A stalwart of the ruling All
Progressives Congress, APC, Timi Frank, has reported the travail of the
President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, to the Government of the United
Kingdom, urging Prime Minister Theresa May to come to intervene.
Frank called on May to prevail on
Nigerian government over alleged human right abuses and persecution of
perceived opponents by the present administration, stating that “as things
stand, nobody knows who will be the next victim of government’s anti-democratic
and inhuman activities.”
Frank said this in an open letter
sent to the Prime Minister through the British Ambassador to Nigeria on
Wednesday.
According to the APC chieftain,
democracy in Nigeria is being driven to a precarious state as a result of a new
regime of persecution, intimidation, repression and suppression being meted out
against perceived political opponents in the country.
He told the Prime Minister that,
“The frame-up and trial of the President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola
Saraki and a vast number of opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members,
by the agents of the presidency is a sure sign that unless the leaders of the
free world come to the aid of the country, conditions will deteriorate
irretrievably.
“Nigerians are alarmed at the
dehumanizing campaign being waged by its own government against free citizens
through incessant arrests, detention and trial of the innocent in the name of
anti-corruption war, which has been generally acknowledged to be highly
selective, going by the manner it is being conducted.
“It has come to our knowledge
that the executive and its henchmen have concluded plans to force the
impeachment of Saraki and Dogara as President of the Senate and Speaker of the
House of Representatives respectively.
“Already, the government is about
to drag Dogara and some of his colleagues to court over allegations of budget
padding earlier raised by a suspended lawmaker. Recently, a court purportedly
directed the Federal Government to prosecute all the accused persons fingered
in the budget padding scandal of which Dogara is number one.
“Even though Saraki has been on
trial over alleged false asset declaration since 2015, new attempts are being
made to link him with criminal elements as a way to gag him and his teaming
supporters ahead of the upcoming general elections.
“Already the government has
commenced phased withdrawal of security personnel attached to Saraki and
Dogara, in a bid to expose them to danger and personal harm, ahead of the plot
to forcefully remove them as presiding officers of the National Assembly.
“However, be it known to you and
the U.K. Parliament that any attempt to compel the impeachment of the two
presiding officers of the 8th National Assembly will be resisted by Nigerians
just like the attempt to link Saraki with the Offa bank robbery suspects has
been vehemently rejected across the country. This is one of the reasons the
nPDP bloc of the APC is threatening to pull out of the alliance having realized
that its members are being deliberately targeted for persecution.”
Frank alleged in his letter that
the entire National Assembly is on trial under the present administration,
adding that democracy in the country may cease to exist if the ferocious
attacks against lawmakers is allowed to continue.
“I believe that the ordeal of the
President of the Senate under the present administration, characteristically
typifies the venomous zeal which has turned the agents of the state into
instruments of victimization against its own people.”
The Bayelsa-born politician noted
that if Saraki, who worked tirelessly to bring the current administration in
place, can be made to undergo tremendous vilification, then there is no hope
for members of the opposition political parties and common citizens.
He added, “A question the U.K.
Government should ask is: How come anybody believed to be opposed to the
policies of the present administration will sooner than later be accused of
being corrupt and a sponsor of armed robbery and murders?”
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