There is a certain sense of foreboding in the country that bothers on descent into strong armed tactics by the government of the day. It is gaining stealth by the day and except something urgent is done, Nigerians will wake up to find a complete erosion of their constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties and rights.
Quite a number of things that have happened of recent show worrying signals that President Bola Tinubu, an avowed democrat, may just be walking down the aisle of administrative rascality and “go to blazes” sort of attitude like his immediate predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari.
It is important to early on revert the president’s thinking to what the British philosopher and logician, Bertrand Russell said, “Government can easily exist without laws, but law cannot exist without government.”
If the import of this is lost on the president, then clarity will be gained by mere anarchy and complete lack of control if the president persists in following the fundamentals of the rule of law and democracy.
One, it remains incredulous that the immediate past chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Abdulrasheed Bawa, was released by the State Security Service, SSS, after 134 days in detention, better still, captivity without any charge.
The supposition, and rightly so, is that there was prime facie case against the former anti-corruption czar, hence, the long detention by the secret police, after all, Bawa’s suspension by President Tinubu was due to allegations of abuse of office levelled against him, according to the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF.
The Director of Information at the SGF Office, Mr. Willie Bassey, at that time said the move was to allow for a thorough probe into the allegations.
Is it, therefor, not confounding that Mr. Bawa will be allowed to go home without any charges pressed against him by the federal government?
Also, the continued detention of Mr. Godwin Emefiele, former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, first by the SSS and now the EFCC begs the question.
After several months of incarceration by the SSS, Mr. Emefiele was released only for the EFCC to pick him up.
The odious nature of the whole drama is that several courts had granted him bail which the SSS ignored and the Presidency did not make as much as whimper.
The whispers in certain quarters is that the travails of Messrs Emefiele and Bawa are not unconnected to the 2023 general elections.
President Tinubu will do well to allow institutions of state to run without let and undue interferences. If he is asking his political opponents to let go, or follow the rule of law in expressing their angst, then nothing less is expected of his government.
The other matter is the award of N35k to each federal worker as part of cushioning mechanisms in the wake of the removal of fuel subsidy.
It will be germane for the president to explain how the huge sums came about since with was not budgeted for and there is no discernable appropriation for it by the National Assembly.
It is pertinent that President Tinubu sheds any toga of the past administration when it comes to Ways and Means by taking loans from the apex bank or asking it to print more money.
It is sheer abuse and a recipe for disaster in the long run.
If anybody cared to listen intently to retired Justice Musa Muhammad’s excoriation of the judiciary at his valedictory on Friday, October 27, 2023, it was all about adherence to the rule of law and nothing more.
It is saddening that a time of grave national fragility and wilfulness by the government to abuse due process, the civil society have turned a blind eye to the present danger.
As a newspaper, we urge the Bola Tinubu Presidency to shun the temptation to act on the whim and at all times allow accountability, transparency and due process guide its decisions, actions and policies. Anything other than these will be an anathema to democracy and good governance.
