17 Feb 2007 |
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THE PRESIDENT HAS SPOKEN AGAIN! Recent utterances of President Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo have made it imperative to ponder on the present state of affairs in our country, with a view to looking critically at the status of those elected (sic) to govern us. I intend to look at three recent events, all closely linked together, which should give us a good conspectus of how bad things have degenerated in Nigeria: EFCC list of indicted politicians; President Obasanjo’s public accusation against Dr Olusegun Mimiko, a former Minister; endorsement of Governor Olugbenga Daniel of Ogun State; and Nuhu Ribadu’s interview granted The News publication. The EFCC Chairman, Nuhu Ribadu, opined during his recent interview that he is not being used as a witch-hunt for the President’s perceived enemies or electoral threats to the PDP. That is a welcome development indeed as it should allay the fears of some people who are beginning to wonder whether the independence of the EFCC is being compromised. That aside, there are still questions to be answered by Nuhu Ribadu, if he is going to satisfy the people that he has not become a naïve pawn in the hands of the PDP-led Obasanjo administration. Also, there are some statements attributed to him that, if true, are truly disappointing and short of expectations. Nuhu Ribadu, queried on the inclusion of Dr Lanre Tejuosho, who had never held any public office, responded thus: “The issue is that, let the parties come and we will answer them. If his name is on the list we will answer the party. He himself will be given the opportunity to respond to whatever case is against him”
In my view, the above provides no answer at all to the question put to him. The journalist sought to know why a private businessman, who had never held a public office, had been included in a list entirely made up of those who had held, or continue to hold, public offices. How difficult could it have been for Nuhu Ribadu to have said something to the effect that: “Dr Lanre Tejuosho’s name had been included in the list because we received a petition alleging that he had been involved in xyz, etc” Instead of giving us a straight-forward answer, he deliberately, or for want of an honest answer, chose to engage in tongue twisting and effectively assaulted language in the presence of journalists. I cannot decipher what he is trying to say in his answer to the journalist above, because when taken in context his attempt to offer an explanation fails woefully. To prove the fact that Ribadu just chose to assault language, he says Dr Lanre Tejuosho would be given the opportunity to respond to whatever case the EFCC had against him. If I may ask the revered EFCC Chairman, according to the training he has received over the years, at what stage in the investigation process should he have given Dr Lanre Tejuosho the opportunity to defend himself? I will answer that for him, to spare his blushes again. Anyone with allegations made against him/her ought to be informed as soon as possible the full details of those allegations and must be given every opportunity to defend such allegations, at the earliest opportunity. It is at the point where the EFCC got information about Dr Lanre Tejuosho that he should have been invited to put his case before the EFCC investigators, not at the secondary stage of the Administrative Panel because at that point he had already been judged as corrupt by the EFCC. The burden of proving innocence is not on those being accused; the burden of proving guilt is on the EFCC. That is something so elementary and fundamental in criminal law and it seems no one is paying the desired attention to that age-old understanding of burden of proof in criminal law! I am sure that Nuhu Ribadu is quite conversant with the fact that this is also an elementary principle of natural justice that an experienced police officer ought to be well grounded in. From all indications, and the EFCC is welcome to tell me I am wrong, such opportunity had not been provided to the people indicted before sending their names to the kangaroo Administrative Panel of enquiry. To the EFCC, PDP, President Olusegun Obasanjo, Governor Gbenga Daniel, tell the Nigerian people what Lanre Tejuosho has done wrong, explain the coincidence of banning a man contesting from the same senatorial district as the daughter of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria! Tell us, EFCC, and stop hiding behind inelegant use of words: Afasẹ́gbèjò ńtan ara-a rẹ̀ jẹ, ‘he who would collect rain water in a sieve deceives himself’! Could it be that his name was inserted at the Presidency by some overzealous civil servant in the hope of pleasing somebody? Or was it an innocent mistake? Anyone could have made a mistake, is this one of such? I cannot believe that the government can be so biased and tongue-tied on this matter. Seeing that the President’s daughter, Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello is from the same senatorial district as the allegedly corrupt doctor, should there not be a more rigorous and transparent explanation? Oh well, I forgot, it is happening in Nigeria! Shame!
