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As portrayed in George Orwell’s Animal Farm that “All animals are equal but some are more equal than others”, it is gradually feeling like there is a deliberate attempt to foster the hegemony of the ruling elite over the rest of the people. It is beginning to really feel like there is a different law existing for a class of Nigerians while another or even jungle justice is being doled out to the masses. If there had been class differences so distinct before, it is the first time that so-called leaders are no longer being diplomatic about their bigotry and prejudices towards the rest of the nation. Both the president and government officials like Abubakar Malami have been recorded to make ethnically divisive statements and rhetoric supporting the unfair treatment of some groups. It is the same trajectory of unfair treatment meted out against the Igbo people living outside the South East that has played out for decades. Once the rule of law is no longer guaranteed in a country, a set of people begin to behave as if they are above the law. A case in point is the case of Wakili which some Amotekun operatives apprehended in Oyo state on suspicion of being part of Fulani kidnap gangs. The prosecution of Wakili by the police is reported to have been transferred to the police headquarters in Abuja while the Amotekun operatives were reportedly incarcerated at the Iyaganku police station. Why the Amotekun operatives in Oyo who helped law enforcement with their primary duty should be prosecuted remains to be understood.
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Meanwhile, the home of Sunday Igboho, a secessionist agitator was busted, unlawfully, last week by the SSS because of his demands that some Fulani groups should leave the South-West geo-political zone. Interestingly, during the administration of Late Lam Adesina, Gen Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) had to come down to Ibadan physically leading a combative delegation of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) members on 13th October 2000 to express displeasure about some Fulani criminals that were dealt with by the state government. The rule of law is key to the survival of any society. What is good for the goose is also good for the gander. If the Fulani-dominated government at the Federal level had not seized all the arms of government and parastatals to themselves while using the same position to treat the rest of the nation badly, there would not have been a Nnamdi Kanu or a Sunday Igboho preaching that the nation should break up into different independent ethnic units. The mass protest in Lagos on Saturday, July 3, was in defiance of government ranks and a warning that the people should not be pushed to the limit. There may be another total breakdown of law and order such as was experienced towards the end of the #EndSARS protests if the government continues to push citizens to the wall. Respecting and obeying the rule of law is surely the number one guarantee to reducing ethnic tension and to building a cohesive national relationship. Source: Oyo Affairs Featured Image Source: CNN
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