A Bolekaja Presidency (8)
By Reuben Abati

"Come on don't be uncharitable. It is not fair to laugh at a man when he is down. And mind you nobody is my man in this matter. I am like rainfall; I fall on anybody".

" I just thought that the Vice President's photograph would make the Obasanjo camp happy. The Vice President in crutches, returning from a hospital in England, trying to get his feet on the ground."

"In fact I thought you were going to comment on the fact that all our leaders now travel abroad for medical treatment. The other week, Yar'Adua, the PDP Presidential candidate had to be rushed to a hospital in Germany in an air ambulance just because he had common cold. The Vice President also had a domestic accident, something happened to his knees and he had to go all the way to England. Governors and Ministers are always traveling abroad for medical check up. It is terrible. It means our hospitals at home are not functioning."

"You mean if God answers your prayers and you suddenly become an important man in this country, you will hand over the management of your health to Nigerian doctors."

"For your information, I am already an important man, and I use Nigerian hospitals and doctors. If our hospitals are not good, we should upgrade them and address whatever is responsible for their low status."

"So you know that Nigerian hospitals are not reliable?""The problem is that of facilities. We have good doctors, but they don't have facilities to work with"

"Even if they have facilities, I don't think it is safe for an important man to rely on a Nigerian doctor. Look, members of the Nigeria Medical Association are involved in partisan politics. These our political leaders do not know who to trust. This is election time. There is so much animosity in the land. If you go to a Nigerian doctor and he happens to belong to the opposition or he is bought over, he can give you a deadly injection, or rub something into your wound."

" I don't buy that. Even when there was no election, Nigerian leaders trooped abroad for medical care. Besides, doctors are sworn to the Hippocratic Oath."

"And I tell you that the Hippocratic Oath was drawn up by a hypocrite. You are free to believe whatever suits you. These days, it is better to be careful."

"When for God's sake are we going to be truly independent, then? When are we going to become a nation truly? Ghana was 50 years old two weeks ago. Ghana is standing on its feet at 50. Nigeria is in crutches. When we are 50 years old as an independent nation in a few years, I doubt if we would have much to celebrate. Even the newly recruited coach of national football team is a foreigner."

"I don't see anything wrong in that. Even England uses foreign coaches."

"But Berti Vogts has said he does not intend to live in Nigeria. He intends to train Nigerian footballers from a distance. He will be based in Europe. Why employ a national football coach who is telling us from the very beginning that our country is not good enough for him."

" I don't know why you are worrying yourself. Have I not told you that many of our big men are planning to go abroad until after the elections? The Nigerian elite benefits the most from the country's resources but its members do not want to share out of the country's agonies"

"That is simple. I continue to argue that if the international community is really interested in supporting the 2007 April elections, all the embassies should cancel the visas of any Nigerian big man, or refuse to give them and their families any visas during this period. We must all stay here together and manage our country through what is looking like a difficult transition programme."

" What are our big men afraid of? I even hear that some of the ministers already have international jobs and they may move on to the next assignment before May 29."

"But come to think of it, the threat of violence in the coming elections is very real. I hear the SSS has identified some of the volatile spots, but if you ask me I would say that the entire country is violence-prone. When I read some of the adverts in the papers these days, I wonder why some of the adverts are allowed? So if you live in one of the volatile states, and you can afford a ticket for you and family, is it not better to run away and return later? "

"But what kind of democracy are we running if the people have to run away from it? "

"The people are not running away; it is only a few people who do not want to be caught in the coming crossfire."

"You know to tell you the truth. I don't think the elections will take place, and if they do, there will be serious problems of credibility."

"Credibility problem yes, but the elections will come and pass like all things Nigerian".

"I like your optimism, but look at what is going on"

"I am listening"

"Atiku's disqualification is a time bomb. It will explode sooner than later."

