Speaking with a (media not Thenigerialawyer) on Sunday in his Abuja office, Oze­khome urged Nigerians to prepare their minds to resist the pending dictatorship, which, he insists, is not part of democracy. The legal luminary who said he was moved to such conclusion giv­en the turn of events, maintained that “even in a civilian democracy, a dictatorship can occur if there are no checks and balances; if the judi­ciary is harassed; if the judiciary is emasculated; the legislature is pur­sued, brow beaten into submission, leaving only the executive to wax stronger like in a military regime; then, dictatorship will definitely be on its way but we have to guard against it and fight it maximally”. He insisted that “President Bu­hari should rise to the occasion and stop the actions of certain people in his government and se­curity agents, because in the end, it is Buhari that would account for all the actions and inactions of the administration, not the DSS or any minister”. He noted that what was happen­ing in the political sphere, did not reflect national aspirations which the change mantra stood for and called for urgent reversal of the procedures. “What change are we experienc­ing, is it a change from the maxi­mum respect for human rights in the 16 years of the PDP rule, no matter what anybody said about the last government? By then, people could abuse Goodluck Jonathan, caricature him, caricature his wife, caricature the ruling party and peo­ple were not treated like animals. But for a government that is barely seven months, we are beginning to see the ugly signs,”. he said. Ozekhome decried what he dubbed, “abuse of the rule of law by the present administration”, citing the travails of Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), former National Security Ad­viser (NSA) as an example. “In the case of Dasuki, it is a seri­ous assault on the rule of law cre­dentials of the Buhari government. As former NSA, the adage, if gold rusts, what will iron do, implies. For a former NSA, for whatever offence, even murder, which is the most heinous of crimes, he still deserves a fair hearing. Bring him to the ordinary courts of the land, charge him to court. “Dasuki was able to approach the court and requested for permis­sion to travel abroad to take care of his health and the court did so by granting him bail, and rather than allow him, the DSS descended on this man in the last one week and are holding him hostage and cap­tive in his house”. Ozekhome insisted that what Nigeria is experiencing now is a reflection of the horrendous and horrific days of the military dic­tatorship, tyranny and totalitari­anism, which according to him, Nigeria should not slide back into. He further advised President Buhari to be weary of members of his ‘Kitchen Cabinet’ so that he does not fall victim of what, he said, “happened when former Pres­ident Goodluck Jonathan’s ‘Kitchen Cabinet’ held him to captive as well as what happened in the adminis­tration of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua when his ‘Kitchen Cabinet’, held him and the whole nation to ransom”.]]>