NIGERIAN citizen, Mr. Joachim
Chinakwe Iroko was recently arrested by the Ogun State Police Command and
immediately charged to court over alleged attempts to cause ethno-religious
violence within the division. The suspect was accused of naming and labelling
his dog with “Alhaji Buhari” believably after President Muhammadu Buhari and
paraded in a community largely dominated by northerners and Muslims.
The incident has generated uproars in
the society with a faction condemning and accusing the presidency of civilian
maladministration, deficiency of ideas and autocratic tendencies knowing that
by statute, the police is under the office and control of the President, and categorically,
slammed the president as a man who pursues rats when his house is in flames on
account of the economy which, to admit is in a calamitous condition is
affirming the reality. The court eventually granted bail to the accused, though
still remanded due to inability to meet bail conditions yet........
Unequivocally, Buhari though avidly
prepared to make a change in the country’s leadership, has unconsciously threaded
a wrong track by his extreme lopsided-appointments which clearly favoured the
northern region with almost all key positions held by northerners and Muslims.
Regrettably, this singular action, apart from working against the laid down
concept of Federal Character in the
nation’s grundnorm (1999 Constitution, Federal Republic of Nigeria), poses a
great threat to the good intentions of the President to reciprocate the trust
by millions of Nigerians who campaigned and made enormous commitments for his
success at the polls. Insentiently, the one-sided appointment stands strappingly
to frustrate the doctrine of transparency and accountability which are pivotal
to eradicating corruption in the society; the President’s primary policy based
on his antecedents. As a matter of fact, I still believe the President should
freely appoint a team he could depend upon for impressive service-delivery on
account of the havocs perpetrated on the economy by the squandermania-Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) governments from 1999 to 2015 with nothing to show for
the years.
No doubt, the Constitution impliedly
allows exercise of discretions on some positions since it didn’t specifically
enlist them for application of the principle, however, its mere emphasis on
ministerial appointments ought to serve as a guiding principle in all
appointments by the central government putting into consideration that Nigeria
is a multi-ethnic society. I thus disagree with the position of the presidency
that Buhari has not violated the Federal Character principle on account that
the Constitution didn’t highlight those positions. This is because, by
commonsense, the Constitution wouldn’t have endorsed a situation where most of
key positions of a central government of a country with diverse ethnic groups
are lavished on a particular ethnic group at the detriment of others except
ministers. Sadly, the utmost threat of
this blunder, if unchecked, is the high probability of disintegration of the
nation immediately after Buhari’s administration. This position is bolstered by
the obvious temperament of the northerners who may resort to all manner of
combats against a future southern President’s government rather than tolerate
to wail as the southerners do presently when power eventually shifts out of the
zone.
Recall that the Boko Haram Islamic
terrorist sect was, by mission or commission, believably set up by political
leaders of the north extraction in opposition of a southern and Christian
President. As at today, millions of
innocent lives and valuable properties have been lost with several millions in
internally-Displaced Persons (IDPs) centres across the nation.
On the economy, to say the country is
in dire straits is simply stating the obvious. However, it must inarguably be
noted that the present mess was a repercussion of colossal negligence and inadvertences
of the past PDP-governments, unfortunately inherited by the present
administration. APC’s culpability is solitarily anchored on the
lopsided-appointments which deprive renowned technocrats and professionals from
other geopolitical zones from contributing their quota in turning around the
economic catastrophe of the nation. No government or economy grows in
isolation, or essentially by enthroning mediocrity at the expense of meritocracy;
hence, partisanship must be crucified for professionalism in key sectors. Apart
from this, all blames should be cooperatively heaped on the PDP and its leaders
who failed woefully in taking sustainable strides during the sun-shining days.
Despite all the oil booms and economic experts deployed in its times, diversion
of the economy from a mono-based should commonsensically, have been its principal
policy rather than the indiscriminate diversion of the proceeds into private
pockets, and still sold most of national assets in the guise of privatization.
Eventually, oil price which was the major source of revenue crashed in the
international market leaving the country in pitiable calamity. Diametrically,
APC found itself in a pit, but leadership entails solving problems and not
always managing good-times, hence, whatever steps it could invoke to remedy the
predicaments are up to the party. Nigerians will not mortgage dividends of
democracy, albeit patience is inevitably required. The comparative advantage is
that by Buhari’s antecedents, though not an economist could determinedly lead
and supervise a resourceful economic team to deliver.
