“A true picture of our dear country Nigeria, where power belongs to the Looters. I hope Nigerians will be able to stand up one day to these looters and demand for their rights and good Governance. It’s high time they stopped the carnival of dancing and the Aso-ebi syndromes for commissioning of bore holes, generators and power plants, repair of roads and so on and so forth. Its a shame on the Looters, if in this twenty-first century and Nigeria being No 6 in OPEC cannot boast of constant electricity supply for its citizens”.
The above was a feed back by a reader to one of my recent articles. The statement was so apt that I decided to adopt one of the phrases as the title of this article. We all know there are looters in government in our country. It is no longer news. I have tried many times to delve into their minds and psyche, and I have always come up with a blank, because I just could not figure out why a man, or woman for that matter, by virtue of his or her luck, power and position, would want to deny millions of his/her people their right to a good quality life, their right to peaceful enjoyment of the dividends of democracy, their right to good education, their right to good medical and health care; their right to food, their right to basic amenities of life, when, from all indications, the wealth of the country can go round, without causing damage or discomfort to anybody else, and will enable progress and development which on the long run, will be beneficial to all.
Why, I continue to ask, is a person so greedy as to be stealing billions of money from the state treasuries, when it is obvious that you can not spend it all? Why do you have to loot the treasury just to cart the money away and deposit it in foreign banks, or buy properties which you don’t even have time to live in most of the time, or buy airplanes when your people are struggling just to get from Point A to Point B? And all these with the money entrusted to you to alleviate their sufferings.
How many houses do you want to have before people can say you are very rich? And how many rooms can you sleep in at a particular point in time, or how many cars can you drive at the same time? Or do you need a convoy of vehicles to show you have arrived?
I was in Ibadan recently and made it a point to go and see what was happening at the Molete area of the “Godfather of Ibadan politics”. I was told that the Godfather illegally grabbed land belonging to NITEL, evicting the staff and saying it was Obasanjo who gave it to him. On the land, he has built a palace (anticipating when he would be Olubadan of Ibadanland in the nearest future, “God forbid bad thing”), a very big private mosque, and a fleet of cars numbering up to 30 parked on the same land. I was told these cars were donated to him by all the local governments and parastatals in Oyo State as a show of loyalty to him. (That is how they waste our money) What he intended to do with these cars, I do not know. One thing for sure, he is not distributing it to his political associates, and he is not riding all of them at the same time. And when he dies - that is if he dies at all - they are not going to bury the land, the properties, the cars and the money with him like Egyptian Pharaohs.
That a systematic looting of this country has been going on for decades cannot be over-emphasised. What is surprising is the rate at which it is going and the fact that politicians, military, civil servants and the likes are getting better and bolder at it. And more surprisingly, the people of Nigeria seem to be accepting their fate “what can we do” attitude. Apathy, short-sightedness, pessimism, helplessness. “Nobody will fight because what can we fight with?”, “Only God can punish them” syndrome. “Let them eat, one day they will leave us alone” or “there is enough wealth, so we won’t miss it”.
Well, I am missing something, if you are not. I am not concerned only for myself, I am concerned for my people – my family, my friends, my neighbours, my future, my very existence, my well-being, my people on the street.
On Thursday 1st June 2000, The Vanguard newspaper reported that the then President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo was to be paid a monthly salary of $2155 (about 215,500 Naira) working out to $26,000 or 2.6 million Naira a year. It was considered a very meagre salary then, considering that Thambo Mbeki of South Africa was earning $10,000 per month and South African MPs were getting about $3,333 monthly.
In January 2008, the basic salary of the President of Nigeria went up to 3.5 million Naira per year, besides other allowances and remunerations including hardship allowance, bringing the total to 10.9 million Naira per year. Many Nigerians, I am sure, do not have any problem with this. But, the Secretary to the Federal Government, Head of service and the Ministers are going to be earning 15.9 million Naira a year. Still no problem, if that is all they take home without dipping their hands into the treasury, or sharing 300 million Naira from budget surpluses in their various ministries.
When I was in Nigeria in April 2008, it was announced that the total remuneration for each Senator of the Federal Republic was going to be 45 million Naira (£191,489.00) and for the Members of the House of Representative, 35 million Naira (£149000.00) each. This is where I have a problem. If I am sure that these politicians are doing enough to alleviate the many plights of our people, I would be the first person to defend their remunerations, after all, Nigeria can afford it. Unfortunately, this more than handsome salary is not commensurate to the services they are elected to, or promised to provide to their people.
What the heck are these spongers doing that make them worth such salaries? Is it by organising retreats to Ghana, or spending all their time chasing contracts in Abuja? Most of them do not even have constituency offices in their home states to upkeep. See what I mean by looters in power? And they are doing it almost legitimately.
In the United States, the current salary of a rank-and-file member of the House of Representatives (Congressman) and Senate is $169,300 per year. This works out to about £84,650 or 19.89 million Naira, and you know what? Members are free to turn down pay increases and many choose to do so. But we know what these US politicians do to develop their country, protect their people and ensure they remain the most powerful country in the world. The leaders of the houses get slightly more.
In the United Kingdom, a Member of Parliament’s basic salary is £61,820 per year, and the Prime Minister, being also an MP, gets a total of £189,994 per year, including his salary for being an MP. (This means, theoretically at least, that our Senators in Nigeria work as hard or even harder as the Prime Minister of Britain, to bring development and progress to their people, the poor down-trodden people of Nigeria).
Unfortunately, for the purpose of this article, I could not lay my hands on the remuneration packages of our other really big Looters – State Governors and Deputy Governors, Members of the states’ House of Assemblies, Local Government Chairmen and Councillors. I believe the States set their own remuneration packages for their elected officials, but you can be sure they will look after their various pockets first before anything else.
We are not saying here that high salaries should not be paid to elected or appointed public officials, as a matter of fact, it is recognised that being highly paid in certain areas of work, and this include, public service, deters corruption. What we fail to see is how commensurate the salary paid to Nigerian political office holders is with their performance, their effectiveness, their commitment and the service they provide. Why, for example, should a Senator being paid N45 million a year to be making laws and attending the Senate still be chasing contracts in Abuja? Who else earns that amount of money in Nigeria? According to the data above, not even the President earns that much in total remuneration. It is only a very greedy person who will earn that salary and still continue to indulge in corrupt practices.
Please forgive me for repeating this anecdote; it is one of my favourites when writing articles about the corruption festering in Nigeria. Once upon a time in America, a man named Willie Sutton was asked why he robbed banks. He replied: “`Cos that’s where the money is”. It was an uncomplicated philosophy which served him well until he was caught and marched off to prison. Today, Mr Sutton would not have risked incarceration. Today, were Mr Sutton to be a Nigerian, he would have had the choice of being a Nigerian Politician, a Nigerian civil servant or a Nigerian contractor. Better still, he could have been a Nigerian Policeman, although he would have been severely limited as to making loads of money, but at least he could be in official authorised uniform and waylay people on the highway and collect money from them without facing any charges of armed robbery. Of course, as one who operated outside the law, Mr Sutton might have experienced problems in working with this brotherhood of political and civil uprightness and patriotism. But the vast mountains of easy Naira and foreign currency on offer would surely have stifled his reservations.
That about sums it up. In Nigeria, politics and government are like banks where money is kept, and thus it will continue to attract very smart, unsavoury and dishonest vagabonds, whose main aim in life is to steal the money. Hence, what the late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti sang “VIP – Vagabonds In Power”. And this is why politics and government in Nigeria have become matters of life and death for the players. Hardly do you ever see someone going into politics or government because of selfless service to the people; it is almost always to serve their own pockets. And the money is there for the taking. Absolutely no accountability; no responsibility; no commitment; no sense of sympathy for the people.
Our current system of government and governance is unique in the world in that it leaves plenty of room for fraud and corrupt practices, due process or no due process. In fact, the system actively promotes and encourages corruption and fraud in high places. It is not that there are loopholes to be exploited in the system; rather, it is that the room for fraud is inbuilt into the system by our leaders and lawmakers, and they also make laws to protect themselves. Take for example the Constitution’s Section 308: Immunity Clause that protects State Executives, President and Vice-President from prosecution for any crime or misdemeanour whilst in office. If our leaders should have their way, this immunity clause would have been extended to cover our Ministers and legislators. As it is, I am not even sure the clause has not been surreptitiously extended, going by the Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello/EFCC farcical display.
Yesterday, it was the Ministry of Health’s 300 million Naira scandal that has resulted in the character damage of a respected Professor of Medicine; today it is the scandalous Integrated Power Project probe where unregistered contractors were awarded contracts without the celebrated Due Process of the Obasanjo Presidency; today it is the Abuja property land allocation probe; tomorrow it will be the 300 billion Naira roads scandal of Ogunlewe and Anenih or the unbelievable fraud in the NNPC, the managers of our oil wealth, and many like that. And we are not even talking about the ex-Governors. You don’t read anything in the newspapers these days without coming across one corruption scandal or the other. A lot of them have been pushed under the carpets, and will never see the light of day.
That there is a global food crisis is acknowledged now. The Federal Government of Nigeria, as usual, has found an easy and corrupt way out of the crisis. It is going to import rice worth 80 Billion Naira. Of course we can afford that, what with the price of oil now rising to an unprecedented US$125 per barrel and still rising. What will inevitably happen is that some people in the Ministry of Agriculture, Customs, etc are going to be making a lot of money out of the crisis. I remember that Shagari’s government set up a Presidential Task Force on Rice in 1980 to tackle a similar problem, causing problems to local rice farming in the process, from which we have not been able to recover from till today. And so was Obasanjo’s Presidential Initiative on Rice in 2002 whose objective was to “attain self-sufficiency in local rice production in the short-term by year 2005 and to produce for export in the medium term by year 2007”. It has been a very successful initiative as we can see, isn’t it?
Exactly what they do in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and the States’ equivalent is beyond the understanding of sane Nigerians. If they are not importing rice, they will be importing fertilisers. Do we have an effective, sustainable and workable Agriculture policy? What happened to all the River Basins Authorities of the 70’s and so many Bank’s agricultural initiatives and loan schemes? What help are the various governments offering to local farmers and how sustainable are these help, if any? Do not be surprised at the end of the year when you hear that Ministers of the Agriculture Ministry and other officials are sharing surplus millions, and have gone on a fact-finding mission to Thailand or Malaysia to see how rice is grown over there.
Should Obasanjo Be Probed?
Well, that is a difficult one for me, really. There has never been the probe of a previous government in Nigeria, so if Obasanjo must be probed, then Babangida and Abdulsalam must be probed too. They are still alive and their tenures were also recent, and in fact, a lot of their misdeeds spilled over into the Obasanjo administration. If Nigerians are now baying for Obasanjo’s blood, it serves him right, because when we were calling on him to undertake an investigation of Babangida’s eight-year corruption-riddled and institutionalised tenure, Obasanjo himself prevented the probe and kept saying Nigerians should bring evidence before he can probe Babangida. Now IBB is even now bold to come out and say that Obasanjo’s administration was worse that his own. Them what has, gets. However, we are already probing Obasanjo anyway by way of all these Senate probes on power, roads and other areas.
Amos Adamu and Nigerian Sports
Dr Amos Adamu, and the current Director of Sports in the Federal Ministry of Sports is not a mere mortal, believe me. He is the Alpha and Omega of Nigerian Sports. He came in as Director of Sports Development over 20 years ago on the back of having a doctorate degree in Physical Education. And he has waxed ever stronger since then. He is a FIFA member, a member of CAF and now, after a brief hiccup, he is the President of the West African Football Union (WAFU), that body whose first President was the indomitable, incorruptible and excellent late Mr J K Tandoh. Dr Adamu is a far cry from the success, reputation, uprightness and commitment of such people as J K Tandoh and late Isaac Akioye. Adamu’s over twenty years at the helm of Nigerian sports has been a disaster. He has overseen the ruinous decline of sports in the country in the past two decades, yet some people up there still think he is the best and only man to run Nigerian sports. In fact he retired after COJA (the All African Games held in Abuja between 5th and 17th October 2003), and they practically had to go and beg him to come back again, because apparently to them only, he is the only man who can save Nigerian sports, and this after years of terrible decline supervised by the same man. I am not surprised, because he has managed to compromise a lot of them. All the Sports Ministers he has served under – or rather, all the Sports Ministers that have served under him – were no more than puppets. I heard that the moment a new Minister is appointed for sports; usually his first visitor will be our Amos, with “Ghana Must Go” bags to enable the Honourable Minister to “settle down in his new job”. We are not even sure if our Director of Sports does not have a hand in the appointment ensuring that a man he can manipulate is appointed in the first place.
When he organised All African Games, COJA in 2003, the aftermath was littered with corruption and mismanagement. It was this massive evidence of corruption that made Obasanjo, never a great sports fan himself, decide to back out of Nigeria’s bid to host the first ever Soccer World Cup in Africa, and resulted in South Africa getting that honour. Obasanjo also quickly foresaw that the evidence of corruption will also implicate some members of his family. The EFCC, then under Nuhu Ribadu, wanted to pick him up, but there was so much pressure from high up, that he had to succumb. The reason is that if Dr Adamu was ever picked up, he would start singing and the songs will not be melodious to the ears of some very top politicians and officials who had been compromised in the award of bogus or highly inflated contracts for the Games. They therefore had to use a lot of muscle on Ribadu to drop the investigations. It was a mess, and they must not let the shit hit the fan.
He has a very good team of loyal acolytes who report to him. For the past ten or fifteen years, these loyalists are always appointed into one important sports committee or the other. An example is the Nigeria Football Association, with Sani Lulu and Ojo-Oba as Chairman and Secretary respectively. The Board is also packed full of his loyalists. (Please note that the Nigeria Football Association still does not have an official website) These two goons have been Adamu’s men for years. They do his bidding and ensure that no other outsider ever gets in. More importantly, they report back to him. Their continued stay will always ensure that Nigerian football never progresses. He also has his goons in other sports areas. The first objective of the loyalists is to serve their master, and not Nigerian sports. Of course, these loyalists also serve their own pockets. They do not contribute, and never will contribute, anything towards resuscitating Nigerian comatose and moribund sports. They lack the knowledge and the ability, the focus and the ideas, the commitment and sincerity of purpose, to meaningfully contribute anything towards developing our sports. They are simply “yes-men”, sycophants, and corrupt charlatans parading themselves as sports officials. They are men of straw, doomed to serve a lesser god and doomed to failure, to be consigned to the dustbin of history. They are looters in power, like their godfather.
Well done, Adamu. You will leave us one day and go and finish your days as a “pastor” as you have said you desire. Maybe God will make you confess all your sins, and probably make you return all our money in your possession. It is not too late to repent.
Their time will come – these looters in power, however, para-phrasing Noam Chomsky's thesis, the only opposition now to these perpetrations of crimes and sins on Nigerians should be a continuous PUBLIC OPINION/OUTCRY at every whiff of scandalous corruption. And perhaps the civil societies and labour must help too.
Let the truth be said always.
Thursday, 15 May 2008
Deception, Lies, Fraud and Farce: The State of A Nation
As my British Airways flight was banking and circling over Lagos on the evening I arrived in Nigeria, the passenger next to me, a South African contractor coming to Nigeria for the first time pointed out the window and asked me, “Why do you say that Nigeria has got no electricity? Isn’t that Lagos all lighted up? That’s a very beautiful sight, isn’t it?”. I looked out, and indeed, Lagos appeared to be all lights, and it seems as if our electricity and energy problems had been solved.
However, I knew better. It was all I could do not to laugh. I just told my new-found friend that he has to be on the ground to see for himself. I could not tell him that all the beautiful lights he saw from thousands of feet up in the air were generated by private generators, millions of them. It is funny, sad and ironic, really. Yes, the first impression you get from the airplane is that Lagos is a city all lighted up by the government and whatever companies responsible for providing electricity to Nigerians. The moment you get to your street and you hear the deafening noise of several private generators, causing noise and air pollution, then you know you are in Nigeria and we still have our usual epileptic power supply.
Incidentally, I arrived in Nigeria when a lot of very scary things were going on. The Senate’s Power Sector Probe, dubbed National Integrated Power Project Probe was in full swing. Nigerians are still looking for a light airplane belonging to ex-Governor Ibori of Delta State, that vanished from the face of the earth almost two months after it disappeared somewhere over Cross River and Akwa Ibom States. Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, wanted for her role in the Ministry of Health 300 million Naira embezzlement was playing a farcical cat and mouse, hide and seek game with the now discredited EFCC under a new leadership. Mallam El-Rufai, erstwhile Minister for the Federal Capital Territory under ex-President Obasanjo, was being asked to come forward to explain his actions concerning land and property demolitions and allocations to the senate committee investigating the activities of executive officers since 1999. And several other cans of worms and Pandora’s boxes were being opened or going to be opened soon.
