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.
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:
alexaidaghese@gmail.com
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