Civil rights advocacy group, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has condemned unreservedly the speech by President Muhammadu Buhari ordering an indefinite lockdown of Nigeria in a bid to contain the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic in the country.

The rights group said the indefinite shut down and the rigid language adopted by the President in passing the information through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity shows that there are still some vestiges of military dictatorial hangover surrounding the running of governmental affairs by the President.

As a former military dictator, the group said, “the President has decided to cut himself away and hide in the cocoon of the fortified mansion away from the Nigerian people and is only appearing like a village masquerade during annual yam festivals which is a sign of a clear failure of charismatic leadership which we need in these times of health emergency.”

HURIWA accused the federal government of betraying poor Nigerians by failing to give them any palliatives in the real sense of it like what is obtainable in Australia whereby each citizen is paid $700 weekly.

It also accused the President and his political task force on COVID-19 pandemic headed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, of merely coping and pasting the measures put in place by many civilized and highly sophisticated nations of the West which have clearly made transparent and accountable provisions of reliefs and palliatives for their citizens including a range of systematic economic recovery and growth plans for the medium and small businesses that are affected by the prolonged lockdown.

There is no justification or any scientific evidence, HURIWA said, to provide a balanced and rationally objective reasons for the indefinite lockdown by the Federal Government dubiously and dishonestly coping the policies put in place by such advanced societies like the United States of America or United Kingdom when it is so clear that it has failed to disclose scientifically to Nigerians the immediate, short and long term strategies and actionable templates that it is implementing to effectively and efficiently contain the spread of the pandemic in Nigeria.

According to the rights group, “It is highly unscientific for President Buhari to shut down the country on the nebulous ground that our economic and social life can only be restarted at the whims and caprices of some persons he whimsically identified as his scientists who are about the only Nigerians living ostentatiously off the financial resources of the nation whilst millions of disadvantaged people are wallowing in dreadful and an unmitigated economic disaster due to the uncertainties of the ongoing lockdown in Nigeria.”

HURIWA also faulted what it called “the blindfolded and totally incomprehensible decision of President Buhari to lockdown the nation in an indefinite mode given that even the World Health Organization (WHO) clearly stated that there are certain categories of people that are more predisposed to the COVID-19 ailment when the its Director General said ‘If you are 60+, or have an underlying condition like cardiovascular disease, a respiratory condition or diabetes, you have a higher risk of developing severe #COVID19’, and counseled people to try to avoid crowded areas, or places where they might interact with the sick. Effectively the message is don’t go to the theatre or take public transport, but you are probably okay in a restaurant.”

HURIWA expressed worry that the grave human rights implications of locking down hungry, jobless, and desperate populations of mostly youngsters who are basically outside the age bracket of those categories that the WHO regarded as at risk group, is tantamount to the invitation of an imminent civil unrest because it is inevitable that rather than millions of citizens to stay at their homes without electricity and without food and die, they will rather pour out on the streets to cause social chaos and anarchy. “This government and the officials responsible for the re-distribution of the government's incentives and palliatives have failed to render proper accounts just as out of the over 90 million poor Nigerians not more than 100 families have actually benefited from the assistance and food reliefs ordered to be re-distributed by President Buhari.

“Nigeria needs to design strategies for the gradual easing of the lockdown to stop deaths from starvation or eventual social unrests which may not augur well for constitutional democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of law,” HURIWA said.

It also urged the federal government to publish the national health policy and strategy on the containment of the COVID-19 ailment in Nigeria and make a general guideline on the use of personal protective materials to ward it off.

HURIWA said the speech by President Buhari ordering the total lockdown of the country is obviously deficient in logic and are full of pitfalls and are so incoherent to an extent that “he displayed an unacceptable level of insensitivity and feigned ignorance of the avalanche of poor and starving citizens some of whom are already been attacked by armed robbers in Ogun and Lagos and dispossessed of their cash whilst the police are busy violating the human rights of innocent Nigerians who would normally leave their homes to find some foods to sustain their lives.”

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