President Buhari's words on ballot box snatchers were careless

I understand where President Buhari was coming from when he declared that those who snatch ballot boxes in the upcoming elections will “pay with their lives”. The man has repeatedly blamed riggers for his inability to win the three previous presidential elections he contested prior to 2015.

Listen to Buhari speak when the subject is election manipulation and his face contorts, his fists are balled, his jaw tightens and his voice takes on a snarl. He despises the riggers and always makes that very clear in speech and body language. He's lived the nightmare and can probably write a book on riggers.

I despise election riggers too, as should everyone with some moral suasion in their bones. Ballot box snatchers have no place in our democracy and in a decent society. They belong in hell, actually.

How they get to that “hell” is where I disagree with the president.

Buhari proposes brute force and ruthlessness from law enforcement. I propose rule of law and some time in jail.

Hell for me is as much a destination as it is a process.

Buhari and Army Chief Tukur Buratai during a function (State House) AFP

“Anybody who decides to snatch boxes or lead thugs to disturb elections, maybe that's the last unlawful action you'll take”, Buhari blared during the APC caucus meeting of Monday, February 18, which held in Nigeria’s capital city of Abuja.

"I really gave the military and the police order to be ruthless. We're not going to be blamed that we want to rig elections. I want Nigerians to be respected. Let them vote whoever they want across the parties.

"I'm going to warn anybody who thinks he has enough influence in his locality to lead a body of thugs to snatch boxes or to disturb the voting system, he'll do it at the expense of his own life”, Buhari added.

Asking the military and police to be ruthless and implying that election riggers could be executed in broad daylight with a fusillade of bullets, was careless and reckless talk from the nation’s number one citizen.

Everyone knows that our law enforcement can be overzealous and need no second invitation to be brutal and to trample on human rights. Nigerians have had to live with police brutality and extra-judicial killings from the men with the guns for as long as anyone can remember. Asking these same men to be ruthless during elections is an invitation to anarchy.

President Muhammadu Buhari at an APC meeting [@BashirAhmaad] Pulse Nigeria

When the nation’s Commander-in-Chief invites trigger happy soldiers and police officers to end lives and be ruthless, he invites anarchy and rivers of blood to a nation space he swore to defend and protect. He leaves the people in harm's way.

In a democracy, the rule of law trumps the rule of the gun and it’s important to make this delineation given Buhari’s military past. But this president swore to lead by the constitution and with the constitution he must lead.

Section 129, subsection 4 of the Electoral Act (2010 as amended) prescribes a maximum of two years in jail for election riggers.

Section 128 of the Act stipulates that “any person who at an election, acts or incites others to act in a disorderly manner, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a maximum fine of N500, 000 or imprisonment for a term of 12 months or both.”

Section 131 of the same Act further states that anyone who deploys force, threats or violence during elections is liable on conviction to a fine of N1million or imprisonment for a term of 3 years.

The law is what it is.

President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, APC Chairman Adams Oshiomhole and the party's national leader siwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the APC Caucus meeting in Abuja on Monday, February 18, 2019 Pulse Nigeria

While the president is right to always wear a scowl on his face when he discusses vote manipulation; while we should all join the president in showing ample disdain to those who shamelessly snatch ballot boxes and inflate election figures, we should never forget that in a democracy, the law takes preeminence and that democratic presidents always swear to uphold the tenets of the constitution and the law.

As the cliche goes, you don’t right a wrong with another wrong.