The controversy trailing the rumored third term agenda of Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari is not abating, as the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has asked the President to order the arrest and prosecution of Mr. Charles Enya, a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ebonyi state, for filing a suit proposing third term for presidents and governors.
The association’s National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director Zainab Yusuf, in a statement issued on Monday said the suit was provocative and capable of inflaming passions in the polity.
The Statement argued that, “what this political jobber intends to achieve by filing this illegal application to introduce tenure elongation is to inflict civil political unrest on a bloody scale on Nigeria and this is treason”, it noted.
“It is notorious knowledge that Treason has been defined by the Black’s law dictionary 9th editions as: The offense of attempting to overthrow the government of the state to which one owes allegiance, either by making war against the state or by materially supporting its enemies.
“According to the provisions of the Criminal Code, anyone who levies war against the state in order to intimidate or overawe the president or governor of a state is guilty of treason and should be punished by death.
“In this case, the plaintiff intended to inflict social unrests on a large scale which would automatically intimidate and overawe the President and governors whose tenures by settled laws can’t go beyond two terms of four years each.
“The Criminal Code also categorizes as treason anyone who conspires with others, either within or outside Nigeria, to levy war against Nigeria,” the group said.
Recall that President Buhari had recently denied the allegation that he was nursing a third term agenda and assured Nigerians that he would not sabotage the nation’s constitution which allowed him only two terms.