Senator Dino, The Unlikely Defender of Liberty
“What did the Igbo man ask the lamb in distress? Lamborghini.” Says a tweet from the account of former Nigerian senator, Dino Melaye, showing a picture of him sitting on the bonnet of a Lamborghini. “Don’t leave me,” another Twitter user replied to his tweet. This was Dino’s contribution to the now global social media #dontleaveme challenge, started by Nigerian comedian Josh2Funny.
This is the kind of politician Dino is. He participates in social media challenges, performs quasi-original songs on stage, and has a whole hit club banger named after him, whose music video he appears in. He has survived assassination attempts; At one time he was wanted by the Nigerian police for “criminal conspiracy and attempted culpable homicide.” He jumped out of a moving police van as he was being transported to stand trial in his home state. Even by the quintessential demagogic standards of Nigerian politicians, Dino is unique.
He may yet add, albeit uncharacteristically, “defender of Liberty” to his repertoire. On the 4th of May, 2020, he announced on Twitter that he had “just filed a court action against the Speaker and House of Representatives on the wicked bill initiated by Hon Femi Gbajabiamila this morning at the Federal High Court Abuja. We shall overcome.”
The “Control of Infectious Disease Bill” sponsored by the speaker of the house of representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, quickly passed the first and second readings in April 2020. According to an analysis done by the Policy and Advocacy Center, if that bill becomes law:
- It would give wide discretion to the Director General (DG) of the Nigerian Center for Disease Control (NCDC) to infringe on Nigerians’ constitutional rights to freedom of movement and association. It would also give the DG the power to infringe upon people’s right to property.
- The DG could request for an individual’s personal information from Telecom operators. Refusal to provide said information becomes an offense.
- The DG could subject people to compulsory treatment.
- The DG could also use force to seize people’s property, which can then be disposed of in a manner the DG “sees fit.” There are no provisions for compensation for economic loss suffered by those whose properties are seized by the government.
These, amongst other things, are what the Bill proposes.
Kingsley Chinda, a member of the Nigerian National Assembly stated, “The Bill is draconian in a multi-party federal system democracy as practiced in Nigeria” According to The Africa Report, the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), and 39 other non-profit organisations operating in Nigeria including Amnesty International stated that, the bill: “violates key principles of simple, clear, and unambiguous legislative drafting, leaving significant amount of discretion on the implementing authorities and limiting the rights of citizens and relevant institutions.’”
The Bill is largely copied from the Singapore Infectious Disease Act of 1977. When asked to comment on this, the Bill’s sponsor Gbajabamila said, “language of plagiarism that has been used in relation to this bill is simply incendiary, and it is intended only to arise certain passions… plagiarism is not known in legislative drafting”. He stated that the Bill is “taking what was done in Singapore as foundation for our work…”
If this bill becomes law, Nigerian politicians can easily use a public health emergency to expropriate the property of ordinary Nigerians. The government already has a terrible record of handling public health emergencies and respecting the rights of its people. When President Muhammadu Buhari on the 29th of March ordered a cessation of movement in Lagos and Abuja for the next 14 days, to curb the spread of the virus, there were multiple reports of abuse and even the murder of Nigerians by security forces.
Another law, obviously, is not the solution.
At all cost, Nigerians must do all they can to protect their property against government depredations and Dino’s lawsuit, to the extent that it can stop that bill from becoming law, is a step in the right direction.
Private ownership of landed property in Nigeria is already on shaky ground. (Don’t leave me) :D. Currently all land not vested in the federal government and its agencies are under the control of the state governors and their local governments. State governors have the supreme power to decide what land should be used for if the land is still barren. When it is already in use, state governors can change the designation of land as determined in public interest.
Ordinary Nigerians can only get access to land, after the use has been designated by the governor, by getting a certificate of occupancy. This C of O is given by the governor or by those he vests authority in and is only valid for 99 years. Hence after 99 years, the land must be returned to the state government. Many times, governors have forcefully evicted people from their land because it was in the “public interest” to build million dollar real estate projects that only benefited them and their allies.
This infectious disease bill gives them more power to do so. The courts must not let that become law. The government already owns all unused land in Nigeria. It can use that to build isolation centers. If this will take too long, then it must pay the owners of private property the market rate to use their facilities for isolation centers. The government must not have the right under the law to take it by force, public health emergency or not. If this bill becomes law, it will set Nigeria back decades on our March towards liberty and Dino’s lawsuit, if successful, defends and protects the liberties of Nigerians
