Polls: Atiku drags Buhari to US, UK, France, Germany, EU over constitutional breaches

Tunde Opalana, Abuja

The Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has reported President Muhammadu Buhari to the international community for alleged constitutional breaches. He accused President Buhari of threatening the nation’s democracy by serially breaching the provisions of the constitution and undermining organs and institutions of state in order to advance his personal interest. He said while the President has ironically taken oath to safeguard and defend the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the reality of his selective and wanton violations of its provisions means that his oath is observed only in the breach. As a Presidential Candidate in the forthcoming General Elections that will be conducted and supervised by the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, Atiku felt the urgent need to share some key violations of the provisions of the constitution and to demand the pressure of world leaders on the Federal Government to desist from these violations and ensure a level playing field for the General Elections. In a letter dated January 27, 2019 written to the Ambassadors of France, Germany, EU, US and UK High Commissions, the former vice president called the attention of the international community to constitutional breaches under the watch of President Buhari. Acknowledging prominent roles played by the countries in building Nigerian democracy, he urged them to mount pressure on this government and all its anti-democracy functionaries, to let them know that their actions will have strong consequences. Atiku said: “I have chosen to write this letter to Your Excellency for the enviable role that your country plays as champion of Democracy and the Rule of Law. “I am also writing you as Nigeria’s international development partner working together to deepen and strengthen our democracy as well as to help in the transformation of our economies and societies for the better. “Your Voice is very important to the survival of Nigeria’s democracy”. Atiku reeled out what he described as unfortunate actions of the Government “of a man who merely pays lip service to being a reformed democrat”. Some of these constitutional infractions he highlighted in the letter include issues of the purported suspension of CJN Onnoghen, the illegal purchase of the Tucano Aircrafts, disregard for Orders of Courts, the approval of $1 billion for military expenditure before approaching the National Assembly and the Executive Order No. 006 (On Preservation of Suspicious Assets and Related Schedules). On January 25, 2019 suspension of Justice Walter Onnoghen, the former vice president said: “it was an attempt to muscle out the Chief Justice of Nigeria using phony charges at a time when His Lordship was primed to play a central role in the fast approaching nationwide electoral process represents the boldest steps in the march to undermine our democracy. “This is undoubtedly an anti-democratic act which my political Party and I reject without reservation and for which I urge Your Excellency to condemn unequivocally. “Need I say, this brazen authoritarian and imperious stride of President Buhari is the latest action in a series of carefully planned onslaught on our nation’s hard earned democracy by an extremely power hungry and anxious President and the cabal that feeds fat around him as February 16, 2019 draws nearer. “This act of desperation is geared towards affecting the outcome of the 2019 Presidential elections. Indeed, it is not just the CJN that has been “suspended”, it is the Nigerian Constitution that has been infracted and, in effect, suspended, under the guise of the suspension of the CJN”. Atiku reported that President Buhari sometime in April 2018 approved the purchase of Tucano Aircrafts for the Nigerian Military at the sum of $496 million (Four Hundred and Ninety-Six Million United States Dollars) without seeking prior approval of the National Assembly contrary to Section 80 (3) and (4) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended). Quoting the provisions, he said: “(3) No money shall be withdrawn from the Consolidated Revenue Fund or any other public fund of the Federation, except in the manner prescribed by the National Assembly.” “(4) No monies shall be withdrawn from the Consolidated Revenue Fund or any other public fund of the Federation, except in the manner prescribed by the National Assembly”. Speaking on the serial violation of court orders by the Buhari administration and going against the rule of law especially in three known cases of Col. Sambo Dasuki (Former National Security Adviser) to whom various courts have granted bail on at least six different occasions; and the Buhari-led government has persistently refused to comply with the court orders. “Again, the former NSA and four others were granted bail on December 18, 2015 on a similar condition with a N250 million bond by Justice Hussein-Baba Yusuf. ” Similarly, the former NSA; a former Minister of State for Finance, Bashir Yuguda; former Sokoto Governor, Attahiru Bafarawa; ‎and three others were granted bail by Justice Peter Affen on December 21, 2015 by the Federal Capital Territory High Court in the sum of N250 million each and two sureties in like sum. The Federal Government cherry-picked the order whilst disobeying the part that concerned the former NSA”, he said. He made reference to Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, Leader of a Shiite Group, IMN, who has been in detention without trial for over 3 years after his followers were massacred in broad daylight; his wife and family killed and his home burnt, in a gory and shameful show of brute force by the Nigerian Army. Charging Nigerians on the task ahead, he said: “The choices facing all of us is either to stand aside and watch Nigerians re-elect a President who has been in constant violation of the laws of the land without remorse; or to support them show him the way out and elect a true democrat. We must send a clear message that the Nigerian nation is bigger than any individual. “Even if Nigerians opted not to elect me as President, the incumbent must go into the polls on his own record of lack of respect for the Rule of Law and not on the spurious perception of his “Integrity”. We need to set precedence for successive leaders not to take democratic mandate for granted”.