There is also a need to quickly debunk the inconsistencies surrounding the whole charade about corrupt politicians. The EFCC chairman maintains that the list submitted to the political parties were merely advisory (sic). Really? Curiously, the minister of Information and Communications, Mr Frank Nweke (Jnr) opined that the EFCC had sent to the various political parties the names of people it said were unfit to seek political offices because of their alleged involvement in malfeasance. He went on to say that acting on the list (the advisory list, according to Ribadu), the Federal Government set up an Administrative Panel to invite the indicted officers to defend themselves. That panel was headed by the Solicitor-General of the Federation, Professor Ignatus Ayua, an employee of the Federal Government! Is anyone following me? Indicted first by an agency of the Federal Government, then hauled before Administrative Panel constituted by the same Federal Government – a government just about to go the nation to ask for, or steal, another mandate! Where is the independence in any of the processes involved here? I fail to see any! Why Nuhu Ribadu would not make public details of the investigations conducted at the initial stages into the affairs of, or the petitions received about, Dr Lanre Tejusosho continues to baffle me and reeks of nothing short of official complicity in trying to destroy his ambitions in order to pave the way for the daughter of President Obasanjo! Let the EFCC prove me wrong and make its findings public. Its defence of the reluctance to do so because it wants to protect the individual(s) concerned is just so unconvincing. The EFCC had already made the list known to the political parties, and the list has since acquired the status of public knowledge so we want to know, the Nigerian public deserves to know why somebody tried to murder Lanre Tejuosho, stultify his political ambitions, simple because he wanted to contest against the President’s daughter from the same Senatorial district.! I asked in an earlier article: why should the matter of contesting an election be a matter of life and death in Nigeria? Here is the answer to that question, as provided by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria: “……this election is a do or die affair for PDP…” The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has spoken! Let the Nigerian people listen, let the International community listen! Here is a man touted as a potential leader of the United Nations! I will now answer those protesting that some people have been debasing the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by barracking the present holder of that position, retired General Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo (OBJ). In one article, the writer had made forceful arguments for not bringing the office of the President to disrepute by heaping insults on the holder of that office, reminding those of Yoruba origin in particular, that it is taboo to disrespect elders. I do not intend to go into what the concept of respect under Yoruba mores and tradition entails, as this is not the time and appropriate forum. One thing is however true of customs and tradition, the concept of respect runs both ways. When a person comports himself in a dignified and respectable manner, such a person usually deserves and, invariably, gets unquestionable respect befitting their status. The Yorubas have a word called ‘Agbaya’, translated into ‘an elder of disrepute’. To be an ‘Agba iya’ an elder would have conducted himself in such opprobrious manners as to attract the condemnation of old and young, e.g. saying things unbecoming of his age, wisdom, and intellect in public places, usurping the rights of those who look up to him for guidance, etc. In relation to Nigeria, one would expect that when elder statesmen are elected, or forced upon the people, as the case may be, those elders are expected to provide leadership by examples, guidance for the younger generations to draw upon, and respect (i.e. not doing anything to diminish the respect attached to their offices, e.g. by stealing, rigging elections, foisting family members on the populace, etc) for the positions occupied. In return for doing all these, there should be no question of disrespect, for such elders would automatically be held in the highest esteem possible. Conversely, elders who have their hands in financial & moral mucks, foaming and dribbling like babies, bellies protruding, filled to the brim with the sweat, blood, milk and honey of the hardworking Nigerian people, do not deserve any respect! The elders who are goading the various factions in Ibadan have surrendered their respects for ignominy. In Yoruba land, a kì í gbọ́ “Lù ú” lẹ́nu àgbà, ‘one never hears “Beat him/her up” in the mouth of an elder’. (Elders resolve disputes; they do not goad disputants on.). Is that what we here from the supposedly old men fanning the embers of hatred in Oyo state? So on what basis should we respect such people? We should reserve to such people the worst form of invective and vituperation! Those already identified in the present day Nigeria, those stealing our money; those who forgot to send their children to private schools abroad until they got into positions of authorities; those maintaining killer squads in the vain quest at perpetuating themselves in power; those who demand that elected representatives of the people should hand over state funds to them on a monthly basis and their godfathers; those who think this country is synonymous with themselves and their families; those who have rigged elections in the past; those contemplating rigging elections; those who were responsible (directly & indirectly) for the untimely deaths of Dele Giwa, Chief Bola Ige, Pa Alfred Rewani, Kudirat Abiola, MKO Abiola, Murderers of Ken Saro Wiwa & other Ogoni leaders, etc; those who refused to do anything about these untimely deaths; those who annulled the fairest election held in Nigeria and those who profited from the ensuing illegal contraption called Interim National Government; all those members of the judiciary who have participated in illegalities, giving judgements in the dead of nights to truncate the will of the people; those elders of the judiciary who appointed cronies of the discredited Fayose to the panel constituted to investigate him and then engineered a State of Emergency in Ekiti State – these lot are all ‘Agba Iya’, discredited elders who have nothing good to pass on to those coming behind! Who would want to emulate thieves?
