A leading constitutional lawyer and human rights activist, Chief Mike Ozekhome SAN, has lambasted Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, advising him to change from his tyrannical and despotic posture in handling the affairs of the state.
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Ozekhome was reacting to the recent call by the governor for the arrest of Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ayuba Wabba.
“Mallam, I read to my chagrin, that you have allegedly offered to pay handsome ransom for the arrest of Ayuba, the NLC Chairman.
“My free advice to you, Mallam El-Rufai, you should drop these issues immediately. You must not dare arrest the NLC Chairman, or actualise the dismissal of the said nurses.
“I advise you to perish that obnoxious idea. You should rather use the ransom for the release of the helpless and unfortunate Boko Haram kidnapped students of your state.
“If you yield to my advice, you would not be doing anything new at all” Ozekhome stated.
He continued: “You have since changed from the sweet humble guy I used to know, and gradually, not suddenly, become dictatorial and despotic.
“You are reminding us of Hitler and Musolini. I am genuinely shocked as to how such a well-read, exposed and travelled man like you, who once self-exiled himself from Nigeria, for fear for his life, has metamorphosed into a full-blown tyrant and intolerant absolutist god that must be worshipped; because of the intoxicating effect of power on you, as an aphrodisiac.
“Why have you developed an insatiable bacchanalian appetite to inflict sufferings and misery on Nigerians, especially your own citizens that you govern?” Ozekhome queried.
This is contained in a statement, Ozekhome released to newsmen on Thursday, entitled, “KADUNA WORKERS AND THE BIZZARE METAMORPHOSIS OF A GOOD PERSON: AN OPEN LETTER TO GOVERNOR NASIR EL-RUFAI”.
Ozekhome further advised El-Rufai to stop desecrating “citizens’ inalienable rights.
“Let me tell you this. The rights to life, the dignity of the human person, personal liberty, fair hearing, freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association and freedom of movement, etc, are basic fundamental and inalienable human rights guaranteed under the 1999 Constitution.
“They are respectively contained in sections 32, 33, 34, 35, 38, 39 and 40 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria.
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