Civilian president can behave like dictator – Falana

Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana on Wednesday declared that a civilian president can behave like a dictator.

Falana made the remark while criticising the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, for inviting former President of Liberia, George Weah, to its 66th Annual General Conference in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

In his keynote address, Weah had declared that “a tyrant with a certificate of return is still a tyrant”.

Faulting Weah’s presence at the event, Falana recounted how the former president disregarded the rule of law and the media while in office.

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In an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, the Nigerian human rights lawyer said:

“The Nigerian Bar Association cannot challenge me because I handled two of the cases that I cited. 

“Under former President George Weah, about four judgments of the ECOWAS Court were disregarded, but I handled two of the cases, and my position is the thrust of his submission: that you may have a civilian president who behaves like a dictator.

“Meaning that he has no respect for the rule of law. If he harasses the media, he can’t be called a genuine democrat. Those are the characteristics of President Weah when he was in power. 

“The media, even though his regime decriminalised freedom of expression, were subjected to harassment. Radio stations were closed down, journalists were hounded; in fact, there was a BBC journalist who had to be hounded out of the country.

“That was the atmosphere that operated in Liberia, and I did say that because citizens lost confidence in the judiciary in that country, they had to rush to the ECOWAS Court for legal redress. 

“So, nobody has challenged the fact that he challenged the court order, and in particular, the current president had set up a committee to implement some of the judgments that I cited.”