The General Secretary of the Textile Union, Kaduna, Issa Aremu disclosed that the recent release of former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki and Convener of #RevolutionNow protest, Omoyele Sowore has indicated that the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), has resumed duties as the chief law officer of the Federation.
Mr Aremu, in a statement on Wednesday in Kaduna, lamented that there is still a huge deficit of democratic culture, despite having thousands of elected officials at Executive and legislative branches in the country.
Mr Aremu said: “It is remarkable that the Department of State Services has finally complied with the court orders directing it to release some detainees the notable being the convener of #RevolutionNow protest, Omoyele Sowore and the immediate-past National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki.
“With this singular move it should be assumed that the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), has resumed duties as the chief law officer of the Federation.
“Better late than never. Nigeria has achieved much in quantitative terms, with hundreds of elections, thousands of elected officials at Executive and legislative branches. But there is still a huge deficit of democratic culture. It is time to have quality control of Nigeria’s democratic process.
“Authoritarianism has manifested itself in Nigeria through long years of military rule marked by the absence of debate, patience, accountability, intimidation, disregard of civil rights, and nonchalance about due process, and the rule of law, by both some state and non-state actors alike.
“We must, therefore, encourage a new Democratic culture that allows for an unfettered abiding faith in the democratic process. The burden is on all the state security agencies to allow unfettered judicial process while the released detainees must prove their innocence of the charges against them.
“On the whole, 20 years of democracy task all Nigerians to reinvent a new politics of civic responsibility in which all citizens must shoulder in an organized and disciplined way to demand for free and fair elections and above all accountability from elected officials, failing which we should replace them at election year.
“Indeed it is the insufficiency of democracy that denies Nigeria the much need economic and social development. The challenge, therefore, more democracy, not less.
“The challenge is to deepen democratic process through all-inclusive respect for the rule of law, which must start in the new year with the implementation of the new Minimum wage law by both private and public sector employers,” he said.
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