Joint Action Front (JAF), an amalgam of civil society organisations, has condemned the attack on a group of women campaigning for the release of more than 200 girls adducted in Chibok on April 14 by Boko Haram.
JAF Secretary Abiodun Aremu told TheNiche that from the conduct of the aggressors, it was clear the attack was sponsored.
“We suspect it was state sponsored and it is a condemnable act. It is irresponsible of any state to sponsor attack against dissenting citizens” he said.
“It was a cover up by the state because it is trying to avoid using the police. The state must be held responsible for the attack.”
Some campaigners have raised the alarm over the threat to their lives.
They alleged that a hostile group unleashed violent attacks on them in Abuja last week and also assaulted foreign journalists covering their peaceful gathering.
The protesters, led by Bala Usman and Obiageli Ezekwesili, also alleged that the operation of the new group aligns with the message they got from the Presidency days earlier when they went there.
They narrated that they were told that “protest should be directed at the terrorists”, which means that Aso Rock is not the place to register their complaint.
The group leaders said: “Following our march to meet with President Goodluk Jonathan, during which he was represented by a delegation led by the Secretary to the Government [Anyim Pius Anyim], a speech was read on his behalf advising our movement #BringBackOurGirls, Abuja Family: that protests should be directed at the terrorists.
“Last Monday, May 26, being the 27th day of our daily gathering at the Unity Fountain and the 42nd day since the abduction of our girls, we observed a large contingent of a new group that arrived in over 30 federal government SURE P Buses with a message that aligned with what we had been told during our meeting with the federal government delegation.
“Understanding fully the constitutional guarantee of every citizens’ right to their expression and to peaceful gathering, we continued with our own meeting in a new location, having lost our usual spot to the new group.
“Regrettably, we then witnessed patterns of escalating aggression toward our group by this new group.”
They added that they wrote letters of complaint dated May 28 to the Inspector General of Police and the Federal Capital Territory Police Commissioner asking the police “to be available to reprimand the aggressive group.”
The protesters said but when the new group eventually struck, police officers present did not intervene.
“Unfortunately, what we feared would happen unfolded, and tragically with officers of the Nigerian Police Force looking on, thugs, hooligans, miscreants dressed in the red, yellow, and white T-shirts with the inscription: ‘#ReleaseOurGirls Boko Haram’ burst upon our group breaking chairs, and bottles on the heads of members of ‘#BringBackOurGirls, Abuja’, many of the women broke down.
“They snatched the phones and hand bags of ladies in our group and also attacked local and international media correspondents, confiscating and breaking their cameras.
“The police, at a point, arrested two of the ringleaders, but before our very eyes, released them barely 10 minutes after.”
The protesters urged Jonathan, the government and the international community to act against the violence visited on them, a women-led civil society group driven by the plight of the abducted girls and their families.
Despite the incident, they said, “we remain resolute in standing with the Chibok girls.”
One of the organisers of the protest, Rinsola Abiola, confirmed in a statement on May 30 that harassment will not stop their agitation.
The protesters have relocated their meeting from Unity Fountain to Amusement Park.
