The frontline Civil society body-: HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has lamented that the loud body language, actions and inaction of President Muhammadu Buhari since the #ENDSARS protests stopped, show a bellicose and confrontational President who rather than resolve the deep seated issues is bent on ‘revenge’ against protesters.
“President Muhammadu Buhari’s directives to the Central Bank of Nigeria to freeze bank accounts of suspected backers of the nationwide peaceful #ENDSARS demonstrations, their prosecution over trumped up charges, the use of amorphous and cash – and – carry Non – governmental organizations to file court cases against notable national leaders of the organized Civil Rights bodies such as Femi Fulana (SAN) and Musicians for backing the # ENDSARS peaceful protesters and the threat by the President that he will never allow #ENDSSARS protests again in the country shows that all the claims by President Buhari that he is determined to reform the decadent Nigerian Police Force is a ruse and a deception.
The Rights group carpeted the President for failing to do the needful by sacking the non- performing Inspector General of the police Mohammed Adamu and ordering the personnel audits of the Nigerian Police Force to ascertain the exact workforce of the Nigerian Police Force with a view to reposition it for productivity and professionalism. “The Nigerian Government under President Muhammadu Buhari has no political will to reinvent the wheel in the area of applying a holistic and fundamental reforms of the near-moribund Nigeria Police Force. The President is so used to the old order and is not in any way disposed or willing to bring about the required changes to overhaul the Police in line with best global practices”.
In a statement by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director, Miss Zainab Yusuf, the Rights group said the President has shown that he wants to deal with as many as possible the notable Nigerians who backed the national movement calling for an end to police brutality, torture and extra judicial executions even as the Rights Advocacy group HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) is of the view that President Muhammadu Buhari has the mistaken but deliberately couched narrative and impression that the nation-wide anti Police brutality protests were attempts to delegitimize or achieve a regime change to sweep him away from office. This is the reason the Central government has been waging a war of attrition against the organisers of the #ENDSARS PROTESTS and the choreographed antagonistic attacks targeting these prominent Civil Rights Advocacy leaders who backed the just ended #ENDSARS PROTESTS.
HURIWA condemned the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu for his show of incompetence and for wasting public resources to engage in wasteful superiority battles even when it is clear that the Nigerian Police Force under him has become increasingly unprofessional and grossly indiscipline.
“It is a shame that rather than tender his resignation for failing to show quality leadership, the inspector general of police is busy engaging in verbal warfare with a retired military General over whether he was still in charge or not by asserting that he is in firm control of the Nigeria Police Force, saying that those who accused him of losing control of NPF are ignorant. He said this in a press statement titled ‘Workings of the NPF: IGP is in firm control’ on Tuesday.Adamu was reacting to a comment made by a retired army general, Garba Wahab, who said, “the IGP May be sitting in Abuja with the paraphernalia of office, but he has lost the control of the police force.”
HURIWA said it is evident indeed that the Inspector General of Police Mohammed Adamu has lost his bearing just as the Rights Advocacy group HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint a competent senior officer as the next Inspector General of Police to try to carry out some major reforms of the near moribund Nigeria Police Force.