Editorial
Buhari, National Interest And Rule Of Law
Recently, President Muhammadu Buhari was reported to have, while flagging off the 2018 Annual General Conference of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) in Abuja, announced that his administration was considering raising public interest and national security above the rule of law.
“Our apex court has had cause to adopt a position on this issue in this regard and it is now a matter of judicial recognition that where national and public interests are threatened, or there is a likelihood of their being threatened, the individual rights of those allegedly responsible must take second place in favour of the greater good of the society,” Buhari was quoted to have said.
Though the President did not give specific instances of how his government intends to draw the line between public interest and national security, the media had lately been awash with reactions occasioned by his speech at the NBA confab. Recall that the Attorney General of the Federation and Justice Minister, Abubakar Malami, had earlier adduced reasons why the Buhari administration could not release the detained former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), despite court orders to that effect.
The Tide is dismayed by the President’s speech as it is not only worrisome but also unacceptable, especially if we consider that it is coming just a few months before the 2019 general elections. It is rather unfortunate that the President, as an individual, or perhaps in consultation with his motley crew of advisers, would be the sole determinant of what constitutes national interest/security.
It is our candid position that the courts (Judiciary) be allowed to interpret or draw the line between national interest/security and fundamental human rights of the citizens. The present situation where the government speedily executes favourable court judgments but trumps up security concerns only when it suffers embarrassing legal defeats simply smacks of brazen judicial contempt and executive rascality.
Our submission is premised on the understanding that Mr. President, being human, may have his prejudices over certain persons and issues which could affect his judgement in matters bordering on individual rights and national interest. While we concede that his office is enormously endowed with state powers, going by the 1999 Federal Constitution (as amended), it is also granted that the same document duly recognises the natural and fundamental rights of the citizens. More so, Nigeria is a signatory to the International Human Rights Treaty which unequivocally recognises the natural rights of individuals, especially in a democracy.
One of the most respected legal minds to comment on Buhari’s claim, Chief Mike Ozehkome (SAN), was reported to have countered thus: “He (President Buhari) is dead wrong. The rule of law predominates over national interest. Without the rule of law, there can be no nation-state. Without a nation-state, there can be no national interest. The rule of law is the father of national interest.”
There have also been suggestions that Buhari’s controversial claim, judging from experiences all over the world, particularly in Africa, points to the antics usually employed by despots to perpetuate themselves in power by incarcerating their critics and vocal members of the opposition. The suspicions seem to have been stoked by the President’s body language since assuming office in 2015, especially his refusal to obey court orders over Dasuki; arbitrary arrest and detention of newsmen; detention of sectarian leaders like El-Zak Zaky without trial; shooting of pro-Biafra agitators; and the Gestapo-style midnight raid of some judges’ residences across the country.
We understand that the President made a volte face last Friday, on account of the massive criticism that trailed his comment, but that could also be because a serious election season stares him in the face. And this is, therefore, no time for any unpopular claims.
Nigeria is a democratic state and the political class must learn to tolerate the opposition because that largely determines democratic sustenance. They must strive to imbibe democratic values, norms and ethos in line with international best practices if the country’s nascent democracy is to endure.
There are moments in the life of a legislature when plain speaking becomes a public service. Senator Adams Oshiomhole provided such a moment on the floor of the Senate when he accused the Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, of manifestly neglecting critical federal arteries in Edo and Delta States, and implored his colleagues to prevail on the Minister to adopt a more equitable and genuinely national approach to road infrastructure delivery. It was blunt, it was uncomfortable, and it was necessary.
The specifics of his complaint deserve restating. Drawing attention to the recent approval of some 20 new road projects despite the parlous state of existing ones, the former Edo State governor lamented that Nigerians cannot travel from Benin to Warri, Benin to Asaba, Benin to Auchi, or Auchi to Okene without encountering severe distress. He alleged a deliberate omission of these corridors from the national budget in the last three years, save for palliative interventions directed by President Bola Tinubu through tax credit arrangements. His question — “What have we done wrong?” — resonates far beyond the chambers of the National Assembly.
We lend our full and unequivocal support to that call. The Auchi-Benin Road, for instance, has been in a deplorable and near-impassable condition for several years, turning what should be a two-hour journey into an all-day ordeal of broken axles, extortionate fares, and despondent commuters. The media have, on multiple occasions, chronicled the suffering of motorists, traders, and students who ply that route. To describe it as a federal road today is to stretch the meaning of the term beyond recognition.
