Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, has lambasted President Muhammadu Buhari for suggesting that national security is superior to the rule of law.
He said Nigerians should expect certain actions that will justify the president’s declaration.
Buhari made the comment at the opening ceremony of the Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) on Monday.
In a statement Thursday, titledi, Soyinka said: “At his first coming, it was ‘I intend to tamper with Freedom of the Press,’ and Buhari did proceed to suit action to the words, sending two journalists – Irabor and Thompson – to prison as a reward for their professional integrity.
“Now, a vague, vaporous, but commodious concept dubbed “national interest” is being trotted out as alibi for flouting the decisions of the Nigerian judiciary. President Buhari has obviously given deep thought to his travails under a military dictatorship, and concluded that his incarceration was also in the ‘national interest.’
“We have cause to be thankful for the advance warning, since not all rulers actually make a declaration of intent, but simply proceed to degrade the authority of the law as part of the routine business of governance,” said Mr Soyinka.
“We have been there before. It should be of mere interest, not despondency, that this latest proclamation of dictatorial recidivism has also been made before an assembly of officers of the law, the Nigerian Bar Association. We expect a robust response from the NBA as part of its conclusions.”
Soyinka noted that there is no shortcut to democracy and that the history of law, even where uncodified, is as old as humanity.
“Numerous rulers have tried again and again to annul that institution,” he said.
“Sometimes, they appear to succeed, but in the end, they pay heavy forfeit. So does society.
“The rule of law, however, outlasts all subverters, however seemingly powerful. If the consequences for society in defence of the rule of law were not so costly, any new attempt would be merely banal and boring, hardly deserving of attention. We know, historically, where it will all
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