Kenya’s Cabinet Secretaries, Tourism, Mrs Philip Kandie; Transport, Mr Kamau Michael; Nigeria’s Minister of Tourism, Chief Edem Duke and Supervising Minister of Aviation, Dr Samuel Ortom, inaugurating the maiden Kenya Airways flight in Abuja, recently
The Rivers State Government says, the on-going restriction of movement and clampdown on media houses across the country was an indication that the country is descending into tyranny.
The state government has also described the clampdown on media houses as a breach on freedom of the press against the background that the Federal Government led by President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011 signed the Freedom of Information Act into law.
Commissioner for Information and Communication, Mrs Ibim Semenitari, who said this at a news briefing in Port Harcourt while reacting to the grounding of Rivers state Governor, Chibuike Amaechi’s chartered flight in Kano by the Nigerian Aviation Management Agency (NAMA), also denied insinuations that the governor was in kano to influence the emergence of Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as the new Emir of Kano.
Semenitari said that Governor Amaechi did not breach any security protocol as the plane, which conveyed him along with Senator Danjuma Goje and Alhaji Kwawu Baraje was cleared for the trip.
According to the Commissioner, the governor was in Kano to condole the government and people of kano on the death of their Emir, Alhaji Ado Bayero.
Meanwhile, the state government says Governor Amaechi was not in Kano to influence the emergence of Mallam Sanusi as new Emir of Kano.
Semenitari said that as a Sourthern Christian, Amaechi never went close to where king makers were deciding who the next Emir of Kano would be.
While condemning the killing of a supporter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State, the Commissioner said that the situation was that some persons wanted to use intimidation to stop Nigerians from deciding who governs them in 2015.
She also confirmed the release of the chartered aircraft as well as the Rivers Bombadier jet grounded by the aviation authorities last year.
In a related development,the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State has castigated President Goodluck Jonathan for his alleged brazen abridgement of the rights of Nigerian citizens, accusing him of fast descending towards fascist rule.
The party particularly berated the Jonathan administration for the on-going crackdown on some of the country’s leading newspapers and the grounding of the Rivers State Government-chartered flight to Kano to commiserate with the government and good people of Kano State over the demise of their Emir, Alhaji Ado Bayero on Friday.
The party said in a statement issued by its state Chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya in Port Harcourt yesterday: We have observed with sheer horror the determination of President Goodluck Jonathan to trample on the fundamental rights of Nigerians as it suits his whims and caprices. We strongly condemn this tendency which, if not checked, is capable of truncating the country’s nascent democracy.
“Since Friday last week, soldiers and other security personnel have waged a senseless war against the supposedly critical press, laying ambush for vendors and distribution vans, impounding vans and newspaper copies and beating up vendors and drivers of newspaper houses.
“Instructively, this unparalleled censorship gamble, the type of which was not witnessed even during the infamous Abacha days, started less than 24 hours after President Jonathan, through Information Minister, Labaran Maku, publicly complained that the newspapers were giving Boko Haram undue publicity. We, therefore, do not need to look far to know the source of the directive to muzzle the Nigerian press.”
Rivers APC equally condemned “the shameful incident in Kano, in which the aviation authorities, acting at the behest of the Presidency, impounded the Rivers State Government-chartered aircraft for no good reason, thus forcing Governor Chibuike Amaechi and his delegation to make a long journey back to Port Harcourt by road.
“This is the same aircraft which was recently released after being grounded for a year on flimsy excuses. It was suddenly grounded again on Sunday, just to humiliate Governor Amaechi and the people of Rivers State on the mere suspicion that Amaechi was behind the emergence of the Presidency’s nightmare, former CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, as the new Emir of Kano. Is Governor Amaechi a member of Kano Emirate Council? This is just mere looking for flimsy excuses to let Nigerians know how undemocratic he can be,” the party said.
Rivers APC described the action of the Federal Government as a descent into the lowest depths of decency.
“We tend to agree with one perceptive analyst who rightly pointed out that what Jonathan is manifesting are the symptoms of a dying regime,” the party said.
“From wrestling with newspapers on the streets to sponsoring police violence and attack in Ekiti, further down to childishly grounding aircraft, the signs are that embattled President Jonathan is exasperated and frustrated with signs of impending electoral doom flashing. It promises to get worse with the approaching days. The man is foretold tragedy personified.”
Rivers APC appealed to Nigerians to completely reject President Jonathan and his deceptive PDP at the polls in 2015 as the country cannot afford four more years of disastrous rule under Jonathan and the PDP.