Nigeria’s Real Fear Is Accountability, Not Armed Groups – Farotimi

Civil rights activist and Lawyer, Dele Farotimi, has said that the Nigerian state fears accountability and the rule of law more than it fears armed groups terrorising citizens.

His comment comes on the backdrop of a protest for the release of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, from detention. The protest, led by Activist and former presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore, was held in Abuja on Monday.

Speaking on Channels Television’s breakfast programme, The Morning Brief, on Tuesday, Farotimi said that the Nigerian state has consistently demonstrated hostility towards citizens who peacefully demand their rights while showing tolerance to violent actors like bandits and terrorists.

“I think it is easy to elicit the truth when you look at the objective realities. On October 20, 2020, Nigerians were protesting peacefully, waving flags and singing the national anthem. They were murdered in cold blood. That is the response of the Nigerian state to those demanding to be treated as citizens,” he said.

Farotimi noted that the #EndSARS protest was a response to years of brutality by the now-defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), which he described as the “brutal arm” of the Nigerian government in enforcing impunity. He said rather than address citizens’ grievances, the state resorted to violence.

“When you look at the way the same Nigerian state treats bandits, terrorists, and Fulani militia murdering Nigerians in the full glare of everyone, you see complicit silence by the state. The Nigerian state is scared of being subjected to the rule of law and being accountable to its victims,” he said.

Farotimi lamented that the Nigerian state flexes its muscles only against unarmed citizens, while those who bear arms against the country act with impunity. He criticized the government’s continued reintegration of so-called “repentant terrorists,” arguing that those who demand justice are the ones being punished.

“We have the most successful deradicalization programme in the world. We should be exporting it. But in Nigeria, those who demand to be treated decently as human beings governed and protected by law are serially assaulted and murdered,” he stated.

Citing the case of Chinedu Agu, who he said is currently detained in Owerri for criticizing a governor, Farotimi argued that the state punishes dissent rather than crime.

“Those who need to be afraid of the Nigerian state are those demanding to be treated both as citizens and as human beings. But those who go around marauding and killing Nigerians, regardless of their ethnicity or religion, the Nigerian state has no problem with them,” he said.

His comments come as  Human rights activist Omoyele Sowore has accused security operatives of launching an unprovoked attack on peaceful protesters during Monday’s #FreeNnamdiKanu rally in Abuja.

Sowore, who spoke on Monday’s edition of The Morning Brief on Channels Television, alleged that security forces opened fire shortly after the protest began at the front of the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja.

He also confirmed that some individuals were arrested during the incident, including Nnamdi Kanu’s younger brother and his lawyer, who were allegedly beaten before being taken to the Nigeria Police Force FCT Command.

The Force Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, who spoke on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday, said the move was in line with a court order that restricted the protesters from converging around Aso Rock Villa, National Assembly, Force Headquarters, Court of Appeal, Eagle Square, and Shehu Shagari Way.