Civil society group, Global Rights has asked the Nigerian government to desist from aggravating protesters and respect the rights of citizens to peacefully express themselves.
The group also called on protesters to be law abiding.
Thousands of youth in the West African nation are in the seventh day of a nationwide protests that have claimed lives, while many in their hundreds have been arrested.
Global Rights Executive Director, Abiodun Baiyewu said the group will continue to restate its stance because of its concern that the #EndBadGovernance protests which have swept the country since the 1st of August will continue to occasion a plethora of human rights violations and abuses.
The group said its core concern is the overzealousness of some Nigerian law enforcement agents who unlawfully arrest and intimidate peaceful protesters, intimidating protesters with disproportionate force.
“They have continued to deploy teargas and live ammunition to disperse protesters in Lagos, Abuja, Akwa Ibom, Kano and Nasarawa States. The use of these dangerous ammunition than non-lethal weapons to disperse protesters, is highly condemnable and out of step with International human rights standards, the group said.
It called for lethal force which it said “must always be an instrument of last resort when other tools of de-escalation have failed”.
Global Rights further said the focus of law enforcement and security agents during peaceful protests should be to protect the protesters, while exercising their constitutional rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. “It is unconscionable for them to stand idly by while thugs threaten protesters and journalists who are covering the protests”.
The group equally raised concerns about the #EndBadGovernance protests being used as an avenue for hate speeches and said that it observed the vitriol against certain ethnicities, particularly, the Igbos who were threatened against participating in the protests in Lagos State, solely on the grounds of their ethnicity.
Hashtag #SendIgbosHome has gone viral, particularly on X (formerly Twitter).
“This divisive hashtag reechoes the ethnic profiling and hate speech that were propagated in Lagos around the 2019 and 2023 general elections. This sort of divisive and hateful rhetoric is a threat to the social cohesion of the entire country, Global Rights said.
“Relying on S45(1) (a) and (b) which limit the freedom of expression in the interest of public safety and order, and Section 24 (1) (b) of the The Cybercrime Act, 2015; we call on law enforcement agents to investigate and apprehend the purveyors of this internet access of Nigerian citizens as a countermeasure against the protests.
“The antecedents of the Nigerian Government gives no credibility on this issue, especially considering the Twitter ban in 2021 which still serves as a landmark moment in its plans to restrict freedom of expression and information in Nigeria.
“Consequently, we ask the Nigerian government to cease and desist from hindering internet access across the country. We reiterate that their focus should be on addressing the underlying issues of insecurity and inflation currently underpinning the protests.
“On our part, Global Rights remains committed to promoting citizens’ rights to participate in their own governance and their right to dissent. We sue all parties to engage peacefully and respectfully as we continue to monitor the current protests while demanding accountability of all involved”, the rights group concluded.