A collective of private citizens, representatives of human rights and civil society organisations, Concerned Abuja Residents, has said they are alarmed that their official notification to the FCT Police Command, informing them of the proposed march to the FCT Minister’s office, has been rejected twice.
According to a statement b the coalition, “the march, intended to bring awareness to and seek an immediate end to the violence that women in Abuja face in the hands of members of the task force of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board and law enforcement agencies, is in enforcement of our human and constitutional rights to assemble.”
Giving some insight into their travails, the coalition’s statement released Thursday said, “ Representatives of the group hand delivered the letter and it was rejected at the registry on instructions of the Assistant Commissioner of Police. The letter was then sent through a courier agency, and it was rejected again, asking for a meeting with the conveners of the march before it would be acknowledged.
They added, “We seek to remind the Police that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria empowers citizens to gather, and to assemble; there are several court judgments attesting to this.
The group therefore called “on all Abuja residents to come out in their numbers tomorrow to call for the end of impunity of raids and molestation of women, end violence against women, and end the racket of extortion and calumny in Abuja and the rest of the country.”
