President-for-life?

The candidate of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) in the recent Senatorial bye-elections in Bauchi South constituency, Alhaji Lawal Yahaya-Gumau campaigned explicitly on a platform of working towards a constitutional amendment to enable President Muhamadu Buhari become president-for-life.
Gumau who one may safely assume is of sound mind being a two-term and current member of the House of Representatives representing Toro federal constituency of Bauchi State and who is clearly not a novice regarding constitutional matters declared that he was interested in going to the senate “to protect Buhari’s interest.“ In the new senator-elect’s own words as reported by Punch Newspaper in its online edition of August 11, 2018, “I, Lawal Yahaya-Gumau, want you to know that the mandate that will be given to me Saturday is to go and protect Buhari’s interest in the senate. This is the only mandate that I will be going to the Senate with, having fulfilled every other mandate to the best of my ability while in the House of Representatives for eight years. By God’s grace, we will amend Nigeria’s constitution to allow Buhari to be president for the remaining years of his life. Obasanjo tried all his best for the constitution to be amended to allow him go for a third term, but God didn’t approve of it because of its (sic) lack of sincerity. What is now needed in Nigeria is to protect Buhari’s interest and that is what we will do.”
Lawal Yahaya-Gumau’s statement was clear, explicit, unambiguous and categorical. His statement was articulated in clear English, and was coherent and internally consistent. He expressed clarity about the historical context and distinguished his mission from Obasanjo’s earlier failed attempt to amend the 1999 constitution to enable Obasanjo’s own third term. In Gumau’s articulation, which you may understand was carefully directed at the “clerical” audience and may resonate therein, the reason Obasanjo failed was because “God didn’t approve of it” predicating the chances of success of this particular Buharian attempt at a third and infinite term on “…God’s grace.”
Gumau’s affirmation has not been disputed by anyone-not by Buhari, his spokespersons, his party the APC or his government. Alhaji Gumau’s Bauchi South constituency has duly granted him the mandate he requested, clear in the knowledge of the purpose for which he sought the office, and he will soon be sworn-in as Senator to pursue his mission of amending the constitution to enable Buhari become president-for-life! We can expect him to be joined by many others when the time comes! By the way, there are some people whose sole logic for urging us to re-elect Buhari rests on the expectation that after Buhari’s second-term, power can be “rotated” to the South-West where presumably, they expect to “inherit” the office. What is shocking is that no one, not a single voice has been heard questioning Gumau on the appropriateness of his very clearly defined and communicated mission!
Meanwhile President Buhari himself declared in Abuja on Sunday August 28, 2018 at the opening ceremony of the Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA)-Nigeria’s largest congregation of Lawyers (!)that “the rule of law must be subject to the supremacy of the nation’s security and national interest.”The president’s declaration was not inconsistent with the way his administration has behaved since he came into office in 2015-disobeying court orders it disagrees with; arresting and detaining journalists and political/sectarian opponents without trial; and executing hundreds (or perhaps thousands) of Shite and Biafran protesters without regard to the rule of law. In Buhari’s conception (and evidently those of his legal advisers who now appear to include Festus Keyamo SAN; Professor Itse Sagay SAN; in addition to Attorney General Abubakar Malami SAN), the determination of “national security and national interest” is to be made by the president and executive arm of government without reference to the judiciary! The regime has already demonstrated its disdain for the legislature as it seeks to humiliate and suppress its leadership and independence; and the judiciary, the homes of whose justices it sent armed and masked DSS officers to invade in dead of night and whose judgments it ignores when it deems them contrary to “national security and national interest.”
In effect, Buhari and persons acting on his behalf and in his “interest” are by words and actions presenting Nigerians with a de facto campaign platform based on entrenchment of life presidency and dictatorship, and discarding the rule of law in favour of martial law. It should by now be clear to right thinking Nigerians that if Buhari succeeds in his second term ambition, our nation is very likely to lose its democratic and constitutional character-fundamental human rights, a free press, electoral term limits, free and fair elections, parliamentary integrity, an independent judiciary and the rule of law would be in significant jeopardy. They are implicitly and explicitly defining this agenda and we can no longer claim to be unaware! I have never seen a people voluntarily give up their freedoms and knowingly walk into servitude and oppression. I pray Nigeria after 2019 may not provide such a case study.

Opeyemi Agbaje