By Eze Onyekpere

Justice is the foundation of progressive societies. It provides the anchor for constitutional democracies, the rule of law and its due process. It is about laws that are enacted through legal

authorities empowered to do so by the constitution and equally administered by an impartial and firm executive. It is about the judiciary interpreting the laws in a dispassionate and cognisable manner where like cases are treated alike and there is an element of certainty about how the courts will pronounce on the law through the doctrine of binding precedent. Recent developments in Nigeria challenge this concept of justice. This discourse reviews unequal enforcement of laws, disobedience to court orders and other foundational issues that bind a society together.

Law enforcement and anti-corruption agencies are generally charged with effecting the arrests of suspected offenders, investigations and compilation of prima facie evidence that wheels suspects into the courtroom where they will have the opportunity to defend themselves against any allegations brought against them by the state. But if the law enforcement agents look the other way when there is overwhelming evidence that a person or group of persons have committed a crime, the courts will not have the opportunity to adjudicate if the preliminary investigations and gathering of evidence are not done by the executive arm of government. The courts await until executive agencies file charges before they can adjudicate.

Nigerians have woken up to the scenario of an Asari Dokubo who has organised a private army, brandished guns on several of his viral videos; called persons of the Igbo ethnic nationality slaves whom he would have continued to sell if not for the intervention of British colonial rule. What has been the response of the police, Department of State Services and all the other law enforcement agents? They have seen or heard of no violations of the law. Being in possession of unlicensed firearms and using the same to threaten an ethnic nationality, and organising armed groups, are all humungous crimes for which Dokubo should be arrested, detained and charged to court to clarify his actions and speeches. What rankles the most is Dokubo’s video where he claimed to be supporting and working for President Bola Tinubu and he will fight anyone who is against the President. Nigerians expected the President to quickly issue a statement disassociating the presidency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria from such a rascal and scoundrel. But mum was the word; the President adopted Dokubo as a beloved son in whom he is well pleased and as such heard or saw nothing against the laws of the land.

Compare this scenario to a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, who the DSS had accused of high crimes and sought a court order to arrest and detain him before the end of the Buhari presidency. The court refused to grant such order citing the absence of evidence and documentation linking him to the allegations. In the Tinubu presidency, Emefiele was arrested by the DSS and detained for over a month and when the court refused to renew the permission for his continued detention and asked the DSS to either release him or charge him to court for violations of the law, the DSS quickly arraigned him before a court for being in possession of firearms. This is the same offence committed by Dokubo but the law applies differently to different folks. From the Tinubu presidency and DSS perspective, Dokubo is evidently above the law and despite the public outcry, it is about impunity writ large.

What is the impression of the reasonable and ordinary Nigerian watching this drama playing out? They will get away with the impression of a lawless society where anyone can get away with crime once he knows people in high places. This does not show equality before the law or the equal protection of the law. Nigerians had expected Emefiele to be charged with high-level crimes related to his mandate as the governor of the CBN who was in charge of managing very large financial resources and the monetary policy of Nigeria. How come the initial allegations against him for which a detention order was sought during the Buhari presidency are no longer part of the current charge against him? Pray, if after being in charge of CBN’s finances, confiscating monies belonging to the common people and inflicting severe pains on Nigerians, no offence could be found against him but simply being in possession of firearms, the investigators need to offer explanations to Nigerians.

Then, to the most severe impunity, the DSS has been acting above the law, disobeying court orders and treating constituted authority with contempt. After Emefiele had been granted bail and ordered to be remanded in a correction facility until he met the bail conditions, the DSS could not understand the logic of the court in giving such order. The DSS decided to take Emefiele back into its custody against the clear terms of the bail. DSS officers openly and shamelessly assaulted senior officers of the Nigerian Correctional Service who sought to obey the orders of the court. Even when the presiding judge intervened, it cut no ice with the DSS officials who claimed to be acting on superior orders. They eventually disobeyed the orders of the court and are still in contempt of the orders of the court.

In the face of these assaults on the rule of law and independence of the judiciary, the President of the Nigerian Bar Association issued a statement, purportedly on behalf of all Nigerian lawyers, but evidently for his self-serving purpose. He presented the outright and disgraceful disobedience of a court order by the DSS as a case of two persons or institutions fighting. No, the DSS was wrong while the correctional service officers were discharging their lawful duties. Meanwhile, the President of the Federal Republic, who recently swore to an oath to uphold the constitution, pretends not to know what is happening and keeps mum. Keeping Emefiele further in defiance of a court order is a violation of unprecedented proportions on the rule of law and its due process.

Injustice, disobedience to court orders, impunity and contempt for others will only lead Nigeria to underdevelopment, aggravated poverty and possible chaos. If Dokubo can organise a private army and get away with it while others who attempt less crimes are hounded and prosecuted, the implication is a call for anyone who can resist the coercive powers of the state to try and see if he can succeed.

President Tinubu cannot continue to pretend he is unaware of this lawlessness. It is too early in the day for this reign of impunity. The leadership of the DSS should be told in very clear terms that Nigeria is not a jungle. Nigerians should rise and demand accountability from this institution maintained at taxpayers’ expense. Otherwise, we are laying the foundation through our silence for the reign of the jungle.

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