"But Atiku is just one man. Besides, his disqualification was foreseeable. The President had made it clear that Atiku will not be allowed to run for office as President. How about the other Presidential candidates? Twenty-four Presidential candidates are going to slug it out in April. Governor Orji Kalu was cleared by the way."

"Do you call many of those other candidates Presidential materials? It was when the INEC list was published that I came across most of those names for the first time. I am not sure anybody knows them either. But as for Atiku, his disqualification is illegal and unconstitutional. INEC says it is interpreting the Constitution. It has no powers to do so, only a court of law, with proper jurisdiction can do so. It says it will respect the rulings of the court. That is sophistry. And Kalu, What about him? They know that he doesn't pose a threat."

"Atiku has gone to court, but what does he hope to gain? "

" There is a clause in the Electoral Act which says that if a candidate is able to prove successfully that he or she was unjustly disqualified, that would render the results of the entire elections nugatory."

"Don't count on that. Once the elections take place, the courts will take a decision that is in the national interest. Atiku's cause would have been overtaken by events and the courts will find the reason not to act in vain. The Supreme Court will not act as a catalyst for national instability. You must bear this in mind."

"Okay, if the courts disappoint Atiku, how about his threat that the elections will not stand without him."

"Only the courts can determine that the elections will not stand."

"Okay what of the threat by the Action Congress that without Atiku, there will be no election."

"All the people who have been boasting that no Atiku, no election, Solomon Lar and co., if they make any move to make good their threat, they will be arrested and locked up. Look at what is going on in Zimbabwe. Mugabe is getting away with his suppression of the opposition. After May 29, if Atiku utters a word, the new government will pick him up; he will be too busy fighting to stay out of detention, even if the next President may well be a push-me-I-enter President. "

"Is Robert Mugabe now a role model for President Obasanjo"

"Yes. And what is wrong with that. After all Mugabe is old enough to a Baba to Baba. So what again are you talking about? "

"The ballot papers have not been printed"

"Stop making a mountain out of a molehill. It takes a newspaper house how many hours to print so many thousands of pages. All the 100 million ballot papers you need for the elections can be produced within a week and moved to location in two days across the country. Technology will take care of that."

"The police are stockpiling arms and ammunitions. Is this war?"

"Yes it is. There is too much at stake. Do you realise that this is a wealthy country and that the stakes are very high?"

"But how about the people in all of this? The people want a level playing field. They want to be in a position to make a choice and decide who should rule them. That is what democracy is all about. But that is not what is happening. And that is why the Sultan has to intervene to say that the electorate should be allowed to decide."

"The electorate. The electorate. The people don't always know what is good for them."

"But we have an idea of what is bad. Take for example what has happened at the NTA."

"The Federal Government has redeployed the management staff of the television station. I mean that is crazy. And what is the offence of the managers of NTA. They were accused of giving Atiku too much air time, and allowing him to use the NTA to attack the President in a documentary."

"He who pays the piper dictates the tune. If a man pays your salary, the least you can do is to be loyal to him."

" You are talking rubbish. Have you taken something this morning? Obasanjo does not pay the salaries of NTA workers. That station belongs to the Nigerian people and the Nigeria Broadcasting Code, and the Electoral Act direct that every media house must ensure objectivity in covering election issues."

"Fine. But what if the Federal Ministry of Information tells you that what has happened is no more than routine re-organisation."

"No. This is a case of victimization."

"You are really angry today. Look, I am learning to take things in my stride because I have seen that the way this country is going, one can end up with hypertension if you spend all your time worrying about the country. I went for a routine medical check up the other day, the doctor advised me to loosen up and I can't afford to travel abroad for medical treatment."

"You? The doctor should have given you a bottle of beer. Standard prescription."

