{"id":64069,"date":"2018-10-15T21:54:53","date_gmt":"2018-10-15T20:54:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=64069"},"modified":"2018-10-15T21:54:53","modified_gmt":"2018-10-15T20:54:53","slug":"travel-ban-on-50-high-profile-nigerians-illegal-repressive-says-serap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/travel-ban-on-50-high-profile-nigerians-illegal-repressive-says-serap\/","title":{"rendered":"Travel ban on 50 high-profile Nigerians illegal, repressive\u2019, says SERAP"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has said that<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\u201cThe order banning 50 alleged high-profile corrupt Nigerians from
\ntravelling abroad without any legal basis and a judicial authorisation is
\nclearly arbitrary, repressive and illegal, as it breaches constitutional
\nrights and the country\u2019s international obligations, which protect the
\nrights to freedom of movement, to leave one\u2019s country, to privacy, and to
\ndue process of law.\u201d<\/p>\n

The organization said: \u201cA travel ban by its nature is an interference with
\nthe right to leave one\u2019s country. It is neither necessary nor
\nproportionate to prevent dissipation of stolen assets or stop politically
\nexposed persons (PEPs) from tampering with any such assets. The ban should
\nbe immediately lifted and the order rescinded.\u201d<\/p>\n

Presidential spokesperson Garba Shehu yesterday announced the placement of
\n50 high-profile Nigerians on travel ban, citing the measure as part of the
\nimplementation of Presidential Executive Order Number 6. The unnamed
\nindividuals will be banned from travelling outside the country pending the
\ndetermination of their corruption cases in order to ensure that all assets
\nwithin a minimum value of N50 million or equivalent, are not dissipated or
\ntampered with.<\/p>\n

But SERAP in a statement today signed by its deputy director Timothy
\nAdewale said: \u201cRather than performing its declared objective of preventing
\ndissipation of stolen assets, the travel ban would seriously undermine the
\ngovernment\u2019s expressed commitment to combat grand corruption and violate
\nthe country\u2019s international human rights obligations. The travel ban will
\nplay right into the hands of high-profile corrupt officials by feeding
\ninto the narrative that the fight against corruption is targeted only at
\npolitical opponents.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement read in part: \u201cThe travel ban and mass surveillance will
\ndistract the authorities from taking legitimate action to recover stolen
\nassets, effectively punish high-ranking corrupt officials and portray the
\ngovernment as unwilling to embrace the rule of law in its fight against
\ncorruption, thereby making it difficult to obtain the necessary support
\nand cooperation of countries keeping stolen assets.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe travel ban will also strain the government\u2019s relationships with
\npartner countries, on whom it will inevitably rely for vital asset
\nrecovery cooperation, undermining the effort to bring them closer. By
\nalienating these partners, the government could lose access to important
\ninformation and mutual legal assistance necessary to effectively recover
\nstolen assets and bring corrupt officials to justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJudicial affirmation of the legality of the Executive Order 6 doesn\u2019t
\ngrant the government arbitrary powers to impose travel ban on anyone
\nwithout following due process of law. Rather than imposing a travel ban,
\nthe authorities should take advantage of the provisions of the UN
\nConvention against Corruption to seek mutual legal assistance with
\ncountries where investigations and litigation are ongoing by requesting
\nthem to apply preventive measures regarding assets covered by the travel
\nban.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe authorities should also widely publish the names of the 50 Nigerians
\nsuspected to be involved, and submit those names to the
\ncountries\/embassies of countries where the stolen assets are stashed. The
\nauthorities should issue a risk alert on alleged corrupt assets that are
\nlikely to be dissipated or tampered with by the high-profile Nigerians,
\nseeking the cooperation of countries keeping the assets, and reminding
\nthem of their international obligations to prevent these Nigerians from
\ntampering with stolen assets that are subject of ongoing investigations
\nand litigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are concerned with the threats grand corruption and money laundering
\nposed to the effective enjoyment of human rights of Nigerians, and agree
\nwith the authorities that grand corruption and impunity of perpetrators
\nmust be vigorously combated. But we believe that the fight against
\ncorruption will only succeed if it is based on due process of law and
\nrespect for human rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the objective the government seeks to achieve is to ensure stolen
\nassets are not dissipated or that politically exposed persons do not
\ninterfere with ongoing investigation and prosecution of corruption cases,
\nthe appropriate legal response is for the authorities to pursue orders of
\ntemporary forfeiture and mutual legal assistance, and not a travel ban
\nthat would achieve nothing but violate citizens\u2019 human rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNigeria is a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and
\nPolitical Rights, which in article 12 guarantees the right of everyone to
\nleave any country, including their own. The government cannot impose
\nrestrictions on this right unless any such restrictions are provided by
\nlaw, are necessary to protect public order, or the rights of others. The
\ntravel restrictions on the alleged 50 corrupt Nigerians clearly do not
\nmeet these conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAll restrictions on the right to leave must be narrowly interpreted. In
\nGeneral Comment No. 27, the Human Rights Committee stated that any
\nrestrictions must not impair the essence of the right and that the
\nrelationship of the norm to the exception must not be reversed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe travel ban cannot achieve the objective of depriving the 50 Nigerians
\nsuspected of corruption of their ill-gotten gains. It is absolutely
\nimportant that the government is guided by the provisions of Article 31 of
\nthe UN Convention against Corruption to which Nigeria is a state party,
\nand which authorises states parties to take preliminary measures to seize,
\nfreeze or otherwise immobilise property for the purposes of
\nconfiscation\/pending investigation and litigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is always important that the definition and interpretation of the law
\nshould be as certain as possible, and this is of particular importance in
\ncases of corruption where citizens\u2019 human rights may be at stake. We do
\nnot consider that such reasonable certainty can exist where the executive
\nassumes patently judicial functions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe right to leave one\u2019s country includes a positive duty on states such
\nas Nigeria to issue documents \u2013 as well as a passive one \u2013 to refrain from
\nplacing obstacles in the way of an individual seeking to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has said that \u201cThe order banning 50 alleged high-profile corrupt Nigerians from travelling abroad without any legal basis and a judicial authorisation is clearly…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":60030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\nTravel ban on 50 high-profile Nigerians illegal, repressive\u2019, says SERAP - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/travel-ban-on-50-high-profile-nigerians-illegal-repressive-says-serap\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Travel ban on 50 high-profile Nigerians illegal, repressive\u2019, says SERAP - 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