The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria on Tuesday condemned the actions of the Kogi State Police and the state governor, Usman Ododo, accusing them of politically motivated interference to prevent Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan from going to her family house and receiving her constituents.
HURIWA, in a statement signed by its National Coordinator Emmanuel Onwubiko, alleged that the police, which should be independent and serve all citizens equally, have instead become a tool for the All Progressives Congress, particularly in Kogi State.
The group pointed out that the Kogi State Police, under the direction of the state government, falsely cited security concerns to justify blocking the visit.
“HURIWA is miffed that the Nigeria Police Force, which is a creation of the Nigerian Constitution that ought to work to advance the common good, has unfortunately become the official ‘attack dog’ and has further deteriorated to become the official ‘LAPDOG’ of the All Progressives Congress.
“The hierarchy of the Nigeria Police Force must as a matter of fact and as a matter of national importance and urgency, should and must take steps to shake off their parasitic attachment to the party that produced the current president of Nigeria and operate in compliance with the constitutional provisions and the Police Act of 2020 which necessarily mandates the Nigeria Police Force to become a professional, politically unaffiliated and patriotic organisation that serves the interest of all Nigerians and not that of the All Progressives Congress in such a way that they are deployed to embark on a political witch-hunt gambit and practically made to behave like the official vigilantes of All Progressives Congress,” it stated.
HURIWA asserted that the situation is a deliberate plot to undermine the senator’s constitutional rights to freedom of movement, peaceful assembly, and expression. They also criticised the APC’s involvement, calling the situation an abuse of power, and demanded an investigation into the conduct of the Kogi State Police and its commissioner.
“Why should the Kogi State police command follow sheepishly the political directive of the APC governor by abusing the police Act of 2020 and using illegal means through totally politically motivated and contrived reasons to attempt to stop Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan from exercising her constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights to freedom of movement, freedom of peaceful Assembly and freedom of information?
“This is a total deterioration of policing standards that must be confronted and the commissioner of police made to face investigation to provide evidence of security threats that he cited for attempting to carry out the partisan instructions of the All Progressives Congress to muzzle a citizen of Nigeria of her Human Rights?
“HURIWA believed that the so-called security concerns are the contrived and dangerously partisan plot of the All Progressives Congress to frustrate the PDP Senator from going ahead with her preplanned rally. This is undemocratic,” the statement noted.
