Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties
John Milton

Democracy is indeed very good and desirable. However, just like any other good thing it has it costs.

In our own case, the struggle against military rule and its attendant losses can be readily pointed to as one of the costs incurred in securing our new found love- democracy. It should be borne in mind that except we want to deceive ourselves, that is not the total cost. Just as is the case with financial transactions, in a democratic setting, running costs are also incurred in addition to the initial outlay.

One outstanding cost is the damage caused to society by the oft-misinterpreted and misunderstood concept of freedom. In a society such as ours, the concept of freedom is usually translated to mean impunity and so we hide under it to unleash all manner of destructive behavior on society such that societal norms and values are threatened.

The English dictionary defines norms as: standards of behaviour that are typical of or accepted within a particular group or society. Values are defined as beliefs about what is right and wrong and what is important in life.

From these definitions, it is clear that norms and values are more important and more expansive than individual freedom. Therefore, any individual’s freedom can indeed be curtailed if the exercise of such freedom will bring collateral damage or is in conflict with societal norms and values.

The DSP Alams saga has brought out so many things about us as a nation that at a point one was forced to ask: what are our values and norms?. Who are we? Do we really cherish excellent conduct or do we just pay lip service to it?

Do we encourage stealing, rascality, indiscipline, destruction etc. What is the colour of our norms and values as a people.

Do professionals live up to their callings or do they fall prey to political and ethnic considerations?

However, I wish to salute the courage of those who stood on the side of the protection of societal values while the saga lasted. One person that readily comes to my mind is General Muhammed Buhari. Chief Gani Fawehinmi was clearly at the forefront in condemning the actions of the ex-governor and defending the laws of our land

In the beginning

Immediately the ex- governor was arrested the media was inundated with stories such as (1)It was a selective justice (2) It was because of resource control (3) It was because the man was in the V.P’s camp (4) etc. In all of these, none of the defenders of DSP offered any explanation for the offences which the man was arrested for. To them it was unimportant. These “defenders of democracy” were not intelligent enough to know that stealing is an offence, that there is a very strong connection between corruption (especially at the states and local government levels) and the poverty of our people. Perhaps some of them were aware that it was wrong but they wanted a share of the loot through patronage.

THEN

Then the man/ woman jumped bail. Even those of us who are not lawyers know that this is an offence and act of gross misconduct. Then the town criers went to work insulting society and undermining all known values connected to decency. We heard such things as (1) The man would not have had a fair hearing in the U.K (2) The man’s immunity should be extended to U.K (3) The federal government is the one persecuting him (4) He did the right thing by jumping bail etc. Unfortunately, these statements were made largely by lawyers.

And the Ijaw nation, they rolled out drums to welcome him until some youths kicked against their display of heresy.

Impeachment Section 188 of the Nigerian constitution deals with the removal of a governor or deputy governor. Of particular interest are subsections 6 and 10.

188(6) states that “the holder of the office whose conduct is being investigated under this section shall have the right to defend in person or be represented before the panel by a legal practitioner of his own choice.

188(10) states that “No proceedings or determination of the panel or of the House of Assembly or any matter relating to such proceedings or determination shall be entertained or questioned in any court.

Despite these provisions we have heard some lawyers say such things as (1) The impeachment was null and void (2) It was hurriedly done (3) The man was not given fair hearing. I just could not believe my eyes and ears when even law lecturers joined the chorus in making these statements. From my lay man’s point of view, a man who has a right and fails to exercise that right cannot turn round to blame anyone for his failure. It is to the credit of Alams lawyer that he was not smart enough. Instead of entering appearance, he was busy arguing about the composition of the panel. He should have entered a defense (if there was any) and then start to complain; perhaps a few days would have been gained. But he used “Nigerian sense” and thereby lost the opportunity offered his client to exercise his rights. Of course, the rights under subsection 6 is limited to a very large extent by section 10. So whichever way you look at it, anyone with a bad case such as Alam’s could not have won the case. However, for some lawyers to say he was not given the opportunity to exercise his rights is absurd, meaningless and unprofessional.

