by Mazi Emeka

Fani-Kayode is most definitely not everybody’s favorite person, neither is he well liked. But it still doesn’t negate the fact that he is a Nigeria and thus protected by the Nigerian constitution and justice system.

In the midst of the furry created by last week’s drama, we seem to have forgotten the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) noisemaker, who served as a Director in the Goodluck Jonathan campaign organization and is accused of corruptly benefiting from the campaign funds.

FFK was last week invited by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to answer questions of corrupt dealings in relation to the Jonathan campaign –for which the CEO of Fidelity Bank have also been quizzed about and several other prominent individuals named in the fraud. However, FFK had honored the said invitation by the EFCC on Monday and that was the last Nigerians saw or heard from him.

Last week, FFK’s media agency raised the alarm that the former minister was still under illegal detention and arrest at the EFCC’s headquarters even though there was no warrant for his detention nor has the EFCC publicized reasons for his arrest.

In his fight against corruption, the Buhari administration, and the different security agencies, have established itself as above the law, doing as it pleased them without recourse to the consequences of their actions and how it impacts the relationship between the judiciary, ordinary citizens and the future.

This administration, despite coming to power on the wings of the people, have proven itself, through its disregard for the rule of law, that citizens are dispensable –especially if they do not fit into the grand scheme of the government. Nnamdi Kanu and Sambo Dasuki readily comes to mind, as both men were granted bail by competent courts, yet the federal government refused to grant them bail –even the President admitted as such in his media chat last year.

What we are seeing is executive rascality at its peak and the institutionalization of blatant disregard for the provision of the country’s laws, even as fallible as the laws are, was established for the growth of Nigeria and protection of Nigerians.

And if we the citizens do not come together and demand the release of FFK (regardless of how corrupt we think he is, which by the way is a decision of a court), one day we will wake up to the sad reality that anybody can be taken away, arrested, detained and unduly harassed on the whim of the president and that will be all, simply because nobody spoke out when it started.