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PRESS RELEASE
By NATIONAL CONSCIENCE PARTY
Gentlemen of the Press,
BACKGROUND Although you and the general public are familiar with the circumstances leading to the NCP mass rally in Osogbo, Osun State on 17th February 2001 and the police brutality that followed, we wish to re-state the facts for posterity. As far back as 31st January 2001, the NCP, Osun State Chapter announced its preparedness to lead a mass rally against the anti-people policies of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) controlled government of Governor Bisi Akande. The State chapter tagged the rally "a 2-million-man march" and announced it would hold on Saturday, 17th February 2001. In particular, the rally was to protest the unprecedented mass retrenchment of workers in the State. Before the rally was announced, a total number of 12,130 (twelve thousand, one hundred and thirty) workers had been terminated. They consisted of journalists, teachers, local government employees, health officers and other public sector workers. The NCP rally undoubtedly gripped the hearts of the ordinary people. They saw an opportunity to protest the injustice they have been suffering in the hands of the A.D. Government in Osun State. How could a party claim to be offering free education without teachers? How could a party expect the support of students who roam the streets for lack of teachers? How could a party claim to offer free medical services without paying salaries to medical personnel? How could a party claim to be committed to a poverty alleviation programme when workers are being retrenched in their thousands and jobs are not being created? Based on the foregoing, there was nothing strange or mythical about the mass support which the mere announcement of NCP rally received from the ordinary people. Put succinctly, the opportunity to express themselves against the ignominy they suffer provided a hope for the people. In order to undermine the groundswell of support, which the announcement of NCP rally was generating, the Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige suddenly announced on Wednesday, 14th February 2001 that the AD would hold a 'Pro-Akande rally on Friday, 16th February 2001'. If Chief Bola Ige were a true and genuine Awoist, he would not have identified with a pro-individual rally, particularly when that individual is synonymous with anti-people policies. Chief Obafemi Awolowo lives in the minds of the ordinary people today not because of identification with individuals but for policies and programmes that enhance the material, mental and spiritual upliftment of mankind. On the other hand, the policies of Chief Bisi Akande destroy the material conditions of the people and consequently frustrate their hopes and aspirations. The abysmal political degeneration of Chief Bola Ige informs the declaration of a pro-Akande rally instead of a pro-people's rally. THE PRO-AKANDE RALLY On Friday, 16th February, 2001, Chief Bola Ige led the pro-Akande rally in Osogbo, Osun State. The National Conscience Party (NCP) did not physically attack or stop that rally. The pro-Akande rally enjoyed the protection of the police. To attract and corruptly induce members of the public to attend, the pro-Akande rally invited a popular Fuji musician, Wasiu Alabi (a.k.a. Pasuma Wonder), to entertain them - a replica of pro-Abacha rally that was also entertained by some prominent musicians. As petty quarrels at local levels showed, organisers of the pro-Akande rally bribed each ordinary person at the rally with the sum of N200.00. In spite of the limitless resources at the disposal of the pro-Akande forces, the rally was poorly attended. Reports that were later published by the press that are even sympathetic to the A.D faction of Chief Bola Ige and Chief Bisi Akande are sufficient evidence. The pro-Akande rally is therefore an unfortunate and sad memory of our collective experiences of the Abacha era. The A.D. faction of Chief Bola Ige and the State governments controlled by them appear to be a reincarnation of the Abacha sad and horrifying phenomenon. NCP'S 2-MILLION-MAN RALLY The pro-democracy rally led by the National Conscience Party (NCP) held at Osogbo on Saturday, 17th February 2001 at Oja-Oba. It was massively attended by ordinary people including workers, trade union leaders, students, market women and the unemployed from all the nooks and corners of Osun State. The rally was addressed by NCP leaders, labour leaders and prominent pro-democracy activists including Professor 'Toye Olorode, Dr. Idowu Awopetu from Obafemi Awolowo University, Chief Deji Akinwalere, National President of NULGE and Mr. Wale Oyeniyi of the NUT. The rally was absolutely peaceful. The organisers of the rally decided to rename Oke-Fia as 'June 12' round-about. Oke-Fia is some distance from Oja-Oba the venue of the rally. It