By Steve Oko
UMUAHIA – Former Senate President, Senator Adolphus Wabara, has slammed Gov. Monday Okpebholo of Edo State over his threat and travel restriction to the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, describing the governor’s action as “executive rascality taken too far”.
Okpebholo had last week told Obi never to come into Edo State again without security clearance, warning that his safety was not guaranteed.
“If Peter Obi wants to come here, he should seek proper security clearance. We cannot guarantee his safety otherwise, if anything happens to him here, he will have himself to blame. I’m not joking,” Okpebholo said.
Senator Wabara, in a statement Wednesday, strongly condemned the threat by the governor, insisting that he lacks the constitutional powers to restrict lawful movement of any law-abiding citizen of Nigeria within the Nigerian state.
Senator Wabara, who cautioned against executive overreach, noted that the governor’s “provocative and unguarded utterance” was capable of igniting ethnic tension between “the good people of Edo who Okpebholo misrepresented, and Obi’s hospitable Igbo kinsmen”, if not properly addressed.
The former Senate President reminded Governor Okpebholo that the Nigerian constitution “grants every Nigerian the inalienable right to enter, leave or reside in any part of the country without restriction.”
He said: “In case the Governor has forgotten, let me kindly remind him that Section 41 (1) of the 1999 Constitution provides that: ‘Every citizen of Nigeria is entitled to move freely throughout Nigeria and to reside in any part thereof, and no citizen of Nigeria shall be expelled from Nigeria or refused entry thereby or exit therefrom.’
“It therefore smacks of executive impunity, power intoxication, political insanity and gross abuse of office for an elected Governor to exhibit such raw intolerable dictatorial tendency”, Wabara said.
“Okpebholo’s threat is a shameful exhibition of his ignorance about the limits of his powers as Governor. Or could it be an advertisement of his limited knowledge of the provisions of the constitution apparently because of his manifest academic hollowness and ineptitude? Wabara inquired.
Accusing the Governor of flagrant violation of the constitution, the former Senate President demanded from him, immediate and unreserved public apology to Obi, and an undertaking guaranteeing Obi’s safety anytime he visits Edo.
“It’s regrettable that Gov. Okpebholo who should know better, having served in the Senate, has grossly violated the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He should, without delay, publicly apologise to Obi for the threat to his life.
“Public office holders should be civil, decorous and refrain from irresponsible vituperations capable of setting Nigeria on fire. They should be catalysts of national unity and cohesion, and not promoters of acts that widen the gaps in our fault lines,” Wabara advised.
The elder statesman who recalled that Gov. Hyacinth Alia of Benue State issued similar threat to Obi not long ago, called on President Bola Tinubu, “to restrain his APC Governors from reckless, indecorous and inflammatory remarks.”
Senator Wabara warned against profiling Nigerians because of their tribe, religion or party affiliations, as doing so amounts to “joking with fire”.
The former Senate President, who had also repeatedly raised the alarm that Nigeria is sliding into a one-party state, accused the ruling APC of suppressing dissenting voices.
He further cautioned against any attempt to harass or intimidate the opposition into submission as activities for the 2027 polls gradually gather momentum.
“Nobody should push this country to the brink through political overzealousness. The peace and stability of this country should be placed above political interests,” he cautioned.
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