By Tochukwu Ezukanma
President Buhari’s war on corruption struck a responsive chord in
Nigerian minds because corruption has, for long, been the bane of
Nigeria. It convoluted our value system and rendered every institution
dysfunctional, and portends to unravel the social fabric of the Nigerian
society. A successful war against corruption in Nigeria will nudge the
country towards a renaissance and herald her joining the ranks of the
prosperous nations of the world. So, we enthusiastically supported his
determined assault on this national malady. Just, as we were ready to
vote for him, even, if, “he presented a NEPA bill for his certificate”,
we celebrated his anti-corruption fight, even, if, it breached the law.
Many Nigerians saw his administration’s disobedience to the law as a
necessary evil in the fight against corruption. They felt that the
subordination of justice to order, while undemocratic, was tolerable
extremism in a laudable crusade against this most hideous national
monster. After all, had earlier German political philosophy and
jurisprudence not subordinated justice to order? And had that most
famous Black American leader, Martin Luther King Jr., not distinguished
between kinds of extremism, when he wrote, “the question is not whether
we (are) extremists but what kind of extremists we (are)” – a logical
parallel – to Barry Goldwater’s famous proclamation, “Extremism in
defense of liberty is no vice”. Analogously, we thought that extremism
in extirpation of corruption is no vice.
However, with time, it crystallized to Nigerians that Buhari’s defiance
to court orders were not motivated by the public good. They were natural
penchants of an inveterate dictator. By four years into his presidency,
his dictatorial bent was rattling the institutional moorings of Nigerian
democracy: the independence of the judiciary was compromised; freedom of
the press and free speech, stifled; peaceful protesters, arrested and
detained indefinitely; and the authority of the legislature, weakened.
Evidently, in perceptible gradations, the country is regressing towards
a dictatorship.
The unconstitutional replacement of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter
Onnoghen, with Ibrahim Mohammed paved the way for the emasculation of
judiciary independence. Onnoghen put up a despicable defense because he
came to equity with unclean hands. His hands were soiled by glaring acts
of corruption, including feigned amnesia: he “forgot” to include a
significant portion of his assets in his assets declaration. According
to legal experts and other observers, the new Chief Justice, Ibrahim
Mohammed, is unqualified for the job and totally, clueless; he can only
function as a malleable tool of the presidency. Not surprisingly, the
travesties of justice recently emanating from the courts, especially, in
election petition cases have been repulsively evident.
Disappointed by unfulfilled electoral promises, and roiled by
encompassing economic misery, more and more Nigerians are driven to
protest against the government. Despite the constitutionally guaranteed
rights of Nigerians to peaceful protests, the Buhari administration
suppresses peaceful protests. On August 3 2019, the Directorate State
Security (DSS) arrested Omoyele Sowore. His only “crime” was planning to
lead his group known as “Revolution Now” on a peaceful protest.
Paradoxically, he was charged for treason. In its distastefully colorful
parlances, the DSS accused him of “threatening public safety, peaceful
co-existence and social harmony in the country” and calling for a
revolution – “forceful overthrow of government”. He remains in jail,
even, after perfecting his bail conditions. To call a planned peaceful
protest a revolution because the protesters gathered under the auspices
of “Revolution Now” is nauseatingly disingenuous. The word revolution in
this context is hyperbolic; to define it literally, as forceful
overthrow of a government is Machiavellian humbug.
With the increasing Machiavellianism – unscrupulous despotism – of the
Buhari administration, we are witnessing increasing repression of the
press (harassment and arrests of journalists) across the country. For
example, a journalist, Agba Jalingo, for writing an article accusing
Governor Benedict Ayade and the Cross River Micro Finance Bank of
corruption, was arrested and charged for treason and disturbing the
peace. He has remained in jail since August 22nd, 2019. And the security
detail of Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo beat up a photojournalist,
Abayomi Adeshida, and damaged his professional camera. In the words of
the journalist, “I was shocked when the DSS started beating me for no
reason. They tore off my accreditation tag, and dragged me on the floor
while hitting and kicking me”. He was hospitalized.
In his inexplicable ingratiation of the president, the Senate President,
Ahmed Lawan, scandalized Nigerians by stating the willingness of the
senate to grant all the president’s requests. He said, “Any request that
comes from Mr. President is a request that will make Nigeria a better
place …and the senate will act expeditiously to” grant his request. It
was a statement that impugned the independence of the senate. It cast
the senate as an obsequious institution willing to pander to the whims
and caprices of the president. Constitutionally, the senate is a
formidable bulwark against presidential excesses.
The social media provides a superb forum for the governed to express,
and the governing to appreciate, the prevailing moods and sentiments of
the masses. If the Nigerian political class is committed to democracy
and its attendant sensitivity and responsiveness to the legitimate
aspirations of the people, it would have been enthused by the social
media. But consumed in their cupidity and sordid ambitions and totally
unconcerned with the plight and yearnings of the people they were
elected to serve; the Nigerian power elite are weary of the social
media. This is because it provides unparalleled spaciousness for free
speech. Uncensored, it gives voice to even the dregs of the society and
places no one, irrespective of his status, above criticism and censure.
It allows even the forgotten destitute, at the bottom of the economic
ladder, to take swipes and haul insults at the rich, famous and
powerful. In addition, it is a potent instrument for mobilization and
coordination of mass protests. It is a redoubtable safeguard against
despotism, and all forms of abuse of power. Not surprisingly, the Buhari
administration wants to gag the social media. It is angling for
legislative enablement to muzzle the social media.
The attacks on free speech and the whittling down of the independence of
the judiciary and legislature reinforce Buhari’s dictatorial powers.
However, his dictatorship will remain circumscribed by that bastion of
free speech, the social media. It will take a successful suppression of
the social media to complete Buhari’s dictatorial grip on Nigeria.
Tochukwu Ezukanma writes from Lagos, Nigeria
maciln18@yahoo.com
0803 529 2908