In an interview with Punch, the country director of Amnesty International, Osai Ojigho speaks on how freedom of speech is under threat in Nigeria. Her
In an interview with Punch, the country director of Amnesty International, Osai Ojigho speaks on how freedom of speech is under threat in Nigeria. Here below are excerpts from the interview
On being besieged by protesters everyday for a week to leave the country
I wasn’t intimidated by the mob. In the first place, we did our checks and discovered that those were not genuine protesters. They were paid to pursue an agenda that was bent on just stifling the freedom of expression and anybody who is standing for truth. Once we discovered they were paid protesters, we felt quite sad because it means many people in the country still don’t know about human rights; they still don’t know why it is important and why they should stand for human rights. For a group of people to come together and say they are a coalition against the Amnesty International is an attempt to actually deprive themselves of their own human rights. So, we felt it was a protest that was unfortunate and we are confident that our work speaks for itself; that we have the support of genuine people and genuine organisations that live and work in Nigeria. Even among the authorities, people know that what Amnesty International has been saying is purely to draw attention to issues which the government might miss because they have other priorities.
On protesters being paid to get Amnesty International to leave
I can’t speak for them, but when you look at the fact that they were saying a lot of things that were not true about the organisation and which they had not checked to confirm but rather to demonise the organisation, then their motivations could only be because this was a task they had been paid to do. We found evidence of them distributing money in order to show that ordinary people were interested in their protest. Without any other evidence, we can safely assume that the interest was financial – it was just a transaction for them.
On government trying to stifle free speech
We have been observing this for over a few years now and the pattern shows that the government is intolerant of opposing and dissenting views and this is a cause for concern. When people are not heard, when people have a difference of opinion, they want to have an engagement on the issue that matters to them and the government is for all people, it is not just for people who agree and support those in power. Therefore, in any society that wants to progress, when we look at progress indices – whether it’s economic, lifestyle, health or access to basic services in the society, they have always had to contend with others who had a different opinion or a different view as to how things should be done.
Sometimes, you might see something different if you look at it from a different perspective, but when you dismiss someone who doesn’t agree with you or who doesn’t hold the same views with you, you lose that opportunity to interrogate further what else you could be doing better and you create an atmosphere of fear and distrust and intimidation. And oftentimes, no matter the good you do thereafter, people would question why you are doing it because they are already afraid, discontent and scared of moving forward and human rights is all about dignity and equality of persons and if you recognise that that person is equal to you because he is a human being, then you treat him with the dignity a human being deserves. Essentially, that is the bottom line and that is why freedom of expression is so important because it almost provides the foundation for other rights. But nowadays, we are struggling with that because people are not sure that whatever they say would not be misunderstood, so there is a lot of uncertainty. If people know they can have their say and there is a forum through which they can express themselves, I think the tension and the sense of disillusionment we are seeing in the society today would be stopped.
On freedom of speech being under threat in Nigeria
Freedom of expression is under threat in Nigeria and it is a worrying trend. We see that Nigeria plays a pivotal role, not just in the West African region, but in the entire continent and the world, and people want to be able to make decisions based on full disclosure. So, when we are in a situation where we only hear one side, it means we are making decisions based on half information. It also means the freedom that was protected when Nigeria returned to democratic rule in 1999 after a period of time under the military rule would also face threats as well. Oftentimes, when people raise the alarm, they are saying things are not going well, you need to check this, you need to fix this, so if nobody raises the alarm anymore and everybody thinks everything is going on fine, things would actually get worse and then it is when we are at a catastrophic stage that people would now act by which time, a lot of time has been lost as a result of not heeding the early warnings. Also in every society, diversity of opinions is what makes us a people; it is what makes us have an engaging and interesting society, so we should actually cherish it.
Sometimes, you are not happy with what people say, but we should be able to put in the context of dignity, equality and respect and that would go a long way in entrenching human rights, not just our civil and political rights but also our economic, social and cultural rights which is really important. For example, if you don’t fix the road and I have a sick child and can’t get to the hospital in time, my right to health has been affected by poor policy implementation. Will the government say someone that complained about this is wrong to do so?
