November 11, 2019

Contempt for the rights of a citizen! Contempt for Falana, a senior lawyer in Nigeria with very loud voice. And contempt for the court. That's exactly what it is. The DSS says to all: "There is nothing you can do. We are the law unto ourselves". The consequences of the behavior of DSS are far reaching. It sends a message to all Nigerians, that we are not a country of law, that instead, we are a jungle state. It means there is no rule of law. It erodes confidence in the country, by confirming that the country is a zoo for sure. It undermines the independence of the judiciary. It sends a message to the judges, that they are powerless, that the constitution is useless, that  they do not control outcomes when it comes to justice. Judges don't like to give orders that will not be obeyed. The effect of the behavior of DSS is that judges will stop granting bail because they feel it is safer not to make an order that will not be obeyed. Very sad indeed for the country. One wonders if the President understands how this sort of thing tarnishes his legacy as a leader

One dangerous and persistent aspect of Nigerian experience remains the abusive use of the prosecutorial powers of the state. By this, we refer to all instances where government officials fabricate a crime and put an opponent of government through a sham trial. Not only can such sham trial put the innocent man through a great deal of pain and suffering, it can lead to his death. That was the case of Ken Saro Wiwa and eight others. Selective and politically motivated criminal investigations and prosecutions pose the worst threats to rule of law, political stability and development of a country. Increasingly, Nigerian law enforcement agencies, particularly, the EFCC, the police and DSS, have used false, retaliatory, and persecutory prosecutions to go after critics of government or government policies or critics of corruption in law enforcement. To understand how the world views politically motivated prosecutions, let's examine what is going in the United States over the impeachment inquiries against President Trump. In the impeachment testimony of Senior State Department Official, George Kent, Mr. Kent said: ​“I do not believe the US should ask other countries to engage in politically associated investigations and prosecutions.… As a general principle, I don’t think that as a matter of policy the US should do that, period, because I have spent much of my career trying to improve the rule of law. And in countries like Ukraine and Georgia, both of which want to join NATO, both of which have enjoyed billions of dollars of assistance from Congress, there is an outstanding issue about people in office in those countries using selectively politically motivated prosecutions to go after their opponents. And that’s wrong for the rule of law regardless of what country that happens," Politically motivated prosecutions are a big threat to rule of law. Civilized nations oppose it so much that they are willing to remove a president who tries it. Why can't Nigeria learn? Why can't we learn from Ken Saro Wiwa? Why try the same wicked and discredited practice against Emeka Ugwuonye and many more? We must find ways to hold responsible those who do this. No matter how long it takes, we need to go after them and hold them accountable. Thank God, an arrest warrant just got issued against Campore for the killing of Sankara. It means we can still go after people for crimes committed 40 years ago.