Didn’t we experience the worst kind of military despotism and tyranny when Sani Abacha shoved aside the interim and transitional government of Chief Ernest Shonekan in a military putsch? Abacha it was who imposed a reign of terror on Nigerians, then. Not only did he mindlessly loot our treasury, he also killed many members of the opposition groups, being with sanguinary proclivities. Consequently, then, Nigeria became a pariah state as some western countries and international organisations ostracized and isolated Nigeria.
Thankfully, his unexpected death prevented Nigeria from bowling over the precipice of dismemberment and descending into a civil war. So, when he died, not a few Nigerians jubilated. His military successor, Abdusalami Abubakar, conducted the general election, which ushered in the fourth republic in 1999. Since the inception of the fourth republic, the PDP had ruled Nigeria for the greater number of years than others political parties. But it was Goodluck Jonathan ‘s lacklustre and visionless political leadership of Nigeria that caused the PDP to lose its grips on power.
So, the APC, whose mantra of change gained acceptance in Nigeria, won the 2015 presidential election. And Muhammadu Buhari became our president. Because of his ascetic nature, and because of his perceived possession of moral scruples, millions of Nigerians believed him to be the political messiah, who would right the wrongs in our political polity, entrench peace and unity in the country, and rescue Nigeria from the jaws of underdevelopment.
However, the Daura – born former Nigeria’s military head of state has failed to live up to our billings and expectations. In his first term in office, his true persona came to the fore when he appointed many northern Moslems into the country’s security outfits. His doing that is a proof that he is an ethnic jingoist and irredentist as well as a religious bigot. His actions, which are divisive, have continued to polarize Nigeria along ethnic and religious lines.
So, not surprisingly, Nigeria has not totally won its war against Boko Haram insurgency and terrorism. The Boko Haram insurgents still detonate bombs in crowded places to kill people. And those displaced by the insurgency have sought refuge in insalubrious places in Cameroon and other neighbouring countries. Worst still, some of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls are still in captivity. Leah Sharibu, who’s one of the abducted schoolgirls, refused to proselytize to Islam. She has become a symbol of resistance to Islamic extremism. Leah Sharibu’s continued stay in captivity is a sore on our collective conscience and an index of our government’s ineptitude and helplessness.
Not only has this bumbling government failed to guarantee the security of life and property in Nigeria, it has also failed to rejuvenate our economy to make it grow exponentially. It should be noted that the formulation and execution of jejune economic policy cannot make our economy grow. The economy should be diversified. Because the economy is shrinking instead of expanding, there is high rate of unemployment in the country. Each year, thousands of university graduates are churned out of the tertiary institutions to join the labour market that is surfeit with job seekers.
It is this appalling, parlous, and despicable state of things that Omoyele Sowore tried to call attention to by planning to stage the #revolutionprotest# before he was hauled into detention. After he had perfected and fulfilled his bail conditions following his arrangement in court, the government and the DSS refused to release him. It took Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu’s threatening and order for his immediate release for him to be released only to be re-arrested in court 12 hours later in a Gestapo style.
This APC-led government headed by Rtd General Muhammadu Buhari, which is fast morphing to a totalitarian government, has started to attract global opprobrium and condemnation to itself by its egregious actions and misdeeds. World-wide condemnation of the APC-led government trailed Sowore’s re-arrest in court by the DSS officials. The APC-led government, which is headed by a former military dictator, Muhammadu Buhari, has gained notoriety for its unabashed, unashamed, and utter disregard of court orders. Sambo Dasuki is still languishing in detention, although there is a court order for his release. Similarly, Sheik El-zak-zaky, the leader of IMN, is still being held in a correctional facility after the court had granted him bail some years ago.
Now, the Buhari government has made nonsense of the theory of separation of powers on which the practice of Presidentialism is rested or predicated. The three arms of government, viz the executive, legislature, and the judiciary ought to be separate, act independently of one another, and check the excesses of one another. Now, the legislature, which is a rubber stamp, is an appendage of the executive. And, the judiciary has become impotent because the government chooses the court orders, which it will obey. It is said that the judiciary is the last hope of the common man. But, here, in Nigeria, the judiciary has ceased to be the last hope of the common man.
President Muhammadu Buhari is returning Nigeria to the Abacha’s dark era of military despotism. The Nigerian government is so intolerant of criticisms and opposition that it is repressing press freedom and curtailing our fundamental human rights. The hate speech and social media bill, which is being debated at the national assembly, is intended to be used in muzzling the voices of dissent when passed into law. If the bill becomes a law, the violators of the law will face the hang’s man noose as punishment. At a time when countries in our today’s world are calling for the repealing and abrogation of capital punishment, the Nigerian government is trying to make an atavistic and barbaric law, the violation of which will attract death sentence.
A government that has shed its democratic credentials is a totalitarian regime. Does totalitarianism make for rapid development of a country? The answer is no. However, political leaders, who are patriotic and receptive to new ideas and tolerant of criticisms, will make amends and formulate pragmatic economic and scientific policies, the implementation of which will take their country to the acme of economic and technological advancement.
However, the repressing and abridging of our fundamental human rights and the use of iron-fist by Muhammadu Buhari in administering Nigeria will rouse us from sleep and galvanize us to take necessary and urgent actions to save Nigeria from implosion. The Punch newspaper has set the tone for our mass action with its intrepid editorial.
CHIEDU UCHE OKOYE
Okoye is a poet and resides in Anambra State
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