"You probably don't realise how much Nigeria's problems affect us all individually, how it reduces our humanity. Didn't you see the photograph in The Nation newspaper on Thursday showing a former military administrator, Akaagerger, prostrating for Chief Barnabas Gemade and other party leaders, just because he wanted to be allowed to go to the Senate? "

"Look at Joseph Makoju, the PHCN man, he has the effrontery to say that on the matter of power supply, we have never had it so bad. He should stop complaining, he should do his job and make sure that there is power supply."

"I think he also said something about pipeline vandalism"

"Then in that case, we should not expect power supply till the end of the year. By then the country will be effectively in crutches."

"The country is already in a wheel chair, not crutches. May be we should contract out the entire country to private managers."

" There are people who are in fact saying that the British should come back. We are still under colonialism anyway."

"Come on, don't forgive up. In spite of everything, this is still a lovely country."

"Well, well, at least the Senate brought some happiness to us during the week with its amendment of the EFCC Act."

"It is not only the EFCC Act that should be amended; the National Assembly should have overhauled the Constitution long ago."

"I like the idea of the EFCC not being under the control of the President or the Attorney General of the Federation. Even the EFCC Chairman and his staff will like that very much. The Senate's proposal will make their job much easier"

"Did you watch Nuhu Ribadu on BBC HardTalk"

"No. I missed that."

"He was asked questions about Obasanjo which he could not really answer. You could see him struggling very hard not to say anything that will offend his Boss. That is precisely what the Senate seeks to correct."

"But will the House of Representatives co-operate and uphold the views of the Senate?"

"I don't see why not:"

"But how about time? Will this National assembly be able to pass the amendment before its tenure ends?"

"You will notice that the Senate handled the amendment expeditiously. If the House of Reps does the same thing, then yes."

"But what if the President refuses to give his assent"

"Then the next National Assembly will be reminded of the unfinished business of the EFCC Act."

"Looks like the Senate has become very radical."

"You know many of the members are not coming back. They lost out during the party primaries, and they are aggrieved."

"But what does it matter? When they stumble on a good thing, we should support them and in the matter of the EFCC Act, they deserve the support of all stakeholders."

"They will need more than that, I can tell you."

Robot  # 1 | 18.03.2007 01:39

I saw your man on the front pages of the newspapers on Friday. He was in crutch...Read the full article.

edoji  # 2 | 18.03.2007 05:13

Lets us all laugh at Nigeria, Except that the issues at stake are not funny. Thanks Abati, at least you are not like Segun Adeniyi, for whom the most important issue of the day is 'why he will not be a doctor'! 1. Atiku should soldier on, at least there is something to look forward to reading from Nigeria. Moreover, it would enrich our jurispundence. 2. AC, should move on to plan B, that is if they have any. 3. Opposition parties should unite, Yar Adua could be president but let PDP not control the other levers of power, Nigeria would be more interesting. 4. Senate should move ahead and indict Obasanjo and Atiku, OBJ should not eat his cake and have it. Possibly impeach him if they could! 5. Please, make una tell Buhari to start his campaign. Has he given up the fight even before the race starts? 6. My dear Anmbrarians should protest-vote-out Andy Ubah. If Ngige and Perter Obi could not make it, at least, Virgy Etiaba is a good alternative - if not for anything else she is from my village! 7. What would Sultan Dasuki do now -seeing the fate of Atiku - that he has dabbled into the political arena? 8. Finaly, would someone sack Iwu, and appoint Professor Humphery Nwosu in his place!

akuluouno  # 3 | 18.03.2007 06:15

Dear Abati, Thanks oncemore for your Bolekaja series. Enough has been said about the sordid state of governance in the country and the question is what does Umar think he would do better than our father when he takes up office. That means that the ancien regime would continue with all the rot. Can Nigeria endure that for another eight years? Edoji, What has Sultan Dasuki to do with AA or were you implying Sultan Saad the new one? Well Etiaba may get in seeing that even a goat is better than that akalaholi fake dr nnamdi uba our father's son after Gbenga. :cry: :cry:

