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The 3rd of May every year had been declared as the International Press Freedom Day to examine and evaluate the level of freedom by the Press and ultimately the freedom to hold opinion and freedom of expression as guaranteed by article 19 of the United Nation Declaration of Rights and section 39 The 1999 Constitution (As Amended). This states that “every person shall be entitled to freedom of expression, including freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impact ideas and information without interference”.
Following the above international declaration and the 1999 Nigerian constitution, I posed a question online at about 10 am on Saturday 6th May 2017, asking the following questions
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“When will another person be appointed to head Ijumu local government there cannot be a vacuum as a local government council is an institution created by law of the federal republic of Nigeria and not an individual property. We call on the governor of Kogi state Alhaji Yahaya Bello to appoint another person to head the local government in replacement of the detained administrator”.
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“An unelected administrator without vice or deputy the detained for whatever reason cannot sign any documents on behalf of the local government have created a vacuum and should be replaced without further (delay)”
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“Today makes it one year that the administrators have been imposed on the on all the 21 local governments in Kogi state despite section 7(1) of the 1999 constitution (As Amended) says there SHALL be democratically elected local government councils in Nigeria. The question is what is the tenure of these administrators and when will elections to the local government councils be held in Kogi state.”
The above question were what my humble self-posed on Saturday, which was sent to several persons and organizations in Nigeria and the state. To my greatest surprise, I got a call from Mr Edward Onoja, the Chief of Staff to the Governor of Kogi State at about 10.22 am, interrogating me and using abusive and insulting language to disparage my person. It was surprising that despite the questions were not for him in his personal capacity, but for the state in general. In his reply through a text message, the COS stated and I quote, “only someone or group of persons planning to kill an office holder will ask this kind of questions. And need immediate investigation by the security service. EXPECT THEIR INVITATION”
This was highly unexpected coming from an appointee of government that is democratically put in place by the CITIZENS (including myself who participated actively during the process). Everyone has the right to ask questions about the affairs of the state and hold opinions. It is left for the government to do the right thing in the circumstance. We do not need to insult anyone or be insulted by any one based on the opinion he or she holds. I am a citizen of Nigeria, Kogi State and an indigene of Aiyegunle –Gbede in Ijumu Local government. I have the RIGHTS to ask questions about the governance of my local government.
We call on the Human rights community and the Civil Society, the media and the Security Agencies, to take note of these latest development. I am a Human Rights activists and Writer in the last 20 years and have worked and lived in various parts of Nigeria including Abuja and Kaduna State and have been actively working in Kogi state for the last 11 years. I am not a partisan politician and not registered with ANY political party. I have no criminal record in my life and have contributed meaningfully to the development of my state, sponsoring bills and advocating for good governance and human rights. This makes it very disturbing to have threats to my person coming from a government that I struggled to put in place.
I call on the Executive governor of Kogi State Alhaji Yahaya Bello, as the father of the state to take note of this development.
– Idris Miliki Abdul
Executive Director,
Centre for Human Rights and Conflict Resolution
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