The reason why I used the word “scary” mainly lies in the magnitude of the fraud, scam, lies, deceit and corruption perpetrated by a few persons in the corridors of power and government against the Nigerian people, who are increasingly finding it difficult to survive in a country of such potential and wealth. It is scary, when you realise that in hospitals such as UCH Ibadan and LUTH, Lagos, regarded as “centres of excellence”, patients have to bring in their own cotton wool, drips, medicines, water and other things necessary to treat their ailments. It is scary, when you realise that the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof Soludo, stated that 90 percent of Nigerian graduated are unemployable. It is scary when you realise that leaders who were responsible for the provision of education to our children by equipping our universities and secondary schools are instead building their own private universities and schools.
The National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) was conceived by Obasanjo. It has now turned out to be a very big scam. After spending 16 billion dollars (or is it $26 billion? we are not even sure), the stark reality is that there is still no light or electricity in Nigeria. It is one hell of a scam, and Obasanjo’s credibility and sincerity has been badly damaged. Look at the facts: Many of the contracts, if not all, were not awarded by due process, which Obasanjo’s government made a fetish of. Many of the companies awarded contracts were not even registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission as legitimate business concerns. Many of the contractors do not even know where the sites of their contracts are. Those who did know the site just walled off the sites and promptly disappeared with the mobilisation fees. Now, where is the money? Your guess is as good as mine. Very powerful people are involved including two former military heads of states, who, through their bogus companies, cornered the contracts, and simply disappeared. Several politicians, former ministers and officials of the various ministries in charge of providing energy to the country have been called before the Committee, and somehow, they have all left the hearing smelling of roses. This cannot be true. Dr Olusegun Agagu, a former Minister of Power and Steel (read Steal) and now two-term Governor of Ondo State (where nothing significant has happened in the last 5 years) even said somebody must be held accountable for not providing enough money after 16 billion dollars (I suppose he meant that 16 billion is not enough to go round to steal). Liyel Imoke, another former Minister of Power and Steel (again, read Steal) and Oil Minister, and now Governor of Cross River State, lamented the fact that so much money was spent on the power sector and nothing to show for it. Yet he was also in charge. He now holds several oil blocks allocated surreptitiously to him when he was in government, and is now in even more control of his State’s resources and allocations.
CBN Governor, Prof Soludo claimed insulation and ignorance from all these. He saw nothing, heard nothing and said nothing. He is just a banker to the Federal Government, despite the fact that he is the one who eventually releases money to do these projects. Dr Okonjo-Iweala, former Finance Minister, also appeared before the Committee and her revelations indicted Obasanjo, Imoke and her successor, Mrs Nenadi Usman. So did Oby Ezekwesili, former DG of the Bureau of Public Procurement. One man, I think he is the Chairman of Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission (whatever that means) actually made a very serious allegation against Obasanjo, alleging that OBJ once commissioned an empty site as a power station in Cross River State. It is instructive to note that no former official whose hands these money passed through was culpable. I know that when OBJ commissioned a power station in River State during ex-Governor Odili’s reign, the following week, EFCC invaded the state looking for evidence that Odili had bilked the state. Odili is still walking freely in Nigeria today and enjoying his ill-gotten wealth quietly having secured several court orders against arrest.
If you ask me, I doubt if anything will come out of this particular probe, despite the “honourable” Senators saying otherwise and keeping our hopes up. There are too many powerful people involved. These powerful people are not even afraid, they are sure they will be protected. Even as I write, Obasanjo and Atiku have been invited to appear before the committee. I await with bated breath if OBJ will, but I am sure Atiku will appear, if only to further present himself as a saint, having been seriously battered by the recent results of the election in his home state of Adamawa, in which his candidate was again beaten by the Governor with four “first ladies”. Ridiculous.
Enough about power probes. Let me now go to missing planes. A farce has been playing itself out here. A light plane belonging to a company owned by ex-Governor Ibori (Delta State’s private bank) was said to have crashed in the tropical rain forest region of Cross River and Akwa Ibom State. Two months after, the plane could not be found in the densely populated region. The pilot and the crew have vanished into thin air. I cannot comprehend it. If crashed planes could be found in the dense forests of the Amazons and the hills of the Andes in South America, how come satellites cannot pick out a crashed plane near Obudu Cattle Ranch in Nigeria, a region of very dense population and villages all over the place?
Then came the stories; the plane had been found in a neighbouring country, but nobody seems willing to confirm this. The purported owner of the plane, Mr James Ibori, a former Supermarket cashier in London turned eight-year Governor of one of the richest state in Nigeria (and also a convicted person) has not even shown any concern about the loss of his plane. In fact he was one of those who ensured the (s)election of Vincent Ogbulafor as the new National Chairman of the ruling PDP, which means he still enjoys great prominence, popularity and support in that murderous, retrogressive so-called political party. Lord, please have mercy on us!!
Then came the mother of all farce, in the persons of the EFCC and Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello playing cat and mouse with each other and insulting the collective intelligence of Nigerians. It is the stuff of which movies are made. The daughter of our nearly-discredited ex-president is on the run and in hiding from the EFCC for knowingly collecting 10 million Naira as her share from the 300 million unspent budget of the Federal Ministry of Health. The Minister, Prof Grange, a respected Professor of Paediatrics and her Minister of State, Gabriel Aduku are in hot water right now with nine other officials of the ministry. You know the story. Prof Grange was really out of her depth in Nigerian politics. She should have kept to her classrooms and laboratories. Aduku knew what he was doing. He was the one even demanding that the money be shared out quickly because he needed to travel and needed the money. So much for our honourable ministers. Anyway, others involved in the scandal have since returned the money and are awaiting prosecution, while our very own former “first daughter” has done a disappearance act, after admitting she took the money and spread it to her Committee on Health to enable them go on a retreat to Ghana. But she’s not giving the money back. What is the matter with the Obasanjo family? Why are they bent on self-destruction? The answer is neither there nor here. It will take a psycho-analyst to answer these questions. Iyabo was first a Commissioner in Ogun State under another master of propaganda, Gbenga Daniel, then became a Senator of the Federal Republic. Since her father left the scene in near disgrace, the daughter has been involved in one scandal or the other. Remember the case of impersonation (Mrs Okanlawon) and fraudulent facilitation of contract deals? Anyway, I do not believe the EFCC does not know where she is. Nigerians have urged her to give herself up but all have fallen on deaf ears. She seems to think she has some kind of immunity against arrest, and the EFCC is obliging her. They are the “Owners of Nigeria” truly. As of the time of writing this article, Iyabo is yet to give herself up.
It is pertinent to note here that what happened in the Ministry of Health happens in all ministries, federal or state, every year. All ministries simply share unspent money among the top officials and commissioners and ministers. And why did they not spend the money allocated to facilitate projects and make life better for Nigerians? First, most of the budgets are inflated to accommodate some stealing. Second, they never intend to execute most projects, or most projects in the budget are phantom projects. Third, they deliberately save some of the money, so that they will have something to share at the end of the financial year.
One lesson that is very much highlighted in the Ministry of Health is the fact that our civil servants are as corrupt as the politicians appointed to oversee their ministries. In fact, our civil service has been the bedrock of corruption ever since Murtala Mohammed carried out a purge of them in the 70s. So we should focus and beam our searchlight on them more often. It is a well known fact that any Minister that fails to carry his/her top civil servant along with them will not succeed, whatever they try to do.
All these boil down to lack of accountability, sincerity of purpose, corruption, fraud and a profound lack of caring for the people they are supposed to serve. It is the story of our life in Nigeria. I have such a total distrust of politicians and government officials that I fear I might go to my grave with that attitude intact. Most of them simply cannot convince me that they are offering and implementing selfless service to their people and constituency. (I have seen only one exception so far, but it is early days yet, and that is Governor Babatude Raji Fashola of Lagos State, who I must admit, to my happiness, so far has been doing wonderful things in his state. He is very focused, sincere and committed to seeing that “Eko o ni baje” , “Lagos will not spoil” – but that is an article for another day).
A little digression. In Ibadan is a brand new hotel. The room rate is about N35,000 per night. I understand that there are similar hotels built in Lagos, Abuja and Abeokuta. It is meant for Senators and other politicians for retreats, conferences, etc. And, you guessed it, they are owned by one Mrs Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello.
Oyo State and Alao-Akala! I don’t know which of them is going to kill the other. The Governor has been in excellent propaganda form ever since the Tribunal practically conferred legitimacy on him. And why wouldn’t they, after almost 850 million naira in “Ghana Must Go” bags changed hand during the nights? (Don’t quote me, but that is the amount being bandied around). Would that come from his pocket? No, it is the money of the people and Government of Oyo State going into private hands. Thank you, Lord. Yes, back to propaganda: the Governor is becoming something of a “Goebbels” in the art of propaganda and self-promotion. There are huge posters of him all over Ibadan and other cities in Oyo State proclaiming him as what the people of Oyo State have been yearning for. He is the “Teacher In Chief” to the teachers in Oyo State; he is the “friend” of civil servants and pensioners; he is going to do this and do that; Oyo State will become a model state and the envy of others. One of the posters is strategically located in Molete, next to Chief Adedibu’s first house. I saw local government cars, who have at the rear window, sun-screens proclaiming their loyalty to the Governor. Woe betide the councillor or chairman who does not exhibit their loyalty to the supreme Governor of Oyo State.
Now let’s have a look at what has happened so far: Nothing. While I was in Nigeria, Oyo State received a total of 27 billion Naira within one week; 13 billion as refund from the Paris Club of debtors and another 14 billion as excess crude oil allocation or something like that. When I heard this, instead of being happy at the windfall for the people of Oyo State, I was filled with sadness, anger, and frustration. And I was proved right within one week. This is what my Governor has done with the money so far: he bought cars for the State’s labour union officials (Is it the business of the state to buy cars for labour unionists?); he has promised to give each member of the state’s House of Assembly, 20 million naira each as “constituency allowance”. That is what he as spent some of the money on so far. Meanwhile, there are thousands of unemployed youths and graduates on the streets; the streets of Ibadan and other major cities in the state are in dire need of repair or reconstruction; there is no beautification plan, as in Lagos, Ilorin, Minna and Calabar, for the city of Ibadan and the city is a sight for sore eyes; the Water Corporation of Oyo State cannot supply water because there are no chemicals and cannot pump water because they do not have generators; pensioners have not been paid their allowances for the past 24 months or so; the sewage system of Ibadan, the capital is non-existent; waste disposal is non-existent; Cocoa House has no supply of electricity and the companies there run on generators (can you imagine each floor of maybe six companies running their own private generator in a such a cramped space everyday?); armed robbers are running all over the place and so many other important issues the man should attend to.
But no, your guess is as good as mine that a lot of that 27 billion Naira will find its way to Molete, if it has not already done so already, and to others too numerous to mention here – loyal local government chiefs and councillors, commissioners, loyal civil servants, hangers-on and other political jobbers, Oyo State NURTW chiefs. Wow, it is a spree. The thief has been put in charge of the treasury. Take what you can, it is the national cake.
It is too much for me to contemplate, and believe me, I am not a prophet of doom, but I just can not see what other things this man will do with our money, except blow it. He has not got the right attitude, the ideas, the plans, the commitment; in short, he is not the man to put things right in Oyo State. He is not up to it, except steal the state blind and report to his godfather.
In 1933, when Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany, he predicted the “Thousand year Reich”. By 1945, barely 12 years later, the thousand year Reich was in ruins and he himself was dead. In 1983, after “winning” their election to a second term, the ruling NPN in Nigeria predicted that the NPN will rule Nigeria for the next 100 years. Well, by the end of 1983, there was no more NPN and its leaders were on the run or in jail. So much for political parties trying to turn countries into one-party states.
But then in April 2008, came Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, (s)elected as the new National Chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party of Nigeria. One of his very first statements is that the PDP will rule Nigeria for the next sixty years. Why he picked sixty years is something I don’t understand. Why not 100 or 1000 years? That would be better, wouldn’t it? Anyway, therein lies the problem with our politicians. First, they are never students of history, and if they are, never learn from it. Secondly, they engage their mouths well before they engage the thinking process. And thirdly, and most importantly, they are never ones to be called democrats. For a party that professes to be democratic, why would they want to monopolise power for sixty years? Such parties will never accept defeat gracefully at the polls, and will always try to rig elections. Inevitably, their ultimate plan and goal will be to turn Nigeria into a one-party state. Normally I would probably have no problem with this, but then if the party and its members cannot be trusted to rule Nigeria as it should be ruled, that is where we have an objection to them being in power for sixty years. In fact the mere thought and knowledge of the PDP being in power for the next five years is frightening, depressing and unimaginable to the majority of Nigerians. Their performance, or rather non-performance, over the last eight years is nothing to write home about. In fact they have demonstrated to Nigerians many shortcomings as a focused, genuine and serious ruling party. Apart from the corruption of the party, the party consists of very murderous thugs, lack of any political ideology, a dearth of know-how and of sincerity of purpose, a deep ignorance of good governance and a deep-rooted lack of sympathy to the plight of the people of Nigeria. In short, the party is not a political party, but a gang of dubious and questionable characters and charlatans parading themselves as rulers of the nation.
Having said this however, the opposition political parties are no better than the PDP. If they get in, we should not expect anything better from them. They will just be a breath of fresh air and a change from the frying pan into the fire. And once they are consolidated in power, don’t be surprised if their Chairmen also start making such inane and risible predictions as Mr Ogbulafor. They are all the same.
Unless something changes with our political thinking, organisation and orientation, we will continue to have such mediocres as Ogbulafor uttering inanities like that, and wishing to turn the country into a one-party state and hence, owning the country, holding the people hostage and under serfdom forever.
I hope my experience has been instructive to others. Definitely, I always learn extensively on my visits to Nigeria. It is a good country to be, if only they will let us. We therefore must not relent in our efforts to root them out and have our country back from these forces of darkness and retrogression. How we do this is entirely up to us, for we are the architects of our own destiny.
Let the truth be said always.
Just before I posted this article, I received a comment from a good friend, Emenanjo Adinlofu. This is what he had to say and it bears me out on my impression of Gov. Fashola of Lagos State:
"What you said about Fashola's performance in Lagos was confirmed by my wife when she came back from Nigeria. I sincerely hope he will keep it up. Nigeria will not die, it is our crude and ruthlessly selfish leaders that will die and leave that country. I may be wrong but some times I have this strong feeling that God has a purpose for that country and I believe sooner than later, that purpose would be revealed. Meanwhile,I extend Noam Chomsky's thesis, that the only opposition now in Nigeria is PUBLIC OPINION/OUTCRY. And perhaps the civil societies and labour".
Gov Fashola, please keep it up. A lot of us are seeing as beam of hope in an otherwise dark tunnel. Do not be distracted by Tinubu's politician friends milling around you thinking that because Tinubu made you get there, you are an extension of Tinubu's eight-year folly and wastage in Lagos State. Prove them wrong, Sir. Prove that Nigerians are not all corrupt. Prove that ordinary people can be proactive and have sincere love of their people in mind and want to help them. Prove that a young man can save Nigeria.
I am sure you can, and will do it to the finish. We wish you the best and people will support you as long as they see you are doing the right thing.
However, I knew better. It was all I could do not to laugh. I just told my new-found friend that he has to be on the ground to see for himself. I could not tell him that all the beautiful lights he saw from thousands of feet up in the air were generated by private generators, millions of them. It is funny, sad and ironic, really. Yes, the first impression you get from the airplane is that Lagos is a city all lighted up by the government and whatever companies responsible for providing electricity to Nigerians. The moment you get to your street and you hear the deafening noise of several private generators, causing noise and air pollution, then you know you are in Nigeria and we still have our usual epileptic power supply.
Incidentally, I arrived in Nigeria when a lot of very scary things were going on. The Senate’s Power Sector Probe, dubbed National Integrated Power Project Probe was in full swing. Nigerians are still looking for a light airplane belonging to ex-Governor Ibori of Delta State, that vanished from the face of the earth almost two months after it disappeared somewhere over Cross River and Akwa Ibom States. Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, wanted for her role in the Ministry of Health 300 million Naira embezzlement was playing a farcical cat and mouse, hide and seek game with the now discredited EFCC under a new leadership. Mallam El-Rufai, erstwhile Minister for the Federal Capital Territory under ex-President Obasanjo, was being asked to come forward to explain his actions concerning land and property demolitions and allocations to the senate committee investigating the activities of executive officers since 1999. And several other cans of worms and Pandora’s boxes were being opened or going to be opened soon.
The reason why I used the word “scary” mainly lies in the magnitude of the fraud, scam, lies, deceit and corruption perpetrated by a few persons in the corridors of power and government against the Nigerian people, who are increasingly finding it difficult to survive in a country of such potential and wealth. It is scary, when you realise that in hospitals such as UCH Ibadan and LUTH, Lagos, regarded as “centres of excellence”, patients have to bring in their own cotton wool, drips, medicines, water and other things necessary to treat their ailments. It is scary, when you realise that the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof Soludo, stated that 90 percent of Nigerian graduated are unemployable. It is scary when you realise that leaders who were responsible for the provision of education to our children by equipping our universities and secondary schools are instead building their own private universities and schools.
