Emmanuel Onwubiko, the National Coordinator of the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, on Wednesday, alleged threats to his life.
Onwubiko alleged that some unknown gunmen in a vehicle had accosted him at about 7 pm yesterday but were scared off by a police van.
He raised the alarm in a statement he issued on Wednesday.
Onwubiko alleged that the gunmen had trailed him for about 30 minutes before sighting the police van.
The activist claimed that the attempt on his life was coming a week after HURIWA had accused the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management of massive corruption in the school feeding programmes.
HURIWA had also invited the Minister in charge of the ministry, Sadiya Umar Farouq to an open debate aimed at dismissing the allegations.
It, however, lamented that rather than accept the open invitation to attend a public debate, the Minister’s followers opted to attack the group.
The right group claimed that followers of Farouq have been sponsoring media attacks against it due to the allegations it raised.
HURIWA’s statement reads partly: “At about 7pm on August 18, 2020, while Onwubiko was on his way home, he was waylaid by a Toyota Camry driven by a fierce-looking person with about two other armed occupants who trailed him for nearly thirty minutes and made attempt to hit his car from behind but fortunately, he escaped from the hands of these marauding attackers who then fled upon sighting a police van not too far from the scene.
“The attack has come after a week that Rights group – Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) had publicly alleged massive corruption in the school feeding programmes of the federal ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster management.
“The Minister’s self-acclaimed hack writer and supporters have gone overboard with a rash of publications in several newspapers with a campaign of calumny against HURIWA and the National Coordinator. Some journalists have also been paid to accuse HURIWA of harassing female ministers,” the statement added.Buhari’
