The Peoples Democratic Party has cautioned the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government against “harassing foreign envoys and other members of the international community for speaking out against the infringement on the rights of Nigerians” by the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).
The party said this
after the Federal Government summoned envoys of the United States, the United
Kingdom, the European Union, Canada among others.
The envoys had stood
on the side of Nigerians against the suspension of Twitter in Nigeria by the
Federal Government.
The PDP, in a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said the Federal Government’s action in regards to the envoys smacks of intolerance towards the international community.
“The PDP is alarmed by
the development which smacks of intolerance towards the international community
as obtained in Idi Amin’s dictatorial Uganda of 1971 to 1979,” the statement
read.
“Our party notes that
there is no law or statute that prohibits foreign envoys from speaking out
against clear violation of internationally enshrined freedom of expression and
right to social interactions as provided by Twitter and other social media
platforms. “In fact, the defence of such rights is a fundamental duty which
envoys owe their host nations and the international community.
“The PDP is worried that the APC administration has been
overheating our polity leading to escalation of insecurity, killings,
bloodletting and violence in the country.
“Nigerians would recall that ahead of the 2019 general
elections, one of the leaders of the APC, the Kaduna State governor, Mallam
Nasir el-Rufai, had threatened that some of the foreign election monitors would
be returned to their countries in bodybags.
“Our party, therefore, demands that the Federal Government
should listen to the voice of reason, end its misrule and desist from
infringing on the rights of Nigerians as being witnessed in the illegal and
vexatious ban on Twitter.
“Already, the PDP is perfecting processes for legal action
against the APC-led Federal Government’s suspension of Twitter and the
directive to broadcasting stations to pull out of Twitter.
“In the same vein, our party is considering a directive to
all our wards, local governments and state structure to commence peaceful civil
protests against the suspension of Twitter, the spate of insecurity and the
failures of the Buhari administration.”