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CLO STATEMENT |
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newsdiaryonline.com
Monday May 4,2009 |
A Wake-up Call to Conscience
MAY 1, 2009 PRESS RELEASE
POLICE DISRUPTION OF THE MAY DAY RALLY,
ORGANISED BY THE CLO LAST FRIDAY; AN
ABERRATION AND, A GROSS VIOLATION OF THE
FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHTS OF NIGERIANS AS
ENSHRINED IN THE 1999 CONSTITUTION AND,
THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN
RIGHTS
Last Friday (May Day), the Nigerian
Police and the State Security Service (SSS)
disrupted the Peaceful Rally we put
together to protest the despicable and
shameful condition of the Nigerian
Worker and, in the process, manhandled
and arrested a Channels Television
Camera Man with us (He has since been
released). His offence was that he
filmed the scenario without
authorisation and his Camera was
subsequently seized as a result.
The Peaceful March was meant to raise
national and global consciousness on the
pitiable plight of Nigerian Workers
(Including the Police and Armed Forces
as well as the Informal Sectors of the
Economy who do not have the right to a
Union and thus cannot bargain
collectively).
There is no gainsaying the fact that the
Nigerian Minimum Wage of N5, 500 is very
deplorable and an insult to the
collective psyche of the Nigerian
people. Add to that is the contrasting
developments in collective bargaining
coverage-the Police, Armed Forces and
Workers in the informal economy like we
have highlighted above are not eligible
to bargain collectively. Multinationals
and foreign-owned companies, including
local ones cash in on these lapses to
under-value, under-price and short-sell
the Nigerian worker.
We are of the view that Nigerians can no
longer tolerate these injustices and it
is on this premise that we hinged our
May Day Campaign where we argued that
the Nigerian People deserved at least a
N100, 000 Minimum Wage, as the N52, 000
being agitated for by Organised Labour
is not even a good skirmish against
poverty.
We wanted a situation where we could
depart from the yearly ritual of marking
the May Day in the Stadiums. We believed
that Nigerians needed to take the
struggle non-violently to the Streets
and present our very bodies as a mark of
protest to the national and global
community with the hope that somehow the
conscience of the nation and, of the
International Community will be aroused
to the unbelievable but hard facts that
we face; that somehow, the voices of
dissent could make a difference.
Why do we do it this way? We do it this
way because we know from experience that
the nation does not move around
questions of genuine equality and
justice for the poor unless confronted
massively, dramatically in terms of
non-violent direct action. Freedom is
not voluntarily given by the Oppressor.
It must be demanded by the Oppressed.
This is why we were so amazed by the
attitude of the Nigerian Police
considering the fact that this
particular Campaign even favours them
more since they and the Armed Forces
cannot press for better working
conditions for themselves. What the
Police did on Friday is highly
reprehensible and a contravention of the
provision of our Constitution and the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
which guarantees freedom of peaceful
assembly and association. The Police
could have provided protection to the
Peaceful Rally (If as they claim, they
wanted to prevent hoodlums from
hijacking the March, due to the
so-called intelligent report they
allegedly got); but rather they scared
away the Protesters by their heavy
presence; very early before the March
was scheduled to take place and, then
they went further ahead to muzzle the
few courageous ones left. The argument
by the Police on that too day that we
cannot by law protest on the Streets
except at the Stadiums has no basis as
there is no where in the laws of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria that
stipulates such. They equally have no
right to rely on the strength of the
controversial and obnoxious public order
act (which has been dealt with in the
Courts) to carry out their savagery. We
can no longer endure the excesses of the
Police and the SSS, because the
greatness of any democracy worldwide is
the right to protest for right. We are
not going to let any instrument of
oppression and cruelty turns us around;
we cannot be intimidated.
We also frown seriously at the growing
tendency of the Police to always harass
and molest Journalists and Newsmen who
are simply going about their
constitutional role of upholding the
responsibility and accountability of the
Government to the People. Nigerians must
resist this dangerous course.
The CLO therefore condemns the barbarism
of the Nigerian Police last Friday and,
subsequently declares all forms of
Police viciousness, particularly to the
Media unacceptable to Nigerians. The
unspeakable horrors of Police brutality
inherent in the dark days of Military
dictatorship cannot re-enact in a
democratic setting and, certainly has no
place in the twenty-first century. The
Police and the SSS must forever learn to
conduct their affairs in a disciplined
and orderly manner in line with their
constitutional mandate.
Comrade Eneruvie Enakoko
Chairman
--
Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO),
Lagos 13, Soji Adepegba Close, Off
Allen Ave, Ikeja/Lagos. Tel:
234-1-08033188864, 4939324-5, 7746694.
Fax: 01-4939324, P.O Box 53328, Ikoyi,
Lagos. Email:
clolagosnigeria@gmail.com, clolagos@yahoo.com,
Website: www.clo-ng.org
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