Like Buhari’s many commendable qualities that conspired to reward him with the illustrious title of President-Elect in March this year, his personal qualities of resilience, of determination, of honesty and of frugality, can easily be outmatched by his single most feared quality; the quality of a dark past.
One of such feared pasts is Decree 4 and a recent proxy action may threaten to re-ignite fear of the past. Tagged in the frightening 80’s as the most repressive press law ever enacted in Nigeria, the decision to scare the media with an un-appealable ruling by a military tribunal which dangled two years imprisonment for erring journalists and publishers, did not profit the Buhari regime at the time.
It wasn’t perhaps clear to most dictatorships then that press freedom with all its complexities remained an essential and fundamental pillar of good governance.
A documentary aired by African Independent Television (AIT), in the days before the March 28 2015 elections has been blamed for the recent reaction of people working with the president elect towards staff of AIT.
If the events are true and if Buhari is aware, then perhaps all he simply wishes to do is grant AIT a somewhat prophetic status by first creating a victim out of them and afterwards making their earlier predictions about him genuine.
I have not the slightest doubt that should any person or institution that sets itself against freedom, is sure to fail. The days that harsh and repressive laws granted leaders long years of peace and quietness are long gone. The general political consciousness of the people has been considerably raised and they are now more conscious of their strengths and their rights. Unlike the ever elusive story of late Dele Giwa, the stories of Tunde Thompson and Nduka Irabor is less shrouded with mystery.
It is a well-known story about the Buhari regime of the 80s, a story that leads one to review this recent ruckus with AIT in a different light; If Buhari is still going to search for the missing N20billion, if he is still going to persecute women like Diezanni Allison Madueke, and if he wishes to ensure that AIT will never be able to do as they did in the past, he could well within the constraints of the law pursue these objectives, and succeed. But it is equally significant to understand that if the President-Elect or those around him wish to become vindictive towards an organization that campaigned against him, they could as equally become vindictive against those who did not vote for him and such notions in themselves are terribly disturbing.
But if as many expect that his plan is for a better Nigeria, without doubt the approach will certainly have to be different. Issues that govern the lives of those who gave him the mandate will very well be placed ahead of returning the favor to those who didn’t. The power sector alone is enough trouble as it is that there should not be any room to dabble into trivialities. Yes it is wise to ensure that there are systems that curb the desires of profit earners to go beyond the line. Yes, the line between professionalism and politicking and that of propaganda and slander was perhaps significantly blurred by AIT in the days before the last election. But yes still, if any punishment is to be decided, it has to be one recognized by law, one that is just and applicable to all, and one that is clear and devoid of political bickering.
It isn’t wise for any government to come in with a bad name. As with a bad name, a dark past is not also good business for politics. But the last election showed that perhaps Buharis past has been forgiven and his name redeemed. But these two, no matters how disturbing as they may be, clearly weigh less against any action by a government that seeks to undermine press freedom.
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Article written by Tahir Sherriff, in-house freelance reporter with NewsWireNGR in Abuja
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