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Really, Buhari plans to send all “corrupt” people to Kirikiri?
By Niran Adedokun
A couple of weeks back, I did a piece for sabinews.com in which I suggested that Nigerians should not get it twisted, the Buhari that we want to elect in 2015 would be totally different from the man who threw people to jail at will in 1984.
In the article titled: Let’s face it, Buhari: 2015 will be different from 1984, I said the following, among others” If Buhari is elected President, he would not be able to send people to the firing squad for armed robbery or drug trafficking. He cannot set up tribunals to sentence people to jail terms impossible to carry out in three lifetimes put together, neither would he be able to force the hands of the courts. It will not be possible for him to decree discipline into Nigerians like he achieved as head of a junta 30 years ago. There are basic institutional checks and balances in a democratic system, driven by rule of law, which no leader can easily circumvent… Unlike it was in 1984, Buhari, as anyone who becomes Nigerian president will have 109 Senators and 360 House of Representatives members, (some of who are skilled in the art of “cap banking”) to deal with….He would have 36 governors from an assortment of political parties and interests to travel with, he would have loads of party stalwarts who will attempt to manipulate him and blindside him in the most devastating ways when he fails to do their bidding.”
After reading the piece, a friend of mine made a rather curious comment. It went as follows: “only an insane person would expect Buhari to send people to firing squad” Of course I replied him by saying that not all Nigerians have the correct expectations of a democratically elected government. I was not only certain of this point but I was soon proved right by the comment of another reader who gave a list of supposedly corrupt people that Buhari should execute on assuming office.
While we can excuse such overt ambition from members of the public, it is shocking when the candidate says anything that makes him appear not to know the limits of his powers if he becomes President of Nigeria.
“When we come into power, anyone who steals Nigerian money will end up in Kirikiri Maximum Prisons…” said General Buhari at the rally of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State yesterday. Really?
So when he becomes President, Buhari would not just get corrupt people arrested and tried, he would even choose the prisons to send them to? So what would the judiciary have to do?
My take is that politicians close to this man should kindly remind him that he would be operating as a democratic president if he wins the elections and not a military leader.
Twitter:@niranadedokun
