The Nigeria Police Force is acting a very dangerous script. For a long time now, the posture of the Nigeria police hierarchy has been provokingly anti-democratic and brazenly subversive of the rule of law. The Force has allowed itself to become a weapon used by the Presidency to oppress and suppress opposition and dissent of any kind – except, of course, Boko Haram. Let’s consider a few instances: when the feud between the Presidency and Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State began to brew, Mbu Joseph Mbu, then Commissioner of Police and now Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of Zone 7 – who recently boastfully called himself a lion, was drafted to tame Governor Amaechi – “the leopard” – of Rivers State. When, in June, 2014, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its (then) gubernatorial candidate, Ayo Fayose, needed to perfect the infamous “stomach infrastructure” campaign in Ekiti State, the police were at hand to lock all the friends and associates of the opposition party, All Progressives Congress (APC), out of the state. Instances where the police have harassed, intimidated and persecuted the opposition in support of the ruling PDP and, especially, the Presidency are countless. But we shall limit ourselves to the persecution of Rt. Honourable Aminu Tambuwal, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the National Assembly itself by the Police. When the news started filtering in that Tambuwal was flirting with the APC, the police were quick to give him a warning of things to come by searching his car at the premises of a security conference in Kaduna – in June, 2014. Therefore, when Tambuwal eventually defected to the APC on Tuesday, the 28th of October, 2014, the police swiftly reacted by withdrawing his orderlies and security details. The Force supposedly relies on Section 68(1) (g) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) to justify their action. That section provides that: A member of the Senate or of the House of Representatives shall vacate his seat in the House of which he is a member if – (g) being a person whose election to the House was supported by a political party, he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which that House was elected: provided that his membership of the latter political party is not a result of a division in the political party of which he was previously a member or of a merger of two or more political parties or factions by one of which he was previously sponsored. The House of Representatives had on the 28th of October, 2014, adjourned its sitting to the 3rd of December, 2014. President Goodluck Jonathan, who is the Head of State, the Chief Executive of the Federation and Commander– in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federation, had requested the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Honourable Aminu Tambuwal, to reconvene a meeting of the House of Representatives to consider the extension of the state of emergency that the President had proclaimed in the states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe since 14th of May, 2013. Section 305 (6)(c) of the 1999 Constitution provides that a proclamation issued by the President under that section ceases to have effect after six months unless it is extended by the National Assembly (Senate and House of Representatives) before its expiry. Considering the situation in the three affected states, and, indeed, the whole of the Northeast, it was natural for Mr. Speaker to honour the request of Mr. President, and call the members of the House of Representatives from their recess to consider Mr. President’s request for a further extension of the state of emergency in the three states. In the circumstance, no rational or right thinking person would have imagined Mr. President not to be sincere about his request to Mr. Speaker. Alas, as it turned out, the plan of Mr. President and the PDP was miles away from issues of national security! Theirs was to use the moment to wrestle the speakership of the House of Representatives from Aminu Tambuwal. After allowing the senators and PDP members of the House of Representatives led by the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, to gain access to the National Assembly, the police locked the entrance to the National Assembly. Not even Tambuwal’s call to the leadership of the police at the vicinity to open the gates and allow the legislators to gain entry into the National Assembly could persuade the police to free the National Assembly grounds. It took the courage and personal sacrifices of the legislators who had to undergo the indignity of scaling the gates, bulldozing their way into the National Assembly. If that invasion of the symbol of democracy was bad, the explanation given by the police for their treasonable action was far worse. It did not only demonstrate the utter disrespect and disdain the police have for the citizenry, but also explains the warped frame of mind prompting their actions. To the police, Nigerians are so brainless that any explanation will do. We have, in a previous outing here, decried the politicization of impunity and its threat to democracy. We would not relent on that score until somebody somewhere talks sense to the police and all those whose actions are capable of truncating this democracy. The accounting officer of the House of Representatives is the Speaker who is drawn from among the members of the House of Representatives. The Police Force is not a supervising authority of the National Assembly. It is the courts, by virtue of section 4(8) of the 1999 constitution, that have supervisory authority over the National Assembly. If the PDP has a grouse against Tambuwal, it knows what to do. It is not the prerogative of the police to appropriate the grievances of the PDP and turn around to be the accuser, prosecutor, judge and executor. Like any other national or corporate citizen, the courts are open to the PDP to espouse its rights. Tambuwal did not become Speaker of the House because he was a member of the PDP. He became Speaker because he is a member of the House of Representative. The question of whether he has ceased to be a member of the House of Representatives can only be determined by the Federal High Court by virtue of Section 251 (4) of the 1999 Constitution. Section 68(1)(g) is not self-executory and cannot be given effect by the police without a court order. The argument that because the Speaker is involved and therefore cannot be trusted to act upon Section 68(2) with regards to giving effect to section 68 (1) is of no moment. This nation won its freedom from the capricious whims of the military. It therefore cannot afford to surrender to the tyranny of the police. The police should not be allowed to act out the script meant to truncate democracy and satisfy the devilish wish of those who want to dismember this country. That desecration of the National Assembly is nothing but an attempted coup on democracy. Whoever is behind the script must stop because it is bound to fail. Nigeria has come to stay; no evil fashion against it shall prosper.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 23:27:35 +0000
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