Ekiti state governor, Ayodele Fayose, has played down reports of a travel ban being imposed on him by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Fayose stated that no one could stop him from embarking on any foreign trip.
Fayose, speaking through his special assistant on public communications and new media, Lere Olayinka, said; “whenever he wished to travel out Nigeria, he will do so in the full glare of the public.”
He said: “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 this he demonstrated as a military dictator and now demonstrating as a democratically elected president.”
The governor said he was however amazed that “this dangerous dimension of compelling a sitting governor that enjoys Constitutional Immunity like the President to obtain clearance from the Director General of the Department of State Service (DSS) before travelling out of Nigeria can ever be contemplated.”
Olayinka, who was flanked by the chief press secretary to the governor, Mr Idowu Adelusi said; “Few days ago, when Governor Ayodele Fayose was reliably informed that President Muhammadu Buhari had directed that he should be banned from traveling 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 traveling out of the country.
“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.”
“Article 13 (1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to which Nigeria is a signatory provides that ‘Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the border of each State’ while Article 13 (2) provides that ‘Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and return to his country,’ ditto Article 12 (2) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.”