Executive Director of the Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria, Comrade Shehu Sani believes that the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan is itching toward tyranny on account of its recent conducts.
The rights activist cited the attacks on Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso over the appointment of Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as Emir of Kano and clampdown on the press by agents of the Federal Government even as he added that the Kano governor is a victim of a desperate and dying government.
Sani, in a statement in Abuja yesterday, warned government apologists against returning the nation to the dark days.
He traced Kwankwaso’s ordeal in the hands of federal authorities to his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to All Progressives Congress, APC, and “the revelation of monumental theft of our national treasury by the ex-Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and now the Emir of Kano”.
The Federal Government, according to Sani, “has consistently targeted them for state persecution and slander. It’s no coincidence that the Federal Government has meddled into the appointment of the Emir of Kano. On this, the Government of President Jonathan stands unambiguously condemned.
“Kwankwaso is a victim of a desperate and dying government. All the ills and vices ascribed to him by the federal government were only splashed at him when he left the ruling PDP.
“The orchestrated campaign of calumny and innuendos targeted against Governor Kwankwaso is a mischievous but failed attempt by President Jonathan and his henchmen and hatchet men to rubbish the hard-earned reputation of the governor”.
Sani, who asked the government to leave Emir Sanusi alone, said security challenges bedeviling the nation should be government’s primary concern and not settling of personal scores.
He added: “Emir Sanusi Lamido Sanusi must be allowed to preside over the affairs of his emirate. Emir Sanusi is duly and properly appointed in conformity with the relevant laws, customs and tradition.
“The interference by the federal government is nothing but a continuation of the federal mission to morally stain him and physically incapacitate him. The interest, energy and resources invested by the federal government to nail Sanusi could have been of better use if directed at addressing the security challenges bedeviling our country”.
According to him, “Apologists of the government need to be reminded that this democracy was fought and won after a prolonged battle with the military, we cannot stand by and watch the nation sliding back to darkness of authoritarianism”.
On the recent clampdown on the press, Sani described the action as archaic and sheer act of foolishness.
He said: “Without the sacrifice of the gallant Nigerian media, democracy could not have been restored and President Jonathan couldn’t have emerged as president. Free press is the guarantor of a free society. Setting the military against the media is tantamount to incinerating our civil liberties”.
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