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Human rights lawyer and activist, Deji Adeyanju, has said he and his colleagues have petitioned the governments of the United States, United Kingdom and Canada to impose visa restrictions on Senator Francis Fadahunsi over his role in engineering violence against members of the Accord Party ahead of the Osun State governorship election.
Adeyanju made this known while speaking on Arise TV, where he condemned an unacceptable escalation in political rhetoric and alleged threats against Accord party members ahead of the election.
According to him, the petition was being sent to the diplomatic missions of the three countries and was aimed at seeking sanctions against Fadahunsi over remarks which, according to Adeyanju, amounted to encouraging or facilitating political violence.
Adeyanju said: “It was very clear that he was complicit in targeting, you know, engineering violent attack against members of Accord Party, and this is unacceptable.”
He added: “We have written letters. The letters are going to be dispatched early in the morning to the US Embassy, the UK, and Canada for visa ban to be placed on him.”
The activist said the request was, in his view, the “irreducible minimum” response to what he described as threats capable of undermining the democratic process and peaceful conduct of the Osun election.
“This is the irreducible minimum, and you know that this is in line with the United States commitment to promoting democracy across the world, especially the US is very keen about promoting democracy in Nigeria,” Adeyanju said.
He explained that the United States had repeatedly demonstrated its willingness to sanction individuals accused of threatening democratic processes, including through visa restrictions and financial sanctions.
“The US has been very explicit that anyone that threatens political violence or engages in electoral malpractice or subverting the democratic process, that they will not hesitate to issue visa ban on them, and they will not hesitate to freeze their accounts within the US, so it’s in line with that that we have done that,” he said.
Adeyanju said the petition was not the first time he and his colleagues had approached foreign governments over alleged threats to Nigeria’s democratic process. He noted, “We have subsequently, we have previously on numerous occasions done this.”
He also called on all leading candidates participating in the Osun governorship election to publicly condemn any call for violence against political opponents, regardless of their political affiliation.
“We believe that all the leading candidates should condemn the call for violence against any political party,” Adeyanju said.
He also urged political leaders and security authorities to commit themselves to ensuring that the election is conducted peacefully.
“And the governors must commit, the governorship candidates must commit, the president, the security agencies, they must commit to making sure that the election is peaceful,” he said.
According to him, the level of tension and alleged violence surrounding the election was particularly disturbing.
“We have witnessed for a very long time now, we’ve not witnessed this level of violence just preceding an election, and it’s completely unacceptable,” Adeyanju said.
Adeyanju said the controversy surrounding Fadahunsi’s remarks could not simply be dismissed, even if the senator had subsequently attempted to retract or clarify parts of what he said.
“Well, he’s rolled back on some of it,” Adeyanju acknowledged.
However, he insisted that the remarks remained serious enough to warrant scrutiny.
“Whether he rolled back or not, you know, the fact speaks for itself,” he said.
According to Adeyanju, the issue was particularly concerning because of an apparent connection between the senator’s remarks and attempts to target members of the Accord Party, reiterating, “It was very clear that he was complicit at targeting, you know, engineering violent attack against members of Accord Party, and this is unacceptable.”
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