Debating the Rule of Law: Why I Stand with President Buhari

After reviewing Mr. President's answers to some of the questions during his maiden media briefing, I have no cause to doubt that he means well for Nigeria. Therefore, to the extent that his displayed sterner resolve is not selectively applied along partisan or political party lines, I am optimistic that, come 2019, our image of a corruption laden society in the eyes of the global community will experience a radical reversal.  I will address this point in more detail later.

Unquestionably, President Buhari is certainly a tough guy.  What is uncertain is to what extent his lieutenants are ready to align with his zero-tolerance pronouncements on corrupt practices. Undeniably, the best leaders create a well-defined and structured delegation of authority and responsibility as the President alone cannot be everywhere at the same time enforcing compliance. Under a complex and vast federal system like ours where the central government wields so much power, the possibility of adverse disconnect between Abuja and the governed is very real. Thus, in the absence of a well-defined decentralized structure, the need to ensure federal presence in local communities cannot be over-emphasized. Therefore, delegated power must be backed by a sustainable institutional frameworks and a regulatory regime that is purposeful, robust and audacious. Nigeria has them in abundance - EFCC, PPPRA, ICPC, NCC, DPR, National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and the entire law enforcement agencies.

Now that the President has spoken, the die is cast. These law enforcement agencies and regulatory bodies cannot turn around to blame their inability to perform their mandates on the “instruction or body language” of the President.  Presently, it is on record: the man from above has spoken and we know where he stands, not just on the war against corruption and corrupt practices, but on the mechanics of sanctions.  In the words of the President: Do you want people who stole N50B to be granted bail to go to London when we have 2 Million IDPS in camps?  Absolutely not.  Nor should they be granted bail until they return what they have stolen from the country’s coffers. 

The rule of law abhors inequality and abuse of power in every respect – it is a check on the government, the governed, and the officials of government. I and millions of other Nigerians supports the President’s position on corruption that is sidelining Nigeria’s ability to become a great economic Trojan like that of China or South Korea.  If we must overcome the menace of graft and abuse of office, then the EFCC and all the law enforcement agencies must take the President’s mandate seriously and perform accordingly.

Debating and Debasing the Rule of Law

As naturally expected, the President has come under severe attacks and intense condemnation from lawyers, scholars, politicians and the public for his apparent support for the continued detention of Dasuki and the Biafra new voice, Nnamdi Kanu.  So, to my learned colleagues who question the reasonableness of the President's hard view on the application of the principle of rule of law to the culpable Nigerians and indicted felons, query: “Where were you when Mr. Odili, the former Governor of River State, in collaboration with his highly paid lawyers, hijacked regular court proceedings and gave a nonsensical meaning - a meaning that has no foundation in law, equity, and reasonableness - to the application of perpetual injunction? Where were your indictments?”

Where were your indictments when the former Chairman of the Pension Reform Task force, Alhaji Abdulrasheed Maina absconded with billions of pension funds rather than confront his accusers with cold hard facts and a detail account of his stewardship? Where were you when Mrs. Stella Odua, abusing procedural rules, escaped legislative inquiry into her purchase and ownership of two highly priced automobile?

Today, there are tons of cases filed by EFCC against prominent Nigerian politicians like former Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Adamu, Saminu Turaki, and Gbenga Daniel, bogus Petroleum Marketers, just to name a few, that died unnatural death in our courts through abuse of process via discretionary reliefs.

Injunction, whether interim or perpetual is not a substitute for valid defense, especially with reference to the substantive suit. In a similar vein, securing it is not a verdict on the merit.  Sad to say, that has been the culture in our courts over the years.

When judges and lawyers were perfecting the craft of killing justice at procedural stages via questionable adjournments and injunctions, our lawyers and concerned citizens could only talk about problems in the judiciary, without specifically identifying the problems or stating how they manifest. The only solution as always was financially independent of the judiciary system. While financial independent of the judiciary is important, the lack of it does not exonerate judges’ role as dependable arbiters.

As I write, most active members of the bar community are still very unwilling to accept the fact that injunctions and adjournments and all the procedural “mumbles jumbles” that they have come to embrace as smart legal maneuverings, do in fact, pose the greatest threat to real justice and the principle of rule of law in Nigeria. Most often, we watch helplessly as high profile cases die at the pretrial stage.  This type of practice is crippling the entire Nigerian legal system.

