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Tag: CDHR

  • CDHR to tricyclists: we share your grief

    CDHR to tricyclists: we share your grief

    The leadership of Lagos State council of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) has visited members of the tricycle riders union at Ikotun in Alimosho area of Lagos State. The visit was in solidarity with them over the death of the wife of a member, Mr Godwin Ekpo.

    The late Mrs Idongesit Ekpo was shot dead penultimate Wednesday at Obalagbe bus stop at 10pm. by a member of an eight-man team from the Isheri-Oshun Police Station that mounted a roadblock.

    Ekpo, with his wife and their two-month-old baby was said to be returning from church when the incident occurred. He is critically ill at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) from gunshot wound. Their visit was also in solidarity with the Isheri-Oshun unit of the CDHR that challenged the police over the incident.

    Addressing members of the union, state chairman of CDHR, Comrade Buna Ishak said the group is tackling the matter with police authorities.

    Assuring the riders that justice would be done, Comrade Ishak stated that the human rights group has been discussing with police authorities to ensure t the victims get justice.

    “The state council of CDHR has met with the Commissioner of Police (CP) Mr Fatai Owoseni and he has given us the assurance that Ekpo is getting the best medical attention at LUTH. He also said the first surgery on him was very successful. The CP informed us that the police authorities have already spent over N500, 000 on Mr Ekpo’s treatment to ensure he lives,” Comrade Ishak said.

    He said the human rights group seems to be calm because of the humane character of the police boss.

    “The Commissioner and other senior officers have appealed to us for calm. The CP has given us the mandate to report any erring policeman direct to his office. We should not wait until things become worse before we react to any issue,” he said.

    Regretting the horrible activities of policemen against the masses, Comrade Ishak promised that his group would not relent in its fight against police brutality, intimidation, harassment and embarrassment of members of the public.

    He said: “We’ll stop at nothing in our struggle to ensure that unwholesome activities of some policemen against the masses are stopped. I assure you that the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Isheri-Oshun will not return to that station; because the community and its environs have complained much about his ugly antecedents.

    “The CDHR is making frantic effort to ensure that the DPO is charged to court alongside the trigger-happy Corporal who killed the wife of your colleague and almost rendered your member useless. We are insisting that he and the leader of the team that mounted the roadblock should face murder charge as well as the policeman who shot at and killed Mrs Ekpo.

    “We also want to inform you that the killer policeman has been dismissed and is currently in detention. He is facing murder charge at Yaba Magistrate’s Court where he was arraigned. The matter was adjourned till October 19.”

    He said the CDHR is committed to seeking redress for those whose rights are infringed on and get justice for them. Comrade Ishak also revealed that his group has mapped out strategies on how to curb police excesses.

    “The DPO’s transfer is not enough. We want him disciplined. We are ready to work with the police to sanitise the society and to stop police from exploiting the masses. One cannot get one’s freedom by running away from the truth and failing to confront the oppressors head on,” he said.

    He urged the tricycle riders to go about their businesses and be law-abiding. He also advised them to join hands with the CDHR to ensure total emancipation of all oppressed people and to stop all forms of exploitation.

  • Don’t be intimidated, CDHR tells would-be voters

    Don’t be intimidated, CDHR tells would-be voters

    The Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) has urged eligible voters in the August 9 election to reject all forms of intimidation and political brigandage.

    CDHR advised voters to cast their votes on issue-based participation by assessing the candidates and voting for them according to their programmes and performances.

    Its Vice President, Comrade Taiwo Otitolaye, warned that Nigeria’s politics is drifting sharply.

    The CDHR said: “There is severe danger on this democratic experiment. It is fast becoming exercises in the jungle and we have no option as a people to rise to these challenges.

    “CDHR is worried that President Goodluck Jonathan is fast drifting from the sensitivity and responsibility demanded by the office he occupies by his handling of state affairs; ranging from security, economic and political urgency bedeviling our country. He is unperturbed even with the increasing loss of lives and property.

    “The President junkets about with extravaganza and triviality which to our sense of judgment calls for deep reflections in the handling of state affairs and apparatuses. We see the president’s August 2nd, 3rd and 4th proposed visit to Osun ahead of the August 9th elections as another jamboree.

    “This trip is a further waste of our collective resources; little wonder Mr. President is demanding an approval of another $1 billion to further his free spending of security fund, knowing well that he will bluntly refuse to give details of the spending of such money.”

    The President’s visit, it said, would “cost approximately N2.5 billion giving the paraphernalia of offices, security personnel and free gifts for electoral lobbying, which will accompany his visit to once again distort democracy as he did in the Ekiti elections.”

    It stated that the masses will suffer N7 billion worth of economic losses for the three days visit, since activities in major parts of the state would be paralysed by the visit.

    “We are constantly amazed that our sitting President is fast turning to a fascist; thereby endangering the political space the masses of this country fought for during protracted military dictatorship. The country is boiling as a result of this incompetence in our leadership canon. We wonder whether our leaders have a time to sit and compare themselves with other accountable leaders around the world.”

