Shehu Sani advises FG not to turn Nigeria into a fascist state

• Speaks Of His Trauma In EFCC Detention
Civil rights activist and former Senator of Kaduna central zone in the 8th National Assembly, Shehu Sani has urged President Muhammadu Buhari-led government to resist the temptation of turning the nation into a fascist state.

Sani, who was recently released on bail from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s (EFCC) custody, queried the decline in the application of the rule of law in running the nation’s affairs, saying his 30-day detention is proof that the Buhari régime has deviated from democratic practices. 

In a statement, yesterday, he said: “In an ideal democratic state, all government agencies are obliged to operate within the dictates and ambit of the rule of law, or the nation leaps in to tyranny. The rule book of Stalin, the manual of Hitler or roadmap of Mussolini should not be the guidance and compass of the nation’s security and anti-corruption agencies in their quest to sanitise our country.”

Sani commended officials of Amnesty International, SERAP, HURIWA and other groups that stood by him during his detention.

He said: “My incarceration for 30 days in EFCC jail was unfair, unjust and a clear breach of my fundamental rights and hence stands condemned. During my unjust stay in EFCC cell, I was subjected to traumatising interrogations. My houses and offices where searched. They compelled me to declare my assets, and tried to subject me to polygraph lie detector tests. My accounts were blocked and my phone was seized, all in the name of fictional $24 or 25, 000 extortion.

“Any Information planted in the media by the EFCC spokesperson, while I was in their custody about me is outright falsehood and nothing but a bacterial and fungal infested concoctions, typical of their style.

“Our country will continue to be at the bottom strata of the Transparency International index, as long as our anti-graft agencies only use their might and arsenal to crush ants, while lacking the courage to confront the snakes, the vultures and the hyenas of the ruling establishment…”