The senator representing the Federal Capital Territory in the National Assembly, Ireti Kingibe, has criticised the curfew imposed by the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, ahead of Saturday’s area council elections.
Wike in a special broadcast aired on national television and radio stations on Thursday, declared Friday a work-free day in the nation’s capital in preparation for the council polls.
The former Rivers State governor also announced a restriction on human and vehicular movement across the FCT from 8 p.m. on Friday to 6 p.m. on Saturday.
Reacting to the development in a statement issued on Friday by her Special Assistant on Media, Matilda Duncan, Kingibe described the minister’s decision as “authoritarian, ill-considered, and unacceptable in a democratic society.”
The senator argued that Wike’s move to impose a curfew across the FCT without broad consultation with key stakeholders amounts to “a direct affront to democratic governance and the constitutional rights of residents.”
“The people of the FCT are not subjects under a dictatorship. They are citizens of a democratic republic. Any sweeping restriction on their movement and livelihoods must be justified by compelling evidence, subjected to scrutiny, and carried out with transparency,” she said.
