By Lukman Amusa
In this interview with The Premier Newspaper, former vice president of the Nigeria Bar Association, Monday Onyeakachi Ubani, says the government has been clamping down on critics and many pro-democracy activists, who heckled Jonathan for less offence, are too scared to talk now. Except…..
What do you make of the detention of Sowore by the DSS and other critics; do you think there is a general clampdown on free speech?
They have arrested Agba Jalingo too. The annoying thing is that they are not obeying court order. There is no rule of law. Governors are also following what is going on at the National level. Because when there is absolute disregard for the rule of law at the centre, the people also at the periphery would also want to emulate. We are now at a state of anarchy.
Why do you think the government is making those kind of arrest?
It is lack of performance. These guys are not performing and they don’t like criticism. They are highly intolerant of any opposition or criticism because their deeds would be made open. So, they don’t like it at all. That’s actually what is going on. They look at anybody criticizing them as an enemy. The reason is that they believe the critics want to pull them down. And they are afraid of being pulled down.
Some people are thinking that perhaps, the president may not even be aware of the arrest of his critics?
It’s unfortunate. He’s the one in-charge of Nigeria. The buck stops at his table. If he is not aware and somebody is making excuses for him, that means that we are in trouble. If the president is not aware of the disrespect to the rule of law, then it’s unfortunate. He has said it before that when there is a clash between personal interest and national interest, national interest prevails. But then, they don’t want to define what precisely that national interest is. Is it national interest as seeing by the person in power or as seen by everyone because national interest ought to be national interest indeed!
This is the third month in the president’s fresh term. Are we likely to see more arrests of critics?
If they don’t perform, then expect more arrest. If there is no performance and people criticize them, then you should expect more arrest.
Is there a possibility these clampdown may boomerang
It will create a state of discontentment. If the government is not performing and they are not allowing people to express themselves, it may likely bring some level of discontent and then some level of crisis in the state. What they need to do is to actually perform to avoid a clash. If people criticize, they will put a lot of people into cells and detentions and they will not respect court orders. And then the worse thing that will happen to Nigeria is to have all those detentions legitimize by the judiciary. They go to court and get an exparte order to detain somebody for certain number of days and then they will tell you that it is the court that has given them the order. That is the real danger.
The NBA must close rank and come together and speak with one voice against the violation of the people’s right and not see these issues from the prism of politics. We must look at it as lawyers that we are, and not being political. So the lawyers must close rank and begin to speak with one voice to ensure that we don’t have a situation where the executive will ride roughshod over the people’s interest.
Do you think people are speaking enough or do you think that some people who ought to be speaking have been cowed into silence?
A lot of people who were speaking during Jonathan’s period are not speaking. There were so many cacophonies of voices all over when Jonathan was in power. But most of them have been cowed because when you open up, they’ll come after you. They came after me and put me in cell for 23 days without any court order.
But you also spoke against Jonathan and you were not arrested?
I spoke against Jonathan and when Jonathan was removed, I spoke in favour of this government. But when also I spoke against them in certain of their actions, they found it very offensive and that was why it was very easy for them to put me into detention thinking that by putting me in detention, I will be cowed. They didn’t know that nobody can cow me. They have only reenergized me the more. They investigated me and went through my account, went through my phone records. They investigated everything, looking for incrimination evidence against me.
You must be disappointed that many people who spoke against Jonathan then have suddenly decided to keep quiet now?
It’s because those who come to equity must come with clean hands. If you know that your hands are not clean, you better keep quiet. Jonathan said it that we would have a sense of nostalgia when he leaves. Even though Jonathan’s administration is not the type that one should be proud of in terms of the way he handled our economy. He was very reckless. But in terms of respect for human rights and allowing people to freely express themselves, Jonathan’s era was a little better. It is not as if they were too obedient to court orders, but for human rights record, they were far better.
