Posted by By Tobi Soniyi, Abuja on
Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, on Thursday condemned security operatives for aborting a meeting of human rights groups in the country....
Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, on Thursday condemned security operatives for aborting a meeting of human rights groups in the country, saying the action had once again portrayed the Olusegun Obasanjo government as a 'paranoid and a dying regime."
In a message he sent to the Director of Africa Programme, Open Society Justice Initiative, Mr. Chidi Odinkalu, Soyinka said the operatives had through their act further diminished the already poor image of the government and not the groups that were prevented from meeting on Wednesday.
The OSJI was one of the several groups that organised the meeting, whose primary aim was to discuss the independence of the National Human Rights Commission.
Soyinka's message read, 'I have just learnt of your ordeal, and that of your colleagues at the hands of the agents of an increasingly paranoid regime that claims to direct our existence in a supposedly democratic state.
'Be consoled by the fact that such acts diminish, not the victims, but the perpetrators of such anti-democratic, indeed anti-human violations.
'They betray themselves over and over again as petty, vindictive, and misfits of a civilised society.
'The unceremonious and unconscionable intervention in the independent functioning of the NHRC by this regime has been further compounded by a violation of the fundamental principles that make its existence necessary: the rights of citizens anywhere in the world to assemble peacefully, and to debate any issues under the sun.
'On our part, we must never cease to defend these natural rights of man. The spasmodic twitches of a dying regime, one that has discredited itself in the eyes of the world in so many crucial ways, should not be allowed to deter us from pressing on with our principled objectives as free citizens.
'Tyrannies come and go, but the people remain the constant of nations, being the palpable creators of society and of human history. That history will take note of these violations, and will judge the enemies of freedom accordingly."
Also reacting, the Advanced Congress of Democrats called on 'Nigerians to be vigilant and resist this new dawn of political intolerance, impunity and despotism."
The ACD said, 'The police excuse that the meeting was halted because the conveners failed to obtain a permit is not only laughable but has further portrayed them as police of occupation."
Meanwhile, the Attorney -General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Bayo Ojo (SAN), has denied his involvement in halting the meeting organised by the human rights groups to protest government's interference in the administration of the NHRC.
Ojo who spoke in Abuja said, 'I was abroad for a United Nations assignment when the incident happened.
'I went straight for the Federal Executive Council on my return . I only know that the police is to maintain law and order.
'They might have dispersed those people complaining probably because they felt there was a possibility of law and order being breached.
'And if they felt that way and did that, it is their prerogative. I didn't know about the meeting."
The representatives of the rights groups had after they were dispersed on Wednesday accused the minister of undermining the NHRC.
There was no official reaction from the Presidency to Soyinka's message as at 10.40pm on Thursday.
Besides unanswered telephone calls, text messages to the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mr. Frank Nweke Jr., and the Senior Special Assistant on Media to the President, Mrs. Remi Oyo, were not replied.