The Trade Union Congress, or TUC, has urged the federal government to refrain from targeting a female corps member who purportedly expressed disapproval of President Bola Tinubu’s present administration in a widely shared video.
Recall that the corps member raised an alarm on Sunday that officials of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, were threatening her for her criticism of Tinubu’s administration.
TUC President, Festus Osifo, who was a guest on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, said that the corps member spoke out of frustration, urging the government not to go after her but to be tolerant of critics.
The Lagos-based NYSC member, Ushie Uguamaye, had taken to TikTok to criticize Tinubu’s government over the hardship Nigerians face as a result of the administration’s economic reforms.
Her video went viral and got the attention of NYSC officials, whom she later accused of calling her and issuing a threat to her to delete the video.
Meanwhile, NYSC is yet to release an official statement regarding the issue.
“They (the government) have to develop this resilience to understand that people are frustrated, people are hungry, people are tired. So, if they decide to vent, I strongly believe that the government should not personalize it and come after such individuals.
“Imagine a young lady carrying out her NYSC function; what does she really have to do to bring down the government? So, it is about personal frustration that she has aired.
“So, I think that the government has to persevere much more, they have to be more tolerant, and they have to have this deep level of patience with Nigerians because people are passing through a lot as it stands today,” the TUC boss said.
Osifo, however, advised critics to always criticize the government within the expected norm and with some level of decorum.
In a statement released earlier on Sunday, Amnesty International also condemned the alleged threats and intimidation being faced by the Lagos-based corps member.
It said that the federal government must stop threatening individuals and groups who criticize the current administration.
“The Nigerian authorities must stop responding with violence and threats to individuals and groups who express dissenting opinions—in utter disregard for the Nigerian constitution and international law. Holding and voicing dissenting views is not a crime,” the organization wrote in a statement on its X handle.
Written By Matthew Atungwu