Some operatives of the Department of State Service (DSS), Nigeria’s secret service agency, have arrived at the Abuja office of the Socio-Economic Rights Accountability Project (SERAP) looking to arrest its directors.
This comes a day after SERAP urged President Bola Tinubu to “direct the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to immediately reverse the apparently illegal and unconstitutional increase in the pump price” of petrol.
SERAP is a renowned civil society organisation dedicated to public accountability and democratic freedoms. On its social media accounts yesterday, It posted: “BREAKING: Officers from Nigeria’s State Security Service (SSS) are presently unlawfully occupying SERAP’s office in Abuja, asking to see our directors.President Tinubu must immediately direct the SSS to end the harassment, intimidation and attack on the rights of Nigerians”.
This situation, according to observers, adds to the increasing threat against civic rights under Tinubu’s government.
Amnesty International Nigeria responded to the DSS’ move by cautioning that Tinubu “is going too far” suppressing dissenting voices since his assumption of power.
The siege on SERAP’s office coincides with NLC President Joe Ajaero’s arrest at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport in Abuja. The DSS detained Ajaero who was on his way to the United Kingdom on Monday.
Nigeria’s police abducted FIJ’s Daniel Ojukwu in May. The Nigeria Police Force National Cyber Crime Centre (NPF-NCCC) kept Ojukwu in custody for nine days over a report report on malfeasance in government.
The NPF-NCCC also invited Fisayo Soyombo, FIJ’s founder, for questioning over the same story in August.
