(Onitsha Nigeria, 2nd of August 2016)-Democracy triumphs
where it is pillared and powered by free speeches, pluralism of opinions
including political tolerance and accommodation and, most importantly;
independence of judges and rights of those criminally indicted to be heard and
defend themselves at all times up to Supreme Court where necessary. Democracy
totally forbids infamous art of using presidential powers and political
structures of a ruling party for the purpose of destroying or persecuting
political opponents.
It amounts to presidential
terror and (ruling) party toutocracy when the above becomes the case in
a democracy. As a matter of fact, it is no longer democracy but birth and
intensification of tyranny or autocracy through the instruments of presidential
terror and party toutocracy. Tyrannical toutocracy is a branch of
tyranny responsible for spreading and defending false policies and actions
as well as propagandas and criminal conducts of the tyrannical government using
massive State resources and institutions particularly the government and
privately owned mass media. Part of toutocracy, also, are conscienceless mortals in the
social media recruited and paid by tyrannical government as well as the
presidential and ruling party public image managers; for the purpose of
defending sundry regime atrocities and spinning and diminishing universally
laid attributes of credible democracy.
We (Intersociety) have, therefore, observed with deepest dismay the
raging presidential terror and ruling party toutocracy deadly deployed
by the Buhari administration and its ruling party’s toutocrats against the
office and person of the Deputy Senate President, Barr Ike Ekweremadu, seeking
to remove him as Deputy Senate President and destroy him politically at all
costs, in utter disregard to rule of law, separation of powers, due process and
democratic pluralism . It is recalled that Senator Ike Ekweremadu, alongside
other leading federal lawmakers were legislatively elected in June 2015 as
principal officers of the Nigeria’s 8th National Assembly. While Barr
Ekweremadu was legislatively elected by most of the 109 Senators as the deputy
senate president, Senator Bukola Saraki became the senate president by the same
highest voice votes. Hon Yakubu Dogara, on his part, was named the speaker of
the house of reps. While the duo of Senator Bukola Saraki and Hon Yakubu Dogara
got elected into their positions as APC lawmakers, Senetor Ike Ekweremadu
became the Deputy Senate President from the opposition PDP.
Their elections did not go down
well with the ruling cabal in the APC, leading to instigation of a petition from
some senators, believed to have been presidentially sponsored; alleging forgery
of the Senate Rule 25 of 2015. As petty as the issue was in the midst of
mountainous governance and justice sector challenges facing the ruling APC and
Buhari government, the administration and its toutocrats maliciously
retained the issue and sustained it till date in the front burner, leading to
recent arraignment in court of the duo of Senate President, Bukola Saraki and
Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu for forgery of Senate Rule 25 of
2015. Though the crime of forgery is clearly
contained in Nigeria’s federal criminal laws, but as for whether the conduct or
act and its intent (if any) under reference literally constitutes forgery
has remained deeply controversial till date.
As if these were not enough, the
presidency of Buhari and its toutocrats have defiantly continued
to run riot on all Nigerians and members of the international community with
such a petty issue, to the extent that the amount of public funds
presidentially committed is more than enough to tar or reconstruct over 10 kilometres
of road out of the country’s 34,400 kilometres of acutely deplorable federal
roads.
It is no longer news that Nigeria
under Buhari’s Presidency has been eclipsed by sundry regime atrocities
including State butcheries and others forms of State or official terrorism;
disobedience to rule of law and gross disrespect to constitutional liberties;
social dislocations, mass poverty and economic downturns; hyper criminal
activities including entrenched institutional graft and politically oiled
non-State actor butcheries such as Boko Haram and Islamist Fulani terrorism and
indiscriminate butchering of Christians and burning and destruction of their
sacred places of worship. Others are entrenched structural violence and northernization
and islamization of key public appointments and institutions as well as
political exclusion, segregation and intolerance. The rest are abuse of office
and power, deepening inter-religious and tribal divisions, reckless disregard
to the 1999 Constitution and its fundamental provisions as well as State threats
to the secularity and collective security of Nigeria.
There are over 125
Constitutional Breaches and Regime Atrocities associated with the
Buhari administration in the past one year with the latest being alleged
recruitment of armed Saudi Islamist Fundamentalists or armed Saudi Jihadists
(Saudi Under-Water Mercenaries). For the fact that the Presidency has kept mute
on the recruitment and arrival of the foreign or international organized
criminals under refernce, expressly suggests that it is real. Criminologically,
mercenaries of any kind operating or recruited across borders are classified as
international
criminal syndicate and under-miners of the territorial integrity and collective
security of a sovereign political territory. Their recruitment and
deployment territorially amounts to a gross misconduct. It is also impeachable!
Shockingly, none of these mountainous
constitutional breaches and regime atrocities has been addressed till date, yet
the Buhari administration has the effrontery to continue to run riot on the
collective peace of all Nigerians who are already impoverished, despaired and disillusioned.
Instead of facing its basket-loads of bad governance infested social toxaemias,
the Presidency of Buhari is busy chasing shadows; with its toutocrats running riot
on Nigerians and squandering scarce State resources; using mass media, social
media, falsehood and propaganda.
We condemn in strongest terms the
rampaging persecution and massive infliction of State terror against the person
and office of the Deputy Senate President, Barr Ike Ekweremadu. He must be left
alone and let be until ongoing persecutorial trial by the State is
competently determined by courts. It not only amounts to prejudice on the part
of the same Presidency and its ruling party’s toutocrats that arraigned
Senator Ekweremadu for “forgery” trial by disallowing the judiciary a free hand
to dispense justice in the matter, it is also a clear case of disrespect and
disregard of the highest order of the judicial sanctity and rule of law. We
call on all Nigerians and Igbo Nation to rise in sustained defense of the
persecuted Deputy Senate President against his presidential persecutors.
Signed:
For: International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law
(Intersociety)
Emeka Umeagbalasi, Board Chairman
+2348174090052
Info@ intersociety-ng.org
Chinwe Umeche, Esq., Head, Democracy & Good Governance Program
Obianuju Igboeli, Esq., Head, Civil Liberties & Rule of Law Program
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