By Crispin Oduobuk
“General,” specifically “Major General,” has recently become the most contentious title of address in Nigeria.
As a very senior rank in the military hierarchy, the title should normally command respect. But in Nigeria, and some other parts of Africa and the wider world, a “General” in the public sphere is more often synonymous with a repressive authoritarian leader casting a dark shadow over his country and fellow citizens.
Why such an unflattering title should make a comeback in today’s Nigeria has to do with the editorial published by The PUNCH on Wednesday, December 11, 2019.
In the widely publicised article representing the paper’s official view, PUNCH wrote:
“As a symbolic demonstration of our protest against autocracy and military-style repression, PUNCH (all our print newspapers, The PUNCH, Saturday PUNCH, Sunday PUNCH, PUNCH Sports Extra, and digital platforms, most especially Punchng.com) will henceforth prefix Buhari’s name with his rank as a military dictator in the 80s, Major General, and refer to his administration as a regime, until they purge themselves of their insufferable contempt for the rule of law.”
Whatever anyone makes of that editorial, the reality Nigerians cannot ignore is that it was written in response to ongoing actions and conditions that are present for all to see.
To put it mildly, General Buhari’s current regime has shown time and time again that it cannot be bound by the laid down rules of our so-called democracy. It is a fact that the Judiciary has been violated repeatedly, and that many court orders have gone unheeded by Buhari’s current regime.
Indeed, let’s recall that in December 2015, in what was perhaps his first and only Presidential Media Chat with Nigerian journalists since his return to power in civilian garb, General Buhari made contemptuous statements that justified disobeying court orders, and tacitly excused the massacre of Shiites simply because some young men touched “a General’s chest.”
Equally telling, in his response to the stance taken by PUNCH, General Buhari’s spokesman, Garba Shehu, made no attempt to deny that the regime has contempt for the rule of law, but instead chose to engage in classic whataboutism in a series of tweets.
According to Shehu, “The Punch never changed President Obasanjo’s title from the President to General, despite the latter’s refusal to comply with Supreme Court judgment, ordering him to release N30bn of Lagos State local councils funds.”
Shehu also tweeted: “In fact, IBB closed media houses for several months and years, including Punch.
But the paper didn’t stop addressing him as President, despite the fact that he wasn’t elected.”
To be fair, Shehu also rightly said, “It is not within the power or rights of a newspaper to unilaterally and whimsically change the formal official title or the designation of the country’s President as it pleases.”
However, referring to Buhari as “General” is more about the repressive tendencies that the title represents and purely symbolic like The Punch stated upfront.
What is more worrying is that Shehu is more interested in showing us General Buhari’s place in the dubious hall of fame for failed and lawless Nigerian leaders by bringing up the various ways the likes of Obasanjo and IBB equalled or surpassed his boss in their disregard for the rule of law. Moreover, his tweet about IBB closing media houses, including Punch, could be regarded as a thinly-veiled threat.
As such, the question must be asked: how will Nigeria ever become a nation where the laws of the land are respected by all if the spokesman of the country’s present repressive leader is only interested in furthering a curious competition of one-upmanship in disregard for the rule of law?
