Buhari hiding under national interest to subvert rule of law-Soyinka
By Chizitelu Munachimso
Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari is hiding under the cover of national interest to subvert the rule of law, Prof. Wole Soyinka, Nobel laureate and one of Nigeria’s literary icons has alleged.
Prof, Soyinka’s accusation, rendered in a short statement titled, “Buhari’s Pernicious Doctrine”, came on the heels of President Buhari’ s comments on the opening day of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Annual General Conference in Abuja on Sunday.
Delivering an address at the conference, President Buhari who urged lawyers to use their position to advance the cause of justice, national interest must be given priority over the rule of law. He noted:
“Rule of Law must be subject to the supremacy of the nation’s security and national interest. Our apex court has had cause to adopt a position on this issue in this regard and it is now a matter of judicial recognition that; where national security and public interest are threatened or there is a likelihood of their being threatened, the individual rights of those allegedly responsible must take second place, in favour of the greater good of society”.
Reacting to the President’s comments, Soyinka said Buhari was by the statement hinting Nigerians of his intent to abridge the fundamental rights of Nigerians as he had done in the 1980s as a military dictator.
“The timing is perfect, and we have cause to be thankful for the advance warning, since not all rulers actually make a declaration of intent, but simply proceed to degrade the authority of the law as part of the routine business of governance. We have been there before. It should be of mere interest, not despondency, that this latest proclamation of dictatorial recidivism has also been made before an assembly of officers of the law, the Nigerian Bar Association. We expect a robust response from the NBA as part of its conclusions,” Soyinka said.
The Nobel laureate said President Buhari by his comments was set to re-enact his dictatorial tendency, which saw him in 1984 stifling press freedom and jailing two top journalists.
“Here we go again! At his first coming, it was “I intend to tamper with Freedom of the Press”, and Buhari did proceed to suit action to the words, sending two journalists – Irabor and Thompson – to prison as a reward for their professional integrity. Now, a vague, vaporous, but commodious concept dubbed “national interest” is being trotted out as alibi for flouting the decisions of the Nigerian judiciary. President Buhari has obviously given deep thought to his travails under a military dictatorship, and concluded that his incarceration was also in the “national interest”,” Soyinka stated.
He noted that despite Buhari’s intention to ‘degrade’ the law, he was bound to fail.
“There is no short cut to democracy. The history of law, even where uncodified, is as old as humanity. Numerous rulers have tried again and again to annul that institution. Sometimes, they appear to succeed, but in the end, they pay heavy forfeit. So does society. The Rule of Law however outlasts all subverters, however seemingly powerful. If the consequences for society in defence of the Rule of Law were not so costly, any new attempt would be merely banal and boring, hardly deserving of attention. We know, historically, where it will all end,” Soyinka stated.
