By Dr. G. A. Onuoha
I was sad when l read the Amnesty International’s Report that over 1,000 individuals are being held in custody as a result of the just concluded hunger and #EndBadGovernment protests in Nigeria. The million dollar question is, what happened to our constitutional rights to freely assemble and protest against bad government and write freely about it in the press and discuss it as individuals and groups? (See chapter 4 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended).
Are we now into a nascent dictatorship in a supposed democracy? If this federal government were truly democratic and therefore, government of the people, by the people and for the people, no one would have been arrested during the hunger and #EndBadgovernment protests. That is part of the benchmark of any vibrant democracy and an inalienable constitutional right of the masses of the Nigerian people.
A government under which the people cannot protest against bad or perceived bad governmental measures or policies cannot in any wise be described as “democratic”. It’s a dictatorship! And here we are again – back to the bad old days in which even top notch members of the current federal government, including the President himself, were once opposition leaders under NADECO and allied groups that opposed General Ibrahim Babangida and late General Sani Abacha’s dictatorships and brought them to their knees – thus giving birth to this same nascent democracy they are now trying to stiffle.
Let’s not forget that to their credit, both President Shehu Shagari and President Goodluck Jonathan’s democratically elected Federal Governments NEVER arrested even one single individual for public demonstration opposing their policies or programmes. The records are there! Those were real democratic Governments Nigeria had in those dispensations. And that is the very beauty of democracy and democratic maturation.
Today, what we have is a gittery, very gittery federal government that has employed attack dogs and ethnic bigots and gingoists and sabber rattlers that insult people whose views differ from those of the Federal government or who dare criticise federal government policies or proffer sensibe alternative policy templates. That is not democracy nor does it conduce to democratic growth or maturation.
Democracy is all about disagreement, street demonstrations, robust disputation, class litigation against governmental policies, but also popular inclusivity, tolerance and managing diversity on the anvil of ethnic heterogeneity in such a manner that everyone will have their say, but the majority will ultimately have their way.
I was therfore shocked to learn that over 1,000 people (as revealed by Amnesty International Report) are being detained by this federal government over the hunger protests.
Haba! When has it become a crime to protest unless violence is involved which imports elements of criminality? I think this federal government is beginning to operate like a military dictatorship by allowing the DSS and allied security agencies to arrest Nigerians indiscriminately on the spurious and nebulous grounds of “national security”! After all, what is “national security” other than the security of fellow Nigerians who are hungry and distraught as a result of unpopular governmental policies and programmes?
Let’s be careful before we use our own hands to tear down, degrade and ultimately destroy this hard-worn democracy we are still trying to grow despite all the odds and provocation that constitute convenient excuse for its destruction.
The federal government should forthwith effect the release of every single individual currently in its custody over the hunger and #EndBadGovernment protests. It was a perfect democratic exercise and should therefore not be criminalised for any reason.
Dr. G. A. Onuoha is a Law Teacher and Legal Practitioner