PRESIDENTIAL ENDORSEMENT At the occasion of President Obasanjo declaring that the forthcoming election is a matter of life and death, it was reported that OBJ endorsed the candidature of Gbenga Daniel in glowing terms. The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria enthused thus: “Nobody is perfect. Or is there anyone that is perfect here? If there is such a person, he or she should raise his or her hand. Daniel may have his own weaknesses, but such can be corrected”. “The devil we know is better than the angel we don’t know. I know Daniel very well, rather than the angel that I don’t know.” (Emphasis supplied) The question of fitness to govern has been elevated to the exalted pedestal of a show-of-hands? What then are those weaknesses that can be cured by a dose or two of chicken vaccines, vaccinations against nimble hands, and against kleptomania? OBJ is quite right to ask from his audience who was perfect but, as usual, the President has missed the point about what leadership is all about. A leader is expected to be beyond reproach, above board, statesmanlike, level-headed and honest beyond any shadow of doubt. A leader that falls below the very high threshold is unfit to be entrusted with leadership. As custodians of law and order, any governor or public officer adjudged to have broken the laws of the land, e.g. relating to operating foreign accounts in Europe or elsewhere is unfit to be entrusted with leadership! The reaction of President Obasanjo to such malfeasance however is a pat on the back and a cursory dismissal of those saying that the people deserved better. A Yoruba saying goes: Àdàpè olè ní ńjẹ́ ọmọ-ọ̀ mi ńfẹ́wọ́, ‘it is a euphemistic description of stealing to say, “My child's hands are uncontrollably nimble.” The President should face facts, not skirt them! Admittedly, the PDP is a party of mostly rogue governors, as attested to by the EFCC Chairman himself in the past, but the same party has produced a governor like Donald Duke so why couldn’t it search for somebody as clean as him for the people of Ogun State? The President has pitched his tent, and lumbered the people, with the devil he knows very well! Our President, the alpha and omega of what constitutes corruption; who is a corrupt politician; who should be the next president of Nigeria; who should be a state governor; and what is good for Nigeria and the Nigerian people! Are we in a democracy or military regime? A democracy headed by a retired General, who brooks no opposition to his views or selection, who was invited by outgoing Generals to hold the forth, whilst they regroup! On another PDP Jamboree, the President was alleged to have said that he had begged Dr Mimiko, a former minister, not to resign from the Federal Executive Council and branded him as corrupt, adding that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) would soon be after him. This point has been put to Nuhu Ribadu and here is his response: …….the President is entitled to his opinion just like other Nigerians. You can say somebody has a case to answer and you can freely say it. Nobody can stop you from voicing your opinion. I do not think what the President said has anything to do with what we are doing. And if you look at it critically, is that name in the list that you saw? Are you saying he is not entitled to his opinion? Or he cannot complain? If he has an issue with a candidate, can’t he complain? Don’t you even give him credit for being honest enough to make it public? If the genuine intention was to stop the candidate, he would not have said it in public. So, people are just capitalizing on every incident to make an unnecessary case. For your information, we don’t have anything against Mimiko. As the articulate and intelligent Nuhu Ribadu has now taken Nigerians for granted, subjugated masses without a voice of representation, I have taken it upon myself to defend the honour of the honest, voiceless, majority. I respond. Dr Mimiko’s name is not on the list, because the President said clearly that the EFCC would soon be after him, a future tense indicating that something in the future would be done to bring him, Mimiko, into the fishing nets of the EFCC. Yes, we agree that General Obasanjo is entitled to his opinion. As the President of Nigeria, the opinion that he is entitled to must be a considered opinion, one arrived at after careful thoughts, not just a spur of the moment premature ejaculation of thoughts! The president who spoke carelessly in Akure is not an ordinary citizen of Nigeria. He is the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed forces of Nigeria. The opinion expressed by him is intrinsically linked to the office he occupies. As