The Jonathan administration needs all the goodwill on earth to succeed and it cannot achieve that by allowing any of its officials to drag it into a messy media war.Although President Jonathan's spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati has distanced his boss from the arrest of editors and reporters of The Nation over the secret letter former President Obasanjo allegedly wrote to Jonathan seeking the removal of certain federal office holders and penciling some individuals for their replacement, the controversy will still have negative effect on the image of the present administration in terms of freedom of the press and the rule of law. In fact, I have no reason to believe that Jonathan could have been involved in the controversy. I am, however, worried that Obasanjo's propensity to arbitrary use of power and influence may severely damage whatever goodwill Jonathan expects to receive from the media and other democratic voices that were sympathetic to his struggle, especially during the days the cabal in the late Yar'Adua administration were baying for his jugular and even succeeded in blind-siding him then as Vice President of Nigeria. God had lifted Jonathan from the crushing feet of these hostile forces. Therefore, God couldn't have been kinder to him in life.Obasanjo's overbearing influence on Jonathan's administration is however, a major concern to Nigerians, especially considering the commitment of Jonathan to the rule of law. Nobody is in doubt about the extent of Obasanjo's influence on the Jonathan administration. But we should be worried about how that influence is used by the former President to achieve a private objective. In his justification for the arrest of The Nation's editors and reporters, the Inspector-General of Police, Hafiz Ringim argued that he acted based on a petition written to the Police by the former President. But did the former President need the Police instead of seeking redress in court for any perceived libel or alleged falsehood against him by journalists' Is source credibility an important element of investigation' Does the high-sounding title of a petitioner automatically mean credibility test must be waived' Could the Police have acted with such gung-ho fashion and indecent haste against the poor journalists if the petitioner were ordinary Nigerian' In fact, is the Nigeria Police Force an alternative to the court for seeking redress'Ringim shouldn't have consciously and unconsciously played into Obasanjo's hands. The former president is ferociously vindictive and his antecedents on denial even against damning evidence to the contrary are well-known. To a former president that denied he wanted a third term in office in breach of the constitutional term limit or a man who once said nothing embarrasses him, should lying mean anything to him' Nigerians will recall that Obasanjo once claimed that a co-convict in 1995, Col. Bello Fadile, sent him a letter of apology for implicating him under duress in the coup plot for which the late General Sani Abacha administration sentenced them to death and later commuted it to life imprisonment. In subsequent newspaper interviews however, Fadile challenged Obasanjo, saying that although he didn't want to join issues with his superior, he politely demanded the Otta General to produce such letter. With this kind of dowdy image in the eyes of Nigerians, the former president's words are never trusted by anyone except himself. Why didn't Obasanjo sue The Nation, editors and reporters allegedly linked to the offending story instead of using the Police to harass, humiliate and intimidate them' Why should Ringim sacrifice his reputation for Obasanjo's sake'In treating the so-called petition by Obasanjo, Ringim should have known that source credibility matters a lot before rushing into the hasty arrest of the journalists and the hurried attempt to prosecute them the next day as if they had planned a coup d'tat! It is important to remind the police of what recently happened in the United States. Nafissatou Diallo, the alleged victim of Dominique Strauss-Khan's sex assault, lost her case at a U.S. Court because of her notorious record of lacking credibility in the past. A liar is not believed even when he or she is telling the truth!No man, however powerful, should be allowed to force the hands of justice by arbitrary means. Of course, the Police are constitutionally empowered to prosecute cases in court. But cases must be fairly, objectively, neutrally and credibly investigated before they are rushed to the courts, no matter the status and stature of the petitioner (as in Obasanjo's case). Fighting Obasanjo's private wars with the press shouldn't have been Ringim's priority in the least. In fact, if Obasanjo was not ready for a lie detector test, the Police had no business acting with indecent haste to bundle off the journalists into detention. The Inspector General of Police shouldn't have let Obasanjo's private malice to distract him from the current challenges of insecurity. He needs all the goodwill and support to succeed. But that may be affected if, at the slightest provocation, any big-shot like Obasanjo, can rush to the police and hand them a list of perceived enemies he wants to be dealt with.The excessive use of force by the police against ordinary Nigerians because they allegedly offended a big man can badly undermine the entire image of the Jonathan administration, which has consistently repeated its commitment to the rule of law and due process. Jonathan should not allow the arbitrary use of power by any of his officials or institutions of government. He must draw a line for overzealous officials and private individuals like Obasanjo in order to protect the integrity of his own reputation. The degeneration of the Boko Haram into a terror group stems largely from the messy handling of the arrest and detention of their late leader, Mohammed Yusuf. Despite the fact that the police authorities are prosecuting the officers who allegedly carried out the extra-judicial execution of Yusuf, Boko Haram now appears to be like an intractable security challange. The whole nation is now paying dearly for the misguided and gung-ho action of a few officers. This sad reality should make the police reflect with sobriety rather than dragging themselves into needless abuses by letting private individuals like Obasanjo to use them to fight their opponents. We all want our police force to succeed for our own security. They too, however, have a duty to make us trust them. The police can only do better with constructive criticisms. Abuses cannot make them better, no matter the excuse. In the words of Theodore Roosevelt, 'no man is justified in doing evil on the grounds of expediency.''Zagga, a journalist and a writer on national issues, wrote in via muhazagga@yahoo.com 0806-534-4741
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