In his inaugural address yesterday to Nigerians, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu said: “Our administration shall govern on your behalf but never rule over you. We shall consult and dialogue but never dictate. We shall reach out to all but never put down a single person for holding views contrary to our own.”
President Tinubu should put his words into action by not wasting another minute deliberating whether prisoners of conscience are a danger to Nigeria. The famous individuals detained or imprisoned for peacefully exercising their human rights are Chief Sunday Adeyemo Igboho, Dr. Banji Akintoye, Omoyele Sowore, Nnamdi Kanu, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky and his wife. There are also many others in the same situation.
They are prisoners for their political or religious activities. They opposed or criticized the Buhari administration. These alleged “criminals’ had peacefully campaigned for political, social, and economic changes in the country. They spoke out against human rights violations. They worked towards greater equality within our society. They refused to keep quiet in the face of tyranny and oppression. It is imperative for Tinubu to release them today for the following reasons:
1. The detention violates basic guarantees in our constitution and United Nations Human Rights Charter, particularly freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, freedom of expression and information; and freedom of assembly and association.
2. The detention is imposed for purely political reasons.
3. The length or conditions of detention are out of proportion to the offense.
4. They are detained in a discriminatory manner as compared to other persons.
5. The detention is the result of judicial proceedings that are clearly unfair and connected with the political motives of the Buhari administration.
Yet, former President Muhammadu Buhari imprisoned and tortured them because of their views, who they are, what they believe or how they have chosen to independently express their convictions. The crimes which the Buhari administration accused these prisoners of conscience or have been convicted of, should not be crimes at all. By imprisoning or detaining these people, the government restricts the flow of information, narrows the space for independent civil society, diminishes the power of the prisoners of conscience to express their views and prevents challenges to Buhari’s authoritarian regime.
Bloggers, community activists, dissidents, journalists, human rights activists, lawyers, and religious leaders are among the prisoners of conscience wasting away in DSS dungeons and prisons in the country. As part of Tinubu’s “renewed hope” for Nigeria, Tinubu must release innocent prisoners of conscience immediately.