**DESCRIBES ABUJA DEMOLITIONS AS APARTHEID POLICY.
The prominent civil right advocacy group-: HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of practicing dangerous apartheid policy through the demolition of houses of the poor and the flagrant abuses of the Abuja master plan by allocating lands in Green Areas to his political friends and stooges in Abuja.
Besides, the Rights group has condemned as despicable, outrageous, uncivil, wicked and reprehensible the evil policy of hiking the rates of electricity supply and pump price of premium motor spirit simultaneously at the time that most Nigerians have lost their means of livelihood due to the covid-19 lockdown and the failure of President Muhammadu Buhari to provide humanitarian assistance due largely to the systemic and massive corruption by officials at the ministry for humanitarian Affairs and disaster management.
The Rights group said even when President Muhammadu Buhari read out his inauguration speech last May and stated that THERE are over 100 million citizens in Nigeria; his administration has ended up inflicting pains, penury and agony on a massive scale on Nigerians through the recent rash of anti-people actions and policy implementation.
HURIWA said it was foolhardy for government to hike the purchasing prices of commodities when other nations of the World including even capitalist nation’s like the USA and UK are implementing different types of relief packages and funding aides to businesses in the formal and informal sectors of the economy to keep them operational irrespective of the vicissitudes of the Covid-19 PANDEMIC and it’s attendant consequences on businesses.
HURIWA has therefore canvassed civil protests by Nigerians to reject these enslaving policies of government because all other organised trade union groups and notable Civil Rights bodies have either been bribed to shut up or cajoled with the threats of Company and Allied Matters toxic 2020 amendment Act because most of these civil Rights groups and trade union bodies may have some skeletons in their pockets.
“Best bet is for Nigerians not to suffer and smile but to protest against these burdens imposed on the suffering and oppressed masses by government which has transformed from government that should govern to the new slave drivers”.
“The oppressed masses should know that it is better to protest at the risks of arrest by the security forces than to be afraid, keep quiet and die in silence. Any government that has failed to provide funding assistance in this perilous period of health emergency but has instead chosen to over tax the people, has lost its legitimacy to govern”.
On the demolition of houses of the poor in Abuja, HURIWA said President Buhari is waging economic war of attrition against the poor at the time that the FCT ministers are allocating lands in the hitherto Green Areas to their stooges in total disregard to the environmental master Plan of FCT thereby exposing Abuja residents to predictable environmental hazards of floods and environmental disasters of unprecedented proportions.
“What is going on now in Abuja is same with the apartheid policy in South Africa just before the new South Africa introduced a new constitution which recognises right to housing as s human right. In Nigeria, the poor are made homeless and the rich helped by the oppressors wearing the garb of a government to basterdize the master plan”.
HURIWA wondered why President Muhammadu Buhari adopted apartheid typed housing policy of rendering poor people homeless without providing alternative shelters and the National Assembly members are all after their pockets to ratify their insatiable appetite for quick money rather than make necessary legislation to ensure that RIGHT TO ADEQIATE HOUSING FOR THE POOR IS MADE A CONSTITUTIONAL OBLIGATION JUST LIKE IN SOUTH AFRICA.
HURIWA cited South African constitution recognizing right to housing as binding thus: “The right to adequate housing is an important basic human right which is recognised in the Constitution and International human rights instruments. Housing provides shelter from the elements, a place to eat, sleep, relax and raise a family. The right to adequate housing ensures that people enjoy physical and mental health and live in a safe place in peace and dignity. Human rights are indivisible and interdependent, so the rights to adequate housing cannot be separated from the other rights such as sanitation, water, education, and healthcare.
“The right to housing is also inextricably linked to broader developments in the economy, labour markets, migration, demographic and other trends, which affect access to housing. failure to realise these rights and provide socio-economic goods and amenities in turn compromise the progressive realisation of the right to housing”.
“The right to housing is enshrined in section 26 of the Constitution of South Africa, which state that:1. Everyone has a right to have access to adequate housing.2. The state must take reasonable legislative and other measures within its available resources to achieve the progressive realisation of this right.3. No one may be evicted from their home or have their home demolished without an order of court made after considering all the relevant circumstances. No legislation may permits arbitrary evictions”.
HURIWA accused President Muhammadu Buhari of disrespecting the relevant sections of the Constitution by churning out scorched earth policy of inflicting exorbitant rates and pump price of essential supplies as against what section 13, 14(1)(2)(a)(b)(c) of the Nigerian Constitution which provides thus:
“It shall be the duty and responsibility of all organs of government, and of all authorities and person, exercising legislative, executive or judicial powers, to conform to, observe and apply the provisions of this Chapter of this Constitution. The Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be a State base on the principles of democracy and social justice. It is hereby, accordingly, declared that:
a. Sovereignty belongs to the people of Nigeria from whom government through this Constitution derives all its power and authority;
b. The security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government; and, c.The participation by the people in their government shall be ensured in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution”.
