Monday, January 4, 2016

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

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