gwobezentashi  # 4 | 18.03.2007 10:22

April polls: the dangers ahead Atiku vs INEC: the die is cast 18/3/2007 The decision to stop Vice-President Atiku Abubakar from contesting next month’s presidential election was taken long before the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) did him last Thursday. What INEC did to Atiku was not unexpected. Every discerning Nigerian who could read the lips of INEC Chairman, Profesor Maurice Iwu, knew that Atiku’s exclusion from Aprils 21 the presidential polls was a foregone conclusion. Although Iwu tried to couch his action in legal niceties, he did not succeed in pulling the wool over the people’s eyes. By stopping Atiku in defiance of a subsisting court order, Iwu has shown that he is working for another interest rather than that of the nation in the forthcoming polls. Why was Atiku excluded from the presidential race? What is his offence? Is his disagreement with President Olusegun Obasanjo enough reason to stop him from contesting the April 21 presidential election? Although by stopping Atiku, INEC distanced itself from the last poser its reasons for taking the action which seemed to answer the first two posers do not appear to hold water. In excluding Atiku from the race, Iwu restated the powers of INEC to do so under the 1999 Constitution, arguing that by virtue of the vice-president’s purported indictment by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Bayo Ojo-led administrative panel, he is ineligible to stand election. Referring to the March 7, 2007 verdict of Justice Babs Kuewumi of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which declared that INEC cannot disqualify Atiku and any other candidate for that matter from contesting election, Iwu enthused: "the judgment is a clear vindication of the commission’s long-held and widely-publicised view that it does, in fact, have not just the right but the duty to (1) verify the particulars and information provided by the candidates to see if they are factually ad legally consistent and (2) screen the candidates to ensure that they meet the criteria clearly outlined in the 1999 constitution…" Contrary to his assertion, however, these duties do not include disqualification of candidates, which it has done in the cases of Atiku, former Governor Chris Ngige, Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State and Action Congress (AC) governorship candidate in Delta State, Mr Peter Okocha. To suit his purpose, Iwu deliberately left out the portion of the judgment which held that the commission count disqualify candidates. "INEC has no power to disqualify any candidate. The power to disqualify any candidate is vested in the court. Nobody except the court has the right to disqualify any candidate from contesting election once he is duly nominated by his political party for election …," Justice Kuewumi held. Truly, the powers that INEC is alluding to in stopping Atiku and other candidates are non-existent both in the Constitution and the Electoral Act. There is nowhere in these two laws that INEC is given the powers to disqualify candidates. Its functions as outlines in the Constitution and the Electoral Act do not include disqualification. They do not even confer the commission with the power to verify or screen candidates. The closest to these are what is contained in section 32 of the Electoral Act. It reads: Section 32 (1) – Every political party shall not later than 120 days before the date appointed for a general election under the provisions of this Act submit to the commission in the prescribed form the list of the candidates the party proposes to sponsor at the election; (2) The list shall be accompanied by an affidavit sworn to by each candidate at the High Court of the state, indicating that he has fulfilled all the constitutional requirements for election into that office; (3) The commission shall within seven days of the receipt of the personal particulars of the candidate, publish the same in the constituency where the candidate intends to contest the election; (4) any person who has reasonable grounds to believe that any information given by a candidate in the Affidavit is fails may file a suit at High Court of a State of Federal Court against such person seeking a declaration that the information contained in the affidavit is false; (5) If the court determines that any of the information contained in the Affidavit is also the court shall issue an order disqualifying the candidate from contesting the election. Rather than follow the as requested of the Act, INEC task it upon itself to verify the candidates’ claims and on the basis of its findings disqualified some of them. Did INEC, as requested by law, display the particulars of the candidates in their respective constituencies? In the case of presidential candidates, did it publish their particulars nationwide? The