In yet another incident that must rank as one of the most troubling use of executive power to put democracy in abeyance since the restless return to civil rule in 1999, operatives of Department of State Service (DSS) invaded Federal High Court, Abuja, on December 6, wrestled and re-arrested Mr Omoyele Sowore, publisher of Sahara Reporters, throwing the court into pandemonium and forcing the presiding judge, Mrs Ijeoma Ojukwu, to exit the courtroom quickly. Following on the heels of the invasion of the National Assembly on two occasions during President Muhammadu Buhari’s first term of office, that act signalled the end of the current administration’s pretence to being a democratic outfit. And so the conclusion is inescapable that full-blown dictatorship, and not the rising authoritarianism that we deplored only recently, is now effectively in place in the country.

To say the least, details of the Sowore case are dastardly. The Sahara Reporters publisher was bundled out of the Abuja High Court only less than 24 hours after DSS was compelled to release him and his co-defendant, Mr Olawale Bakare, by Mrs Ojukwu, in compliance with the bail earlier granted them. Sowore was first arrested on August 3 following his calls for RevolutionNow protests to demand good governance in the country, and subsequently charged with treasonable felony and cybercrime. DSS had ignored court orders for their release until December 5 when the matter came up before Justice Ojukwu, who handed down a 24-hour ultimatum. As it turned out, however, DSS only released Sowore for a few hours, before pouncing on him right in the court and bringing shame and opprobrium to the country by so doing. But if the desecration of the hallowed precints of the court of law was ignominuous, the alibi conjured by DSS was heart-rending. The agency told Nigerians that Sowore’s ordeal was “stage-managed” by his supporters, but has to date failed to provide any response to the revelation by his counsel, Mr Femi Falana, that its operatives actually apologised to the judge for the desecration of her court. If DSS was not involved in the tragedy at the High Court, what did its operatives apologise for?

To all intents and purposes, the current administration is certainly the most blatantly anti-law and the most uncivil since the return to civil rule in 1999. If the cases of Sowore; former National Security Adviser, Mr Sambo Dasuki and leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), Mr Ibrahim El-zakzaky, and those of the thousands of other Nigerians currently languishing in jail without trial illustrate anything, it is the fact that the Buhari administration has become a potent threat to the rule of law and democracy. Pray, if court orders are not to be obeyed, why should courts exist at all? Does the administration intend to silence the judiciary and turn the courts into theatres of fascism?

Clearly, the administration’s morbid fear of accused persons having their day in court suggests that it has something to hide. Since 2015, it has waxed lyrical on alleged capital crimes but blatantly denied the accused persons an opportunity to state their case, thus keeping their profile as criminals in the public consciousness while subjecting them to the most harrowing forms of physical and psychological abuse. Pray, did the many heroes of democracy die in the quest to enthrone democracy in the land, only to have a government bringing back the essential ingredients of military rule in a democratic garb?

It is certainly not fortuitous that the Presidency, reacting to the outcry in the international community over the burgeoning dictatorship in the country, claimed that it was not answerable to the United Kingdom or United State governments: it is in the character of repressive regimes to deploy both ideological and repressive state apparatuses. The presidency’s retort, shorn of its rhetorical pretensions, is simply that the administration will not respect the provisions of the universal code of conduct in democratic practice. Ironically, though, the administration is a constant guest of the international community whenever issues of borrowing to fund recurrent expenditure, and thus the extravagance of its officials, crop up.

Against the backdrop of its serial assaults on the laws of the land, it is not very difficult for Nigerians to see that the promises to fight corruption, enhance security and revamp the economy were nothing more than a gimmick to impose autocracy on the land. The administration has circumscribed the freedoms of Nigerians and created a climate of fear. In this regard, the directive by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami, via a letter dated December 11 and addressed to Director-General of DSS, Mr Yusuf Bichi, to “promptly forward all the case files concerning Sowore to his office,” is nothing but a crude afterthought. Malami, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, did not apologise for the desecration of the court of law and did not order the arrest and prosecution of the perpetrators. His latest move is therefore not raising any hope, especially as he has, time and again, explained away disobedience of court orders, thus confronting the constitution with the most brazen provocations.

It is certainly a tragedy that those who took to the streets, openly ventilating their grievances during the immediate past administration have turned around to impose the most restrictive barricades on legitimate dissent, rendering the country’s claims to democracy completely meaningless and leaving the people hopeless. There is a pervasive climate of fear across the land: the people fear that instant death and mutilation await them if they hit the streets, carrying placards. Not surprisingly, the serial lawlessness of the government has emboldened the security agencies, and new measures of repression are being devised on a daily basis: youths cannot carry backpacks or use mobile phones without expecting harassment by the police. At no time in the country’s history, barring the civil war, have the Nigerian people had to contend with so much misery.

We condemn the Buhari administration’s descent into fascism. We urge it to retrace its steps because history has never been kind to dictatorships in whatever guise.