The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has petitioned the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva over alleged arbitrary arrests and repression of RevolutionNow protesters, organisers, activists and journalists who covered the protests on Monday across the country.
SERAP also raised concern over suppression of freedom of expression, attack on journalists, bloggers and human rights defenders by several state governments, as well as the intimidation and harassment of Amnesty International (AI) in Nigeria, including by a group of apparently paid protesters that continue to besiege the organisation’s office in Abuja thereby preventing it from carrying out its activities and giving the organisation an ultimatum to leave Nigeria.
In a letter dated August 8, 2019, and signed by SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation said there were serious violations of the rights of Nigerians to liberty, personal security, freedom of expression, peaceful assembly/association and media freedom, and that a “special session” was urgently needed to help stem the attack on human rights and contribute to UN’s effort to prevent further abuse, including arbitrary detention and excessive use of force.
