The predominant government type in African political space, specifically Nigerian politics few years back was the military type, with immense restrain to sizeable fundamental human rights. The hand-over of power to the civilian government in 1999 restored democracy in Nigeria, with the inalienable rights of its citizens enshrined in the Constitution.

Democracy, an enabler of criticism, is itself a means to call officials to order without exciting ignominious feedback as depicted by the US Service Chief, Art Acevedo, who cautioned the utterances and actions of the incubent President of United States, Donald Trump, stating, 'Let me just say this to the President of the United States, on behalf of the police chiefs of this country: please, if you don't have something constructive to say, keep your mouth shut.... It's not about dominance, it's about winning hearts and minds.'

The forgoing underlines the echoistic nature of a democratic dispensation. The case is however a reverse in Nigeria. Officials holding the reins of power project elevate themselves to the status of demigods devoid of errors and blunders, and eventually ward off and repudiate criticism, hunting down critics.

Bello Yabo, a Sokoto-based Islamic scholar, was recently arrested by policemen who claimed he took a swipe at the Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai.
Similarly, a resident of Ogun State identified as Idowu Adekoya was alledgedly arrested by state officials and coerced to retract and apologize to the Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, over her comment on relief materials disbursed to Ijebu residents by the Governor during lock down in the state. Adekoya who had earlier berated the Governor for distributing stone-filled beans to Ijebu residents repudiated her comments in a circulated footage. This unscrupulous act was widely condemned by social media users who strongly solidarized with Adekoya. This act is yet to fade away from Nigerians memories that the men of Department State Service(DSS) arrested and prosecuted a Facebook user identified as Joshua Sayo Oki over his Facebook post that was considered embarrassing to the Speaker of Osun State House of Assembly, Mr Timothy Owoeye.

In furtherance of the narcissistic idiosyncrasy exuded by officials, peaceful protest as guaranteed by the ground norm of the state is being jettisoned as protesters are being nabbed and incarcerated for undertaking such task as in the case of Nastura Sharif, the organizer of the peaceful protest that took place in Katsina on 17th June, 2020 over the incessant banditry--- wide spread insecurity experienced in the Northern part of the country.

These ugly scenarios bring to the mind the popular quote of ex-Ugandan President, Idin Amin, 'there is freedom of speech, but I cannot guarantee freedom after speech. '
For democracy to be savored by Nigerians, public officials should refrained from hunting down critics and rather, embrace criticism as a means to ameliorate and improve on governance for the overall benefits of Nigerians.[b]The predominant government type in African political space, specifically Nigerian politics few years back was the military type, with immense restrain to sizeable fundamental human rights. The hand-over of power to the civilian government in 1999 restored democracy in Nigeria, with the inalienable rights of its citizens enshrined in the Constitution.

Democracy, an enabler of criticism, is itself a means to call officials to order without exciting ignominious feedback as depicted by the US Service Chief, Art Acevedo, who cautioned the utterances and actions of the incubent President of United States, Donald Trump, stating, 'Let me just say this to the President of the United States, on behalf of the police chiefs of this country: please, if you don't have something constructive to say, keep your mouth shut.... It's not about dominance, it's about winning hearts and minds.'

The forgoing underlines the echoistic nature of a democratic dispensation. The case is however a reverse in Nigeria. Officials holding the reins of power project elevate themselves to the status of demigods devoid of errors and blunders, and eventually ward off and repudiate criticism, hunting down critics.

Bello Yabo, a Sokoto-based Islamic scholar, was recently arrested by policemen who claimed he took a swipe at the Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai.
Similarly, a resident of Ogun State identified as Idowu Adekoya was alledgedly arrested by state officials and coerced to retract and apologize to the Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, over her comment on relief materials disbursed to Ijebu residents by the Governor during lock down in the state. Adekoya who had earlier berated the Governor for distributing stone-filled beans to Ijebu residents repudiated her comments in a circulated footage. This unscrupulous act was widely condemned by social media users who strongly solidarized with Adekoya. This act is yet to fade away from Nigerians memories that the men of Department State Service(DSS) arrested and prosecuted a Facebook user identified as Joshua Sayo Oki over his Facebook post that was considered embarrassing to the Speaker of Osun State House of Assembly, Mr Timothy Owoeye.

In furtherance of the narcissistic idiosyncrasy exuded by officials, peaceful protest as guaranteed by the ground norm of the state is being jettisoned as protesters are being nabbed and incarcerated for undertaking such task as in the case of Nastura Sharif, the organizer of the peaceful protest that took place in Katsina on 17th June, 2020 over the incessant banditry--- wide spread insecurity experienced in the Northern part of the country.

These ugly scenarios bring to the mind the popular quote of ex-Ugandan President, Idin Amin, 'there is freedom of speech, but I cannot guarantee freedom after speech. '
For democracy to be savored by Nigerians, public officials should refrained from hunting down critics and rather, embrace criticism as a means to ameliorate and improve on governance for the overall benefits of Nigerians.[/b]The predominant government type in African political space, specifically Nigerian politics few years back was the military type, with immense restrain to sizeable fundamental human rights. The hand-over of power to the civilian government in 1999 restored democracy in Nigeria, with the inalienable rights of its citizens enshrined in the Constitution.

Democracy, an enabler of criticism, is itself a means to call officials to order without exciting ignominious feedback as depicted by the US Service Chief, Art Acevedo, who cautioned the utterances and actions of the incubent President of United States, Donald Trump, stating, 'Let me just say this to the President of the United States, on behalf of the police chiefs of this country: please, if you don't have something constructive to say, keep your mouth shut.... It's not about dominance, it's about winning hearts and minds.'

The forgoing underlines the echoistic nature of a democratic dispensation. The case is however a reverse in Nigeria. Officials holding the reins of power project elevate themselves to the status of demigods devoid of errors and blunders, and eventually ward off and repudiate criticism, hunting down critics.

Bello Yabo, a Sokoto-based Islamic scholar, was recently arrested by policemen who claimed he took a swipe at the Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai.
Similarly, a resident of Ogun State identified as Idowu Adekoya was alledgedly arrested by state officials and coerced to retract and apologize to the Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, over her comment on relief materials disbursed to Ijebu residents by the Governor during lock down in the state. Adekoya who had earlier berated the Governor for distributing stone-filled beans to Ijebu residents repudiated her comments in a circulated footage. This unscrupulous act was widely condemned by social media users who strongly solidarized with Adekoya. This act is yet to fade away from Nigerians memories that the men of Department State Service(DSS) arrested and prosecuted a Facebook user identified as Joshua Sayo Oki over his Facebook post that was considered embarrassing to the Speaker of Osun State House of Assembly, Mr Timothy Owoeye.

In furtherance of the narcissistic idiosyncrasy exuded by officials, peaceful protest as guaranteed by the ground norm of the state is being jettisoned as protesters are being nabbed and incarcerated for undertaking such task as in the case of Nastura Sharif, the organizer of the peaceful protest that took place in Katsina on 17th June, 2020 over the incessant banditry--- wide spread insecurity experienced in the Northern part of the country.

These ugly scenarios bring to the mind the popular quote of ex-Ugandan President, Idin Amin, 'there is freedom of speech, but I cannot guarantee freedom after speech. '
For democracy to be savored by Nigerians, public officials should refrained from hunting down critics and rather, embrace criticism as a means to ameliorate and improve on governance for the overall benefits of Nigerians.