By E.T Okere
In as much as the release of Colonel Sambo Dasuki (rtd) and Omoleye Sowore is, as they say, “a welcome development”, methinks the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Abubakar Malami, on whose “order” the two were released from the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS), is undeserving of the praises some Nigerians are giving him.
As far as I am concerned, the generality of Nigerians have only taken judicious notice of that development, not that they are elated that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari purged itself of the breach of court judgments and the rule of law.
Apart from that, there is nothing conciliatory in the language with which the document from the office of the AGF, announcing the release of the duo, was couched, its message was essentially that the government was merely being magnanimous: “The federal government has the right to keep detaining the suspects while challenging the order admitting them on bail up to the apex court”, the document read in part.
Yes, it can but the AGF needn’t rob it in the way he did. That smacks of arrogance and uncalled-for braggadocio.
Therefore, rather that receive praises, Nigerians should continue to reprimand Malami for one, misleading them into believing that the power to release the two gentlemen lay entirely with the DSS and two, for deliberately bringing the entire nation to its knees and subjecting Nigerians to such a level of psychological trauma before this sudden ‘magnanimity’.
Just in less than two weeks before his “order” for the release of the two detainees, the AGF had told Nigerians that he was helpless over the Sowore case.
Agreed, Nigerians are under no illusion that the buck stops on his table but his posturing on the matter was such that he wanted the nation to accept that the DSS was acting on its own.
But even though Nigerians know that at the end of the day the AGF has to receive instructions from above before acting, Malami took Nigerians so much for granted.
He believed that Nigerians had no option but to rely on whatever he tells them – and could do nothing about it – even when they knew the true situation.
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That is not how to treat fellow compatriots. Shortly after operatives of the DSS invaded and Abuja Federal High Court in a bid to re-arrest Sowore on December 10, 2019, the AGF announced that the federal government had ordered an “investigation” into the matter.
From what we now know, the government had nothing to “investigate” because its relevant functionaries, including, most importantly, the AGF, must have been in the picture.
Now that we know better, we will no longer hold the agency squarely responsible next time on matters of that nature.
Now that somebody can give orders to the DSS and it is carried out in a jiffy, mightn’t we take a retrospective look at similar events in the past when top officials of the DSS were penalized for some actions of the agency?
Perhaps the most prominent case is the invasion of the National Assembly by hooded operatives of the agency sometime in August 2018.
That event led to the dismissal of the then director-general of the agency, Mr. Lawal Daura, by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in exercise of his powers then as acting president.
From what we now know, the question now arises as to whether Daura acted entirely on its own and whether he should have taken the punishment all alone?
The point, therefore, is that the release of Dasuki and Sowore should be merely taken note of as earlier stated; so that rather than celebrate this sheer happenstance, Nigerians should seize the opportunity to reflect deeply on the state of affairs in their dear country particularly as regards to the rule of law.
In the passage reproduced above, the three reasons given by the AGF for the release of Dasuki and Sowore include “commitment to the rule of law” and “obedience to court orders” – the other one being “compassionate grounds”.
But can a one-off action like the one we have just witnessed qualify the federal government to lay claims to a “commitment” to the rule of law? The word, “commitment”, is defined in the dictionary as “being emotionally or intellectually bound to a course of action or to a person” and “the trait of sincerity and focused promise”.
Can the “commitment” alluded to by the AGF fit into any of the above definitions?
In my view, the level matters have gotten to in our country – from the sublime to the mundane – is such that we can no longer afford to be taken in by sheer semantics.
We should no longer allow those in authority to employ words or expressions conveniently to mesmerize or hood wink us.
In the instant case, the word “commitment” is a misnomer and Nigerians, who are highly literate and cerebral, should dismiss it for now.
Even so, the claim to commitment to rule of law and compassion at the same time is contradictory. If the government is obeying the rule of law, it could no longer also claim to be acting on “compassionate grounds”.
The latter is based on emotions or sentiments while the rule of law is based on cold and hard facts. In my view, we should not encourage the government to continue with the “compassionate” element in its dealings with the rights of the citizens because the laws of the land are clear on that.
Differently put, what we should insist on the sanctity of those rights as clearly enunciated in our laws, not the dependence on the caprices of incumbent officials.
Perhaps the reason why many Nigerians seem to be so excited by the “welcome development” is the belief that it came as a result of pressure from some foreign authorities.
The document released by the office of the AGF and referred to above was essentially intended to debunk that rumour.
At best, I am personally indifferent to the matter but even if it is true – that the Nigerian government bowed to pressure from outside – it is not something we should cheer about.
Here, I am nothing talking about patriotism. As far as I am concerned, the pressure from outside, if it is true, came belatedly and I think we should be interested in the question: why now?
The so-called external pressure groups watched for the past four years as impunity reigned, with the matter of Sambo Dasuki a damning instance of how not a people who constitute the biggest and most strategic business partners in Africa to the rest of the world should be treated.
Why did the external pressure groups have to wait for the collective and individual psyche of these great allies of theirs to be so battered before acting?
If, as some analysts have said, it was the court invasion by the DSS on December 10, 2019 that drew the attention of some foreign groups or elements to what Nigerians are passing through currently, then it may well mean that the interest of those foreign groups or elements on Nigeria is both casual and ephemeral. We should not rely on that.
In other words, Nigerians should not savour in any joy that the federal government of Nigerians buckled under pressure.
As I noted earlier, it is not about patriotism but about the fact that it is an admission that we cannot on our own compel our elected leaders to obey the laws of our land. It is not something we should be celebrating.
If with the ubiquitous (some people say, vibrant) national media, the numerous civil society groups, a plethora of brilliant lawyers, a college of intellectuals, and so many elder statements etc. etc., we cannot get our elected leaders to act in a manner that protects our collective integrity and edify our country before the rest of the world, then we may well elect for a permanent acquiescence to the emotional effervescence of any set of sitting functionaries.
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