Analysis 

Rule of law, in its true sense, does not discriminate between the government, private citizens and institutions in its application. It is equally applied across the board in similar fashion. In other words, private citizens are subject to the law and are accountable under the law, just like the government.

According to the World Justice Project, “rule of law is a system in which the following four universal principles are upheld: The government and its officials and agents as well as individuals and private entities are accountable under the law." This definition mirrored the United Nations standard, to wit, “all persons, institutions and entities, public and private, including the State itself, are accountable to just, fair and equitable laws and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law.” Unfortunately, in Nigeria, these are not the true test of the rule of law. As a private individual, you are accountable to the law just as you are entitled to protection under the law. 

You cannot knowingly, purposefully, and deliberately abuse your office in wanton disregard of the rule and regulation setting up the office, and turn around to seek refuge under the law, when called upon to give account of your stewardship. When you buy justice, using part of the public funds that you stole, you are perverting the justice system and debasing the principle of the rule of law.

Granted, two wrongs do not make a right, now that we have a President, overtly poised to confront the Bull of corruption by the horns, we should support and join hands with him, instead of crying Argentina. The money bonanza, shameful as it was, that encapsulates the Dasuki’s period at NSA is egregious and deserves total condemnation by every Nigerian. Therefore, his trial, tempestuous as it is evolving presently, cannot and must not be the best yardstick to construing our observance or otherwise, with any local or universal rights to fair hearing.

Indeed, an accused is considered innocent until his is proven guilty. However, there is nothing in the instant case that falls within that acceptable maxim of an accused being innocent until proven guilty. Dasuki has admitted that he squander about $2 billion dollars in his possession. He did not deny any of the charges leveled against him. Instead, he incredulously questions our wisdom in holding him accountable for his misconduct, which makes the whole Dasuki’s saga an aberration.

Rule of law is not just about trial, it is more about conduct - an orderly society where the government and private citizens are expected to play complementary roles.

For the first time in recent memory, we have seen a President espousing prosecutorial activism. Surprisingly, and of course, all of a sudden, we have remembered the sanctity of the principle of rule of law and the concept of the "accused being innocent until proven guilty." Once again, let it be on record that retired Col. Dasuki admitted stealing more than two billion US Dollars of public funds meant for armed procurement. In addition, he is not denying the fact that he liberally disbursed the money to politicians. Dasuki is amazed that he is being subjected to “undue scrutiny,” when what he did, in his subjective reasoning, is consistent with our perverted culture of sharing at Aso Villa. And that is the culture that our lawyers and human rights activists are rationalizing and defending right now.

There is something fundamentally wrong with our often reported demands for probity, transparency and accountability in our political system, when the legal community is not outraged when a Security Adviser, in the position of a retired military officer in the caliber of Dasuki, suffers no scruples, while dispensing with impunity, public funds well over two billion US Dollars (funds meant for acquisition of weapons for the armed forces in its war against insurgency) to politicians. So, where is the outrage? Now, we are debating handcuffs!

Moving Forward.

In sum, if you and your cronies purposely, knowingly, and intentionally abuse your power and violate the law of the land, there is nothing wrong with the government ceaselessly and openly harassing you and your friends within the limits of the law, and yes, even applying punitive measures, not only to securing forfeiture of the looted funds, but to serving as a deterrent to other Nigerians. It is that simple. This President, or any President of Nigeria, in the course of his or her war against bogus Petroleum Marketers, Pension Funds raiders, and all the Dasukis in our place of work, should never be saddled with the question of whether, as a society, we have advanced beyond certain benchmarks in observance of certain jurisprudential rights. 

Desperate times call for desperate measure. To move forward, I strongly hold that henceforth, criminal prosecutions in Nigeria should reflect a case by case basis approach. Dasuki's show of shame is an aberration and a crime against the state and a crime against humanity. We should not apply the rule of law to validate an act bordering upon absurdity. And we must not invoke the spirit of the rule of law to dilute a conduct that bordered upon high treason. Treason is not just about taking up arms against the state or instigating the collapse of the state. It is also treasonable to deny the state the use of arms or frustrate its acquisition and deployment, when doing so is inconsistent with the fundamental objectives of your official duty. The law is seemingly asinine sometimes, but the rule of law is not stupid; it is consistent with commonsense and reasonableness. Without mincing words, I am encouraged with the tone of the President – a tone that is consistent with the voice of one crying in the wilderness, crying for an end to a corrupt judicial system and the frivolity of the ruling elite.

