By Kolawole Olaniyan
\nPresident Muhammadu Buhari\u2019s administration appears more determined than ever to rely on repression as a means of responding to dissent and public criticism. Its record of failure to uphold human rights and the rule of law has been too consistent: empty promises, more excuses, ambivalence, intolerance, and state-sanctioned brutality.
\nLast week, the administration yet again unleashed its security forces in riot gear on #RevolutionNow protesters who were simply calling on the government to respect human rights, obey the rule of law, and address heightened insecurity, poverty, corruption, and poor infrastructure in the country.
\nThe peaceful protests took place in several parts of Nigeria, including Abuja, Lagos and Osogbo.
\nThis is not the first time Mr Buhari and his administration have brutally attacked peaceful protesters. But no security agents have ever been held to account for abuses against protesters.
\nThis state-sanctioned brutality is entirely inconsistent with the attitude of a government supposedly committed to transparency and accountability, and the fight against corruption.
\nRather than addressing the concerns of the protesters, the Buhari administration would seem to trivialize their demands when it called the protests \u201ca child\u2019s play\u201d and \u201can irritation.\u201d The implicit message is that the administration is insensitive to people\u2019s opinions and concerns.
\nTo be clear: it\u2019s neither a child\u2019s play nor an irritation to demand an end to corruption, which is clearly contributing to serious human rights violations, fuelling injustice, inequality and deprivation, and allowing politicians to profit from their crimes.
\nIt\u2019s unfortunate that the Buhari administration is sending security forces not after those who commit acts of grand corruption and appalling abuses, but after those who call for human rights and rule of law reforms.
\nFor example, while his administration treats protesters with overt hostility, it seems to revere \u2018repentant Boko Haram militants\u2019, including by granting them \u201camnesty\u201d and accepting them \u201cunconditionally\u201d.
\nUnder Mr Buhari\u2019s watch, a bill is being pushed in the National Assembly full of members from his ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) to use funds from the Universal Basic Education Commission and the Tertiary Education Trust Fund to give the militants \u201cforeign education.\u201d
\nThis is even as millions of Nigerian children and youth are out of school and roaming the streets.
\nThe right to freedom of peaceful assembly is central to human rights law, but it\u2019s one right the Buhari administration flagrantly violates as a matter of routine. The administration\u2019s bad faith is underlined by its smearing of protesters.
\nThe attack that the Buhari administration has consistently launched on protesters is not merely an attack on the right to protest and Nigeria\u2019s constitutional foundation. It is an attack on the rule of law, and on Nigeria\u2019s voluntary international human rights obligations.
\nThe administration continues to violate human rights with impunity. Omoyele Sowore, leader of the #RevolutionNow movement, and Amnesty International\u2019s prisoner of conscience, is facing severe restrictions on his rights and can\u2019t travel outside Abuja.
\nMr Buhari and his administration are treating dissent and public criticism as \u201cinsult\u201d, and adopting probably the most repressive laws in Nigeria\u2019s history, such as the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2020 that give officials massive discretion to further restrict human rights and undermine the operations of religious, community and civil society organizations.
\nMr Buhari and his administration are punishing journalists for their reporting, silencing individuals for posting opinions on social media, shutting down debate and the flow of information on flimsy grounds. This prevailing impunity is allowing and emboldening many states governors to adopt similar repressive tactics, and undermine people\u2019s access to justice.
\nMr Buhari and his administration have shown hostility to Nigerian judges and indifference to court judgments and orders, thereby seriously undermining their standing and authority, and the notion of access to justice. His administration simply ignores court judgments and orders.
\nMr Buhari has literally normalized disobedience to court orders, and state-sanctioned brutality against peaceful protesters. That\u2019s why his administration has been unable to deliver on his oft-repeated anti-corruption promises.
\nIt\u2019s facile for the administration to claim to be committed to the rule of law and the fight against corruption while it is routinely stopping people from freely expressing themselves, including through peaceful protests.
\nThe Constitution of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) guarantees human rights, including the right to protest. Nigeria has also ratified most of the major human rights treaties like the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and African Charter on Human and Peoples\u2019 Rights.
\nThe administration has three core obligations regarding human rights: namely, the obligation to respect, to protect, and to fulfill them. It has an obligation to take positive measures to establish and maintain an enabling environment for the exercise of human rights, including the right to protest.
\nIt is crucial that individuals exercising this right be able to operate freely without fearing that they will be subjected to threats, intimidation, or violence, including arbitrary arrest or detention, or torture and other ill-treatment.
\nWhat matters is not the rights that exist on paper in the constitution or treaties, but whether they can be exercised and enforced in practice.
\nIt is up to Mr Buhari and his administration to recognize this and to make it happen. A good starting point would be to stop witch-hunting protesters, see protests as a powerful mechanism of public accountability and engagement, allow Mr Sowore to enjoy his human rights and reunite with his family; and repeal the CAMA 2020 and bring it in conformity with the country\u2019s international obligations.
\nAs for the people, this isn\u2019t the time to give up. There is a bumpy road ahead, and as such, they should continue to speak truth to power. They should defend and claim their rights, if they are ever going to be able to stop their government and politicians behaving with impunity.
\nThe country stands at a crossroads. The international community should do all it can to support and show active solidarity with the people\u2019s demand for human rights and the rule of law.<\/p>\n
Olaniyan is author of Corruption and Human Rights Law in Africa and legal adviser at Amnesty International\u2019s International Secretariat, London.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Kolawole Olaniyan President Muhammadu Buhari\u2019s administration appears more determined than ever to rely on repression as a means of responding to dissent and public criticism. Its record of failure…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":74969,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n