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NGO Demands Respect Of Digital Right For Nigerians

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Ali Sabo addressing the press

 

By Ozumi Abdul

Centre For Information Technology And Development (CITAD) on Friday drew the attention of the Nigerian security agencies, especially the Nigeria Police force for what it regarded as the police continued arbitrary arrest and detention of citizens for exercising their fundamental human rights as enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution.

While speaking during a press conference in Kano State, the organization’s program officer Mallam Ali Sabo said It is important to state clearly that section (IV) sub section (c) of the Nigerian constitutions has prohibits any security agency from unlawful arrest, incarceration or detention of the citizens without following due process.

He noted that what the country is witnessing today is totally in contrast with what the constitution stated, the act he said if not properly checked would throw the country into a lawless anarchical state.

“Gentlemen of the press what we are witnessing today in Nigeria is clearly contrary to what the Nigerian constitution has provided and these acts by the Nigerian security agencies if not checked and addressed will flung the country into anarchy and will negate the principles of democracy which is being practiced in Nigeria enshrined in the 1999 constitution as amended”.

Sabo recalled that in the months of November and December of 2022, CITAD organized a press conference which he said was geared towards reminding the authority of the negative implications the unlawful arrests of citizen by security agents portend, and also recalling that in the month of November of 2022, a 500 level student of Federal University of Dutse, Aminu Adamu was arrested by the police on the order of the First Lady for exercising his fundamental rights.

Sabo said in the months of November and December we drew the attention of the Nigerian authorities about the negative implications of these arbitrary arrests and detentions of the citizens to the country’s image in the comity of nations .

 

 

“Gentlemen of the press, you may recalled that in the month of November, 2022, the Nigeria Police on the orders of the wife of the president arrested and detained a 500 level student of Federal University, Dutse, Aminu Adamu for merely excising his rights online. He was held for days without being allowed access to his family or his lawyers. Also on the 11th of December, 2022, a minor named Umar Garba was arrested in Nguru Local Government Area, Yobe State over an alleged defamation of character of the Yobe State Governor, Maimala Buni. The boy was held captive by the Nigeria Police for more than two weeks without a court order or any arrest warrant. Similarly, the boy was not taken to court.

“These impunity being excised by the Nigerian politicians has transformed to another level to the extent that citizens are being deprived their fundamental human rights to speak about things that concern them and their country and interrogate their representatives without being harassed by the security agencies. These cases have continued to grow spontaneously as many cases are being reported every day and in every corner of the country which is worrisome and threat to our democracy. Another and more recent case we have received is the arrest and detention of Yau Saeed, a Freelance Journalist and founder of Y2S Online Television based in Yola that was arrested by the Nigeria Police, FCT Command by the order of Senator Elisha Ishiaku Abbo, Senator representing Adamawa North for excising his rights as citizen and journalist since 27th of December, 2022. The most unfortunate thing is that the Nigeria Police has refused the detained journalist access to his wife, lawyers and family.

“These arbitrary arrests of the citizens are against the Nigerian constitution and international covenant of human and people’s rights. Section IV of the Nigerian Constitution has clearly stated that:

i. Any person who is arrested or detained in accordance with section (1) (C) of this section shall be brought before a court of law within reasonable time. The expression of reasonable time under this section means:
a. In case of an arrest or detention in any place where there is court of competent jurisdiction within a radius of 40 kilometres, a period of one day; and
b. In any other case, a period of two days or such longer period as in the circumstances may be considered by the court to be reasonable

It is significant to know that allowing citizens to express themselves and constructively criticize leaders are cardinal to democracy and no democracy can grow where those at the helm of the affairs of the country are using the country’s security agencies to clamp down on dissents and activists”, he said.

He submitted that the collusion between security agencies and politicians to harass and intimidate citizens for freely expressing their opinions is a serious attack to the country’s democracy.

Sabo added that democracy strives by the maintenance of a free market of opinions and availability of information that allow citizens to make informed choices in exercising their civic responsibility.

He added that when journalists are seized, detained, and tortured because they have exposed the dirty underbelly of some politicians.

He quickly reminded the authority it was police brutality that to the 2020 ENDSARS pogrom where many lives and properties were lost, warning that such mistake shouldn’t be allowed to happen again.

“We must also not forget that it was the brazen police brutality that led to the EndSars protest with all its attendance consequences to the nation. We cannot afford to continue to repeat this sad experience. Such illegal and unconstitutional acts and conduct by police and security agencies bread the ground and context for anarchy to set in which is of not good to anybody”.

Sabo then called on Nigeria Police and its sisters’ security agencies to be neural in conducting their duties and should not allow themselves to be used as rent-organizations by politicians to shield their despicable acts and conduct.

