The Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, yesterday condemned the restriction of 50 unnamed Nigerians and seizure of their assets without due judicial pronouncement.
President Muhammadu Buhari announced in a statement last Saturday that some 50 persons have been barred from travelling out of the country, saying the move was to deprive them the benefits of depleting their alleged loot.
Garba Shehu, a presidential spokesperson who circulated the statement last Saturday afternoon, did not say whether or not the administration procured a court approval before taking the measure considered unconstitutional by many Nigerians.
Mr Shehu said the government took the action against the backdrop of a court ruling upholding the president’s Executive Order 6 signed in July. But while the presiding judge, Ijeoma Ojukwu, validated the core principles of the executive order — preventing suspicious assets from being eroded — she warned the administration against implementing it without a court order.
President Buhari signed the order granting Attorney-General Abubakar Malami sweeping powers to seize assets of persons whom the administration deemed corrupt and placed under investigation.
The order did not emphasise that court orders must be procured before such actions could be taken against citizen, a provision Mrs Ojukwu essentially struck down in her ruling earlier this week, insisting instead that no Nigerian should be denied access to their possessions without a valid court order.
The controversial banning of 50 unidentified Nigerians had been fiercely criticised by rights and constitutional lawyers, who said it had no place in Nigerian laws and could be largely targeted at stifling opposition ahead of the 2019 general elections.
The main opposition Peoples Democratic Party was amongst the first set of entities to condemn Mr Buhari’s travel ban on Saturday night, describing it as the tactics of a fascist government that is becoming increasingly panicky about its re-election prospects.
The non-partisan Social and Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) also scolded the president for going down such a perilous road in a democratic nation, adding that the approach was inefficient and counterproductive towards assets recovery and general anti-corruption measures.
Mr Abubakar, who recently emerged the major challenger to Mr Buhari for 2019, joined the fray on Sunday afternoon, saying the order, which he described as a vestige of Mr Buhari’s brutal dictatorship from the 1980s, was capable of devastating the Nigerian economy, and could at worse plunge the most-populous black nation into anarchy.
“We must be unequivocal in saying that we abhor any act of criminality, financially or otherwise, but the rule of law must be our guide at all times or society will descend to anarchy,” Mr Abubakar said in a statement from his campaign office. “Thus, we find it most undemocratic that in a nation governed by the rule of law, a President who swore an oath to abide by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, does this.”
“It is a throwback to Buhari’s evil Decree Number Two of 1984 which criminalised truth telling if it did not please Buhari, proving that dictators can grow old, but they can’t grow into democrats.
“Under the Buhari administration, Nigeria has witnessed an unprecedented capital flight out of the nation to the extent that we are not even listed amongst the top ten recipients of Foreign Direct Investment in Africa in the latest ranking by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. It is salient to note that we were number one under the last Peoples Democratic Party administration,” Mr Abubakar added.
Mr Buhari has strongly denied all allegations of impunity or selective targeting of opposition figures in his anti-corruption campaign, urging Nigerians to dismiss the antics of his detractors and instead support him in the fight to rescue Nigeria from the jaws of greedy politicians who have plundered the country for decades.
The president said it was necessary for drastic measures to be deployed in the fight against corruption, else criminal elements would continue to use their vast questionable wealth to frustrate and pervert the nation’s judicial system.
Buhari’s Draconian Executive Order Would Lead to Capital Flight and Another Recession
Abuja, Nigeria, 14 October, 2018: Our attention has been drawn to the statement by the Presidency banning 50 unnamed Nigerians from travelling out of the country, purportedly on the strength of Executive Order 6. Their crime being that they are suspected of having property overseas and are involved in tax dodging or other alleged financial infractions.
We must be unequivocal in saying that we abhor any act of criminality, financially or otherwise, but the rule of law must be our guide at all times or society will descend to anarchy. Thus, we find it most undemocratic that in a nation governed by the rule of law, a President who swore an oath to abide by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, does this.
If past events are to be the judge, these 50 individuals will conveniently be critics and opponents of the Buhari administration. This is nothing short of intimidation ahead of the 2019 elections. This is what the Buhari administration did in Osun where they froze the accounts of the Adeleke family and then illegally and clandestinely paid ¦ 16.7 billion to the Osun state government to facilitate daylight electoral robbery.
The Nigerian Constitution guarantees every Nigerian citizen freedom of movement and freedom of association. This Constitutional right cannot be taken away except by a court order.
