Professor Wole Soyinka has berated President Muhammadu Buhari over his recent comments at the Nigeria Bar Association conference that national interest should take precedence over rule of law.
Buhari had said while addressing a gathering of lawyers that: “the rule of law must be subject to the supremacy of the nation’s security and national interest.”
His comment was trailed by so much knocks from Nigerians.
Soyinka, a Nobel laureate said the statement from Buhari is a sign of what to come.
In a statement on Thursday, Soyinka mocked Buhari, saying the president had obviously given a deep thought to his travails under a military dictatorship and concluded that his incarceration at that time was also in the ‘national interest.’
“Here we go again,” Soyinka said in the statement he titled ‘Buhari’s Pernicious Doctrine.’
“At his first coming, it was ‘I intend to tamper with Freedom of the Press,’ and Buhari did proceed to suit action to the words, sending two journalists – Irabor and Thompson – to prison as a reward for their professional integrity.
“Now, a vague, vaporous, but commodious concept dubbed “national interest” is being trotted out as alibi for flouting the decisions of the Nigerian judiciary. President Buhari has obviously given deep thought to his travails under a military dictatorship, and concluded that his incarceration was also in the ‘national interest.’”
On Thursday, Soyinka described the timing of the president’s speech as “perfect.”
He said: “We have cause to be thankful for the advance warning, since not all rulers actually make a declaration of intent, but simply proceed to degrade the authority of the law as part of the routine business of governance.
“We have been there before. It should be of mere interest, not despondency, that this latest proclamation of dictatorial recidivism has also been made before an assembly of officers of the law, the Nigerian Bar Association. We expect a robust response from the NBA as part of its conclusions.”
Soyinka said there is no shortcut to democracy and that the history of law, even where uncodified, is as old as humanity.
His words again: “Numerous rulers have tried again and again to annul that institution.
“Sometimes, they appear to succeed, but in the end, they pay heavy forfeit. So does society.
“The rule of law, however, outlasts all subverters, however seemingly powerful. If the consequences for society in defence of the rule of law were not so costly, any new attempt would be merely banal and boring, hardly deserving of attention. We know, historically, where it will all end.”