He also enjoined security agencies to respect the Digital Right of the citizens as they are the logical and legitimate extension of our fundamental human rights which are protected in our constitution and all the international instruments on human to which Nigeria is a signatory and the country is duty bound to accord the same respect to rights online as rights offline, as well calling on The Nigeria Police to desist fromk arbitrary arrest of the citizens and ensure they are following due process in the arrest and detention of the citizens.

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Cover Story: Natasha’s Recall Process—Is It Realizable or Political Vendetta?

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Following the issue of recall that surfaced recently in Kogi Central regarding Senator Natasha, NIGERIAN TRACKER’s Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa takes a look at the scenario and files this story for Nigerian Tracker this weekend.

By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

On the 20th of February, 2025, an altercation occurred between Senator Natasha and the President of the Chamber, Senator Akpabio. What birthed the altercation was the directive from the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, which demanded that Senator Natasha relocate to a newly allocated seat given to her due to a circumstance of the house.

The circumstance, which the Chief Whip of the house, Senator Muhammed Tahir Munguno of Borno State, in the midst of the rancor, stood up and read the rules guiding the conduct of the house in respect to the directive of the Senate President. According to the rules of the house as read by the Chief Whip, it is at the discretion of the President of the Senate to allocate seats to each senator. Also, according to the rules, a senator must only speak from the seat allocated to them. These are contained in Order 6, Rule 2 of their constitution.

Furthermore, the Chief Whip, in the course of reading out the rules of the house, gave a reason why the senator from Kogi Central, Senator Natasha, was instructed to change her seat. He revealed that two senators from the opposition parties—Senator Ned Nwokwo and Senator Francis Ezenwa—both from the Peoples Democratic Party and Labour Party, respectively, defected to the ruling All Progressive Congress. Hence, the need for a change of seats according to the arrangements of the members of the Senate.

It was after the refusal of Senator Natasha to heed the spelled-out rules that the President of the Senate ordered her dismissal from the house. Even with the order, the embattled senator insisted that she must make a contribution to the debate of an issue that was ongoing in the house at the moment, but the President persisted that she must make her contributions from the new seat allocated to her, else she would not be recognized. The two parties did not reconcile, and this led to Senator Natasha being led out of the house by the Sergeant-at-Arms.

Additionally, on the 28th of that same month, February 2025, Senator Natasha granted an interview on the Arise TV channel where she alleged that the President of the Senate was persecuting her because she refused him sex. The allegation sparked lots of debates as to the authenticity of her claim because, while the accused Senate President had been censured for this same act by one Joy Nunieh—the former NDDC Boss—in 2020 when the former was the Minister for Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Natasha had also made such allegations against different personalities in the country which were proven false—notably that of Reno Omokri.

In response to the above allegation, the wife of the Senate President, Ekaette Akpabio, during a press address at their residence, dismissed the allegation, citing that her responsible husband is incapable of making such sexual advances. The Senate President himself, through his aide, denied the allegation.

Moreover, on the 5th of March, 2025, Senator Natasha submitted a petition to the Ethics Committee of the Red Chamber of the National Assembly, notifying the committee officially of the sexual harassment, abuse of office, and other crimes committed against her by the President of the Senate. The petition was received but, however, rejected and dismissed after due consideration of the processes of the petition. The Ethics Committee learned that the petition lacked the due processes of the rules of the chamber.

Consequent to the above action of hers, the Senate decided and ruled that she should be suspended for a period of six months and also withdrew her security details for the stipulated period. Later after this development, her recall process was initiated.

It was alleged that some political establishments in the state, Kogi, who are unhappy about her show of doggedness which has caused the President of the Senate grave embarrassment, orchestrated the move to recall her from the Senate. This allegation, again, was made by the embattled senator herself. She emphatically stated that the President of the Senate had a conversation with the governor of her state, Usman Ododo, on the 12th of March, 2025, to initiate her recall process and fund the expenses.

While the recall process was initiated, it was, however, on the 4th of April, 2025, ruled by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that the recall process fell short of the requirements of Section 69(a) of the constitution. Hence, it failed, and as such, no further action should be taken in that regard.

When contacted to shed more light on the issue of recall and its political implications, a political scientist based in Abuja, Dr. Muttaqa Yushau Abdulrauf, said:

“A recall is a process where members of a particular constituency can stage a process to recall their elected representative, and this is quite stipulated in Section 69 of the Nigerian constitution as part of their democratic right; either due to their discontent or the inability of their elected representative to represent that particular constituency. So, it’s a constitutionally provided right of the constituents.