the number 1 citizen of Nigeria, we expect our President to think first about the implications of what he would say before opening his mouth. His mouth does not belong to him from the day he swore on oath to represent us all, his mouth is sacred to the Nigerian people. His mouth should be able to rise above frivolities like accusing an ordinary citizen of corruption in public and then threatening to unleash the EFCC against that individual! The behaviour displayed against Dr Mimiko falls short of what is expected of the President of Nigeria. It is a damning indictment of us as a nation that we have a President who is beginning to sound like the late Idi Amin of Uganda (the deranged man who was so sane that he insisted the Queen of England had to come to Uganda to plead for the life of Dennis Hill, a British Citizen who had called him a dictator!) and still conducts himself like he is still the GOC 3 Marine Commando! The President of Nigeria is expected to be a true statesman in the minds and hearts of the people. Who is a true statesman? According to Aristotle (384–322 B.C.), “what the statesman is most anxious to produce is a certain moral character in his fellow citizens, namely a disposition to virtue and the performance of virtuous actions.” (Emphasis mine) I do not therefore agree with Ribadu that the President is entitled to his opinion, in so far as that opinion is one that devalues the office of the President and lowers his estimation as an elder of the nation. African culture frowns at elders who are unable to control their utterances. In Hausa culture, for example, you have the following guidance: Alamarin duniya iyawa ne, ka ji ka kama bakinka, ‘world affairs is a matter of control, (as) you hear (about something) you should control your mouth’. This Hausa proverb warns man to weight what to say, how to say it and when. This is because as a similar proverb explains, Baki (Shi) kan yanka wuya – It is the mouth that severs the neck, ‘one should watch one’ s utterances and guard one’ s tongue against heedless talking for it may even cause one’s death’. (See credit 2 below) EVIDENCE OF BIAS Still on the subject of corrupt politicians, hear Frank Nweke, minister for information: ……owing to the seriousness of the matter and the fact that time was of essence, the Federal Government set up a white paper drafting committee headed by the Minister of Education, Mrs Oby Ezekwesili, (Executive arm of government) with the Minister of the FCT, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai (Executive arm of government) and that of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode (Executive arm of government) as members. The committee’s report was considered by the special session of the Federal Executive Council which also endorsed the recommendations. Nweke said: “The committee was constituted by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo ((Executive arm of government) against the backdrop of the Federal Government’s determination to extend the on-going battle on corruption to all facets of our national lives. “Pursuant to the president’s resolve to fight corruption in our national life, several boards have been established to tackle this menace. The panel is a recent initiative to extend the fight against corruption to the political sphere especially as it affects the selection of would be leaders. “The committee had the following terms of reference: to establish the cases of specific alleged corrupt practices against officers and to invite people who have been alleged and to provide them an opportunity for them to defend themselves against such allegations among others. “The role of the panel is to gather evidence against such crime and determine whether there is sufficient evidence to indict such an accused. Several reasons account for the indictment decisions. An accused person who does not exonerate himself stands the risk of political disqualification apart from suffering embarrassment”. (Emphasis in bracket supplied) Frank Nweke reminds one of comrade Chukwumerije of the infamous Abacha regime and the Ebenezer Babatopes of this world; men who sold their souls to Satan, forgetting that power is transient and history indelible. History is replete with such men and women of dubious integrity, who would stoop to launder images for moribund regimes. Just like the comedian laundering Saddam Hussein’s image, such people know the truth but, for the lure of office, they take leave of their senses and start committing economies of truth! When one reads some of the things that are said by the people in government in Nigeria, it is quite easy to tell that some smart ass had quickly drafted it for the dumb