HURIWA: Nigeria’s Unity, Still Unfinished Business

• Seeks legislation against health tourism

A human rights group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), yesterday said Nigeria’s unity “is an unfinished business,” therefore faulting President Muhammadu Buhari’s remark that Nigeria’s unity is not negotiable.

The group, also sought legislation against health tourism, noting that Buhari’s medical sojourn for three months in the United Kingdom was not far-reaching and not re-assuring.

These were contained in a statement by HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Mr. Emmanuel Onwubiko, and the National Director of media Miss. Zaniab Yusuf.

In its statement, the group faulted Buhari’s assertion that the unity of Nigeria “is non-negotiable. Such statements are offensive to the provisions of universal declarations of human rights and the international covenant on civil and political rights.”

The statement added that Nigeria’s unity “is not cast in iron and is open to continuous negotiations, restructuring and reworking since the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates in 1914 which produced the geographical entity called Nigeria was done by the British colonial overlords without the democratic inputs of our forefathers.

“Even the United Kingdom that gave us the independence is open to the possible breakup through the democratic referendum by one of the component parts known as Scotland. In life, one basic fact that is permanent is change.”

Onwubiko said Buhari’s speech was silent on the amount of public fund committed to his medical treatment in the UK and payment of parking fees for the presidential jet and expenses on the retinue of aides that spent months in London at public expense.

The group asked the president “to apologise for breaching his solemn electoral pledge to end medical tourism, and send an executive bill to the National Assembly to ban all sorts of publicly funded medical tourism.

“We reject the insinuation from state officials that the treatments were paid for by family of the president because that is being economical with the truth since the president, during his medical vacation, enjoyed all the presidential privileges and spent all his times in the public house at our own expenses.

“We expect that as a man who has professed zero-tolerance for lack of transparency and accountability, he would have okayed the invitation of world’s acclaimed team of forensic financial auditors to look at the finances of the presidency and make full disclosures on how much of public fund went into his treatment.”