Gale of harassment taints democracy under Tinubu
President Bola Tinubu
THE fresh gale of arrests of activists, unionists, government critics, and journalists under President Bola Tinubu hints at creeping totalitarianism. In a democracy, this is unacceptable.
On Monday, Nigerians woke to a gale of repression. The self-styled Department of State Services arrested the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Joe Ajaero, on his way out of Nigeria. Ajaero was released just before midnight after the NLC’s ultimatum to the agency.
As if this was not bad enough, the DSS invaded the office of the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, a notable NGO advocating rectitude in government almost simultaneously.
These raids and arrests return Nigeria to the dark days of military dictatorship. In those brutal days, the military acted with blatant disregard for the rule of law by harassing, arresting, and detaining innocent citizens. Activists like the late Gani Fawehinmi, Beko Ransome-Kuti, student union leaders, and other lawyers were summarily detained on flimsy grounds and without trial.
Democracy is supposed to eradicate these brutal acts of government. It is a shame it has not after more than 25 years.
According to media reports, Ajaero was arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on his way to the United Kingdom. The embattled NLC president was billed to attend the Trade Union Congress conference in London.
The raid on SERAP’s office in Abuja occurred barely 24 hours after the organisation urged Tinubu to leverage his leadership and authority to instruct the NNPC Ltd. to reverse the pump price of petrol at its retail outlets. The national oil company unilaterally increased the pump price of petrol from N617 per litre to N855/l in Lagos and N897/l upcountry last week.
SERAP has been loud and consistent in advocating transparency in government.
Journalists are not spared from the sledgehammer of Tinubu and his high-handed DSS. Recently, a journalist, Adejuwon Soyinka of The Conversation was detained by the DSS and had his passport seized.
A whistleblower, Isaac Bristol popularly known as PIDOM Nigeria, is languishing in confinement following his abduction by security operatives.
Tinubu should break away decisively from the impunity of the Muhammadu Buhari administration, whose main battle axe against civil rights and court orders was the DSS.
It is ironic that Tinubu, who was at the front of the struggle for democracy during the NADECO days, and his party, the All Progressives Congress, which spearheaded multiple protests under President Goodluck Jonathan, would in turn, kick vehemently against protests and opposition voices.
The President, who was active in the struggle for Nigeria’s democracy, frequently describes himself as a committed democrat. But democracy is built on and sustained in practice by submission to the supremacy of the rule of law. The UN declares, “The rule of law, defended by an independent judiciary, ensures that civil and political rights and civil liberties are safe and that the equality and dignity of all citizens are not at risk.”
Adeola Ajayi, the new Director-General of the DSS, should be careful of his legacy. The DSS is supposed to serve as Nigeria’s domestic intelligence agency. The agency’s roles and functions revolve around preventing and investigating crimes against internal security.
In doing this, the DSS is steeped in excesses. If the DSS were to be the FBI, many Americans would have been languishing in detention by now after the shooting of Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, by Thomas Crooks at a campaign rally in July.
Nigeria’s abysmal freedom rating is underscored in the harassment, extrajudicial killings, and illegal detention and rights violations perpetrated by state agents. The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index 2022 described Nigeria as a “hybrid democracy” that retains its “autocratic and subversive tendencies despite its democratic outlook.”
Tinubu and his agents must depart from that odious legacy.
