PUNCH EDITORIAL BOARD
AFTER the nomination, controversy, and the confirmation of a new Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ola Olukoyede, Nigerians should interrogate President Bola Tinubu over the continued detention of his predecessor, Abdulrasheed Bawa. Detained since mid-June, the former anti-graft czar has remained incommunicado, and without trial. Tinubu is displaying contempt for the law as exemplified by his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari. He should chart a different course, and either release Bawa or prosecute him in court if he is found culpable of any crime.
Tinubu disappoints. Unlike Buhari who has a military background, he first came into public prominence as proponent of democracy. He was a leading operative in the struggle against military rule, including suffering persecution and exile. Besides, he constantly proclaims himself as a democrat and a “leader of democrats.”
But in office, he is assaulting the law. Instead of replacing the leadership of the Department of State Services that was Buhari’s chief instrument in violating civil rights, and ignoring court orders, Tinubu is backing its impunity.
The law is clear: the 1999 Constitution guarantees the right of every Nigerian to personal liberty. No one should be detained for more than a specified period without trial. Bawa has been held for weeks by the DSS, from which detention he reportedly resigned.
Tinubu had suspended Bawa over alleged abuse of office and “to allow for a proper investigation into his conduct while in office” on June 14, 2023. That is the proper procedure. The ex-EFCC chief was subsequently grilled by the DSS. But apart from recent leaked stories of alleged misdeeds, there has been no official word.
He is not the only one being denied freedom. The former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele, was also detained and later charged with illegal possession of firearms and granted bail. But DSS agents re-arrested him within the court premises before he could perfect the bail process. Like Bawa, he also resigned while in captivity.
Nnamdi Kanu, the ‘Biafran’ separatist agitator, has been granted bail, but is being denied freedom. Though Kanu’s case is a holdover from the previous government, Tinubu, the avowed democrat, and the Attorney-General, Lateef Fagbemi, have not moved to undo the lawlessness they inherited.
