THREAT TO LIFE OVER MY COMMENTS ON EDO STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY CRISIS It will be recalled that few weeks ago, Some prominent civil society leaders in Edo State and I took the initiative to intervene in the almost two-months old Edo State House of Assembly crisis which has almost ground the state economy. Our effort led to a meeting of the two groups at a venue which was made available by the Edo State Police Commissioner. After exhaustive deliberations, discussions and pleas from us, both parties were unable to resolve their differences which we consider a missed opportunity for a peaceful resolution of the crisis. The following week, after this meeting there was serious tension and chaos at the state House of Assembly as both feuding groups started making claims to the leadership of the House. It was at this point, that I David Ugolor, the Executive Director of Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ) decided to call on the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to restructure the security around the King Square and environs to reduce the pains that people were undergoing and also demanded that we should allow the rule of law to guide the resolution of the crisis rather than resorting to rule of force. In the same statement, I also called on the international community to pay attention to the crisis which could affect the fragile peace in the Country. The following week I was invited by a Benin based local TV Station ITV, along with other panelists to discuss the Edo Assembly crisis, where I also shared my concerns and restated the fact that minority cannot legislate for majority and the ongoing trend in Rivers, Edo and other States portend grave danger to our democracy. Immediately after that TV discussion and several of my interviews published in some major newspapers in the country: The Leadership, Daily Independent, Champion and others, I started to receive threat messages from my facebook, calling “APC Activist” and went added that “the last treatment I got when my friend Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde was killed will be used again or preferably a deadly option.” Considering the suspicious movement of some unknown persons around my office in the last few days, I have decided to raise this alarm to call on the Police, DSS and other security agencies in the country to take note of this threat to my life by some yet-to-be- identified persons. I consider this development as a serious threat to freedom of speech and an attempt to permanently stop me from exercising my fundamental human rights to hold opinion on issues that affect my state of domicile and our dear Country. I want to use this medium to appeal to all security agencies to take note as I will now forward the names of those who have in the last few weeks be sending me threat messages on facebook for thorough investigation and let the law take its course on them and their sponsors. Issued and Signed by Rev. David Ugolor, Executive Director, Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice, ANEEJ
Posted on: Mon, 04 Aug 2014 15:39:48 +0000
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