Freedom of Information Act forum foiled by the police

HEAVILY armed policemen numbering over 50 Tuesday stormed Nicon Luxury Hotel in Abuja, venue of a colloquium on Freedom of Information Act 2011 (FoI) being organised by Anti-Corruption Network and prevented participants from gaining access into the venue.

Dignitaries said to be expected to attend the event include former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Femi Falana (SAN), Balarabe Musa,  Audu Ogbeh, Gen. Ahmed Aboki (rtd), Director General of National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mike Omeri, representatives of the Minister of Justice, chairman of ICPC and his EFCC counterpart.

No reason was given by the police authorities on why they took the action.

Reacting to the development, the Executive Secretary, Anti Corruption Network and the convener of the event, Melaye said: “We were here throughout last night (Monday) in preparation for today’s programme. We’ve made payment for the venue and the feeding. This morning, we came over to open the hall and the management of the hotel briefed us that there is an order from the IGP stopping the programme. I then asked why the police would stop a programme to which they’ve been invited as participants.”

Melaye, who claimed that two letters were sent to the IGP to send participants to the event, said” I have two letters here acknowledged by the office of the IGP, where we told them to send 20 participants. The theme of the colloquium is “Demystifying the Complexities of FoI and How to Empower the People.”

Also speaking, Balarabe Musa described the incident as a show of shame. “Since the government cannot justify that this campaign against corruption is just a cover-up, the only thing they can do is to ensure that a function like this which will expose the level of corruption in this country doesn’t hold. This is stupid. No matter what happens, there is a limit to which you can limit certain things. We will continue to expose corruption”.