In Nigeria, some serious but simple matters are often gradually turned into unnecessary and time-consuming “riddles and jokes”, even matters of constitutionalism, as it were.
Just recently, the social crusader and former Presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, AAC, in the 2023 general elections, Omoyele Sowore, was accused of Cybercrime by the IGP, Kayode Egbetokun, for taunting him as “illegal IG” and more.
This earned Sowore, a 16-count charge in an Abuja High court for cyberbullying before Justice Musa Liman, for which he has just been granted bail, after the initial riddle by the police who erroneously thought that someone whom they thought was eligible for administrative bail is now ineligible for a Court bail. What a joke!
It is becoming clearer by the day that the Cybercrime Prohibition and Prevention Act of 2015 (as amended in 2024) will surely be weaponised against Free speech and those who dare to criticize the government and Its officials. Truly, the bad days are here and our drivers are not smiling.
One interesting aspect of this case that arouses the attention of legal luminaries and political watchers, is the simplistic jettisoning of a well-known theory of Law as it concerns the supremacy of the Constitution as the grundnorm over any other law trying to override it.
The “battle” here is whether or not it is constitutional for the recently amended Police Act 2024, which provides for a four-year tenure irrespective of the age of retirement, should be held superior to provisions of the 1999 Constitution stated in Section 215 (1) (a) and ( b) that the appointment and tenure of the IGP shall be subject to the authority of the President but doesn’t provide for an automatic four-year tenure.
It should be noted that Section 18 (8) of the Police Act, 2020, clearly states that a police officer must retire upon reaching 60 years of age or after 35 years of service, depending on whichever comes first. The 2024 amendment to the police act and the Attorney General’s delight in explaining it to suit today’s narrative is perceived as a deliberate move to circumvent constitutional provisions to favour an individual.
This act in itself is capable of undermining public trust in the legal system while degrading institutional integrity. The Police Act is a subsidiary legislation and therefore not superior to the provisions of the nation’s constitution which is the grundnorm.
The warped support given to the action of the IGP by bodies like The Afenifere Youth Coalition who dismissed Sowore as someone “who relentlessly attacks Yoruba office holders” and a certain CSO led by one Matazu, even before the determination of the case in court, is another joke taking too far. It is not always good to pander to ethnic sentiments while politicizing everything and anything under the Sun.
Any tenure elongation that seeks to ridicule the superiority of the Constitution of the Land must be challenged. The outcome of such a challenge in Court will either add to or subtract from the richness and advancement of our already fatigued Jurisprudence.