  • APC, others to Jonathan: don’t plunge Nigeria into crisis

    APC, others to Jonathan: don’t plunge Nigeria into crisis

    •Groups ask IG to transfer OC MOPOL from Ekiti

    The All Progressives Congress (APC), Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) and Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) yesterday led other groups and individuals in decrying the violence unleashed by the police on the party members in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital on Sunday.

    The APC alleged that indications showed that the police are acting out a script written by the Presidency and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to foment trouble in the Southwest ahead of the 2015 general elections.

    Its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in a statement issued in Lagos yesterday, blamed the Presidency and the PDP for the violence.

    Besides, the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, has been urged to redeploy the Ekiti State Mobile Police Commander, Gabriel Selenkere Michael, out of the state.

    A political pressure group, Ekiti Youth Emancipation Movement (EYEM) said Selenkere, by his attack on Governor Kayode Fayemi on Sunday, had demonstrated that he was out to either maim or assassinate the governor, hence the call for his redeployment.

    EYEM President, Mr. Taiwo Olatunji, in a statement, said: “Ekiti people no longer trust the OC MOPOL and are prepared to defend their governor against Abuja onslaught.”

    Also yesterday, the APC in Osun State said the killing was the actualisation of Vice President Mohammed Sambo’s promise to go to war in Ekiti and Osun states in order to seize political power in the two states.

    According to a statement by the party’s State Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy, Kunle Oyatomi, Sambo was still in Ekiti when police from Abuja allegedly shot the APC member and injured many others.

    “This callous and barbaric action of the police mobile unit, under the command of a Bayelsa-born officer, one Gabriel Selekere, signifies the Federal Government’s opening of a second war front in the Western part of the country, in addition to the war against Boko Haram in the North.”

    But Mohammed, in his statement, wondered why the police, who are paid by taxpayers to maintain law and order, would turn their weapons on the same defenceless citizens they are paid to protect.

    The statement reads: “But for the action of the police, led by the head of Mopol in Ekiti, Gabriel Selekere, the peaceful procession by the APC members would not have degenerated into violence, during which a harmless citizen was apparently shot dead by the police.

    “Our members were carrying brooms, not weapons, and were singing and dancing as they marched through the streets in the best tradition of political rallies. Their procession was peaceful and carnival-like until the police unleashed teargas and live bullets on them without provocation, killing one person and injuring many. Even the governor of the state was not spared by these trigger-happy policemen. This is unacceptable in any civilised society and must be condemned by all Nigerians,” APC said.

    The party, however, said it was not surprised at the ferocity of the attack by armed policemen on the peaceful members of the APC, as it fits perfectly into the desperation of President Goodluck Jonathan and his party to capture Ekiti State at all cost as a leeway to entering the South-west ahead of 2015.

    “The President, who said his ambition is not worth the blood of any Nigerian, has apparently forgotten he ever made such a comment.

    Otherwise, how does he explain the bloodied body of a peaceful protester who was apparently shot dead by policemen acting out a script? How does he explain that the blood-thirsty policemen, who behaved more like hooligans, were led by an officer (Selekere) who has consistently been hostile to the state governor?

    “Is it by coincidence that the killer policemen were led by no other than Selekere, who once unilaterally transferred all mobile policemen attached to the governor simply because he could not compromise them to set up the Governor, until he was overruled by the IG?

    “Is it also a mere coincidence that a new Brigade Commander,

    Brig.-Gen. Momoh, whom they believed to be pliable and willing to do their hatchet job, has been posted from Minna to Akure ahead of the Ekiti elections, to replace Brig.-Gen. A.B. Dikko who refused to be compromised and allow the PDP to rig the recent bye-election in Ondo State?

    “The Presidency and the PDP should know that Ekiti people will not allow a blood-thirsty and compromised Mopol Commander, a Brigade Commander or even the Presidency to pick their governor for them on June 21st. They will defend their votes to the hilt, whether or not the FG floods the state with security personnel in an attempt to intimidate and harass the people,’’ it said.

    APC said the orchestration of violence in Ekiti on Sunday, a day after President Jonathan hinted that he had deliberately stifled development in the state by saying he would develop the state once the PDP is voted into office, has shown that the Presidency and the PDP have no qualms about plunging the country into chaos just to realize their ambition of capturing the state and the region.

    “It is for this reason that we appeal to all the good people of Ekiti State in particular and all Nigerians in general to be vigilant in the days ahead. Whatever happens in Ekiti before, during and after the forthcoming election will be a barometer for measuring the desperation or otherwise of the Presidency/PDP ahead of the August election in Osun State and the general elections in 2015.

    “On our part, we will closely monitor and expose all the shenanigans of the Presidency and the PDP to set Ekiti ablaze, destabilise the Southwest and indeed plunge the entire country into crisis just because of an unbridled desperation for power. We urge our members in Ekiti to remain peaceful despite the provocation from the PDP and its cohorts,” the party said.

