AFTER years of baiting the law, Donald Trump on Wednesday became the first ex-president of the United States to be formally arraigned on criminal charges. It was a humbling moment and marks another high point in the divisive politics raging in the world’s biggest economy. But the inescapable lesson for Nigeria’s public office holders and the people is that no one is, or should ever be above the law.
While Trump faces possible jail term, he could also be acquitted, or the case against him could collapse as many pundits, including some of his critics, fear. The point has however been made by his arraignment; the law is no respecter of persons.
This is even more important in a democracy, where the equality of all citizens is the bedrock of representative government. This principle of legal egalitarianism is enshrined as Article 7 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and adopted as provisions in national constitutions.
Trump was confronted with this reality when the Manhattan District Attorney, New York, Alvin Bragg, charged him with 34 counts of falsifying business records, all related to the payment of $130,000 hush money to an adult film actress, Stormy Daniels, in 2016 ahead of the election that vaulted him to the White House. Daniels allegedly received the money to persuade her to refrain from revealing details of her alleged sexual relationship with the ex-president in 2007.
The prosecution alleges that Trump “repeatedly and fraudulently” falsified business records and “concealed criminal conduct that hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election.” In summary, the case against the 45th president of the US is that he used campaign funds to pay off a personal issue and fraudulently passed it off as business expenses.
For many, Trump’s comeuppance is welcome. Arrogant, brash, and vindictive, he has become the most polarising figure in American politics, accentuating the divide along the lines of political and social issues, religion, gender rights, and race. His run for the presidency was marked by vicious attacks on opponents, groups, critics, and the media.
His opponents responded in kind. US politics is further riven in two mutually hostile camps. Rivalry between the Republican and Democratic parties is bitter, unbending, and costly. Trump stokes the fire.
Riding on the support of conservative grievances, religious fervour and a “Whitelash” by conservative (mostly White) Americans reeling from the unfamiliar reality of an African-American, Barack Obama, as two-term US president, his ascent to the presidency accentuated national divisions to virtual ‘civil war’ footing.
If his political conduct was controversial, his numerous skirmishes with the law in and out of office have been more so. Ever before he became president, he had several brushes with regulators and state and city attorneys over his business practices. In office, he appeared to believe that constitutional immunity was infinite.
According to The Economist of London, Trump is facing about 20 criminal investigations and lawsuits. Apart from the NY case, federal agents are mulling whether to formally charge him for removing classified government documents to his Florida residence after leaving office.
A county district attorney in Fulton, Georgia, is investigating his attempt to persuade state officials to conjure votes and manufacture a false slate of electors to overturn his 2020 election loss; the New York State Attorney-General has filed a $250 million civil suit against Trump, three of his children and Trump Organisation for alleged fraudulent accounting practices. Over the years, his property company has been sanctioned in diverse state and city jurisdictions, sometimes paying fines, or lesser figures in his company and entourage taking the fall via criminal charges and convictions.
His peccadillo with Daniels is not the only one either. The National Enquirer had reported that a doorman who alleged that Trump had a child out of wedlock also received $30,000 hush money, and another woman who claimed to have had an affair with him received $150,000 to remain silent. Trump has steadfastly denied all the allegations.
He broke the record of being the first former US president to be impeached twice; he has broken another by being the first to be arraigned on criminal charges. The lesson for Nigeria and Africa’s ‘Big Men’ is that the law has a long reach and ideally, would eventually catch up with those who assault it while holding public office.
This is particularly important in a democracy. To actualise the dictum summarised by the Austrian-British political thinker, Friedrich Hayek, that “the great aim of the struggle for liberty has been equality before the law,” occupiers of high political office, like ordinary citizens, must never be above the law.
Everywhere, people in power tend to entrench a system of privilege, but some countries have made the point that offenders must pay, no matter their positions. A report by Axios indicates that at least 78 countries have jailed or prosecuted past leaders who left office since 2000. These include former South Korean president, Park Geun-hye, former French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, former Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, and Israeli PM, Benjamin Netanyahu.
In Africa, Jacob Zuma, Omar al-Bashir, and Hosni Mubarak of South Africa, Sudan, and Egypt respectively have similarly faced the music.
Nigeria desperately needs to strengthen its democracy and institutions to make leaders at every level accountable for crimes committed prior to, or while in office, and to bring those who commit crimes to justice after leaving office. Nigeria’s leaders have stolen and are vigorously stealing the people blind. They combine corruption with misgovernance and impunity. Governors operate like emperors; they misuse and abuse their offices and trample on human rights. Presidents, governors, and security chiefs disobey court orders at will.
The institutional guardrails like the federal and state parliaments should rise to the challenge. Civil society, other pressure groups and the bar should step up their campaigns for the entrenchment of the rule of law.
The drama unfolding in New York is a wake-up call to Nigerians to adopt policies that will deepen democracy. Corrupt and lawless officials should take note and tremble.
Centre for Nigeria Progress 