Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has lambasted President Muhammadu Buhari for declaring that “rule of law must be subject to the supremacy of the nation’s security and national interest.”
The president, who gave this hint while flagging off the 2018 annual general conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), said his government took the position based on subsisting Supreme Court decisions.
Soyinka, however, warned that the president has merely put the nation on notice that he is not prepared to be bound by court orders.
He added that Buhari merely touted “national interest” and “national security” as an excuse and cover for subverting the rule of law.
“Now, a vague, vaporous, but commodious concept dubbed “national interest” is being trotted out as alibi for flouting the decisions of the Nigerian judiciary,” Soyinka said in a statement on Thursday, made available to newsmen.
“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.”
It would be recalled that following Monday, July 2 ruling of a Federal High Court in Abuja ordering the release on bail of Col. Sambo Dasuki, former National Security Adviser, Abubakar Malami (SAN), Attorney General of the Federation, had stated that the government was not inclined to obeying the order, touting the excuse of “national interest.”
“The allegations against Dasuki are a matter of public interest overriding any individual’s rights,” Malami said in an interview with the Voice of America (VOA) in July.
“Obeying the court is not the issue per say. Are we going to take the issue of an individual more important than that of the people?”
The July 2 ruling ordering Dasuki’s release amounted to the sixth time the government was being ordered by the court to release the man on bail. And for the sixth time the government declined to comply with the order.
Describing the president’s posturing as “dictatorial recidivism,” on that note, Soyinka lamented that the development is reminiscent of the kite he flew at his first coming in 1984 when he hinted, “I intend to tamper with Freedom of the Press,” for which he then proceeded “to suit action to words.”
Buhari ended up sending two journalists – Tunde Thompson and Nduka Irabor – to prison following the declaration, Soyinka recalled.
According to him, “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’.
“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.”
“There is no shortcut 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.”
