The National Consultative Front (NCFront) has condemned the statement credited to Spokesman of President Muhammadu Buhari, Garba Shehu over the invitation of former Speaker of the House of Representatives and co-chair of NCFront, Ghali Umar Na’aba by the Department of State Services (DSS).
Shehu in his statement had said that the DSS has concrete reasons to invite the former Speaker for questioning, following some of his alleged utterances against the Buhari administration.
But in a statement issued on Monday by the Head Public Affairs Bureau of NCFront, Tanko Yunusa, the group faulted the haste with which the Buhari administration now summons prominent citizens for interrogation allegedly using the DSS for criticising his government, which raises some concerns about alleged tyranny of the administration.
Part of the statement read: “As decent and responsible Democrats, we wish to state that the timing, promptness and alacrity with which the DSS these days summons for questioning, those who disagree or criticize the misdemeanor, and misrule of this Buhari government like in the case of the Chairman and a frontline Member of the newly launched NCFront, Former Speaker, Ghali Umar Na’aba and Former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank, Dr Mailafia Obadiah respectively betray the sinister and dastardly motive of this regime to silence constructive criticism and responsible opposition at all cost, portending a desperate and panicky move to turn the country into a police state.
“For instance, if the DSS has anything serious or concrete against Ghali Umar Na’aba (as suggested by Garba Shehu, the Presidential spokesman of the cabal; presently running the Nigerian Presidency without the mandate of the Nigerian peoples and electorate), why hasn’t the DSS invited the Former Speaker for questioning long before now? Why wait till now, when he is now speaking for a major alternative political movement, the NCFront on the group’s mission to rescue and save Nigeria from the exploitative grip of the tiny political cabal who have since captured the Aso Villa, running the Nigerian Presidency as their personal Estate.
“Why now? Are we back to the dark days of totalitarianism? Are we on the odious path to fascism? Why is the State so obsessed about hate speech than containing and curtailing her own obvious hate actions and reckless impunity all over the Nigerian space. For the avoidance of doubt, Rt Hon Ghali Umar Na’aba only read the official statement of the NCFront on the deplorable and worrisome state of Nigeria and not his personal speech. So we all, as a popular political alternative to the this regime, wish to reaffirm our unwavering resolve to stand by our Leader.
“Would it not pass for irresponsibility and Complicity on the part of the government, which came to power on the basis of its propagandistic promise to secure Nigerians that rather than protect Nigerians, for upward of 5years now, to still be pleading for more time to stem the orgy for human massacre and barbecues pervading the entire Country, with the latest casualties being Southern Kaduna while the country agonise the new reign of bandits in the North, especially the President’s home State of Katsina, and the sway of terrorists and insurgents in the North East
“When people’s rights, and freedom of speech is being stylishly stifled under the guise of hate speech and sedition, there is obviously a big trouble for the people. When the State Secret Service is deployed against critics of Government rather than criminals then the country is in trouble. When an Agency of the State other than the Courts determines, defines and punishes for what is termed as hate speech like the 5m naira fine imposed on Nigeria Info Fm by the NBC, then there is a clear descent to fascism. We must then get ready for a popular resistance to take back our country for such oppressive government.”
