By Angela Atabo
Amnesty International Nigeria has called on Nigerians to embrace the “power of the pen” as a tool for promoting justice and defending human rights across the country.
The Chairman of Amnesty International Nigeria, Auwal Rafsanjani, made the call at the Amnesty International Nigeria 2025 Write for Rights Campaign with the theme “Write, Create, and Defend” in Abuja on Wednesday.
Rafsanjani said that Nigeria is faced with challenges of shrinking civic space, discrimination and inequality, injustice in policing, legal, and governance systems among others.
According to him, Write for Rights campaign has been one of the methods that Amnesty International globally use to demand for justice for oppression and injustice.
Rafsanjani described the Write for Rights as a powerful thing that Nigerians could use their pens to do.
“Every year, millions of people from different countries, different cultures, and different backgrounds use their pens, their voices, and their platforms to demand justice for individuals whose rights have been violated.
“These are people who have been wrongfully detained, silenced, tortured, or targeted simply for who they are, what they believe, or the peaceful work they do.
“Today, here in Nigeria, we join that global movement not out of sympathy alone, but out of solidarity, conviction, and a shared belief that every person deserves dignity, freedom, and protection under the law.”
According to him, Write for Rights is built on a simple truth “when people unite, change becomes inevitable.
“A letter can give hope to a prisoner of conscience. A letter can comfort a family searching for justice. A letter can signal to oppressors that silence is not an option.
“Nigeria is a country rich in courageous voices, people who stand their ground bit are often at great risk.
“Write for Rights is both a reminder and a call, a reminder that rights must be defended, and a call for action from each of us.
“As we gather here, let us remember that each letter we write today is more than ink on paper. It is a message of hope to someone who may feel forgotten.
“It is a demand for accountability to those who misuse power. It is a record of our collective refusal to remain silent,” Rafsanjani said.
Also speaking, the Country Director of Amnesty International Nigeria, Isa Sanusi, underscored the life-saving power of collective action.
Sanusi cited the remarkable case of Moses Akatugba, a Nigerian man who was sentenced to death as a minor but later pardoned following a high-profile international human rights campaign as proof that global solidarity could turn the tide for victims of injustice.
He said that Amnesty International adopted Akatugba’s case as part of its global Write for Rights campaign, a programme that mobilises people around the world to send letters, petitions and messages of solidarity to authorities on behalf of individuals at risk.
“What you are doing today is not an exercise in futility. It makes a lot of impact.These letters really go to the right people. They materialise into real changes.”
Ms Funke Adeoye, in her keynote address titled “Our Vioces, Their Freedom:The Responsibility of a New Generation of Rights Defenders” said in spite of
26 years of uninterrupted democracy, human rights violations remained widespread.
Adeoye, who is also the Founder of Hope Behind Bars Africa, called for renewed citizen action to defend human rights, challenging youths to use the tools available to them: their voice, art, education, mobile device, and pen to fight injustice.
She urged Nigerians to write petitions with intention that their actions could give someone else freedom.(NAN)