The National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) was conceived by Obasanjo. It has now turned out to be a very big scam. After spending 16 billion dollars (or is it $26 billion? we are not even sure), the stark reality is that there is still no light or electricity in Nigeria. It is one hell of a scam, and Obasanjo’s credibility and sincerity has been badly damaged. Look at the facts: Many of the contracts, if not all, were not awarded by due process, which Obasanjo’s government made a fetish of. Many of the companies awarded contracts were not even registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission as legitimate business concerns. Many of the contractors do not even know where the sites of their contracts are. Those who did know the site just walled off the sites and promptly disappeared with the mobilisation fees. Now, where is the money? Your guess is as good as mine. Very powerful people are involved including two former military heads of states, who, through their bogus companies, cornered the contracts, and simply disappeared. Several politicians, former ministers and officials of the various ministries in charge of providing energy to the country have been called before the Committee, and somehow, they have all left the hearing smelling of roses. This cannot be true. Dr Olusegun Agagu, a former Minister of Power and Steel (read Steal) and now two-term Governor of Ondo State (where nothing significant has happened in the last 5 years) even said somebody must be held accountable for not providing enough money after 16 billion dollars (I suppose he meant that 16 billion is not enough to go round to steal). Liyel Imoke, another former Minister of Power and Steel (again, read Steal) and Oil Minister, and now Governor of Cross River State, lamented the fact that so much money was spent on the power sector and nothing to show for it. Yet he was also in charge. He now holds several oil blocks allocated surreptitiously to him when he was in government, and is now in even more control of his State’s resources and allocations.
CBN Governor, Prof Soludo claimed insulation and ignorance from all these. He saw nothing, heard nothing and said nothing. He is just a banker to the Federal Government, despite the fact that he is the one who eventually releases money to do these projects. Dr Okonjo-Iweala, former Finance Minister, also appeared before the Committee and her revelations indicted Obasanjo, Imoke and her successor, Mrs Nenadi Usman. So did Oby Ezekwesili, former DG of the Bureau of Public Procurement. One man, I think he is the Chairman of Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission (whatever that means) actually made a very serious allegation against Obasanjo, alleging that OBJ once commissioned an empty site as a power station in Cross River State. It is instructive to note that no former official whose hands these money passed through was culpable. I know that when OBJ commissioned a power station in River State during ex-Governor Odili’s reign, the following week, EFCC invaded the state looking for evidence that Odili had bilked the state. Odili is still walking freely in Nigeria today and enjoying his ill-gotten wealth quietly having secured several court orders against arrest.
If you ask me, I doubt if anything will come out of this particular probe, despite the “honourable” Senators saying otherwise and keeping our hopes up. There are too many powerful people involved. These powerful people are not even afraid, they are sure they will be protected. Even as I write, Obasanjo and Atiku have been invited to appear before the committee. I await with bated breath if OBJ will, but I am sure Atiku will appear, if only to further present himself as a saint, having been seriously battered by the recent results of the election in his home state of Adamawa, in which his candidate was again beaten by the Governor with four “first ladies”. Ridiculous.
Enough about power probes. Let me now go to missing planes. A farce has been playing itself out here. A light plane belonging to a company owned by ex-Governor Ibori (Delta State’s private bank) was said to have crashed in the tropical rain forest region of Cross River and Akwa Ibom State. Two months after, the plane could not be found in the densely populated region. The pilot and the crew have vanished into thin air. I cannot comprehend it. If crashed planes could be found in the dense forests of the Amazons and the hills of the Andes in South America, how come satellites cannot pick out a crashed plane near Obudu Cattle Ranch in Nigeria, a region of very dense population and villages all over the place?
Then came the stories; the plane had been found in a neighbouring country, but nobody seems willing to confirm this. The purported owner of the plane, Mr James Ibori, a former Supermarket cashier in London turned eight-year Governor of one of the richest state in Nigeria (and also a convicted person) has not even shown any concern about the loss of his plane. In fact he was one of those who ensured the (s)election of Vincent Ogbulafor as the new National Chairman of the ruling PDP, which means he still enjoys great prominence, popularity and support in that murderous, retrogressive so-called political party. Lord, please have mercy on us!!
Then came the mother of all farce, in the persons of the EFCC and Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello playing cat and mouse with each other and insulting the collective intelligence of Nigerians. It is the stuff of which movies are made. The daughter of our nearly-discredited ex-president is on the run and in hiding from the EFCC for knowingly collecting 10 million Naira as her share from the 300 million unspent budget of the Federal Ministry of Health. The Minister, Prof Grange, a respected Professor of Paediatrics and her Minister of State, Gabriel Aduku are in hot water right now with nine other officials of the ministry. You know the story. Prof Grange was really out of her depth in Nigerian politics. She should have kept to her classrooms and laboratories. Aduku knew what he was doing. He was the one even demanding that the money be shared out quickly because he needed to travel and needed the money. So much for our honourable ministers. Anyway, others involved in the scandal have since returned the money and are awaiting prosecution, while our very own former “first daughter” has done a disappearance act, after admitting she took the money and spread it to her Committee on Health to enable them go on a retreat to Ghana. But she’s not giving the money back. What is the matter with the Obasanjo family? Why are they bent on self-destruction? The answer is neither there nor here. It will take a psycho-analyst to answer these questions. Iyabo was first a Commissioner in Ogun State under another master of propaganda, Gbenga Daniel, then became a Senator of the Federal Republic. Since her father left the scene in near disgrace, the daughter has been involved in one scandal or the other. Remember the case of impersonation (Mrs Okanlawon) and fraudulent facilitation of contract deals? Anyway, I do not believe the EFCC does not know where she is. Nigerians have urged her to give herself up but all have fallen on deaf ears. She seems to think she has some kind of immunity against arrest, and the EFCC is obliging her. They are the “Owners of Nigeria” truly. As of the time of writing this article, Iyabo is yet to give herself up.
It is pertinent to note here that what happened in the Ministry of Health happens in all ministries, federal or state, every year. All ministries simply share unspent money among the top officials and commissioners and ministers. And why did they not spend the money allocated to facilitate projects and make life better for Nigerians? First, most of the budgets are inflated to accommodate some stealing. Second, they never intend to execute most projects, or most projects in the budget are phantom projects. Third, they deliberately save some of the money, so that they will have something to share at the end of the financial year.
One lesson that is very much highlighted in the Ministry of Health is the fact that our civil servants are as corrupt as the politicians appointed to oversee their ministries. In fact, our civil service has been the bedrock of corruption ever since Murtala Mohammed carried out a purge of them in the 70s. So we should focus and beam our searchlight on them more often. It is a well known fact that any Minister that fails to carry his/her top civil servant along with them will not succeed, whatever they try to do.
All these boil down to lack of accountability, sincerity of purpose, corruption, fraud and a profound lack of caring for the people they are supposed to serve. It is the story of our life in Nigeria. I have such a total distrust of politicians and government officials that I fear I might go to my grave with that attitude intact. Most of them simply cannot convince me that they are offering and implementing selfless service to their people and constituency. (I have seen only one exception so far, but it is early days yet, and that is Governor Babatude Raji Fashola of Lagos State, who I must admit, to my happiness, so far has been doing wonderful things in his state. He is very focused, sincere and committed to seeing that “Eko o ni baje” , “Lagos will not spoil” – but that is an article for another day).
A little digression. In Ibadan is a brand new hotel. The room rate is about N35,000 per night. I understand that there are similar hotels built in Lagos, Abuja and Abeokuta. It is meant for Senators and other politicians for retreats, conferences, etc. And, you guessed it, they are owned by one Mrs Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello.
Oyo State and Alao-Akala! I don’t know which of them is going to kill the other. The Governor has been in excellent propaganda form ever since the Tribunal practically conferred legitimacy on him. And why wouldn’t they, after almost 850 million naira in “Ghana Must Go” bags changed hand during the nights? (Don’t quote me, but that is the amount being bandied around). Would that come from his pocket? No, it is the money of the people and Government of Oyo State going into private hands. Thank you, Lord. Yes, back to propaganda: the Governor is becoming something of a “Goebbels” in the art of propaganda and self-promotion. There are huge posters of him all over Ibadan and other cities in Oyo State proclaiming him as what the people of Oyo State have been yearning for. He is the “Teacher In Chief” to the teachers in Oyo State; he is the “friend” of civil servants and pensioners; he is going to do this and do that; Oyo State will become a model state and the envy of others. One of the posters is strategically located in Molete, next to Chief Adedibu’s first house. I saw local government cars, who have at the rear window, sun-screens proclaiming their loyalty to the Governor. Woe betide the councillor or chairman who does not exhibit their loyalty to the supreme Governor of Oyo State.
Now let’s have a look at what has happened so far: Nothing. While I was in Nigeria, Oyo State received a total of 27 billion Naira within one week; 13 billion as refund from the Paris Club of debtors and another 14 billion as excess crude oil allocation or something like that. When I heard this, instead of being happy at the windfall for the people of Oyo State, I was filled with sadness, anger, and frustration. And I was proved right within one week. This is what my Governor has done with the money so far: he bought cars for the State’s labour union officials (Is it the business of the state to buy cars for labour unionists?); he has promised to give each member of the state’s House of Assembly, 20 million naira each as “constituency allowance”. That is what he as spent some of the money on so far. Meanwhile, there are thousands of unemployed youths and graduates on the streets; the streets of Ibadan and other major cities in the state are in dire need of repair or reconstruction; there is no beautification plan, as in Lagos, Ilorin, Minna and Calabar, for the city of Ibadan and the city is a sight for sore eyes; the Water Corporation of Oyo State cannot supply water because there are no chemicals and cannot pump water because they do not have generators; pensioners have not been paid their allowances for the past 24 months or so; the sewage system of Ibadan, the capital is non-existent; waste disposal is non-existent; Cocoa House has no supply of electricity and the companies there run on generators (can you imagine each floor of maybe six companies running their own private generator in a such a cramped space everyday?); armed robbers are running all over the place and so many other important issues the man should attend to.
But no, your guess is as good as mine that a lot of that 27 billion Naira will find its way to Molete, if it has not already done so already, and to others too numerous to mention here – loyal local government chiefs and councillors, commissioners, loyal civil servants, hangers-on and other political jobbers, Oyo State NURTW chiefs. Wow, it is a spree. The thief has been put in charge of the treasury. Take what you can, it is the national cake.
It is too much for me to contemplate, and believe me, I am not a prophet of doom, but I just can not see what other things this man will do with our money, except blow it. He has not got the right attitude, the ideas, the plans, the commitment; in short, he is not the man to put things right in Oyo State. He is not up to it, except steal the state blind and report to his godfather.
In 1933, when Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany, he predicted the “Thousand year Reich”. By 1945, barely 12 years later, the thousand year Reich was in ruins and he himself was dead. In 1983, after “winning” their election to a second term, the ruling NPN in Nigeria predicted that the NPN will rule Nigeria for the next 100 years. Well, by the end of 1983, there was no more NPN and its leaders were on the run or in jail. So much for political parties trying to turn countries into one-party states.
But then in April 2008, came Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, (s)elected as the new National Chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party of Nigeria. One of his very first statements is that the PDP will rule Nigeria for the next sixty years. Why he picked sixty years is something I don’t understand. Why not 100 or 1000 years? That would be better, wouldn’t it? Anyway, therein lies the problem with our politicians. First, they are never students of history, and if they are, never learn from it. Secondly, they engage their mouths well before they engage the thinking process. And thirdly, and most importantly, they are never ones to be called democrats. For a party that professes to be democratic, why would they want to monopolise power for sixty years? Such parties will never accept defeat gracefully at the polls, and will always try to rig elections. Inevitably, their ultimate plan and goal will be to turn Nigeria into a one-party state. Normally I would probably have no problem with this, but then if the party and its members cannot be trusted to rule Nigeria as it should be ruled, that is where we have an objection to them being in power for sixty years. In fact the mere thought and knowledge of the PDP being in power for the next five years is frightening, depressing and unimaginable to the majority of Nigerians. Their performance, or rather non-performance, over the last eight years is nothing to write home about. In fact they have demonstrated to Nigerians many shortcomings as a focused, genuine and serious ruling party. Apart from the corruption of the party, the party consists of very murderous thugs, lack of any political ideology, a dearth of know-how and of sincerity of purpose, a deep ignorance of good governance and a deep-rooted lack of sympathy to the plight of the people of Nigeria. In short, the party is not a political party, but a gang of dubious and questionable characters and charlatans parading themselves as rulers of the nation.
Having said this however, the opposition political parties are no better than the PDP. If they get in, we should not expect anything better from them. They will just be a breath of fresh air and a change from the frying pan into the fire. And once they are consolidated in power, don’t be surprised if their Chairmen also start making such inane and risible predictions as Mr Ogbulafor. They are all the same.
Unless something changes with our political thinking, organisation and orientation, we will continue to have such mediocres as Ogbulafor uttering inanities like that, and wishing to turn the country into a one-party state and hence, owning the country, holding the people hostage and under serfdom forever.
I hope my experience has been instructive to others. Definitely, I always learn extensively on my visits to Nigeria. It is a good country to be, if only they will let us. We therefore must not relent in our efforts to root them out and have our country back from these forces of darkness and retrogression. How we do this is entirely up to us, for we are the architects of our own destiny.
Let the truth be said always.
Just before I posted this article, I received a comment from a good friend, Emenanjo Adinlofu. This is what he had to say and it bears me out on my impression of Gov. Fashola of Lagos State:
"What you said about Fashola's performance in Lagos was confirmed by my wife when she came back from Nigeria. I sincerely hope he will keep it up. Nigeria will not die, it is our crude and ruthlessly selfish leaders that will die and leave that country. I may be wrong but some times I have this strong feeling that God has a purpose for that country and I believe sooner than later, that purpose would be revealed. Meanwhile,I extend Noam Chomsky's thesis, that the only opposition now in Nigeria is PUBLIC OPINION/OUTCRY. And perhaps the civil societies and labour".
Gov Fashola, please keep it up. A lot of us are seeing as beam of hope in an otherwise dark tunnel. Do not be distracted by Tinubu's politician friends milling around you thinking that because Tinubu made you get there, you are an extension of Tinubu's eight-year folly and wastage in Lagos State. Prove them wrong, Sir. Prove that Nigerians are not all corrupt. Prove that ordinary people can be proactive and have sincere love of their people in mind and want to help them. Prove that a young man can save Nigeria.
I am sure you can, and will do it to the finish. We wish you the best and people will support you as long as they see you are doing the right thing.
Pseudo-Leadership and Nigerian Politics
“I therefore, urge Danjuma, Obasanjo and their likes to please let Nigeria be. We do not want WAR again. Lesson of life – Never put your mouth in motion without thinking deeply. By God’s grace, we shall overcome” – Rev. Fr. Felix Ajakaye – St Michael’s Catholic Church, Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State in “Danjuma, Obasanjo and Co.”, The Guardian, Monday, March 24, 2008.
“The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership. There is nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian land, or climate or water or air or anything else. The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which are the hallmarks of true leadership” – Prof. Chinua Achebe, “The Trouble With Nigeria. 1984”
The above two quotations just about sum up the problems we have in Nigeria. Prof Achebe’s book was written in 1984 and Rev Fr. Ajakaye’s article was a discourse of the Danjuma/Obasanjo’s public fallout. I am sure the Danjuma interview has been widely read, and therefore does not need a recanting here.
In a recent article, “Is Nigeria Really A Failed State?”, I had posited that I do not consider Nigeria as a failed state. In the same article, I briefly mentioned that it is the leaders we have been unlucky to have in this country that have failed us, and not the country, Nigeria, per se. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with us as a people and as a nation, only the leaders, most of the time aided by sycophants, praise-singers, political jobbers, and those who, ever since they were born, have been living fat off the Nigeria people and their wealth, without ever putting anything worthwhile back in return. I however admitted that on the face of it, and from our perceptions of historical data, Nigeria has not been governed well, and if care or decisive and prompt actions are not taken, there is the possibility that Nigeria may eventually become a failed state, as the prophets of doom are already insinuating. The feedback I received was very vicious. Several Nigerians, and even one or two foreigners, who professed their love for Nigeria, criticised my thinking and implied that I am living in this world blind, not to see that Nigeria is a failed state. Thankfully, I was still able to get positive feedback from those who could read between the lines and did not behind the façade of tribalism and political chicanery.
