A civil society, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), has condemned the invasion of the office of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) in Abuja by men of the Department of State Services.
CDD described the invasion as unfortunate as it called for an end to the intimidation of the civil society in Nigeria.
In a statement signed by its Director, Idayat Hassan, and obtained by SaharaReporters on Thursday, CDD noted that civil society organisations are guaranteed protection by the country’s constitution and such official intimidation would not be tolerated.
CDD argued that if the DSS had questions for CISLAC, they should have invited the group for questioning instead of recourse to brutal force.
It added, “CISLAC is a leading civil society organisation operating in Nigeria for 15 years. We, therefore, call on the DSS to investigate and clarify her position immediately.
“At this stage, Nigerians need to have faith in their government. Civil Society is not against the government but merely performing duties as watchdogs and is a partner in progress.
“The Nigeria civil society played a core role in midwifing the democracy the country currently enjoys. In the last 21 years of democracy, the civil society movement has contributed to every facet of life, ranging from elections, accountability, economy, health, water; we have taken it upon ourselves to support the people, the government and protect democracy.
“Unfortunately, civil society has faced a lot of intimidation from different quarters in government. A recap of the last 24 hours is quite revealing; while the DSS was hounding CISLAC, another staffer at the Presidency, authored an opinion obnoxiously referring to the civil society as an evil society.
“She went ahead to vilify some civil society members in manners detrimental to their safety. These attacks are one too many and are many attempts to shrink the civic space.
“CDD stands with CISLAC and calls on the Nigeria government to graciously end the attack on the civic space.”
