SERAP asks Buhari to stop IDPs’ eviction in Abuja

A civil society organisation, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to prevent the forced eviction of internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in WASU IDP camp in the Apo District of Abuja.

The organisation, in an open letter to the president on Sunday, said its call followed the reported threat by the landlord of the estate, where the IDPs were camped, to eject them.

According to SERAP, the owner of the estate had already served an eviction notice on the IDPs while there was no alternative relocation or local integration option open to the IDPs.

But the organisation said allowing the threatened eviction of the IDPs in the circumstances would occasion a breach of the African Union’s Kampala Convention on the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced that Nigeria is a signatory to.

SERAP, in the said letter signed by its Executive Director, Adetokunbo Mumuni, expressed the fear that if the ejection of the IDPs was allowed, they would be rendered homeless and many would become destitute without food, water and other critical life requirements.

It, therefore, urged Buhari’s government to publicly declare the planned eviction of the IDPs unacceptable, saying that any plan to move the IDPs from their present camp ought to “inevitably include a clear commitment to ensure their security and access to basic assistance.”

SERAP noted that the government was obligated to protect IDPs against any form of forced eviction or resettlement to any place where their life, safety, liberty or health could be at risk, adding that the government ought to discuss with them before embarking on any plan to relocate them.