PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI, A DESPOT WHO HAS NOTHING TO LOSE?

Icheoku says the dumb Nigerians who ignored all the warnings, including a steeped history of violations of the laws of the country and still voted the lean and mean Cassius of Daura into office, are now gnashing their teeth, bemoaning a fate which they literally brought upon themselves. True to type, the despot is at it again; he has again thrown the rule of the laws to the dogs and has been acting as if he owns Nigeria or that Nigeria belongs to him; and that the only laws that matter is that which he wills. Nigerians watched as he appointed only his Northern Hausa/Fulani mallams to all the top positions in Nigeria in total disregard to Federal Character requirement; and now it is time for him to once again rubbish the laws in his usual manner; the same law that made his presidency possible.

Icheoku says but for the law that made elections possible, could there have been any election on March 29, 2015 ushering President Muhammadu Buhari into Aso Rock? But for the laws, during the many times he previously lost elections, could he have gone to the court seeking redress for his claim of election rigging? But for the laws, what would President Muhammadu Buhari be alleging that Nnamdi Kalu broke and in violation of which, he is holding him in detention and now illegally and in violation of valid orders of courts? But regrettably, the usually loud Nigerians have suddenly gone numb and quivering in a corner, as this megalomaniac law-breaker once again sets forth to continue from where he stopped in 1985. Icheoku says not this time President Muhammadu Buhari as Nigerians will resist any attempt by you to once again turn Nigeria into a gulag; illegally arresting and detaining people as well as ignoring valid orders of court to release such detainees. 

The mind boggling thing about the whole situation is that pretentious individuals who like to be seen as defenders of human rights are looking the other way while Nnamdi Kanu continues to be illegally detained by President Muhammadu Buhari. The Nigerian Bar Association is also keeping mum and you wonder what use is it anyway when it cannot demand of the government to obey valid court orders? Icheoku wonders what it will take to wake up Nigerians for them to start defending their hard won right to be free in their own country. The issue now is no longer about Nnamdi Kanu or his innocence or lack thereof of whatever trumped up charges. No, the fork on the road now is that President Muhammadu Buhari has gone rogue and reneged on his promise to be a law abiding "converted democrat." A vagrant scofflaw who does not give a damn about the laws of the land and who is ignorant of the epochal position of the courts as interpreters of the laws, with sole authority to determine anyone's guilt or lack thereof. 

Many have opined that President Muhammadu Buhari is doing as he pleases because he has nothing to lose since he will not be again asking Nigerians for their votes in 2019. But first, Nigerians will have to survive until 2019, hence they cannot play possum while this man runs away with violating the laws and victimizing everyone before then. Icheoku queries who is even sure that the man will keep his promise not to run in 2019 since he previously reneged on a similar "I will not-run again" promise before. A man who claimed he is not corrupt only for Dasuki-gate scandal to reveal that he collected N850 million of the largess through his personal assistant? Icheoku is urging Nigerians to start now to demand of this man to understand that he is now under a democracy and must therefore submit himself to rules governing democratic governance; instead of continuously thinking that suddenly a time travel has put Nigeria back in 1985. 

Icheoku says it may be Nnamdi Kanu today, but who knows who it will be tomorrow? Who knows the next person President Muhammadu Buhari might decide to lock up and throw away the keys regardless of offense or courts pronouncements?  Possibly he is testing the waters to see how Nigerians would react or try to resist his attempt to rewind his 1983-85 draconic vice-hold on Nigeria. Icheoku asks are Nigerians ready to go back in chains and for this new slavery?  A matter made worse because the Ota deity, Baba Iyabo, Olusegun Obasanjo, has not yet fired off one of his  satanic verses to President Muhammadu Buhari; and you wonder whether his infractions so far are not egregious enough to warrant such an epistle from Ota? The other near senile Wole Soyinka, who disappointed so many Nigerians when he switched from his "why Buhari cannot be president" to "why Buhari was the best thing to happen to Nigeria", has equally remained transfixed while this man is wrecking the gains of the past sixteen years of Nigeria's successfully holding alight democracy. 

Anyway, Icheoku and other law-loving interested parties will continue to holler about this gradual descent into lawlessness by a man who is unashamedly anti-law; and who thinks that every knee in Nigeria should bow before him. It is equally very shameful that Nigerian Bar Association has not risen in fierce defense of the rule of law and the need for this Buhari government to submit itself to the laws of the country. Then add some other useless fellows, including one supposed former chairman of a Bar Association in Lagos, who likes to believe that he learnt how to use the left hand in a very old age and who has been parading himself as a human rights advocate; yet he has not uttered a word about the crass infringement of a citizen's right to due process by demanding that the government respect a judiciary pronouncement and release a man who was duly granted bail and unconditionally too. What kind of insipid fellows these provisional human rights advocates are that sway in their activism depending on what time of the day it is? Very shameful.

It is indeed pitiful that this is again happening in 2015 Nigeria and with so much conspiratorial silence of nearly everyone. How pathetic a people are Nigerians, especially those of them, whose only bona fides claims to being lawyers are their wig and gown. Icheoku queries which lawyer would idly sit by and watch, while the very thing that he professes to be a defender of and which he uses as a vehicle, is being challenged in this manner. A court of competent jurisdiction sat over a matter which was brought before it by the government. It gave an order but the same aggressive party that initiated the action before the court refused and would not honor the pronouncement of the court. Icheoku says that Nigerian lawyers are not throwing fits of fury, demanding compliance of government and threatening strike to pressure the government is unfathomable. It is indeed mind numbing as this is no longer about Nnamdi Kanu; but about the laws of Nigeria which is once again being trampled upon by a despot who has refused to shed his cloak of dictatorship. President Muhammadu Buhari, Icheoku says, respect the rule of law and comply to an order of court and let Nnamdi Kanu go. Enough of your creeping dictatorship; 1983 is so yesterday and this is almost 2016.