Former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nuhu Ribadu has defended the right of Chad and Niger Republic citizens to attend the presidential campaign of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Ribadu made this known at an All Progressives Congress (APC) event in Abuja on Friday while reacting to news that two Niger Republic governors attended Buhari’s campaign rally in Kano on Thursday.
According to him, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) protocol grants West African citizens visa-free travel to Nigeria.
He said that the freedom of movement enshrined in the protocol must be respected.
Ribadu said, “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.
“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 (about that) 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 their friends.
“Their presence may or may not have any impact on Buhari’s re-election, but they are entitled to identify with him. We have to guarantee their freedom because since their presence is within the law, we don’t have any right to stop them.”
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