By Cross Udo, Abuja
The leadership of United Action Front of Civil Society, the organized platform of the Nigerian Civil Society on issues of governance and democracy in Nigeria, has said it is deeply concerned about the alleged threat to the life of an internationally acclaimed investigative journalist, David Hundeyin, who is presently on asylum in Ghana.
Hundeyin had, in a recent distress call, alleged that the Nigerian government is orchestrating a plot to have him repatriated from Ghana ostensibly to harass and unjustly detain him.
Recall that Hundeyin has been one of the arrowheads of advocates demanding that the academic records of President Bola Tinubu be made public by Chicago State University (CSU).
A statement signed by Olawale Okunniyi, Head, National Coordinating Centre, United Action Front of Civil Society, said Hundeyin is accusing the Federal Government of being after him for leaking a secret document of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) regarding ploy to invade Niger Republic against popular demands that political solution rather than military action should be deployed in resolving the Niger impasse following the ouster of civil rule on July 26, 2023.
According to the statement, “Hundeyin, in a distress call, pointedly alerted the world about the threat to his life by those uncomfortable with his style of investigative journalism and therefore demanded that the Tinubu regime should be held responsible if anything untoward happens to him in the course of his present travail.
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“The organised Civil Society on issues of governance and democracy, therefore, calls on the international community to demand fair and just treatment for David Hundeyin in line with the extant provisions of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) of the African Union (AU) as well as the relevant provisions of the United Nations; particularly the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
“We are also compelled to make a demand on Ghanaian President, Nana Akufo-Addo to ensure the safety of David Hundeyin within the sovereignty of Ghana and to resist the pressure to expel the Nigerian journalist who is carrying out the universally recognised duty of investigative reporting. We demand that the government of Ghana should respect the asylum status of David Hundeyin whose safety and life cannot be guaranteed in Nigeria at the moment.
“Finally, United Action Front of Civil Society demands that the Tinubu government should come clean on the allegation that it has mobilised security agencies to hunt down David Hundeyin within and outside Nigeria.
“We wish to alert the diplomatic community and eminent leaders of Nigeria about the danger of deporting David Hundeyin to Nigeria as the Tinubu government has, since assumption of office, demonstrated a penchant for undue arrests and extra-judicial detention with utter disregard for the rule of law.”
