22 Oct 2009 |
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My attention has been drawn to a subtle campaign emanating from the southwest press aimed at swaying the President’s hand away from appointing the right and proper successor to the office of Chief Justice Of Nigeria. Two articles have since been sponsored in the Thisday Newspapers (Ndubuisi Ugah and Davidson Iriekpen, 27/09/0009) and Nigerian Tribune (Lanre Adewole, 13/10/2009) in which the authors alluded to the fact that the president is at liberty to step out of the queue of those in the line of succession and select any of the justices of the court or go outside of the bench to appoint a legal practitioner that qualifies for the job, despite the smooth transition formula that has subsisted since the re-advent of democracy in 1999,whereby the next most senior Justice of the Supreme Court naturally takes over at the retirement of the incumbent. The analyst in that Thisday article went ahead to enumerate the achievements and qualifications of all the possible (but junior contenders particularly Niki Tobi) for the post, carefully avoiding to highlight those of the heir apparent (Katsina-Alu) whose towering profile is quite intimidating to state the obvious. He also pointed to an instance when a military dictator jettisoned the succession formula and picked a junior person to head the judiciary against all known laws of equity and fair play to justify why it may be ‘acceptable’ for Yar’Adua to tow that line. Discerning minds could easily figure the subtle but mischievous intent of these articles, which is to stop a Benue man from becoming the Chief Justice Of Nigeria. Concerns are that if Katsina-Alu becomes CJN, then Nigeria will have two Tiv men as AGF and CJN respectively. But what is inherently wrong with this? Is it the man’s fault to have risen diligently through the ranks to the Supreme Court and become the most senior Justice at the time another Tiv man is the AGF (which is by the way a political appointment that can be revoked any minute)? Has it not happened before in Nigeria when two Yoruba men occupied these exalted positions at the same time? If my memory is correct; there was a time in this country when Richard Akinjide was AGF and another Yoruba man (Justice George Sowemimo) became the Chief Justice of the Federation. I have noted recently in a private communication with a friend that the easiest way to know a federal appointee is from Tivland is the instant uproar and protests it generates from the southwestern axis of this country. So when I read the protests that greeted the nomination of Samuel Ukura for the post of Auditor General, I instantly knew that he is a Tiv man. As the days draw nearer when the incumbent CJN will retire, this campaign is becoming more brazen and desperate. One Ifeoluwa Opeyemi writing in the Daily champion of 18th October 2009 did not pretend to court diplomacy in his baseless conclusions that Benue has taken all plum jobs in the national arena. He posited that Yar’adua should correct what he called ‘glaring imbalance’ between the North and South in the recent public finance sector appointments by appointing the substantive Auditor General from the South. Having lamented the (dreaded) possibility of a Benue man becoming the CJN, this analyst concluded that ‘With this (injustice) the hope that we are one and in the same country would be alive and sustained’. And here is why I think both of these writers are wrong. First of all, that this analyst believes the hope of a one Nigeria depends on the appointment of an Auditor General from the South tells a lot on his overall perception of what constitutes Nigeria. And this rhymes perfectly with the general attitude of most analysts from his part of this country who believe that the survival of Nigeria depends on Southern control of power. Even though this theory has since been refuted by their very own Mathew Okikiola Obasanjo who took eight years to prove that they are not better off when it comes to governance of the federation, the Opeyemis of this world would not relent in selling sour grapes to the gullible masses of this nation. The author in his attempt to mislead his readers by painting a false picture of Benue before the people, crafted a non-existing term namely the ‘Benue Mafia’ and then ranked this imaginary mafia among the so-called many mafias of the North which have been accused of dominating power in Nigeria for over four decades, and then claimed this mafia has been teleguiding the President to appoint only Benue people to sensitive national positions. But he craftily failed to remember about the Kano Mafia (that is if it exists), which has the Chief of Army Staff, Minister of Finance; Governor of the Central Bank, National Planning Minister and this is besides several other strategic appointments. He also failed to recall that not too long ago we had in this country Charles Soludo as Governor of the Central Bank, Okonjo Iweala Minister of Finance, Oby Ezekwesili(education) Frank Nweke Jnr (Information) , Aguiyi Ironsi(defense) as well as Dora Akunyilii(NAFDAC) and this other Woman who was in Charge of Due process all from the same part of the country. Yet Nigeria did not fall apart. Where was Opeyemi then? Where was Opeyemi when Soludo dominated the CBN during his time with people from