Gabon: Mr President, Practice What You Preach

President Bola Tinubu has condemned the coup in Gabon, saying ‘the rule of law must not perish in Africa, while the Department of State Services (DSS) is disregarding the rule of law under his watch in Nigeria.

Development Diaries reports that Tinubu’s reaction came hours after a group of Gabonese military officers announced that they had taken over the government and cancelled the recent presidential election.

‘President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is watching developments in Gabon very closely with deep concern for the country’s sociopolitical stability and the seeming autocratic contagion apparently spreading across different regions of our beloved continent’, Tinubu’s Special Advisor on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, said in a statement.

However, the Nigerian leader’s democratic profile is questionable.

Under Tinubu’s watch as president, the suspended Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, has been in detention for over two months without charge, and the DSS has continued to violate court orders for the release of the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele.

Section 35 of Nigeria’s 1999 constitution stipulates that anybody who is arrested by any of the security agencies, be it police or DSS, should be charged to court where there is a court within a radius of 40 kilometres, if not, the person should be charged within 48 hours.

However, President Tinubu has remained silent, failing to call the DSS to order over their clear violation of the rule of law.

Development Diaries calls on President Tinubu to demonstrate his respect for the rule of law by ordering the DSS to charge Bawa or release him, as well as obeying court orders for the release of Emefiele.

Photo source: Bola Tinubu

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