The Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, yesterday warned the Federal Government not to capitalize on the controversy generated by the illegal removal of Justice Ayo Salami as President of the Court of Appeal to distract Nigerians from serious governance.

In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said Nigerians are not unaware of the sponsors of the series of newspaper and television advertisements to confuse the issues involved in the Justice Salami’s case.

The statement said: “There is no doubt that huge public funds are being frittered away on these self-serving advertisements by mushrooming phoney groups, who are simply echoing their master’s voice and seeking to distort the facts in a case of serious constitutional infraction.

 It is sad however that this dirty game of distraction is being played at a time of worsening insecurity in the land from the activities of Boko Haram, armed robbers and kidnappers; at a time of rising unemployment due to lack of ideas on the part of the government, and at a time that innocent Nigerians were being slaughtered like chicken due to the resurgent crisis in Jos.

“Nigerians are more concerned that their country is fast becoming a police state, where public buildings and other facilities are being guarded by armed soldiers and the entire polity is militarized, and the government of the day spends little or no time on governance,’’ it said.