By Fredrick Nwabufo
President Buhari shares paternity
with Paul Biya of Cameroon in leadership style. Both men are joined by the umbilicus
of repression and abrasion.
In 2010, Bertrand Teyou, an
author, was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for insulting the wife of the
president, Chantal Biya. The Cameroonian government filed charges against him
for this spectacular reason.
Under Biya, Southern Cameroon has
become the scene of a volcanic crisis – killings, illegal detentions and
arrests. Specifically, the government is zeroing in on dissenting voices in
effecting these violations.
I think, the situation is much
more execrable in Nigeria than in Cameroon.
Amnesty International
encapsulates it in these words: ‘’The human rights situation in Nigeria is
marked by serious human rights violations such as extrajudicial executions,
arbitrary arrests and detentions, torture and other ill-treatment, enforced
disappearances, violence against women and girls, restrictions on the rights to
freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, mass forced
evictions, environmental pollution and lack of accountability for human rights
violations and abuses.’’
As a matter of fact, the Buhari
government has racked up egregious human rights records more than any other
administration before it. In 2017, the US Department of State released a
convicting exposition on this villainy.
“Impunity remained widespread at
all levels of government. The government did not adequately investigate or
prosecute most of the major outstanding allegations of human rights violations
by the security forces or the majority of cases of police or military extortion
or other abuse of power,’’ it said.
“Authorities generally did not
hold police, military, or other security force personnel accountable for the
use of excessive or deadly force or for the deaths of persons in custody. State
and federal panels of inquiry investigating suspicious deaths generally did not
make their findings public.’’
I have studied the charges
levelled against Omoyele Sowore, publisher of Sahara Reporters, and they ossify
my position that the gentleman is being put through a mill of thistles and
thorns for being a relentless critic of the administration.
He is charged with ‘’insulting’’
the president, and for transferring money from New York to Nigeria? What a
phenomenal charge? Obviously, Sowore’s only crime is that he has a roaring
voice which puts the foundations of Aso Rock to fright.
And does it mean words cannot
change the General, but they get to him?
Really, the cyber-stalking law,
by which Sowore is charged, was fashioned under President Jonathan. This was,
perhaps, the former president’s response to social media criticism at the time.
But the law, being defective, was never applied under him.
Former president Jonathan was
vilified, abused and defamed, but not one Nigerian was incarcerated or charged
with ‘’treason’’. In fact, in the north, coffins with photos and semblances of
Jonathan were coursed through the streets by dissenters, but not a single
protester was detained. And he was even stoned in Yola on his way to Taraba.
These were clearly grievous
offences that are punishable by the law. But a democrat will see beyond an act
and ask, ‘’why is this happening? Why are citizens angry?’’
Although Jonathan was not without
freckles, he exercised his own brutish aspect with the clampdown on media
organisations.
Really, only a non-performing
government will be afraid of citizens’ protests or interpret civil actions as
subversion. Only a failing administration will be extremely irritated by
criticisms and divergent opinions.
In the case of Sowore, he has
exercised himself in the discipline of civil opposition. He has only used his
voice as a protected child of the Nigerian constitution.
Section 39(1) of the 1999
constitution establishes that “Every person shall be entitled to freedom of
expression, including freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart
information without interference.”
This is the grundnorm to which
all laws submit. This is the pillar on which our democracy is built.
The charges cannot stand.
But why do dictators rise in
Africa?
It is because of the people, who
do nothing; who enable them and who only pray for an end to their suffering.
By Fredrick Nwabufo; Twitter: @FredrickNwabufo
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