Exactly Eight Months in Nigeria: A Thank You Note to Those Who Made it Possible!

Today makes it exactly eight months since I arrived in Nigeria from the US, and I want to use this opportunity to thank my friends and family members for their unalloyed support and for making my stay possible. Most especially, I want to thank these two wonderful gentlemen/cousins who did not only welcome me to their home, but made my stay stress-free. You guys are simply amazing. May God bless you all.

And to you my friends and family members who extended business opportunities and consultancy projects to me, I am most indebted. And I thank you for trusting me with your legal problems. It is your patronage that keeps me afloat. For you, no project is too small. May you continue to experience growth and prosperity in your business.

And to you my learned friends who I have successfully consulted with for legal advice, without any advance notice, I want to thank you as well. May you continue to experience awesome growth in your practice.

Above all, I want to give thanks to my Heavenly Father, God Almighty, for His Infinite Mercy and Favor towards me and for watching all over me. My prayer and desire is to be able to contribute and support other Nigerians in line with the kind of support I am receiving at the moment from my family members. 

Yes, friends, I am home and I am open for business. It is no doubt a challenging time I am in, and some times, very scary, but my God is alive, my soul is alert, the mission is clear, and I shall overcome. My phone numbers are 09092475320, 07086951511. My email address is alexaidaghese@gmail.com. I am not running back to the US again for an extended period of time as the culture was. It is about perseverance. We must build this country together. 

Once again, I want to thank every one of you for your support and for trusting me with your business and your legal wahala. Without you, there is no me. May God bless every one of us and the good people of Nigeria.

Barr Alex Aidaghese
August 26, 2016.

An Encounter with Heavenly Flames

I was walking along this road going somewhere I cannot remember exactly. As I hurried down the road, I saw thick clouds up in the sky emerging steadily towards me from the direction I was heading. Judging by the thickness, I readily assumed that heavy rainfall or thunderstorm is imminent. My first thought was: “I am going to get drenched and I do not have umbrella with me.” And I was worried, not knowing exactly what to do next. There was no building or a house in sight for me to seek shelter. As I ruminate on the appropriate course of action to take, I saw the clouds gathering speed progressively towards my direction. And suddenly, like a bolt from the blue, I witnessed a thunderous collision within the dark clouds - a thunderous explosive sound, at a volume I have never heard before. The impact was more than deafening. It was earth-shattering. I was momentarily drenched in bewilderment, disoriented. 

And as the collision reverberated, there appear straight out of the dark clouds, flames of fire - bigger than lighting - something characteristics of volcanic eruption. What I saw was an insurgency of fireball, huge flames, sprouting unhindered from within the disappearing clouds. It was like cotton seeds or budding flowers embracing the kisses of the sunlight. And within seconds the entire cloud transformed into huge flames of fire – no smoke, but just flames. It was massive, casting overcast above the earth, but in motion; steadily in motion, coming down the earth right above me.

When I saw what was evolving before my eyes, I turned back towards my house or where I was coming from, running as fast as I could to evade the glowing pinkish flames, seen responding vigorously and dutifully to the law of gravity. 

And when I looked up again, I was completely overshadowed by the flames - now ahead of me, spreading faster and colonizing the air space in the direction I was running, and simultaneously, descending towards the earth with a purpose. It was frightening. 

The more I ran, the more it dawn on me that I won’t be able to outpace the descending flames before it touches the earth. Mindful of that reality, I decided to take a detour. Instead of continuing running straight towards my house on the same course with the flames, I turned left and ran into an open field. But that move turned out to be a futile endeavor. When I looked up again, it was as if a miracle just happened above me - the  flames split up and I saw just right ahead of me, in the new direction that I was running to, a section like the size of a Tennis Court coming down right at me as an aircraft about to land on my face. I was now running towards what I was trying to evade.

At that point, I could see the giant flames clearly. Though it has an image and formation of flames, it wasn’t wavering or responding to wind or air as regular fire does. Yes, like cloud, it has shape and form, but translucent, glowing brightly - in motion, and descending steadily intact.

