ADC Accuses Police Of Treating Opposition Members Like Criminals

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has lamented what it described as the criminalisation of opposition party members by the Nigerian police.

The party’s reaction is coming on the heels of Saturday’s roughening up of some ADC members by personnel of the Kaduna State police command.

A statement on Sunday by the spokesman of the ADC, Bolaji Abdullahi, deplored how the police watched as armed thugs attacked some ADC members at the venue of the inauguration without any intervention.

The spokesman knocked the police authorities for what he viewed as attempts to criminalise legitimate political activity and failing to protect law-abiding citizens.

Abdullahi insisted that the Kaduna venue of the inauguration was duly pre-booked, wondering why security agencies are being used to intimidate the opposition.

The statement said, “When the Kaduna State Police Command issued its press release on the unfortunate disruption of the ADC meeting in Kaduna State, where our party leaders and members were attacked by armed thugs, we expected reassurance that justice would be done and that those responsible for the violence would be held to account.

“Instead, what we read was a troubling attempt to criminalise legitimate political activity, prejudge individuals, and cast the opposition in the light of lawlessness.

First, the police statement rushed to link the ADC to ‘political gangsters’ even while stating that it has commenced an extensive investigation into the alleged political violence. T

“This contradiction exposes the statement as more political than professional. Investigations should establish facts before conclusions are drawn; when police act as judge and jury, it undermines both justice and democracy.

“Second, the claim by the Kaduna police that our gathering was ‘unauthorised’ is dangerously presumptuous. In a democracy, the right to assemble peacefully is guaranteed by the Constitution, not a State Police Command.

“A police notification is a matter of procedure and often courtesy, not a licence to exercise a right that has been granted by the Constitution. To suggest otherwise is to turn citizens’ freedoms into privileges at the mercy of the state.

“Third, the threat that hotels and event centres will be ‘held liable’ if they host political meetings without police approval is equally ludicrous. It amounts to intimidation of private citizens and businesses, effectively denying opposition parties access to spaces for lawful activity.

“No democracy thrives where access to public or private venues is determined by the whims of security agencies under any guise.

“Finally, the blanket suspension of ‘unauthorised gatherings’ as declared by the Kaduna police command in its statement is a clear overreach.

“Security agencies are to protect lawful assemblies, not proscribe them. To arrogate to themselves the power to decide which political meetings may be held is to hand the police veto authority over democracy itself.”

The ADC rejected attempts by the Kaduna State Police Command to drag its name into acts of violence, which it said its members neither organised nor condoned.

Continuing, the party said, “Our party remains committed to peaceful, issue-based politics. We therefore demand that the Kaduna State Police Command immediately revisit its statement, conduct a transparent investigation, and explain why its officers allegedly abandoned their duty when our leaders and members came under attack.

“Democracy is not a crime. Selective policing is. Still, we in the ADC will not be intimidated into silence. We also call on all citizens to reject the growing acts of violence and intimidation against opposition parties by the ruling APC at all levels.”

ADC Accuses Police Of Treating Opposition Members Like Criminals is first published on The Whistler Newspaper