Hammandikko Calls for Patience with Tinubu’s Administration

The National Coordinator/Convener Northern Region Support Tinubu/Kashim, Hon. Dahiru Hammandikko, has asked people in the country to be patient and have faith in the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration.

Hammandikko, who spoke in a statement on Thursday, said Nigerians have always held to the hope, the belief, the conviction that there’s a better life, a better world, beyond the horizon.

He said, “we must keep faith in this administration, because hope is important, and it can make the present moment less difficult to bear, and if we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship of today.”

“Remember our human compassion binds us together to learn from the past, pray for today, and have more faith in  the future, under the renewed hope agenda.

“However, in every hardship you go through today prepares you for a better and glorious tomorrow, so never stop believing tomorrow will be better than today. God bless Nigeria, and Nigerians.”

The police had seized Onuorah’s phones to prevent him from reaching his family, friends, and lawyer despite pleas from his family. He was initially taken to the Lugbe Police Station from where he was later taken to Enugu.

In a statement condemning the actions of the Police, MRA’s Programme Officer, Ms Esther Adeniyi, described as ridiculous and nonsensical the claim by the Police that Mr. Onuorah was only arrested “after efforts made to formally invite him failed”, saying it is a clear indication that the journalist was never invited by the Police and that there was no justification whatsoever for the huge public resources apparently wasted in dispatching policemen from Enugu and Ebonyi States to Abuja to abduct the journalist and bring him to Enugu.

She argued that public resources should not be used to protect the reputations of individuals, adding that a reverend sister based in the United States would never write a petition to the Police for alleged defamation of character in that country but has chosen to do so in Nigeria knowing that she could successfully abuse the system by procuring the services of the Police for her personal vendetta.  

Adeniyi said: “We are extremely concerned that the Police are wasting government resources – human, material, and financial – to go to such lengths to prosecute what should ordinarily be a civil matter, rather than concentrating their efforts on more important security issues in the country, including in the South-east. The world has since moved away from criminal defamation, which is inconsistent with regionally and internationally established norms and standards for the protection of the right to freedom of expression and media freedom. Nigeria cannot remain stuck in this antiquated practice.”