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Northern Group Writes Amnesty International, Seeks Help Over Clampdown On Protest Organisers In Northern Nigeria

December 17, 2021

Amnesty International revealed that security operatives such as the Department of State Services (DSS) and the police have been arresting protesters in places like Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Bauchi, Gombe and Zaria.

Global advocacy group, Amnesty International said it received a petition from one Northern Alliance Group in which its attention was called to the clampdown on peaceful protesters across Northern Nigerian states.
Amnesty International revealed that security operatives such as the Department of State Services (DSS) and the police have been arresting protesters in places like Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Bauchi, Gombe and Zaria.

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"Today, an advocacy group, Northern Alliance Group presented a petition to Amnesty International over the wanton arrest of organisers of protests across northern states; to bring attention to the clampdown on peaceful protesters by the DSS and the police, in Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Bauchi, Gombe and Zaria," Amnesty Internationa, the global group said.
The #NorthIsBleeding protests that recently hit the northern region have been organised to demand an end to killings, Kidnappings and other forms of insecurity in the North under the Muhammadu Buhari regime.
During these protests, policemen harassed and brutalised some of the protesters and arrested some of them.
Some Nigerians have also taken to Twitter, a microblogging and social networking service, to demand Buhari’s resignation over his failure to combat increasing insecurity in the region.
They have, among other things, condemned Buhari’s visit to Lagos State for the book launch of a political ally a few days after bandits killed at least 23 travellers in Sokoto State.
The protests had been held in Kano, and a few other northern states before spreading to the FCT.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International has also kicked against the plan by the government to shut down Internally Displaced Persons' (IDP) camps in the northern states.
It noted further that if the move is finally executed, about 10,000 households would be put at risk, adding that forceful removal of the displaced persons would be interpreted as a deviation of the Nigerian government from its constitutional duties.
It stated, "Plans to close IDP camps in Maiduguri could endanger lives. 
More than 10,000 households are at risk. Returning displaced persons forcibly to villages that are not safe would be in violation of the Nigerian government’s responsibility of protecting the right to life of civilians."

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Human Rights