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A Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, has claimed that President Bola Tinubu's government's treatment of dissenting views is reminiscent of Nigeria under the late dictator, General Sani Abacha.
The Yoruba group said the President is displaying authoritarian tendencies with his way of handling criticisms sliding the nation into fascism.
This is according to the National Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, Justice Faloye, who spoke during an interview on the National Television programme in Lagos on Wednesday, September 11, 2024.
Faloye, who assessed the current administration since the assumption of office in 2023, gave it a low rating on human rights, security and economic issues.
The group described the Tinubu government as a colossal failure which has been hounding perceived opponents.
Afenifere says Tinubu returning Nigeria to Abacha days
Faloye condemned the recent arrests of Joe Ajaero, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) National President and a Nigerian investigative journalist, Adejuwon Soyinka, by the Department of States Security (DSS).
He also criticised the Federal Government over the alleged arrest of some underage protesters, drawing parallels between these incidents and the days of Abacha.
“We are concerned about how this administration is going. Not only is the NLC President being harassed, but we have hundreds of people in jail for treason for partaking in hunger protests.
“The economy has completely collapsed under this present administration, people who have been outspoken against the administration are being arrested and detained.
“We have criminalisation of protest under Tinubu where peaceful protesters are threatened, harassed, attacked, arrested and detained unjustly. What do you call all these other than fascism?
“Even the international community has accused Tinubu of criminalising peaceful protests in a democratic dispensation and condemned the trend.
This is unacceptable. This is not democracy anymore. We are sliding into fascism.
“We have urged President Tinubu to listen to the advice of Professor Wole Soyinka recently about fascism.
“We need to ensure Nigeria does not slide into a fascist dictatorship which the Tinubu administration is doing.
“When you arrest underage people because of protest, when you criminalise or select a whole ethnicity and attack people who criticise you, that is fascism.
“A Journalist called Soyinka was arrested and detained, President Nigeria Labour Congress, Joe Ajaero, arrested and detained, protesters arrested and detained. We are gradually moving into Gen Abacha days if we are not careful.
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“We are hereby asking for immediate release of those locked up for treason. What Nigerians are facing in terms of inflation rate, corruption, and economic sabotage is better described as treason.
“The present administration is insensitive to the plights of Nigerians. Economic hardship is biting harder. No hope in sight.
“For the last 20 years, Afenifere has criticised the way Tinubu has been ruling because we are a social welfarist group. We believe in life abundantly, even in Lagos he didn’t do it.
“Lagos would have collapsed under Tinubu if not for the import market we have here, is not because of what he has done,” he said.