ass and thrust it in front of the zombie who in turn goes before the press to commit political hara-kiri! In other words, what we have perhaps as a result of pervasive nepotism is the collective wisdom of individual ignorance. It is commendable that this government is fighting corruption after 8 years in power. It is commendable that this government has finally seen it fit to take corruption seriously, after 8 glorious years of being able to provide the basic necessities of life, e.g. food, pipe-borne water, housing, incessant power supply, qualitative education, affordable healthcare, motor-able roads, security of life and property! Congratulations to this government for its achievements over the last eight years. According to the World Bank, 80% of our oil wealth is owned by 1% of the population; 70% of private wealth is abroad whilst 3/4 of the country live on about $1 a day! Talking about oil wealth, who has been sent to the Far East recently to pawn our oil blocks? Who? Haba, Nigeria is now a family business! Afìkọ̀kọ̀jalè, bí ọba ayé ò rí ọ, tọ̀rún rí ọ, ‘you-who-steal-in-secret, if an earthly king does not see you, the heavenly king sees you’ As this PDP administration winds up, it will be wrong not to give it credit for its achievements. My view is that a government should be judged against surrounding circumstances or those things available to it, with which one would expect it to provide for its people. This country is therefore blessed with high grade quality Petroleum oil, and rich in human and natural resources. The least that the people of this country asked of its leaders therefore is the provision of basic necessities of life: food, clothing, shelter, health care, education etc. Only those who suffer from delusions of grandeur can say this government has provided the people with the above in the last 8 years. Where it has provided it, it has done so for its cronies and praise singers, girl-friends, children and concubines, those who matter in the corridors of power! Our leaders are looting the treasuries with authority, killing innocent people by systematically starving them to death or leading them to do desperate things that inevitably lead to death. Look at the core of the PDP leadership, Governor Tinubu of Lagos, most of the other Governors; precisely how have all these so called leaders helped to better the lots of their people. They say, and we admit, that the present government cancelled our international debt and introduced GSM! So what? Whose debt? Yours or mine? Not mine! Who incurred those debts in the first place and what were the debts used for? To refurbish dilapidated refineries or to build new ones, provide qualitative education, health services, provide basic necessities of life – food, housing, roads, education, welfare reforms, to resuscitate the Nigerian Airways, develop the communities where the oil is taken from, etc? The answer is an emphatic no! So negotiating the cancellation of our debts was a good thing but it was no big deal in my estimation. Haba, my brothers and sisters, how can somebody shit den tell another man to come clean him yanch? What I am saying is that the cancellation of our debt is tantamount to the people who had incurred the debt settling the score! If you remember, the World Bank is on record that 80% of our oil wealth is owned by 1% of the population, 70% of private wealth is abroad whilst 3/4 of the country live on about $1 a day!
Now on GSM, I feel so disappointed when I hear people using that development as one of the achievements of this PDP administration? What is the relevance of GSM to a hungry stomach? Did we elect our leaders to provide us with GSM when we still have malaria, have no electricity, no pipe-borne & disease-free water, no food, no security of life and property? Wouldn’t you agree that we have our priorities wrong in Nigeria and that those praising Obasanjo for GSM are just so deluded and in a different world? Personally, GSM has not been able to feed my brethrens in Agege (suburb of Lagos, Nigeria), clothe them, house them, protect them from armed robbers, and treat them in equipped hospitals. Ah just so I am not labelled an incurable pessimist, GSM has enabled the people we elected to communicate easily with their girlfriends and boyfriends all over the country and abroad! GSM has afforded them the opportunities to call their children easily in various private schools abroad! GSM has afforded them the opportunities to call their financial advisers and bank managers in Europe to discuss the mortgaging of our collective future. Food first, GSM later! Was it the introduction of mobile phone technology that preceded basic amenities in Europe?
