The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), a non-profit organisation, has urged President Bola Tinubu and his government to stop the ‘weaponisation’ of the country’s security agencies to target Nigerians simply for the peaceful exercise of their human rights, and to direct the Department of State Services (DSS) to immediately withdraw the baseless defamation lawsuit by their proxies against its organisation and management staff.
Recall that two named DSS officials, last week, filed a defamation lawsuit against SERAP, following allegations by the organisation regarding the recent invasion of its Abuja office by some officials of the security agency.
In the open letter dated October 19, 2024, and signed by SERAP deputy director, Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation said: “We are seriously concerned that your government seems to be weaponising the DSS and misusing defamation laws as a tool of repression and to target those who defend human rights.”