answers are in the negative. Executive lawlessness Because of Atiku’s vociferous campaign against third term, his boss’ initial joker was to deny him the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for his presidential bid. But the vice-president proved smarter by getting the ticket of another party, the Action Congress (AC). Rather than be an impartial arbiter, INEC has chosen to be partisan. The only ground on which it has, on the behest of the President and PDP, stopped Atiku from contesting next month’s presidential election is because of his purported indictment by EFCC and the Ojo panel of inquiry. Before the country knew what was happening, the Federal Government had gazetted the report. The reason for this is obvious: to use constitutional means to stop Atiku from vying for elective office in April. This is why today it has become a singsong, of sorts, for INEC to say that it "does not disqualify candidates, it is the Constitution that disqualifies." Section 137 (1) (i) of the 1999 Constitution stipulates that a person shall not be qualified for election to the office of President if he has been indicted for embezzlement or fraud by a Judicial Commission of Inquiry or an Administrative Panel of Inquiry or a Tribunal set up under the Tribunals of Inquiry Act, a Tribunals of Inquiry Law or any other law by the Federal or State Government which indictment has been accepted by the Federal or State Government. In the midst of all this Atiku-phobia, INEC pretended to be busy on another front preparing for the elections. The voter registration, which is central to the elections, was eventually concluded on February 4, despite the hiccups experienced during the exercise. The exercise showed that INEC was not fully prepared for next month’s elections. The imported Direct Data Capture (DDC) machines used for the registration of voters did not arrive in time until several weeks after the exercise started. The result was that voters waited at registration centres in vain for several weeks and because frustrated with the exercise. When the machines eventually arrived, they were no longer in the mood to participate in the exercise complaints of scarcity of the DDC machines, six were found in the Ibadan home of a PDP stalwart, Chief Lamidi Adedibu; where they were being used to register voters. Adedibu, in cahoots with some INEC staff, had resorted to registering voters in his house in what is believed to be a grand plan to rig the elections. In a case like this, the law should have taken its course, but Adedibu is above the law. He has remained as free as the air, while the President who went to Ibadan on a presidential campaign tour two weeks ago, praised him to high heavens. Apparently because Adedibu is untouchable, the INEC staff, who connived with him, have also been let off the hook. INEC’s preparations for the elections are another source of worry. How prepared is INEC for the polls? The eminent Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III believes that INEC is not fully prepared for the elections. Warning that traditional rules should not be used as fire brigade men if crisis arises over the forthcoming polls, the Sultan said it is difficult to convince people on the commission’s readiness to conduct free, fair and violence-free elections. "We cannot sit down, fold our arms and say everything is okay. Our people talk to us out of frustration on how ready INEC is to conduct the elections because people are not seeing activities to show that elections are holding on April 14. we only see billboards and posters on the streets and towns but what is INEC doing. I wish the INEC chairman himself were here to give this gathering the opportunity to ask him this question face-to-face. This will enable us to go back to our people and say ‘yes’, the INEC chairman has told us this as far as the elections are concerned." The Sultan who spoke at an INEC organized workshop in Kaduna, spoke the minds of many Nigerians who are worried about INEC’s preparation for the election. The people’s concern about the polls however is secondary to INEC. What is uppermost on its mind is to stop Atiku from contesting the presidential election and that it did on Thursday. Was INEC right in stopping Atiku from contesting the presidential election? Did it take the judgment of Justice Kuewumi into consideration before it took that action? What value did it place on the verdict of Justice Inumidun Akande of the Ikeja High Court in Lagos State which quashed the PTDF report and the Federal Government gazette on it? No matter what anybody says INEC believes that it is right in disqualifying Atiku and others and cites the verdict of Justice Kuewumi, where it is convenient for it to do so, to buttress its claim. Condemning INEC for taking such decisions despite a subsisting court order, a lawyer, Mr. Richard