Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
Former Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, has described Gov. Monday Okpebholo of Edo State’s threat and movement restriction on the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, as “a direct challenge to Nigeria’s unity and a brazen attack on the constitution.”
The Chairman, South-East Senate Caucus, in a statement issued Wednesday in Abuja, slammed the Edo State Governor for the unprovoked threat which he noted, could stir crisis in the polity.
Abaribe who insisted that the Governor lacked the constitutional powers to abridge any citizen’s right of free movement, said Okpebholo should be held accountable for whatever happens to Obi.
Sen. Abaribe in the statement signed by him Media Adviser, Uchenna Awom, further said Okpebholo’s action could trigger a divisive trajectory that could “hurt Nigeria’s democratic advancement.”
He called for caution, warning that “Nigeria is still a constitutional democracy where the rights of everyone, particularly citizens of Nigeria are guaranteed.”
The statement read: “It is therefore disheartening that leaders who are supposedly the custodians of the letters and spirit of the 1999 constitution as amended would decide to willfully be at the driving seat of its denigration in the name of politics.
“Nigeria is governed by rules and her leaders in all sub-national governments subscribed to the adherence and respect to the rule of law as enshrined in the constitution.
“So one wonders where the Edo State governor derives his powers to bar a Nigerian citizen from visiting his State unless such a person obtains permission from him otherwise the person’s security will not be guaranteed. That is a dangerous threat to life that the authorities should not gloss over.
“It is very unfortunate that it seems our dear country is fast descending to lawlessness with this mindset and I pray that nothing happens to Mr Peter Obi.
“Governor Okpebolo who was a Senator and as such a lawmaker needs to be reminded that Nigeria belongs to all of us and that he is dead wrong to claim authority that he does not have.
“The beauty of democracy is made manifest in the expression of freedom to hold divergent views and the freedom of movement of every Nigerian in any part of the Nigerian Federation, Edo State inclusive,” Abaribe said.
