CLO Blasts Jonathan, S'south Governors On Rights Abuses

CLO Blasts Jonathan, S'south Governors On Rights Abuses

FOREMOST human rights and pro-democracy group in Nigeria, Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) says there are still acts of impunity by the armed security forces in the country under the watch of President Goodluck Jonathan. The group also hit at some South-South governors for human rights abuses in their states.

Chairman of the Rivers State branch of the group, Mr. Steve Obodoekwe, told AkanimoReports in an interview on Tuesday in Port Harcourt, that Jonathan has continued with the tradition former President Olusegun Obasanjo left behind.

According to the CLO boss, ''the sacking of Odi, in Bayelsa State by Obasanjo was not only a violation of the right to shelter and of course, the right to existence of a community, but a genocide. Hundreds of people were massacred. Odioma and several other places were also sacked by the federal troops under Obasanjo's watch.

''In 2003, Nigerians suffered a general violation of their rightS to choose their leaders, which is very fundamental to any arrangement that could be referred to as democracy. Election became an avenue for war against the people as leaders were imposed at gun point.

''2007 was a repeat of the flagrant violation of citizens rightS to vote and be voted for among other political rights of a people. Like Obasanjo, The late President Umaru Yar'Adua continued with the violation of the rights of the peoples of the Niger Delta through the use of soldiers to terrorise them.

''Like Odi and Odioma, the Gbaramatu area of Delta State was invaded and sacked by soldiers under the pretext of fighting militants, who, of course, were business associates of those in power. Recently, Jonathan’s soldiers invaded some areas in Delta state, trampling on several aspects of their rights as a people and as individuals''.

Continuing, the CLO said, ''the militarisation of the Niger Delta area has led to violations of several aspects of their rights, including the right to freedom of movement, association and privacy. In Rivers State, thousands of people have been sacked from their shelters and were rendered homeless by the administration of Governor Chibuike Amaechi.

''Many others in Rivers have lost their sources of livelihood due to the demolition of their communities and subsequent forced evictions they suffered. There are cases of illegal detention without trials across the states as innocent people are often arrested en mass and those who could not purchase their freedom end up in detention and sometimes, in prison on trumped up charges''.

The rights group alleged that there are also cases of extra-judicial killings and disappearances in custody in the Niger Delta, the main oil and gas axis of the country.

Adding, the CLO chief said, ''even press freedom is not spared as there are cases of harassment of journalists witnessed in some parts of the South-South zone, notably these states----Akwa Ibom (Governor Godswill Akpabio), Governor Timipre Sylva's Bayelsa, Delta under Emmanuel Uduaghan and Amaechi of Rivers.

''Furthermore, the right to safe and clean environment has continued to be violated unabated in the oil region as a result of oil exploration and production activities. This has impacted negatively on the rights of citizens to health, economic right, right to life, security of human persons and other rights as contained in various human rights instruments''. ENDS

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