₦airaland Forum

Wole Soyinka, Nobel laureate, says those who tried to alter the rule of law paid heavily for this.

The literary scholar said this in response to President Muhammadu Buhari’s position that “national security” is superior to the the rule of law.

Buhari said this at the 2018 annual conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Abuja.

But Soyinka disagreed, recalling human rights record of the Buhari military regime.

“Here we go again! 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,” he said in an article.

“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”.

“The timing is perfect, and 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. 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.

“There is no short cut to democracy. The history of law, even where uncodified, is as old as humanity. Numerous rulers have tried again and again to annul that institution. 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 end.”

Lalasticlala, Mynd44

“There is no short cut to democracy. The history of law, even where uncodified, is as old as humanity. Numerous rulers have tried again and again to annul that institution. 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 end.”

SolutionMee:


Then what if Nigerians out of empathy and unconditional love decided to pay the price on his behalf

For goodness sake, this man is serving Nigeria with old age

What millions of youth can't do and are running away from is the same mandate Buhari took upon himself

Not only did his performance exceed expectations, he also did a wonderful job

Even if he's taking us to stone age and military era, I see nothing wrong in that

After all, that's what we all started with as a nation

The best way to compensate Buhari is not by issuing hate speech on social media but by sending him to Daura

The jungle the tyrant deserves

Meanwhile, if you are a Zone-B reading this and you think that I am one of you

You're on your own ooo