Comment
Buhari Knows Best
It is not in the nature of governments even elected ones to say that they were wrong on any action they have taken and it would be expecting the impossible to imagine that the Federal Military Government of Nigeria would publicly admit to any doubts on any of their policies.
This is a regime which seems to take some kind of perverse pride in the fact that it is answerable to no one and considers it an advantage that it does not have to take public opinion into consideration. Every member of the regime boasts of the fact that since they were not elected into office by the people, they do not have to worry about what the people they are ruling think.
The reasoning seems to be that Maj-Gen Buhari and his colleagues are so good, so patriotic and so keen to turn Nigeria into a paradise that they should be relied upon to do what is best for the country. If some or even all of their actions seem strange or misguided to anyone, there should be no criticism because they know what they are doing and it will all turn out right in the end.
Maj-Gen Buhari himself is convinced that the idea of accountability of leaders to their people through a vigorous press is a bad thing, when he is leader, he is competent and he does not want to be bothered with having his words and actions constantly being analysed in the press. Nor does he want to be told by the press that his people are not pleased or unduly impressed by what he is doing, if somebody feels that way, it is because he does not know.
Should the vast majority of Nigerians think that the public execution of drug traffickers is not something they can agree with, Gen Buhari's answer is "too bad, we know what we are doing, the people can disagree till hell freezes over, we will execute everybody caught trafficking in drugs".
If most Nigerians should feel that they want to take part in discussions and debates about the decisions that affect all their lives, the thinking in Dodan barracks seems to be "we will do all the thinking and discussing needed for you, yours is to obey".
Maj-Gen Buhari is after all an honourable man and honourable men all are his colleagues who surround him. If people argue that the public execution of armed robbers has not stopped their activities but actually increased them and if it should be pointed out that the couriers usually caught at the airports with drugs are normally the smallest and meekest links in the drug trade, Gen Buhari does not want to hear and he is not persuaded by "ignorant people" talking about what they know nothing about. And who is to argue? The Major-General and his colleagues are, after all honourable men. They have determined that they would rid Nigeria of this evil and the way they have chosen is to publicly execute those caught trafficking in drugs. The regime's Attorney- General actually waxed lyrical on the subject: far from giving up the executions, if they could find a more extreme form of punishment than death by firing squad, they would resort to that. And the Chief of Staff added ominously that persons already found guilty of trafficking in drugs such as cocaine and heroin "must expect the law to take its full course".
In other words, the firing squads are going to be busy, and nobody argues with strongman Idiagbon. It was, however, a very curious thing for Maj-Gen Idiagbon to say, about the "law taking its full course" for this is the regime that pays not the slightest heed to the law, making them up as they go along often fashioning them to fit the crime after it has been committed and the accused already in their custody; stopping in the middle to change the rules to their own decrees if it seems possible that somebody will escape.
It has obviously not bothered them that they have themselves displayed a very capricious attitude towards the law. Some of the people that have been executed under Decree 20 had committed their crimes at a time when the punishment was not death by firing squad and the SMC has, as has become normal in the past 16 months in Nigeria, simply backdated the effect of the decree to entrap more people. Doubtless, the message has been received loudly and clearly by most people in and outside Nigeria that the FMG will do what it likes without the slightest regard to public opinion on sensibilities.
That position can only be and has only been taken because there are guns to back its protagonists, there is no need to pretend that it has anything to do with the law of the land.
Trying to justify their actions with talk about some law of the land can only land the FMG in unnecessary trouble. People might start asking whether they or their representatives had any say in the formulation of such laws. It's best to stick to their proclaimed position that they know what is best for the people and they do not need or require approval from the people and are not answerable to them.
Members of the Buhari regime are, after all, honourable men. They do not have to listen to anything or anybody- They know that things like free speech, free movement and assembly and a free press are not needed in Nigeria - the people can disagree but then Gen Buhari will never get to hear about it anyway.
