President Muhammadu Buhari has been accused of turning the country into a police state, alleges Coalition of Northern Group (CNG).
The CNG made the remarks while reacting to the invitation of Ghali Na’Abba, a former speaker of the house of representatives, by the Department of State Services (DSS).
He was reportedly invited to appear today over his recent criticism of the All Progressive Congress (APC) led administration, although the presidency has distanced itself from the invitation.
In its reaction, the group said the present administration, despite benefiting from the tolerance of the previous administration led by Goodluck Jonathan, is now becoming intolerant of criticism.
“The CNG finds it worrying that the current administration is becoming more and more intolerant of opposition and criticism and gradually dragging the country towards a police state,” spokesman of the group, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, said in a Sunday statement in Kaduna.
“We find this attempt to harass Na Abbah, a senior citizen and critical stakeholder in the nation’s democratic process, a brutal encroachment on the universal citizens right to freedom of expression which is a fundamental characteristic of any democratic state.
“By its continuous attempt to suppress the existence of the right to freedom of expression which includes the freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by the public authority, President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration is exposing its failure in sportsmanship, statesmanship and political craftsmanship.
“It is ridiculous that those who run this government who happened to have benefited the most from the previous administration’s tolerant disposition should be the ones denying others the same rights they enjoyed.
“We therefore find it absolutely unacceptable for a people who in no way bore the brunt of the struggle for the return to democracy to be hellbent now on scuttling it,” the group added.
