In a season in which politics dominates the atmosphere even the usual peace of a weekend can be tested. It happened this last weekend. A court judgment just affirmed that Nigeria’s President had not violated the Constitution or any known law of the country by signing Executive Order 6 that seeks to ensure that highly exposed persons do not tamper with their questionable properties under investigation. So, over the weekend, the Presidency, apparently decided to test the waters when it said that 50 persons had been placed under travel ban, perhaps in the letter and spirit of Executive Order 6. While Nigerians were wondering who such persons were, what was supposed to be a scoop came out. As many as 35 names were raised as being in the list of those who must remain in the country to ensure that they do not do anything to dispense with properties that they currently own but suspected to be proceeds of corruption.

With the seeming attempt to implement Executive Order 6, the Presidency fell into blazing criticisms from men of the legal profession, especially human rights lawyers. One of them, Femi Falana said that no administrative restrictions could be placed on the movement of Nigerians unless by a court order. He asked the Presidency to desist from violating the fundamental rights of the citizens by fiat. His position has since been echoed by many lawyers.

Of course, the opposition People’s Democratic Party, PDP took the Presidency up on the matter by saying that the Order was meant to silence the opposition. Atiku Abubakar, the man who is basking in his recent nomination as PDP’s presidential candidate in next year’s general election immediately condemned the travel ban.

Surprisingly, the Presidency has now said that it was not responsible for the release of list of persons supposedly being banned from traveling outside the country. The declaration has left traditional and social media in a state of confusion.

The Presidency in a statement said: “The Buhari administration reassures all well-meaning and patriotic Nigerians of its commitment to the fight against corruption, in accordance with the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the general principles of the Rule of Law.

“Accordingly, this administration will uphold the rule of law in all its actions and the right of citizens would be protected as guaranteed by the constitution.”

The question is: where is the authentic list of persons being covered by the travel ban? Could it also be that the Presidency has cleverly bowed to the legal opinion that the ban violates the principle of rule of law?

We will wait for the Presidency to further clarify its Order 6 in respect of a banning order in circulation. It is also expected that the government will provide the criteria with which it arrived at the names.