By Monday Ijeh

Mr Victor Onyekachi, a legal practitioner and constitutional rights advocate, has demanded a public apology from the Chairman of Kuje Area Council over an alleged inflammatory comment directed at residents.

Onyekachi made the demand in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja.

He said the Council Chairman, Mr Danjuma Shekwoyi, had in a video circulated on social media on Tuesday directed residents of the council to support the All Progressives Congress or leave the area council.

“I have said it in my Area Council: it is either you are doing APC or you leave the Area Council.

“I am not hiding it at all. I am saying it with confidence,” NAN quoted the chairman as saying.

The lawyer described the council boss’s comment as a thoughtless and extra-constitutional remark.

“As a lawyer, citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and a stakeholder in Kuje, I consider such a statement inflammatory, provocative, unacceptable and constitutionally offensive,” he said.

He said he was particularly concerned because the comment emanated from the head of a democratically constituted and cosmopolitan area council.

Onyekachi said the chairman occupies a public office created to serve all residents, irrespective of their political affiliation, ethnicity, religion, or personal convictions.

“The office is not an APC office, and Kuje Area Council is not the private political estate of any political party.

“Section 40 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria guarantees the right of every citizen to freely assemble and associate with others.

“This includes the freedom to belong to, support or oppose any political association, subject only to lawful limitations.

“Section 42 protects citizens against discrimination on grounds including political opinion.

“No public office holder has the constitutional authority to threaten citizens with expulsion from their community or area council merely because they do not support the political party in power,” he said.

According to him, more fundamentally, Section 14(2)(c) of the Constitution provides that the participation of the people in their government shall be ensured.

He said democracy accommodates disagreement, opposition and political pluralism, adding that the right to disagree with government was not an offence but a defining feature of democracy.

Onyekachi said it was important for the chairman to understand that Kuje Area Council belongs to the people and not to any political party.

“I hereby demand that the Chairman of Kuje Area Council immediately and unequivocally retract the reported statement,’’ he said.

He should also tender a public apology to the people of Kuje Area Council, particularly residents who may have been intimidated or offended by the statement.

The chairman must refrain from making further statements capable of intimidating, discriminating against, or threatening citizens on account of their political affiliation or political opinion,” he said.

He said his demand was not a partisan intervention, but a constitutional one that would be followed by consequential legal actions if the demands were not met within 48 hours.

According to him, public office demands restraint, responsibility and fidelity to the constitution, and the political authority of an elected chairman does not extend to determining who is entitled to live in Kuje Area Council.