Nigeria, Jan. 29 -- Nigeria's recent coup scare and the reactions it provoked have once again exposed the uneasy relationship between truth, power, discretion, and what many quietly describe as the "good lie." The comments of Femi Falana, the respected Senior Advocate of Nigeria, did more than clarify constitutional procedure; they reopened an old moral and political conversation. Falana insisted that military officers accused of plotting against a democratically elected government cannot be tried by court-martial but must be prosecuted in civilian courts, stressing that Nigeria is under a constitutional democracy, not military rule. His argument, grounded in constitutionalism and historical precedent, recalled the Second Republic case o...