thus meant that a mass procession had to take place. PEACEFUL PROCESSION A peaceful procession started from Oja-Oba, to Oke-Fia at about 2.00pm. The organisers engaged drummers. Participants were singing and dancing. At Corner Aladejobi along Station Road, the peaceful procession was confronted by a heavily armed contingent of regular police and anti-riot police. Messrs. Femi Aborisade, National General Secretary and Amitolu Shittu, Deputy National Chairman (South West) NCP, approached the most senior police officer, Mr. Adamo Ibrahim (DSP) that appeared to be leading the contingent of police. They explained to him that the rally was peacefully concluded at Oja-Oba and that the procession was equally peaceful. They appealed to the police not to attack the peaceful procession. POLICE ATTACK The pleadings of the NCP leaders to the police were contemptuously ignored. The police opened fire. They shot live bullets and poisonous tear gas. They shot poisonous tear gas into residential houses and vehicles on sight. Arbitrarily, they beat, harassed and arrested people. They turned Corner Ladejobi/Gbaemu into a war zone. In the process, several people including children, women and old people were injured. Among others, the following people were arrested by the police:
Those mentioned in Nos. 1 - 4 were the first to be taken to Osun State Police Headquarters at Oke-Fia, Ilobu Road, Osogbo. None of them resisted arrest. But No. 4, i.e. Mr. Diran Oni was brutally beaten and forcefully pushed into a bus. In the process, he sustained a serious injury. He had a deep cut in the head and was bleeding profusely. In spite of cries of agony and pleadings that he should be taken to the hospital if the police did not want him dead, the pleadings fell on deaf ears for a long time. They left him to suffer for at least an hour before they took him to the hospital. His picture is hereby presented. It is important to recall that Mr. Diran Oni told the police that he is an unemployed graduate of seven years! The other persons mentioned in Nos. 5 - 14 were the last batch to be taken to the Osun State Police Headquarters, Osogbo. On arrival, they were ordered to lie flat on the stony ground and in the scorching sun. They were compelled to crawl on their bellies. As they crawled, they were being beaten. Intermittently, they were made to roll on the ground from side to side. In the process, they sustained various injuries. In particular, No. 7, i.e. Mr. Gbenga Fadare had a fractured arm. Requests that he should be taken to the hospital were turned down. Later some of the police officers, specifically Alhaji Moshood Lawal (ASP), a native of Iseyin and the Assistant Commissioner of Police in the State Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Ayetoro, Osogbo, ordered Messrs Femi Aborisade, Amitolu Shittu and Peter Omole to join the others who were then sitting on the bare ground in the sun. Mr. Femi Aborisade challenged them, asking for the offence they had committed. He insisted that even if they had committed an offence, they could not be penalised until a court of law convicted them. The said police officers replied that for holding a rally and procession, the arrested persons were guilty. 'You are guilty before us; before us here, you are guilty' was their reply. Not even the insistence by Femi Aborisade that he did not experience such a brutish order or treatment under the military could caution them. They pounced on him like angry lions and 'mad dogs' - apologies to Late Chief M.K.O. Abiola. First, they tore his dress. They pushed him, tossing him from one to another. They slapped him, kicked him several times, beat him with stick and the butt of their guns until he fell down. All the arrested people were now in the sun - sitting or lying down. The police then gave them personalised or individualised treatment. The police sprayed poisonous tear gas directly into the noses, eyes and heads of each of their 'prisoners of war'. This treatment was repeated several times. Had the arrested persons been asthmatic patients, several deaths would have been recorded. The arrested persons were asked to stand up from the sun to go an sit down on the bare floor in the police station only after the police felt embarrassed by the sudden appearance of a team of NCP lawyers led by the National Director of Legal Services, Mr. Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika. Later, the arrested persons were transported in a big lorry usually used for common criminals to the State Criminal Investigation Department (C.I.D.), Aiyetoro, Osogbo. They were made to sit on the bare floor of the lorry. We wish to publicly admit that we do not have the details of all the victims of police brutality. But there is also the case of a member of Osun State NLC, Mr. G.O. Olowojesiku whose picture we posses and present. There is another picture of an unknown person which we hereby present. Many fear for their identities being made known. You can see that the persons in these pictures were drenched in their own blood. It is an irony that the worst of human rights violations take place under a regime that has set up the Justice Oputa Panel to probe human rights violations under the military. POLICE BRUTALITY: THREAT TO DEMOCRACY The NCP wishes to warn that police brutality against peaceful protesters and people who did not resist arrest portends potent danger to our emergent civilian experience. We wish to warn that the survival of our nascent 'democracy' lies partly on the freedom of the people to exercise their fundamental right to protest against non-performing, corrupt and grossly indolent governments such as that of Governor Bisi Akande of Osun State. It is regrettable that the police is now re-enacting its ignoble and sadistic roles, which it shamelessly played during the dastardly era of military dictatorship and oppression. We condemn the high-handedness of the police in Osun State under Alhaji Ganiyu Dawodu, the State Commissioner of Police. We call on the Inspector-General of Police and his force of oppression to respect the fundamental rights of the Nigerian people as enshrined in Chapter 4 of the 1999 Constitution and the African Charter on Human and People's Right which is part of our laws. Section 34(1)(a) of the 1999 Constitution guarantees that 'no person shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment'. Similarly, Section 40 protects the right to peaceful assembly and association while Section 41 guarantees the right to freedom of movement. Section 14 of the Constitution provides that governance must be based on the principles of democracy and social justice. The barbaric repression of the Osogbo rally therefore amounts to gross misuse of power. Protests against governments and leaders in Europe and America are daily occurrences and parts of their civilised democratic culture, and peaceful protesters are not treated the way National Conscience Party (NCP) members were treated on Saturday, 17th February 2001 at Osogbo in a most barbaric manner. When the current President of the U.S.A., George Walter Bush was being sworn in on Saturday, January 20, 2001 in Washington D.C., several thousands of Americans protested against him. Not one was attacked. Not one was wounded. In September last year thousands of Britons barricaded the roads in protest against high fuel prices in Britain. Not one was attacked. Not one was wounded. During the last World Economic Forum, which was attended by Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo in Davous, there was a massive protest against anti-people policies of leaders of the Western democracies. Not one was attacked. Not one was wounded. The double standard adopted by the police in giving protection and support to pro-Akande rallies on Friday, 16th February, 2001, organised by the Federal Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige as against the unprovoked and mindless attack of pro-democracy protesters on Saturday, 17th February 2001 is to say the least unconstitutional, illegal and morally indefensible. The events of Saturday, 17th February 2001 at Osogbo culminating in the brutalisation and traumatisation of innocent Nigerians against the despotic and corrupt government of Bisi Akande have confirmed the opinion of millions of Nigerians that the present experiment is heading for the rocks unless those at the helm of affairs act humanely and not as brutes. DEMANDS The NCP calls for:
COMMENDATION The NCP will like to specially commend the journalists in Osun State for reporting the NCP rally of Saturday, 17th February 2001 factually, accurately and truthfully. But for the unanimous report by the press that the rally was peaceful, the police would have carried out some violent destruction of property somewhere in the town and ascribed it to the NCP in order to discredit our peaceful rally. We thank the journalists in Osun State tremendously. We also wish to commend the Nigerian Tribune for condemning the barbaric attack of our rally by the police in the Editorial opinion of Monday, 26th February, 2001. Standing up for the truth at all times is the only safeguard against authoritarianism - either by military or civilian regimes. Thank you for your attention.
CHIEF GANI FAWEHINMI
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lease accept our heartfelt appreciation for your presence at this Special Press Conference. In this age of profound poverty and a culture of 'settlement', those who hold out in defence of fair play truth and justice must be commended. Thus, we assume that your presence here is a symbol of identification with the concern of this press conference - stern condemnation of police brutality against peace loving and patriotic Nigerians at the recent NCP initiated rally in Osogbo, Osun State.