CSOs call for mass protest, boycott of Democracy Day

The Coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Nigeria has called on Nigerians to prepare for a protest march and a boycott of the 2021 Democracy Day on May 29, in the face of the escalating insecurity in the country.

In a joint statement by 125 CSOs and private individuals on Sunday, the CSOs bemoaned the spate of insecurity which has been rising higher than it was in past years.

Quoting a report by the Global Terrorism Index (GTI), the Coalition lamented that no fewer than 1,606 Nigerians, including women and children, were killed in 125 fatal incidents, an average of 13 per incident in 2020, as Nigeria ranked third-most terrorized country in the world.

“Following its sharp increase of 43 per cent in mass atrocities in 2020, Nigeria has continued to experience a decline in security across the nation,” the joint statement said.

“In the first quarter of 2021(January to March), we recorded an all-time quarterly high of almost 2000 fatalities from mass atrocities incidents across the country,” it added.

The Coalition also said it was appalling that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration had failed to key into the issues raised in its February statement that demanded that he should resign or should be impeached by the National Assembly due to the rising insecurity.

“Gross injustices by the President Buhari’s government against the Nigerian people such that peaceful protesters are threatened and attacked by the government’s security agents while terrorists carrying out mass murder, rape, maiming and kidnapping of Nigerians including women and children are feted, mollycoddled, granted ‘amnesty’ and paid by the government,” the CSOs said.

Read also: DEMOCRACY DAY SPEECH; We’ve recorded notable achievements in security, others —Buhari

The Coalition said granting amnesty to bandits and terrorists was “tantamount to funding and supporting criminality, encouraging murder and the decimation of Nigeria’s gallant troops and amounts to treason against the Nigerian State and people.”

“Terrorist herder attacks on unarmed farming communities and reprisal attacks keep recurring because of government’s inaction and failure to bring the criminal herdsmen and their funders to justice.

“The terror war in the Northwest, irresponsibly tagged by the government as banditry, is an indication that the government’s bid to downplay the large-scale criminality, and industrial-scale kidnappings and extrajudicial killings by state security agents in various forms of inter-ethnic violence and menace of political cult gangs and ethnic militia.

“President Buhari has failed to end impunity for abuse of power and sectionalism through his appointments by balancing the need for competence with the federal character principle.

“He also failed to take responsibility and end the persecution of the media and free speech, mobilise the rich Nigerian assets to address the insecurity situation across the country, or seek international cooperation to ramp up security assets.

“We are therefore calling on all Nigerians to register their displeasure with the state of affairs across the country by participating in a series of mass actions from Monday, the 26th of May 2021, participate in solemn assemblies across the country to commemorate the 4th National Day of Mourning and Remembrance of Victims of Mass Atrocities on May 28th, 2021, and boycott all Democracy Day activities on May 29, 2021, in protest of the deplorable state of our democracy.

“We again call on the Muhammadu Buhari-led national government and the state governments to rise up to their constitutional duties as enshrined in S14(2)(b), to ensure the security and welfare of all Nigerians, and pull the nation back from the path of destruction.”

By Isaac Dachen…

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