The Nation Newspaper

Tag: dictatorship

  • Regress to dictatorship?

    Regress to dictatorship?

    • DIA’s detention of journalist is illegal and barbaric

    Although he has been released after 14 days of being illegally detained by the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), there is absolutely nothing that justifies the high handed and lawless behaviour of this military institution in grossly abusing the human rights of Mr Segun Olatunji, a journalist and editor of the online medium, ‘First News’. This kind of atrocious and uncivilised conduct by the military and any other institution is a slap on the rule of law, a violation of the tenets of the freedom of the press and indeed a grave danger to our democracy.

    Twenty-four years after the restoration of democratic rule in Nigeria in 1999, and the retreat of the military from the political terrain, the resort to self-help by the DIA in this instance is shameful and condemnable; its perpetrators must be made to face the full weight of the law.

    A traumatised Olatunji lamented that his life was no longer safe because “they (the military) know my house. They had been trailing me three weeks before the arrest. My life is no longer safe given the manner the soldiers tracked me from my village to Lagos before my abduction”. The men of the DIA broke into Olatunji’s house and abducted him in the presence of his seven-year-old son. The mental torture that the young boy experienced when he saw his father being maltreated like a common criminal can best be imagined.

    Giving an account of how he was manhandled by the DIA men, Olatunji recalled that he was bundled into their vehicle, blindfolded and handcuffed. He was hauled into an underground cell at the DIA facility and, in his words, “I can still feel the numbness in my right wrist because of the handcuffs”. He also had his legs cuffed for no discernible crime he had committed. Even if an individual had violated the law, no institution has the right to take the law into their hands as the DIA has done. At best, such a person can only be charged before a competent court of law which has the powers to determine culpability or otherwise before giving a judgement.

    Read Also: Kukah: democracy and dictatorship can’t coexist

    Obviously realising that they were acting in violation of the law, the DIA initially denied that the journalist was in their custody. The dangers in this kind of situation is evident. Persons who are criminally abducted like Olatunji , could simply ‘disappear’ without trace if those responsible for their seizure, like the DIA, deny culpability.

    Furthermore, the law stipulates that an accused person cannot be detained for more than 24 hours before being charged to court. What is clear is that despite the over two and a half decades of democratic practice in Nigeria, the military has not cured itself of the delusion that it is superior to civil society and can therefore ride roughshod over the law.

    We commend the International Press

    Institute (IPI), the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) for standing firmly by Olatunji in his hour of travail. But their job is not done yet. They have a duty to help the journalist in seeking remedy in law for the violation of his rights and ensuring that he is adequately compensated to serve as a deterrence to other groups, individuals and institutions who may, in future, seek to emulate the barbaric behaviour of the DIA.

  • Wike: this is Nigeria’s opportunity to end dictatorship

    Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has said Nigerians have the best opportunity to end dictatorship during the presidential election.

    At a special mass at the Catholic Institute of West Africa (CIWA) yesterday in Port Harcourt, Wike said the failures of this administration had made the elections more important than mere politics.

    He said: “In the coming presidential election, you have the opportunity to end dictatorship or embrace freedom. But the best way forward is to embrace freedom for good of the country.

    “Today, nobody is enjoying the economy; the economy has degenerated to the level that the Church is affected as people can no longer give offering and tithes. We have the opportunity to fix our economy by voting for the right person. This is a time to change the country’s economic direction.”

    The governor lamented that the collapse of the security infrastructure was due to the inability of APC to initiate quality policies. He urged Nigerians to vote Atiku Abubakar, who has the blueprint to secure the country.

    He urged the Church to pray for peaceful polls, saying nobody should shed blood for political relevance.

    “What is important is that the Church must pray for peaceful and credible polls. No position is worth the blood of anyone. We preach peaceful and credible polls,” he added.

    The Catholic Bishop of Port Harcourt Diocese, Rev Camillus Etukudo, prayed for peaceful polls, and urged Nigerians to participate in the elections and vote according to their conscience.

    Rev. Mosignr Pius Kii, of CIWAfrica, praised Wike for his outstanding projects delivery and human development programme.

    He said Rivers people were happy with Wike for improving their living condition, and prayed God to grant him strength to continue with his project delivery.

  • It’s an act of dictatorship taken too far —Atiku

    The Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, yesterday described the suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria by President Muhammadu Buhari, as an anti-democratic act, which should not be allowed to stand.

    “This brazen dictatorial act is the latest action in the ongoing rape of our nation’s hard-earned democracy by those who dined with anti-democratic forces, and is symptomatic of the increasing desperation that President Buhari and the cabal pulling the strings have as February 16, 2019 draws near,” Atiku said on his Facebook wall.

    Read also: Buhari group to Nigerians: don’t toy with your destiny

    He added: “The fact that the unlawful suspension of Chief Justice Walter Onnoghen was announced just as it became public knowledge that the CJN was constituting the election petition tribunals is not lost on discerning Nigerians and the international community.

    “This act of desperation is geared towards affecting the outcome of the 2019 presidential elections. Indeed, it is not just the CJN that has been ‘suspended’, it is the Nigerian Constitution that has been infracted and, in effect, suspended, under the guise of the suspension of the CJN.

