Wednesday, February 29, 2012

FRESH FACTS AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION


BY OKOI OBONO-OBLA

I was aghast when I read in the media about the arrest, arraignment and incarceration of the chairman of the editorial board of the Fresh Facts newspapers, Sam Asowata, on the order of the governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio over the publication of story exposing a housing scam, which the governor was allegedly deeply involved, running into billions of naira.

In a reminiscence of the hey days of military dictatorship, Mr. Asowata was arrested in his office in Abuja with his daughter, by a contingent of well armed police officers and taken to Akwa Ibom State and immediately arraigned before a chief magistrate's court in Uyo on a charge of publication of seditious article with the intent to cause disaffection. Mr. Asowata was denied bail by the magistrate and ordered to be remanded in custody. The Akwa Ibom state government, obsessed with vengeance through its attorney-general filed a civil action in the High Court, Uyo, against the Fresh Facts.

I wondered aloud how a governor, who is a lawyer, and his attorney-general, would readily exhume a law (sedition) which was effectively laid to rest more than 24 (twenty-fours) ago by the then Federal Court of Appeal in a remarkable decision in the case of Arthur Nwankwo v. The State. Arthur Nwankwo, a radical politician, Writer and member of the left wing Peoples Redemption Party had published an acidic and ferocious critique of the government of the old Anambra State under the leadership of Jim Nwobodo, alleging mindless corruption and bad governance against the governor and his cohorts. He was arrested and charged to court. He was found guilty of sedition by a High Court and sentenced to jail. On appeal, the Federal Court of appeal set aside the conviction and declared that the section 50 of the criminal code which makes the seditious publication a criminal offence was at variance with the right of Freedom of expression and the press enshrined in the then 1979 constitution.

It is indeed a sad commentary that the learned attorney- general of Akwa Ibom State could not professionally advise the governor that charging a journalist for an offence founded under the law of sedition, is against the spirit and intendment of the constitution which he had sworn to preserve and protect when he became governor of Akwa Ibom State.

It shows that most professionals in government in this country hardly allow the professional dictates of their calling to reflect on the quality of advice they give. This attitude and mindset of professionals in the public service pandering to the whims and caprices of their appointers rather than being guided by professionalism, has invariably to do with the general belief that appointment in the public service is a passport and, indeed, an avenue for quick enrichment and personal aggrandisement. This is why public officials in the government hardly resign their appointments, even when they disagree with the policy direction and thrust of the government. It is a shame that the attorney-general of Akwa Ibom State would quickly rush to the court and exhume an archaic and anachronistic piece of legislation designed by the colonialists who held sway at the hey days of colonialism in these shores to stem the rising tide of nationalism fired by the change brought about the aftermath of the second World War.

The harassment and intimidation of the press and journalists in Akwa Ibom State by a governor whose legitimacy is still the subject of an intense legal challenge in the Court of Appeal, is a clear signal to a critical segment of the civil society that dictatorship is on the rise and would stop at nothing to ensure that the whole society tilts towards docility and timidity, and that people should think twice before deciding to express an alternative view point.

It is sad that a government supposedly founded on the rule of law and constitutionalism could readily resort to gestapo tactics to drive under ground dissenting segment of the civil society. Little wonder the South- South region has seen little development despite the huge amounts of money at the disposal of these governors. It is in the South-South that one will find the crudest and most authoritarian of governors who behave and carry on as a potentate to whom the people must genuflect. As we continue to forge ahead, it will be necessary to sound a note of caution to these governors to realise that they just have to tread softly and carefully. The governors have a stake in ensuring that democratic culture is fostered in the country; it is in their interest to so do.

To this end, the principles of separation of powers must be respected. There must also be an absolute respect for fundamental human rights, particularly the rights to freedom of association; and freedom of thought, conscience and expression. The governors must appreciate the unassailable fact that these rights are observed and practiced because the people voted them into office.

They are therefore, at all times, accountable to the people who gave them their mandate to leadership. They must be less magisterial and imperial in all their dealings and actions, otherwise they will lose the good will of the people and whether they like it or not, they could be voted out of office in 2011. Any Governor who thinks that he can hold the people in contempt because he can rig himself into power in 2011 in a phantom election had better think twice.

It is clear that the people are wiser and would never tolerate any phantom election where the votes of the people do not count. Anybody who wants to challenge the resolve of the people should take a cue from Kenya and other abundant evident lessons.

The inability to accommodate alternative views has seen state governors largely behaving as military administrators, reminiscent of the dark days of military dictatorship. In most of the states, opposition has been totally crippled so much so that the legislatures, which ought to be the constitutional watchdogs of these governors, are rendered otiose.

The desperate bid of governors to emasculate the legislative arm has seen most states having, a large turnout of impeachment of speakers of House of Assembly. As governors continue to show hostility to competing political view, they have further elevated the politics of exclusiveness, nepotism and cronyism to unprecedented heights. In almost all the states of the federation, the governors have seized total and absolute control of their party machinery.

By this arrangement, the political space is closed to all other competitors. Any attempt to challenge the status quo is met with the use of state apparatus to stifle it, and most often than not, in a very crude and brutal manner. This is civilian dictatorship. Dictatorship in any form or guise is bad. It is odious, whether it is wearing the military or civilian toga. The dictatorship of these governors has reached a ridiculous level, that media organs controlled by the states are used to practice a sort of personality cult seen in North Korea and the old Soviet Union.

These governors are so obsessed with the splendour and grandeur of power that less attention is invariably paid to the pressing needs of the people, such as good roads, healthcare and water, etc. These governors must understand that democracy is all about competition and disagreement; choices and options without which the beauty of democracy either fades away and or assumes a different name.



•Obono-Obla, a barrister and human rights activist, writes from Calabar, Cross River State. He is a member of the General Assembly of International Forum for Democracy and Peace .



This essay was published in the fresh facts newspaper & leadership newspaper in January, 2008

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