Udenta to police: Peaceful protests on inauguration should be allowed

Udenta Udenta, founding national secretary of Alliance for Democracy (AD), says security agencies must not stop any citizen from protesting on May 29 during the inauguration.

Udenta spoke on Thursday at the public presentation of a book titled “Media and Nigeria’s Constitutional Democracy: Threats, Constraints and Resilience” organised by the Abuja School of Social and Political Thought.

He said stopping aggrieved Nigerians from protesting on May 29 is against the constitution and a violation of fundamental human rights.

“In two or three days times, there will be an inauguration. The inspector-general of police is already speaking, the director-general, of the Department of State Service (DSS), is speaking, the military is also speaking,” he said.

“However, my sense of it is that they are shutting down democratic conversation and we should not allow that. While you’re going to swear people in, you should equally allow those that want to protest to do that peacefully, legitimately constitutionally.

“If you have your security perimeter, within which you don’t expect anybody except invited guests and those with clearance, outside the perimeter,  thousands if possible millions of Nigerians are permitted to gather with their placards and protest. That is part of democracy.

Udenta also spoke about the various clampdowns the media industry has experienced under the current administration.

“The media is a fundamental cadre for protecting democratic infrastructure and governance. The moment you tear it down, democracy vanishes, and authoritarianism becomes the order of the day,” he said.

“The behaviour of the National Broadcasting Commission, and even the behaviour of the president-elect media team is abhorrent at this stage, that’s why I want to repeat, as people will be sworn in on May 29, millions of Nigerians have rights to protests wherever they are as long as they don’t have arms and are doing it peacefully, as the law provides.

“The media should cover any protest robustly with intensity, like the way they will cover the swearing-in. So whoever wants to protest or have a counter-protest can do that within their rights.

“I feel hurt when I hear people who handle the security talk with so much anger as if people are going to topple the democratic system which is not going to happen. The right to protest is provided for in law.”

While speaking, Usman Baba Alkali, the inspector general of police (IGP) cautioned journalists against spreading fake news and hate speeches.

The IGP said the police were for the inauguration ceremony, adding that the traffic advisory for Abuja would soon be issued.

Represented by Olumuyiwa Adejobi, the Force spokesperson, Alkali said journalists need to always fact-check their stories before publishing while adhering to journalism ethics in their reportage.

“We should be mindful of the excessiveness of our reportage and engage in constructive criticism,” he stated.

The book was co-authored by Paul Obi, Taye Obateru and Sam Amadi and reviewed by Abiodun Adeniyi, a communication consultant and deputy dean of the School of Postgraduate Studies, Baze University, Abuja.

The book was launched by Bala Mohammed, governor of Bauchi.