Atiku Issues Stern Warning to Nigerian Service Chiefs on the Use of Lethal Force Against Protesters.

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has, in very strong and categorical terms, warned service chiefs and all military commanders in the country against using lethal force on peaceful protesters in the country. Indeed, the post on X made clear it will not go light on any such violators, and they will be held accountable under the law.

Atiku wrote, “I want to vehemently caution the distinguished service chiefs and military commanders of Nigeria’s armed forces that any officer who gives the order for lethal force to be used against peaceful civilian protesters will be held personally responsible for any crimes against humanity, even after retirement from service.

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The right to protest is constitutionally guaranteed and has been repeatedly upheld by our courts, and it is the duty of the government and security agencies to provide a safe space for protesters exercising their right to peaceful processions.”

This statement comes on the heels of nationwide protests against bad governance, economic hardship, and inflation, to which many sections of the society have shown overwhelming responses. The protests have been marked by reports of violence and use of force by security agencies, a development sharply raising concerns among human rights advocates and international observers.

What is Atiku Abubakar saying?

The former Vice President said the right to protest is not just guaranteed in the constitution of the land but further Silent in judicial pronouncements. He, therefore, charged the government and security agencies to do the needful by providing a safe environment where such rights should be exercised without fear of violence or repression.

Atiku warned them that accountability for such crimes does not stop with retirement from active service, an apparent allusion to the pursuit of perpetrators of those crimes through international and local legal mechanisms in order to get justice for the victims of unlawful violence.

With his message, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has added his voice to what many other voices have been saying all the while as the protests continue.