Fortunately for me, in his article in The Guardian of January 28, 2008, “Let this Empire be”, (published before my own and which I never even saw before I wrote mine), Prof Niyi Akinnaso had pre-empted me. He wrote, “Certainly, Nigeria is not a strong state. It is not a collapsed state either because there is no vacuum in state authority, there are no non-state actors competing for authority, and political goods are not depleted. The question is whether she belongs to the weak or failed category. To classify Nigeria as a failed state is to see the Nigerian cup as half empty by focusing on her weaknesses at the expense of her strengths and potential. For example, one would need to exaggerate the powers of the Niger Delta militants and deny the existence of state authority in the distribution of political goods. Such an attempt would be tantamount to putting Nigeria in the same category as Somalia and Sudan which continue to top the list of failed states. By the way, Nigeria has never been categorically classified as a failed state, although alarm bells were sometimes sounded. It is not the case that Nigeria lacks the resources to produce adequate political goods. The problem is that they are not adequately sourced or distributed at federal, state, and local levels owing to corrupt politicians, administrators, and contractors. Necessary state institutions exist but they are not encouraged or allowed to function effectively or their operators are otherwise compromised. The economy is feeding on the oil boom, a strong stock market, and a consolidated banking system, but the rewards are concentrated in a few hands.”
The Danjuma/Obasanjo face-off has merely highlighted this dearth of leadership, blatant corruption, selfishness and moral deficiencies emanating from our leaders, both military, political, past and present. Nigeria is more cursed than failed, I would say.
I will stress that, until I read Lt. Gen T Y Danjuma’s “exclusive” interview, he was one former military leader that I have the utmost respect for. I used to admire him as a military man along with the likes of Obasanjo, Mohammed Shuwa, Murtala Mohammed, Joe Garba, Benjamin Adekunle, etc. The moment I read his expletives and ranting in the interview, it did not take me more than 2 minutes to jettison all the admiration and respect I have had for him for over 30 years. A word of caution here, lest people misunderstand my motives. As far as I am concerned, both Danjuma and Obasanjo can go to hell, based mainly on how the two of them (with so many other pseudo-patriotic Nigerians) have colluded to treat Nigeria as their own personal fiefdom.
Reading that interview, it was hard not to come to the conclusion that Danjuma smacked of arrogance, bitterness, selfishness, bigotry, lack of remorse, pomposity and that trait of Nigerians who have tasted one form of power or the other – “I am an owner of Nigeria”, with reference to Seyi Oduyela’s “Owners of Nigeria”. “Nigeria in the last 44 years has been stolen by a cabal and turned to their own. These few robbers have created dynasties for themselves and they pass us round. I have to call them owners of Nigeria because that is what I think they are and the rest of us are tenants. Who are these people and why are they owners of Nigeria? They cut across all the geo-political zones of Nigeria. We have them in the West, North, East and South-South, also the Middle-belt. Our living has been subjected to theirs, we live how they want us to live, do what they want us to do, sneeze when they ask us to, eat what they offer us. This is pathetic, but I think we caused it. They are able to do this to us because we allow them to have access to wealth while we remain complacent. We hail them, worship them, sing their praises, kill ourselves because of them, fight each other for them to live. They enjoy seeing us dying, suffering, queuing at the gas stations, running after commuter buses, begging for crumbs from their table, even when it demands that we struggle with their dogs to get it”.
TY Danjuma seems to think he has a monopoly of everything about Nigeria. He was part of many bloody and bloodless coup-de-etats, he installed leaders, he appointed ministers and military governors, he has a say on who and who is not promoted in the Army, he showed his distaste for “foolish people like Enahoro”, and “absolutely useless people like Aguiyi-Ironsi”. He apportioned to himself some sort of Alpha and Omega of Nigeria.He also showed from the interview that despite his being a Northern Christian, and who would like to be remembered as a statesman, he is just a petty tribalist, who wanted revenge on “Igbo officers who had murdered Northern officers”.
And this is a man who would like to be treated and regarded as an elder statesman. A man who could not for the world, see that his many violent interference in the political development of Nigeria has brought nothing but misery, poverty, bloodshed, corruption and the like to his people, be they southerners or northerners, Christian or Muslim.
TY Danjuma also seriously and pertinently exposed himself, albeit inadvertently, as a former military officer who had made his money via a corrupt way of life and through the opportunity granted him – or rather seized by him and his cohorts - for being at the top of governance of Nigeria for many decades as a result of patronage, forcing his way into power and negotiating his stance in most of the governments that have ruled Nigeria. He said he single-handedly raised $7 million to finance Obasnjo’s first term election, with half coming of this from his own pocket. Well, there we have it. How did TY Danjuma make his money. If he put down $3.5 million from his own pocket, two questions arise: If he can afford this much, that means he has a lot more than this, how did he get so much money and what business was he engaged in after his retirement from the military? Secondly, if he put down $3.5 million to finance one person’s election, what was he hoping to get in return? He of course wanted more, and the only place he could possibly get that, was being in Government.
The answer to the first question might be because of the oil blocks he got from the Government (and I think this was what caused the problem between him and Obasanjo when the oil block was taken away from him, probably on the orders of Obasanjo, his friend and then President). We all know that all these “owners of Nigeria” just allocate the oil blocks to themselves. There is hardly ever any Minister or junior Minister for Petroleum, or PDP party officials, or former very top military officers, who does not have an oil block, which they then sell on to foreigners, therefore making a fortune, without moving a finger. A nice little corrupt earner.
The second answer is that Lt. Gen Danjuma eventually became the Defence Minister under the man whose election he helped to finance. This was his payback. How effective was the Defence Ministry when our General was the Minister? Can anybody put their fingers on exactly what was achieved by that Ministry under the Minister? What was the Ministry’s budget, expenses, etc? Were the military paid on time? Were the living conditions in the barracks improved? Were the military’s ability to defend Nigeria’s territorial integrity enhanced?
To say I was disappointed with Lt. Gen Danjuma, based on his interview, will be putting it mildly. I was appalled and aghast at his state of mind and thinking. Again, this all says something about the people who have been ruling us for several decades, their warped mindset, their intelligence, their commitment to our welfare, their sense of responsibility and integrity. I could picture the General, war –hero and plotter of many coups, ranting during the interview, casting aspersions on his erstwhile military and political co-travellers and laying emphasis and some degree of bitterness because he had to beg for promotion, after it was himself pushing for other officers’ promotions and national honours. It was very sad, to note that this was what became of the Nigerian military class. It was also appalling, frightening and worrying to note that this is a reflection of the mind-sets of our leaders, like Rev. Fr Ajakaye succinctly put it “They seek their own good at the expense of the country ….. a dangerous trend in our struggle to reform our country in all its ramifications, particularly in the area of good, firm and sincere leadership.”
Danjuma also inadvertently exposed the true agenda of the military class in their various interventions in Nigeria’s governance. It was nothing more than personal aggrandisement, personal benefit, acquisition of wealth at the expense of the Nigerian people, destructive jealousies and personal vendetta, unhealthy quest for undeserved national honours, promotions and wealth, personal ambitions, oppression of the people, trampling on the civil and human rights of their people to position themselves for further government largesse.
Please look back at our military and political history: which of our leaders had really done well or enough? None. They could not even if they had wanted to. They could not fathom what true leadership is. They do not have the ability or the capacity to distinguish between good and evil, right and wrong, good and bad governance. It was not because of their education, but because of the low level of their natural intellectual capacity.
How do you expect a soldier who bears a grudge simply because he was denied promotion and national honour to perform as a true leader of men and women? Such leaders will never care about the welfare, the unity and survival of their people. In fact, such leaders will continue to fan the embers of divisive hatred between the people in order to distract attention of the people they govern from reality. So if we are not at each other throats or trust each other because of our tribal affiliations, we will be hacking each other up because of our religious beliefs.
My conclusion is basically the same as Rev. Fr Ajakaye “all well-meaning Nigerians must join hands together in our search for true leadership, rather than allowing (an evil) cabal to keep ruining the country, all in the name of leading or ruling.”
Obasanjo, Danjuma, Anenih, Atiku, Buhari, Babangida, Abdulsalam, Adedibu, Chris Uba, and others of their ilk too numerous to mention, LET NIGERIA BE!!!!!!. Nigeria belongs to all of us, not you alone. Let loose you evil reins or you will pay for it in blood. You have never had anything to offer to Nigeria before, and you have absolutely nothing more to offer Nigeria now or in future. All of you are being exposed or are exposing yourself one by one.
As Albert Einstein said, Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them. These aforementioned so-called leaders and many more like them are part of the Nigerian problem, in fact most of them created the problems, so it is impossible for them to solve the problems. As long as they are there, never leaving hold of power and position, still stealing our money and acquiring wealth, positions and influence, and then positioning their offspring in power, to continue their nefarious activities, dubbed “ruling”, Nigeria will always have problems.
All of these pseudo-leaders who like posing as leaders, are leading the country on the path of ruination and destruction. And the irony is: If they are allowed to destroy the country, they also destroy themselves. What gaineth them?
A word is enough for the wise.
Akintokunbo Adejumo lives and works in London, UK. A graduate of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria (1979) and University of Manitoba, Canada (1985), he also writes on topical issues for newspapers and internet media including Nigeriaworld.com, Nigeria Today Online, Nigerians In America, Nigeria Village Square, Champions Newspaper, Gamji.com etc.
He is also the Coordinator of CHAMPIONS FOR NIGERIA, (www.championsfornigeria.org) an organisation devoted to celebrating genuine progress, excellence, commitment, selfless and unalloyed service to Nigeria and Nigerians.
“The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership. There is nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian land, or climate or water or air or anything else. The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which are the hallmarks of true leadership” – Prof. Chinua Achebe, “The Trouble With Nigeria. 1984”
The above two quotations just about sum up the problems we have in Nigeria. Prof Achebe’s book was written in 1984 and Rev Fr. Ajakaye’s article was a discourse of the Danjuma/Obasanjo’s public fallout. I am sure the Danjuma interview has been widely read, and therefore does not need a recanting here.
In a recent article, “Is Nigeria Really A Failed State?”, I had posited that I do not consider Nigeria as a failed state. In the same article, I briefly mentioned that it is the leaders we have been unlucky to have in this country that have failed us, and not the country, Nigeria, per se. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with us as a people and as a nation, only the leaders, most of the time aided by sycophants, praise-singers, political jobbers, and those who, ever since they were born, have been living fat off the Nigeria people and their wealth, without ever putting anything worthwhile back in return. I however admitted that on the face of it, and from our perceptions of historical data, Nigeria has not been governed well, and if care or decisive and prompt actions are not taken, there is the possibility that Nigeria may eventually become a failed state, as the prophets of doom are already insinuating. The feedback I received was very vicious. Several Nigerians, and even one or two foreigners, who professed their love for Nigeria, criticised my thinking and implied that I am living in this world blind, not to see that Nigeria is a failed state. Thankfully, I was still able to get positive feedback from those who could read between the lines and did not behind the façade of tribalism and political chicanery.
Fortunately for me, in his article in The Guardian of January 28, 2008, “Let this Empire be”, (published before my own and which I never even saw before I wrote mine), Prof Niyi Akinnaso had pre-empted me. He wrote, “Certainly, Nigeria is not a strong state. It is not a collapsed state either because there is no vacuum in state authority, there are no non-state actors competing for authority, and political goods are not depleted. The question is whether she belongs to the weak or failed category. To classify Nigeria as a failed state is to see the Nigerian cup as half empty by focusing on her weaknesses at the expense of her strengths and potential. For example, one would need to exaggerate the powers of the Niger Delta militants and deny the existence of state authority in the distribution of political goods. Such an attempt would be tantamount to putting Nigeria in the same category as Somalia and Sudan which continue to top the list of failed states. By the way, Nigeria has never been categorically classified as a failed state, although alarm bells were sometimes sounded. It is not the case that Nigeria lacks the resources to produce adequate political goods. The problem is that they are not adequately sourced or distributed at federal, state, and local levels owing to corrupt politicians, administrators, and contractors. Necessary state institutions exist but they are not encouraged or allowed to function effectively or their operators are otherwise compromised. The economy is feeding on the oil boom, a strong stock market, and a consolidated banking system, but the rewards are concentrated in a few hands.”
The Danjuma/Obasanjo face-off has merely highlighted this dearth of leadership, blatant corruption, selfishness and moral deficiencies emanating from our leaders, both military, political, past and present. Nigeria is more cursed than failed, I would say.
I will stress that, until I read Lt. Gen T Y Danjuma’s “exclusive” interview, he was one former military leader that I have the utmost respect for. I used to admire him as a military man along with the likes of Obasanjo, Mohammed Shuwa, Murtala Mohammed, Joe Garba, Benjamin Adekunle, etc. The moment I read his expletives and ranting in the interview, it did not take me more than 2 minutes to jettison all the admiration and respect I have had for him for over 30 years. A word of caution here, lest people misunderstand my motives. As far as I am concerned, both Danjuma and Obasanjo can go to hell, based mainly on how the two of them (with so many other pseudo-patriotic Nigerians) have colluded to treat Nigeria as their own personal fiefdom.
Reading that interview, it was hard not to come to the conclusion that Danjuma smacked of arrogance, bitterness, selfishness, bigotry, lack of remorse, pomposity and that trait of Nigerians who have tasted one form of power or the other – “I am an owner of Nigeria”, with reference to Seyi Oduyela’s “Owners of Nigeria”. “Nigeria in the last 44 years has been stolen by a cabal and turned to their own. These few robbers have created dynasties for themselves and they pass us round. I have to call them owners of Nigeria because that is what I think they are and the rest of us are tenants. Who are these people and why are they owners of Nigeria? They cut across all the geo-political zones of Nigeria. We have them in the West, North, East and South-South, also the Middle-belt. Our living has been subjected to theirs, we live how they want us to live, do what they want us to do, sneeze when they ask us to, eat what they offer us. This is pathetic, but I think we caused it. They are able to do this to us because we allow them to have access to wealth while we remain complacent. We hail them, worship them, sing their praises, kill ourselves because of them, fight each other for them to live. They enjoy seeing us dying, suffering, queuing at the gas stations, running after commuter buses, begging for crumbs from their table, even when it demands that we struggle with their dogs to get it”.
TY Danjuma seems to think he has a monopoly of everything about Nigeria. He was part of many bloody and bloodless coup-de-etats, he installed leaders, he appointed ministers and military governors, he has a say on who and who is not promoted in the Army, he showed his distaste for “foolish people like Enahoro”, and “absolutely useless people like Aguiyi-Ironsi”. He apportioned to himself some sort of Alpha and Omega of Nigeria.He also showed from the interview that despite his being a Northern Christian, and who would like to be remembered as a statesman, he is just a petty tribalist, who wanted revenge on “Igbo officers who had murdered Northern officers”.
And this is a man who would like to be treated and regarded as an elder statesman. A man who could not for the world, see that his many violent interference in the political development of Nigeria has brought nothing but misery, poverty, bloodshed, corruption and the like to his people, be they southerners or northerners, Christian or Muslim.
TY Danjuma also seriously and pertinently exposed himself, albeit inadvertently, as a former military officer who had made his money via a corrupt way of life and through the opportunity granted him – or rather seized by him and his cohorts - for being at the top of governance of Nigeria for many decades as a result of patronage, forcing his way into power and negotiating his stance in most of the governments that have ruled Nigeria. He said he single-handedly raised $7 million to finance Obasnjo’s first term election, with half coming of this from his own pocket. Well, there we have it. How did TY Danjuma make his money. If he put down $3.5 million from his own pocket, two questions arise: If he can afford this much, that means he has a lot more than this, how did he get so much money and what business was he engaged in after his retirement from the military? Secondly, if he put down $3.5 million to finance one person’s election, what was he hoping to get in return? He of course wanted more, and the only place he could possibly get that, was being in Government.
The answer to the first question might be because of the oil blocks he got from the Government (and I think this was what caused the problem between him and Obasanjo when the oil block was taken away from him, probably on the orders of Obasanjo, his friend and then President). We all know that all these “owners of Nigeria” just allocate the oil blocks to themselves. There is hardly ever any Minister or junior Minister for Petroleum, or PDP party officials, or former very top military officers, who does not have an oil block, which they then sell on to foreigners, therefore making a fortune, without moving a finger. A nice little corrupt earner.
The second answer is that Lt. Gen Danjuma eventually became the Defence Minister under the man whose election he helped to finance. This was his payback. How effective was the Defence Ministry when our General was the Minister? Can anybody put their fingers on exactly what was achieved by that Ministry under the Minister? What was the Ministry’s budget, expenses, etc? Were the military paid on time? Were the living conditions in the barracks improved? Were the military’s ability to defend Nigeria’s territorial integrity enhanced?
To say I was disappointed with Lt. Gen Danjuma, based on his interview, will be putting it mildly. I was appalled and aghast at his state of mind and thinking. Again, this all says something about the people who have been ruling us for several decades, their warped mindset, their intelligence, their commitment to our welfare, their sense of responsibility and integrity. I could picture the General, war –hero and plotter of many coups, ranting during the interview, casting aspersions on his erstwhile military and political co-travellers and laying emphasis and some degree of bitterness because he had to beg for promotion, after it was himself pushing for other officers’ promotions and national honours. It was very sad, to note that this was what became of the Nigerian military class. It was also appalling, frightening and worrying to note that this is a reflection of the mind-sets of our leaders, like Rev. Fr Ajakaye succinctly put it “They seek their own good at the expense of the country ….. a dangerous trend in our struggle to reform our country in all its ramifications, particularly in the area of good, firm and sincere leadership.”
