Travel Ban: Buhari repeating ‘evil Decree 2’ — Atiku

The Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate, Atiku
Abubakar, on Sunday condemned the restriction of 50 unnamed
Nigerians and seizure of their assets without due judicial
pronouncement.

President Muhammadu Buhari announced in a statement on 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 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.

Mr 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.

Read the full statement from Mr Abubakar’s office
below:

PRESS RELEASE

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.

While delivering an address at the annual general conference
of the Nigerian Bar Association on August 26, 2018, President
Buhari has said “where national security and public interest are
threatened or there is a likelihood of their being threatened, the
individual rights of those allegedly responsible must take second
place, in favour of the greater good of society.”

That was not only a faulty interpretation of the
constitution, the statement also betrays the dictatorial and
authoritarian mindset of President Buhari because only he gets to
decide who and what threatens national security.

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.

Funny enough, the Buhari administration were unable
to stop Abdulrasheed Maina, their financier, from leaving the
country after he was illegally brought back by them and reinstated
to the federal service with double promotion.

It is precisely this type of draconian orders that have
chased investors away from Nigeria and it is precisely why
Nigerians will chase this recession friendly government
away from power on February 16, 2019, so we can begin the job of
Getting Nigeria Working Again.

Atiku Presidential Campaign Organisation

120, Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent

Wuse II

Abuja

Nigeria.