Emefiele/Bawa: Tinubu Govt Will Find It Hard To Respect Human Rights – Bwala

A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Daniel Bwala, has said the Bola Tinubu administration will find it very difficult to respect the fundamental human rights of individuals.

Bwala said this following the continued detention of the suspended Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, and the suspended Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS).

In an interview with Arise News on Monday, Bawa said that there seemed to be a dismissal of the fundamental human rights of both individuals by the Tinubu government.

Speaking on Emefiele’s dismissal and arrest, Bwala said, “If you look at other officers in the last administration, appointees of the government, with respect to the information flying in the media space because we are not in a position to substantiate unless law enforcement comes out with anything about coaching and compelling.

“This will send a shock to your spine to understand that the money they are looking for to do anything is in the last administration, was siphoned by officers of the government. The freedom of Emefiele’s fundamental right is crucial. This is what I am seeing with this administration.

“Respect for human rights is going to be an issue, and it is carried out in such a surreptitious way that you will not know because it is playing on the sentiments of the people. Where is Emefiele? Has he been charged to court?”

Speaking on Bawa’s removal and arrest, Bwala said if there is an order received to detain him, the government should inform the people and be accountable.

The spokesman of the former PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation called on the President to coordinate the actions being taken by his government.

He said, “The chairman of EFCC was recently arrested. They may have all of those details and deep things about him, but what about his rights? Have his rights been observed? If there is an order received to detain him, that ought to have been made available to the Nigerian people because the government is about accountability, and the idea that an institution, which is supposed to take anti-corruption is no longer dealing with anti-corruption matters, but institutions dealing with matters of security of the state is handling matters on anti-corruption, to me, will create a bit of confusion, and this is apart from the fact that it will create a super rivalry between the agencies.

“This is going to be a problem if there is no well-defined way of dealing with the situation. Then you have now seen, few days ago, somebody who has so many criminal charges against him, coming to the citadels of power, sit after meeting with the president, sit and address the nation, where he blackmailed the Nigerian Army, raw and in the daylight, that 99% of the problem of oil theft is caused by them without stating fact, no investigative report, no example. And this is the early sign to me that the institutions are being threatened to their very foundation. There is a need for the president to coordinate what is happening around him.”