Amnesty International has condemned the alleged blockade of supporters of the “Tinubu Must Go” campaign from accessing a private venue where they had scheduled to hold a political event on Sunday in Kano state.
The police was reported to have deployed more than 10 mobile police vehicles to allegedly prevent participants from accessing the venue.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the global human rights organisation described the action as an “unlawful and outrageous” violation of the rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of association.
Amnesty said supporters of political parties and candidates have the right to organise and participate in peaceful political activities regardless of their political affiliation.
“It is perfectly within the rights of supporters of all candidates and all political parties to carry out peaceful political activities,” the organisation said.
It added that the responsibility of the police should be to protect and facilitate peaceful political gatherings rather than prevent citizens from exercising their constitutional rights.
“The duty of the police is to facilitate peaceful conduct of such political gatherings — no matter the political party or candidate being supported or opposed,” Amnesty said.
The organisation stressed that freedom of association and peaceful assembly should not be treated as privileges reserved for supporters of the ruling party or any particular political group.
“Freedom of association and peaceful assembly is not exclusive to one political party and its supporters,” it said.
Amnesty International further warned that the incident in Kano appeared to be part of a broader pattern of alleged police repression against opposition supporters across Nigeria.
“The Kano incident is part of a troubling pattern of repression by police targeting opposition members in various parts of the country,” the organisation said.
It further warned that repeated arrests, intimidation, restrictions and disruption of opposition activities could create an atmosphere of fear and make it increasingly difficult for citizens to freely associate and organise peaceful public gatherings.
“Such repeated attacks and intimidation against opposition supporters could make it more difficult for them to associate freely and hold peaceful public gatherings,” Amnesty said.
