CSOs Petition Tinubu, NASS Over Invasion Of Ikeja Electric

Several Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Nigeria have petitioned President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the National Assembly, urging them to set up an independent panel of Inquiry to investigate the invasion of Ikeja Electricity by armed state actors.

Nigeria’s largest coalition of human rights groups operating under the aegis of Nigeria Human Rights Community (NHRC) said the panel should identify those responsible for the rascally act and bring them to justice. It described the invasion as a usurpation of civilian authority and a conscious attempt to undermine democracy in Nigeria.

The coalition established in 2003 with 135 members spread across the country condemned the invasion of Ikeja Electricity Company by armed men of the Nigerian Airforce, which took place last week.

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The Nigerian Human Rights Community, after an emergency meeting in Lagos, said the invasion was an act of violence unleashed on a corporate organisation by the Nigerian Airforce.

It said it represents a major test for President Tinubu’s attitude towards creating an enabling environment for foreign and local investments in Nigeria and an acid test for the government’s commitment to human rights and sustainable development in Nigeria.

The group said the president’s attitude would determine whether the current regime tacitly supports brigandage and unconstitutional acts by people in uniform.

The coalition said it is prepared to challenge the invasion using all local and international legal instruments to which Nigeria is fully committed.

“Invasion of private or corporate institutions by armed Airforce or soldiers should be a thing of the past after 25 years of post-military rule. The orders for the invasion by some senior officers violated the Nigerian constitution and portrayed the country as facing the prospect of brute force intervention, yet with an elected President, in a democracy,” the coalition said in a statement signed by its National President Adewale Adeoye, General Secretary and regional officials Digifa David Weri and Kudu Abubakar.