The former minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nasir el-Rufai, has said he was denied the renewal of his passport by the Nigerian High Commission in London on the orders of President Umaru Yar'Adua. Speaking to NEXT yesterday, El Rufai said the Nigerian officials at the High Commission acted in obedience to the said instructions from Nigeria's seat of power in Abuja.
Mr. El-Rufai said, "I was informed by Mr. Zakari that they have orders from Abuja not to renew my passport. On further enquiries in the High Commission and Abuja, I confirmed that President Umaru Yar'Adua gave the order through the National Security Adviser, Abdullahi Sarki Mukhtar, and then to the Director General of the Nigeria Intelligence Agency, NIA, Mr. Imohe."
Mr. El-Rufai had walked into the halls of the High Commission on Wednesday, September 15 in London, to renew his international travel documents but, according to him, Garba Zakari, who heads the immigration desk at the High Commission, handed him the shocker. Acting on Abuja's advice, Mr. Zakari said he could not issue the passport to El Rufai.
FG keeps mum
The Nigerian High commission declined comment when contacted. The phone operator at the high commission said she could not answer our question but referred us to the head of chancery who refused to pick his calls several times even after voice messages were left on his phone. The high commissioner also did not pick up calls or respond to messages left on his phone.
In Abuja, when contacted, Steve Nelson, the spokesman for the Ministry of Interior said, "I don't know anything about it, I will have to investigate." Mr. Nelson then referred NEXT to the Foreign Affairs Ministry.
An assistant to Ojo Maduekwe, the Foreign Affairs Minister, picked his phone but said Mr. Maduekwe was not in the country and could not respond to our enquiries.
This development which technically means he is officially being denied a right to return home, comes with a curious twist for Mr. El-Rufai who has been declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, which said the Nigerian government was making efforts to ensure his extradition.
"I can confirm that my application to renew my Nigerian passport was denied yesterday (Wednesday, September 16) by the Nigerian High Commission in London. I applied online and visited the Immigration section of the High Commission on Thursday last week with all my acknowledgements and payment receipts. I was asked to return on Tuesday, September 15, 2009 for photographing and fingerprinting by the Attaché, Garba Zakari, who is also the head of NIA in the High Commission." Mr El-Rufai stated.
When asked why he wanted to renew his passport, Mr. El-Rufai explained that "the passport is yet to expire but is full - it ran out of pages for visas and entry stamps. I need a new passport even to go to Nigeria."
The former minister berated the administration saying, "it is only a clueless government that will keep issuing endless threats to extradite me yet afraid to renew my passport so that I can return home on my own volition.
"This evil administration has been threatening since October 2008 that I will be arrested by Interpol, extradited etc., and has waged war against me and my colleagues and everyone that is not corrupt in Nigeria...while protecting their corrupt friends, family members and financiers.... But we will come back home to confront these forces of evil, with or without a passport, as Nuhu Ribadu showed recently."
Lawyers comment
Lawyers in Lagos Thursday mauled on the constitutionality of the High Commission's decision. "The constitution is very clear that every Nigerian has a right to freedom of movement. That right includes a right to leave Nigeria, and the right to come into Nigeria. So it is a breach of the fundamental right of any Nigerian citizen to be denied entry or exit from Nigeria. That right is guaranteed particularly by section 41 of the Constitution," says Bamidele Aturu.
Charles Musa, a human rights lawyer, states that though every Nigerian has a right to the Nigerian passport, "under Section five of the Passports Act, the minister has the right to withdraw someone's passport." Mr. Musa explained that any Nigerian who, however, feels the minister has acted wrongly can go to court, adding "any administrative act can be challenged; he can file an application in court to challenge the minister."
Mr. Aturu, however, disagrees with the Passport Act, saying "the passport act is unconstitutional. The constitution is the supreme law of the land, If there is a passport act that gives the minister of interior powers to refuse passport to a Nigerian, that section is unconstitutional because it is inconsistent with section 41 of the Constitution."
Itse Sagay, a professor of International Law, states that "a passport is a constitutional right because the right of movement is contained in the Constitution. The only circumstance that I know in which that constitutional right can be in any way restrained is when the person concerned is regarded as a threat to security."
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