The basic psychology of a dictator is entrenched in unrestrained power, fear, and anxiety. Out of anxiety and paranoia, he resorts to extreme vendetta which impedes the process and permeates his ability to make rational decisions. But there is one irony about a dictatorship that people always ignore. Often, dictators are created by those that would become their victims.
In Nigeria, such is the case, because the man who currently serves as the Governor of River State has finally tuned out to be a monster-movie nightmare to exactly those who found him, positioned him, supported him, and cheered him to his current designation.
His people elected him out of desperation, for they thought the Governor at the time, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi was politically a liability. Amaechi, it may be recalled was re-elected for a second term on 26 April 2011 under the People’s Democratic Party before defecting to the All Progressives Congress on 27 November 2013. This was the genesis of how this oil-rich state with a population of less than 6 million ended up with Governor Nyesom Wike.
So, during this COVID-19, Governor Wike thought of his constituency as so beastly unlawful that they needed some brutal commandments. First, he graciously announced a 24-hour dusk-to-dawn curfew and total lockdown of the entire Port Harcourt the capital city. That was fair. In fact, to top it up, he announced an N100,000 reward to individuals who would give out significant information about those who dared to flaunt his orders.
He practically took to the streets with his security personnel to enforce his extreme lockdown orders, bullying, assaulting, and arresting violators. He was not finished. Wike also impounded vehicles of violators and ordered them to be auctioned.
This governor was not satisfied. He practically took to the streets with his security personnel to enforce his extreme lockdown orders, bullying, assaulting, and arresting violators. He was not finished. Wike also arrested 22 employees of ExxonMobil, a multinational oil company, for entering the State in violation of his order. Wike further impounded vehicles of violators and ordered them to be auctioned.
Still, Wike was not done. He clamped down on businesses and ordered the demolition of those that did not comply with his executive order. Demolition? Yes. In fact, he supervised the bulldozing of two hotels, Prudent Hotel, Alone, in Eleme and Etemeteh Hotel in Onne. He also ordered his State COVID-19 local government Task Force, to identify hotels still operating during the lockdown and erring beer parlors for demolition.
Emergency laws during a pandemic can be complicated because it summons extraordinary power which oftentimes is beyond the control of local communities. But under the law of the land where Governor Wike serves, emergency negates tyranny because it allows law offenders to be tried and convicted by a Court of Law.
Governor Wike who is equally a lawyer understood this process but contradicted his own actions when he told his people, “defaulters will be tried by the mobile courts and I have told the Attorney General, all the impounded vehicles must be auctioned.”
The guidelines and regulations in the Executive Order are subject to the Constitution. So, if there is a conflict in the guidelines, the directives of the Governor and the Constitution, his directives will bow to the Constitution.
Another impediment about the emergency law is that communities differ in social, economic, and political spheres. Therefore, the application requires commonsense and this is where this Governor finally lost it. The people are horrified. Just yesterday, the National President of Revolutionary Lawyers’ Forum, Tope Akinyode, condemned Wike’s action as an unconstitutional, despotic, and gross abuse of power. Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, also condemned Wike’s executive insanity as an embarrassment to the Body of Benchers. He even went further to suggest that this Governor should be sanctioned by the Nigerian Bar Association. According to Falana, “The guidelines and regulations in the Executive Order are subject to the Constitution. So, if there is a conflict in the guidelines, the directives of the Governor and the Constitution, his directives will bow to the Constitution.”
Not just in Rivers State, but also around the globe, the current COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to various patterns of exercise of emergency laws. It has been difficult as governments grapple with managing a restriction of peoples’ movement to curtail the spread of this disease. No doubt, at some point, unprecedented measures might be justified to get people to stay home. Yet, Creating or enforcing emergency laws during a pandemic must not be a justification for tyranny.
Please note that the demarcation between national emergency and dictatorship is wide and must not be confused. The national emergency is borne out of an urgent and critical situation of a temporary nature that cannot immediately be sustained under the existing structure. Under this setting, laws are applied with clear compassion and wisdom. This is because most violators are stuck with innumerable social challenges.
Dictatorship is characterized by one supreme authority with little or no toleration for political pluralism and civil liberties.
On the other hand, the order of the dictator takes a contrasting tendency. Dictatorship is characterized by one supreme authority with little or no toleration for political pluralism and civil liberties. Dictators usually believe that individuals are wild animals who must not be trusted with civility and who must be tamed with horsewhips.
Wike’s executive orders and uncivil, lawless actions are the hallmarks of a dictator. The governor is an apologetic dictator uninformed about the order he punitively issues and brutally enforces. For instance, by using punitive demolition and not the court process to penalize individuals and businesses that violated his order, he assumed the role of the dictator-in-chief who would dictate the law, transcribe it, announce it, and lead the enforcement.
We must not forget that River State is in Nigeria–a nation where forty percent of people currently lives in poverty. According to The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in a report about poverty and inequality from September 2018 to October 2019, 40 percent of people lived below its poverty line of 137,430 Nairas ($381.75) a year. The office of statistics also reveals that 52 percent of people in rural areas live in poverty, compared with 18 percent in urban parts of the country.
With these shocking figures, only a dictator would impose a no-nonsense sit-home order without considerations about the social and economic environment. Yet Wike is careless about the peoples’ plights and went for their heads. He allowed cohorts to make videos while he bullied his people on the streets and yelled at them like an agitated, monstrous street bully.
Could you believe that he declared as illegal any approvals issued by the police or any other authorities outside his office? Unfortunately, most Nigerians may not consider Wike a dictator because there is this perception that dictators come in army uniforms. This is apparently because most dictators Nigerians experienced were the untamed military officers who took turns in undoing their democratic prospects through coups and counter-coups.
Wike’s demeanor to his people exemplifies anger, bitterness, and cruelty. He had once insulted the traditional leaders of his state on camera; caused out public servants at will, and made several unguarded tommyrots on local TV that undermine peace and stability.
Regrettably, dictators come in many forms and unleash different venoms. Wike’s demeanor to his people exemplifies anger, bitterness, and cruelty. He had once insulted the traditional leaders of his state on camera; caused out public servants at will, and made several unguarded tommyrots on local TV that undermined peace and stability.
Wike may not be the only COVID-19 dictator in Nigeria, but his demolition of structures and confiscation of vehicles he assumed to have violated his orders make him stand out as the ‘head-Negro’ of a disastrous congregation of elected demigods causing more harm to their people that COVID-19.
Furthermore, Wike’s uncontrolled COVID-19 lunacy shows the Nigerian has a long way to go in creating a structure that would attract responsible aspirants in their election process. The current governance structure is inconsistent and could only attract underhanded vandals in executive offices. Wike is a good example.
♦ Professor Anthony Obi Ogbo, Ph.D. is on the Editorial Board of the West African Pilot News.
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