As it descends directly towards me - now in close proximity like a giant movie screen - I saw at the edge of the left side, an image of a person or human-being, translucent just like the flames, and holding a long staff, more like a slim eben/ada (a Benin leaf-shaped traditional/ceremonial sword). And that was the last I could afford to view of it, because at that point, the image and the flames were now directly before me, landing, and I began struggling to get out of the way from where I was supposedly standing. Then, it dawn on me that I was no longer standing, but actually lying down, trying to roll over to the right hand side of my bed. And I opened my eyes. I was only dreaming. I got off my bed, frightened, short of words. 

Now That President Buhari Has Spoken!

A Synopsis:

Reviewing Mr. President's answers to some of the questions during his first Medial briefing, I have no cause to doubt a conclusion that he meant well for Nigeria. Therefore, to the extent that his displayed sterner resolve is not selectively applied along partisan or political party lines, I am optimistic that, come 1919, our image of a corruption laden society in the eyes of the global community will experience a radical reversal. That the President is a tough guy is unquestionably certain. What is not certain though is to what extent his lieutenants are ready to align with his zero-tolerance pronouncements on corrupt practices? There is no doubt, that leadership works best under a well-defined and adequately structured delegated authority/responsibility in place. The President cannot be everywhere at the same time enforcing compliance. Thus, making delegated power most desirable, especially in a complex federal structure like ours where the central government wields so much power and influence over a vast federal appropriated territory. So, in the absence of a well-defined decentralized structure, the need to ensure federal presence in local communities cannot be over-emphasized. Therefore, delegated power must be backed by a sustainable institutional frameworks and a regulatory regime that is purposeful, robust and audacious. In spite of everything, now that the President has spoken, the die is cast. Ministers, Special Advisers, EFCC, PPPRA, ICPC, NCC, NERC and the entire law enforcement agencies and regulatory authorities cannot turn around to blame their inability to perform on the instructions of the man from above. Right now, it is on record: the man from above has spoken. And we know where he stands, not just on the war against corruption and corrupt practices, but on the mechanics of sanctions. "You want people who stole N50B to be granted bail to go to London when we have 2 Million IDPS in camps." On this, I concur and I stand with the President. If we must overcome the menace of graft and abuse of office, then the EFCC and all the law enforcement agencies must take a cue from the pronouncements of the President and perform accordingly. So, let the revolution be televised - and must be seen to be televised across the board - no matter the political affiliation of the culprits.

Debating and Debasing the Rule of Law:

As naturally expected, the President has come under severe attacks and condemnations from lawyers and non-lawyers for his apparent support for the continuing detention of Dasuki and the Biafra new voice, Nnamdi Kanu. So, to my learned colleagues who had cause to question the reasonableness of the President's hard view on the application of the principle of rule of law to the two gentlemen, my question to you is, where were you when Mr. Odili, the former Governor of River State, in collaboration with his highly paid lawyers, hijacked regular court proceedings and gave a diabolical meaning - a meaning that has no foundation in law, equity, and reasonableness - to the application of perpetual injunction? Where were you?

He is not alone. There are cases filed by EFCC against prominent Nigerian politicians like former Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Adamu, Saminu Turaki, Stella Odua, and Gbenga Daniel, just to name a few, that died unnatural death in our courts through abuse of process via discretionary reliefs. The rule of law, in its application, is not selective. It is applicable across the board – private citizens are subject and accountable under the law, not just the government.

Accordingly, "the World Justice Project's definition of the rule of law is a system in which the following four universal principles are upheld: The government and its officials and agents as well as individuals and private entities are accountable under the law." And according to the UN, “all persons, institutions and entities, public and private, including the State itself, are accountable to just, fair and equitable laws and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law.” 

Unfortunately, in Nigeria, these are not the true test of the rule of law in Nigeria. When you buy justice, using part of the public funds that you stole, you are perverting the justice system and debasing the principle of rule of law.

When Judges and Lawyers were perfecting the craft of killing justice at procedural stages via adjournments and injunctions in Nigeria, our lawyers and concerned citizens could only talk about problems in the judiciary, without specifically identifying the problems or stating how they manifest. Most disturbing was the fact that the Nigerian legal community didn't realize that injunctions and adjournments and all the procedural mumbles jumbles that they have come to embrace as smart legal tactics, do in fact, desecrate the principle of the rule of law.

