By Okey Muogbo
As the celebration over the release of Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) and Omoyele Sowore begins to die down, we are bound by our conscience to address certain fundamental issues which arose from the whole saga.
The first issue is: on whose order were the two men released? Here we have 2 orders- one from the court of competent jurisdiction and the other, an Executive Order from the President Muhammadu Buhari severally delegated down to prison wardens who brought the duo out to freedom (though) on bail.
The Executive Order which the Attorney-General/Minister of Justice (AGF) executed as delegated to him by Buhari was presented as overriding that of the Court and that is where the problem emanates lies.
Does a presidential order supersede that of a court of competent jurisdiction?
The answer is No. But it appears the Executive arm of government, led by Buhari thinks otherwise. Is it too difficult at this stage of our development to discern this? And that is the tragedy – a country of knowledgeable people but perpetually ruled by misfits since Independence in 1960. Here are excerpts from Buhari’s so called Order read by the AGF: “The Office of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation has reviewed the pending criminal charges against the duo of Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd.) and Omoyele Sowore. Whilst the Federal High Court has exercised its discretion in granting bail to the Defendants in respect of the charges against them, I am also not unmindful of the right of the Complainant/Prosecution to appeal or further challenge the grant of bail by the court having regards to extant legal provisions, particularly Section 169 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015. However, my Office has chosen to comply with the court orders while considering the pursuit of its rights of appeal and/or review of the order relating to the bail as granted or varied by the courts.
“In line with the provisions of Sections 150(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), and in compliance with the bail granted to Col. Sambo Dasuki (Rtd) (as recently varied by the Court of Appeal) and the bail granted to Omoyele Sowore, I have directed the State Security Services to comply with the order granting bail to the Defendants and effect their release.”
It is clear that the release of the two men didn’t derive from the Court’s Order looking at how long it had taken from the day the court first ordered for their release. In essence, if the AGF didn’t give his own order, the court’s, won’t have been obeyed. It is a clear show and demonstration of executive whimsicality.
Given the level and abundance of knowledge in Nigerian, the country should by now have been running on a pedestal far more sophisticated than what just transpired in the Dasuki/Sowore matter. A court order is superior to an executive order, it is also superior to the personality of the judge who made the order. But only a sophisticated brain thinks like that but when the leadership is composed of people whose line of thinking is: “I am that I am”, then you witness the trampling of logic, moral and legality. That explains why officials of the state had to chase Sowore into the court and still went ahead struggling to pick him from under the table like a rodent. The civilized world watched and laughed at us. The same civilized world is still laughing at us because a court order was ignored and an executive order was obeyed.
Take it or leave it, the DSS in some respects is still in contempt of the court as far as the Sowore’s bail is concerned.
We may have achieved the temporary freedom for the 2 men which was the primary goal but building an egalitarian Nigeria which is the necessary requirement for sustainable development is still far away from us. Of course we as a nation do many things that cast doubt on our rationality. How can Sowore’s ranting of revolution turn him into a Mao Tse Tsung (China) or Adulf Hitter (German) when we know how long and the enormous resources it took such revolutionaries to build their cult-like followership?
Wrong decisions have a bitter way of producing odour-infested consequences and that was what happened with the release of Dasuki and Sowore. Dasuki’s release should have been executed about 2 years earlier while that of Sowore ought to have been effected months before the arrival to Nigeria of the protest letter of some American Congressmen. Because the letter came few hours before the (il)legal order from the Executive, it (the American letter) is being credited with forcing Buhari to release them.
Personally, I have very little doubt in my mind that it wasn’t the American threat that stampeded Buhari. The Buhari I know and have been following since Dec. 1983 would not bow to such foreign pressure. Buhari hasn’t changed from what/who was in 1985 -never mind adults who deliberately deluded themselves in 2015 and spread that evil propaganda of a changed Buhari.
The bitter truth is that the Americans have taken the shine off our Executive (Federal Government) as far as the release of Dasuki and Sowore is concerned. If the Executive had released the duo two weeks earlier, it would have taken the credit but the damage the letter from Uncle Sam has caused to the Presidency and our nation is terrible.
That wasn’t the only loss.
Just look at the crude manner the Presidency went about the release order. Couldn’t the Executive have, through informal but credible means, passed the message to the DSS to release Dasuki and Sowore without that Executive vomit the AGF threw out? Every government (including the dictatorships we have in the 36 states) needs intelligent, sagacious appointees/workers who will always feel free to air their views without fear of reprisals.
I don’t think everybody in the Executive arm of this Government is dumb as to warrant this level of mis-actions but when you work for a VERY man, common sense would condition you to suppress opinions that endanger your position.
Take it or leave it, a court order will always be superior to an order from any arm of Government.
So sad to watch a good Christmas love-gift (release of Dasuki and Sowore) turn into a poisoned apple for my nation -the American humiliation and trampling upon our sovereignty, with applause from many Nigerians.
