#EndSARS: 89 scholars petition Biden-Harris transition team

• Call for travel bans, assets seizures against Nigerian politicians and institutions violating protesters’ rights

THE brutal repression and crackdown on #EndSARS protesters by the authorities in Nigeria has continued to attract serious words of condemnation from the international community.

The latest in the deluge of global denunciation of the Nigerian government’s handling of the protests, recently came from a group of 89 scholars mainly based in the United States.

In a petition to the transition team of US President-Elect, Joe Biden, which was obtained by Naija Times, the scholars strongly condemned “the violent crackdown on non-violent protests in Nigeria.” The scholars subsequently expressed their support of US assistance to reform the police and promote accountability in Nigeria.

 Naija Times findings indicate that since the tactical withdrawal of #EndSARS protesters from the streets across the country, following the October 20, shootings at Lekki Toll Gate, the Nigerian authorities have stepped up efforts to clamp down on individuals identified as the arrowheads of the movement.

At the last count, state institutions such as the Nigeria Police, the Department of State Services (DSS), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) have been involved in various steps taken by the government to clamp down and intimidate the #EndSARS protest leaders.

Recently, the CBN obtained a widely condemned ex parte order from the Federal High Court in Abuja to freeze the accounts of 20 individuals connected to the #EndSARS protests.

Similarly, on November 3, the NIS at the behest of the DSS prevented Modupe Odele one of the protest leaders from traveling out of the country out of the country, in a move described by human rights activists as a draconian step by the government, without any basis in the rule of law.     

 On their part, the 89 scholars who petitioned the Biden Transition Team through their correspondence dated November 13 said they have been appalled by the Nigerian government’s use of violence and disproportionate force against peaceful civilians.

“We believe these abuses demand unequivocal diplomatic condemnation from the United States. Moreover, such gross human rights violations require additional action by the United States to eliminate any complicity with official actions blatantly at odds with American foreign policy principles, to advance the work of democratic reform in Nigeria, and to reinforce our shared obligations to international human rights agreements.”

The 89 scholars also denounced the Nigerian government over the October 20 killing of “at least12 unarmed protesters singing the national anthem and holding the Nigerian flag.”

They also flayed the widespread violence by security forces, resulting in the deaths of “at least 56 peaceful protestors in different incidents across Nigeria, obligates the international community to act.” 

The petition further stressed the Nigerian government’s obligation to uphold the right to non-violent protest and ensure the safety of protesters in accordance with Chapter IV, Section 40 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), international human rights instruments, including Article 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and Article 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

To pressure the Nigerian government to halt further assault on human rights, the scholars urged the United States, particularly the incoming Biden administration to use the authority granted under the Global Magnitsky Act for targeted sanctions, including asset freezes and travel bans, on politicians, officials and other Nigerians implicated in recent human rights abuses.

“These incidents should include but not be limited to the Lekki Toll Gate Massacre, various attacks on protestors since October 8, and other abuses of Nigerians engaged in peaceful free speech activities. Consistent with the December 2017 Executive Order on “Blocking the Property of Persons Involved in Serious Human Rights Abuse or Corruption,” the sanctions should apply to SARS and other special police units determined “to be responsible for or complicit in, or to have directly or indirectly engaged in, serious human rights abuse.” As scholars of Nigeria, we believe such steps would advance democratic reform efforts and hold abusive security services accountable. As the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States has poignantly reminded us, democracy and rule of law cannot flourish amidst impunity.”

 The scholars also called for the suspension of security assistance and military sales to the Nigerian police and security forces implicated in or broadly culpable for violence utilized against #EndSARS protesters. Other measures canvassed by the scholars include; US support for the authorisation of a panel of experts under the United Nations Human Rights Council.

They said: “The panel could investigate human rights violations by the Nigerian security services, identify alleged perpetrators and hold them accountable. Such a process could broadly engage Nigerian authorities alongside other stakeholders in order to achieve a public accounting that would promote truth, healing, and democratic reform.” The 89 scholars equally called to the incoming Biden-Harris administration to support the International Criminal Court’s ongoing preliminary examination in Nigeria by offering assistance to a widened inquiry that includes the Lekki Toll Gate Massacre and SARS-related atrocities.

 “A critical first step in providing such support is for the administration to immediately rescind the June 2020 Executive Order used to sanction the ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and one of her senior officials. Thereafter, the U.S. should offer in-kind support to the Office of the Prosecutor at the ICC in its efforts to gather evidence about individual perpetrators accused of atrocity crimes arising out of SARS abuses,” the petition read. The among the  89 signatories to the petition are former US Ambassador to Nigeria John Campbell; Carl LeVan, Chiedo Nwankwor, Patrick Ukata, Rita “Kiki” Edozie, Olufemi Vaughan, Steve Feldstein, and Mojubaolu Olufunke Okome among scores of other scholars.