his south East to the eternal disadvantage of the Middle belt and the Northern states? Opeyemi did not tell us that if not for the recent banking sector reforms, many Nigerians would not have known about the absolute dominance of the Yoruba and the Ibo’s in the banking sector of the country. This writer did not tell the world that all the top level Managers/ Directors of blue chip companies’ in this country are Yoruba. The Story is not different in the Oil industry. Less than 100 Tiv indigenes are currently employed in the oil and gas sector of the country (putting all the oil companies together) against well over 6,000 from Yoruba alone. Even The Ijaw people on whose soil the oil is mined cannot boast of half this figure. How has this disparity dampened Opeyemi’s belief in the unity of Nigeria? Even in Coca-Cola today all the plants in the North are headed by Yoruba:(Jos - Segun Ajala, Maiduguri -Funmi Adefeko, Kaduna – Bode Bakare ,Kano – Mudashiru Lawal and Abuja – Tunde Solaja) while 80% of all the managers in these plants are Yoruba. In the East the Plant Manger of Enugu - Clement Adebayo, Benin- Olakitan Oni and this is just a tip of the Iceberg as all the Senior Mangers responsible for recruitment and promotions are all Yoruba including the Director of Human Resources. Can it then be said that there are no other ethnic groups in this country with qualified people to be employed in these companies? How have theses glaring disparities impaired on Opeyemi’s hope in the future of a one Nigeria? Why is it that we only preach equity and federal character principle when it comes to employments of people from the North and Middle belt into positions at the Federal level? It should be noted that the position of the CJN is not the birth right of any ethnic group not even the Yoruba who have orchestrated the most vile and despicable opposition to all Tiv persons who have been offered appointments on merit by President Yar’Adua. The current DG NAFDAC is one of the most qualified Nigerians to head that organization with Degrees in Pharmacy, Law and Medicine from world-class institutions, but was ridiculed and called names only on account of his being a Tiv man. Now that he is performing wonderfully, the press has seemingly lost interest in the activities of NAFDAC unlike the hype that surrounded the agency when Dora held sway. The story is not different with the current Chairman of the EFCC who with degrees in Law, International relations and 35 years experience in law enforcement was ridiculed and called names not due to lack of the necessary qualifications and relevant experience, but simply for being a Tiv woman. The campaign to discredit her was launched even before she resumed office. Since then, all her achievements are ridiculed, downplayed or overlooked. Now, that she is going after dubious and fraudulent bank debtors the choristers that have been singing about her incompetence are now accusing her of not going after politicians, but that she is instead going after honest (read southern) business people -People that took loans for which they refused to pay! What nonsense is this? If Benue had a mafia as postulated by Opeyemi, he (Opeyemi) definitely would not have been able to count the federal appointments given to Benue people on his finger tips as he did in that article titled ‘Yar’Adua and the Benue Mafia’. As the state hosting the 5th largest ethnic group in this country, Benue deserves a far higher number of high profile federal appointments than the paltry six (6) Opeyemi listed. By his own assertions, Opeyemi has unwittingly exposed the gross marginalization of Benue people in federal appointments. If Benue had a mafia, it would not have allowed Mrs. Rhoda Ako to be sidelined when it was her turn to become the Comptroller General of Customs. Where was Opeyemi when this injustice was done to the first woman to have reached that position? That Mrs.Ako was retired unfairly at the time she was set to reach the pinnacle of her career yet Benue people kept quite has now buoyed the confidence of these anti-Benue elements to ask for similar treatment to be meted to Justice Katsina-Alu! Opeyemi went on to rehearse the antiquated, baseless and pedestrian rumor of how Katsina-Alu helped Yar’Adua to win the Supreme Court case over his election as a tool of blackmail. Hear him: ‘…Katsina-Alu who, analysts contend, saved the president's election at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal by breaking the tie to arrive at 4-3 in his favour’. As the second ranking Justice of the Supreme Court as at the time of that judgment, Katsina-Alu has now been reduced by Opeyemi to just a fringe player whose vote was only needed to break a tie! Just how far can evil-mongers go to perpetrate evil? The claims by Opeyemi that Benue State is now the power broker who is marginalizing other states is simply false as far as it is not backed up with concrete statistics. They are calculated to misinform and create bad feelings towards Benue people. Picking on 6 appointments given to Benue State indigenes at the federal level to reach such wild and weird conclusions is disturbingly disingenuous. Opeyemi should list all federal appointments in the country and then calculate the percentage ‘cornered’ by the Benue Mafia, and then demonstrate that this is disproportionate