A global rights group, Amnesty International, has condemned the invasion of the Abuja office of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre by operatives of the State Security Service on Monday, December 27, 2021.
Recall that the CISLAC Executive Director, Auwal Musa-Rafsanjani, had disclosed that the operatives of the SSS had invaded the CISLAC head office in Utako (Abuja) on a public holiday without any prior notice or any official warrant from the office of the SSS Director-General.
In a six-paragraph letter to the Director-General of the DSS, Mr Rafsanjani called on the Service to investigate the incident.
Reacting, Amnesty described the invasion as an action taken without respect for the rule of law.
The rights group, in a post on social media, said it is yet another sign of Nigerian authorities’ escalating clampdown on civil society organisations.
“Amnesty International is deeply concerned over the invasion of the office of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) by DSS operatives.
“It is shocking that a law enforcement agency acted without respect for the rule of law. This is yet another sign of Nigerian authorities’ escalating clampdown on civil society organisations.
“We condemn this brazen attempt by the DSS to intimidate CISLAC, which has consistently exposed corruption and demanded accountability.
“Nigerian authorities must end this dangerous trend of using agencies like the DSS to silence its critics and target human rights defenders,” Amnesty said.
