Expresses outraged on the unjust detention and unfair trial of “prisoners of conscience, journalist and protesters”, says their incarceration is a blatant violation of their fundamental rights and a clear attempt to silence dissenting voices.
A pro-democracy Civil Society Group (CSO), Coalition for Democratic Accountability and Electoral Reforms (CODER) has written an open letter to the President Of Nigeria (PON), Bola Tinubu, demanding the immediate release of all persons who are being detained and are being prosecuted in various courts, following their arrest for participating or being associated with the #BadGovernance protest that took place across the country between August 1-10.
In a letter dated 2nd September, 2024, the group expressed their grave concern over the arrest, incarceration and arraignment of persons for their various roles in the August 1-10 protest that rocked the country. CODER expressed their consternation at the arrest and unfair trial of journalist and protesters who where peacefully advocating for good governance and a better Nigeria for all, by agents of a government led by a president who has a well established history of leading similar protest in the not so distant past. The letter stated the unacceptability of a situation where the Tinubu led APC government blatantly tramples on the rights of citizens who are only demanding for a just and equitable society.
While calling for the immediate release of the detained person and the cessation of their trial, they called on the government to address the vexing issues of bad governance, wide spread corruption and social injustices that led to the protest.
In the letter which was signed by the chairman of CODER, Chief Peter Ameh, who is also the national secretary of the Coalition of United Political parties (CUPP), and was a former national chairman of Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), CODER told the president that the continued detention of the incarcerated persons is both a stain on the country’s democracy and a betrayal of the thrust placed on the “elected” government as a true representation of the aspirations of citizens, reminding him that the rights of citizens to assembly and to protest is recognized in the charters of the United nations , the AU and similar bodies, and is also guaranteed and enshrined in the relevant sections constitution of the country.
CODER requested president Tinubu to recall that he was at some point also an avid protester and a tenacious advocate of good governance, wondering if all of that was merely a pretentious scheming game to grab power.
The full letter by CODER is shown bellow.
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