Chidi Odinkalu, former chairman of Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), has criticized the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for using protests to secure political power in 2015, only to later clamp down on demonstrations once in office.

Odinkalu made the remarks on Tuesday during an event organized by the NGO Global Rights, which was held on the X platform in observance of International Human Rights Day. The event’s theme was “Protest in Nigeria: A Democracy that Disqualifies Dissent.”

While addressing the issue of the right to protest in Nigeria, Odinkalu stated, “I’m not sure it’s within my pay grade to assess the performance of the Nigerian government on the right to protest. Partly because the right to protest is not granted by the government. It’s a right that belongs to the people.”

He explained that the government’s role should be to facilitate and protect protests, ensuring they are peaceful and that other people’s rights are respected. “What you do under the existing law… is liaise with the state, notify the state, so it can provide the necessary protection for the protest,” he added.

Odinkalu pointed out that the APC’s current leaders, from ex-President Muhammadu Buhari to President Bola Tinubu and key officials in the government, had a history of activism and protests. “They protested their way to an electoral victory in 2015,” he noted, underscoring that the APC’s rise to power was in part due to its protest-driven mobilization.

He added, “If you look at the past decade, the very fact that those who were once frequent protesters rose to political power is evidence that the right to protest in Nigeria, at least up until that point, was strong and respected.”

However, Odinkalu expressed disappointment that since the APC’s ascent to power, there has been a concerted effort to suppress protest movements. He pointed to the case of the “Bring Back Our Girls” campaign, which was instrumental in generating public pressure over the abduction of schoolgirls by Boko Haram. “That protest was part of the infrastructure used by the APC to gain political support,” Odinkalu said.

Yet, after assuming power, the government took steps to shut down the protest movement, including restricting access to the protest venue in Abuja. “They shut down that venue, effectively preventing further protests,” Odinkalu said. “And despite failing to make progress on the fate of the missing girls, they closed off that space for protest altogether.”

In summary, Odinkalu highlighted the irony of the APC, once a champion of protest, now undermining the very right it once championed in order to suppress dissent.