Buhari’s broadcast is dictatorial, undemocratic, says HURIWA

• Urges protesters to restrategise to press home their demands

THE Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has described yesterday’s national broadcast of President Muhammadu Buhari as not soothing enough, saying the broadcast amounted to open threats to the aggrieved members of the youthful public and sounded dictatorial and undemocratic.  

HURIWA expressed consternation that the President failed to announce the formation of judicial commissions of investigations into the killings by disbanded SARS to work with the various commissions instituted by state governments.

The Rights group said President Buhari has no respect for the independence of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), which is why for four years he failed to set up the governing board of the commission and has also failed to name the board during his speech to a nation waiting for some soothing and constructively reassuring words. It added that the President, instead opted to behave like a tyrant.  

In a statement released late yesterday, in Abuja by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, the Rights group, however, asked the genuine protesters to adopt plan-B to beat the government to its game, and the various armed hoodlums hired by some officials to infiltrate them. 

HURIWA also expressed consternation that the president failed to address insufficient length the all-important issue of the failure of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu to effectively fish out the indicted members of the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) for onward judicial reprimand and sanctions.

According to the group, Nigerians expected that some persons heading the armed security forces such as the IGP is relieved of his duty, instead the President wasted the precious time of millions of Nigerians who paused to watch his broadcast with empty rhetorical political propaganda of programmes his government has purportedly earmarked for execution.

HURIWA regretted that President Buhari disappointed Nigerians by not stressing the shooting and killings that took place at the Lekki tollgate on the Lekki-Epe expressway, which are blamed on the activities of some rogue armed military operatives, which Amnesty International confirmed that a dozen youngsters were gunned down by the military operatives, rather the President was more concerned about the assets of politicians purportedly attacked by some hoodlums. 

“President Muhammadu Buhari showed pure cruelty and a total disconnect between him and the realities of the bottled up righteous indignation and national outrage that have boiled over on to the streets since nearly a month. 

“We ask the protesters to suspend their actions and re-strategize because from his body language it means this unsympathetic government won’t mind wasting more precious lives under some nebulous ground that those killed violated or threatened national security,” the group said in the statement.

HURIWA also carpeted the President for threatening Nigerians in the following paragraphs of his broadcast

“With all due respect, the aforementioned paragraphs of the National broadcast of President Muhammadu Buhari constitute egregious errors of judgment because the President Muhammadu Buhari sounded more like an aggrieved military dictator than a benevolent civilian President whose primary duty is to provide security of lives and properties of Nigerians which he has failed to keep to since coming to the office. 

“Does it mean that President Muhammadu Buhari does not know that the reason why SARS killed many innocent people in Nigeria and especially the youths is because of the failure of police leadership? 

“Why is the IGP still being kept in office? Why is the Police Service Commission still being kept in office as if they are working? This speech of President Muhammadu Buhari is a tragicomedy and indeed deeply disturbing as it is so unintelligent and virtually empty. His speech was annoyingly watery, provocative, and absolutely devoid of serious messages,” HURIWA stated.