..…Demands Ebonyi Assembly to repeal law without further delay.
The Human Rights, Liberty Access, and Peace Defenders’ Foundation (HURIDE) , has flayed the recent bill passed by the Ebonyi State House of Assembly to arbitrarily arrest any person who criticise Governor Dave Umahi of the State.
In a statement released in Abakiliki Ebonyi State, the Executive Director of HURIDE, Dede Uzor A.Uzor, decried the situation where a State House of Assembly in a democratic set up passed a bill without public hearing to ascertain the wish of the people on the law that will affect their fundamental right of freedom of speech.
The group said such action smacks of a rubber stamp assembly whose members have jettisoned their mandate of representing the interest of their constituents who abi nitio sent them to the parliament.
The law which prescribes prison sentence for any person who made critical remarks about the Governor has since taken off.
Our source said some citizens of the State who have held contrary views with the Governor have been arrested by security operatives, tried and sentenced by the State High Court.
The source said the Governor directs and funds security operatives to travel out of Ebonyi State to different states in the country to abduct those who disagreed with him, brought back to the State, tried and sentenced.
But HURIDE said the law was not only draconian but also undermines the Constitution of the Federal Republic of NIgeria, which enshrined freedom of speech for the citizens of the country.
The rights group said : it is a draconian law. It is a replica of Decree Four. It negates the constitution of Federal Republic of NIgeria. This type of law cannot be allowed to exist in a democratic era”.
The group called on the State House of Assembly to as a matter of urgency revisit the law and repeal it with immediate effect since it contradicts relevant sections of 1999 constitution as amended especially section 4 subsection 33 to 41 of fundamental human rights.
They also called human right community in South East and Nigeria at large to condemn the law and put pressure on the State House of Assembly to repeal the law, stressing that Umahi was now an emperor who does not brood criticism.
HURIDE also called human rights groups, progressive individuals in the State and members of the opposition who are the major victims of the law, since the law was enacted to silence them to head to Court to repeal the law. Dede Uzor Cautioned
