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When a law abiding citizen is kidnapped by terrorist bandits, his family suffers and raises the ransom funds, the govt does nothing!
But when the bandit terrorists are arrested, the govt rehabilitate them, buy houses for them, and release them back into the society! Nigeria 💔
You have admitted that you did not even listen to the video, yet you have already reached a conclusion that conveniently ignores what the organiser actually said. He expressly described the proposed protest as peaceful and warned that no one should use it as an opportunity to steal, vandalise property or cause chaos.
Your suggestion that he provide a written undertaking accepting responsibility for every unlawful act independently committed by anyone who attends has no basis in law. There is no general principle of Nigerian criminal law that automatically makes the organiser of a lawful protest criminally liable for every offence committed by every person present. Liability must be established against the actual offender, or against anyone shown by evidence to have authorised, encouraged, assisted or participated in the unlawful conduct.
Section 40 of the Constitution guarantees the right to peaceful assembly. In Inspector-General of Police v. All Nigeria Peoples Party, the Court of Appeal affirmed that citizens do not require police permission to exercise that right. Notifying and engaging the police for security and coordination may be prudent, but that is not the same as seeking permission to protest.
The possibility that some people may misbehave is neither a lawful nor a logical basis for suppressing everyone else’s constitutional rights. That would amount to imposing collective guilt before any offence has even been committed. Let me also remind you that it is the responsibility of the security agencies to protect peaceful protesters, maintain public order and arrest anyone who independently commits theft, vandalism or violence.
I also find your “benefit of hindsight” argument entirely unconvincing. The fact that misconduct occurred during a previous demonstration does not mean every future protest should be prohibited. That is equivalent to saying elections should no longer be held because electoral violence occurred during a preceding election. The law deals with offenders; it does not extinguish the rights of innocent citizens because someone else might break the law.
Going forward, as a lawyer who is fully aware of my rights and responsibilities, I will make every effort to join any peaceful protest calling out this madness we call governance in Nigeria. We cannot continue sitting comfortably in our homes simply because the consequences of government failure have not yet reached our own doorsteps.
Nigerians have more than enough reasons to protest peacefully: the incessant killings, abductions and displacement of citizens; the impunity with which these crimes continue; and the apparent indifference of @officialABAT’s government, which repeatedly turns a blind eye while Nigerians are killed and entire communities are terrorised.
We are tired. Peaceful protest is one of the lawful means available to citizens to demand accountability. If the government has failed to protect us, the Constitution still gives us the right to challenge that failure through lawful and peaceful means. We will not continue to sit silently while terrorists kill, abduct and terrorise Nigerians with impunity.
Anyone who uses a protest to commit an offence should be identified and held personally accountable under the law. But the possibility of individual misconduct cannot be used as a pretext to suppress the constitutional rights of everyone else.
Nigeria is breaking its people. Nigeria is exhausting and depressing its citizens. But we will not surrender to silence. We will speak, organise and resist lawfully and peacefully.
We are being told by the Katsina state government that the kidnapped retired Major General died of a natural cause in captivity due to diabetes and hypertension.
Let us be serious for once. Since when did dying in the custody of bandits become a natural occurrence?
Was there a medical team in the forest? Did the bandits conduct clinical tests and submit a death certificate to the government?
The man was violently abducted, held hostage by criminals, and died while deprived of liberty and access to proper medical care. That is not a normal death under normal circumstances.
What is disturbing is not just the tragedy itself, but how casually we are beginning to explain away horrors that should outrage an entire nation. When a retired General can be kidnapped and die in captivity, and the discussion quickly shifts to calling it a natural death, then we have truly begun to normalize the abnormal.
That should worry every Nigerian.
A whole Retired Major General Fisabilillah, if a person like that can be in captivity for all these while without the government putting any effort just imagine a normal citizen, no news yet from the FG nothing, Wlh Allah ya Isa. Allah ya jikan shi da Rahama. Ameen
This happened yesterday, a funeral for 17 people who were killed by bandits in Goran Namaye community, Maradun LGA of Zamfara State.
HOW MANY OF YOU POST ABOUT IT?