Divided opinion trails Buhari’s travel ban on 50 high-profile Nigerians

The recent travel ban on 50 high profile citizens by Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari through an executive order to firm up his campaign against graft, has generated mixed reactions from Nigerians.

“A number of enforcement procedures are currently in place by which the Nigeria Immigration Service and other security agencies have placed no fewer than 50 high profile persons directly affected by EO6 on watch-list and restricted them from leaving the county pending the determination of their cases,” presidential spokesman Garba Shehu said in a statement on Saturday.

The poll conducted on The Guardian website and Twitter handle showed that Nigerians were divided on the move by the Nigerian president.

Majority 45% respondents on the website applauded the president’s decision, while 43% of the respondents condemned. The remaining 12% said the ban should be disregarded.

On The Guardian’s Twitter handle, 43% of respondents applauded travel ban as part of the war against graft. But 39% of respondents disagreed and opted to condemn the ban. 18% believed the ban is of no importance.

In total, 44% of the respondents applauded the ban; 41% condemned president Buhari’s decision, while 15% feel the ban has no effect on the nation’s status quo.