Conclusion It will be interesting for the advocates of “selective justice” to furnish us with the criteria used for this assertion. If it is 3^rd term, then Prof. Osuji, Mrs. Osomo, Mr. Tafa Balogun, late Mr. Afolabi (the ID card man etc.) were also opponents of 3^rd term? That sounds funny and childish? Doesn’t it ? I think those who are opposed to President Obasanjo should be more serious and come up with more reasonable accusations than the ones being peddled currently. And as for the larger society I am of the opinion that we should uphold and advance the frontiers of the values and norms. We should build a better society that everyone will be proud of.

The federal government may indeed be accused of high handedness in the handling of some of the aspects of this matter but the truth is that whichever way you look at it what Alams did were wrong and should not be condoned in any civilized society.

Societal norms and values should be preserved because it is only such that can guarantee development, peace, security, poverty alleviation and rule of law.

Thank you for reading this short essay.

Taslim Anibaba(FCA) 13^th December, 2005

Robot  Villager

# 1 In a society such as ours, the concept of freedom is usually translated to mean impunity and so we hide under it to unleash all manner of destructive behavior on society such that societal norms and values are threatened...........The DSP Alams saga has brought out so many things ...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 13.12.2005 23:31

Unregistered

# 2 Taslim, I need to take you on for you are disingenuos. That Obasanjo is corrupt evades your thick skull. That Obasanjo is guilty of conflict of interest and collected money for a presidential library have become amnesic to you. Not to talk of establishing a Bell University? When you discuss issues in a holistic manner, may be some will take you seriously. Even the very notion of placing a qualification of FICA by your essay shows a vainglorious individual who is seeking cheap publicity that the Internet these days easily afford. You are right that Alams has done wrong, and most Nigerians agree on this. How about Obasanjo and the corrupt cabal that are about him? You left these out. Mr. Anibaba, take time to read the tea leaves. You are surely a sycophant and people like you will never speak truth to power in the name of culture (dobale, I guess). Spare us this constant apologetic stance for this government. Note that the day you are given a position in any government, this author will definitely protest loudly for you are not the mettle of which leadership is made of nor advice received from Posted by Unregistered| 13.12.2005 23:41

Unregistered

# 3 Dear Tas,your face strong o,you look more like those thugs in Oshodi motor park. We understand you are using sycophancy to search for government appointment so that you can steal your own share of the federal loot. No wahala, but dont forget there will be a day of reckoning in the long run. Posted by Unregistered| 14.12.2005 01:29

Unregistered

# 4 How pathetic of you.Why must you insult Mr Anibaba.He has laid out his arguements without recourse to name calling That is the mark of civilised societyand persons. D. Adedeji Posted by Unregistered| 14.12.2005 05:04

Abraxas  Villager

# 5 Everything that every one of you has said is correct, and yet, everything is wrong. I suggest that Mr. Anibaba cools off drastically, by not making any further comments on the Nigerian Village Square for the next one (1) year. Then, we will know who is not dispensable. It is obvious everybody thinks, knows, feels, and seems to insist vehemently that Mr. Anibaba is a seasoned sycophant, and a well-paid professional OBJ praise-singer! Posted by Abraxas| 14.12.2005 05:41

Palamedes  Villager

# 6 Mr. Taslim Anibaba, sir, I may not agree with your every word in this article, but my advice to you is to walk tall away from theses insults. As our elders would say, if you fight a lunatic in the street, onlookers would say two lunatics are fighting. I just wish the NVS would improve quality by making it mandatory for all commentators to register AS THEY DO IN NEARLY ALL OTHER FORUMS. People will be reluctant at first but will eventually accept the idea. Encouraging people to register is also good for business i.e. – for advertisement revenue and sponsorship. Posted by Palamedes| 14.12.2005 08:19

Unregistered

# 7 it is very easy to know those who are standing for the truth and those who are not. muhamadu buhari and gani fawehinmi are two people that this society should be proud of anyday. they are against evil and corruption no matter who is guilty of them. many more nigerians are becoming bolder by the day. the arguements and defences usually put up by evil and corrupt people are becoming hollow. wait until we get dariye and some other thieves out and we will see who is still using persecution as a shield against prosecution. Posted by Unregistered| 14.12.2005 09:03

