In Nigerian Law  You Are Guilty Until Proved Innocent

By

A. Mohammed Bashir

abbamohammed.bashirshuwa@ntlworld.com

Leeds UK

In civilized societies anyone charged with an offense is presumed innocent until proven guilty however in Nigerian security parlance their law has been reversed to declare a person guilty until proven innocent. In view of this a lot of innocent people are being thrown into detention by security agencies on trumped up charges by the government. The recent indictments and persecution of political opponents by the ruling party in power is a clear manifestation of the dictatorial tendencies of the president Olusegun Obasanjo.

Nigeria is in a serious political dilemma and there is no sign that the nation is getting out of the uncivilized group of nations where laws and rules are bent to favor the few in the echelons of power to the detriment of law abiding citizens who are hounded and brutalized into submission to the whims of those in power. Many recent events in Nigeria are pointers to a nation that has been thrown into a state of anomie and the fact that the security services failed to learn any lesson from past mistakes calls for a serious rethink about their place in a civilized Nigerian democratic state.

The low level to which the various Nigerian security agencies have gone are evident in the manner they handle political issues which clearly shows them to be biased towards the ruling party. It is disgusting to find a political police commissioner coming out to use the full wrath of the law against PDP members who went to protest against the imposition of a candidate at the party secretariat but failed to employ his men to stop protesters from marching to the state house to embarrass the vice president. That was because the police does not tolerate any opposition to the PDP and if care is not taken the police will be seen to be no better than any party political thugs and many clashes are likely to be witnessed between them and the larger society who are now suspicious of their partisan role.

It is indeed a shame that despite the problems encountered by some people in power today who were victims of past dictatorship yet these same set of individuals that benefitted from the courageous stance of those who fought against tyranny have turned out to unleash a rein of terror against those who fought for their freedom. However they must understand that the fight for liberty is an unending quest for the people who desired a government that respects the wishes of the people and use the security not to safeguard itself but the people that brought them to power.

Certainly as the police thugs unleash mayhem and terrorize innocent citizens in order to pave way for the ruling PDP they are laying the basis for losing their legitimacy as a constituted authority since people have lost confidence in them. If current trend of events continue a time will come when the police will have no where to get reinforcement since the whole nation will be engulfed in a crises in which the police and Obasanjo will be the victims.

It is disheartening that from Sunday Adewusi to Balogun the police failed to learn any lesson on how to become a non partisan force. The mobile police force are the top thugs employed by the ruling party to intimidate and maim opponents and now they are armed with personal carriers to fight the people of Nigeria. Is it not a matter of concern that the police are less interested in fighting crime but are more concerned about containing political rallies and issuing permits and so on?

The PDP also uses other security agencies like the SSS and EFCC to blackmail and intimidate opponents. That they have become tools in the hands of dictator Obasanjo is not in doubt since all the arrests and recent indictments of politicians by these agencies show that they are only trying to serve the desired intention of their commander in chief on whose order they act.

While the SSS is busy following and intimidating opponents of the president some of who are charged with 'terrorism' the EFCC has been acting on the script of OBJ to bring down popular candidates that challenge their chosen ones. All these show how partisan these agencies have become. They sometimes include the name of their rivals in the ruling PDP in their list of 'indicted' candidates to give a semblance of credibility to their illegal action. All this did not convince most Nigerians on the grounds of their allegations.

Now that Nuhu Ribadu knows that his trumped up charges against politicians normally fail in law courts he has found a convenient way of prosecuting his suspects at the backyards of Aso Rock which has become the supreme court of EFCC. While we watch every episode in the unfolding political situation in Nigeria the members of the various security agencies must understand that they must remain non partisan and avoid actions and utterances that portray them as agents of tyranny.

It is a common universal practice that anyone accused of an offense is presumed innocent until proven guilty by the law courts and so it should have to be in Nigeria. As good the intentions of the EFCC are in fighting corruption it must not be used as a tool to oppress and intimidate those opposed to the party in government and they are advised to take a lesson from the British police who have interviewed the prime minister over allegations of cash for honours which truly shows that no one is above the law in England. Nigeria cannot be an exception and OBJ should be made to account for most of the allegations leveled against him so that we will know the seriousness of the EFCC and believe in its transparency.

At present the EFCC and SSS are behaving as if they are an arm of the PDP because they only chase those who give the ruling party a problem in electoral campaign which dents their credibility and hence the widespread cry of injustice all over Nigeria. Democracy is built on the rule of law as one of its fundamental principles and when that is not obtainable in a state then what obtains is anarchy. Let us salvage Nigeria.