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Hypocrisy of condemnation of the arrest of a blogger by the EFCC

Nelson

Nelson

By Nelson Ekujumi

If there is anything about the human being which makes him dreaded and feared among the creatures of the God, it is his unpredictability and hypocrisy, hence famous juju maestro and now evangelist Ebenezer Obey Fabiyi sang a lyric in one of his songs, that of all God’s creation, man is the most difficult.

One was amused by the hasty condemnation of the arrest of a popular blogger by the EFCC by the PDP and some people on the social media even without cross checking the facts of the case.

One must recognize that under the laws of the federal republic of Nigeria as at today, the only persons who cannot be arrested or invited for questioning by the security agencies are the President, Vice President, Governors and their deputies because they enjoy special privileges called immunity. Any other person(s) can be arrested or invited for questioning and where such questioning translates to detention beyond constitutionally stipulated period, such persons have the right to go to court to sue for the enforcement of their rights.

Thus, one would not rush to join in condemning the EFCC for this arrest in view of the fact that nobody or group of persons except those constitutionally prescribed is exempted from arrest or invitation by the security agencies and would rather wait for the facts of the case to emerge before making his comments accordingly.

As for the PDP, what a pity that they have exposed their hypocrisy in such a manner that even the blind can see it or is it not in this same country under former President Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP, that Nigerian citizens were brutalized, traumatized and abducted from their homes on the eve of the 2014 Ekiti and Osun states gubernatorial elections by security agents, only to be released after the conclusion of the election with no charges preferred against them?

One also recollect how the then publicist of the ruling APC and now minister of information and culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed was arrested in his car in Oshogbo the Osun state capital in company of other party functionaries for wandering on the eve of the 2014 Osun state gubernatorial elections.

The ridiculous explanation over the arrest of Alhaji Lai Mohammed for wandering came when Marilyn Ogar, the former spokesperson of the DSS embarrassed the nation and her institution by claiming that Alhaji Mohammed hails from Kwara state and had no right being in Osun state, when it’s a fact that no Nigerian requires a visa to move freely within the geographical territory of Nigeria and that the only institution that can curtail the movement of a Nigerian is the court of law through a pronouncement.

It is in this same country under former President Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP that a former minister and now governor of Kaduna state, Mallam Nasir El Rufai was denied his fundamental right to movement by the security agents who placed him under house arrest in his hotel on the day of the Anambra state gubernatorial elections in 2013 and violated his right to observe the election as his political party chief agent.

Who can forget in a hurry how the PDP government of Goodluck Jonathan flagrantly violated the constitution and prevented sitting Governors Rotimi Amaechi and Adams Oshiomhole of Rivers and Edo states from traveling to witness the political campaign of their party gubernatorial candidate, then Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti state in 2014. While Governor Amaechi was stopped and ordered back by security agents at a border town between Ekiti and Ondo state, Governor Oshiomhole’s plane was grounded at the Benin airport and prevented from flying based on orders from above.

How can we as a people fail to remember the harassment, intimidation, arrest and arraignment of journalists working with Leadership newspaper or the arrest of vendors and confiscations of their newspapers as well as the humiliation and arrest of drivers of newspapers delivery vans and confiscation of newspapers by security agents not for violating the laws but for performing their official functions under GEJ of the PDP?

Honestly, the earlier the PDP is rescued and return to the path of honour to play its role as a purposeful and focused opposition party, the better for the party and our democracy rather than this shameful acts of hypocrisy which denigrates the image of the party in the eyes of the ever vigilant Nigerian electorates who can no longer be taken for a ride.

A word is enough for the wise!

Nelson Ekujumi, Political Analyst

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