Harassment and victimisation of #ENDSARS protesters

Nigeria freezes bank account of protesters and drag celebrities to court.

Lagos, Nigeria – Nigerian celebrities, including the Senior Pastor of Daystar Christian Centre, Sam Adeyemi, singer Davido and Burna Boy have been dragged to court over their involvement in the EndSARS protests, as politicians and people in authority look for scapegoats rather than resolving the issues raised during the protest.

The long list of celebrities accused of inciting violence and causing destruction of properties includes Comedian Folarin Falana, popularly known as Falz; Afropop singer, Yemi Alade; Socio-political activist and co-convener of the Bring Back Our Girls Movement, Aisha Yesufu; Human right activist, Deji Adeyanju, among others.

The legal action was taken against the people supposedly behind the #ENDSARS by Kenechukwu Okeke.

According to the case filed at the High Court in Abuja by Okeke, the defendants were accused of using their Twitter accounts to conspire amongst themselves to “commit misdemeanours, promoting or acting in such a manner with the intent to assist in the promotion of an unlawful assembly under the guise or composition of #EndSARS”.

Okeke claimed that they had committed an offence punishable under Section 97 (2) of the Penal Code Act, C53 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

Although the Nigerian government has promised to implement the demands of the protesters, many believe that someone or people in authority may want to teach the event organisers a lesson by dragging them to court with Okeke as the stooge.

In addition to the legal action, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) filed a motion at the Federal High Court in Abuja to freeze the accounts of 19 individuals and a public relations company linked to the #EndSARS protests.

On November 6, Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court granted the request and froze the bank account belonging to individuals and companies linked to the civil right movement.

According to CBN, the accounts are linked to terrorist activities, adding that there is an ‘urgent need’ to investigate the account holders.

The protest against police brutality and the misdemeanours of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) attracted attention from across the globe, and caused a lot of embarrassments to the government, the King of Lagos, and political godfathers such as Bola Tinubu. But, Okeke seems to be the one ‘chosen’ to file a criminal suit at the High Court against 50 persons who were not directly involved with the protest.

Okeke claimed that the peaceful demonstrations by young people, which spread to many cities in the country was an act by the accused persons to incite violence through fake news.

In addition, some ‘Non-Governmental Organisations’ have also started making strange allegations against the campaigners for human rights in Nigeria.

The Global Amnesty Watch, GAW, and some rights groups claimed that some Nigerian celebrities and international Non-Governmental Organisations, NGOs, incited violence through fake news.

In Lagos, a memorandum was sent by GAW to the State Judicial Panel of Inquiry and Restitution naming popular singer Falz, DJ Switch, Feminist Coalition, Burna Boy, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey and others for spreading fake news and instigating violence in the country.

The rights groups in Lagos State led by GAW are seeking retribution against the celebrities who they claimed misinformed Nigerians and led the country to a “near-breakdown of law and order” through the vehicle of the #EndSARS movement.

The memorandum was signed by Abdulmalik Alfa, Werigbelegha Zinake, Linda Etafia, and Sadiq Abdullahi on behalf of International Human Rights Protection Forum (IHRPF), Centre for Human Rights Advancement in Nigeria (CHRAN), Global Integrity Crusade Network (GICN) and Make Nigeria Better Initiative (MNBI).

While #EndSARS protest was a youth movement without a leadership structure, authorities in the country seem to want to link some people and make them scapegoats for canvassing for a positive change in the country.