12th June, 2024
By Taiwo Okanlawon
A human rights activist based in the Niger Delta region, Israel Joe has said the people of Nigeria are not free given the economic and political situation of the country.
Joe made the assertion in a press release to mark the 2024 Democracy Day, saying, “On Democracy Day, I can boldly say that we are not free.”
He said, “Nigeria is not economically free, looking at the suffering and nosediving economic policies that have set a total decline for its people.”
Joe explained that “Nigeria is not free, looking at the lives and suffering state of the working class people in Nigeria.
“We are not free, looking at the fuel subsidy removal that has not been reflected in the average lives of the people.
“We are not free, with the rising cost of foodstuff in the market, that Nigerians are groaning, to purchase day in and day out.
“We are not free after twenty-five years of uninterrupted Democracy and can not boast of electricity power supply. We are not free.
“We are not free when we can not trust the process of our electoral umpires, thereby causing doubt to the most crucial process of democracy from which we derived this hollow Democracy Day called June 12.
“We are not free when our police and security forces still crazily extort, victimise, oppress, suppress, intimidate, over-detain, and harass the young people of Nigeria as though we are refugees in our own land.
“We hope that freedom begins from the minds of the elites to the agitations of the people. From the circle of injustice to the threshold of justice. From the lean path of inequality to the opposing path of equity. We hope and pray this day as we engage in another long work to genuine democracy.”