Amnesty condemns assault on subsidy removal protesters

Pilgrims’ leader backs policy

AMNESTY International has urged the Nigerian authorities to immediately end what it described as excessive use of force by the police and soldiers against citizens protesting the hike in the price of petrol following withdrawal of fuel subsidy.

Meanwhile, a leader of Nigerian pilgrims in Israel, Rev. Fr. Vincent Nyoyoho, has called for patience with the Federal Government over the removal of fuel subsidy and solicited support for the implementation of the petroleum downstream deregulation policy.

Amnesty said the President Goodluck Jonathan-led administration should respect and protect peoples’ rights to freedom of expression guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, and should instruct the police to refrain from assaulting protesters.

Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Africa, Paule Rigaud, in a statement made available to The Guardian, said the demand had become imperative following reports that the police allegedly fired tear gas and beat protesters as demonstrations continued yesterday in some parts of the country.

Nyoyoho who is the Chairman of Akwa Ibom Christian Pilgrims Welfare Board, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jerusalem shortly after the presentation of certificates to the final batch of the state’s contingent for the 2011 pilgrimage.

Nyoyoho said that Nigerians needed to be patient to bear the initial pains occasioned by the new fuel price regime.
He said there was no reason government should be paying subsidy to a few rich at the detriment of majority that are poor.

The cleric claimed that Nigeria was one of the few countries where petrol was sold for less than N100 per litre and that there was no justification for the protests against the policy.

He said:
“I think we should be patient in Nigeria; Nigeria is one of the best places in the world.
We are even too late from my own estimation, why should government be wasting money for a few rich people, we need to bite this hard pill once and for all times, that’s my own impression.

“I am not a rich person, I am a teacher, but I think there is no reason why government should be getting subsidy and paying to the rich people.’’

He expressed optimism that the proceeds from the policy would be properly channeled into projects that would cushion the effects of the subsidy removal.

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By Kelvin Ebiri, reporting from Port Harcourt