tgord

# 8 Taslim, I want to believe you wrote this article with sincerity of mind. I agree with you that the problem is the degradation of norms and values in our society. But it is an undisputable fact that OBJ fight of corruption is selective. Majority of us who refused to commend OBJ on his ability to subdue Alams is not because we are supporting him (Alams) but because we believe OBJ is doing so to instil fear in the mind of his political oppositions with hope to achieve his evil and dangerous self ambition. You can agree with me that the way and manner Alams was recently removed as governor of Bayelsa State - starting with abducting and holding hostage of Bayelsa State House of Assembly by EFCC for weeks and forcing them to sign impeachment notice at gun point, -siezing the state by armed troop and shutting down of the state radio station, -withholding of state allocation, etc, is short of democractic principles. Nigeria under OBJ, has no place for rule of law but for 'rule of might', no need reminding you that court orders are flouted recklessly. What is happening in PDP in recent time is a clear picture of OBJ dream for Nigeria. Maybe you need to be informed, OBJ has a secret agenda (3rd Term) and to achieve it he need to silence all oppositions. He has succeeded in caging the Labour Union, Students and Civil Society groups, even the press are not left out. He has intimidated the National Assembly with ICPC & EFCC that currently make them his rubber stamp which is sinking our democracy since there is no more checks and balances. OBJ want absolute power, remember that "absolute power corrupts absolutely". He has been recording reasonable success in confusing the international communities. If OBJ's selective justice is left uncheck, it will spell doom for this country because it will reach a time when all corrupt minded Nigerians will allign with him (OBJ) to throw norms and values completely off board, then legitimate corruption and unleash havoc on the nations fortune. Every well-meaning Nigerian is in support of geniue war against corruption, what we condem is the haphazard approach where you are not corrupt as long as you are in good term with OBJ. You use the case of Prof Osuji, Mrs Osomo and Mr Afolabi as example where OBJ's selective justice had recorded success. I don't know if you are not informed and sincerely ignorant of detailed facts of the cases or you are just disingenuous as pointed out in the earlier comment. Prof Osuji fall victim due to his patrotic zeal to move his ministry forward with no selfish objective. Remember he carried all relevant people in his ministry along until he was convinced that all ministers do the same thing. What stopped OBJ from probing other ministries if he is not acting selectively? Mrs Osomo fells into the trap in a bid to satisfy her boss as the properities were allocated to Aso rock members, their family members and friends/associates. For Afolabi, you will not claim ignorance of the fact or of Afolabi confession that the money released to him for the ID card project was collected back for OBJ's re-election. OBJ believes only in intimidation and hates contrary opinions. I believe you watched him yesterday shouting people down in his meeting with the stake holders in aviation industry. So let call a spade Spade. Posted by tgord| 14.12.2005 09:51

Palamedes  Villager

# 9 To Tgord: -withholding of state allocation, etc, Yeah right, handover over, yet, more money to him to steal; what a clever idea. Maybe you need to be informed, OBJ has a secret agenda (3rd Term) and to achieve it he need to silence all oppositions. Where is your evidence? Provide it or shut up(!!!) Every well-meaning Nigerian is in support of geniue war against corruption I suppose your ”genuine war against corruption” would be to wait until every alleged criminal is arrested and parity on ethnic and party politics ensured before bringing anyone to justice. It is Alami Whatshisname you should be talking to about the rule of law; tell him that he has been a very naughty boy; how it is so wrong of him to embezzle state fund; that the rule of law say he mustn’t. Anyone who has watched the Europeans and Americans governments in action would notice that the rule of law is not absolute : Since the terrorist acts, the people of the UK and USA now enjoy less freedom. How do we know that the methods used by the EFCC are not sanctioned by law? For instance, most Londoners don’t know that the British Parliament have quietly passed laws that now give the police powers to arrest people in certain parts of London for no reason except at the whim of a police officer. We are talking about UK and not Sadam Hussein Iraq, but it is ok because the law say so. Just because you see an act as far-fetched from the law does not necessarily make it illegal – like the manner of Alami Whatshisname arrest. I think the EFCC should be well armed, teargas, pepper spray, knuckles and all – if they don’t have them already- to deal with people like Alami Whatshisname and Dariye Whatshisname who call on the law to their rescue. I am irritated with some Nigerians who are incapable of appreciating the fight against corruption. Why must we inject in every issue, ethnicity and/or party politics? Posted by Palamedes| 14.12.2005 13:37

Unregistered

# 10 Palamedes: What is the significance of your irritation? Why should one appreciate what looks like a flash in the pan war against corruption? You are also getting to be an irritant, I got to let you know this. Posted by Unregistered| 14.12.2005 16:20

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