Civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has expressed disappointment and consternation at the declining respect for the fundamental human rights of citizens and the fast shrinking civic spaces in Nigeria under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

HURIWA said the new year of 2021 may be the toughest one for independent minded opinion moulders and activists in the country.

HURIWA also expressed fears and anxieties that the declining state of governance in the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory would push millions of Nigerians into absolute state of poverty even as youth unemployment, persistent strikes in tertiary educational institutions, armed violent cult groups, lack of respect to child rights will worsen the standards of living of over 150 million Nigerians and lead to a spike in violent crimes with blood cuddling consequences.

HURIWA stated that millions of frustrated youngsters will take the inevitable risks of embarking on illegal and irregular migration to foreign lands just to beat the widening spectre of violence, anarchy and collapse of law and order in Nigeria in the year 2021.

“Terrorists will also expand the frontier of attacks on soft targets because of the non-availability of sustainable counter terror measures to deal with the armed Islamists who had in the Christmas season increased the rate of attacks targeting Christian minorities in North East and North West region,” the rights group speculated.

In its new year message, HURIWA said there are ominous signs that there could be a deliberate activation by the Federal Government of some sets of anti-people policies that may be targeted at abridging the constitutionally guaranteed fundamental freedoms of the citizens such as the rights to civil liberty, freedoms of movement and association and, 'most importantly, the possibility of a renewed resolve by this government to curb the freedom of expression and speech.

“The clear failure of President Buhari to halt the wave of terrorism and insecurity in Nigeria,” HURIWA noted, “would in 2021 compel Nigerians to demonstrate and this will be greeted with violent crackdown by an intolerant government that had in the past deployed armed security forces to forcefully kill peaceful protesters.”

In a media statement signed by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, and National Media Affairs Director, Ms Zainab Yusuf, HURIWA said that there are an abundant of supporting facts to show that the President Buhari-led administration will in 2021 seek to further tighten the noose around the determination of social critics and human rights activists to speak out loud and clear against the rise in the violent abuses of the constitutionally protected and guaranteed fundamental freedoms of the citizens.

HURIWA said President Buhari encourages his loyalists and followers to verbally attack civil rights activists only for expressing their own opinions on some notorious and toxic policies of his government that offend the norms and practices allowed under constitutional democracy.

"From available empirical evidence, this Federal Government does not tolerate divergent thinking and opinions and to make matters worse, it is in the habitual pastime of motivating and encouraging mushroom platforms set up by highly subjective and partisan religious and ethnic bigots to go all out to attack voices of dissent to the policies of the administration.

“As we have seen such groups like the Moslem Rights Concern (MURIC) that was recently allegedly indicted by a top Chadian Intelligence Chief of funding the Boko Haram terrorists, these are the kinds of groups that lack credibility that President Buhari is encouraging to continue to attack such eminent patriots such as the Bishop of Sokoto Diocese of the Catholic Church, Rt Rev Mathew Hassan Kukah, only because the Reverend gentleman exercised his constitutional rights of fundamental freedoms by critiquing the policies of Buhari’s government that consistently offends the federal character principles of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria such as the government’s one-sided appointments of only Fulani/Hausa/Kanuri Moslems into strategic national and internal security architectures.

“It is clear that with less than two years before Buhari retires into his palatial mansion in Daura, Katsina State, this government will deal decisively with activists who will speak out against such evil and outrageous policies like deployment of Nigerian commonwealth to develop infrastructures in Niger Republic upgraded fantastically with tax payers money.

“This government that is notorious for mind-boggling crimes of corruption in the Federal Ministries of Petroleum, Power, Works and Housing, amongst others, will show more resistance to the continuous voicing of dissenting voices against any of the policies of President Buhari.

“So, we are urging all activists to remain resolute and principled even as we are to brace up to the inevitable risks of forced disappearance, armed abductions and imprisonment only for exercising their legal rights to fundamental human rights of Citizens as safeguarded by the Grund Norm of Nigeria.

“Sadly, the National Assembly is a rubber stamp contraption of the Executive arm of government just as the Judiciary has already been bought over with the installation of a misfit as the Chief Justice of Nigeria through the illegality of an interim injunction of the Code of Conduct Tribunal domiciled within the Executive arm of government.”

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