Good morning, Mr President. I will address the charge against you by some segments of the public. The matter is that you are walking slowly into an authoritarian carapace, put in other words, you are succumbing to authoritarian temptation.

They have pointed to two examples. One is the way the last #EndBadGovernanceprotests was handled. Two is the Counter-Subversion Bill sponsored by Tajudeen Abbas, the Right Honourable Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Last week’s instalment of this serial, I partly addressed the protest and its antinomies. The tactics employed by your government were deemed primitive and authoritarian. Your men essayed at what is called corporatism, which is, trying to incorporate into your government all known opposition forces in society either through compromising actions or intimidation. Those actions are essentially the building bricks of fascism.

The latter emphasises centralised control, repression of opposition forces, and loyalty to the state. In countries within the Third World bracket, fascism is rapid repression of the population and pursuit of self-interest, not national interest. The backlash has been civil wars and failed states. These are avoidable.

The second matter is the Counter-Subversion Bill, a fascist manifesto that made its way to the public domain. The Bill by its very content was meant to railroad Nigeria into a fascist state. I sincerely hope you know nothing about it. The content can be summarised into three substantive parts, namely, abolition of the right to self-determination, outlaw of Protest and basic freedoms, and constructive criticisms of leadership in the country. These are anti-freedom. I have decided to collapse them into three broad categories for this monologue.

The first part proscribes any separatist agitation and impulses and glimpsed in such contents as “a person who professes loyalty, pledges or agrees to belong to an organisation that disregards the sovereignty of Nigeria; a person who receives financial or political support from a foreign organisation, group or country that is not compatible with the interest, development, security and progress of Nigeria; subversive activities by associations, organisations, militias, cults, bandits and other proscribed groups in Nigeria.”

To be collapsed into the second part outlawing protests and basic freedoms are “any person who destroys national symbols, refuses to recite the national anthem and pledge, defaces a place of worship with the intent to cause violence and subverts the Federal Government, mounts an illegal roadblock, engages in illegal road traffic function, imposes illegal curfew, conducts illegal procession, shall, on conviction, any person castigating, denigrating, embarrassing or bringing to disrepute the leadership of a community, religion, lawful group, local government, state or federal government, every person, group or organisation that engages in activities that undermines national security, harmonious community interaction, peaceful coexistence and the maintenance of law and order; a person who engages in activities that results to mutual suspicion, mistrust, distrust or intolerance which degenerates into conflict and violence that threatens the corporate existence, peace and security of the federation of Nigeria; a person who forcefully takes over any place of worship, town hall, school, premises, public or private place, arena, or a similar place through duress, undue influence, subterfuge or other similar activities.”

The aspect of leadership covers “a person, group or organisation that persistently disregards, disobeys, or disrespects constituted authority, rules, regulations, order or contravenes the law wilfully, commits an offence; a person who habitually violates the law, refuses or prevents arrest, disrupts legal processes or proceedings, engages in contrary behaviour or persistent and recalcitrant, defiance and rebellion against constituted authority.”

The above infringements according to the Bill will attract jail terms ranging from two to 25 years with the option of a fine in the region of two to 10 million naira or both.  It is well that the Speaker has dropped the Bill already awaiting a second reading thereby stopping the huge embarrassment caused by a government that inclines to be democratic. The problem is that there are many self-seeking zealots in the president’s team. They are Mr President’s greatest enemies. The President who as a pro-democracy activist fled into exile under the dictatorship of General Abacha should know better the implications of the Bill now dead on arrival.

Importantly, some of the engrossed offences, mixed with the sinister ones, are already covered by extant laws.  Mr President must ensure that they don’t come back under any guise.  It will be costly and counterproductive. When you shut out civil society, there is only one open door. It is the pathway to state militarism and new militarism, the former ordinarily known as coup detat and the latter, insurgency by non-state actors. Discontents within society are better addressed by appropriate policies. To add, Mr President, practical populist actions with substance will be more productive in winning the minds of the people and enhancing the legitimacy of your government.

Akhaine is a Professor of Political Science at the Lagos State University.