When President Muhammadu Buhari talked about the “rule of law” being trampled for “national security” and “national interest”, what did he have in mind exactly? Subordinating the rule of law to what he called “national interest” and “national security”, he forgot the deep-rooted distrust of governments across the world. By talking of subordinating the rule of law to “national interest” and “national security”, he gave the impression of arbitrary rule, which is quite treacherous. “National interest” and “national security” are quite ambiguous; they can only be interpreted in the context in which they are used.
The life, meaning and being of a nation are established by its laws. Without these laws that consecrate nationhood, what we have is an arbitrary condition. That “the rule of law must be subject to the supremacy of the nation’s security and national interest” negates the principle of libertarians – streams of thoughts which support the supremacy of individual rights and personal freedom over any kind of authority.
It is instructive to know that Hitler justified expansionist policies in the name of “German national interests”. In the same vein, the same unsubstantiated “national interest” was used to give credence to the Russian intervention in Afghanistan (1979-89).
Any president who, by acts of omission or commission, halts the laws of Nigeria, or subverts his oath taken before assuming office established by law is subject to sanction. This is the kind of conduct that corrupts and damages the institutions designed to protect the state. Subverting the rule of law is an appropriation of arbitrary powers. Subordinating the rule of law is a situation of running ‘Agbero presidency’, by using the “boys-oye!” style to govern by force and to deploy executive authority outside the laws establishing the state itself.
Nigeria is a nation constituted by law and established under the rule of law. So, in pursuit of some arbitrary notion called “national security” or “national interest”, one should not subvert the rule of law. We are a nation of laws. Nigerians fought military rule, in order to establish the rule of law. Therefore, the rule of law is supreme and is the foundation of national interest; not the other way round.
