Sowore’s abductors do not even have the semblance of decency to abduct him outside the court. No! They are cool with the dishonor of desecrating a court of law to effect an illegal arrest, the same court the DSS ran to seeking an order to detain him in the first place.
President Buhari should know that, the DSS, by its lawlessness and arbitrariness, is constituting itself into a national security threat under his tacit endorsement as commander-in-chief, far more dangerous than any real or imagined threat about Sowore’s revolution.
Nigeria is not a monarchy where the head (king) is above the law. Nigeria is a Republic. The president is not above the law, and so is any government agency or individual.
But more importantly, Nigeria is bigger than any president, any political office or interest group. Rule of law is the only thing standing between our democratic order and anarchy. When a law enforcement agency disregards court order or engages in lawlessness and arbitrariness under the silent approval of the president, it is sending a message to citizens that their freedom is neither guaranteed nor protected.
Already, the country is being weaponized and armed militias are rising fast to fill the void created by absence of law enforcement in remote areas of the country. Instead of working to stabilize the country through the enforcement of rule of law and constitutional order, we are here desecrating it on the altar of political exigency. This will never end well.
There’s still time for the president to call the DSS to order. Despite our challenges, Nigeria is not a rogue state and will never become one, God willing. The judiciary should assert its authority as an independent arm of government. Even in the dark days of military autocracy, we have seen how a courageous judiciary or faction of it could form a bulwark against impunity and executive rascality.
What is at stake is not about Sowore and his protest movement, what is at stake is our constitutional order, about whether any individual or agency can choose which court judgment to obey and which one to disregard.
Any attempt to rationalize or perpetuate this travesty is an invitation to anarchy that will augur very badly for our democracy.
By Ahmed Musa Hussaini