It will be recalled that Bolouere Opukiri, an official of the media unit of the Preidential amnesty had lost her job for allegedly critiquing the Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo and the wife of the President, Aisha Buhari
One time Vice-President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar, has said that civil servants job security is no longer guaranteed as they now lose their jobs for criticizing government officials.
This was disclosed in a statement released on Monday in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of June 12.
It will be recalled that Bolouere Opukiri, an official of the media unit of the Preidential amnesty had lost her job for allegedly critiquing the Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo and the wife of the President, Aisha Buhari.
According to Abubakar, democracy guarantees citizen their human right which includes freedom of speech but the action by the Presidency has in recent times gone ““contradictory to the notion of inclusiveness and fairness that a democratic society guarantees”.
He said “Today, across our major cities and even in the hinterlands, citizens, especially the youth, can hardly walk freely in open avenues without the police stopping them to search through the content of their mobile handsets,”
“Civil servants now lose their jobs just because they choose to criticize politicians in government positions; there are even suggestions in some quarters that civil servants should be barred from signing to social media networks.
“Opposition politicians are regularly being hounded on wanton criminal and civil prosecutions.
“All of these narratives have become a consistent pattern of behavior that is antithetical to an open and democratic society.
“In many of the states across the country, there is a reign of fascism with governors who have suddenly become overlords dealing ruthlessly with anyone who dares to challenge their ruthless foothold of intimidation and oppression.
“Perhaps at this point, we need to remind ourselves that the democracy which we enjoy today did not come cheap price; It came at the cost of supreme price paid by persons that included Chief MKO Abiola, Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, Maj-Gen Shehu Yar’Adua, Chief Alfred Rewane and Bagauda Kaltho, among thousands of other patriots.”
He went on to say that the beauty of June 12 “is in the inherent safeguard to the citizenry to live and prosper as free people under the law”.