In Nigeria, politicians, especially those in the ruling party, get ruthlessly creative during electioneering as they seek to tighten their grip on power. Security agents are turned into disreputable characters who only serve the interests of power-hungry and self-serving politicians; rules are bent or outright broken in some cases, and hitherto non-existent laws and penal codes are unilaterally manufactured, and crimes and infractions are given names that serve to make simple, negligible offences grave and utterly severe.
As electioneering and political campaigns get underway for the 2027 general elections, one tactic that has been ruthlessly deployed by politicians, particularly those in the ruling party, is to stop opposition parties from creating awareness about their ambitions either through campaigns or the use of posters or billboards. Politicians going all out to undermine their adversaries or opponents is not new to Nigerian politics. While some elements of these antics may be seen as part of the dirty tricks of politics, they are largely deemed detrimental to the nation’s democracy. However, there is a legal grey area as to what should constitute a crime in what anyone does to achieve their political goal or help their party win elections.
Recently, Katsina State resident, Aminu Sanda, popularly known as Nesta, was arrested by authorities, detained and charged with treasonable felony over allegations that he destroyed pro-President Bola Tinubu campaign billboards. Even for a polity and people that are known to revel in impunity and lawlessness, this is uncharted territory. Whether the allegation of destroying a Tinubu campaign billboard is true or not is not the concern here; the real worry here is why such an offence carries an exceedingly disproportionate, heavy-handed charge of treasonable felony.
According to reports, Sanda was invited by the police in Katsina and later detained over allegations that he pulled down the president’s billboards and broke into the Katsina State Secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC), where he was accused of carting away N35 million. He has since denied the allegations, including claims that he destroyed Tinubu’s billboards and broke into the APC secretariat to steal the money, describing the allegations against him as false and baseless.
Sanda, who was arraigned before a Magistrate Court sitting in Jiwa, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), on charges including treasonable felony, has been remanded in prison after the court denied him bail and adjourned the case to September 15.
The case sparked worry among members of the public, particularly lawyers, with many wondering why anyone would be charged with the destruction of a billboard as an offence did not fall within the legal frame of what he is charged with. Under Nigerian law, treasonable felony was a separate offence involving circumstances far more grave than the alleged destruction of a billboard. For a crime or offence to be committed, it must be defined by law. The elements of that offence must be stated by law, and the punishment must also be provided,
Treasonable felony, largely involves a plan and intention to unlawfully oust the President or a state governor outside constitutional means, an intention to wage war against Nigeria, or involvement in instigating an armed invasion of the country.
There is no aspect of the law that implicitly or tangentially states that the destruction of a political billboard should attract a treasonable felony charge. No matter how one chooses to look at the matter, the charge does not simply fit the offence. Of course, it is not impossible that the accused’s alleged act could constitute another offence, but definitely not a treasonable felony.
The charge is at best laughable and at worst worrisome and troubling when propped against events happening in other states and the fact that the ruling APC in many states of the Federation has made it nearly impossible for opposition to compaign peaceful. In Lagos, posters and billboards of opposition candidates are being pulled down by government agencies and hirelings of the ruling party despite these candidates paying the required fee to put up their posters. And the perpetrators have not been called to order, let alone apprehended or charged with “treasonable felony”.
Sanda case is the usual flexing of power and making a mockery of the constitution that characterised Nigerian politics and has become part of our national life. Law should not be something that we make up and adjust as we go or manipulate to advance a sinister agenda and cut those whom we deem real or imagined enemies to size.
