Atiku says criminalisation of legitimate dissent would turn country to police state.
A former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has criticised the federal government for its ‘silence’ in the face of rumors that certain members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, were to be arrested and detained by security operatives despite not committing any crime.
In a statement by his media office in Abuja, Mr. Abubakar said the PDP crisis was an internal family disagreement which should not give anybody the right to arrest those expressing their dissent against certain activities within the party.
The former vice president and seven governors elected on the platform of the PDP, had on August 31 announced the birth of a splinter group known as “New PDP.” The seven governors in the group, led by a former acting National Chairman of the PDP, Kawu Baraje, are those of Jigawa, Kano, Sokoto, Rivers, Adamawa, Kwara and Niger.
The seven governors and President Goodluck Jonathan had met two weeks ago to resolve the crisis thrown up by the birth of the “New PDP.” Another meeting of the two groups has been fixed for October 7.
Mr. Abubakar said, “Criminalizing legitimate dissent over internal disagreements could lead Nigeria into a police state and thereby, defeat all the basic features of the democratic system”.
He expressed concern that anyone could lose their freedom for expressing contrary opinion. He said the utterances of certain politicians and members of the PDP led by Bamanga Tukur, were not good for the democratic image of the country.
The former vice president said democracy and the rule of law frown at the idea of taking the liberty to threaten, harass or arrest those who express dissent with the PDP or any other party leadership.
Mr. Abubakar said if disagreement was a criminal offence, then more than 90 percent of Nigerians would be arrested and taken to jail.
He explained that majority of Nigerians did not agree with the way the country was being run, but that should not give anybody the power to curtail their freedom to hold that opinion.
He cited the examples of other democracies such as the U.K. and the U.S. where, according to him, fellow party members disagree with their prime minister or the president and nobody threatened them with arrest for expressing dissent.
“Democracy goes beyond lip service,” Mr. Abubakar said.
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