However, if one examines all the recall attempts in our Fourth Republic, he would find out that they are orchestrated by a lot of vendetta and as well by the discontent expressed from the top (not from the bottom). What that means is that most of the recall processes are as a result of a particular member not aligning with the political elites at the top (be it the presidency or the ruling party). If one checks the case of the representative of Birnin Kudu, in Jigawa State, Honorable Faruk Adamu, it’s the same thing.

It was an orchestrated attempt because she was a staunch opposition of the then ruling party. The orchestration was tensed to the extent that all the opposition leaders had to gather in Birnin Kudu to protest. The recall didn’t materialize. Another similar case of orchestrated recall process but which doesn’t have a similar root cause is that of Senator Natasha.

It’s obvious from all indications that it’s an orchestrated attempt from the political elites who are not happy with the way and manner she engaged the Senate President. A matter that was supposed to be dealt with by the Senate Committee on Ethics or other laid-down procedures of the National Assembly instead warrants lots of inducements for the constituents to reject and recall their elected representative.

The two attempts highlighted above show that there are clearly initiatives of the elites which didn’t emanate from the discontent of the constituents. So, the clarion call to the custodians of democracy is that the laid-down procedures should be allowed to flourish. Because, in a democratic environment, it’s allowed for dissenting voices to be recognized. That is the essence of the democratic journey. But because of the culture of impunity, favoritism, and not hearing from the contending voices together before passing verdict, democracy is shrinking,” said Dr. Muttaqa.

Conversely, the sexual harassment case which was filed by Senator Natasha was, on the 26th of March, 2025, supported by a mere affidavit. This also sparked lots of debates on the social media space. To the dismay of some of those defending Senator Natasha, an affidavit, instead of ocular proof, was what she presented as support for her petition against the Senate President.

While Nigerians are waiting patiently for the outcome of the petition, Senator Natasha again alleged that the President of the Senate, in collaboration with the former governor of Kogi State and his protégé, Governor Usman Ododo, are planning to have her assassinated. This was revealed during her visit to the state which was tagged “Natasha’s Homecoming,” where she addressed the mammoth crowd that welcomed her.

At this very moment, on the 5th of April, 2025, the court has, on the 4th of April, 2025, barred both parties—Senators Akpabio and Natasha—from granting any interviews henceforth.

According to a renown Political Scientist Dr Kabir Sufi Said said ‘Well, there are several grounds which a legislature can be recalled. One is, when there’s poor representation or when the electorates are not satisfied with the quality of the representation or when there are so many other issues with which there are dissatisfaction on the side of the electorates towards their legislature–which in this case could be a member of the Senate or House of the Representative or a member of the State House of Assembly as provided by the constitution.

He said The section 69 and 110 of the Nigerian constitution are where the recall processes are contained. The process comprises of three things mainly: first of them which is a submission of petition by the constituents, notifying the electoral body that they want to recall their representative(i.e a Senator, House of the Representative member or the State House of Assembly member). Secondly, the petition must be signed by fifty percent of the registered voters in the constituency and as soon as that request is submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), a referendum, which is the last thing, is expected to be conducted within the period of three months(90 days) for the recall of the concerned legislature as explained by the section 110 of the constitution.

The process is a tedious one as it concerns the collection of signatures, and the verification of those signatures by the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC). So many other issues are explained in the electoral acts(Section 2 and Section 113 of the electoral acts). These sections further explained the process through which INEC would verify the signatures and then conduct the referendum. The process of recall could be said that it’s synonymous with that of impeachment of the President, Vice president, Governors, Deputy Gorvernors and Chairmen. This denotes that, if the various executives mentioned can be checked through impeachments, then the legislatures must, in one way or the other, be checked through the recall processes.

As soon as the petition is received and the aforementioned requirements are met, then the electoral body which is the INEC would make a declaration as to whether the recall process is successful or not.

That being said, the challenges in the recall process as to the initiation of the request to recall a representative and as well the collection and verification of the signatures are another tedious sides of the process. It has been alleged that the said challenges are deliberate efforts from the legislatures who took part in the amendment of the laws since 2010. Because, in reality, it’s difficult to get the fifty percent registered voters to sign the petition where, most elections in this country are won by barely 25 to 27 percent participation. Also, it’s very rare to see a Nigerian that’s consistent with a signature since the verification process warrants that a comparison between the signatures on the voters’ cards and on the petition must be the same. With this analysis, it’s obvious that a recall process is almost impossible to materialize in Nigeria.

According to Dr Sufi ,’However, in a situation whereby the process is successful, the development would be communicated to the affected legislature and a by-election would be conducted in order to have a new representative for the constituents. It’s on this note we are calling for a check into the recall processes and even the impeachment process as well. There’s need for a more realizable processes for these two exercises to be feasible.”

