By Gbenga Abulude (Politics and General Desk)
Global human rights group, Amnesty International, on Friday alleged that an unknown group threatened to attack its workers, supporters as well as its office premises following its reports of the October 20 Lekki shootings which contradicted the claim of the federal government.
The group raised the alarm that the lives of its employees were no longer safe urging the Nigerian authorities to ‘ensure the protection of lives and properties of every person in the country.’
Amnesty International, in a statement said the threats from the faceless group would not discourage the organisation to continue to speak against human rights violations and abuses by state and non-state actors.
The statement read, “Amnesty International draws the attention of the Nigerian authorities and the general public to the intimidation and outright threats of attacks that were issued against its staff, supporters, and premises by a faceless and unknown group at a press conference held on 4 November 2020.
“Similar faceless groups had previously invaded our office and given us ultimatum to leave Nigeria.
“Amnesty International is a global human rights movement and we are independent of any government. Our mandate is to hold authorities to account for their human right obligations and commitments. This, we have consistently done since June 1967 when we first started working in and on Nigeria.
“Every person whose rights are violated is entitled to an effective remedy. Exposing human rights violations and seeking redress for them is largely dependent on the degree of security enjoyed by civil society groups like Amnesty International.
“The Nigerian authorities owe a legal duty to ensure the protection of lives and properties of every person in the country. Malicious threats will not deter us from continuing to speak against human rights violations and abuses by state and non-state actors.”
Recall that Amnesty International gave their reports on the alleged shootings of #EndSARS protesters at the Lekki Toll Plaza on October 20, and claimed that 12 lives were lost contrary to reports of the Nigerian army and the federal government.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, had last week while speaking on a program on Channels TV, disputed the claims of the human rights global organisation.
Adeshina said Amnesty International was in the habit of making unsubstantiated reports about Nigeria.
He said, “Amnesty International does not have all the facts, they don’t run this country, they shouldn’t know beyond what they have been told. They shouldn’t know more than you and I should know as media people as watchers of developments.”
According to him, “Many times, the military has come out to dispute facts brought out by Amnesty.”
Also last year August, a group of
protesters mounted a demonstration outside the Abuja office of the Amnesty International, holding placards that disparaged the human rights group.
The protest came hours after reports emerged on social media that the government was planning to target Amnesty International and blacklist the group as a threat to Nigeria’s sovereignty amid allegation that it was sympathetic to an upcoming nationwide protest, ‘Revolution Now’.