Danjuma also inadvertently exposed the true agenda of the military class in their various interventions in Nigeria’s governance. It was nothing more than personal aggrandisement, personal benefit, acquisition of wealth at the expense of the Nigerian people, destructive jealousies and personal vendetta, unhealthy quest for undeserved national honours, promotions and wealth, personal ambitions, oppression of the people, trampling on the civil and human rights of their people to position themselves for further government largesse.
Please look back at our military and political history: which of our leaders had really done well or enough? None. They could not even if they had wanted to. They could not fathom what true leadership is. They do not have the ability or the capacity to distinguish between good and evil, right and wrong, good and bad governance. It was not because of their education, but because of the low level of their natural intellectual capacity.
How do you expect a soldier who bears a grudge simply because he was denied promotion and national honour to perform as a true leader of men and women? Such leaders will never care about the welfare, the unity and survival of their people. In fact, such leaders will continue to fan the embers of divisive hatred between the people in order to distract attention of the people they govern from reality. So if we are not at each other throats or trust each other because of our tribal affiliations, we will be hacking each other up because of our religious beliefs.
My conclusion is basically the same as Rev. Fr Ajakaye “all well-meaning Nigerians must join hands together in our search for true leadership, rather than allowing (an evil) cabal to keep ruining the country, all in the name of leading or ruling.”
Obasanjo, Danjuma, Anenih, Atiku, Buhari, Babangida, Abdulsalam, Adedibu, Chris Uba, and others of their ilk too numerous to mention, LET NIGERIA BE!!!!!!. Nigeria belongs to all of us, not you alone. Let loose you evil reins or you will pay for it in blood. You have never had anything to offer to Nigeria before, and you have absolutely nothing more to offer Nigeria now or in future. All of you are being exposed or are exposing yourself one by one.
As Albert Einstein said, Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them. These aforementioned so-called leaders and many more like them are part of the Nigerian problem, in fact most of them created the problems, so it is impossible for them to solve the problems. As long as they are there, never leaving hold of power and position, still stealing our money and acquiring wealth, positions and influence, and then positioning their offspring in power, to continue their nefarious activities, dubbed “ruling”, Nigeria will always have problems.
All of these pseudo-leaders who like posing as leaders, are leading the country on the path of ruination and destruction. And the irony is: If they are allowed to destroy the country, they also destroy themselves. What gaineth them?
A word is enough for the wise.
Akintokunbo Adejumo lives and works in London, UK. A graduate of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria (1979) and University of Manitoba, Canada (1985), he also writes on topical issues for newspapers and internet media including Nigeriaworld.com, Nigeria Today Online, Nigerians In America, Nigeria Village Square, Champions Newspaper, Gamji.com etc.
He is also the Coordinator of CHAMPIONS FOR NIGERIA, (www.championsfornigeria.org) an organisation devoted to celebrating genuine progress, excellence, commitment, selfless and unalloyed service to Nigeria and Nigerians.
Oyo State and Godfatherism
I don’t really know what to put as the title for this article. I felt so disillusioned, annoyed and frustrated that I had difficulty coming up with an appropriate title, so I decided that I will have to put the blame on the people of Oyo State (including me, of course) for allowing this to happen, whether I am justified in apportioning blame is another matter, but please forgive me.
In all honesty, the judgement did not catch me by surprise. The people of Oyo State had it coming. The signs were there all the time; with the protracted time it took, with the intimidation of witnesses, the confident utterances of the Governor and his followers, the deafening silence of the Nigeria Police Force on the matter of his dismissal from the force, the reluctance of the Electoral Tribunal to admit in evidence the letter of dismissal because it was not related to the actual conduct of the election itself, the backing of his powerful “godfather” and the so-called prominent Ibadan elite; I somehow knew the decision was going to be in Bayo Alao-Akala’s favour.
And sure it was. The panel dismissed allegations of indictment following the Supreme Court’s decision in Amaechi vs INEC that only a court of law having criminal jurisdiction could hear and determine criminal charges levelled against a person and not an administrative panel of inquiry. The tribunal, while dismissing all allegations of intimidation, thuggery and violence, held that the petitioner failed to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt and held that where a candidate failed to link an agent who perpetrated the violence to the candidate, his election cannot be nullified unless it can be proved that he authorised the act.
However, the fourth judge, Wali Bashir, in his dissenting judgment, ruled that the petitioner could not have shown more evidence having established existence of non-compliance with the Electoral Act and having shown that in 309 units out of 4,746 units, over 200,000 voters were disenfranchised which, if allowed, could have tilted the total result in the petitioner’s favour. Wali held that “If the nature of non-compliance gives undue advantage to the candidate who was declared as winner, then the proper thing to do would be to order a nullification and fresh election into the disputed area. It is obvious Alao-Akala enjoyed undue advantage on the issue of non-compliance.” He subsequently nullified the election of Governor Alao-Akala and ordered INEC to conduct fresh elections.
Well, well, well. It was a majority decision, so we are back to square one and the status quo in Oyo State. Until 2011, barring any fallout with his godfather (and other Oyo State’s politician’s godfather too), and with his pocketed House of Assembly, Alao-Akala is our de-facto and legitimate Executive Governor, a position to die for. There goes the neighbourhood.
It is no use crying over spilt milk. I suppose the good and trampled people of Oyo State, who have, since 1999, never seen the dividends or progress of our new democratic dispensation, (Lam Adesina was useless, and Ladoja was clueless) will have to continue in that state until 2011, unless something very drastic changes in the attitude and commitment of Alao-Akala to the principles of good governance, service delivery and progressiveness to his people. But can the leopard ever change its spots? Can you teach an old dog new tricks? Therein lies the question and the problem. I sincerely wish I could be that optimistic, but I am not.
Shall we give the man, knowing how much baggage he’s carrying with him, the benefit of the doubt, and accept him for what he is, and hope that he will “do well”? Hear the Governor, after his (pyrrhic) victory, “We must always bear in mind that in truth, there is justice and in justice, there is truth. I congratulate you because this is a collective victory for the entire citizenry of Oyo State and, indeed, every lover of the rule of law (that annoying and insincere phrase again!) and efficient jurisprudence. Not only that today’s ruling is victory for democracy, it is victory for democracy because your mandate, which you so freely gave me on April 14, 2007, has been given further legitimacy by today’s ruling.”
Please look at that last sentence about free mandate. He man is having a laugh, isn’t he? Who gave him a free mandate on April 14 2007? Not me, not a lot of people in Oyo State. I know he will say that, wouldn’t he? But we all know the truth – his mandate was a stolen one, no matter what legitimacy has been conferred on him by this outrageous ruling. In a way, he is justified, because a lot of stolen mandates occurred all over the country (some are now being reversed, of course) in April 2007, so he has precedents to justify his statement.
Speaking further, Alao-Akala vowed to continue to work for the progress and development of the state, while urging “all to go about their normal duties and shun any type of violent celebration or recrimination. There is a lot to be done. As the executive governor of Oyo State, I hold no grudge against anyone; as a principal stakeholder in the affairs of Oyo State, I admonish the opposition to join me in the urgent challenge to develop our state; and as a believer, I extend my hand of fellowship to all and sundry and express my unalloyed love to you all.”
A very noble speech indeed, which on the face of it, sounds very sincere. As he himself said, “there is a lot to be done”, (you damn right there is!) and he stressed the “urgent challenge to develop our state”. (Damn right again, but are you up to the task of bringing progress and development to the worst state in Nigeria, of which you were one of the causes and problems in the first place?)
And to put salt on the open wound and directly invoke the anger of the God Almighty, an interdenominational thanksgiving service is being held at the governor’s office. We can only imagine what is being thankful to God for. That he was successful in rigging the elections and stealing the peoples’ mandate? That he was begging for God’s forgiveness that so many people lost their lives because of his personal and inordinate ambition to become the Governor of Oyo State by all means? It is even possible that he will be asking for God’s guidance in the coming years to govern Oyo State successfully, despite all his liabilities.
Oyo State. Carved out of the old Western Region of late Chief Obafemi Awolowo; Ibadan, the military capital of the old Oyo Empire; the first regional capital of the old Western Region, the capital of old Western State (comprising the present Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo and Ogun States); home to the first Television Station in the whole of Africa; home to the first sports stadium in West Africa; home to the first University and University College Hospital in Nigeria; a very cosmopolitan city, which welcomes everybody from anywhere in Nigeria and indeed the whole world. But now a sad excuse for a city, ruined beyond recognition, repairs and respect by greedy politicians and equally greedy and uncaring elites. The capital of Oyo State is a dilapidated, ruined, un-progressive town, not fit to be reckoned with as a city in Nigeria, even considering the sorry states of the rest of Nigerian cities and towns. Even the whole Oyo State is ruined by these useless, compromised people who are hampered by their greed, corruption and selfish ambition; men and women of straw who parade themselves as mini-gods; indulging in pettiness and ungodly and unholy alliances with mediocres and self-serving political charlatans and thugs. I really can’t find the proper words to express myself here. I have said it all before – Why Oyo State Is Not Working and Cannot Work (Nigeria Village Square, Thurs 11 Oct 2007; Nigerians In America, 10 Dec 2007, Nigeria Today Online, Fri 12 Oct 2007) – and I do not want to reproduce myself here.
Yes, Governor of Oyo State, the ball is fully in your court now. The Tribunal’s judgement has conferred on you some kind of dubious legitimacy, let us see how well you can disabuse our minds, disprove all the negative things about you; dispel all the rumours about you; prove to us that you were not a corrupt and bent policeman dismissed in disgrace by the Nigeria Police Force; prove to us that you are indeed capable of being a leader of men; prove to us that you have the ideas, the skills, the knowledge, the commitment, the sincerity of purpose, the ability and the capacity to develop Oyo State without hindrance or subjugation to some Godfather.
Promise me and the people of Oyo State that you will ensure progress in Ibadan and that our money or allocations will neither find its way to Molete nor into your pockets and the pockets of your hangers-on; our water taps have been dry for the past 20 years; the roads are the worst in the country; there are no industries in the state that will provide jobs; government-owned industries are not working; there are no lights; the big cities of Oyo State are no more than glorified hamlets, with no industrial development and progress whatsoever, neglected over the years by the selfish bickering of political gladiators like yourself; our hospitals are no more than killing grounds and a place to die rather than receive treatments and medical care; our schools are just mere compounds which our children go to and learn virtually nothing to help them deal with the world at large, because there are no books, desks, learning materials, libraries, science laboratories, sports grounds, etc; even teachers are not paid their salaries on time while leaders like you ensure yours is paid and the money meant to pay teachers and other civil servants on time are embezzled; pensioners have not been paid for years; open sewage bringing disease and pestilence to our people. Need I go on?
The Governor himself said that it is a challenge and that there is a lot to be done. Well he is very right, but that is putting it mildly. It is a Herculean task, a monumental challenge which can only be undertaken by a man of conscience and with a sincerity of purpose, a good, effective and committed team, and no political distractions, lots of goodwill, no corruption, unalloyed focus and good governance.
The question is: Can Bayo Alao-Akala do it, or can the people around him let him do it? Does he have the idea at all of what needs to be done, rather than just playing politics with the lives of people, while playing to the gallery with speeches that were written for him by well-paid sycophants and hangers-on? Will he put revenge aside and concentrate on governance? Is he aware of, and does he have any remorse about what his ambition has caused to the people of Oyo State in many ways?
In a way, I pity the man, for he has utterly nowhere to go or to hide. This tribunal victory and his continuous stay in Government House and Office are either going to expose him furthermore as a corrupt and inept politician, or as an aberration in the seat of power in Oyo State history.
God, history and posterity and the people of Oyo State will judge him in three years’ time. That one I know for sure.
Akintokunbo Adejumo lives and works in London, UK. A graduate of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria (1979) and University of Manitoba, Canada (1985), he also writes on topical issues for newspapers and internet media including Nigeriaworld.com, Nigeria Today Online, Nigerians In America, Nigeria Village Square, Champions Newspaper, Gamji.com etc.
He is also the Coordinator of CHAMPIONS FOR NIGERIA, (www.championsfornigeria.org) an organisation devoted to celebrating genuine progress, excellence, commitment, selfless and unalloyed service to Nigeria and Nigerians.
In all honesty, the judgement did not catch me by surprise. The people of Oyo State had it coming. The signs were there all the time; with the protracted time it took, with the intimidation of witnesses, the confident utterances of the Governor and his followers, the deafening silence of the Nigeria Police Force on the matter of his dismissal from the force, the reluctance of the Electoral Tribunal to admit in evidence the letter of dismissal because it was not related to the actual conduct of the election itself, the backing of his powerful “godfather” and the so-called prominent Ibadan elite; I somehow knew the decision was going to be in Bayo Alao-Akala’s favour.
And sure it was. The panel dismissed allegations of indictment following the Supreme Court’s decision in Amaechi vs INEC that only a court of law having criminal jurisdiction could hear and determine criminal charges levelled against a person and not an administrative panel of inquiry. The tribunal, while dismissing all allegations of intimidation, thuggery and violence, held that the petitioner failed to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt and held that where a candidate failed to link an agent who perpetrated the violence to the candidate, his election cannot be nullified unless it can be proved that he authorised the act.
However, the fourth judge, Wali Bashir, in his dissenting judgment, ruled that the petitioner could not have shown more evidence having established existence of non-compliance with the Electoral Act and having shown that in 309 units out of 4,746 units, over 200,000 voters were disenfranchised which, if allowed, could have tilted the total result in the petitioner’s favour. Wali held that “If the nature of non-compliance gives undue advantage to the candidate who was declared as winner, then the proper thing to do would be to order a nullification and fresh election into the disputed area. It is obvious Alao-Akala enjoyed undue advantage on the issue of non-compliance.” He subsequently nullified the election of Governor Alao-Akala and ordered INEC to conduct fresh elections.
Well, well, well. It was a majority decision, so we are back to square one and the status quo in Oyo State. Until 2011, barring any fallout with his godfather (and other Oyo State’s politician’s godfather too), and with his pocketed House of Assembly, Alao-Akala is our de-facto and legitimate Executive Governor, a position to die for. There goes the neighbourhood.
It is no use crying over spilt milk. I suppose the good and trampled people of Oyo State, who have, since 1999, never seen the dividends or progress of our new democratic dispensation, (Lam Adesina was useless, and Ladoja was clueless) will have to continue in that state until 2011, unless something very drastic changes in the attitude and commitment of Alao-Akala to the principles of good governance, service delivery and progressiveness to his people. But can the leopard ever change its spots? Can you teach an old dog new tricks? Therein lies the question and the problem. I sincerely wish I could be that optimistic, but I am not.
Shall we give the man, knowing how much baggage he’s carrying with him, the benefit of the doubt, and accept him for what he is, and hope that he will “do well”? Hear the Governor, after his (pyrrhic) victory, “We must always bear in mind that in truth, there is justice and in justice, there is truth. I congratulate you because this is a collective victory for the entire citizenry of Oyo State and, indeed, every lover of the rule of law (that annoying and insincere phrase again!) and efficient jurisprudence. Not only that today’s ruling is victory for democracy, it is victory for democracy because your mandate, which you so freely gave me on April 14, 2007, has been given further legitimacy by today’s ruling.”
Please look at that last sentence about free mandate. He man is having a laugh, isn’t he? Who gave him a free mandate on April 14 2007? Not me, not a lot of people in Oyo State. I know he will say that, wouldn’t he? But we all know the truth – his mandate was a stolen one, no matter what legitimacy has been conferred on him by this outrageous ruling. In a way, he is justified, because a lot of stolen mandates occurred all over the country (some are now being reversed, of course) in April 2007, so he has precedents to justify his statement.
Speaking further, Alao-Akala vowed to continue to work for the progress and development of the state, while urging “all to go about their normal duties and shun any type of violent celebration or recrimination. There is a lot to be done. As the executive governor of Oyo State, I hold no grudge against anyone; as a principal stakeholder in the affairs of Oyo State, I admonish the opposition to join me in the urgent challenge to develop our state; and as a believer, I extend my hand of fellowship to all and sundry and express my unalloyed love to you all.”
A very noble speech indeed, which on the face of it, sounds very sincere. As he himself said, “there is a lot to be done”, (you damn right there is!) and he stressed the “urgent challenge to develop our state”. (Damn right again, but are you up to the task of bringing progress and development to the worst state in Nigeria, of which you were one of the causes and problems in the first place?)