If the Buhari administration wants to curtail the rights of Nigerians, then they must go to court and obtain a court order. Anything short of this is unconstitutional and extrajudicial.
This sudden dictatorial act brings to mind President Buhari’s comments for which he was condemned by the international community and by the generality of Nigerians.
It is a throwback to Buhari’s evil Decree Number Two of 1984 which criminalised truth telling if it did not please Buhari, proving that dictators can grow old, but they can’t grow into democrats.
Under the Buhari administration, Nigeria has witnessed an unprecedented capital flight out of the nation to the extent that we are not even listed amongst the top ten recipients of Foreign Direct Investment in Africa in the latest ranking by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. It is salient to note that we were number one under the last Peoples Democratic Party administration.
In its reaction, the Olusegun Obasanjo-led Coalition for Nigeria Movement has lambasted the Federal Government for imposing a travel ban on 50 politically-exposed persons.
The CNM said this in a statement by its Director, Strategic Communications, Akin Osuntokun, on Sunday.
According to the coalition, the ban, which was done in line with Executive Order 6, was a subversion of the rule of law, reminiscent of military decrees.
The CNM also described the new executive order as an attempt to muzzle the opposition.
It said the executive order was in line with Buhari’s speech which he made at the Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association, wherein the President said rule of law must be subject to national interest.
The CNM said Buhari had been planning to use security agencies to achieve a hidden agenda hence his decision to compromise the nation’s security architecture.
Also, Anti-corruption Advocacy Group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, yesterday condemned the travel ban placed by the Federal Government on 50 high-profile persons accused of corruption, warning that it would be counter-productive for the government’s anti-corruption campaign.
The group, in a statement by its Deputy Director, Timothy Adewale, contended that the ban was “clearly arbitrary, repressive and illegal,” demanding that the Federal Government should lift it immediately.
This was as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Mike Ozekhome, argued that the travel ban was a usurpation of the power of the judiciary by the executive.
Ozekhome, who argued that the ban was targeted as members of opposition political parties and voices critical of the Federal Government, described it as “an extreme panicky measure of desperation” by President Muhammadu Buhari ahead of next year’s general elections.
SERAP, in its statement, argued that the travel ban violated both domestic and international laws that protect citizens’ human rights.
SERAP said, ”The order banning 50 alleged high-profile corrupt Nigerians from travelling abroad without any legal basis and a judicial authorisation is clearly arbitrary, repressive and illegal, as it breaches constitutional rights and the country’s international obligations, which protect the rights to freedom of movement, to leave one’s country, to privacy, and to due process of law.
“Rather than performing its declared objective of preventing dissipation of stolen assets, the travel ban would seriously undermine the government’s expressed commitment to combat grand corruption and violate the country’s international human rights obligations..
The restriction followed the judicial affirmation of the constitutionality and legality of the order.
The watch-list and restriction were put in place pending the conclusion of the cases against those affected.
The former governors barred from leaving the country are: Saminu Turaki (Jigawa), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Adebayo Alao-Akala (Oyo), Gabriel Suswam (Benue), Rasheed Ladoja (Oyo), Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia), Danjuma Goje (Gombe), Attahiru Bafarawa (Sokoto), Muazu Babangida Aliyu (Niger); Chimaroke Nnamani (Enugu); Sule Lamido (Jigawa); Gbenga Daniel (Ogun); and Ibrahim Shehu Shema (Katsina). The affected governors belong to both APC and PDP.
On the list also is the former National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki (rtd),
Two female former ministers , Nenadi Usman and Jumoke Akinjide also made the list, along with Bashir Yuguda, Bala Mohammed; Abba Moro; Femi Fani-Kayode; and Ahmadu Fintiri.
Others include a former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh; ex- Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral A. D. Jibrin; a former Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Mohammed Dikko Umar; a former Inspector-General of Police, Sunday Ehindero; and a former Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola Amosu; Chairman Emeritus of AIT/ Raypower, High Chief Raymond Dokpesi; Waripamowei Dudafa (a former Special Assistant (Domestic) to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan); a former Chief Judge of Enugu State, Justice Innocent Umezulike; a former judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia;
Also on the list are a former National Publicity Secretary of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh; Chief Jide Omokore; Ricky Tarfa; and Dele Belgore (SAN).
Most of the affected persons are currently facing trial for alleged corrupt practices in different courts.