Is Buhari a tyrant?

As news broke that the residential houses of Senate President Bukola Saraki and Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu were under siege by the security agencies, #TyrantBuhari started trending twitter on 24 July. The top tweet under the hash tag had about 1,300 tweets and 1,400 likes, an indication of how popular the tweets were. The tweets were mainly about the siege on the houses of the leaders of the senate which social media users fully blamed the president for.
The siege on the houses of the two leaders of the senate was seen as largely undemocratic and also a threat to democracy. Most social media users immediately tied the behaviour to Buhari’s military background as a former general who was also once a coup plotter.
This link to Buhari’s past as military dictator may not be totally fair, since similar attacks on the national assembly happened under the previous Goodluck Jonathan administration, when members of the House of Representatives were forced to scale the national assembly fence in a bid to have access to the chambers.
When that happened, TyrantGoodluck did not trend. So TyrantBuhari may be an unfair representation of what happened on 24 July, distasteful as it may be.
However, a pattern of behaviour under President Buhari may have justified #TyrantBuharihash tag. The first that easily comes to mind is the impunity with which court orders are being disobeyed under the Buhari administration. Of course, the case of Dasuki comes to mind easily. After being granted several bails, Sambo Dasuki remains behind bars.
The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami (SAN) response to the bail granted Dasuki by a competent court of jurisdiction is even more disheartening. He was reported to have said that Dasuki’s right to a court granted bail would be waived for public good, adding that he was responsible for more than 100, 000 deaths. The first question that comes to mind is; what is ‘public good’ and who determines ‘public good?’
Only under tyranny would the presidency or the executive arm of the government act as the accuser, the law enforcer and the judge at the same time. Dasuki may be the ‘devil’ but under democratic rule, only the courts have the right to say so.
There is also the case of Ibrahim Zakyzaky, the leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, otherwise referred to as the Shiittes, who was illegally detained for about two years before being arraigned for murder. Then there is the cold blooded killing of 350 members of the IMN, which will remain a bloody signpost of the Buhari Presidency that will not be forgotten just like the Odi massacre signposts former president Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration. No one has been brought to book over the Shiite or Odi massacre.
There is also the case of Jones Abiri, a journalist that has been in detention for about two years now without trial. Abiri has been detained incommunicado as his family and friends have not been allowed to have access to him over these period. This type of behaviour is definitely not in line with the tenets of democracy. The government has claimed that Abiri is not a journalist. But the truth is that, even if it is assumed that it is true that Abiri is not a journalist, it is still absolutely unacceptable to detain anyone for two years without trial. Our argument has always been that it is kidnap when the government detains a citizen indefinitely without a court order.
Finally, there is the mysterious case of Nnamdi Kanu who has vanished, along with his parents, for more than a year now after the army raided his family home. Till today no one knows if Kanu is alive or dead. Hundreds of members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) were also shot dead during the raid. Up till today, no one has been held account for these killings.
It is only when tyranny reigns in a country that the rule of law is ignored. Under the Buhari Presidency, increasingly, there are becoming too many situations that the rule of law is being ignored in favour of the whims and caprices of the president. But it should be noted that those who ignore the rule of law today, will need the law to protect them in future.
It is therefore very dangerous to the freedom of all citizens when the rule of law is ignored in the name of ‘perceived’ public good as determined by the President and not by the courts. The President we see today, no matter how good intentioned, will not be there forever. Only the law, and quest for justice lasts forever and justice is what everyone seeks for and deserves.
#TyrantBuhari trended for a reason and it is important that Buhari should not ignore the fact that he is increasingly being seen as a dictator and there are valid arguments to show that he is increasingly acting in a dictatorial or even tyrannical manner.

Editorial