And to put salt on the open wound and directly invoke the anger of the God Almighty, an interdenominational thanksgiving service is being held at the governor’s office. We can only imagine what is being thankful to God for. That he was successful in rigging the elections and stealing the peoples’ mandate? That he was begging for God’s forgiveness that so many people lost their lives because of his personal and inordinate ambition to become the Governor of Oyo State by all means? It is even possible that he will be asking for God’s guidance in the coming years to govern Oyo State successfully, despite all his liabilities.
Oyo State. Carved out of the old Western Region of late Chief Obafemi Awolowo; Ibadan, the military capital of the old Oyo Empire; the first regional capital of the old Western Region, the capital of old Western State (comprising the present Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo and Ogun States); home to the first Television Station in the whole of Africa; home to the first sports stadium in West Africa; home to the first University and University College Hospital in Nigeria; a very cosmopolitan city, which welcomes everybody from anywhere in Nigeria and indeed the whole world. But now a sad excuse for a city, ruined beyond recognition, repairs and respect by greedy politicians and equally greedy and uncaring elites. The capital of Oyo State is a dilapidated, ruined, un-progressive town, not fit to be reckoned with as a city in Nigeria, even considering the sorry states of the rest of Nigerian cities and towns. Even the whole Oyo State is ruined by these useless, compromised people who are hampered by their greed, corruption and selfish ambition; men and women of straw who parade themselves as mini-gods; indulging in pettiness and ungodly and unholy alliances with mediocres and self-serving political charlatans and thugs. I really can’t find the proper words to express myself here. I have said it all before – Why Oyo State Is Not Working and Cannot Work (Nigeria Village Square, Thurs 11 Oct 2007; Nigerians In America, 10 Dec 2007, Nigeria Today Online, Fri 12 Oct 2007) – and I do not want to reproduce myself here.
Yes, Governor of Oyo State, the ball is fully in your court now. The Tribunal’s judgement has conferred on you some kind of dubious legitimacy, let us see how well you can disabuse our minds, disprove all the negative things about you; dispel all the rumours about you; prove to us that you were not a corrupt and bent policeman dismissed in disgrace by the Nigeria Police Force; prove to us that you are indeed capable of being a leader of men; prove to us that you have the ideas, the skills, the knowledge, the commitment, the sincerity of purpose, the ability and the capacity to develop Oyo State without hindrance or subjugation to some Godfather.
Promise me and the people of Oyo State that you will ensure progress in Ibadan and that our money or allocations will neither find its way to Molete nor into your pockets and the pockets of your hangers-on; our water taps have been dry for the past 20 years; the roads are the worst in the country; there are no industries in the state that will provide jobs; government-owned industries are not working; there are no lights; the big cities of Oyo State are no more than glorified hamlets, with no industrial development and progress whatsoever, neglected over the years by the selfish bickering of political gladiators like yourself; our hospitals are no more than killing grounds and a place to die rather than receive treatments and medical care; our schools are just mere compounds which our children go to and learn virtually nothing to help them deal with the world at large, because there are no books, desks, learning materials, libraries, science laboratories, sports grounds, etc; even teachers are not paid their salaries on time while leaders like you ensure yours is paid and the money meant to pay teachers and other civil servants on time are embezzled; pensioners have not been paid for years; open sewage bringing disease and pestilence to our people. Need I go on?
The Governor himself said that it is a challenge and that there is a lot to be done. Well he is very right, but that is putting it mildly. It is a Herculean task, a monumental challenge which can only be undertaken by a man of conscience and with a sincerity of purpose, a good, effective and committed team, and no political distractions, lots of goodwill, no corruption, unalloyed focus and good governance.
The question is: Can Bayo Alao-Akala do it, or can the people around him let him do it? Does he have the idea at all of what needs to be done, rather than just playing politics with the lives of people, while playing to the gallery with speeches that were written for him by well-paid sycophants and hangers-on? Will he put revenge aside and concentrate on governance? Is he aware of, and does he have any remorse about what his ambition has caused to the people of Oyo State in many ways?
In a way, I pity the man, for he has utterly nowhere to go or to hide. This tribunal victory and his continuous stay in Government House and Office are either going to expose him furthermore as a corrupt and inept politician, or as an aberration in the seat of power in Oyo State history.
God, history and posterity and the people of Oyo State will judge him in three years’ time. That one I know for sure.
Akintokunbo Adejumo lives and works in London, UK. A graduate of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria (1979) and University of Manitoba, Canada (1985), he also writes on topical issues for newspapers and internet media including Nigeriaworld.com, Nigeria Today Online, Nigerians In America, Nigeria Village Square, Champions Newspaper, Gamji.com etc.
He is also the Coordinator of CHAMPIONS FOR NIGERIA, (www.championsfornigeria.org) an organisation devoted to celebrating genuine progress, excellence, commitment, selfless and unalloyed service to Nigeria and Nigerians.
Oyo State Is Deserving Of Its Leaders
I don’t really know what to put as the title for this article. I felt so disillusioned, annoyed and frustrated that I had difficulty coming up with an appropriate title, so I decided that I will have to put the blame on the people of Oyo State (including me, of course) for allowing this to happen, whether I am justified in apportioning blame is another matter, but please forgive me.
In all honesty, the judgement did not catch me by surprise. The people of Oyo State had it coming. The signs were there all the time; with the protracted time it took, with the intimidation of witnesses, the confident utterances of the Governor and his followers, the deafening silence of the Nigeria Police Force on the matter of his dismissal from the force, the reluctance of the Electoral Tribunal to admit in evidence the letter of dismissal because it was not related to the actual conduct of the election itself, the backing of his powerful “godfather” and the so-called prominent Ibadan elite; I somehow knew the decision was going to be in Bayo Alao-Akala’s favour.
And sure it was. The panel dismissed allegations of indictment following the Supreme Court’s decision in Amaechi vs INEC that only a court of law having criminal jurisdiction could hear and determine criminal charges levelled against a person and not an administrative panel of inquiry. The tribunal, while dismissing all allegations of intimidation, thuggery and violence, held that the petitioner failed to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt and held that where a candidate failed to link an agent who perpetrated the violence to the candidate, his election cannot be nullified unless it can be proved that he authorised the act.
However, the fourth judge, Wali Bashir, in his dissenting judgment, ruled that the petitioner could not have shown more evidence having established existence of non-compliance with the Electoral Act and having shown that in 309 units out of 4,746 units, over 200,000 voters were disenfranchised which, if allowed, could have tilted the total result in the petitioner’s favour. Wali held that “If the nature of non-compliance gives undue advantage to the candidate who was declared as winner, then the proper thing to do would be to order a nullification and fresh election into the disputed area. It is obvious Alao-Akala enjoyed undue advantage on the issue of non-compliance.” He subsequently nullified the election of Governor Alao-Akala and ordered INEC to conduct fresh elections.
Well, well, well. It was a majority decision, so we are back to square one and the status quo in Oyo State. Until 2011, barring any fallout with his godfather (and other Oyo State’s politician’s godfather too), and with his pocketed House of Assembly, Alao-Akala is our de-facto and legitimate Executive Governor, a position to die for. There goes the neighbourhood.
It is no use crying over spilt milk. I suppose the good and trampled people of Oyo State, who have, since 1999, never seen the dividends or progress of our new democratic dispensation, (Lam Adesina was useless, and Ladoja was clueless) will have to continue in that state until 2011, unless something very drastic changes in the attitude and commitment of Alao-Akala to the principles of good governance, service delivery and progressiveness to his people. But can the leopard ever change its spots? Can you teach an old dog new tricks? Therein lies the question and the problem. I sincerely wish I could be that optimistic, but I am not.
Shall we give the man, knowing how much baggage he’s carrying with him, the benefit of the doubt, and accept him for what he is, and hope that he will “do well”? Hear the Governor, after his (pyrrhic) victory, “We must always bear in mind that in truth, there is justice and in justice, there is truth. I congratulate you because this is a collective victory for the entire citizenry of Oyo State and, indeed, every lover of the rule of law (that annoying and insincere phrase again!) and efficient jurisprudence. Not only that today’s ruling is victory for democracy, it is victory for democracy because your mandate, which you so freely gave me on April 14, 2007, has been given further legitimacy by today’s ruling.”
Please look at that last sentence about free mandate. He man is having a laugh, isn’t he? Who gave him a free mandate on April 14 2007? Not me, not a lot of people in Oyo State. I know he will say that, wouldn’t he? But we all know the truth – his mandate was a stolen one, no matter what legitimacy has been conferred on him by this outrageous ruling. In a way, he is justified, because a lot of stolen mandates occurred all over the country (some are now being reversed, of course) in April 2007, so he has precedents to justify his statement.
Speaking further, Alao-Akala vowed to continue to work for the progress and development of the state, while urging “all to go about their normal duties and shun any type of violent celebration or recrimination. There is a lot to be done. As the executive governor of Oyo State, I hold no grudge against anyone; as a principal stakeholder in the affairs of Oyo State, I admonish the opposition to join me in the urgent challenge to develop our state; and as a believer, I extend my hand of fellowship to all and sundry and express my unalloyed love to you all.”
A very noble speech indeed, which on the face of it, sounds very sincere. As he himself said, “there is a lot to be done”, (you damn right there is!) and he stressed the “urgent challenge to develop our state”. (Damn right again, but are you up to the task of bringing progress and development to the worst state in Nigeria, of which you were one of the causes and problems in the first place?)
And to put salt on the open wound and directly invoke the anger of the God Almighty, an interdenominational thanksgiving service is being held at the governor’s office. We can only imagine what is being thankful to God for. That he was successful in rigging the elections and stealing the peoples’ mandate? That he was begging for God’s forgiveness that so many people lost their lives because of his personal and inordinate ambition to become the Governor of Oyo State by all means? It is even possible that he will be asking for God’s guidance in the coming years to govern Oyo State successfully, despite all his liabilities.
Oyo State. Carved out of the old Western Region of late Chief Obafemi Awolowo; Ibadan, the military capital of the old Oyo Empire; the first regional capital of the old Western Region, the capital of old Western State (comprising the present Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo and Ogun States); home to the first Television Station in the whole of Africa; home to the first sports stadium in West Africa; home to the first University and University College Hospital in Nigeria; a very cosmopolitan city, which welcomes everybody from anywhere in Nigeria and indeed the whole world. But now a sad excuse for a city, ruined beyond recognition, repairs and respect by greedy politicians and equally greedy and uncaring elites. The capital of Oyo State is a dilapidated, ruined, un-progressive town, not fit to be reckoned with as a city in Nigeria, even considering the sorry states of the rest of Nigerian cities and towns. Even the whole Oyo State is ruined by these useless, compromised people who are hampered by their greed, corruption and selfish ambition; men and women of straw who parade themselves as mini-gods; indulging in pettiness and ungodly and unholy alliances with mediocres and self-serving political charlatans and thugs. I really can’t find the proper words to express myself here. I have said it all before – Why Oyo State Is Not Working and Cannot Work (Nigeria Village Square, Thurs 11 Oct 2007; Nigerians In America, 10 Dec 2007, Nigeria Today Online, Fri 12 Oct 2007) – and I do not want to reproduce myself here.
Yes, Governor of Oyo State, the ball is fully in your court now. The Tribunal’s judgement has conferred on you some kind of dubious legitimacy, let us see how well you can disabuse our minds, disprove all the negative things about you; dispel all the rumours about you; prove to us that you were not a corrupt and bent policeman dismissed in disgrace by the Nigeria Police Force; prove to us that you are indeed capable of being a leader of men; prove to us that you have the ideas, the skills, the knowledge, the commitment, the sincerity of purpose, the ability and the capacity to develop Oyo State without hindrance or subjugation to some Godfather.
Promise me and the people of Oyo State that you will ensure progress in Ibadan and that our money or allocations will neither find its way to Molete nor into your pockets and the pockets of your hangers-on; our water taps have been dry for the past 20 years; the roads are the worst in the country; there are no industries in the state that will provide jobs; government-owned industries are not working; there are no lights; the big cities of Oyo State are no more than glorified hamlets, with no industrial development and progress whatsoever, neglected over the years by the selfish bickering of political gladiators like yourself; our hospitals are no more than killing grounds and a place to die rather than receive treatments and medical care; our schools are just mere compounds which our children go to and learn virtually nothing to help them deal with the world at large, because there are no books, desks, learning materials, libraries, science laboratories, sports grounds, etc; even teachers are not paid their salaries on time while leaders like you ensure yours is paid and the money meant to pay teachers and other civil servants on time are embezzled; pensioners have not been paid for years; open sewage bringing disease and pestilence to our people. Need I go on?
The Governor himself said that it is a challenge and that there is a lot to be done. Well he is very right, but that is putting it mildly. It is a Herculean task, a monumental challenge which can only be undertaken by a man of conscience and with a sincerity of purpose, a good, effective and committed team, and no political distractions, lots of goodwill, no corruption, unalloyed focus and good governance.
The question is: Can Bayo Alao-Akala do it, or can the people around him let him do it? Does he have the idea at all of what needs to be done, rather than just playing politics with the lives of people, while playing to the gallery with speeches that were written for him by well-paid sycophants and hangers-on? Will he put revenge aside and concentrate on governance? Is he aware of, and does he have any remorse about what his ambition has caused to the people of Oyo State in many ways?
In a way, I pity the man, for he has utterly nowhere to go or to hide. This tribunal victory and his continuous stay in Government House and Office are either going to expose him furthermore as a corrupt and inept politician, or as an aberration in the seat of power in Oyo State history.
God, history and posterity and the people of Oyo State will judge him in three years’ time. That one I know for sure.
Akintokunbo Adejumo lives and works in London, UK. A graduate of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria (1979) and University of Manitoba, Canada (1985), he also writes on topical issues for newspapers and internet media including Nigeriaworld.com, Nigeria Today Online, Nigerians In America, Nigeria Village Square, Champions Newspaper, Gamji.com etc.
He is also the Coordinator of CHAMPIONS FOR NIGERIA, (www.championsfornigeria.org) an organisation devoted to celebrating genuine progress, excellence, commitment, selfless and unalloyed service to Nigeria and Nigerians.
In all honesty, the judgement did not catch me by surprise. The people of Oyo State had it coming. The signs were there all the time; with the protracted time it took, with the intimidation of witnesses, the confident utterances of the Governor and his followers, the deafening silence of the Nigeria Police Force on the matter of his dismissal from the force, the reluctance of the Electoral Tribunal to admit in evidence the letter of dismissal because it was not related to the actual conduct of the election itself, the backing of his powerful “godfather” and the so-called prominent Ibadan elite; I somehow knew the decision was going to be in Bayo Alao-Akala’s favour.
And sure it was. The panel dismissed allegations of indictment following the Supreme Court’s decision in Amaechi vs INEC that only a court of law having criminal jurisdiction could hear and determine criminal charges levelled against a person and not an administrative panel of inquiry. The tribunal, while dismissing all allegations of intimidation, thuggery and violence, held that the petitioner failed to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt and held that where a candidate failed to link an agent who perpetrated the violence to the candidate, his election cannot be nullified unless it can be proved that he authorised the act.
However, the fourth judge, Wali Bashir, in his dissenting judgment, ruled that the petitioner could not have shown more evidence having established existence of non-compliance with the Electoral Act and having shown that in 309 units out of 4,746 units, over 200,000 voters were disenfranchised which, if allowed, could have tilted the total result in the petitioner’s favour. Wali held that “If the nature of non-compliance gives undue advantage to the candidate who was declared as winner, then the proper thing to do would be to order a nullification and fresh election into the disputed area. It is obvious Alao-Akala enjoyed undue advantage on the issue of non-compliance.” He subsequently nullified the election of Governor Alao-Akala and ordered INEC to conduct fresh elections.
Well, well, well. It was a majority decision, so we are back to square one and the status quo in Oyo State. Until 2011, barring any fallout with his godfather (and other Oyo State’s politician’s godfather too), and with his pocketed House of Assembly, Alao-Akala is our de-facto and legitimate Executive Governor, a position to die for. There goes the neighbourhood.
It is no use crying over spilt milk. I suppose the good and trampled people of Oyo State, who have, since 1999, never seen the dividends or progress of our new democratic dispensation, (Lam Adesina was useless, and Ladoja was clueless) will have to continue in that state until 2011, unless something very drastic changes in the attitude and commitment of Alao-Akala to the principles of good governance, service delivery and progressiveness to his people. But can the leopard ever change its spots? Can you teach an old dog new tricks? Therein lies the question and the problem. I sincerely wish I could be that optimistic, but I am not.
Shall we give the man, knowing how much baggage he’s carrying with him, the benefit of the doubt, and accept him for what he is, and hope that he will “do well”? Hear the Governor, after his (pyrrhic) victory, “We must always bear in mind that in truth, there is justice and in justice, there is truth. I congratulate you because this is a collective victory for the entire citizenry of Oyo State and, indeed, every lover of the rule of law (that annoying and insincere phrase again!) and efficient jurisprudence. Not only that today’s ruling is victory for democracy, it is victory for democracy because your mandate, which you so freely gave me on April 14, 2007, has been given further legitimacy by today’s ruling.”
