…Demands Wikes’s retraction of threat against Odinkalu
Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
Civil Rights Organization, Socio-Economic Rights And Accountability Project, SERAP, has told President Bola Tinubu, to call the Minister for the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Mr Nyesom Wike, to order.
This is as SERAP has also issued an ultimatum to the FCT Minister, to immediately withdraw his threat to report former Human Rights Commission boss, Professor Chidi Odinkalu, to the Body of Benchers for criticising a Supreme Court judge sighted at a close rage with Wike at an invent in Cross River State.
SERAP accused Wike of suppressing freedom of speech.
The CSO in a post on its X handle on Tuesday, described Wikes’s threat as an affront to the independence of justice system.
The post read: “Mr Nyesom Wike, Minister of the FCT must immediately withdraw his apparently politically motivated reported call to Nigeria’s Body of Benchers to ‘invite and discipline’ human rights lawyer Chidi Odinkalu solely for the peaceful exercise of his human rights.
“We urge President Tinubu to call Mr Wike to order and instruct him to end the intimidation and harassment of Mr Odinkalu simply for exercising his human rights.
“Mr Wike’s call is an affront to the independence of the administration of justice and the rule of law. The call is illustrative of a broader pattern of harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders, activists, journalists and bloggers in the country.
“The Tinubu administration should ensure that all lawyers in Nigeria are able to exercise their human rights and carry out their professional duties without fear of reprisal, hindrance, intimidation or harassment.
“The UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers imposes clear obligations on the Nigerian authorities to ensure that lawyers are able to carry out their professional functions safely and free from intimidation, improper interference, or fear of reprisals, and that they shall not suffer, or be threatened with, sanctions for actions taken in accordance with professional duties, standards, or ethics.
“Lawyers, like other individuals, enjoy the rights to freedom of expression, belief, association, and assembly under the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended] and international human rights law, and are entitled to exercise these rights without suffering professional restrictions by reason of their lawful action.”
