04 May, 2018

Of Institutions and Men

  Nigeria is going through a difficult patch. The Executive is non-performing while the National Assembly is impotent. The National Assembly ordinarily should stand for the collective will of the people. For one reason or the other, those invited by the NASS have found one way or the other to abstain from facing the heeding the call of the NASS. Examples are   the I.G of Police. The latter had been invited severally but refused to come before the Senate. He refused to come again yesterday. The Senate has given him another week to honour the invitation. This is the same person who defied the President’s order to relocate to Benue state. It is instructive to note that the President had not reprimanded him in whatever way, at least not publicly. The I.G is either acting the President’s script or is a lord unto himself. Institutions must be respected whether one likes it or not. The chief of the police institution should not be seen as being disobedient to the law of the land. He would have no reason to say Dino Melaye is disrespecting the law when he himself is guilty of same. Our nascent democracy would not be deepened when people respect individuals more than the Institution. Flouting court orders is strange to democracy. One calls to mind Col. Dasuki, the erstwhile National Security Adviser, Sheikh el-Zakzaky,  the Shiite sect leader, among others who have been ordered released by the courts but are still being kept in detention some three years after. The separation of powers should be maintained and respected by the Executive, else the government would be a pseudo-military one where jackboot dictatorship holds sway. Civilian rule is way different from Democracy. The latter entails the upholding of the rule of law, separation of powers, respect for national institutions, freedom of expression, right to  peaceful protest, upholding of people’s Fundamental Human Right, etc. the earlier the government retrace its step to real democracy the better for the nation.