In Nigeria, most high profile case died at pre-trial stages. And everyone is happy, except, of course, the State, It became the culture, a pattern and practice in the entire Nigeria legal system.

The legal community knew something was wrong, but they couldn't fathom a theory or hypothesis to explain the occurrence. The only solution as always was financial independent of the Judiciary. But we saw the problem differently; financial independent of the judiciary is important, but the lack of it does not vitiate Judges’ as dependable umpire. And we went to work, searching for an answer.

What we developed turned out to be an eye opener, a new dawn in judicial reformation in Nigeria, without governmental intervention. The number one piece on this Blog, titled "Immunity: The Scope and Extent of Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria", singlehandedly transformed our court proceedings and eliminates the ills associated with discretionary reliefs. Yes, it was all about the injunctions and adjournments. The essay took me about a month to organize in a coherent format, and today, that effort has succeeded in redefining our quest for real and purposeful justice in Nigeria.

Now that we have a President, overtly poised to confronting the Bull by the horns, we should support and join hands with him, instead of crying Argentina. I firmly believe that the money bonanza, shameful as it was that encapsulates the Dasuki NSA regime is egregious and deserves total condemnation by every Nigerian. Therefore, his trial, tempestuous as it is evolving presently, is an aberration in every respect imaginable. It mustn't be the best yardstick to construing our compliance or otherwise, with any local or universal rights to fair hearing.

Indeed, an accused is considered innocent until his is proven guilty. However, there is nothing in the instant case that falls within that acceptable maxim of an accused being innocent until proven guilty. Dasuki has agreed that he did squander about $2 billion in his possession. He is not denying any of the charges leveled against him. He is simply questioning our wisdom in holding him accountable for his misconduct. And that's what makes the whole Dasuki’s saga an aberration.

My position here is to a considerable degree, morally influenced given the wantonness of his conduct. And it is certainly not too far from the position of the law and the applicable human rights standard. The reckless frivolity that underlines his show of shame creates a mob scenery and of a society without law and order. Rule of law is not just about trial, it is more about conduct - an orderly society where the government and private citizens expected to play complimentary roles.

If a Security Adviser, in the position of a retired Military Officer in the caliber of Dasuki, suffers no scruples, dispensing with impunity, public funds running into Two Billion of US Dollars (funds meant for acquisition of weapons for the armed forces in its war against insurgency) to politicians, and there is no outrage in the legal community, then something is fundamentally wrong with our often reported demands for probity, transparency and accountability in our political system.

On this Blog, I have in one of the essays on forfeiture of assets and how to defeat the Nigerian thief, argued for continuing harassment and continuing detention by any means necessary of the accused as the best way to inflicting deterrent in the mind and soul of fraudulent Nigerians. Now that I am witnessing a willing President and a ready EFCC doing what they should have been doing years back, all I can do for now is pray, just continue to pray that the President and EFCC sustain the momentum. 

So, if you and your friends knowingly abuse your office and violate the law of the land, I will ceaselessly and openly harass you and your friends within the limits of the law, and yes; apply the law by hook or by crook, not only to ensure forfeiture of the looted funds, but to serve as a deterrent to other Nigerians. It is that simple.

And on the allegation of witch-hunt as a learned gentleman stated on my Facebook Timeline few days ago, I beg to add that such a declaration lacks foundation in fact and law. We have to start from somewhere – as long the battle is consistent and sustainable, the starting point is immaterial. In addition, I want to point out that a Nigerian administration in its war against bogus Petroleum Marketers, Pension Funds raiders, and all the Dasukis in our place of work should never be saddled with the question of whether, as a society, it has advanced beyond certain benchmark in observance of certain jurisprudential rights. Desperate times call for desperate measure. To move forward, I strongly hold that Criminal prosecutions in Nigeria, starting from this moment, should reflect a case by case basis approach.

Learning From Examples:

Few years ago, some bogus Petroleum Marketers, cooked up documents indicating that using so and so ship on so and so date they delivered petroleum products to NNPC, and were subsequently paid by PPPRA. The House of Representative, in a committee headed by Mallam Farouk Lawah, came out with a report indicting most of those who were paid by PPPRA of fraud for getting paid where they did not supply. Despite agreeing to have received the sum of $500,000.00 (Five Hundred US Dollar) from Chief Otedola through a questionable sting operation executed by the SSS, the diminutive House Chairman did produce a very dawning report. Not satisfied with the House Report, President Jonathan set up another panel headed by a Banker, Mr. Aig-Imoukhuede, to do another investigation.

