Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has questioned the legality of the shutdown of Lagos, Ogun and the FCT ordered by President Buhari, in a move to contain coronavirus spread.

Recall that President Buhari had on Sunday, March 29th, 2020, ordered the complete shutdown of Lagos and Ogun States, as well as Abuja, in an effort to curtail the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the country.

But the Nobel laureate, in a statement on Monday, March 30th, questioned if the president has the power, under the Nigerian Constitution, to order such shutdown.

Soyinka called on constitutional lawyers and lawmakers to shed light on the legality or illegality of such move.

He also warned the government against “constitutional piracy” in its fight to contain coronavirus in Nigeria.

Soyinka’s statement, titled “Between COVID and Constitutional Encroachment”, read in part,

Constitutional lawyers and our elected representatives should kindly step into this and educate us, mere lay minds. The worst development I can conceive of us is to have a situation where rational measures for the containment of the Coronavirus pandemic are rejected on account of their questionable genesis.

This is a time for Unity of Purpose, not nitpicking dissensions. So, before this becomes a habit, a question: does President Buhari have the powers to close down state borders? We want clear answers. We are not in a war emergency.

Appropriately focussed on measures for the saving lives, and committed to making sacrifices for the preservation of our communities, we should nonetheless remain alert to any encroachment on constitutionally demarcated powers. We need to exercise collective vigilance, and not compromise the future by submitting to interventions that are not backed by law and constitution.

Who actually instigates these orders anyway? From where do they really emerge? What happens when the orders conflict with state measures, the product of a systematic containment strategy – `including even trial-and-error and hiccups – undertaken without let or leave of the Centre. So far, the anti-COVID-19 measures have proceeded along the rails of decentralised thinking, multilateral collaboration and technical exchanges between states.

The Centre is obviously part of the entire process, and one expects this to be the norm, even without the epidemic’s frontal assault on the Presidency itself. Indeed, the Centre is expected to drive the overall effort, but in collaboration, with extraordinary budgeting and refurbishing of facilities.

The universal imperative and urgency of this affliction should not become an opportunistic launch pad for a sneak RE-CENTRALISATION, no matter how seemingly insignificant its appearance. I urge governors and legislators to be especially watchful. No epidemic is ever cured with constitutional piracy. It only lays down new political viruses for the future.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.