16 Jul 2008 |
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Today I am compelled to write directly on this site exactly the way I feel inside me without utilizing the benefits of reviews, corrections, grammar-checks and other editorial stuffs. The current situations in Nigeria are disgusting me and I am feeling like puking or giving up that I will ever see a country where righteousness prevails. Nigerians were insulted and abused with the ascension of Hon. Patricia Eteh. We barely pulled through with the ugliness of that encounter when an appeal court declared that there was "nothing wrong in the election that brought in president Yaradua. We swallow that... we hoped Supreme Court will become more supreme when they pronounce their own judgments on the presidential elections now this one of David Mark in coming in as the polity remains silent and waiting for goddot. What is happening to us as a nation? Where are the spirits of rebellion which propelled us to aim at and insist on righteousness or the power to say no in the face of temptations and to declare that; I will do only that which is glorifies my conscience and exalts my God? A friend was at my office late last night. He brought his toy mobile with a radio inside it to me and as newscast was on he announced to me that Senate President David Mark won his case meaning that he was rightly and duly elected. I laughed because it was unbelievable. I tried not to believe what I read; I cancelled my beer o’clock hour with my friends and went off to sleep without any ceremony. I drank Kunnusaki and went off to dreamland where I would not have to rationalize the tribunal and apeal results. However this morning it became believable that what I heard was true. I even heard worse; the tribunal in Oshun state declared that nothing was wrong with the election of Oyinlola. Those two judgments I read this morning were huge embarrassments to me. I am ashamed of what I read and I begin to wonder in my mind... could this be the expression of the true state of things in this country? Does this mean the country no longer has conscience? Could this be that these two judgments are proper analysis of our stage of judiciary and democracy? These judges see that we no longer have NEPA, we have no security, we have no idea what direction the country is going; nothing is clear in this country anymore, our visions have been eroded and no longer have meanings. These judges read newspaper and watch TV to read about how much NEPA was defrauded and massacred and these judges still go ahead and allowed themselves to be persuaded to read these judgments? Ah... why did I come to this world as a Nigerian? I work so hard, I pay so much in my income taxes, I get no electricity at home, security is not ensured for me, national infrastructures are all messed up and to rub insult upon our wounds, I wake up to hear about these level of reasoning by our judges....I am asking... is this the best we can achieve in our nation in the year 2008? Abiola paid the ultimate price to institute democracy in Nigeria. Few days ago, we wept and grieved remembering that it is ten years since he so laid down his life for democracy, Obasanjo and Moris Iwuruwuru murdered democracy now these judges Justice Zainab Adamu Bulkachuwa (The two other justices on the panel, Justices Ahmed Belgore and Abubakar Yahaya, agreed with her lead judgment), Justice Thomas Naron finally nailed the long processes we had endured since time past. How and when did we become a nation without a conscience? Have we lost all shame all glow... things that made us strong as human beings things that remind us that we are here in this world only temporarily? Have we lost all in the quest for power? "The returning officer at the top of the electoral pyramid lacked the power to cancel the election. Section 69 of the Electoral Act 2006 which says that, 'declaration of scores of candidates and the return of a candidate shall be final subject to review by a tribunal or court in an election petition proceedings under this Act', does not confer such power on him. The lower tribunal was therefore; wrong to have held that he had such powers. "For all that has been said, this appeal has merits and I hereby allow it. The decision of the lower tribunal, which was given on February 28 is hereby set aside. The return of the appellant as senator representing Benue State South Senatorial District is hereby affirmed. I make no order as to costs." (Guardian) "The judgments have gone further to affirm our believe that the masses are the bastions of their own last hope" (Odewale Egghead) Ah.... these judges do this... they pronounced these judgments so flagrantly and so unashamed... aha.... I am appealing o... I am appealing to those who know those who are doing all these chest games on Nigerians and Nigeria... retributions and payback will happen o. I heard as people rejoiced over these judgments are continue to add up the piles of shame we have been gathering. I saw them waving flags of peace and seeking reconciliations. They laugh at us now; because we are too righteous, it is their day to laugh now so let them laugh, when the time comes, they, their children and the children of their sympathizers will weep. Let me remind these judges about the echoing words of Professor Wole Soyinka, the Kongi that refuses to retired that: It needs no special knowledge to point out that Osun state is not alone but, right now, it occupies centre stage, so, let us state it unambiguously - Osun State Electoral Tribunal - STINKS! The minimal requirement for the lancing of this purulent boil is to make examples, publicly and with swift deliberation. Even as the primarily concerned bodies - the NBA, the Judicial Service Commission, the Supreme Court, the Body of Benchers etc. take the mandatory procedural action, the people themselves must act to ensure that the guilty among these betrayers of a people's trust (Justice Zainab Adamu Bulkachuwa, Justices Ahmed Belgore and Abubakar Yahaya, Justice Thomas Naron) are turned into social pariahs, unable to show their faces out of doors, are not tolerated in their social clubs, remain isolated like vectors of infectious diseases - in effect placed under house arrest by the sheer weight of public opprobrium. (soyinka)
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