Twitter Ban: PDP Tells US, UK, Others To Impose Visa Ban On Buhari, Malami, Lai
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has called on the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Saudi Arabia, and different members of the global communities to straight away impose visa ban on President Muhammadu Buhari and participants of his cabinet concerned in the current suspension of the microblogging site, Twitter, in the country.
The main opposition party premised its demand on what it referred to as “the violation of United Nations International Charter on Human Rights by President Muhammadu Buhari by banning the use of Twitter in Nigeria.”
In a assertion issued through its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP insisted that banning Twitter in Nigeria “is a clear violation of Article 19 of the UN Charter as well as section 39 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which assured freedom of expression to all Nigerians.”
The party also urged the world bodies to sanction Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami as well as some leaders of the All Progressives Congress, APC for their alleged individual roles in the Twitter controversy.
The declaration read: “The PDP urges the countries to bar President Buhari, Lai Mohammed, Abubakar Malami, and their family members from coming into their territories for any private functions whatsoever.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Article 19 of the UN Charter on Human Rights presents that ‘Everyone has the proper to freedom of opinion and expression; this proper consists of freedom to keep opinion except interference and to seek, acquire and affect records and thoughts via any media and regardless of frontiers.’
“In the equal vein, area 39 (1) of the 1999 charter (as amended) affords that ‘every man or woman shall be entitled to freedom of expression, which include freedom to keep opinions and to get hold of and impart thoughts and facts except interference.’
“Our party holds that the trio of President Buhari, Lai Mohammed and Abubakar Malami and their agents can't proceed to revel in diplomatic privileges and rights prolonged via advantage of their workplaces in Nigeria, whilst at the equal time blatantly flouting the UN Charter, which Nigeria is a signatory to, as properly as the 1999 Constitution (as amended) upon which provisions they preserve office.
“This is greater so as the stifling of statistics glide as being witnessed in the ban on Twitter in addition creates an enabling surroundings for abuse of human rights and acts of terrorism in our country.
“The PDP calls on the international community to preserve the trio of President Buhari, Lai Mohammed and Malami responsible for the escalated abuse of human rights, constitutional violations as well as the situations that embolden terrorists, bandits, kidnappers and vandals in our country.
“Furthermore, our party has commenced the compilation of listing of APC leaders, involved in the infringing on the rights of Nigerians for onward transmission to the UN and other world bodies for sanctions.”