Please look at that last sentence about free mandate. He man is having a laugh, isn’t he? Who gave him a free mandate on April 14 2007? Not me, not a lot of people in Oyo State. I know he will say that, wouldn’t he? But we all know the truth – his mandate was a stolen one, no matter what legitimacy has been conferred on him by this outrageous ruling. In a way, he is justified, because a lot of stolen mandates occurred all over the country (some are now being reversed, of course) in April 2007, so he has precedents to justify his statement.
Speaking further, Alao-Akala vowed to continue to work for the progress and development of the state, while urging “all to go about their normal duties and shun any type of violent celebration or recrimination. There is a lot to be done. As the executive governor of Oyo State, I hold no grudge against anyone; as a principal stakeholder in the affairs of Oyo State, I admonish the opposition to join me in the urgent challenge to develop our state; and as a believer, I extend my hand of fellowship to all and sundry and express my unalloyed love to you all.”
A very noble speech indeed, which on the face of it, sounds very sincere. As he himself said, “there is a lot to be done”, (you damn right there is!) and he stressed the “urgent challenge to develop our state”. (Damn right again, but are you up to the task of bringing progress and development to the worst state in Nigeria, of which you were one of the causes and problems in the first place?)
And to put salt on the open wound and directly invoke the anger of the God Almighty, an interdenominational thanksgiving service is being held at the governor’s office. We can only imagine what is being thankful to God for. That he was successful in rigging the elections and stealing the peoples’ mandate? That he was begging for God’s forgiveness that so many people lost their lives because of his personal and inordinate ambition to become the Governor of Oyo State by all means? It is even possible that he will be asking for God’s guidance in the coming years to govern Oyo State successfully, despite all his liabilities.
Oyo State. Carved out of the old Western Region of late Chief Obafemi Awolowo; Ibadan, the military capital of the old Oyo Empire; the first regional capital of the old Western Region, the capital of old Western State (comprising the present Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo and Ogun States); home to the first Television Station in the whole of Africa; home to the first sports stadium in West Africa; home to the first University and University College Hospital in Nigeria; a very cosmopolitan city, which welcomes everybody from anywhere in Nigeria and indeed the whole world. But now a sad excuse for a city, ruined beyond recognition, repairs and respect by greedy politicians and equally greedy and uncaring elites. The capital of Oyo State is a dilapidated, ruined, un-progressive town, not fit to be reckoned with as a city in Nigeria, even considering the sorry states of the rest of Nigerian cities and towns. Even the whole Oyo State is ruined by these useless, compromised people who are hampered by their greed, corruption and selfish ambition; men and women of straw who parade themselves as mini-gods; indulging in pettiness and ungodly and unholy alliances with mediocres and self-serving political charlatans and thugs. I really can’t find the proper words to express myself here. I have said it all before – Why Oyo State Is Not Working and Cannot Work (Nigeria Village Square, Thurs 11 Oct 2007; Nigerians In America, 10 Dec 2007, Nigeria Today Online, Fri 12 Oct 2007) – and I do not want to reproduce myself here.
Yes, Governor of Oyo State, the ball is fully in your court now. The Tribunal’s judgement has conferred on you some kind of dubious legitimacy, let us see how well you can disabuse our minds, disprove all the negative things about you; dispel all the rumours about you; prove to us that you were not a corrupt and bent policeman dismissed in disgrace by the Nigeria Police Force; prove to us that you are indeed capable of being a leader of men; prove to us that you have the ideas, the skills, the knowledge, the commitment, the sincerity of purpose, the ability and the capacity to develop Oyo State without hindrance or subjugation to some Godfather.
Promise me and the people of Oyo State that you will ensure progress in Ibadan and that our money or allocations will neither find its way to Molete nor into your pockets and the pockets of your hangers-on; our water taps have been dry for the past 20 years; the roads are the worst in the country; there are no industries in the state that will provide jobs; government-owned industries are not working; there are no lights; the big cities of Oyo State are no more than glorified hamlets, with no industrial development and progress whatsoever, neglected over the years by the selfish bickering of political gladiators like yourself; our hospitals are no more than killing grounds and a place to die rather than receive treatments and medical care; our schools are just mere compounds which our children go to and learn virtually nothing to help them deal with the world at large, because there are no books, desks, learning materials, libraries, science laboratories, sports grounds, etc; even teachers are not paid their salaries on time while leaders like you ensure yours is paid and the money meant to pay teachers and other civil servants on time are embezzled; pensioners have not been paid for years; open sewage bringing disease and pestilence to our people. Need I go on?
The Governor himself said that it is a challenge and that there is a lot to be done. Well he is very right, but that is putting it mildly. It is a Herculean task, a monumental challenge which can only be undertaken by a man of conscience and with a sincerity of purpose, a good, effective and committed team, and no political distractions, lots of goodwill, no corruption, unalloyed focus and good governance.
The question is: Can Bayo Alao-Akala do it, or can the people around him let him do it? Does he have the idea at all of what needs to be done, rather than just playing politics with the lives of people, while playing to the gallery with speeches that were written for him by well-paid sycophants and hangers-on? Will he put revenge aside and concentrate on governance? Is he aware of, and does he have any remorse about what his ambition has caused to the people of Oyo State in many ways?
In a way, I pity the man, for he has utterly nowhere to go or to hide. This tribunal victory and his continuous stay in Government House and Office are either going to expose him furthermore as a corrupt and inept politician, or as an aberration in the seat of power in Oyo State history.
God, history and posterity and the people of Oyo State will judge him in three years’ time. That one I know for sure.
Akintokunbo Adejumo lives and works in London, UK. A graduate of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria (1979) and University of Manitoba, Canada (1985), he also writes on topical issues for newspapers and internet media including Nigeriaworld.com, Nigeria Today Online, Nigerians In America, Nigeria Village Square, Champions Newspaper, Gamji.com etc.
He is also the Coordinator of CHAMPIONS FOR NIGERIA, (www.championsfornigeria.org) an organisation devoted to celebrating genuine progress, excellence, commitment, selfless and unalloyed service to Nigeria and Nigerians.
Immunity Clause: To Stay Or Not To Stay
It is perhaps expedient for me to begin this article by acknowledging that I am also contributing to a debate which has been raging for a long time, and to which thousands of Nigerians all over the world have contributed their own opinions. While I do not want to appear repetitive, it is instructive to note that I will definitely not have the last word on this matter, for as long as the debate continues to rage. Hence I am not daunted to contribute to it, because my little voice will add more to the debate.
The debate about “expunging, excising, removing, repealing the immunity clause in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria” has been going for a long time, well before President Yar’Adua went to Switzerland and stood up to be counted as an opponent of this expansive immunity clause. Why he had to take that position well away from Nigeria is a bit baffling to me, but then he was speaking in front of representatives of multi-national corporations called “Partnership Against Corruption Initiative”, so what else do you expect him to say when confronted by powerful multi-national entities who are obviously scared of, and rightly concerned about their investments, current or potential, in Nigeria of today noted for its corrupt culture?
These representatives should be rightly concerned, what with scandals involving some of them linked to various Nigerian Government functionaries, being exposed on a daily basis – Wilbros, Siemens, etc, and the fact that their own governments are beginning to look into their sharp practices involving their officials and Nigerian officials to secure fat contracts. So it is expedient for Mr President to re-assure them, and he must say the right things. And thus, Mr President said “One of the raging debates in Nigeria today is the issue of constitutional immunity from prosecution conferred on the president, vice-president, governors and deputy governors. I have confidence that the next constitutional amendment will strip these public officials of this immunity and I am personally in support of that.”
Mr President is saying the right words, as he always does. Nigerians’ concern is if he meant it or how soon will this be implemented.
To recap, Section 308 (1) of the 199 Constitution offers a virtual carte blanche to the executives to get away with virtually everything, including murder, because what it confers on them is that they are free from criminal and civil prosecution, no matter what offence they committed whilst in office. They cannot be compelled to appear in court, be arrested, prosecuted or imprisoned if they commit any criminal or civil offence whilst they enjoy the privilege of being in office.
There are several ways to look at this issue of constitutional immunity from prosecution granted to our leaders. Some schools of thought have said that Nigeria is not the only country to have such doctrine in their constitution. I have not had time to read a lot of other countries’ constitution, but one thing I can say is that the American Constitution, which we had apparently borrowed and adapted to suit our own environment, does not have anything like this. My little bit of research only turned up the Privileges and Immunity Clause (US Constitution, Article IV, Section 2, Clause 1, also known as the Comity Clause) which prevents states in the US from treating citizens of other states in a discriminatory manner, with regards to basic civil rights. The clause also embraces a right to travel, so that a citizen can enjoy privileges and immunities in any state he or she wishes. The text of the clause reads “The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States”.
Maybe this is the type of clause that should have been inserted into our Constitution in 1999 by those who drafted it. As we know, such rights, privileges and immunities are not being enjoyed by Nigerians in Nigeria today, but that is another story. Ask an Igbo man living in Bauchi or Borno or Sokoto State, for example, and see if he enjoys the same rights as a Bauchi indigene; or a Yorubaman living in Anambra or Abia or Cross River State, etc.
Well, there we have it. The US Constitution does not confer wide ranging immunity to Federal and State Executives from prosecution. For example, in 2005, the Governor of the State of Connecticut, Mr John G Rowland, was found to have received gratifications totalling $100,000, not even in cash, but by accepting free chartered trips and vacations and renovations to his cottage. The FBI immediately descended on him and did not wait for his gubernatorial term to expire because of an “Immunity Clause” as we have in Nigeria. He had to resign and upon this, was put on trial, and eventually sent to a year in jail (I hope with hard labour), after he himself admitted betraying the trust of the people he was meant to serve.
I shudder to think if he were to be a Nigerian Governor. As it is, save only Mr Alamieyeseigha of Bayelsa State, who was first impeached (and only after a lot of strong-armed tactics by the combination of ex-President Obasanjo and EFCC’s Nuhu Ribadu), even after they have left office, and having been accused, indicted and bailed to reappear in court, I am yet to see any of these “execu-thieves” go through a proper trial and sentenced. In fact, just last week, the Federal Government withdrew money laundering charges against ex-Governor Dariye of Plateau State, and that is after all the overwhelming evidence of corruption, including video and pictures against him, not to talk of being arrested and then jumping bail in the UK.. One of his accomplices has even been sentenced in a London court.
So the removal or expunging of this much abused immunity clause should be seen as a step in the right direction. Normally, in a normal country with well-behaved political leaders (and I am using this term very lightly), there would not be a problem with retaining such a clause, in fact, strengthening it, but in a corruption-ridden society such as ours, it has proved to be more evil than good. We have seen how it has been abused by irresponsible politicians, and the consequences on our society. It has caused untold sufferings to Nigerians – look at what misappropriation of public funds by these Executives have done to our healthcare system, educational system, road and other transportation, power generation and distribution, food and water availability, in fact, every facet of possible human and material development of a nation that want to call itself a progressive nation.
Furthermore, and perhaps the most important, is the fact that majority of Nigerians want this clause removed. Many of us believe that its removal will bring a great measure of sanity to governance and will prevent these office-holders as seeing themselves as above the law and as mini-gods, who can do and undo, playing with millions of human lives. It will prevent crooks, who had been convicted for all kinds of offences in foreign countries and in Nigeria from even nearing a ballot box to contest. Removal of the immunity clause will also mean that executives will not be able to instigate violence and murder against political opponents. Right now, we know that several state governors are behind militancy, thuggery and murder, and if the immunity clause is removed, even if they are not directly involved in these crimes, they can be hauled in by association.
Again, if we base the argument on the premise of morality in law, in a democracy, if we say that no one is above the law, why then are we allowing the Constitution to confer certain immunity on some people which then gives them the perceived right to be above the law? If no one is above the law, then if the immunity clause is removed, then we are all operating on a level playing field, and that means if positions of responsibility is given to a person, elected or appointed, that person would be made accountable for his or her stewardship while in office, and not after they have left office and caused irreparable untold damages and misery through their irresponsible behaviour. The immunity clause, as we currently have it has protected a lot of these politicians. Who would guess one year ago, of the monumental sums now beginning to surface that these thieves have stolen? We only hear of it because they are out of office.
Not only this, removal of this irresponsible clause will act as a deterrent, no matter how small this effect will be (I said this because Nigerian politicians will always find a loophole to commit their crimes against the Nigerian people, irrespective of any law imposed on them, e.g. by god-fatherisms, etc) to others with the aim and intent of going into politics or government to make money. In most cases, a lot of die-hard politicians, who feel they do not have any other means of income, except politics, will not be able to make their way into office by crooked means. This explains why, not satisfied after eight years as Governors, some of them, under the pretext of still wanting to serve Nigeria, and are now Senators or Ministers. There is too much attraction to the oil money, everybody wants part of it – crookedly.
Having said all these, I have read with some interest, some arguments against the removal of the immunity clause, and some of them do have some merits. Some have said that removing the immunity clause from the constitution will undermine executive capacity (Kayode Oladele, 2006). While Mr Oladele admitted that the misconduct of some state governors has generated growing concern among Nigerians, he is of the opinion that the reason behind the clause was to enable the president and governors to perform their designated functions effectively without fear that a particular decision or action may give rise to criminal liability. In a way, this might be a very good reason, but in my opinion, there are a lot of powers granted these executives - executive fiat - within the constitution in the first place, that if they perform effectively and efficiently in the first place, they are well protected from such diversions. It is a matter of law and constitutional adherence. The problem has always been that our executives always flout the law and constitution of the land on a regular basis either because they are ignorant of the provisions or they deliberately do so because they know they can get away with it. I do not see this as a problem if executives are committed, sincere and honest in executing the functions which we elect or appoint them to carry out in the first place. The power of the people will always back them.
Another school of opinion has maintained that removing the immunity clause will have little or no effect, because of the simple-minded notion that we still have the same Nigerians in the system, who will now seek to rely on god-fathers and an inefficient and corrupt judicial system. I say no. Every little helps, so they say. If the removal of immunity is going to contribute only 2 percent to the fight against corruption, so be it. We cannot fold our hands and expect manna to fall from heaven. We cannot just sit there and let these people kill us while we put it in God’s hands. If removal creates fear in their hearts, and they still risk committing crimes against the Nigerian people, at least the fear of God has been put in their hearts, and if caught, they will be dealt with severely, harshly and appropriately by the people.
Yet another cautious opinion on the removal of this infernal clause is that Nigeria should not be seen as acting below such laws and practices in, say the UK and the USA , so as not to make us a laughing stock because we will be acting below general international standard practice. The premise here again is that other countries may have, or may have had, such a clause, and may or may not have expunged it, but as mentioned above, there is nothing like this in the US Constitution and the UK apparently has no written constitution. (Because the UK has no single codified documentary constitution along the lines of the Constitution of the United States, it is often said that the country has an "unwritten constitution". However, most of the constitution does exist in the written form of statutes, court judgments and treaties. The constitution does have some unwritten sources, though, including Parliamentary conventions and the royal prerogatives.)
I will admit that removing the immunity clause is perhaps not the panacea to the problem of corruption in Nigeria. There are still many other ways to reduce corruption to a manageable level, (I have always said that it is impossible to have zero-level corruption in any society in the world) such as an effective and incorruptible judiciary, effective anti-corruption policies and law enforcement agencies, re-orientation of our people via education, rigorous screening of political candidates to prevent thieves and idiots from getting to positions of great responsibility, poverty reduction, imposition of tough fiscal and moral responsibility and accountability on executive and other office holders, etc. What we need to aim for instead is zero-tolerance. Removing the immunity clause is a positive step in achieving this zero-tolerance attitude and approach.
The immunity clause may have immense value and benefits, if and when it is not abused (and again, this may depend on which side of the garden you are) but what we have seen of eight years of democracy in Nigeria, this clause is redundant, abused, misused and totally out of tune with the aspirations of the Nigerian people.
I had written before (Democracy, Corruption and the Rule of Law in Nigeria, www.nigeriansinamerica.com, 08/08/2007 and Nigeria Today Online) that the American Constitution, for example, has undergone various and numerous changes over the centuries and will continue to do so till the end of time to reflect sociological, economic, cultural and human changes as inevitably they will happen. Why then do we think that the Nigerian situation must be different? Constitutions and laws are versatile documents; they are not permanent instruments. They can be manipulated to suit anybody. They can be amended. They can be interpreted in very different ways to have different meaning to different people at different times. They are not rigid articles of governments and the judiciary. In fact, that is why lawyers are on opposite sides everytime in a court of law, one arguing for and the other arguing against; interpreting the law to suit themselves or a particular case. The same goes for Constitutions; legislators, supposedly versed in the Constitution will interpret it differently to suit their own political agenda. Jurists have different interpretation and opinion of same sections of the same law. This is what makes laws and constitutions very robust.
