Governor Ayo Fayose has lamented the alleged restriction of his movement in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on Wednesday, warning that Nigeria is descending dangerously into a dictatorship. Fayose noted that the democratic tenets that have been enthroned in Nigeria for 15 years by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are fast being eroded by the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration in less than two years. He called on all lovers of democracy to act fast before the situation gets out of hand. The Ekiti State governor who spoke through his Special Adviser on Social Media, Lere Olayinka, said the restriction of his movement by a democratically elected government was “barbaric to say the least.” “The position of the governor was that in a democracy, we should not be experiencing this. The last time we had this kind of thing was during the military. The thing that we have long overcome with 15 years of democracy, one year of APC should not take us back to that dark age.
“We should let the public know of where we are sliding to, of how dangerously we are sliding under a democratically elected government.
“We believe that on this one, all lovers of democracy, all lovers of good governance, all lovers of the rule of law in this country should be worried because it happened to Governor Fayose and other people on Wednesday, it can be other people tomorrow,” he told The Guardian.
Fayose advised that Nigerians should be allowed their freedom to associate, freedom to also move around unhindered in any part of the country.
The governor had accused the APC of fuelling the crisis in PDP in order to whittle down the influence of the opposition in the country. He said such a development would not be in the interest of the country and Nigerians at large.
In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Idowu Adelusi, the governor described virile opposition as a vital ingredient to make democracy thrive.
Fayose said the condoning off of the Sharks Stadium, Port Harcourt, venue of the planned PDP national convention, by the police on the orders of the Inspector General of Police, had the input of the APC-led Federal Government. According to him, the police only acted the script written by the APC-led government.
“I witnessed what the police did in Port Harcourt, it was most unfortunate. It has shown that we are indeed in a perilous time in the country. The APC is desperate to kill the opposition and silence others because they are afraid that their inability to properly govern the country and tackle the challenges facing us as a nation would be exposed by a virile PDP.
“The Buhari government is dictatorial. There is tension everywhere. All sectors are down and they are focusing on killing the opposition. What business has APC with PDP internal matters?”
But the Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Francis Odesanya, said it was not true that Fayose was prevented from leaving the presidential lodge by policemen.
“That can’t be true. It is not to my knowledge. How did the other governors go out of their lodge?” he asked.
Aligning itself with Fayose, the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) condemned the activities of armed policemen who prevented the PDP from
holding its convention in Port Harcourt.The Chairman of the CNPP, Alhaji Balarabe Musa said: “It was clear that there are invisible hands and external interference in the crisis of PDP to prevent a purposeful opposition against the government of President Muhammadu Buhari and the entire APC administration in the country.”
The group commended the fighting spirit of the PDP in ensuring that the convention was organized.
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