Presidency to SERAP: Stop Publicity Stunt, Render Account

Presidency to SERAP: Stop Publicity Stunt, Render Account

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

The Presidency has challenged the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) to stop what it described as baseless legal actions against President Muhammadu Buhari, and focus on rendering their own account.

SERAP had on many occasions sued President Buhari over wide range of issues with the most recent being a lawsuit asking the Federal High Court in Abuja to direct and compel Buhari to take immediate steps to ensure the arrest of soldiers and police officers indicted by the Lagos #EndSARS panel report for the shooting of peaceful protesters at the Lekki tollgate, and other police brutality cases.

But in a formal reaction, the Presidency, yesterday, in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and publicity to the President, Garba Shehu, said SERAP had announced on repeated occasions that it was suing the government or president over a range of issues from alleged human rights abuses to alleged corruption, but to date, has not taken their retinue of legal actions to a logical conclusion.

Shehu said these headline-grabbing publicity stunts, however baseless, succeed in painting an inaccurate picture of life and governance in Nigeria.

He, therefore, called on SERAP to cease its divisive, irresponsible, and bare-faced publicity stunts and instead, follow through on its latest spurious legal claim in a Nigerian court of law.

“We would like to address the repeated ridiculous claims from the so-called Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) that it is bringing legal action against the Government and/ or President of Nigeria. Very little is known about SERAP, or who funds them – despite their claims of being an organisation that champions transparency and accountability?

“To date, SERAP has announced on repeated occasions – each time via a well-funded media campaign – that it is suing the government or President over a range of issues from alleged human rights abuses to alleged corruption. To date, SERAP has not taken their retinue of legal actions to a logical conclusion. They don’t follow through.

“Yet these headline-grabbing publicity stunts, however baseless, succeed in painting an inaccurate picture of life and governance in Nigeria and – more seriously – in sowing division amongst the Nigerian people during a time of heightened global economic volatility and hardship.

“Nigeria is comfortable that its record as Africa’s leading democracy and largest economy speaks for itself. Nigeria is amongst the top five countries in Africa for quality of life, and our ranking in the Human Development Index has steadily risen for a decade.

“This success is testament to the rights, rule of law and strong, independent institutions enjoyed by all Nigerian citizens and others who live there. Indeed, it is a fact that independent, non-governmental organizations can thrive there – especially those that seek accountability from government.

“Put simply, here lies SERAP’s paradox: in a country without human rights, no rule of law, limited freedom of expression, and weak democratic institutions the cases and cacophony that SERAP causes – even the organization itself – simply would not be permitted.

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