, the PDP leadership is preoccupied with the inordinate ambition to rule for 60 years without fresh ideas, hence the provisions of the Constitution are set aside and obeyed in breach.
Otherwise, why is PDP obsessed over peaceful assembly in a democracy? Is it not the inalienable right of the citizenry to assemble? Did the assemble Labour , Civil Society Organisations and progressives embarked upon last time degenerate into chaos? Is the Public Order Act in tandem with the rule of law mantra of the regime?
We are appalled that the Amnesty International Report 2009, is still negative after 10 years of civil rule, ‘Human rights defenders and journalists critical of government continued to face intimidation and harassment, and official intolerance of the media increased. ….At least two journalists were killed in suspicious circumstances. ….The widespread poverty in Nigeria was attributed to corruption. …. Human rights violations by the police included extrajudicial executions of detainees and people unable or unwilling to pay bribes and the frequent use of torture when interrogating suspects’.
CNPP consequently wishes to state as follows:-
A] That as long as President Yaradua lacks the political will to cage the cartels in the oil industry, helplessly proclaims his incapacity to prosecute the cartel, which he rated as the greatest institutional corruption in the history of the nation, deregulates the oil sector and allows the cartel to consume us;
B] That as long as President Yaradua breaks at will all the promises he made to Nigerians; emergency on power, Niger Delta crisis and especially the imperative to raise the standard and quality of our general elections and utter rejection of the core ingredients of the Justice Uwais Electoral Reform Committee Report, that will make the Electoral Commissions truly independent;
C] That as long as President Yaradua fails to fix our collapsed infrastructure, in the midst of unprecedented oil windfall;
D] That as long as institutions of the state like the Nigeria Police Force, INEC, and Judiciary are converted to serve partisan interest;
Nigerians will not only exercise their inalienable right for freedom of peaceful assembly but shall embark on mass action; without police permit.
Osita Okechukwu
National Publicity Secretary
CNPP
