Civility please!

Few months ago, two erstwhile presidents—OBJ and IBB threw insults and sundry unprintable words at one another which were thought to be not edifying of their exalted positions. Their outbursts were all the more surprising considering that the latter had just clocked 70 and was fittingly marking it—and why not, 70 is that age when […]

Few months ago, two erstwhile presidents—OBJ and IBB threw insults and sundry unprintable words at one another which were thought to be not edifying of their exalted positions. Their outbursts were all the more surprising considering that the latter had just clocked 70 and was fittingly marking it—and why not, 70 is that age when one qualifies to be called a grandee  and is permitted to don the garb of a sage. It was therefore an occasion that demanded conviviality and backslapping as signs of goodwill and wish of long life for the celebrant.

Something similar happened last week at Osogbo, the Osun State capital between the Vice President, Mohammed Namadi Sambo who had gone there to represent the president who was in Australia attending Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), and the state governor Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, at the commissioning of the newly completed Federal High Court (FHC) complex. First, Rauf Aregbesola did not attend the inauguration of the FHC himself, an act that was clearly in breach of protocol, instead he sent his deputy Mrs Titi Laoye Tomori to read his speech for him.  One can imagine the discomfiture the poor woman must have been put through as she read the speech which contained lines like “you will notice that I did not salute the person of the Vice President in my opening speech, I only recognized his office. I mean no disrespect for him but I did it in protest at the outrageous manner the Federal government through its agency –the police  has treated my person and office in flagrant violation of federal principle, right of citizen and liberty of people.’’

Earlier he had said ‘’ the federal government would want us to believe that it is interested in the administration of justice in the state of Osun by providing a decent accommodation for the (Judges) of the FHC. Ironically, it is by every one of its actions promoting and perpetrating injustice against the state’’.  By disrespect to his person, Ogbeni Aregbesola must be referring to the treatment the delegation he sent to show solidarity for the ACN leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu who was arraigned before the code of conduct tribunal sitting in Abuja got in the hands of the police. The delegation was stopped at Lokoja by policemen sent by the Kogi Police command, detained for several hours and eventually denied the right to proceed to Abuja which was its destination.

The VP on his part, when he had the opportunity to speak clearly did not want to be outsmarted in the deployment of bad humour. ‘’I am pleased to note that with the commissioning of the FHC complex in Osogbo today we are adding value to the course of justice  and we have brought justice closer to you. So if you have grievances against the federal government, you now have closer avenue to lodge your complaints’’. To be sure, but for the refusal of Governor Aregbesola to observe the dictates of protocol these exchanges could be written off as mere comic relief by two highly placed government officials who had found an opportunity for bantering at an august occasion. And that may well be so, after all the exacting duties of high office demands periodic letting off of steam, so to speak.

Having said that, however, the spat between the VP, representing the federal government and the Osun State Government again illustrates the increasing resort to rudeness and bad temper as well as crude and coarse language while performing government business. It is as if a certain rage has taken hold of the sensibilities of top government officials that make them conduct routine government business with coarse and uncouth language, quite against the dictates of civilized comportment. The danger in all this is that it is hardly edifying to anyone, least of all our impressionable young ones whose odious and deplorable attitudes are now a matter of concern. The Osogbo display of bitter verbal animosity is capable of sending a wrong signal to them that it is alright to be foul mouthed and deploy swear words in their daily lives. And of course, need we underscore the fact that for swear words to explode into physical violence is just a natural progression  and when this happens these leaders would now mount their high pedestals to utter the usual platitudes about the destructive impact of violence, when indeed they caused it.

The point at issue—the forcible denial of Rauf Aregbesola’s delegation to Abuja by the police is no doubt a weighty matter bordering on the fundamental human rights of the delegation to go wherever its members choose and unless the police have a genuine reason to corral them as they did, their action was wrong and an abridgement of the constitutional right of freedom of movement. But hideous and repulsive as the action was however, it should not have elicited the public outburst such as the one on show in Osogbo. The VP’s call on Rauf Aregbesola to seek redress in court if he felt sufficiently aggrieved about the police untoward action may sound innocuous enough, after all that is precisely what the courts are there for. Still, the fact cannot be wished away that on a grievous act that impinges on the rights of the citizen the vice president should have something to say on it. Surely, an assault on an important provision of the constitution should elicit some comment from the number 2 man in the land. Not doing so, have somewhat lent credence to allegations that the police were under the instructions from individuals from certain quarters who deem themselves not answerable to the law.

A corollary to this is the point that government is increasingly becoming intolerant of the opposition and is using the police—an agency under its control as an attack dog. Two parties –the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) by their performances at the last polls have earned their places as strong parties. But for their inability to forge a working agreement, the two could have given the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) a stiff contest for supremacy. Right now, they are on the ascendancy, particularly the ACN which is making inroads outside its traditional area of the South West into the middle belt, the PDP is therefore justified to be concerned. But it should not through the government be driven to desperation as to embark on actions capable of jeopardising the rights of individuals.