to what other states have, if he is truthful to himself, after this exercise, he will repent of his ‘crime’ against Benue and tender an apology. Methinks decades of marginalization of Benue people have caused many people especially in the Southwest to believe that the State has no capable hands who can handle National assignments. So when Yar’Adua decided to be equitable and fair by giving Benue people a chance to prove their capabilities, many of these people reacted with consternation. They could not bear their myth about Benue as a hive of illiterate peasant farmers, being dispelled before their two eyes. This explains their unending discomfort every time a Tiv name is mentioned at the federal front. Quite understandable though but the time has come for them to wake up from their fixation and embrace current realities. Who Is Justice Katsina-Alu(CON)? With a career spanning over 4 decades, Justice Katsina-Alu started as a Legal Practitioner in Lagos until 1968 and later joined the Legal Office of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Lagos, 1969-77. He set up his private practice in Gboko, 1977-78. He was appointed Attorney-General & Commissioner for Justice, Benue State, 1978-79 and a High Court Judge, Benue State High Court of Justice, Makurdi, 1979-85. He became a Justice of the Court of Appeal where he served from 1985-98 and finally a Justice, Supreme Court of Nigeria from 1998 to Date. He is a Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON). Since his arrival at the Supreme Court in 1998, the Court has delivered several radical and groundbreaking judgements with remarkable precedence that has shaped not only the administration of Justice in Nigeria but also the political environment. Topmost among the cases in which he played a key part is the one between President Umaru Yar'Adua on one hand and Mohammadu Buhari of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and Atiku Abubakar of the Action Congress (AC) on the other hand, challenging the upholding of Yar'Adua's election by the Court of Appeal. He ruled alongside three other Justices of the Supreme Court to uphold the election. He was among the Justices that dismissed INEC’s disqualification of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar from the 2007 Presidential Election. The judgement had ordered that Atiku be included in the polls against the wish of Obasanjo who was then Head of State. They also ruled in the case that stopped Obasanjo from sacking Atiku on account of his defection from the PDP. Justice Katsina-Alu was also on the panel that delivered the judgement that saw Obi regain his stolen mandate from the PDP in the 2003 governorship elections in Anambra State. He was later to deliver another judgement that sent Andy Uba packing from government House Awka to pave way fro Obi to complete his tenure. The current Governor Of Rivers State owes his governorship to the out-of-the-box thought process and dexterity and foresight of the Supreme Court Justices with katsina-Alu playing a key role. Another landmark case determined while Katsina-Alu is in the Supreme Court was the ruling on the Offshore Onshore dicothomy. On April 5, 2002 the Supreme Court ruled that the country's offshore crude belongs to the federal government and not states within the federation. The Court also helped to widen of the political space through the judgement in the case that was filed by Lagos lawyer, Late.Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN) in which court ruled that INEC cannot deny parties registration and even if they do, the Constitution presumes the party registered. It also took the fearlessness and uprightness of Justice Katsina-Alu’s Supreme Court to halt the illegalities that were being perpetrated by the state Houses of Assemblies under coercion from Ribadu’s EFCC by way of phoney impeachments of state governors. By interpreting the number of lawmakers constitutionally required to form a quorum and remove a governor from office, the Court helped to deepen democracy in the country. This saw the reversal of several illegal impeachments like those of then Governors Rashidi Ladoja (Oyo), Joshua Dariye (Plateau), Peter Obi (Anambra). This is the man analyst like Opeyemi would wish to sacrifice on the alter of tribal and ethnic chauvinism. In conclusion, the succession formula for the appointment of Chief Justice of the Federation in the recent past has always been to appoint the next most senior Justice who in this case happens to be Justice Katsina Alu. That he is a Tiv man is secondary and that a Tiv man is AGF at the moment is a mere, inconsequential coincidence as precedence has shown in the case of Akinjide and Sowemimo. There is no planned imposition of the Honorable Justice Katsina-Alu on the Nation. He is just the next man on the line, therefore the writer’s reference to Justice Katsina- Alu as part of the strategy of the AGF Mike Aondoakaa (SAN) to foist him on the Nation is just sour grapes and smacks of a hidden agenda of the south-west to tarnish the good name of Justice Katsina-Alu and achieve the goal of denying him a well deserved and earned appointment. In choosing the next CJN, Yar’Adua should ignore this surreptitious blackmail and stick to his conscience and the rule of law.
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