FG disowns list of 50 persons banned from travelling

The Nigerian Government said it has not released the list containing the names of the ’50 high-profile’ persons banned from travelling out of the country.

A government spokesman said on Saturday that 50 high-profile Nigerians have been banned from leaving the country.

“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.

Shehu said the financial transactions of these persons of interest were being monitored by the relevant agencies to ensure that the assets are not dissipated and such persons do not interfere with, nor howsoever corrupt the investigation and litigation processes.

The order, came less than 48 hours after a Federal High Court in Abuja upheld Buhari’s Executive Order 6 aimed at seizing assets of corrupt persons and institutions in Nigeria.

Although a national daily published it claimed contained the names of the 50 persons affected by the travel ban, Shehu told The Channels on Sunday night that the names of the have not been released to the public.

“We’ve seen a number of names being circulated. We have not issued any list. We are not going to issue any list because, again, if we did so, a lot of criticism will follow. Trials by media and all sorts of things,” Shehu said.

“This administration will not be subjected to another round of trial by the press; that we are persecuting individuals, or this is political, which, absolutely, it is not or that we are just convicting people via the press,” Shehu said.

The presidential aide said the federal government will not release any list to the public as it would not help matters. He said that the individuals “know themselves. If in doubt, they can check with immigration.”

He opined that the move was in the interest of concluding cases that have dragged on for too long “and held our judiciary captive”.

“The worry then is they (the cases) are not making progress and the administration wants to move very quickly with these cases so that they go to the conclusion,” he said.

“This is a matter in the domain of the (Nigerian) Immigration Service and other security agencies who have the duty of enforcement.”