This pattern of sidelining is not confined to Edo or Delta. Even here in Rivers State, the disposition of the Federal Ministry of Works has left much to be desired, particularly along the Eleme axis of the East-West Road. That road, which ought to be a flagship of federal presence in the Niger Delta, has remained in a wretched state for long. Those who use it daily — workers at the Eleme Petrochemical Complex, the two refineries, Onne Port, and the countless ancillary industries — can attest to its deterioration. Work has proceeded in fits and starts without the sustained urgency such a strategic road demands.
The Eleme stretch is not a mere intra-state byway. It is the gateway to the nation’s economic jugular. According to the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing’s 2023 Highway Condition Survey, only about 35 per cent of the country’s 36,000 kilometres of federal roads are rated as being in good or fair condition, with the remainder classified as poor or very poor. The East-West Road, conceived in the 1970s to bind the entire Niger Delta, remains unfinished in critical sections more than four decades after. If it had been treated as a priority, the perennial gridlock, carnage, and economic loss on the Eleme-Refinery junction would have long been consigned to history.
The irony is as painful as it is glaring. The Niger Delta remains the goose that lays the golden eggs. Data from the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative [NEITI 2023 Oil and Gas Audit] show that the region still accounts for over 78 per cent of Nigeria’s federally collected export earnings and about 65 per cent of total government revenue. The National Bureau of Statistics [NBS Foreign Trade Report Q4 2024] similarly confirms that crude oil continues to dominate export receipts. By every metric of equity and economic logic, a region that sustains the national purse deserves first-rate consideration in the allocation of infrastructure, not afterthoughts and tokenism.
Road infrastructure is not largesse to be dispensed by favour; it is the skeleton upon which commerce, cohesion, and citizenship hang. When contracts are concentrated in one geopolitical zone while other zones are left to contend with craters, it erodes trust in the federation itself. The World Bank’s Nigeria Development Update [June 2023] estimated that poor transport connectivity inflates the cost of moving goods by up to 40 per cent and costs the Nigerian economy an estimated $1.5 billion annually in lost man-hours and vehicle maintenance. If we profess to be one country, then equity must be the compass that guides key institutions before any project is executed. Development must spread round, not pool in one place as though other regions do not matter.
There is also a grave security dimension that can no longer be ignored. The deplorable condition of federal roads has become a veritable enabler of criminality. The NBS Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey reported over 2.5 million incidents of kidnapping-related occurrences nationally, with transport workers identifying bad road spots as prime ambush points. When vehicles are forced to crawl at 10 kilometres per hour through failed sections at Auchi, Sapele Road, or Eleme, they become sitting ducks for armed gangs. Fixing bad roads, therefore, is not merely about convenience; it is about safeguarding lives.
By his intervention, Senator Oshiomhole has hit the nail on the head and reminded Minister Umahi of a fundamental constitutional truth: public office is held in trust. The Ministry of Works is not a personal estate where contracts are awarded according to whim or political convenience. It is a national institution funded by the collective resources of Nigerians, including the oil and gas rents from the very communities whose roads are now neglected. The Minister must demonstrate balance, transparency, and a pan-Nigerian outlook in the distribution of projects that impact the daily existence of citizens. Selective neglect breeds suspicion, and suspicion is corrosive at a time when the nation is preaching unity, oneness, equity, and justice.
Consequently, the National Assembly must go beyond rhetoric and assert its oversight powers with vigour. Sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution [as amended] empower the legislature to investigate and expose any maladministration in the execution of federal projects. If an office holder is not acting rightly, it is the duty of the Senate and the House of Representatives to call him to order. Oversight must not be reduced to budget approval ceremonies; it must translate to field verification, public hearings, and insistence that the Federal Character principle, as enshrined in Section 14(3) of the Constitution, reflects in road awards.
Let the Auchi-Okene, Benin-Warri, Benin-Asaba, and Eleme East-West gangways be restored to motorable dignity. Let priority be given to completing existing, economically vital roads before embarking on new ones. If those who, through their resources, sustain the federation are sidelined in the distribution of tangible dividends, it tells poorly of our nationhood. Bad roads must be fixed, and they must be fixed now, with fairness as the guiding standard.
