EKITI State governor Ayo Fayose has dared the federal government and President Muhammadu Buhari to attempt stopping him ever travelling out of the country after he was indicted by the Department for State Security (DSS).
Last week, the DSS said Governor Fayose was under investigation for corruption charges and as such was barred from travelling out of the country for now. Nigeria's constitution gives sitting governors immunity from arrest and prosecution, so security forces cannot arrest them but foreign governments can if they step abroad.
Although so far, there has been no attempt to seize Governor Fayose's passport or impede his movements in any way, the DSS announced that he should not travel out of the country. Defiant, Governor Fayose has hit back, stating that state governors were not appendages of the president and he could not be cowed by President Buhari and his agents.
He added that whenever he wished to travel out of Nigeria, he would do so in the full glare of the public. According to Governor Fayose, if they tried to stop him travelling, the president and the DSS would be disgraced the same way they were disgraced when they invaded the Ekiti State House of Assembly, arresting the members indiscriminately.
Lere Olayinka, Governor Fayose's spokesman, said he was not surprised or disappointed by this latest plot because the Buhari government had no respect for the constitution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. He added, however, that he was amazed that the dangerous dimension of compelling a sitting governor that enjoys immunity like the president to obtain clearance from the director-general of the DSS before travelling out of Nigeria can ever be contemplated.
Mr Olayinka said: “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 mismanagement of the country, is this not a confirmation that the president hates dissenting views? President Buhari and his agents should also be mindful of the fact that under a federal system of government, the states and federal government both enjoy some autonomy, with sovereign power formally divided between them such that each state retains some degree of control over its internal affairs."
He added that subsequently, the president cannot lord himself over any state governor and President Buhari and his agents should accept this basic reality and stop behaving as if they own Nigeria in totality. According to Mr Olayinka, President Buhari and his agents, especially his kinsman, Alhaji Lawal Daura of the DSS, need to purge themselves of this blood of dictatorship running in their veins and be guided by the constitution of Nigeria.
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