Reacting, former Aviation Minister Femi Fani-Kayode said: “..It is nothing less than a descent into fascism and a violation of the fundamental human rights”
Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday rejected the travel ban on 50 Nigerians by the Federal Government.
The PDP in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said that the ban was an attempt by the presidency to foist a full-blown fascism on the country.
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The presidency had in a statement signed by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said that a travel ban has been placed on 50 high profile Nigerians, as part of the implementation of the Executive Order 6 signed recently by President Muhammadu Buhari.
But the PDP stated that the ban was targeted at opposition parties’ members perceived as political enemies of President Buhari and others suspected to be averse to his reelection bid. It noted that the EO6 is direct clampdown of the nation’s democracy and rights of citizens as guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution (as amended). “We hope this is not a ploy to harm certain eminent Nigerians on the claims of resisting travel restrictions.
“The whole world can now see how fascism is fast taking over our democracy and judicial system and how the Buhari administration, by fiat, has directly ordered that citizens be secretly trailed, their movements and financial transactions restricted by government agencies, without recourse to due process of the law.
“While the PDP notes that the presidency has gone into panic mode since the popular emergence of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as PDP Presidential candidate and the spontaneous jubilation his emergence has evoked across the country, the party maintains that the resort to total clamp down on the opposition and our supporters will be totally unacceptable.
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“What this means is that all Nigerians, particularly opposition members, members of the business community and religious leaders, have become endangered and stand the risk of state violence under the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration.
“The PDP, therefore, alerts the international community to hold the Buhari Presidency responsible should any harm befall any opposition leader, key members of the business community and religious leaders across the country as we march towards the 2019 general elections,” the party said.
Also reacting, former Aviation Minister, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode said: “The banning of 50 prominent Nigerians who are all members of the opposition from travelling out of the country by Buhari’s Executive Order and the power to confiscate their assets even though they have not been empowered to do so by a court of law or convicted of any offence is utterly shameful and condemnable. It is nothing less than a descent into fascism and a violation of the fundamental human rights and civil liberties of the individuals that have been directly affected and the Nigerian people.
“It is also a usurpation of the role of the judiciary. Buhari is so desperate to remain in power that he has now resorted to attempting to muscle and intimidate the opposition. He forgets that he is not God and that he will soon leave power. I condemn his lawless and desperate ways in the strongest terms. Only dictators behave in this way and Buhari has proved to be the most brutal and callous of them all in the history of our nation. I challenge him to do his worse and enjoy the short time that he has left in office. Sadists never last. Soon it will all be over and he will account for his evil ways and brought to justice.”