If there is any shouting evidence that the vestiges of dictatorship still remain with us long after we bade military rule goodbye, it is the current travails of political activist and Sahara Reporters publisher, Omoyele Sowore. Since the beginning of the Fourth Republic on May 29, 1999, successive governments have worryingly engaged in practices that can best be described as antithetical to democratic norms.
Put plainly, democracy has failed to end abuses that characterised the jackboot era of intolerance. Omoyele Sowore Who will forget the infamous Odi massacre and the disregard for a Supreme Court order that the Lagos State funds seized by the Chief Olusegun Obasanjo-led Federal Government be released? Or the clampdown on media houses perceived to be enemies of former President Goodluck Jonathan because of their criticism of his government for not adequately tackling Nigeria’s security problems?
Who will forget the seizure of newspapers and destruction of thousands of copies by soldiers during the Jonathan administration which was described by the presidency then as “isolated incidents of security checks “?