On security, the enigmatic attacks by
the Fulani herdsmen coupled with the Boko Haram Islamic sect, both from the
north, against innocent citizens and now rapidly spreading all over the country
are disastrous. I believe these could be controlled if the federal government
is more philosophical in reflecting federal character in its appointments as
the consciousness of having all key positions manned by fellow northerners and
Muslims is rationally to a section, a stimulus to disregard the laws of the
land knowing that majority of these folks are uneducated. Reasonably, how could
average northerners submit to the laws guiding their relationships with other
tribes when only their relatives respectively head the Presidency, Army, Navy,
Police, Airforce, Security Adviser, Judiciary and even the Office of the Secretary
of the Federation, grossly, this is a blunder, aberration and nonsequito. Above
all, indistinguishable from what a British historian, Lord Acton (1834-1902)
shouted against over a century ago by his quote, “power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. The
over dominance of a particular tribe in the central government invariably will
send wrong signals to the average class pointing to exercise of absolute powers
and create a comparable picture of “all
animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others” in George
Orwell’s Animal Farm. If the federal
government cares to save the nation from these predicaments, let the President distribute
key positions across all the geopolitical zones irrespective of his discretion on
appointments such that culprits will be made to squarely face the consequences
of their actions irrespective of ethnicity. Until justice is done, injustice
will naturally continue to triumph, hence, continued heinous attacks on
helpless citizens even while asleep as are now repetitive in Enugu state and
other parts of the country.
Reverting to the dog naming saga,
apparently, no offence was committed by mere naming of a dog after President
Buhari or any other persons. As a matter of fact, a dog that is gallant and
terrifying could be named after a renowned soldier. A gentle one will in
similar manner be named after a hero with such traits; a good-looking also takes
after a hero in like manner. Possibly, a dog that is a no-nonsense war lord in
its environment could be named after a distinguished public figure on
anti-corruption like President Buhari.
In other words, no harm was done to the President by the act. However,
the locus situ (place of the event),
inferred intentions and the manner it was done could competently make it
constitute a crime in criminal law, particularly attempt to cause
ethno-religious violence or breach of public peace. If the accused only named
his dog ‘Buhari’ but did not tag the name and deliberately parade it in
Hausa-Muslim community, his arrest by the Police would have amounted to false
imprisonment, malicious prosecution and even a breach of his Freedom of Expression
which is a fundamental right available to all citizens. Incidentally, the Police
vested with powers to ensure a peaceful and harmonious society is under a duty
to arrest and prevent anyone suspected to be involved in acts capable of
creating chaos and breakdown of laws and orders. Commendably, the arrest of the
suspect and largely the situation as a preventive security is a desideratum
rather than the reactionary security. The police should likewise be commended
for charging him to court closely rather than the usual torturing and illegal
detention. Interestingly, the court is the temple of justice and the focal point
of the judiciary; the last hope of the common man. Hence, if truly the
president is linked to dragging the accused to the court, he still deserves no
condemnation since the cardinal purpose of a court is justice and conflict
resolution.
However, the President Buhari should
be respectfully disassociated from the matter since it is not a civil matter.
For the fact the matter was charged to the court without delay should be viewed
extensively as a dividend of democracy knowing that both parties are now facing
the court which has a competent jurisdiction to strike out even the President’s
case if without merit. The Police believably working for the President who is
their overall boss and the accused will certainly be represented by lawyers for
fair-hearing which is sacrosanct. Hence, to tag the President a tyrant over a civic responsibility;
dragging a citizen to the court of law, is regrettably a misnomer, rather
implies the president believes in the rule of law and equality before the law
which are the hallmarks of democracy. Nevertheless, citizens’ actions that
could lead to anarchy should be condemned overtly and discouraged at all cost knowing
too well that where the rights of one ends is where that of another starts. Anarchy
does not know boundaries or relatives. It could destroy beyond imaginations.
Prior to taking some reckless and aimless actions, wisdom demands they are thoroughly
self-scrutinized to weigh its likely values or demerits to the society at large.
This is meanderingly, a core concept of community-policing.
Umegboro, Public Affairs Analyst, Lawyer is the publisher of Pinnacle InfoGallery BLOG
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