President Bola Tinubu has been urged by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) to stop the Department of State Services (DSS) from allegedly intimidating, harassing, and attacking the group, as well as threatening to arrest its directors and staff.

In a statement released on Monday, Kolawole Oluwadare, the deputy director of SERAP, made this request in response to reports that certain DSS officers had broken into the organization’s Abuja office and demanded to see its directors without giving previous notice.

Oluwadare asserted that the organization’s plea to President Tinubu and his administration to direct the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to revoke the unauthorised hike in the price of petrol at the pump and to launch a thorough probe into the purported mismanagement and corruption within the NNPCL was the reason behind the raid on the organization’s office.

He called the DSS’s incursion into SERAP’s office and the subsequent intimidation and harassment of its employees a vicious attack on the nation’s human rights community.

The Deputy Director emphasised that the intensifying crackdown on human rights, as well as the intimidation and harassment of non-governmental organisations and human rights defenders who have displayed incredible bravery in their work, harm the vulnerable, impede Nigerian victims of abuses and violations of human rights from accessing justice, and foster an environment where offenders go unpunished.

The deputy director of SERAP voiced serious concerns about the increasing limitations on civic space and the harsh suppression of Nigerians’ rights, even as she insisted that the government must assist and defend human rights advocates and civil society organisations.

Oluwadare declared, “President Tinubu has to give the necessary authorities immediate instructions to look into the invasion of our offices as soon as possible and fully, and to prosecute those responsible.

“SERAP’s mandates, as recognised by the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended], the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, to which Nigeria is a state party, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, must be freely carried out by Nigerian authorities.”

“The attacks of intimidation and harassment against SERAP must stop, and the safety and security of our employees must be guaranteed by Nigerian authorities.”

SERAP intends to challenge the brutal crackdown and hold the authorities accountable for their constitutional and international human rights obligations. This action will be taken both nationally and internationally if the Tinubu government fails to take the necessary steps to immediately put an end to the intimidation and harassment of SERAP and other civil society groups.

The nation’s legitimate civil society organisations promised to keep up their efforts to oppose any attempts to stifle, muzzle, or eradicate their voices.

“We firmly request that the president condemn the intimidation and harassment of SERAP and its employees.

According to international human rights law and the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 (as amended), everyone whose rights are violated is entitled to an effective

Even though some people might not agree with what SERAP has to say, this does not excuse the invasion of our office or the intimidation and harassment of our employees. He said, “The government ought to pledge to uphold the freedom of speech and ensure the conditions necessary for civil society to thrive.