By Promise Adiele
The travails of activist Dele Farotimi in the hands of inscrutable but entrenched principalities in Nigeria have all the potential to inflict mental and psychological injury on a normal person. It is another opportunity to view our country from a more analytical prism. Yet, unconscionable minions, sycophants, and praise singers want Nigerians to turn a blind eye to these anti-democratic realities and tell a huge lie – Nigeria is a wonderful country. Thus, we must crucify Kemi Badenoch (sounds like ‘bad – enough’) and Davido for highlighting conditions in the country that have blighted our reputation, conferring bemoaning emotions on the citizens.
Watching Dele Farotimi go through his recent ordeal pulls at the strings of the heart in a country that pretends to flourish in democracy and the rule of law. A man is kidnapped, whisked away to another state, detained and subjected to dehumanizing conditions under the cover of the law. And I ask – what exactly is Dele Farotimi’s offence? OK, for the benefit of argument, let us agree he defamed Afe Babalola. But I understand defamation is not a criminal offence in Ekiti State or Lagos State. So why was he detained for almost two weeks? Under what law was he held? He has said he wrote the truth in his book. Why is he not allowed to substantiate the truth he wrote?
Ultimately, the principalities and powers holding Dele Farotimi (certainly not Nigerian law) decided to release him on bail. His bail conditions are not only ridiculous but a telling caricature of our judicial protocol. So, Farotimi should not speak to the press or grant any interviews. Why? We would not complain much if these conditions were one-off occurrences beyond the repulsive memories they evoke. Still, knowing that these issues have far-reaching implications for the future because they would gradually become aspects of our judicial culture, we must announce and condemn them at the rooftop to expose systemic chicanery.
Why was Farotimi asked not to speak to the press? To stifle his voice and stop him from illuminating the obscure? What is it about Farotimi that galls the heartbeat of Nigeria’s putrid chamber populated by corruption incarnates? Was Farotimi granted any legal representation in court? The worst obscenity in the Farotimi saga was when the magistrate at the Ekiti court declared that he forgot his bail ruling at home. Nigeria is indeed a joke. Men have completely lost every iota of shame and integrity. Official procedures and practices do not inspire hope or enthusiasm in the populace, not at the police station, hospital, public offices, law courts, or within political circles.
I flinched in disgust at the sight of heavily armed police officers and prison warders who milled around Farotimi when he appeared in court. One would think Boko Haram terrorists were around and these armed men needed to do their jobs. But alas, they wielded sophisticated ammunition for a harmless Farotimi who apparently had not had a decent meal for almost two weeks. These are security personnel who would scamper and disappear at the sight of a Boko Haram insurgent. One would think there was war in Nigeria the way these idle men brandished guns as if they were up in arms against armed robbers and kidnappers. It was all in the premeditated plan to weaken, intimidate, and violent Farotimi. Such pictures and videos would only advertise our country in a negative perspective before the international community. It was primitive, downright barbaric, and a poor testimony of Nigeria’s judicial system. In trying to protect Nigeria’s judicial system, the powers and principalities have exposed its disreputable potential. Davido and Badenoch must not see these things because they like to tell the truth and we hate the truth in this part of the world.
Beyond Farotimi’s case, what is the hope of ordinary citizens in a country where the bourgeois easily harvest the downtrodden to masturbate their debased ego? What precedent is being set in Nigeria with the Farotimi case – or is it an opportunity to demonstrate to those of us on the left side of the spectrum that the tables have turned for good in Nigeria? The men of means and power in Nigeria should realize that those who speak truth to power do not fear arrest, detention, and death.
People like Farotimi have the mental and emotional capacity to withstand the rod of the wicked whether through arrest, solitary confinement or torture. The spirit of patriotism in such people galvanizes other progressive forces and the demagogues are afraid of them. Dele Farotimi’s case presents a wonderful opportunity for positive reactionary voices to resist all forms of tyranny in the country. For those rejoicing over Farotimi’s travails, it is a debt you will all pay, an investment that must inevitably yield results in the future. It is a deliberate support for totalitarianism which must grow and consume even the supporters.
Farotimi’s travails excavate the rich and poor dialectics in Nigeria and the very offensive mantra of the upper class – “I will deal with you and nothing will happen.” It is only in a lawless country that someone of means can wake up one morning and instruct the police to arrest a poor fellow perceived to have stepped on the rotten toes of a big person. Sadly, even the poor fellow’s class counterparts, impoverished by lack of basic needs, victims of government’s economic misdirection, would support the big person and excoriate their fellow indigent citizens. In Nigeria, might is right and as George Orwell reminds us “all animals are equal but some are more equal than others.”
I deeply worry about the gradual but steady collapse of the rule of law in Nigeria and the rights of citizens to express themselves. Surely, if this anomaly is not condemned by all, if Nigerians irrespective of our political leanings, do not stand up to condemn harassment and intimidation of citizens by people of influence, the geography of victims, as I have always said, would one day extend to those who think they are protected by one consideration or another. I ask, if Farotimi is a staunch APC apologist, would he go through what he has gone through? The answer is a resounding no. It is all political.
The Farotimi saga has exposed many Nigerians as parading defeated consciences that can accommodate all forms of illegality. Many have looked away while a system of perfidy is enthroned in our country. I hope these persons, apologists of the system would also look away if, under the leadership of another political party or president, people are kidnapped and whisked away to any destination that tickles the fancy of the powerful. I have read how a lady was arrested and detained because she criticised a politician and his son. It is gradually becoming fashionable to deal with dissenting voices or those who share different opinions on public issues.
This vicious response to criticism defies every definition of democracy and questions our collective claims to equitable law and order structures. The hierarchy of the Nigerian Police and other law enforcement units should face their constitutional responsibilities of maintaining law and order and not as enemies of the people. The police must eschew this habit of hounding common citizens, arresting and torturing them, sometimes to death, in the service of a man of means. Resistance and criticism are part of the social armoury to gauge the excesses of public servants and the government. It is not a crime. The police must understand this simple fact.
I condemn in strong terms, the excesses of citizens in exercising their freedom of speech and fundamental human rights. I am sure there are constitutional provisions to deal with people who unnecessarily defame or abuse other people. Therefore, I support Afe Babalola in seeking redress if he thinks Dele Farotimi defamed him. The Baba must also react, without failing, to reports by Africa Independent Television (AIT) circulating on social media from Wikileaks alleging that he took bribes and perverted justice. The accomplished lawyer must clear his name by addressing that report. Failure to do so, the report will gather associated familiar spirits, monsters and shadows to give it a semblance of truth, thereby tarnishing his reputation as a leading philanthropist and accomplished legal icon.
Abuse, reckless talk and sundry expletives are all part of the political process. It happens in the US, Canada, Germany, the UK, and other developed parts of the world where citizens freely insult public officeholders, sometimes with false allegations. Any politician or public figure who cannot tolerate insults and false allegations should follow due process as laid down by the constitution. But most times, people of higher calling ignore these distractions and move on. I have been a victim of malicious, destabilizing allegations. If I had followed it up legally, everyone involved in the evil scheme (I know them) would have been in jail now. What did I do? I moved on. Those who cannot move on, follow the law and let the law prevail. To resort to illegal underhand practices is condemnable.
Welcome back egbon Dele Farotimi.
Dr. Promise Adiele is of the Mountain Top University and can be reached via Promee01@yahoo.com; @drpee4
