Kayode AJULO
“The president may need a candid reminder of the fact that the ultimate national interest is codified in the Constitution, wherein the fundamental human rights are given primacy of place and hinged on the rule of law. It, therefore, portends a dangerous trend, where the rule of law now has to play the second fiddle and be at the mercy of a political power.
“It signals strong dictatorial tendencies and potential trampling on the rights given and protected under our constitution. With this assertion coming from a democratically elected government, there is the founded fear that the president may not be standing on the right footing. It supposes too that the president could be taking the wrong advice by ‘political lawyers’ who only perch on his whims and experience as a security and warlord.
“There is no previous decision of the apex court to that effect – the decision being referred to by the president’s yes-men was a side comment in the Mahjid Asari Dokubo’s case. It is rather unfortunate that no one in the president’s kitchen cabinet could be patriotic enough to guide him properly. It is even more unfortunate that the leadership of the bar cannot stand up to him for protocol constraints.
“The more dangerous implication on the commentary is that the president by the statement is equating Nigeria, a federal republic, to a banana republic. The president’s statement, without doubt, ultra vires our constitution, in fact, it is an attempt to hogwash our constitutional democracy vis-a-vis the constitutional rights of the citizenry and even the very tenets of his claim to the Office of the President of our Federation. The statement has no legs to stand on! No serious citizenry would and should take the president serious on this.
“President Buhari should not lose sight of the transient nature of power. He should note that whatever influence or the rank of enthusiasts cheering him on to the extreme, they would sure abandon him the moment he falls out of grace. It’s therefore very important that the President guards against sliding into bad errors, such as trying to build something on nothing by attempting to place emotion above the law.”