Now then, some people have the tendency to criticise and condemn without proffering solutions. What can be done to arrest the present decay consuming Nigeria? It is quite an elementary thing that we all need to stop doing in Nigeria, and abroad! LET OUR LEADERS STOP STEALING! The Nigerian political class is rotten to the core. If you build a house with a shaky foundation, it will collapse! In my view, we have preponderantly a corrupt president, a corrupt vice-president, corrupt ministers, corrupt governors, corrupts Inspector general of police and police commissioners, corrupt local government chairmen/women, corrupt government officials. In view of the example from the top, everyone is at it! Corruption can only be fought from the top. What is the point of using the EFCC to fight corruption whilst the likes of Chief Olabode George, Otunba Alao-Akala, ‘Dr’ Andy Uba, Governor Peter Odili, Governor Olusegun Agagu, Governor Gbenga Daniel, etc and other favourites of the Presidency are allowed to continue as if their hands have not been found in the tills, the treasury of the people of Nigeria? Where is the murderous Fayose, former governor of Ekiti today, and where is the money laundering and bail-jumping Joshua Dariye? Why is DSP Alamieyeseigha, the former governor of Bayelsa State in prison today, whilst Peter Odili, governor of Rivers State, walks free to loot another day?
At the beginning of this administration, we thought we had finally gotten rid of the cancer of corruption in public life and had high hopes that the death of MKO Abiola was not going to be in vain, that MKO Abiola would be instantly recognised for paying the ultimate price. How wrong and myopic were we! Unfortunately for this PDP government, it is going to be saddled with unsolved deaths; killer squads maintained by known governors; official corruption; smuggling of foreign currency with the presidential jet; the imposition of candidates on the electorates; poverty; flagrant disregard for the law; an Attorney General with selective amnesia for the Professional Ethics of the legal profession & the law in general when it suits his masters, an Attorney General who always gave judgements before the courts did so; infighting between the president and the vice president (corrupt duo); assassination of the Attorney General of the country, Chief Bola Ige; the maintenance of a private Army by another disgrace to the Yoruba people, the Garrison Commander and purveyor of Amala & Gbegiri, based in Ibadan; the upstart in Anambra parading fake credentials but very much loved and protected by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; INEC Chairman with questionable background, etc and nobody can get around that!
To the Attorney General of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Solicitor General, what has happened to these fundamental principles of natural justice? A person who makes a decision should be unbiased and act in good faith. He therefore can not be one of the parties in the case, or have an interest in the outcome. This is expressed in the latin maxim, nemo judex in sua causa: "no man is permitted to be judge in his own cause". Proceedings should be conducted so they are fair to all the parties - expressed in the latin maxim audi alteram partem: "let the other side be heard". Perhaps after revisiting the recent shenanigans, you will wake up and start defending the bedrocks upon which the legal profession is founded? I say to you, Chief Bayo Ojo, Attorney General of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, A-gbẹ́jọ́-ẹnìkan-dájọ́, òṣìkà èèyàn, In principle, there is nothing wrong with fighting corruption but for people to take the PDP seriously in its way against corruption, the country deserves some explanation. The President’s people must explain to us how his former special assistant on domestic affairs came to smuggle American Dollars to the US on the Presidential jet; what sort of investment has catapulted Andy Uba into a Billionaire; why Andy Uba, with fake credential, is being forced on the people of Anambra. This anti-corruption crusade must start from within the PDP, not from outside – ANPP rings a bell! Fálànà gbọ́ tìrẹ, tara ẹni là ńgbọ́, ‘Falana, look to your own affairs; one's attention should be focused first on one's own affairs’ (Charity begins at home). THE FUTURE! According to Carlyle, Thomas, 1795–1881, a society can change, but it must do so intelligently, directed by its best men, its “heroes” Wither our heroes? Whilst we all look forward to the forthcoming elections or selections, let us all remember the saying of our President, his fatherly opinion, his statesmanlike admonishment to us all that: “……this election is a do or die affair for PDP…” The President has spoken….again!!!
Credits
Abdul Jimoh, LLB(Hons), MSc, MCSE.
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