The entire country and a global audience are
rightly scandalised by the unfolding saga over Omoyele Sowore and the
unruliness of the SSS and the government; but it is only a pattern, a reflection
of the serial disregard of the Buhari regime for human rights and its battering
of other arms of government and our democratic institutions. PUNCH views this
tendency and its recent escalation with serious concern, knowing as the great
thinker, Edmund Burke, said that “the only thing necessary for the triumph of
evil is for good men to do nothing.”
Nigeria
had trod a path, a veritable obstacle course, where repression, especially
under military jackboots, was a malignant presence and this attracted heroic
resistance by ordinary people, civil society groups and the press. But
Nigerians have lately become lethargic, divided by ethnic and sectarian
sentiments and weakened by widespread poverty brought on by a rapacious
political class and bad governance.
PUNCH will not adopt the self-defeating
attitude of many Nigerians looking the other way after each violation of rights
and attacks on the citizens, the courts, the press and civic society, including
self-determination groups lawfully exercising their inalienable rights to
peaceful dissent. This regime’s actions and assaults on the courts,
disobedience of court orders and arbitrary detention of citizens reflect its
true character of the martial culture.
Major
General Muhammadu Buhari (retd) ran a ham-fisted military junta in 1984/85 and
old habits obviously run deep. Until he and his repressive regime purge
themselves of their martial tendency, therefore, PUNCH will not be a party to
falsely adorning it with a democratic robe, hence our decision to label it for
what it is – an autocratic military-style regime run by Major General Muhammadu
Buhari (retd).
Sowore’s
travails are symptomatic: having ignored court orders granting him bail, the
SSS, after much pressure following 125 days in captivity, released him only to
stage a GESTAPO-style raid on the court where the journalist was standing
trial. The leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, Ibrahim el-Zakzakky and
his wife have spent over three years in detention in violation of court orders
granting them bail and ordering their release. A former National Security
Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, has been held in detention since 2015 in defiance of
several court orders, including one by the ECOWAS appellate court that declared
his continued incarceration illegal. Under Buhari, the SSS has become a
monstrous and repressive secret police, acting often with impunity. Buhari
bears responsibility for the state of repression because, as president, he can
stop it today.
But the
SSS is not alone. The Nigeria Police, whose notoriety predates Buhari’s second
coming, has continued its serial abuse of human rights and is ever available to
officials who routinely deploy police officers from the mundane abuse of sirens
in traffic to arbitrary arrest and torture of victims. The police and military
fail to understand that peaceful agitation and the right to associate are
fundamental rights.
This
situation is eerily familiar: as military head of state, Buhari’s appointee who
headed the National Security Organisation, as the SSS was then known, Lawal
Rafindadi, unleashed a reign of terror on Nigerians, featuring arbitrary
arrests and torture in cells described by inmates as chambers of horror. Under
the infamous Decree 2, agents had pre-signed detention papers, court orders
were ignored and ouster clauses were inserted in decrees, while the press was
specifically targeted with the infamous Decree 4 under which Tunde Thompson and
Nduka Irabor were jailed.
Returning
as an elected president, Buhari has followed the same template, appointing
Lawal Daura as Director-General of the SSS, who re-enacted the Rafindadi
playbook by his treatment of Dasuki and el-Zakzakky, among others, raided the
homes of judges and twice deployed armed SSS heavies to foil the arrest of two
former security chiefs by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Nigerian Navy authorities similarly ignored court orders to release Navy
Captain Dada Labinjo, who they detained for over a year until his recent
release on bail; Nigerian Army too detains suspects interminably on the grounds
of being terrorism suspects.
Some governors have borrowed from this
nefarious model, deploying security agents and perverting the law to punish
critics and journalists. Critics, Dadiyata Idris and Stephen Kefas, have been
arrested and arraigned. Agba Jalingo is facing a treason charge for offending
the Cross River State Government. Jones Abiri, a local publisher in Bayelsa
State, has been charged with terrorism while, in Delta State, two journalists
are facing criminal defamation charges.
The
regime’s Information and Culture Minister, Lai Mohammed, forgetting how, as
opposition spokesman in 2014, he was harassed by the SSS and accused of
“loitering,” has been vigorously pressing for anti-hate speech laws to restrict
the social media. Abdullahi Sabi, a senator, along with others, has
re-presented a hate-speech bill: their sole purpose is to insulate officials
from criticism and compel unquestioned acceptance of Buhari’s draconian
misrule.
Under the
law, suspects cannot be held beyond 48 hours except by a court order. But the
regime observes this in the breach. Yet, Nigeria is a signatory to the United
Nations Declaration of Human Rights, African Charter on Human and People’s
Rights and the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment and other treaties guaranteeing fundamental rights. The 1999
Constitution also spells out basic rights. But the regime chooses which rights
or court orders to respect or obey. This is unacceptable. Critical segments of
the society have been assaulted, silenced or compromised. It is time, as a
Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, has strongly advocated, for civil society to
rejuvenate itself and send the message to Buhari to “rein in his wild dogs of
disobedience.” From the United States has come a message from the Department of
State, two senators and Congress telling the Buhari regime to stop its shocking
affront to the rule of law, reminding the General that “respect for the rule of
law, judicial independence, political and media freedom, and due process are
key tenets of democracy.”
Nigeria
has had more than its fair share of draconian rulers, whether in military or
civil garb, but none has succeeded in breaking our resilience and irrepressible
spirit. This regime will not prove to be an exception. Nigeria, and Nigerians,
will overcome. The strong desire of our people to enjoy the unfettered freedoms
guaranteed by the constitution and the rule of law, including the freedom to
speak freely and assemble peacefully, will again outlive, outlast and crush the
spirit of despotism.
Buhari can
still redeem himself and his out-of-control security agents and reclaim his
past facade of tolerance. When Daura brazenly inserted himself in politics by
recklessly sending armed masked SSS enforcers to besiege the National Assembly,
as acting President, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo promptly sacked him and had
him arrested. Buhari should similarly distance himself and his regime from the
lawlessness and impunity of the current SSS DG, Yusuf Bichi, by dismissing him,
ordering the release of all victims of illegal detention and compelling
obedience to court orders. The SSS has not been efficient in the war against
terror; it should perform its primary duty to safeguard the country. As a
product of statute, its loyalty should be to the country, not to temporary
occupiers of public office.
The
regime’s repression cannot succeed but will further polarise the society and
weaken national cohesion. The Nigerian Bar Association has vowed to defend the
sanctity of judicial authority, while Soyinka has warned that disregard for
court orders could beget desperation and civil disobedience. Nigerians need to
stop their supine acquiescence to oppression and learn to stand up for their
rights as many are doing around the world, using all peaceful and legal means,
including the right to protest and of peaceful assembly. It is Dasuki, el-Zakzakky,
Sowore and others today, who knows who is next if repression is not resisted?
As a
symbolic demonstration of our protest against autocracy and military-style
repression, PUNCH (all our print newspapers, The PUNCH, Saturday PUNCH, Sunday
PUNCH, PUNCH Sports Extra, and digital platforms, most especially Punchng.com)
will henceforth prefix Buhari’s name with his rank as a military dictator in
the 80s, Major General, and refer to his administration as a regime, until they
purge themselves of their insufferable contempt for the rule of law.
Copyright
PUNCH.
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