    The ARG, in a statement by its Programme Officer, Segun Balogun, said the police officer was alleged to have boasted that “he was carrying out orders from above”.

    The ARG said it had warned earlier that the President has a bounded duty to all Nigerians to ensure that the elections in Ekiti State and in all states of the federation are free and fair.

    “Our doubts regarding his capacity for fairness however deepened when Alhaji Namadi Sambo, the vice president, stated that his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was going to war in the Ekiti gubernatorial election.

    “Yoruba people would however not allow anyone, including the suppressive and oppressive central government, whose recent attack on the media nationwide, signals the return of the worst days of the Abacha military dictatorship, to subvert their will.

    “We stood in collaboration with other well-meaning Nigerians to see to the end of military rule in Nigeria. We will not under any circumstance allow the subjugation of any part of Yoruba land and space again. We demand free and fair elections, and we will join the good people of Ekiti State in resisting the planned subversion of their will,” the ARG stated.

    The CDHR also condemned the killing and use of state apparatus against APC members during their rally.

    CDHR urged the officer-in-charge and the Police Commissioner of the state to be brought to face the consequences of their actions against defenceless people.

    In a statement, the National Vice- President of the committee, Comrade Taiwo Otitolaye, said: “It is not surprised at the turn of events in Ekiti State over the governorship elections coming up on June 21, 2014.

    “The emergence of Ayo Fayose as the PDP candidate would have ordinarily thrown an atmosphere of violence to an average intelligent person, given Fayose’s antecedence.

    “We condemn the act of banditry, killings and the use of state apparatus against the All Progressive Congress members during their campaigns at Ado-Ekiti. This is the height of provocation and primitive acts of lawlessness in the polity.”

  • Lagos names Gbagada Recreation Park after Aka-Bashorun

    Lagos names Gbagada Recreation Park after Aka-Bashorun

    lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola yesterday inaugurated the Recreational Park and Garden in Gbagada Phase II, named after a former President of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), the late Chief Alao Aka-Bashorun.

    The late Aka Bashorun, who founded the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), died in October 2005.

    Shortly before unveiling the bronze-made bust of the late rights activist, Fashola said the significance of the garden would add value to the residents.

    He said: “In 2007 when I assumed office, I promised to build and reclaim all the parks and garden in the state. People complained but I did this to protect life and property. The protection of life and property doesn’t begin and end with guns or hospitals, rather it lies with sanitation and well-being. And nothing can be healthier than a clean environment.”

    He said more than 180 parks and gardens have been reclaimed and redeveloped in different parts of the state. He said over five million trees have been planted since he assumed office.

    He added that a number of prominent residents of the state “have asked me what will happen to the trees when I leave office next year. In order to cater for this, we have set up an agency to create and maintain the parks and gardens. That is the Lagos State Parks and Garden (LASPARK).”

    He extolled the virtues of the late Aka-Bashorun, who, he said, stood up for the oppressed in the country, noting that he was one of the heroes “who sacrificed their lives for people like me to stand here today”.

    He added: “It was important to begin writing their stories even if they are no longer physically present with us. We can immortalize their memory. We believe that when all of us are gone, the next generation will ask who is this and this.

    “This was how we started with the Beko Ransome Kuti memorial park and we move to commissioning of the Prof. Ayodele Awojobi and the Gani Fawehinmi Park, which became an international park due to the role it played as the venue for people to demand for their rights in 2012. All these are great men. This will tell everyone that this is a land of great men and women.”

     

  • CDHR protests ‘anti-people’ laws

    CDHR protests ‘anti-people’ laws

    Members of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) stormed the Lagos State House of Assembly yesterday as part of the celebration of human rights day, challenging what it called anti-people laws emanating from the House.

    Speaking on behalf of the group, its Lagos State chairman, Comrade Buna Isak said those at the helm of affairs in the country should desist from dishing out anti-people policies to forestall possible revolution which may occur if government remain adamant.

    Isak said: “December 10 is set aside as the commemoration of human rights day, the truth remains that in Nigeria, we still have a long way to freedom. People are not contented with what is happening. There are indiscriminate arrests by officers of the Lagos State government security outfits, they include LASTMA, KAI, Task Force, the police among others and people are being subjected to unnecessary pains and hardship at different points in the state.”

    He urged the Speaker, Adeyemi Ikuforiji to urgently intervene to save innocent people that are being detained especially at the Task Force office, saying: “I am very sure if Mr. Speaker makes just an appearance at theses offices, those people will get their freedom.”

    Some of their placards read among others: ‘Lagos Assembly, stop making laws that are anti-people, and ‘Ban Tokunbo, ban democracy’ etc.

    Ikuforiji responded: “I want to reassure you that the House is yours, members are there to represent your interests and needs. Whatever we do is done as a result of the power you repose in us. I also believe as you have said that power belongs to the people.”

    He said he would set up a team of his colleagues to visit the Taskforce office to ascertain if there are truly innocent people detained, adding that after getting the report, he would do the needful.