The Immediate Past 2nd Vice President Of The NBA Association, Monday Ubani, much known as MOU, has said that the Nigerian youths under president Buhari ‘s led administration are endangered species, they are buffeted right, left and centre and have sat down for too long and as such needs to stand up for their rights.

He said that It is either youth are arrested and flung into long detention by both States and Federal government authorities or that the government of the day are enacting laws through the legislative assemblies to permanently shut their mouth up in the name of regulating the social media space.

He gave an instance with the incident that happened last week Friday, between State Security Service (SSS) and the Convener of REVOLUTION NOW, Yele Sowore who was wrestled to the ground in the courtroom in the full glare of the world as shown in the social media, stating that the drama alone should get everyone convinced that a full-blown war has been declared against the youth of this country.

MOU speaking on Tuesday at the Human Rights Summit held in Lagos, said that every new government in Nigeria comes with mouth-watering promises which hardly get fulfilled.

“The new government in place came with the kind of promises that even the devil would have been convinced except some few angels who kept warning that the leopard cannot change its skin. Having been elected and they fell short of expectations including the display of executive recklessness, criticisms came in torrents.

“Yele Sowore has been in the detention facility of DSS since August, despite court order granting him bail. Abubakar Idris popularly know as Dandiyata, a lecturer at the Federal University, Dutsinma Katsina, a critic of the APC was sent to jail for daring to speak out to challenge the government of anti-Peoples’ policies. Agba Jalingo is spending over 3 months in detention at the pleasure of the governor of Cross River State, Prof Ben Ayade for daring to demand the whereabouts of about 500 million Naira the said governor was alleged to have used to birth a microfinance bank that is presently not functional. He was charged among others of the offence of planning to overthrow the State Government of Cross River State

Speaking further, he said that there are other Nigerian Youths in different prisons across the various States in Nigeria for writing or speaking against the government at the various States and at the centre.

“No one is spared, no one is free. The human rights community is clearly under heavy watch and threat. For some of us we are barely being tolerated. I was the guest of FCC for 23 days recently. Chief Mike Ozekome SAN, the Eze Gburugburu of Ndi Igbo is my able lawyer who took measures that I will treasure the rest of my life to ensure that my rights that were violated got redressed in the court of law. Our FF SAN, I call him my worthy mentor and big uncle decried the criminalization of a matter that was purely civil between me and them. He spoke out openly in the day, in the night I was called out and asked to be released. I turned down the offer, requesting that I would rather come out in the morning rather than coming out of detention by the ungodly hour of 11 pm.

“My experience in there, I will treasure the rest of my life. When I became a downcast, it took the soothing words of Femi Falana SAN when he came visiting that he could remember when and how he spent 9 months in prison in the North. At that time I was already spending 18 days and feeling as if I have spent years but by the time I heard the testimony of FF SAN of spending 9months in prison, I knew that I had better brace up for a long haul. I became strengthened when he left because I resolved that if he could spend 9 months and came out alive and he is today one of the leading human rights lawyers in Nigeria, I need his experience both theoretically and practically to appreciate the benefits of freedom and how to intensify my self imposed task of liberating people from the shackles of oppression and illegal detention.

“I saw first hand how the judiciary is being used by the agency and this is applicable to DSS, police, etc to violate the rights of the citizens. These agencies go to the court and obtain ex parte orders to detain citizens beyond 24 and 48 hours, extending them to some 14 days, 20 days or 30 days depending on the number of days that suit their fancy. These orders obtained exparte are usually not communicated to the defendants in question. Perhaps you are only made aware if your lawyers commence an action for the enforcement of your rights in court and it is at that point they will file a counter affidavit informing the court that they have earlier on obtained a court order to detain that individual beyond the time constitutionally

“My prescription on this is that the courts should refuse any such ex parte application that seeks to elongate the detention of a citizen beyond the timeline allowed by the constitution which is usually 24 or at maximum 48 hours except the defendant should be put on notice. This should be the minimum standard. However, wherever the court is satisfied that the exigencies of a particular case will not permit the luxury of putting the defendant on notice and is minded to grant such ex parte orders, the Court should and must give an ancillary order that the ORDER OF THE COURT MUST BE SERVED ON THE DEFENDANT IMMEDIATELY TO LET HIM OR HER BE AWARE THAT HIS OR HER DETENTION IS BEING EXTENDED BY AN ODER OF COURT AND THIS WILL ENABLE THE DEFENDANT TO TAKE STEP OR STEPS TO HAVE THE ORDER REVIEWED OR SET ASIDE FOR SOME VITIATING FACTORS,” he said.

Reminiscing on how Nigeria got independence said that many of the officers who held sway in that era have refused to pass the baton and leave the scene.

“They have recycled themselves from soldiers to politicians and from kingmakers to the so-called elder statesmen whose approval and blessings must be sought before one can aspire to occupy any political leadership position in the country.

“While nations that understand the times are electing young ones to take over the running of their countries, Nigeria’s leadership architecture is peopled with old men and women all over.

“Electing younger people as leader is the new way to go as the world plans leadership succession in such an orderly manner over to their YOUTHS to keep the world safe and better. Nigeria’s and America’s examples are exceptions rather than the rule. You can also see their leadership style which is full of aberrations and apologies.

“The Nigerian youth should really stand up to be counted as regards their political and fundamental human rights. They should refuse to be accustomed to the gross violations of their rights, they have intimidating demographic credentials that they can use to their greatest advantage.

He urged the youth to insist on the application of the fundamental objectives and directive principles of state policy and the fundamental human rights provisions in our constitution.

“Let them resist the passage of the Social Media Regulation and the Hate Speech Bills as that will really curtail their freedom of expression over the governance of the country.

“They must also insist that the government of the day at the executive level should and must respect other arms of government and must not desecrate our institutions like the judiciary as that will otherwise destroy the very fabric of the country,” he added.