Akhonaruogho, the country representative of the International Bar Association (IBA) said it is wrong for the commission to flout lawful court orders. According to Akonaruogho, "It is executive lawlessness. INEC is lawless. The judgment of Justice Kuewumi that INEC cannot disqualify candidates remains the law until set aside by a superior court. Justice Inumidun Akande of the Ikeja High Court also threw out the EFCC and Ojo panel report and quashed the gazette that was based on them. In law, once an act has been delared a nullity, it is a nullity for all purpose. All persons affected by a proceeding that is a nullity are thereby set free. It is as if those indicted were not indicted. This lawless behaviour portends grave danger for this democratic transition." To another lawyer and Secretary-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Dr Lateef Adegbite, "INEC has to be extremely careful, because it is speaking from both sides of the mouth. On one occasion it is saying it has no powers to screen and to disqualify. And later again, it is saying its screening is confined to errors of information contained in the returns. Again now it is saying it will not clear any person indicted for dishonesty. That is a very dangerous position to take, and in order to avoid confusion that may throw the entire electoral process into chaos, INEC should reverse itself and come out with a very firm position on following legality". Expectedly, Atiku, who is directly affected by INEC’s decision has vowed to fight his exclusion from the forthcoming election up to the Supreme Court, while one of his lawyers, Professor Ben Nwabueze (SAN) insists that INEC has no powers to disqualify candidates. As observed by Adegbite, INEC has not ceased from "speaking from both sides of the mouth" on the issue of eligibility of candidates for the forthcoming poll. Seeds of discord In excluding Atiku from the presidential polls, INEC chose to ignore the verdict of Justice Akande which set aside the EFCC and Ojo panel reports and gazette that arose from them. Delivering judgment in a suit brought by Fasawe, Akande quashed the PTDF report and the gazette, which she said, had no "legal foundation since the EFCC and Ojo panel reports on which it was based have been set aside". Although Atiku was not a party to the suit, the verdict touched on an issue that directly affected him. Because he was not a party to the suit, INEC is contending that the verdict cannot avail him in his quest to contest the presidential election. When did it become the law that someone who is not a party to a suit cannot avail himself of the judgment therefrom if it can help him in another case? What is the essence of legal authorities if a litigant cannot make use of a judgment in a case to secure advantage in another case? Must Atiku be a party to the Fasawe suit before INEC accepts a valid and subsisting court order? If the court had upheld the gazette, will INEC dilly-dally before carrying out the order? Justice Akande’s verdict which INEC claims cannot avail Atiku is clear, succinct and unambiguous. Can this arbiter be trusted? INEC’s resort to subterfuge in the handling of the Atiku case will not help it and the cause of democracy. As an umpire in the forthcoming elections, INEC is not supposed to join the fray. What it is doing now should have been done by parties opposed to Atiku’s candidacy. Unfortunately, INEC has made itself the alternate PDP and is fighting the party’s cause to see that Atiku is disqualified. INEC’s action portends grave danger to the rule of law, democracy and constitutionalism. In law, court orders, no matter how unpalatable they may be, are bound to be obeyed until set aside by a superior court. But INEC sees itself as the law and like the President has resorted to disobeying court orders. Isn’t this the same commission that will conduct next month’s polls? Can INEC be trusted to conduct free and fair elections? If INEC can disobey court orders, how safe are the results of the elections that will be in its custody? Won’t Iwu be accused of partisanship if the candidates of PDP, which he seems to be working for win overwhelmingly in next month’s elections? How legitimate will the results of the elections be? The fear that Iwu is working for PDP may not be unfounded. In recent times, he has been hobnobbing with stalwarts of the party. On the night of Tuesday, March 7, Iwu was sighted in the hotel room of PDP National Secretary, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, who addressed reporters in Lagos that day on why the party’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Umar Yar’Adua, was flown abroad for medical treatment. What was Iwu doing in Maduekwe’s hotel room that night? Is it decent for him to be openly associating with a member of the ruling party on the eve of a crucial election? To what did