The Presidency, on Wednesday, hit back at the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project and asked it to cease its “divisive, irresponsible and bare-faced publicity stunts.”
This is as it challenged SERAP to follow through on its latest “spurious” legal claim in a Nigerian court of law and to challenge the government publicly, legally and transparently, while revealing itself and who was funding it.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, stated this in a piece titled, ‘SERAP should stop the publicity stunt and render its own accountability’.
The piece is in reaction to lawsuits that SERAP has filed against the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on several matters, the most prominent of which is violation of human rights.
The most recent of such lawsuits was instituted on Friday, November 26, 2021, in which the advocacy group asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to “direct and compel President Muhammadu Buhari to take immediate steps to ensure the arrest of soldiers and police officers indicted by the Lagos #EndSARS panel’s report for the shooting of peaceful protesters at the Lekki tollgate, and police brutality cases.”
In its response, the Presidency said, “To date, SERAP has announced on repeated occasions – each time via a well-funded media campaign – that it is suing the government or the President over a range of issues from alleged human rights abuses to alleged corruption. To date, SERAP has not taken their retinue of legal actions to a logical conclusion. They don’t follow through.
“Yet these headline-grabbing publicity stunts, however, baseless, succeed in painting an inaccurate picture of life and governance in Nigeria and – more seriously – in sowing division amongst the Nigerian people during a time of heightened global economic volatility and hardship.”
Shehu said Nigeria’s record as “Africa’s leading democracy” and largest economy speaks for itself, adding, “Nigeria is amongst the top five countries in Africa for quality of life, and our ranking in the Human Development Index has steadily risen for a decade.”
He added, “Indeed, it is a fact that independent non-governmental organisations can thrive there, especially those that seek accountability from the government.
“Put simply, here lies SERAP’s paradox: in a country without human rights, no rule of law, limited freedom of expression and weak democratic institutions, the cases and cacophony that SERAP causes – even the organisation itself – simply would not be permitted.”
The Presidency, therefore, called on SERAP to cease “its divisive, irresponsible and bare-faced publicity stunts and instead to follow through on its latest spurious legal claim in a Nigerian court of law.”
“Let them challenge the government publicly, legally and transparently. And while they do so, let them reveal in full view of the nation who they are, and who is funding them,” it added.
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