Covid-19 Lockdown: Huriwa To President Buhari-: Expect Law Suits Soon:

HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) is dissatisfied with the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari's ill-Conceived decision to extend the total lockdown of the Federal Capital Territory; Ogun State and Lagos State for a further two weeks with little or no concrete material and nutritional palliatives for the estimated 90 million absolutely poor Nigerians.

The Prominent Civil Rights Advocacy group-: HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has predicted an avalanche of class action suits demanding billions of damages to be filed by thousands of Nigerians against President Muhammadu Buhari for locking them up in their rooms; starving or attempting to starve millions of poor citizens to death and for failing to stop the massive but well coordinated armed criminal attacks of Nigerians in their homes during the lockdown in Lagos, Ogun as well as many other parts of Nigeria similarly attacked by armed hoodlums and armed Fulani herdsmen. HURIWA said that under the INTERNATIONAL OBLIGATION TO PROTECT President Muhammadu Buhari will be required to explain why his administration made no logistical arrangements to provide fool-proof security protection for millions of residents forced to stay indoors during the Month long lockdown ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari.

HURIWA in a statement by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director Miss Zainab Yusuf lamented that whereas in other societies like Australia whereby citizens asked to embark on few weeks of LOCKDOWN due to the ravaging COVID-19 AILMENT are paid $700 USD equivalent weekly for maintenance but in Nigeria the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has chosen to starve millions to death and has deployed badly behaved armed security forces to flog and humiliate members of the public who attempts to beat the inhumane and inconsiderate curfew to find some foods to sustain the lives of their starving members.

HURIWA lamented too that the 36 states and the FCT governments are throwing poor people who go out in search of foods to eat into prisons under the guise of enforcement of the quarantine Act without regards to the human rights provisions enshrined in chapter four of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria of 1999(as amended).

"Our sad reality under the current administration is that the President and his minders are under the illusion that they are above the law and can not be brought to justice no matter how heinous or monumental are the human rights violatios committed by them and the security forces under their watch. The Quarantine Act does not give the President the right to starve over 87 million absolutely poor Nigerians under lock and key with no provisions for their sustenance to their untimely deaths which may be inevitable if no redress is immediately activated. The current administration must be told that Nigeria by becoming a party to INTERNATIONAL TREATIES, and international laws then as a State the nation assumes OBLIGATIONS AND DUTIES UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW TO RESPECT, TO PROTECT AND TO FULFILL HUMAN RIGHTS ".

Besides, the Rights Advocacy group HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has described as mean hearted and insensitive, the Federal Government's decision to provide food reliefs to just a little above 3 million Nigerians out of the over 90 millions of our citizens that are categorized by the World Bank; International Monetary fund; Brookings institution as absolutely poor and unable to find balanced nutritions to sustain them on daily basis.

"HURIWA recalled that the President Muhammadu Buhari in his near unsympathetic speech stated that "in the past two weeks, we announced palliative measures such as food distribution, cash transfers and loans repayment waivers to ease the pains of our restrictive policies during this difficult time. These palliatives will be sustained. I have also directed that the current social register be expanded from 2.6 million households to 3.6 million households in the next two weeks. This means we will support an additional one million homes with our social investment programs. A technical committee is working on this and will submit a report to me by the end of this week."

HURIWA further recalled that in his national pre-recorded broadcast to Nigerians, the President failed to fully appreciate the inherent security implications of locking up citizens and making no concrete and supervised arrangements so the security forces provide efficient and effective security services in all parts of Nigeria but the President only faintly mentioned the security sector as follows: "The Security Agencies have risen to the challenges posed by this unprecedented situation with gallantry and I commend them. I urge them to continue to maintain utmost vigilance, firmness as well as restraint in enforcing the restriction orders while not neglecting statutory security responsibilities."

HURIWA however carpeted President Muhammadu Buhari for not sympathizing with hundreds of thousands of our citizens in such violent crimes prone areas of Lagos and Ogun States and specifically in Lagos State whereby the armed organised killer mafia known as 'One Million boys' are on the rampage, robbing, raping, maiming, killing and destroying lives and property of the citizens and the security forces that are only good at dishing out useless propaganda have so far failed spectacularly to check the violations of the fundamental human rights of citizens to their Rights to life and the dignity of their persons as provided for in the Nigerian constitution just as it is imperative to remind President Muhammadu Buhari to expect an avalanche of cases in the Federal High courts and State High Courts to challenge his central Government's deliberate failures to carry out its primary constitutional duty of protecting Lives and PROPERTY of the citizens.

HURIWA carpeted the President for overlooking the global reality of Nigeria being the home to the greatest percentage of the members of the human race who are absolutely poor just as the Rights group said the insignificant and obscure initiative through the corruption infested SOCIAL INVESTMENT PROGRAMME to provide food reliefs to only 3.6 million households means that the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS IN THE VERGE OF STARVING 87 MILLION ABSOLUTELY POOR NIGERIANS TO DEATH BY LOCKING THEM UP FOR FOUR WEEKS WITH NO SOCIAL SAFETY NETS TO KEEP THEM ALIVE.

HURIWA recalled that the internationally respected BROOKINGS INSTITUTION has authoritatively disclosed the extent of poverty, mass hunger and possibility of starving to deaths by millions of absolutely poor Nigerians as follows: "In contrast to other regions where selected countries have on-going issues with poverty reduction, almost all of Africa, especially sub-Saharan Africa, is off-track for ending extreme poverty. Indeed, 13 African countries are expected to see an increase in the absolute numbers of extreme poor between now and 2030. Today, Nigeria is the “poverty capital of the world”. If it is unable to change its current trajectory, it will be home to 110 million people living in extreme poverty by the year 2030. The second position in World Data Lab’s Global Poverty Ranking is currently occupied by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which will enter 2019 with more than 59 million poor people and end in 2030 with 61 million under current trajectories. By the end of 2030, nine of the 10 countries with the most poor people will be in Africa, up from seven countries today.

Global Poverty Ranking: African countries will represent 9 out of the top 10 by 2030

Global Poverty Ranking: African countries will represent 9 out of the top 10 by 2030

Note: Rankings end 2018 and projections for end 2030; Source: World Data Lab projections (base case)

In 2016, when the SDG era started, Africa accounted for just over 60 percent of global poverty. Today, it is over 70 percent. By 2030, it could be close to 90 percent. It seems clear that Africa remains the last frontier of the world’s effort to end extreme poverty by 2030.

Will 2019 be the year that global attention, energy, and resources are finally mobilized to improve the situation in Africa, the last frontier of global poverty?"

HURIWA has therefore called on Nigerians to use lawful means to register their displeasure even as the Rights group charged the government and specifically President Muhammadu Buhari to work out home made remedies, cures and vaccines to stave off the CORONAVIRUS CHALLENGE instead of sitting down in the comfort of

ASOROCK to monitor on televisions through global news channels countries such as United Kingdom and United States of America in order to COPY AND PASTE those nation's panacea to the rampaging health emerhecy of COVID-19. "The beoadcast by President Muhammadu Buhari which extended the LOCKDOWN from all empirical evidence lacks Nigerian local contents and is heavily loaded with borrowed models of combating the COVID-19 AILMENT as constantly disclosed by the scientific community already mobilized by USA, UK and many other committed civilized nations of the World..