The Human Rights Writers Association (HURIWA) of Nigeria has demanded the immediate sack of Directors-General and Chief Executives of federal agencies reportedly involved in campaigns for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election in 2027.
HURIWA, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, on October 2, said serving agency chiefs seeking roles in the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council amounts to a clear conflict of interest and politicisation of public institutions.
The group said it is unacceptable for appointees mandated to run government agencies for all Nigerians to openly act as political campaigners while still in office.
It specifically faulted the reported pledge by the Forum of Chief Executives of Federal Parastatals to deliver 10 million votes for President Tinubu, describing it as troubling.
According to HURIWA, agency heads should focus their time and institutional resources on their statutory mandates rather than partisan mobilisation.
“Federal government agencies belong to the Nigerian people and must serve citizens irrespective of their political affiliation, ethnicity, religion or ideological persuasion,” the group stated.
It warned that allowing serving chief executives to participate in campaign structures exposes public resources, networks and platforms to partisan use and undermines trust in the neutrality of government institutions.
The rights group urged President Tinubu to remove any agency head who has chosen campaigning over neutral administration and replace them with technocrats and professionals committed to their mandates.
It said anyone desiring to play active partisan politics should first resign from government.
HURIWA also rejected what it described as an attempt to convert federal agencies into extensions of the APC campaign organisation, noting that the complementary campaign structure reportedly being promoted — covering grassroots mobilisation, media management, election planning and monitoring — blurs the line between governance and politics.
It maintained that campaign mobilisation is strictly a political function and must not become an additional duty for public officials.
The association cautioned that public funds, vehicles, facilities, personnel and databases must never be deployed for the electoral interest of any party or candidate.
HURIWA, therefore, called on the Presidency to draw a clear line between government administration and partisan politics and ensure serving agency chiefs respect that distinction to protect the integrity of the public service ahead of the 2027 elections.