This step of expunging the immunity clause should have been taken a long time ago but for the selfishness and indecision of the last Administration. The debate has again been awakened, and we must not let the opportunity go begging again. The Honourable Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole said recently, after the speech by Mr President in Switzerland, and to our chagrin and alarm, that the House would only consider whether to remove the immunity clause or not at the end of the trial of formers governors who allegedly enriched themselves in office. Dear Honourable Speaker, waiting for that to happen is equivalent to not doing anything at all and is telling Nigerians nothing. It is also retrogressive and such statement is not worthy of you. In fact, it could be viewed and interpreted as delaying tactics and I would strongly urge you to consider another option, otherwise you will find yourself on the receiving end of some very hard knocks from your countrymen and women. You simply cannot wait until the end of these trials, because those trials can drag on for years, because of the financial and political clout of these ex-governors. For instance, just today, 04 February 2008, the case against ex-Governor James Ibori has been adjourned indefinitely because of a national strike by the Judicial Staff Workers Union. Also, there are many separate trials and they cannot end at the same time, so we are talking several years before the last one could end. And even if they end, and some of them are acquitted, as they may well be, does that prove that the immunity clause has had no effect at all on their behaviour while in office.
From all these, it is not hard to see that corrupt political leaders will make effort to see that the immunity clause is retained in the Constitution. That is the cloak under which they have hiding for years and perpetrating their crimes against the Nigerian people, and sneer at and insult our laws and institutions and collective intelligence. The Immunity Clause is a licence for stealing, killing and maiming, and we are not being sentimental here. Recently, they have even added the phrase “Rule of Law” to give themselves more time to hide. The corrupt will do anything; go any length, to maintain the status quo, which suits them to the detriment of the Nigerian people. Trust Nigerian politicians to be ever protective of each other; whoever came up with this idea in 1999 deserves to be shot.
Again this brings me to what I have been taught since childhood – Let the truth be said always. Our officials, and indeed most Nigerians are always quick to declare our religious, political and tribal affiliations, yet when it comes to the issues of corruption, we are very slow in condemning it, hence the reason why it is increasingly difficult for us to fight corruption in our country. Corrupt Nigerian officials, past and present, politician, civil servant or military often conveniently and to their advantage, neglect their religious injunctions, despite bandying the Holly Books in our faces and claiming to be holier-than-thou. This is often exacerbated by fawning and sycophantic acolytes and hangers-on defending the indefensible just because they are gaining from the misconducts of these corrupt officials. What you do on earth is what you will be judged against in heaven or hell. Each individual, according to the Holy Books, must account for their own sins and not the sins of others.
No. The Immunity Clause must be expunged from the Nigerian Constitution, and there is no better time than NOW.
Akintokunbo Adejumo, a social and political commentator on Nigerian issues, lives and works in London, UK. A graduate of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria (1979) and University of Manitoba, Canada (1985), he also writes on topical issues for newspapers and internet media including Nigeriaworld.com, Nigeria Today Online, Nigerians In America, Nigeria Village Square, Champions Newspaper, Gamji.com etc.
He is also the Coordinator of CHAMPIONS FOR NIGERIA,(www.championsfornigeria.org) an organisation devoted to celebrating genuine progress, excellence, commitment, selfless and unalloyed service to Nigeria and Nigerians.
The debate about “expunging, excising, removing, repealing the immunity clause in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria” has been going for a long time, well before President Yar’Adua went to Switzerland and stood up to be counted as an opponent of this expansive immunity clause. Why he had to take that position well away from Nigeria is a bit baffling to me, but then he was speaking in front of representatives of multi-national corporations called “Partnership Against Corruption Initiative”, so what else do you expect him to say when confronted by powerful multi-national entities who are obviously scared of, and rightly concerned about their investments, current or potential, in Nigeria of today noted for its corrupt culture?
These representatives should be rightly concerned, what with scandals involving some of them linked to various Nigerian Government functionaries, being exposed on a daily basis – Wilbros, Siemens, etc, and the fact that their own governments are beginning to look into their sharp practices involving their officials and Nigerian officials to secure fat contracts. So it is expedient for Mr President to re-assure them, and he must say the right things. And thus, Mr President said “One of the raging debates in Nigeria today is the issue of constitutional immunity from prosecution conferred on the president, vice-president, governors and deputy governors. I have confidence that the next constitutional amendment will strip these public officials of this immunity and I am personally in support of that.”
Mr President is saying the right words, as he always does. Nigerians’ concern is if he meant it or how soon will this be implemented.
To recap, Section 308 (1) of the 199 Constitution offers a virtual carte blanche to the executives to get away with virtually everything, including murder, because what it confers on them is that they are free from criminal and civil prosecution, no matter what offence they committed whilst in office. They cannot be compelled to appear in court, be arrested, prosecuted or imprisoned if they commit any criminal or civil offence whilst they enjoy the privilege of being in office.
There are several ways to look at this issue of constitutional immunity from prosecution granted to our leaders. Some schools of thought have said that Nigeria is not the only country to have such doctrine in their constitution. I have not had time to read a lot of other countries’ constitution, but one thing I can say is that the American Constitution, which we had apparently borrowed and adapted to suit our own environment, does not have anything like this. My little bit of research only turned up the Privileges and Immunity Clause (US Constitution, Article IV, Section 2, Clause 1, also known as the Comity Clause) which prevents states in the US from treating citizens of other states in a discriminatory manner, with regards to basic civil rights. The clause also embraces a right to travel, so that a citizen can enjoy privileges and immunities in any state he or she wishes. The text of the clause reads “The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States”.
Maybe this is the type of clause that should have been inserted into our Constitution in 1999 by those who drafted it. As we know, such rights, privileges and immunities are not being enjoyed by Nigerians in Nigeria today, but that is another story. Ask an Igbo man living in Bauchi or Borno or Sokoto State, for example, and see if he enjoys the same rights as a Bauchi indigene; or a Yorubaman living in Anambra or Abia or Cross River State, etc.
Well, there we have it. The US Constitution does not confer wide ranging immunity to Federal and State Executives from prosecution. For example, in 2005, the Governor of the State of Connecticut, Mr John G Rowland, was found to have received gratifications totalling $100,000, not even in cash, but by accepting free chartered trips and vacations and renovations to his cottage. The FBI immediately descended on him and did not wait for his gubernatorial term to expire because of an “Immunity Clause” as we have in Nigeria. He had to resign and upon this, was put on trial, and eventually sent to a year in jail (I hope with hard labour), after he himself admitted betraying the trust of the people he was meant to serve.
I shudder to think if he were to be a Nigerian Governor. As it is, save only Mr Alamieyeseigha of Bayelsa State, who was first impeached (and only after a lot of strong-armed tactics by the combination of ex-President Obasanjo and EFCC’s Nuhu Ribadu), even after they have left office, and having been accused, indicted and bailed to reappear in court, I am yet to see any of these “execu-thieves” go through a proper trial and sentenced. In fact, just last week, the Federal Government withdrew money laundering charges against ex-Governor Dariye of Plateau State, and that is after all the overwhelming evidence of corruption, including video and pictures against him, not to talk of being arrested and then jumping bail in the UK.. One of his accomplices has even been sentenced in a London court.
So the removal or expunging of this much abused immunity clause should be seen as a step in the right direction. Normally, in a normal country with well-behaved political leaders (and I am using this term very lightly), there would not be a problem with retaining such a clause, in fact, strengthening it, but in a corruption-ridden society such as ours, it has proved to be more evil than good. We have seen how it has been abused by irresponsible politicians, and the consequences on our society. It has caused untold sufferings to Nigerians – look at what misappropriation of public funds by these Executives have done to our healthcare system, educational system, road and other transportation, power generation and distribution, food and water availability, in fact, every facet of possible human and material development of a nation that want to call itself a progressive nation.
Furthermore, and perhaps the most important, is the fact that majority of Nigerians want this clause removed. Many of us believe that its removal will bring a great measure of sanity to governance and will prevent these office-holders as seeing themselves as above the law and as mini-gods, who can do and undo, playing with millions of human lives. It will prevent crooks, who had been convicted for all kinds of offences in foreign countries and in Nigeria from even nearing a ballot box to contest. Removal of the immunity clause will also mean that executives will not be able to instigate violence and murder against political opponents. Right now, we know that several state governors are behind militancy, thuggery and murder, and if the immunity clause is removed, even if they are not directly involved in these crimes, they can be hauled in by association.
Again, if we base the argument on the premise of morality in law, in a democracy, if we say that no one is above the law, why then are we allowing the Constitution to confer certain immunity on some people which then gives them the perceived right to be above the law? If no one is above the law, then if the immunity clause is removed, then we are all operating on a level playing field, and that means if positions of responsibility is given to a person, elected or appointed, that person would be made accountable for his or her stewardship while in office, and not after they have left office and caused irreparable untold damages and misery through their irresponsible behaviour. The immunity clause, as we currently have it has protected a lot of these politicians. Who would guess one year ago, of the monumental sums now beginning to surface that these thieves have stolen? We only hear of it because they are out of office.
Not only this, removal of this irresponsible clause will act as a deterrent, no matter how small this effect will be (I said this because Nigerian politicians will always find a loophole to commit their crimes against the Nigerian people, irrespective of any law imposed on them, e.g. by god-fatherisms, etc) to others with the aim and intent of going into politics or government to make money. In most cases, a lot of die-hard politicians, who feel they do not have any other means of income, except politics, will not be able to make their way into office by crooked means. This explains why, not satisfied after eight years as Governors, some of them, under the pretext of still wanting to serve Nigeria, and are now Senators or Ministers. There is too much attraction to the oil money, everybody wants part of it – crookedly.
Having said all these, I have read with some interest, some arguments against the removal of the immunity clause, and some of them do have some merits. Some have said that removing the immunity clause from the constitution will undermine executive capacity (Kayode Oladele, 2006). While Mr Oladele admitted that the misconduct of some state governors has generated growing concern among Nigerians, he is of the opinion that the reason behind the clause was to enable the president and governors to perform their designated functions effectively without fear that a particular decision or action may give rise to criminal liability. In a way, this might be a very good reason, but in my opinion, there are a lot of powers granted these executives - executive fiat - within the constitution in the first place, that if they perform effectively and efficiently in the first place, they are well protected from such diversions. It is a matter of law and constitutional adherence. The problem has always been that our executives always flout the law and constitution of the land on a regular basis either because they are ignorant of the provisions or they deliberately do so because they know they can get away with it. I do not see this as a problem if executives are committed, sincere and honest in executing the functions which we elect or appoint them to carry out in the first place. The power of the people will always back them.
Another school of opinion has maintained that removing the immunity clause will have little or no effect, because of the simple-minded notion that we still have the same Nigerians in the system, who will now seek to rely on god-fathers and an inefficient and corrupt judicial system. I say no. Every little helps, so they say. If the removal of immunity is going to contribute only 2 percent to the fight against corruption, so be it. We cannot fold our hands and expect manna to fall from heaven. We cannot just sit there and let these people kill us while we put it in God’s hands. If removal creates fear in their hearts, and they still risk committing crimes against the Nigerian people, at least the fear of God has been put in their hearts, and if caught, they will be dealt with severely, harshly and appropriately by the people.
Yet another cautious opinion on the removal of this infernal clause is that Nigeria should not be seen as acting below such laws and practices in, say the UK and the USA , so as not to make us a laughing stock because we will be acting below general international standard practice. The premise here again is that other countries may have, or may have had, such a clause, and may or may not have expunged it, but as mentioned above, there is nothing like this in the US Constitution and the UK apparently has no written constitution. (Because the UK has no single codified documentary constitution along the lines of the Constitution of the United States, it is often said that the country has an "unwritten constitution". However, most of the constitution does exist in the written form of statutes, court judgments and treaties. The constitution does have some unwritten sources, though, including Parliamentary conventions and the royal prerogatives.)
I will admit that removing the immunity clause is perhaps not the panacea to the problem of corruption in Nigeria. There are still many other ways to reduce corruption to a manageable level, (I have always said that it is impossible to have zero-level corruption in any society in the world) such as an effective and incorruptible judiciary, effective anti-corruption policies and law enforcement agencies, re-orientation of our people via education, rigorous screening of political candidates to prevent thieves and idiots from getting to positions of great responsibility, poverty reduction, imposition of tough fiscal and moral responsibility and accountability on executive and other office holders, etc. What we need to aim for instead is zero-tolerance. Removing the immunity clause is a positive step in achieving this zero-tolerance attitude and approach.
The immunity clause may have immense value and benefits, if and when it is not abused (and again, this may depend on which side of the garden you are) but what we have seen of eight years of democracy in Nigeria, this clause is redundant, abused, misused and totally out of tune with the aspirations of the Nigerian people.
I had written before (Democracy, Corruption and the Rule of Law in Nigeria, www.nigeriansinamerica.com, 08/08/2007 and Nigeria Today Online) that the American Constitution, for example, has undergone various and numerous changes over the centuries and will continue to do so till the end of time to reflect sociological, economic, cultural and human changes as inevitably they will happen. Why then do we think that the Nigerian situation must be different? Constitutions and laws are versatile documents; they are not permanent instruments. They can be manipulated to suit anybody. They can be amended. They can be interpreted in very different ways to have different meaning to different people at different times. They are not rigid articles of governments and the judiciary. In fact, that is why lawyers are on opposite sides everytime in a court of law, one arguing for and the other arguing against; interpreting the law to suit themselves or a particular case. The same goes for Constitutions; legislators, supposedly versed in the Constitution will interpret it differently to suit their own political agenda. Jurists have different interpretation and opinion of same sections of the same law. This is what makes laws and constitutions very robust.
This step of expunging the immunity clause should have been taken a long time ago but for the selfishness and indecision of the last Administration. The debate has again been awakened, and we must not let the opportunity go begging again. The Honourable Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole said recently, after the speech by Mr President in Switzerland, and to our chagrin and alarm, that the House would only consider whether to remove the immunity clause or not at the end of the trial of formers governors who allegedly enriched themselves in office. Dear Honourable Speaker, waiting for that to happen is equivalent to not doing anything at all and is telling Nigerians nothing. It is also retrogressive and such statement is not worthy of you. In fact, it could be viewed and interpreted as delaying tactics and I would strongly urge you to consider another option, otherwise you will find yourself on the receiving end of some very hard knocks from your countrymen and women. You simply cannot wait until the end of these trials, because those trials can drag on for years, because of the financial and political clout of these ex-governors. For instance, just today, 04 February 2008, the case against ex-Governor James Ibori has been adjourned indefinitely because of a national strike by the Judicial Staff Workers Union. Also, there are many separate trials and they cannot end at the same time, so we are talking several years before the last one could end. And even if they end, and some of them are acquitted, as they may well be, does that prove that the immunity clause has had no effect at all on their behaviour while in office.
From all these, it is not hard to see that corrupt political leaders will make effort to see that the immunity clause is retained in the Constitution. That is the cloak under which they have hiding for years and perpetrating their crimes against the Nigerian people, and sneer at and insult our laws and institutions and collective intelligence. The Immunity Clause is a licence for stealing, killing and maiming, and we are not being sentimental here. Recently, they have even added the phrase “Rule of Law” to give themselves more time to hide. The corrupt will do anything; go any length, to maintain the status quo, which suits them to the detriment of the Nigerian people. Trust Nigerian politicians to be ever protective of each other; whoever came up with this idea in 1999 deserves to be shot.
Again this brings me to what I have been taught since childhood – Let the truth be said always. Our officials, and indeed most Nigerians are always quick to declare our religious, political and tribal affiliations, yet when it comes to the issues of corruption, we are very slow in condemning it, hence the reason why it is increasingly difficult for us to fight corruption in our country. Corrupt Nigerian officials, past and present, politician, civil servant or military often conveniently and to their advantage, neglect their religious injunctions, despite bandying the Holly Books in our faces and claiming to be holier-than-thou. This is often exacerbated by fawning and sycophantic acolytes and hangers-on defending the indefensible just because they are gaining from the misconducts of these corrupt officials. What you do on earth is what you will be judged against in heaven or hell. Each individual, according to the Holy Books, must account for their own sins and not the sins of others.
No. The Immunity Clause must be expunged from the Nigerian Constitution, and there is no better time than NOW.
Akintokunbo Adejumo, a social and political commentator on Nigerian issues, lives and works in London, UK. A graduate of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria (1979) and University of Manitoba, Canada (1985), he also writes on topical issues for newspapers and internet media including Nigeriaworld.com, Nigeria Today Online, Nigerians In America, Nigeria Village Square, Champions Newspaper, Gamji.com etc.
He is also the Coordinator of CHAMPIONS FOR NIGERIA,(www.championsfornigeria.org) an organisation devoted to celebrating genuine progress, excellence, commitment, selfless and unalloyed service to Nigeria and Nigerians.
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