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CSO Commends Nigerian Police For Inviting Emir Sanusi, Says Nobody is above the law

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CSO Commends Nigerian Police For Inviting Emir Sanusi, Says Nobody is above the law

The Northern Women Lawyers Congress has commended the Nigeria Police Force over its invitation to Mallam Muhammadu Sanusi over an investigation into an incident that occurred during a sallah durbar he held.

This was contained in a statement by its Chairperson Barrister Nafisa Abba, the lawyer further blast the civil society organisations that are condemning the Nigeria Police over the invitation.

The CSO called on the Police to go ahead with its investigation to find out the truth of the matter, and anyone found guilty should be prosecuted and face the wrath of the law.

“We are all aware that the police banned all sallah durbar activities to maintain peace in the state but Sanusi went ahead to ride a horse on Sallah day from the Eid Ground being surrounded by thugs who are loyal to him.

Ibrahim Alasan, who lost his life during the incident, is just a passerby, an innocent soul who was killed by these thugs.

It is not only in Sanusi’s entourage that a life was lost. It’s obviously clear that there is rivalry between thugs of most of the wards in Kano Municipal, the police saw that coming from their intelligence report and caution both parties not to hold any durbar but Sanusi went ahead to do that. Is he above the law?

It’s under the same Sanusi that thugs would always be seen giving him protection, not the appropriate security agency. Thugs now have access even into the Gidan Rumfa.

Just because you’re an Emir, you shouldn’t be investigated?

 

The lawyer further added that the CSOs are the creation of the Emir in an effort to sabotage the Nigerian Police.

“We know fully that these organisations that were all over the media condemning an investigative invitation meeting are sponsored by Sanusi

To make it to the public knowledge, they are doing all these as pseudonym, and their organisations are not registered.

I’m a lawyer, a member of the Kano Bar. I challenge them to come out and present themselves. ”

The Congress described those criticising Sanusi’s invitation as hypocrites.

“Where are they when the governor ordered the arrest of the legitimate Emir of Kano Aminu Ado Bayero? He went back to appoint an Emir despite a court order stopping him from doing so.

Is it not a disrespect to our culture and tradition?

We learnt that you have been crying of an assassination attempt during your procession with thugs who were employed by Gwale Local Government chairman for you by the police The Chairman had to run for his life, and now you are crying when an invitation was sent to you. Did you report it to the police in the first place?

Respect yourself by surrendering yourself to police to prove your innocence. ” She added.

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Breaking:IGP Withdraws Emir Sanusi’s Invitation Letter

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The Nigeria Police Force has withdrawn its earlier invitation extended to Alhaji Sanusi in connection with the unfortunate incident that occurred in Kano State during the Sallah celebration on March 30, 2025.

However, following advice from respected stakeholders and in line with the Inspector-General of Police’s commitment to ensuring that policing actions are not politicized or misinterpreted, the IGP has directed that the invitation be withdrawn.

Instead, operatives of the Force Intelligence Department (FID) have been mandated on the instructions of the IGP to proceed to Kano to obtain Alhaji Sanusi’s statement.

Prior to the Sallah Day celebration, credible intelligence at the disposal of the Police indicated that the two (2) disputed Emirs in Kano State -Alh Ado Bayero and Alh Lamido Sanusi were planning to hold separate Durbar Festivals. The Durbar Festival is a long held tradition which involves a recognized Emir riding on horses around the city in company of his people.

To forestall possible violence, the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun, Ph.D., NPM, deployed the Coordinating DIG for the North West who also serves as the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of the Force Criminal Investigation Department, DIG Abubakar Sadiq, mni , to engage in dialogue with the two disputed Emirs in kano and the Kano State Government. It was mutually agreed that no Durbar Festival would be held to preserve peace and public safety and none of the disputed emirs will ride on horse on Sallah day.

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Despite this agreement, Alhaji Sanusi who had attended the Eid Prayers in his car, decided to mount a horse in a procession after Eid Prayers on Sallah Day, accompanied by local vigilantes. This triggered a confrontation by youths in the community, leading to the tragic death of one Usman Sagiru, and leaving several others injured. A situation which the Force had earlier warned against and intended to avert by the emissaries sent earlier to both Alhaji Sanusi and Alhaji Ado Bayero.

The Nigeria Police Force, under the leadership of the Inspector-General of Police, remains resolute in its commitment to conducting its criminal investigation duties with the highest level of professionalism including the investigation of this incident.

All individuals found culpable will at the end be brought to justice. To this effect, some arrests have been made prompting invitation to Alhaji Sanusi. The Force also wishes to reiterate that its actions are guided solely by the principles of justice, neutrality, and professionalism.

ACP OLUMUYIWA ADEJOBI, mnipr, mipra, fCAI
FORCE PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER
FORCE HEADQUARTERS, ABUJA.

6TH APRIL 2025

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