Groups Blast Jonathan Govt over Arrest of UAD Convener and #OccupyNigeria Activi

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Widespread criticism is trailing the arrest in Abuja of Ayodeji Ajayeoba (aka Jaye Gaskia), Convenor of the United Action for Democracy, as pro-democracy groups challenge the government to find the strength, instead, to go after looters of the commonwealth.   The government is afraid of UAD's plans to coordinate general public protests against President Goodluck Jonathan's government over massive corruption in the payments of fuel subsidies to the tune of $6.8 billion. 

In a press conference last Thursday, UAD said that the revelations at the House of Representatives probe confirmed that it was the corrupt enrichment of a minority and not the affordability of fuel for the vast majority of Nigerians that was being subsidized.  It said it would commence preparation for mass mobilization for mass revolutionary action against the government's anti-people policies and system change, as the group was convinced that the government was committed to further hiking the price of petrol.

In separate press statements issued this afternoon, the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) and the Network on Police Reform in Nigeria (NOPRIN) strongly condemned the action, which was taken by the State Security Service (SSS) today in Abuja.

CDHR described it as "an ugly development for the polity and Nigeria's democratic process if pro-democracy activists who work to expand and deepen good governance are treated like outcasts."  Instead, it advised the PDP government to "go after primitive accumulators of our common resource."

NOPRIN, which is a network of 46 civil society organizations committed to promoting police accountability and respect for human rights in Nigeria, said the arrest reflects the increasing intolerance of Goodluck Jonathan's government for free expression and dissent against his poor performing and unpopular government. It called the action "a regress to the dark age of authoritarian repression and dictatorial closure of the democratic space" in the country.

"After unleashing the military on the people protesting against his callous policy of impoverishment in January 2012, the arrest of Jaye few days after the police similarly summoned the Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Chidi Odinkalu for saying that the Nigeria police routinely kill hundreds of Nigerians annually, there is no doubt that Nigerians must gird their loins to confront and defeat a full blown dictatorship," the NOPRIN statement said. "The Nigerian government should rather commit to genuinely combating corruption rather than baring its fangs against its citizens for calling for good governance. Government should either charge Jaye if they have any case against him of free him immediately."

CDHR called on the government to implement the recommendations of the committee of the House on the so-called oil subsidies, calling for all those indicted no matter how highly placed, to be prosecuted. "Activities of the old, soiled recycled hands in the government are detrimental to the national economy, growth and nation building," the statement said, drawing attention to last week's imprisonment in London of a former governor, James Onanefe Ibori.

The CDHR expressed worry that Nigeria's security has collapsed, with no commensurate response by the Goodluck Jonathan administration.

"We warn that any attempt to further strangulate the Nigerian Masses by way of Central Bank ill-advised economic policy will heighten the failed status of our country," the group said, reiterating its call for the convocation of a Sovereign National Conference (SNC), fiscal federalism and the peoples' constitution.

SaharaReporters