Governor Wike is in the News, trending on Twitter, being talked about, praised and in some quarters, vilified. Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike got tipped off about a sting operation happening in his jurisdiction and took the ‘brave man’ route to Number 35, Forces Avenue area of Port harcourt where Justice Mohammed Liman of the Federal High Court reportedly resides. He successfully prevented the operation that the men of the State Security Service and other security operatives were camped out there to carry out.

By the Nigerian meter of popularity, Twitter, Governor Wike is currently winning. It is not yet clear whether the governor’s popularity is well founded or whether it will be short-lived; what is clear as day is that he is light years ahead of President Muhammadu Buhari in terms of popularity right now; who is the exact person we should all be focused on right now.

Governor Wike has claimed that the attack is a ploy to declare a State of Emergency in Rivers State and while that may well be true, considering the fact that nothing is certain in this country anymore; we need to understand Governor Wike and what may have happened with him are not the real issue here.

By now, it is almost needless to rehash the horrible events that occurred across 6 states of the Federal Republic in the dead of the night while Nigerians, like Governor Wike were presumed not to be paying attention. The SSS in connivance various other security agencies raided the homes of at least 6 members of the Nigerian Bench in a sting operation claimed to have been an attempt to clamp down on corrupt Justices.

It is not enough that these security officials have gravely abused due process, taking down whatever shreds of democratic dignity we might have laid claims to as a nation before Friday the 7th of October. They have also been imbued with heavens-know-what-manner-of-audacity to release a statement admitting the covert operations and gloating about recovered sums.

Still, the SSS is not the villain in this tragedy. It is the boss of the SSS, the Chief Executive, Commander-of-the-Armed Forces, General Muhammadu Buhari, who has all the questions to answer. And we’d like to put them across before another shocking-but-no-longer-shocking event occurs before we can bat an eyelid.

Dear General Buhari, who authorised this sting operation?

The State Security Service is one arm of the three security agencies created by law for the Federal Republic under the National Security Agencies Act. The others are the Defence Intelligence Agency and the National Intelligence Agency.

For all intents and purposes, the SSS is directly under the control of the Presidency. Section 3 of the Act provides that “there shall be appointed for each of the agencies, a principal officer, who shall …be responsible directly to the President.”

It is clear that none of the officers should have carried out any of those operations without the express approval of the President. Not the  Presidency. The President.

So except, you sir, are willing to call out the names of the heads of these horrible operations and publicly dismiss them with a sincere apology to the Justices and all Nigerians for not been able to keep your team under control and most importantly, the endorsement of any of the Justices who wishes to pursue the myriad of legal options available to rmedy the damaged against their persons and property. Then you, sir, are directly responsible for these events. Not the Presidency. No. You, President Muhammadu Buhari are directly responsible and you must know that many Presidents have been impeached for less.

Does the Presidency understand the gravity of the actions of the SSS?

If it were still 2015, we’d have been screaming our lungs out begging for the Presidency to isse statement addressing a situation like this. But it’s not and sadly, we have now become accustomed to accepting the shoddiest manner of 140-charactered bits and pieces of dismissive responses which are  often largely unconnected to whatever the subject matter is.

This time though, we haven’t been honoured with that much. None of the too-many media aides of the President, including the former social commentator, Tolu Ogunlesi, has deemed it fit to even as much put out a ‘BE RIGHT BACK WITH APT STATEMENT’ post up while the matter rages on all media platforms.

This is so unacceptable. The irony is that one will argue that Nigeria seems to always pick the worst extremes. With former President Goodluck Jonathan, it was to many apologies and condolence visits/statements and with the present administration, it is always a frustrating hassle to get any reaction to national issues.

Not even lawyer Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo has deemed it fit to respond. Even the Senate President, the latest beneficiary of the benevolence of the Judiciary, has chosen to be mum on the matter despite the fact that his Twitter account was last active in the middle of the storm.

This is so unacceptable. It is not the kind of thing that naturally goes away. It needs to be addressed and no, nobody needs to camp outside the Aso Villa to wait for response from the boss of the SSS. If we have to, then it shoulr certainly be to ensure that the President and his cute family leave the Villa. For good.

To understand how wrong this is …

The actions of the SSS are not only a violation of the human rights of these judges, and utter disrespect to a whole nation, they are also totally out of sync with any legal provisions.

Section 2(3) of the National Security Agencies Act provides a detailed explanation of the responsibilities of the SSS, none of which includes breaking and forcefully entering, abducting, harassing and generally being public nuisances. It provides that the SSS is responsible for :the prevention and detection within Nigeria of any crime against the internal security of Nigeria; the protection and preservation of all non-military classified matters concerning the internal security of Nigeria; and such other responsibilities affecting internal security within Nigeria as the National Assembly or the President, as the case may be, may deem necessary.

Section 4 goes on to cement section 3 by stating that the responsibilities of the SSS are as above notwithstanding the provisions of any other law to the contrary, or any matter therein mentioned.

So why would the SSS think that it is okay to boast about a clear illegality? This comment posted earlier on Twitter captures our point here:

Except the Judges were building Nuclear Bombs in their homes, or training Boko Haram in their backyards, I don't understand the DSS.

— Nejeeb Bello Oyarese (@NejeebBello) October 8, 2016

And there are villains out there kidnapping young school children, making local explosives, vandalising pipelines and setting fires to entire communities, holding young girls to trillion Naira ransoms who are still roaming the Nation free. Yet this is what the SSS have set itself the task of doing. And the President has chosen to play the I-can’t-hear-you-all-game.