This is exactly the reason I kept faith with my brother Dele Farotimi during his dance of madness in Ekiti. When elders act in one way, the effects usually transcend the immediate but spread to the younger ones, who will now take the lead and perpetuate the act.
The emergence of the Tinubu administration has come with it a very worrisome variant for intolerance to dissension. For a leader who built a career on opposition touting democratic credentials, his administrations impatience for dissent is really contradictory. Warnings, threats, strengthening of muzzling laws, outright bans, social media stalking and pseudo-regulation have been the order of the day
However, unlike their military cousins, they have used the law and the courts to a devastating effect falling back on things like libel, defamation and criminal defamation as triple weapons to wrestle down opposition. This achieves a double victory for them – allows them to boast of being democratic in the way they treat dissent as against the soldiers who will hide under their Decree 4 or some draconian decree to trample on free speech.
The second victory for them is that it throws fear into the minds of the people who would not want to add months of struggle within a vexed police and judicial system battling allegations of defamation to the struggle to breath under severe economic hardship. Now while there is concrete reason to be worried about this aberration in governance a new kind of monster has reared its head.
Civilians now, at the slightest opportunity, are grabbing their fellow citizens and charging them for criminal defamation. As of the last count, Chief Babalola, Burna Boy and now Saheed Osupa remain very high-profile examples of this worrisome trend. I am not sure the Falanas did the same with VFD; I think they just went the route of libel- I will have to cross-check that.
Now, when a charge of criminal defamation is alleged, the police are empowered to pick you up, move you across state lines and secure remand orders from the nearest Magistrate court and boom, you are in jail just because you pointed out that someone has a boil on his bum.
Saheed Osupa is reported to have gone this route with his junior colleague-Portable and the police secured an order, moved into one state and dragged him to Ilorin where he was charged and given very stiff bail conditions which he could not meet and ended up in Ilorin prison – reports have shown that he has been released after Mr Osupa withdrew the charges.
For Burna Boy, the same tactics and his ‘victim’ ended up spending months in detention. My brother Dele Farotimi spent 21 days in prison under the same tactics. A big bank also used the same tactics on four bloggers and got them remanded in prison. The tomato saga is still fresh in our minds, which led to the loss of a pregnancy and jail time just cos she offered her thoughts on a product
Some legal minds have argued that there is nothing like criminal defamation in our statutes while others have affirmed its existence. The aim of this write-up is its current abuse as it is now being used by civilians who have taken a cue from the government to unleash on Nigerians a very robust rape of our rights.
The police and the Judiciary have been willing accomplices in this matter as the enthusiasm that is showed by them in railroading people into jail in these matters leaves a very bitter taste. Whole teams of policemen are deployed to pick just one loudmouth, he is moved to a far-flung precinct where it would be difficult to rally support and resources to fight and then he is confronted with very terrible bail conditions designed not to be met, earning him jail time. The whole thing looks very punitive instead of an exercise to safeguard a maligned reputation
Our Police and Judicial authorities should do better. They must be seen to play a mediatory role and not allow themselves to be used as weapons of revenge and wickedness. They owe the rest of us the full responsibility to be fair arbiters and not just koboko-wielding enforcers. When you look at all the bail conditions in these cases, as I have mentioned in these article you will get a clear understanding of the probability of persecution instead of the whole exercise being a journey for redemption. I do not understand how a verbal supposition can ever be criminal. Yes, can affect reputation and impact very negatively, incomes and influence but criminalising it to the point of abusing it is what I really don’t understand
As the NBA is gearing up for its next National Convention, this matter should be looked at very seriously. The high command of the Police should also immediately throw up investigations as to the possible abuse of this process by its people to reform it. The Judiciary should also do the same while the National Assembly should revisit this law if it truly exists with a view to reselling it. It is just another Decree 4 in make-up. Simple
Sad
Duke of Shomolu
