THE Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sent an open letter to the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council in Geneva, over the arbitrary arrest and repression of ‘#RevolutionNow’ protesters and organisers.

The open letter, as contained in a statement, was signed by its deputy director Kolawole Oluwadere on Thursday.

The letter recognised the repression by Nigeria Police Force and other security forces of ‘RevolutionNow’ protesters, organizers, activists, and journalists who covered the protests on Monday across the country.

It called for a special session to help stem the attack on human rights and contribute to UN efforts to prevent further abuses including arbitrary detention and excessive use of force.

The organisation stated its concern over the suppression of freedom of expression, attacks on journalists, bloggers, and human rights defenders by several state governments, as well as the intimidation and harassment of Amnesty International in Nigeria.

It noted the Amnesty International in Nigeria is consistently besieged by paid protesters, preventing it from carrying out its activities and giving the organisation ultimatum to leave Nigeria.

The organisation said the human rights situation in the country has drastically deteriorated, with the authorities at the Federal and State levels violating human rights and refusing to obey court judgments.

“The Human Rights Council should heed the rising chorus of concerns by Nigerians, journalists, human rights defenders, activists, and lawyers, and urgently convene a Special Session on the growing human rights crisis in the country,” SERAP said.

It called on the Council to address the “rapidly deteriorating human rights situation in several states of Nigeria as a matter of priority” and help prevent human right violations by Buhari government.