The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has described as another hallmark of emerging despotism some of the provisions of the Jonathan Administration’s recently-unveiled aviation policy, especially the one that says owners of private jets can only carry members of their families aboard such planes.
”Aviation is global, yet nowhere in the world has this kind of policy been put in place, and it is simply impracticable,” the party said in a statement issued in Lagos on Monday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
”Whoever is still in doubt about the transmogrification of the Jonathan Administration should have a second thought. This policy could only have been designed to satisfy the yearning for absolute power by a democratically-elected President who will not hesitate to subject his compatriots to tyrannical rule,” it said.
ACN wondered how the President’s spokesman, who as usual rushed to the blind defence of his boss over whether or not he is fast becoming an Emperor, will rationalize a policy that is unprecedented and impracticable, and could only have been formulated with some devilish intentions.
”The presidential spokesman describes his boss as ‘a democratically elected leader who is running a people-oriented, inclusive and progressive government. Under his watch, Nigeria’s democracy has been consolidated; the scope for human freedoms has been further expanded and there is respect for due
process and the rule of law’.
”Words are cheap! We will like to know how the kind of controversial and oppressive aviation policy put in place by the Jonathan Administration will expand the scope of human freedoms, when in fact it has stifled such! We will also like to know how such a policy signifies respect for due process and the rule of law, when all it does is to negate the best practices in the global industry,” the party said.
It called on aviation experts to speak out on the new policy, with a view to educating the administration and those it has put in charge of the country’s aviation sector on the implication of such a policy, before Nigeria is made an object of ridicule in the critical global aviation sector.
”In the meantime, we wager that in the not-too-distant future, the real reason for the policy will become clear to all, and it will be anything but in the national interest,” the party said.