In a piece, titled “How President Jonathan Bungled a Golden Opportunity”, written before the inauguration of the Aig-Imoukhuede Investigatory Panel, we opined that to prove the veracity of the alleged delivery of petroleum product by the indicted Petroleum Marketers, government must start its investigation from our port – the delivery point – to ascertain, which and which boat or ship came on board and made delivery at the dates specified in their documents.

As later revealed, that was exactly what the Imoukhuede Panel did, when it was eventually set up. They discovered that some of the mentioned boats that allegedly made delivery of petroleum products in Nigeria didn't exist as at that point in time, and the few that they were able to trace, where not even on African shore at the dates specified by these fraudulent Nigerians.

At the end, the committee came out with a water-tight and beyond reasonable doubt finding, that indeed, the indicted marketers, among them, children of very prominent political leaders were paid for petroleum products that they did not supply. This is of course, an old story. What is new though is that as of this moment, not much is heard or known about the whereabouts of the indicted bogus marketers, and not much is on record known to have been recovered from them, if at all, by the EFCC. It is the same story with the Pension Fund guy, now at large at a safe location, enjoying his loots. And it is a familiar Nigerian story over the year.

Food For Thought:

For the first time, we have seen a President taking a stand propagating, if I may address it as such, prosecutorial activism. Surprisingly, and of course, all of a sudden, we have remembered the sanctity of the principle of rule of law and the concept of the "accused being innocent until proven guilty." Please let it be on record that retired Col. Dasuki is not denying the fact that he had custody of more than Two Billion US Dollars of public funds meant for armed procurement. In addition, he is not denying the fact that he disbursed the money to influential political leaders as he pleases. He is amazed that he is being subjected to “undue scrutiny”, when what he did, in his subjective reasoning, is consistent with our perverted culture of sharing at Aso Rock and Federal institutions. And that is the culture that our lawyers and human rights activists are rationalizing and defending right now.

Finally, in analyzing President Buhari’s answers, let's not forget that the President is a retired Military Officer. He is not an Economist, a Public Policy Scholar, or a modern day Energy guru. His thinking or understanding of government and public affairs might not be consistent with modern trends due to age and redundancy factor accumulated over the years. To fill those gaps, brilliant gentlemen like Fashola, El’Rufai, and Fayemi should step-up and make it a habit of engaging the President in spirited debate on both global and domestic affairs as often as possible. Therefore, if he fails, the entire cabinet must be ready to go down with him. I am not by any shape or form playing the low expectations card here - a nauseating Nigerian culture that I resent with ignominy. Simply put, I am encouraged, with the tone of the President – a tone that is consistent with the voice of one crying in the wilderness.

Closing Remarks on not too related matter:

So, at this juncture, I would like to call on the President's handlers and his inner cabinet we (diaspora returnees) love our beloved country; otherwise, we won't be home. We are home, because we care. And we write, because we want the best for our country. Our human and natural resources are enormous, but under-exploited and underutilized, wasting away. We can do better, because we are well-abreast of more refined ways of managing the process than what obtains presently judging by the facts on the ground as well as the history of our performance as a nation-state. Today, NDDC is saddled with allegations of fraud, and incompetence. If I am giving the opportunity to lead the corporation or granted a board membership, I will do much better managing it than the characters we have seen around its management since its creation. The goal of NDDC is sustainable development focused. From available facts, that is not the outcome. The Ministry of Niger Delta was created to avert the sort of crisis that informed the establishment of NDDC. In other words, if NDDC was up to the task, militancy wouldn't have had the audacity to terrorize the landscape, vandalizing pipelines and infrastructural facilities in and around the Niger Delta as they have done in the past ten years - social ills that the Ministry of Niger Delta was eventually set up to address. For now, only a peaceful Niger Delta can ensure our economic sustainability. Therefore, the need to ensure that appropriate benchmark is put in place for performance evaluation in that corporation cannot be overemphasized. The Board needs a candidate or two or three outside of the usual pool. And that is the best option opened to the President right now, if he really desires an NDDC that is transparent and result oriented. I beg to conclude.

alexaidaghese@gmail.com