Maduekwe owe that visit? Has Iwu been paying such nocturnal visits to members of other parties in their hotel rooms in any part of the country? Being a man who should be above board, how will he explain the visit he and the INEC Secretary, Alhaji Abdullahi Kautama, reportedly paid to the Villa a few weeks ago in the wee hours of the day. Why were they at the Villa? Were they summoned or did they go there on their own volition? If they must go to the Villa, must it be at the ungodly hour of 1a.m? Applying double standard Going by Justice Kuewumi’s verdict, Atiku cannot be stopped by INEC from contesting the April 21 presidential polls. He can only be stopped if the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court rule against him. But INEC has gone against the order of a court and excluded Atiku from the presidential election. With Atiku serving notice of fighting the matter up to the Supreme Court, the battle ahead promises to be tough. If Atiku and others who are aggrieved by INEC’s action go to court and obtain an injunction, like the infamous Association of Better Nigeria (ABN) did in 1993, stopping the elections, won’t there be chaos and anarchy in the land? Will Iwu comply with the order and put the elections on hold? Will he disregard the order just as one of his predecessors, Professor Humphrey Nwosu did in 1993? Won’t the injunction so obtained be of benefit to those angling for tenure extension? If the elections are postponed beyond May 29, can the President continue in office? Who will confer him with such powers to remain in office? Will he derive such powers from the National Assembly or by fiat? Under what section of the Constitution can he remain in office beyond May 29? In the event of the President being forced out as it happened to former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida in 1999, will an interim government be put in place? Is interim government recognised by the Constitution." How will the interim government operate? Under the 1999 Constitution, the President is entitled to two terms of four years each after which he is no longer eligible to hold office. According to section 137(1) (b) of the Constitution: A person shall not be qualified for election to the office of President if he has been elected to such office at any two previous elections. Obasanjo was elected in 1999 and re-elected in 2003. Unlike Nwosu’s National Electoral Commission (NEC) which defied the order of Justice Bassey Ikpeme of the Abuja High Court stopping the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Iwu should realise that things have changed and that he cannot act like his predecessor who held office under military rule. Moreover, there was an ouster clause in the electoral decree under which Nwosu acted, which barred the courts from adjudicating on election matters. There is no such provisions in the Electoral Act because democracy’s is all about the rule of law. So, won’t the nation be heading to a cul-de-sac if INEC ignores a court order stopping the elections? Will the elections so held be legal? Will those who obtained the injunction fold their arms or take up arms against INEC? On what basis will the president who emerges from such elections form the government? There is a clear and present danger ahead because of Iwu’s seeming partisanship. He has not created a level playing field for all the candidates and those who feel cheated are not likely to take things lying low. Some of these candidates were disqualified on grounds that they were indicted by EFCC and the Bayo Ojo and Ignatius Ayua-led administrative panels respectively. http://www.thenationonlineng.com/dynamicpage.asp?id=13737

edoji  # 5 | 18.03.2007 11:02

Sorry, I mean Sa'ad Abubakar 111

Demaikel  # 6 | 18.03.2007 16:21

Its nice reading another series of "Bolekaja Presidency". I'm well versed in Yoruba Language (of course, I'm not just a Yoruba by name). No other phrase could have better described the recent happenings in our hallowed presidency than "Bolekaja". In as much as I do not support corruption, I still believe that Baba Balogun can not be the accuser and the judge in his own case. The fate of Atuku should be left to the court and the populace to decide. Anarchy really looms as Prof Soyinka put it. The enemies of democracy are at work and are ready to capitalise on any excuse to forment trouble. Well, Dr. Abati is not alone on his fear for the coming election. My monthly four-day off falls during the April election but I have decided to stay clear of Nigeria if I must travel out of my present location. I would rather stay glued to CNN and browse for breaking news on Nigeria if I need to be updated. I will aslo pray for my people so that their blood will not be used as sacrifice for Baba's (through INEC) undoing. Lord, when will you restore the captivity of Nigeria as you did to Zion?