CITIZENS COMPASS— An Osun State senator from the All Progressives Congress (APC), Francis Fadahunsi, is to face the music for issuing a death threat to members of the Accord Party in the State, Amnesty International has vowed.
Amnesty International disclosed this yesterday, in its campaign against inflammatory political rhetoric and election-related incitement.
The group warned Nigerian politicians that reckless statements capable of triggering violence will no longer be treated with impunity.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, Country Director of Amnesty International Nigeria, Isa Sanusi, said the organisation would pursue accountability over alleged comments attributed to Fadahunsi and ensure that the matter receives international attention.
Fadahunsi, who represents Osun East Senatorial District in the National Assembly and is a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), came under criticism after a video circulated on social media allegedly showed him making remarks interpreted as a call for violence against members of the Accord Party.
The senator was subsequently summoned by the Osun State Police Command on Tuesday and questioned for about two hours on Wednesday.
For Amnesty International, however, the controversy represents something bigger than one politician or one election.
Sanusi said the organisation would use the case to demonstrate that politicians could not make statements capable of provoking violence and expect such conduct to go without consequences.
We are going to use him as an example. We have had so many terrible politicians say terrible things ahead of the election,” Sanusi said.
He described the alleged statement attributed to Fadahunsi as particularly troubling, saying it involved an apparent instruction to supporters to “kill them wherever you find them.”
Sanusi said advocacy of hatred and incitement to violence constituted serious violations requiring a firm response from Nigerian authorities.
According to him, Amnesty International would continue to challenge what it described as the culture of impunity among political actors and would ensure that the Fadahunsi case receives international visibility across the countries where the organisation operates.
