PHOTO REPORT: Nigerian Civil Society Group Decries Morsi's Ouster in Egypt

As criticisms mount on the ousting and detention of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, and the attendant crisis in the country, a coalition of civil society groups in Lagos, Nigeria, Wednesday took its protest to the Lagos State House of Assembly in solidarity with the pro-Morsi protesters in Egypt, calling for the reinstatement of the ousted president.

The group, known as 'Nigerian Civil Society Coalition Against Coups and Militarization of Politics in Africa' comprised several civil society organisations isuch as the Committee for Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), and Coalition of Islamic Organisation (CIO), among others.

It condemned the Egyptian military for the killing of protesters, who are against the present interim government backed by the military in the country. Egypt is under a state of emergency as the military-backed interim leaders crack down on Islamists opposed to the army's ousting of Morsi.

Almost 900 people have been killed in the country since last Wednesday. Among them are 36 Islamist protesters who died in a prison van in Cairo on Sunday.

In a statement presented to the House for onward transmission to the state government, the coalition described the unfolding events in Egypt as a clear violation of the rights of citizens as contained in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR) as well the African Charter on Human and People's rights. "We condemn strongly the declaration of state of emergency by the usurping military junta in Egypt. Emergency rule has no place in a democratic or democratizing dispensation," the group said.

The protesters likened the current killing of citizens in Egypt by the military to the brutal hallmark of famous tyrant ruler Pharaoh.

"General Sisi does not belong to the Africa of today, neither does he represent the promise of a continent determined to shake off the vestiges of negative and very corrupt past," the statement added.

According to them, their protest in Nigeria against the killings in Egypt was expedient in preventing the spread of the oddity throughout the continent. Receiving the protesters on behalf of the Lagos State Government, the House Chairman of Information Committee, Mr. Segun Olulade, said the House would begin and continue to issue statements condemning the use of military against innocent citizens.

"We at Lagos State House shall work with you. On Morsi we remain because he is the choice of the people," Olulade added.