faulker002

By Sufuyan Ojeifo President Muhammadu Buhari chose the most auspicious place to officially declare his disdain for the rule of law and his avowed preference for the rule of man, his own rule, in the Nigerian nation-state, where he has been deploying his might in its vast capriciousness and whimsicality since he stepped in the saddle on May 29, 2015.  *Buhari  The declaration was last Sunday at the International Conference Centre, ICC, in Abuja , venue of this year’s Nigerian Bar Association conference. Members of the Bar and the Bench were there in their numbers. The assemblage of officers in the temple of justice was representative of the nation’s judiciary, an independent arm of the trinity of government. The president unleashed his affront at the underpinning of that independence, reinforced by the doctrine of separation of powers. His speech had a tinge of fury in it. He did not pretend about his aversion for the arm of government and the bastion of the rule of law within ...

By Emmanuel Onwubiko Did we just read that president Muhammadu Buhari told lawyers that if you put national security side by side with the rule of law, that national security comes first? *Buhari  This is an unmitigated assault on constitutional democracy which must not be allowed to be swept under the carpets because it is manifestly erroneous and obscenely illegal. His resort to holding on to a so called supreme court’s decision which he refused to disclose the particulars makes the entire claims puerile, spurious, unbelievably shallow and therefore a nullity to the extent of its inconsistency. Shamefully, the lawyers sat down as the head of the executive arm of government embarked on this one man show of intellectual shame. The President has wounded the truth and must be corrected with all the speed that can be mustered. We will first determine the essence of constitutionalism which is the be all and end all of the form of government in practice in Nigeria without which there w...