Asset seizure: Buhari’s Executive Order illegal ―PDP

THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has strongly condemned as illegal, unconstitutional, reprehensible and a dangerous step towards a descent to fascism, the asset seizure Executive Order which it said was imposed by President Muhammadu Buhari, in total disregard to the provisions of 1999 constitution.

In signing the order on Thursday, Buhari had posited that it was necessary to “preserve such assets from dissipation, and to deprive alleged criminals of the proceeds of their illicit activities which can otherwise be employed to allure, pervert and/or intimidate the investigative and judicial processes or for acts of terrorism, financing of terrorism, kidnapping, sponsorship of ethnic or religious violence, economic sabotage and cases of economic and financial crimes, including acts contributing to the economic adversity of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and against the overall interest of justice and the welfare of the Nigerian State.”

But the main opposition party in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, in Abuja on Friday alerted that the Nigerian constitution does not, under any section, “confer such fascist powers on the President under our democracy and there can be no legitimate latitude of interpretation placed on sections 5 and 15 (5) of the 1999 Constitution cited as justifications for this draconian executive order, that can excuse it.”

Therefore, according to the PDP, “President Buhari’s unilateral Executive Order is a travesty of justice and rule of law, as it vehemently seeks to hijack and usurp the powers of both the legislature and the courts and vest it on himself so that he can use same at will, as a political instrument, to haunt, traumatise, harass and victimise perceived political opponents.”

The party added: “In order words, Mr President wants to change our democratic governance to a military regime, in line with his lamentation, two days ago, that the fight against corruption will be better under a military regime than under a democracy.

“It is instructive to emphasise that the PDP is not in anyway opposed to the fight against corruption. Rather, the party holds that the imposition of this Executive Order, which is radically at variance with the provisions of the constitution, is totally unacceptable.

“PDP takes this Executive Order 6 of 2018 as a reenactment of the obnoxious Decree 2 of 1984, which incidentally was also an enactment under then military Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari, and this must not be permitted in our current democratic dispensation.

“If allowed, this Order will confer limitless powers on Mr President, whose administration’s penchant for violation of rules and order already suggests a readiness for autocracy and a drive towards fascism.

“In a democracy, the role of the executive arm of government is to enforce court orders/judgments handed down based on the interpretation of existing laws. Any suggestion to the contrary, as clearly intended by this Executive Order, is totally an aberration and inconsistent with the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

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The party invited Nigerians and the international community to note what it argued was the deliberate attempts by the Buhari administration to side-step the provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), usurp the powers of the legislature, the judiciary and impose an autocratic regime on our nation.

The PDP, therefore, charged the judiciary and the legislature to save the nation and her people from an imminent fascism by rejecting this obnoxious Executive Order.

“Nigeria is a democratic state run by the dictates of the law and the constitution and not by the rule of the thumb of any elected officer. Already, our lawyers are considering a legal action against the Federal Government on the illegality of Mr President’s action in the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians,” it stressed.