Prominent pro-democracy and civil rights group HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has expressed disappointment and consternation that some governors have assumed the positions of absolute monarchs who are laws unto themselves by warning the 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, not to visit their states without their personal approvals.

A few weeks ago, the Benue State governor, in a notice signed by the governor’s chief press secretary, Sir Tersoo Kula, declared that Governor Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia was not expecting any “August visitor” and is currently involved in high-level meetings addressing pressing state matters.

Kula warned that “any group or high-profile individual(s)” seeking to enter the state for visits that may attract public or political gatherings must reconsider, adding that the safety of such visitors cannot be guaranteed.

This announcement came just hours after Obi revealed that his security detail intercepted the government’s press release while he was en route from Jos to Makurdi for a scheduled visit to an IDP camp and a nursing school in Gboko.

Obi also stated that he had tried to reach the governor and had informed his aides and the state security services about his itinerary.

Similarly, a few days ago, the Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo, issued a strong warning to the 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, cautioning him against entering the state without prior notification and approval.

Addressing a gathering of political supporters in a video that has since gone viral on social media, the governor made it clear that Obi’s security would not be assured should he enter Edo State without officially informing the state government.

HURIWA, which carpeted these governors for equating themselves to absolute monarchs by issuing illegal threats to harm citizen Peter Obi should he and his entourage visit their states, said under the constitutional democracy practiced in the Country, no political office holder has the powers to limit the enjoyment by citizens of the constitutionally guaranteed fundamental freedoms

 The Rights Group condemned what it called the climate of political intolerance displayed in the statement made by the Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo, describing it as unacceptable and an intolerable threat to endanger the life of Mr. Peter Obi should he decide to exercise his constitutional right to freedom of movement by visiting Edo State at a time of his choosing.

In a media statement by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, HURIWA described as a fallacy and a very incurable, illogical argument the nexus established by the Edo State Governor and the visits to Edo State by the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in 2023, just as the rights group wondered how the generosity of Peter Obi has become a source of consternation for the current Edo State Governor when in fact the governor should be at the forefront of encouraging donations for charitable causes in his state.

Onwubiko said, “It is totally illogical for the Edo State Governor to try to manufacture a direct nexus between the visits of Peter Obi to Edo State and the spikes in crime in the state, just as the Rights Group said the governor failed to adduce any empirical data or body of evidence to justify his weird conclusion. 

He noted that “This governor must eschew bitterness and accept political pluralism, arguing that “tolerance of a divergence of opinions is at the core of constitutional democracy.”

HURIWA is therefore challenging both the Edo and Benue state governors to understudy the provisions of chapter four of the Nigerian constitution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, which Nigeria has signed on to, as these international human rights laws form integral parts of our domestic and municipal laws.

He argued, “The governor of a state is not above the law because everyone of us is subject to the provisions of the law, and indeed the governors even swore to abide and comply holistically with the provisions of the constitution. 

 It is therefore important to remind the Edo State Governor and his counterpart in Benue State that individually and collectively, the governors or even the President lack the powers legally to ban any Nigerian citizen from freely moving around the length and breadth of the territory of Nigeria provided that the citizen is embarking on lawful, legitimate assignments. 

Onwubiko argued, ‘The indirect interpretation of the words of the governor of Edo State that he wouldn’t guarantee the safety of Peter Obi means that should the political opposition leader visit Edo State, the political thugs of the All Progressives Congress have been given the approval to physically harm him. 

HURIWA stated, “The Edo State Governor is hereby asked to take back his very dangerous words of threats against Peter Obi within the next 24 hours.” 

We urged the President to warn his political party members to be law-abiding and to stop overheating the polity like the way the Edo State has just done, adding, “The threat against Peter Obi by the Edo State Governor is absolutely despicable, reprehensible, and absurd.” 

HURIWA “demanded that the Edo State Governor should clearly and openly dissociate himself from any clandestine plots to harm Peter Obi should he and his entourage visit Edo State as citizens of Nigeria who aren’t required by law to obtain travelling permission from the seating governor before embarking on their legitimate journey.”

HURIWA wondered whether the Edo State Governor will not one day start issuing out travel permits for citizens of Nigerian states other than Edo State to visit or not visit Edo State or even travel through Edo State, going by his wrongful perception that someone must inform him personally before visiting Edo or else the visitor could come to physical harm in Edo State. 

“Let it be said loudly that Mr. Monday Okpebholo does not have the lawful authority to stop any Nigerian citizen from visiting Edo State, for that is a fundamental human right that is inalienable, and this is what makes Nigeria a constitutional democracy.