“Lawyer Adeyanju Condemns Attack on El-Rufai’s Coalition Meeting in Kaduna”
Nigerian human rights lawyer and activist, Deji Adeyanju, has condemned the violent attack on supporters of former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, during a meeting of the ADC Coalition in Kaduna.
In a statement released on Saturday, Adeyanju described the incident as “a clear case of political intolerance,” alleging that pro-government thugs stormed the gathering while security operatives looked on.
According to him, several attendees sustained injuries, while vehicles belonging to participants were vandalised during the assault.
He criticised the Nigerian police for failing to prevent the violence despite being present at the scene.
He stressed that democracy thrives on freedom of choice and association, insisting that citizens must be able to express dissenting views without fear of violence.
He noted that the attack occurred without police intervention, which he said underscored the growing climate of political intolerance in the country.
The human rights lawyer said, “I condemn in its entirety the pro government sponsored hoodlum attack on El-Rufai’s ADC Coalition meeting in Kaduna which has led to injury of several of their members and damage of vehicles. Democracy is about the freedom of choice and association. People should be able to congregate and oppose the government in a democracy.
“Every citizen of Nigeria should be able to hold divergent political views, hold meetings or assemble with others to express their political views and oppose those in power without fear of attack by the government or its proxies.
“The sad part is that the attack on ElRufai’s supporters happened in the presence of police officers. This is political intolerance and it is completely unacceptable,” he added.
Earlier, SaharaReporters reported that a group of state government-hired thugs attacked the transition meeting of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Kaduna town, injuring several persons.
SaharaReporters learnt that the SDP and ADC coalition meeting was held under the leadership of Malam Nasir El-Rufai, the immediate past governor of the state.
The government-backed thugs attacked the Kaduna State Transitional Leadership meeting at Conference Hall of NUT Endwell in Magadishu Layout.
It was gathered that some members were attacked and had severe injuries from the thugs while the windscreens of several vehicles including that of El-Rufai were destroyed, and some windows of the conference hall.
The thugs attacked the venue in the presence of armed policemen earlier deployed by the government to stop the meeting.
Sources at the meeting told SaharaReporters that the state government was said to have pressurised some event centres to cancel bookings earlier made by the opposition.
“This is an indication of the bloody politics that lies ahead heralding the political squabble between El-Rufai and his former godson, Governor Uba Sani.
“The thugs were mobilised by some government officials by one SSA on Special Duties known as Hon. Babaji to disrupt the opposition,” a top source revealed.
SaharaReporters obtained some pictures of those injured at the meeting and the video of the moment the thugs stormed the venue.
