ERC had asserted that the loan scheme had not worked anywhere else, noting that it would only transform public education into a business and students into its customers.
The Education Rights Campaign (ERC) has condemned the Department of State Services over the continued infiltration of its activities.
The group in a press statement by Gideon Adeyeni, Its National Spokesperson mentioned that the DSS had engaged in active surveillance of the ERC and that the group’s activities were regularly infiltrated by its operatives posing as activists.
Recall that the group has been a major critic of the President Bola Tinubu-led government loan scheme which it described as a scam.
ERC had asserted that the loan scheme had not worked anywhere else, noting that it would only transform public education into a business and students into its customers.
Hence, the DSS had also invited the national coordinator of the Education Right Campaign (ERC), Hassan Taiwo Soweto, for holding a programme highlighting their stand on the loan scheme.
The group statement went on to say that the general public should be aware that if any act of violence is recorded at their meeting or office, the DSS agents will be held accountable.
The statement reads in full: “On Thursday 14 December 2023, a day after the unveiling of our new pamphlet “Ten Reasons why Tinubu’s Students Loan is a Scam”, operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS), the secret police of the Nigerian state, reached out via a phone call to comrade Hassan Taiwo Soweto, the National Coordinator of the Education Rights Campaign (ERC) inviting him to a “parley”. A certain Paul Okilo who initiated the phone call and presented himself as the Director of the DSS, Ikeja Local Government, made it clear during the conversation that the invitation is connected to the ERC’s ongoing campaign against President Tinubu’s Students Loan and the general anti-poor education policies of the administration.
“Having said the above, we note with great concern the revelation made by Okilo during the phone conversation that the DSS is engaged in active surveillance of the ERC and that our activities are regularly infiltrated by its operatives posing as activists. According to Okilo, the latest of such a surveillance operation was at the media event held on December 13, 2023 at the International Press Centre (IPC) Ogba Lagos where we unveiled our pamphlet which exposes Tinubu’s Student Loan policy as a scam.
“Since this revelation, we have carried out internal investigation and reviewed videos and pictures of several public meetings that we have held during which we have uncovered several instances of surveillance and infiltration of our meetings by the DSS. For instance, our investigation revealed that DSS operatives had embedded themselves into nearly all our public meetings and media conferences since July of this year when we launched our campaign against the Students Loan Act.
“The agents infiltrate these meetings by presenting themselves as journalists and in more than two instances, a DSS operative infiltrated our meetings by impersonating the Take it Back (TIB) - a movement led by African Action Congress (AAC) Presidential candidate and activist, Omoyele Sowore, who has been under state persecution for over 5 years now. We immediately sent his pictures to leaders of the TIB who claim that not only is he not a member but that they actually know the individual to be a DSS operative. Further investigation revealed that this individual had also infiltrated meetings of other left groups and coalitions including the Joint Action Front (JAF) and public meetings of the UNILAG Students solidarity group.
“As far as we are concerned, these actions of the DSS are entirely uncalled for and unethical especially after over two decades of a hard-won civil rule. For the information of the DSS, the ERC is not a terrorist organisation. We are a body of activists openly organizing and campaigning to ensure that students from poor homes are able to have access to quality education. Our activities are conducted openly and in orderly manner and our opposition to any government policies are based on facts and evidence. Protests and demonstrations which we regularly call for are covered by relevant sections of Nigeria’s constitution which guarantee to all Nigerians the right to freedom of assembly and expression.
“On the basis of the foregoing, we must express our unequivocal displeasure at the unwarranted surveillance of our organisation by the DSS and warn against any plan to harass our members or disrupt our meetings. We are equally concerned about the motive of the DSS and its operatives when they infiltrate our meetings. We have no way of knowing what any of its clandestine operatives bring with them into our meetings and whether they act as agent provocateurs. We therefore urge members of the public to hold the DSS and the Nigerian state responsible should any act of violence occur at any of our public or internal meetings as well as the premises of our office.
“A responsible democratic government would have taken a careful look at the propositions made by our organisation with a view to meeting them. But the government in its usual manner has instead subjected our activities to criminal surveillance. We have no doubt that the invitation of our National Coordinator, Hassan Soweto, for a “parley”. is an attempt to intimidate us and gag our voice. We shall not be intimidated by the DSS invitation and increasing state repression of democratic rights in Nigeria. Rather we shall continue to organise and mobilise Nigerian students and education workers against the anti-poor and pro-rich educational policies of the government.”