Henry Okonkwo
the images of operatives of the Department of State Services, who raided the residences of several judges, in the first term of President Muhammadu Buhari, still haunt the memory of Nigerians. The judges were accused of engaging in corrupt practices. In this interview, a human rights activist and Executive Director of the Civil Liberties Organisations (CLO), Comrade Ibuchukwu Ezike, speaks on the perceived disrespect shown to the Judiciary since 2015, when the All Progressives Congress (APC) took over the reins of governance at the federal level. He also bares his mind on the 2020 Budget and other national issues.
The CLO was known for its courage in challenging past military regimes for human rights abuses. These days, CLO and the other civil society organizations (CSOs) seem to have gone to sleep, in the face glaring cases of human rights abuse by state actors. What happened?
It will interest you to know that the CLO started observation of elections in Nigeria dating back to the 1993 general elections, outcome of which was later annulled by General Ibrahim Babangida. So, when we transited from military to civilian rule in 1999, we resumed this national activity and we were doing this till 2007. Before the 2011 elections, the state had heavily descended on the CLO by unlawfully sealing our national headquarters on Allen Avenue, Lagos, for over one year and locked us out of active operations. This happened on August 12, 2009. Our sensitive documents and facilities like financial documents, project files, minutes of meetings of the Board and other organs of the organisation and laptops, etc were looted by the ravaging police from Zone 2, Onikan, Lagos. The most worrisome aspect of the attack is that till date the police have not produced any genuine reasons for this criminal invasion. CLO took them to court in 2010 and defeated them. The court ordered them to return all our stolen property, pay the CLO the sum of N25,000,000 and pay me the sum of N250, 000 for illegal detention and torture overnight. I was detained and tortured for one night because I refused to sign a dictated statement. So, since this period, CLO’s operations have been seriously hampered. How can we operate effectively after this kind of siege?
Another reason CSOs operations have not been noticed like during the military period is that we have achieved civilian democracy and it is easier and better for people to participate than in military rule. Some of our members are politicians today. The visible crackdown on human rights and the people have also reduced. And lastly, there are lean funds or support from the donor community. Most of the major donors now relate directly with the government, its agencies, and agents unlike during the military dictatorship and as a result, there is space for the civil society community.
Disobedience to court orders by the government and its agencies has seemingly belittled the role of the judiciary in Nigeria’s democracy. What would you suggest the judiciary should do whenever their orders are flagrantly disobeyed by the other arms of government?
The Nigerian judiciary has betrayed the trust reposed in them by the Nigerian citizens of late. In saner societies not minding the mindset of the ruler, the judiciary is the last hope of the common man. And they usually stand by their orders and pronouncements and insist that they must be obeyed, respected and honoured. Even during the terror of military regimes, judicial officers in Nigeria gave landmark judgments and orders that promoted human rights, due process of the law and expanded the territory of judicial radicalism. Judges dared military dictators by making decisions that rattled the conservative military establishment. These days the reverse is the case. Corruption, poverty of legal and academic ideas, ethnic, class and belief considerations as well as the mindset of the ruler constitute factors that determine the way or tune that judicial pronouncements take other than merit. Therefore, we can scarcely find erudite, credible and strong willed judicial officers who are blind as Lady Justice, who can maintain their grounds and ask the ruler to go to hell while dispensing justice in his court. Some judicial officers are appointed on the basis of quota and not on merit. Such judges cannot, therefore, summon the courage to take a decision against the interest of those who gave them an appointment whether in or out of government. Some judicial officers cannot write judgements or read wide to understand the tenets of the law. Again, judges who are like this cannot challenge the authorities because they are inept. Same as corrupt ones because they can be exposed and insulted out if they make noise or disagree with the conscienceless power. Therefore, the judiciary should commit anyone who disobeys court orders and judgements to prison. Secondly, they should declare industrial action and refuse to sit on any case until their orders and judgements are complied with by the judgement debtor(s). When autocratic rulers see judicial officers acting this way, they would begin to adjust in order to be in line with the due process.
Let’s look at the economy. How do you feel about the 2020 budget?
What did the previous budgets whether under the previous administrations or the present one offer us? All the previous budgets were prepared, debated and passed for the politicians and their families, associates and girlfriends or boyfriends, not for the happiness of the poor and powerless. I have not been a beneficiary of the Nigerian budgets and will not expect anything different from the 2020 budget.
Mixed reaction has trailed the government’s partial closure of the border as a measure to curb cross-border smuggling. Some say it was a good move by PMB, while others see it as a bad. Where does the CLO stand in this?
The government can close its borders for several reasons but those reasons must be in the interest of the citizens who own the society and for whose sake government is established. The government and its officials hold the society in trust for the people. When borders are closed for the good running of the society, in other words for the welfare and security of the people and their property, it becomes a welcome development. But where it is done with impunity to punish the people, the action becomes evil, wicked and inhuman. The closing of borders to check the influx or importation of inferior and expired goods that are injurious to human health or to protect homemade goods or products and immigration of foreign nationals through unlawful processes is acceptable. However, when borders are closed to disallow lawful importation of goods and services that are not bad or that have no alternative in Nigeria or to suffer the citizens as it is the case in the closure of Seme Border, the action is unacceptable, insensitive to the needs of the people and so, amounts to violation of the rights of the people. Seme Border is closed but the Nigeria/Niger and Nigeria/Cameroun borders through which killer Fulani militia get into the country are left open. Where is the wisdom in the government’s action except that it has brought increased hardship on the people? Our stand on the selective closure of the borders is that it is anti-people, unacceptable and, therefore, condemnable.
Recently, former Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha, who is now in the Senate, suggested that the cost of governance should be cut down, reducing the number of senators from each state to one and three House of Representatives should come each state. Do you think this will have positive impact on the country?
I do not think that Senator Rochas Okorocha is serious about that call. I think that he was just playing to the gallery. That call was primitive. It had potential to take Nigeria back to the Stone Age era if adopted and executed. The challenge Nigeria has today is not the population of the National Assembly but the huge emoluments and benefits they enjoy at the expense of the citizens. Politics has become a profession in Nigeria. This is our bane. Senator Okorocha would have called for the law-making process to be a part-time affair with sitting allowances payable to the lawmakers and not fat salaries and other fringe benefits, and not the call for a reduction in the number of senators and members of the House. Doing so will create avoidable chaos, crisis, and mischief that may lead to grave abuse of human rights and civil liberties in the country during elections. The National Assembly, in my thinking, should be more concerned about the increasing disobedience to the provisions of the Constitution or the law and Orders and judgements of the courts. They should concern themselves with credible oversight duties result in true delivery of democracy dividends to the people and ensure that the federal character law is eminently followed and implemented. Senator Okorocha ought to have moved the NASS to call for study and pass the 2014 National Conference recommendations which would address the major issues and challenges confronting our country. I do not support Okorocha’s proposal because it is not a remedy for Nigeria’s problems.