News that security agencies may have placed two serving governors on a travel ban allegedly on the orders of President Muhammadu Buhari has gone viral.
Nigerian Tribune on Sunday, May 29, 2016 reported that two governors one from the South West and the other from the South South have been placed on a travel ban because their actions were considered a “threat to the nation’s security”.
It was also gathered that the two governors were directed to have a chat with principal officers of security agencies before embarking on any trip outside the country.
Sources from the presidency who are privy to the matter disclosed that the directive has already been distributed to security officials at all entry and exit points in Nigeria.
Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State in reaction to the reports on Monday, May 30, 2016 identified himself as one of the affected governors. He described the plot by Buhari and his agents as a threat to his fundamental human rights and maintained that he cannot be cowered.
“Under the federal system of government, State governors are not appendages of the President and as a leading opposition figure in Nigeria, I cannot be cowed by President Muhammadu Buhari and his agents,” Fayose said in a statement.
The special assistant on public communications to Fayose, Lere Olayinka, told newsmen during a press conference that the governor had reliably informed earlier of the said plot but he dismissed it as a mere rumour until the reports surfaced on Sunday, May 29, 2016.
Olayinka,said, “He would travel out of Nigeria anytime he so wishes. I am not surprised or disappointed by this latest plot of the Buhari’s government because the President Buhari that we know is a man without any atom of respect for the rights of Nigerians as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and by this he demonstrated as a military dictator and now demonstrating as a democratically elected president.
“A few days ago, when Governor Fayose was reliably informed that President Buhari had directed that he should be banned from travelling outside Nigeria, he simply took the information as mere rumour, concluding that disrespect for the constitution of Nigeria and Buhari’s dictatorship would not be extended to the most ridiculous level of preventing a governor elected just as the president from travelling out of the country.
“However, when we read the story titled; “2 govs under watch, face travel ban” published on Sunday by two major national dailies, we have no option than to once again alert the public on President Buhari’s new dictatorial plot to infringe on the constitutional rights of Governor Fayose just because of his critical position of the president’s dictatorial tendencies.
“The question is; if Governor Fayose has become a threat to the security of Nigeria just because he criticises President Buhari and says the truth about his mis-governance of the country, is this not a confirmation that the President hates dissenting views?
“Section 35 (1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) provides that: ‘Every person shall be entitled to his personal liberty and no person shall be deprived of such liberty,’ while Section 41 (1) provides that ‘Every citizen of Nigeria is entitled to move freely throughout Nigeria and to reside in any part thereof, and no citizen of Nigeria shall be expelled from Nigeria or refused entry thereto or exit therefrom.”
