Niger Republic Govs Committed No Crime By Attending Buhari’s Kano Rally – Ribadu

Former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Malam Nuhu Ribadu, has absolved the two Niger Republic governors who attended President Muhammadu Buhari’s Kano state rally on Thursday of any wrongdoing.

Governors Issa Moussa of Zinder and Zakiri Umar of Maradi, both from Niger Republic, had attended the presidential rally of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kano to support President Buhari’s re-election bid.

The duo’s presence at the rally sparked outrage on social media and from the camp opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

In its reaction on Friday, the PDP said, “the promise by Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano state to deliver five million votes to Presidential Buhari in the 2019 elections is predicated on the unfettered opening of our international borders to foreign political interests. What was the true purpose of the invitation of these foreigners to the APC rally in Kano on Thursday? What secret deals did APC leaders make with them at the expense of our national security?”

But reacting to the outrage, Mallam Ribadu, who is the Director, APC Presidential Campaign Council field operations, said there was law restricting the free movement of people from West Africa into Nigeria.

“For your information, it is a free world and it is the constitutional right of everyone to be where he wants to be. You have no right to curtail anybody from doing what he wants to do. People from West Africa are free to move into Nigeria. We have a protocol or agreement that they don’t need a visa to come into this country,” said the former EFCC Chairman.

“I know for sure that they don’t have the vote but as a free West African who believe that someone has done extremely very well, and decided to identify himself with what he believes in, I don’t think there is anything wrong and I don’t think there is any crime committed. You cannot and you have no right as a Nigerian to stop them from exercising their fundamental right to identify with his friends.

“Their presence may or may not half any impact on the re-election but they are entitle to it. We have to guarantee their freedom because their presence is within the law and we don’t have right to stop them,” he said.