Dan Balki Commander (as he’s popularly known) is the latest in a string of citizens who have suffered gang violence due to their political opinions in North of Nigeria. Followers of Facebook and other new media are still reeling from the shock of the video of the Kano-born critic, being handcuffed like a common criminal, forced on his knees, and mercilessly horsewhipped by an extremely abusive assailant.
The attacker obviously had the torture session recorded and may have made it go viral as a mark of being unassailable. Even though out of shot, he sounded like a bodyguard as he reeled out Dan Balki’s crimes, one of which is “insulting” the Governor of Kaduna State.
Governor Uba Sani has already dissociated himself and his government from the dastardly act and its perpetrators through a press release by his media aide, and thus, there is virtually no way to connect them to it. That is even though the victim himself has released another video in which he laid sole responsibility for his ordeal at the doorstep of the Kaduna State Chief Executive.
Without concrete evidence to the contrary, all Nigerians know is that the supposed beneficiaries of this kind of gangland expression of loyalty are never party to these acts of barbarism that are allegedly carried out in their stead. The assaults are always the sole initiative of the perpetrators, and their political patrons are on all occasions prompt in disowning them.
This then creates a situation that makes it impossible to bring the culprits to justice, even when their identity is widely known to the public, and it is common knowledge who their masters are. The hoodlums claim to be committing atrocities on behalf of and for the benefit of people who cannot put a leash on them, although they have the power to sanction them.
It tends, therefore, to be a helpless situation, particularly in Northern Nigeria, a part of the country whose people are almost completely unaware of the citizens’ right of arrest; the obligation of the public to stop crime or sanction its commission, even if for any reason, the law cannot be enforced.
Consequent upon this traditional nonchalant attitude to such effrontery, a culture of impunity is fast evolving in the North. Assaults on political opponents and other citizens are becoming the norm, with many of the incidents occurring in public places in broad daylight because the perpetrators have no scruples about the law or the people’s angst whenever the law is brazenly breached.
A more alarming feature emerged in this scenario through another viral video, showing the sitting Governor of Niger State ordering his guards to slap one of his indigenes silly at a public function for simply volunteering to lead a closing prayer when he is not a cleric. That the Governor allowed the visual to be circulated shows similar impunity to that exhibited by the attackers of Dan Balki.
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Public reactions to similar incidents in Southern Nigeria have clearly shown the intolerance of that part of the country for such effrontery. The EndSARS riots of a few years back are a clear case in point of how a people can rise against assaults on their collective rights and dignity. Another instance was the public outcry that followed Adam Oshiomhole’s gaffe, when as Governor of Edo State, he told a street hawker to “go and die.”
EndSARS forced President Buhari, who of all Nigerian leaders is adjudged to be the toughest nut to crack, to scrap SARS, a federal government’s elite security outfit, and to dispatch delegations to all parts of the nation to somewhat apologize to the youth. Oshiomhole, on his part, made overtures by hosting the hawker he tongue-lashed for breakfast.
The South never fails to stand up to power and make the powers that be succumb to their collective will to check the excesses of the establishment and the people in control. This is the critical attribute that symbolizes the role of the masses in a democracy, and by that virtue, it is safe to assert that democracy obtains only in Southern Nigeria.
Shekara is a Sokoto-based media practitioner