    “The case involving the legality or otherwise of the charges against Chief Justice Walter Onnoghen is in court, as it should be. So far, the judiciary has ruled in Justice Onnoghen’s favour. So, why not allow the court to adjudicate on the matter? What is the pressing urgency?”

  • Dictatorship in National Assembly

    SIR: The National Assembly comprising the two legislative chambers of Senate and House of representatives, traditionally and constitutionally empowered to make laws and perform oversight functions is gradually morphing into a dictatorial Frankenstein where members are gagged on rhetorical and omnibus house rules.

    While no one should begrudge the two chambers for enforcing rules to guide parliamentary ethics in legislative business, the bias and tendentious application of such rules to members as the nation has witnessed lately is not only reprehensible but also expose the underbelly of the heads of the two chambers as empress with primordial missions to accomplish outside the extant legislative templates.

    This skewed legislative praxis is more pronounced in the Senate where the chamber has been partitioned into either pro-Saraki or pro-PMB. Any infraction from pro-Saraki seems to be approached with perfume whilst any from pro-PMB is awarded the most severe sanctions.

    The danger in this unfortunate praxis is that the fear of being unjustly sanctioned would prevent robust debate predicated on alternative views and opinions that should underpin legislative decisions.

    The victim of this dictatorial tendency is not only the suspended senator but the entire constituency he represents.

    Senator Ovie Omo-Agege for instance is suspended for 90 legislative days despite tendering apologies while Senator Shehu Sani did the most unthinkable to the Senate’s guided ethics by revealing the allowances of members on national television, overreaching the spokesman of the chambers.

    Sani has not been sectioned because of his membership of the Senate oligarchy. The public cannot forget in a hurry Senator Dino Melaye’s clownish show of unrestrained passion.

    Could any member of U.S.A congress dance on CNN in celebration of inanity without being recalled? Is the show of shame not an embarrassment to the Senate?

    It is gratifying that Omo-Agege has gone to court to seek redress but the outcome of such judicial intervention remains a matter of conjectures because of the doctrine of separation of powers.

     

    • Bukola Ajisola,

    bukymany@yahoo.com

  • Reps: grounding of aircraft is dictatorship

    Reps: grounding of aircraft is dictatorship

    The House of Representatives yesterday came down hard on the Federal Government for the grounding of a plane belonging to the government of Rivers State by the National Airspace Management Agency (NAMA).

    The House described the grounding of the Bombardier B700 Global Express private jet as a witch-hunt of perceived political opponents.

    It mandated its committees on Justice and Aviation to investigate the circumstances of the incident.

    According to the House, the two committees should “extensively investigate the justification and circumstances surrounding the grounding of the Rivers State aircraft and report back to the House within two weeks”.

    The action is “detrimental to any democracy and tends towards dictatorship and draconian tendencies typical of the military era”, the lawmakers noted.

    The incident, according to the House, “raises serious issues as to the abuse of powers by the executive and the use of state machinery to with-hunt perceived political opponents”.

    The resolution of the House was sequel to the adoption of the prayer of the motion by a member and Chairman of the House Committee on Federal Character, Ahmed Idris, under Matters of Urgent National Importance.

    Idris, representing Wase Federal Constituency in Plateau State, presenting the motion, said the agency’s action smacked of “impunity, lawlessness and political vendetta”.

    The BD 700 Global Express aircraft was last week grounded by NAMA for what the agency called non-compliance with aviation regulations .

  • Nigeria sliding back to era of dictatorship, says Amaechi

    Nigeria sliding back to era of dictatorship, says Amaechi

    Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State yesterday said Nigeria is gradually sliding back to the era of dictatorship and praised the country’s media for remaining “the ray of hope in a dark era.”

    In the preliminary comments he made before reading his speech at the grand event at the Expo Centre of Eko Hotel in Lagos, where he was given the Vanguard Personality of the Year Award, the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, who has of late been involved in a war of words with President Goodluck Jonathan’s men, explained that unlike his usual style of speaking extemporally, he decided to read a prepared speech, because “I am becoming more careful, given that we are gradually going back to the era of dictatorship in this country.”

    While Amaechi was formally presented as Vanguard’s Personality of the Year, 2012, at the event, Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, the Managing Director of Access Bank, was also honoured as the runner up.

    According to an earlier report by Vanguard, the event was designed to highlight Amaechi’s achievements in the last one year, stating that his “feat in Rivers State has been lauded by eminent personalities.”

    The report also said “he is being honoured for his widely acknowledged developmental strides which have seen noteworthy improvements in infrastructure and the impartation of governance on all sectors of the society in Rivers State.”

    But responding to praises of his achievements, Amaechi, who dedicated the award to the people of Rivers State said, “I am just an errand boy. Our understanding of political power is that power belongs to the voters.”

    In his speech, the Chairman of the event, former Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida, recalled, with passion his friendly relationship with the publisher of Vanguard, Sam Amuka, pointing out that even during the military era, when one of the military governors in his regime shut down Vanguard, their relationship was not destroyed.

    The event was a grand party. Nigeria’s pop diva, Omawumi Megbele, Timi Dakolo, Temi Sax and ace-comedian, Gordons led other top artistes to entertain the audience made-up of Nigeria’s creme de la creme, including top political leaders like the Speaker of House of Representatives, Hon Aminu Tambuwal, many state governors and business leaders like Alhaji Aliyu Dangote.