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 the extirpation of corruption is no vice.
However,
with time, it crystallized to Nigerians that Buhari’s defiance to court orders
was 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 the 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 the 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 is wary 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 social media. It is angling for legislative enablement to muzzle 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 social media to complete Buhari’s dictatorial grip on Nigeria.
By
Tochukwu Ezukanma writes from Lagos, Nigeria
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