From SANDY ABAH, Abuja
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has reacted to the invasion of its Abuja office this morning (today, Monday, September 9), by agents of the Department of State Services (DSS), Nigeria’s secret police, urging President Bola Tinubu “to immediately direct the DSS to end the intimidation and harassment and attack against our organization and the threat of arrest against our directors.”
“Some officers from DSS today invaded our Abuja office. A tall, large, dark-skinned woman entered our office, accompanied by a slim, dark-skinned man. Other officers were sighted in two unmarked vehicles stationed outside our office. The officers who interrogated our office staff requested to see our directors,” SERAP stated in a release signed by Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation’s Deputy Director, explaining that “the invasion followed our call on Mr Tinubu and his government to direct the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to immediately reverse the apparently illegal and unconstitutional increase in the pump price of petrol and to ensure the prompt and thorough investigation of alleged corruption and mismanagement in the NNPCL.”
“We condemn the invasion of our Abuja office today by Nigeria’s Department of State Services (DSS). The Tinubu administration must immediately direct the DSS to end the intimidation and harassment of SERAP and our staff members,” Oluwadare said.
Reacting to the development, human rights lawyer and senior advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana also condemned the invasion of SERAP’s office.
“The Tinubu government must urgently fish out the officers who carried out the invasion of SERAP’s office in the name of the government. Anyone found to be responsible for the invasion must be prosecuted. The government must allow human rights defenders to freely carry out their work, consistent with the Nigerian Constitution,” the Senior warned.
Taking serious umbrage at the attack, SERAP said in its statement: “The invasion of SERAP’s office by the DSS and the harassment and intimidation of our staff members is a brutal assault on the entire human rights community in the country.
