S.O.S ALIEME

When we were young and were gradually having the knowledge of governance, what we used to know then was military dictatorship.  But alas, as we are getting older governance is changing from military dictatorship to civilian dictatorship. In those days, we use to hear news about military junta but in this current dispensation we hear about civilian junta.  Civilian dictatorship is all about when there is no opposition against the ruling party in power.  All the elected persons from different parties are now cross-carpeting to the ruling party showing a dangerous sign of the imminent collapse of democracy in the country.

What we used to know by what we were taught in school is that there are three tiers of government namely the executive, legislature and judiciary.  The three tiers are meant to act as checks and balances to enable an effective governing system.  But the situation in Nigeria these days appears that the three are now fused into one, thereby causing a backward slide in the scheme of things.

The ship of State in Nigeria seems to be sliding, steeply into the abyss, without any captain available or alive to steer it to rescue. And this should be a grave cause of concern to all lovers of democracy and the rule of law. I fear now that there may indeed be a hidden agenda within the corridors of power, which is being unveiled to the people of Nigeria in stages. I can feel dictatorship in the air somehow. 

A dictator is a political leader who rules over a country with absolute and unlimited power or one who circumvents extant rules, regulations and laws, against the common good. Countries ruled by dictators are called dictatorships. The closest we have had in Nigeria was the period of the self-proclaimed maximum ruler, General Sani Abacha. A civilian dictator on the other hand, is one who rose to power through deceit, holding complete and absolute power over the armed forces, is in control of the legislators, has no regard for the judiciary, has gagged the media and does not tolerate any form of opposition.

Dictators typically use military force or political deceit to gain power, which they maintain through terror, coercion, and the elimination of basic civil liberties. Often charismatic by nature, dictators tend to employ technique of bombastic mass propaganda to stir cult-like feelings of support and nationalism among the people. While dictators may hold strong political views and be supported by organized political movements, they are motivated only by personal ambition or greed to hold on to power, by all means and at all costs. They usually employ a common slogan, to gain mass appeal, creating a false sense of revolution, such as anti-corruption or the like. They crave absolute power for a limited time, allegedly to deal with social or political emergencies.

Using fear and propaganda to stifle public dissent, the civilian dictators in Nigeria harnessed modern technology to direct the country’s economy to build ever-more-powerful military forces. This is exactly the replica of what we are witnessing in Nigeria.  In Nigeria, some of these dictators posed as hastily “elected” presidents who established autocratic single-party rule by quashing all opposition. Others simply used brute force to establish military dictatorships like in Rivers State. Throughout history, even some fully constitutional governments have temporarily granted their executives extraordinary dictator-like powers during times of crisis. Africa in particular, has now become notorious for breeding civilian dictators, who hold on to power for decades, some even in very debilitating health conditions, rallying the people to suspend or amend their constitutions, in order to perpetuate themselves in office, even in old age and apparent senility.

With a complacent National Assembly, which was reported recently to have passed a tax bill that it never read or saw, with the re-introduction of the social media regulation bill and the emergence of tin gods in various spheres of power, we are gradually settling down for maximum rule. Let us examine the current position of things in Nigeria.

The judiciary in Nigeria is firmly under the grip of the executive, which controls its funding, appointment and even removal. With the experiences of the immediate past Chief Judge of Kebbi State, who was locked out of her office and prevented from delivering a judgment, to the travails of the Chief Judge of Cross-River State, who was locked out of his official quarters and unceremoniously removed from his statutory position as Chairman of the State Judicial Service Commission, we are currently experiencing a style of imposing fear and terror upon the judiciary, as a way of cowing judges into submitting to the whims and caprices of the executive. All these coming on the heels of the removal of the erstwhile Chief Justice of Nigeria, there has now emerged a powerful executive, clothed with absolute powers beyond review by the courts. The power is real, potent and very dangerous indeed.

A people disenchanted with any style of governance can rally round and speak with the voice of rejection with their votes during the election. The conclusion of most election observers for the 2019 general elections in Nigeria is that the electoral system was flawed and compromised virtually in all the States of the Federation.

In most cases, the votes of the people could not determine the eventual winner, thus making the leader unaccountable and beyond control. A close monitoring of the outcome of various election petitions in the tribunals and even on appeal, show a pattern of maintaining the status quo, without any major upset, from the governorship elections to the presidential. With such confidence of victory at the polls, a leader is likely to be tempted to disregard peoples’ power as expressed through the ballot, to become a ruler unto himself.

There is no gain saying that the present National Assembly and indeed the Houses of Assembly of all the States are under the control, dominion and supervision of the executive arm of government. The idea of separation of powers supported by the robust doctrine of checks and balances, are meant to prevent absolutism in governance, especially on the part of the executive, which has control of funds, is in charge of law enforcement agencies and is directly responsible for the formulation and execution of government policies. It is the arm of government that deserves strict control and supervision, by the other arms, but that has not been the case.  As things are presently, the National Assembly is nothing but a weeping institution, whose leadership is unable to enforce its resolutions, lacks the will power to exercise its statutory powers over executive agencies and other functionaries of government. It is even encouraging executive dictatorship by inserting an ouster clause in a recent law it passed recently. With the media in the kitty, the judiciary under firm grip, the legislature willing and compliant, the opposition in shambles, the labour unions only existing for wages and emoluments, with civil societies and human rights groups dead and buried, we now seem to be approaching that period that we all dread to talk about, civilian dictatorship.

God Bless Nigeria!!!