IF RADIO BROADCASTING MEANS TREASON, WHAT DOES OVERTHROWING A DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT MEAN?

Muhammadu Buhari The Ex Coup Plotter

It is quite unfortunate the degrading situation in which Nigeria finds herself today, because of the belligerent and lacklustre attitude of a man who rules her as his personal empire, subduing various supposed independent and democratic institutions under his whims and caprices. Nigerians must have realized their mistake in electing President Muhammadu Buhari and opening the political space to an alternative whose curative touch to national afflictions have proven more deadly than a disease; a terminal kiss from a moribund regime.

It is most shameful and utterly disgusting that President Buhari and his government cannot distinguish in clear terms, the difference between self-determination and treason. Perhaps, a better explanation of 'treason' they would understand easily is the scenario that happened on the 31st of December 1983 when the same President Buhari who slammed Nnamdi Kanu with charges bordering on treason, committed the worst case of treason by his bloody and ruthless toppling of a democratically elected government of President and Vice President Shehu Shagari and Alex Ekwueme respectively. And with this ushered in a reign of terror and inhumanity against humans.

Read also: BUHARI: 1983 Nigerian coup d'état

Buhari kept Shagari under a cozy house detention in Ikoyi Lagos while his hapless deputy, Ekwueme was locked up in Kiri-kiri prison. Such was Buhari's notion of equitable apportionment of guilt and/or responsibility.
Just like he is presently engaging with Kanu and others, Buhari also leveled a lot of spurious and outrageous charges to his perceived enemies, rivals, critics as well as other innocent Nigerians.
Prominent against these charges was an act that amounted to nothing less than judicial murder, execution of citizens under retroactive decrees, placing Nigerians on notice that they were now under an iron, inflexible rule and governance by fear. He had later then declare after he left office that he had no regrets over these murders and would do so again if given the chance.

Comparing those days in his military and now, not contented with hammering down the freedom of expression in general terms, Buhari specifically forbade all public discussion of a return to civilian, democratic rule, making sure that overt agitation for democracy remained rigorously suppressed. There was this abhorrent and repugnant repression of dissenting voices and an era of horsewhip justice which we still see today.

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To deprive a people of volition in their own rights to self-determination and political direction is to turn a nation into a colony of slaves. Buhari enslaved the nation which is far worst than committing treason. He gloated and gloried in the master-slave relation to the millions of its inhabitants.
It is astonishing and highly hypocritical to still find out the same former military dictator, now a modern era democratic dictator would slam someone exercising his rights of freedom of speech and expression with treason charges.

Recall that during his days as Nigeria's military Head of State, the conduct of Buhari's regime which is still very much active now, was not merely one of double, triple, multiple standards but a cynical perversion and travesty of justice. Flagrant disobedience of court orders we should know by now, is one of Buhari's idiosyncrasies. We see a return to his military dictatorial rule. Quite similar to Kanu's ordeal as regards with obeying court judgements, was the "judicial" process undergone by the septuagenarian Chief Adekunle Ajasin who was arraigned and tried before Buhari's punitive military tribunal but was acquitted.

Dissatisfied, Buhari ordered for his re-trial. Again, the Tribunal could not find this man guilty of a single crime, so once again he was returned for trial, only to be acquitted of all charges of corruption or abuse of office. Was Chief Ajasin thereby released? No! He was ordered detained indefinitely, simply for the crime of winning an election. Buhari is a certified felon, who did not only overthrew a democratically elected government but also committed genocidal and war crimes against humanity.

If airing your entitled views and opinions over the radio, which are truth anyway, can be translated to mean committing treason, then what place would the above scenario occupy in the list of crimes against humanity? If talking over the radio and exercising your right to freedom of speech and expression can be interpreted as treason then all other radio stations presenters could as well be slammed with the same charges of treason for talking.

I still remember vividly during the build-up to the 2011 Presidential election, Buhari made a couple of unguarded and unsavoury statements which stoked violence and which made the country utterly ungovernable. Statements like "the baboons and monkeys will be soaked in blood" if he loses the election. This saw many innocent citizens including Youth Corp members serving the country murdered by Buhari's foot soldiers and overzealous loyalists who unleashed terror and mayhem following Buhari's body language.

Read also:HISTORY WILL VINDICATE NNAMDI KANU FROM THE PHANTHOM TREASON CHARGE

 Buhari was first to make comments threatening the unity of Nigeria and then turn around when arguments heat up to claim that he was misquoted. He completely and single-handedly debased and polarized the North that they are probably going to tear the country up if he is not installed as President. Tell me what better definition of a treason offence can a man commit against an independent State other than this?

There was a spiked level of religious intolerance which he crystallized by his uninformed decision to enroll Nigeria in the Organization of Islamic States in a blatant disregard for other religious persuasions in the country. A man who virtually did nothing for Nigeria but created a perpetual terror believing that the continuation of that terror is the only way to see Nigeria progress. What a joke!.

That Justice John Tsoho of the Federal High Court Abuja, could compromise and sway to Buhari's dictates in Kanu's trial in subverting and obstructing justice, reveals the height of the rot in Nigeria's judicial system and the executive's encroachment of the independence of democratic institutions in Nigeria. In conclusion, the world must understand the need to compare both scenarios and tell us who the guilty felon is between Nnamdi Kanu and Muhammadu Buhari, the radical ex coup plotter.

Written By Chukwuemeka Chimerue
Edited And Published By Nwosu C.S
By Biafra Writers