Former Minister of Education and key driver of the Bring Back Our Girls rally in Abuja, Dr Oby Ezekwesili, has declared that the Federal Capital Territory Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mbu, has no power to ban peaceful protests against the April 14 abduction of over 250 girls from Chibok, Borno State.
Mbu had on Monday announced a ban on all protests in the Nigerian capital to demand freedom for the schoolgirls kidnapped by terror group, Boko Haram.
But in messages posted on Twitter, Ezekwesili argues that “Mbu has proven by his latest ill-advised statement of repression of citizens’ rights that he and his bosses hired those thugs.”
According to Ezekwesili, “there is no basis for and no power of FCT commissioner of police to ban peaceful assembly of any group of persons in the city.”
Not done, the former minister adds: “When their thugs attacked us while Mbu’s policemen stood aloof, we refused to engage with their gutter conduct. We figured this was their plot.”
Mbu’s announcement comes days after persons, suspected to be pro-government thugs, attacked protesters, largely women, who have been holding daily peaceful protests in Abuja.
The protest, though popular among several Nigerians, has been a source of worry for the Nigerian government, with the Information Minister, Labaran Maku, announcing last Wednesday that the protesters were sponsored by the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC).
President Goodluck Jonathan had, in a speech read to the protesters when they tried to march to the Presidential Villa, asked the protesters to direct the anger at the Boko Haram and not at his government.
Also speaking to CNN, Ezekwesili described Mbu as an overzealous police commissioner.
