The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has criticised the Kogi State governor, Usman Ododo, and the state police over the ban on political activities in the Okehi Local Government Area, where suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan was to meet her family and engage with her constituents.

HURIWA said the announcement of the ban two days before Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan’s homecoming event was politically motivated.

The association said in a statement by its national coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, that the police, which should serve independently in protecting and serving all citizens without bias, was instrumental in trying to block Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan’s visit to her hometown.

The HURIWA accused the police of being a tool for the All Progressives Congress, particularly in Kogi State, in trying to stop the senator’s visit.

“HURIWA is miffed that the Nigeria Police Force, which is a creation of the Nigerian Constitution that ought to work to advance the common good, has unfortunately become the official ‘attack dog’ and has further deteriorated to become the official ‘lapdog’ of the All Progressives Congress,” the association said.

Okehi LGA chairman Amoka Eneji had announced a ban on all political gatherings, noting “the decision was aimed at maintaining peace and order”.

Police authorities in the state also urged Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan to cancel her planned homecoming visit due to security threats.

However, HURIWA called on the police leadership to immediately take steps “to shake off their parasitic attachment to the party that produced the current president of Nigeria” and comply with the constitution’s provisions in carrying out their duty.

HURIWA asserted that the situation was a deliberate plot to undermine the senator’s constitutional freedom of movement and peaceful assembly.

It criticised the involvement of the APC in the act and called for an investigation into the conduct of the police and its commissioner.

“Why should the Kogi State Police Command follow sheepishly the political directive of the APC governor by abusing the Police Act of 2020 and using illegal means through totally politically motivated and contrived reasons to attempt to stop Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan from exercising her constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights to freedom of movement, freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of information?” it said.

The association decried the “deterioration of policing standards” and urged the state police commissioner to investigate and provide evidence of security threats that necessitated the ban.

“HURIWA believed that the so-called security concerns were the contrived and dangerously partisan plot of the All Progressives Congress to frustrate the PDP senator from going ahead with her preplanned rally. This is undemocratic,” It said.