Call Police, Other Security Agencies To Order, Frank Tells Buhari
Loading ...Former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of All Progressives Congress (APC) Comrade Timi Frank, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari not to feign ignorance of persecution of political opponents in the country, asking him to call the security agencies to order.
Frank, also said unless the president caution the Nigerian police and other agencies of government, he might “risk Nigerians rising to defend our country and democracy from annihilation.”
In an open letter titled “A call to stop atrocities against political opponents by security agencies” Frank informed the President Buhari that “the cabal in your administration dragging Nigeria’s democracy into the gutters don’t broach any opposition.”
The open letter addressed to the President on Tuesday, read in part: “Our democracy is once again imperiled by the high level of impunity and illegality being exhibited by the leadership of the All Progressives Congress in connivance with willing collaborators in the Executive. What is telling is not what is happening but the dead silence of the President and Commander in Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, General Muhammadu Buhari.
“The aloofness of the President in the face of injustice, intimidation, harassment, open attacks, persecutions by the police and security siege against innocent citizens ought to warrant the President’s response with the aim of righting the wrongs being perpetrated by the top echelon of the party using security and anti-graft agencies to fight and cow political opponents.
“Mr, President, as the Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, you cannot feign ignorance about the atrocities being perpetrated by agencies under the Presidency. You cannot claim not to have known of the illegal deployment of the police to supplant the leadership of the Senate – which is an arm of government, constituted to make laws for the order and good governance of the country. Democracy which is the only thing going for this country at the moment is being brutally assaulted and subverted by direct agents of your administration.
“I dare say that democracy and its survival in Nigeria today is squarely in the hands of General Buhari. Your aides may deny your direct and indirect involvement in the ongoing reign of terror, injustice, harassment, torture, intimidation, attacks against perceived political enemies under your government, but I doubt if history will toe the lines of your aides when the time of reckoning comes.
“I must say that it is General Buhari’s duty, as President and C-In-C of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, to ensure that the laws of the land are not obeyed in breach. To ensure that the police and EFCC treat political opponents – now turned accused persons – as innocent until they are proven guilty by a court of competent jurisdiction.
“Sir, you cannot claim ignorance of the rising inferno of impunity and tyranny in the country as we approach the 2019 general elections. You cannot claim not to know that his agents are muzzling the opposition through physical and psychological attacks, trumped up criminal charges and kangaroo trials and imprisonments in order to forcefully procure their support and loyalty for your reelection bid. Your aides may deny your involvement in the ignominious saga, but Nigerians know the truth. Nigerians know that the state security architecture has been sufficiently mobilized to ensure that you stand the next election unopposed just like Adams Oshiomhole was recently coronated as the National Chairman of the APC without contest.
“For instance, the police and EFCC had unsuccessfully ambushed and blocked the two presiding officers of the Senate just to prevent a switch by some APC lawmakers to other political parties in the Red Chamber. The police invaded and blocked APC lawmakers in the state House of Assembly that defected to PDP alongside Governor Samuel Ortom only in order to pave way for renegade members to sit and purportedly issue an impeachment notice on the governor. Barely few minutes after Governor was purportedly served an impeachment notice, the EFCC suddenly realized that it had allegations of fraud against him and 21 members of the House loyal to him. Haba! Is anybody still in doubt where the country under General Buhari is headed?
“I dare say that now that the police have been converted into a gestapo organization, where lies the safety and protection of innocent citizens? The APC is killing our democracy in connivance with elements in your administration and therefore I want to call on you to urgently put a stop to these undemocratic activities of the police and all partisanship tendencies by security agencies purportedly acting at your behest. The security agencies must stop meddling in purely political affairs and face their constitutionally assigned roles. Let them face their security jobs and let politicians face their politicking. The use of the police to commit illegality under your watch is detrimental to the to the peace and security we all crave in this country.
“The desperation and the penchant to crush political opponents with a sledgehammer under the guise of security operatives is a complete negation of accepted democratic principles across the world. This is why I cannot but call on you to save our country and democracy by calling the police and other security agencies to order or in the alternative, risk Nigerians rising to defend our country and democracy from annihilation. Mr. President, let me inform you that the cabal in your administration dragging Nigeria’s democracy into the gutters don’t broach any opposition. They are arrayed against Nigeria and her people. They preach change but perpetuate evil. They mouth democracy, but in reality they are autocrats, tyrants and dictators. They are true and living disciples of Machiavelli. The nation’s democracy is of certainty heading for the rocks unless good and patriotic men rise to save her from the iron claws of these buccaneers and ravenous wolfs in sheep clothing, starting with you sir.”
