The Nation Newspaper

Category: Emeka Omeihe

  • Justice or interest of the stronger?

    Justice or interest of the stronger?

    There appears a re-awakened zeal by leaders in Africa to grill some of the universal concepts that guide economic, social and political action. Observed weaknesses of these concepts, especially their inability to approximate their real essence are some of the issues that reinforce the desirability for such inquisition.

    Of late, former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, had cause to interrogate western liberal democracy and returned a verdict that it does not suit African needs. Curiously also, the military president of Burkina Faso, Captain Ibrahim Traore joined the fray last week, with the claim that no country has developed under democracy.

    “It is impossible to name a country that has developed in democracy. Democracy is only the result” he said. Traore may have been moved to this conclusion by the recurring political instability and deficiencies in the deliverability of that governance framework.

    But even as the suitability of western liberal democracy to the African cause remains a moot issue, justice is another concept whose real meaning and application will continue to confound observers especially in the manner it finds practical expression in Nigeria.

    It does seem ours is a vague notion of justice that means different things in different situations. The inability to discern universalism or some form of regularity in the application and enforcement of justice in the country has continued to raise questions regarding its real meaning and essence.

    This is not entirely new as it preoccupied the attention of early philosophers, dividing them along the line. Socrates saw justice as the equitable and fair treatment of others. “Justice is a virtue that must be cultivated in order to lead a fulfilling life and injustice is a fault that leads to misery and failure”, he said.

    But Thrasymachus argued in Plato’s Republic that justice is nothing more than the advantage of the stronger- justice is simply what the rulers or those in power deem to be in their own interest. The other strand of his argument was that justice is not an inherent good or a natural principle but rather a tool used by the strong to maintain their dominance and ensure their own interests are served.

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    Karl Marx provided yet a third perspective to the definitional and philosophical issues embodied in the concept of justice when he categorised it as tied to the mode of production and the historical stage of the society. The main thesis of his presentation is that the current capitalist system’s legal and political structures are designed to maintain the status quo and benefit the ruling class rather promoting genuine justice.

     Socrates’ notion of justice as the equitable and fair treatment of persons aligns with our general understanding of the concept. But the perceived inability of justice to guarantee fairness and equity to all was the driving force for the positions shared by Thrasymachus and Karl Marx. And they seem to find ample support in the serial double standards in the application of justice in societies especially the developing ones.

    These were the feelings evoked when former senator, Adamu Bulkachuwa confessed before his colleagues at the 9th Senate of influencing the decisions of his wife Zainab while she served as a judge and President of the Court of Appeal.

    He had in a valedictory speech at the 9th Senate, spoken of his “wife whose freedom and independence I encroached upon while (she) was in office, and she has been very tolerant and accepted my encroachment and extended her help to my colleagues”. Despite attempts by the senate president to stop him from spilling the bean, he refused to bulge.

    The same feelings thrown up by the revelations of Bulkachuwa are behind the euphemism “Go to court”. Go to court has become the popular response of politicians accused of brazen electoral malpractices. Yes, our laws provide ample avenue for those dissatisfied with the outcome of elections to seek legal remedy. That is not what those who readily ask complainants of obvious electoral fraud to go to court imply. It is deployed in a pejorative sense.

    Where this leaves the judiciary and justice is anybody’s guess. But it highlights the curious electoral judgments that sometimes emanate from our courts, including the Supreme Court. A contestant that came fourth in a governorship election was declared overall winner by the apex court in circumstances that have remained confounding.

    It is not for nothing that the prompt handling by the federal government of the brutal killing of 16 northerner travellers in Uromi, Edo State, resonated feelings of inequitable and unfair treatment of past victims of such lawless acts across the country. Yes, the federal authorities and the police did the right thing by promptly responding and arresting some suspects for interrogation.

    The heavy deployment of security agencies to restore order and avert further relapse, are part of the responses demanded by the situation. But the attention given to the Uromi incident appears a marked departure from the responses of the authorities to similar bloodletting across the country in the past.

    Just before the dust raised by the Uromi incident was about to settle, more than 50 innocent citizens were murdered by a band of terrorists in some communities of Plateau State. Plateau and many states in the north-central have been home to frequent attacks and despoliation of their communities by a band of terrorists suspected to be Fulani herdsman. Though the federal government is giving similar attention to the Plateau case, such responses were at best tepid, in past incidents.

    Governor, Caleb Muftwang captured the double standard in handling such killings when he said last week that the attacks have been going on for 10 years without gathering national attention. Hear him: “If these attacks have been going on for close to 10 years, it tells you there is a deliberate, conscious attempt to clean up the population”.

    Muftwang must have also shocked the nation when he revealed that more than 64 communities in the state have been taken over by the bandits and renamed after sacking the original owners.

    The north-central is not alone in this unfortunate fate. Similar acts of terrorism have also seen many innocent citizens in the southern parts of the country sent to their early graves. Curiously, the criminals are rarely arrested and prosecuted. They simply disappear into the thin air with the government seemingly helpless.

    Even then, Global Terrorism Watch had since 2014 named Fulani herdsmen, the fourth deadliest terrorist group in the world. Despite this rating, the authorities are yet to call that group by its rightful name. Little wonder they have been operating with an air of near invincibility leaving in their trail blood, sorrow and awe.

    When the federal government responded to the Uromi incident in the manner it did in the face of the uproar and threats from sections of the north for reprisals, our commitment to justice for all was bound to face serious inquisition. That is not to diminish the efforts put in by the government to discourage and punish resort to lawlessness in the Uromi incident. No!

    Rather, it is a demand for commensurate response to the serial attacks, killings and despoliation of communities by rampaging herdsmen across the country. Where were those threatening reprisals and fanning embers of discord when communities in Benue State were serially attacked with innocent people massacred and displaced? Why did the northern ‘crusaders for justice’ not find their voices during the massacre at Uzo-Uwani in Enugu and similar atrocities committed by the herdsmen? Or is it a verity of George Orwell’s Animal Farm where all animals are equal but some are more equal than others?

    Ironically, there has emerged the phenomenon of gun-wielding ‘hunters’ from the north going to the south on hunting expedition. Curiously, the government sees nothing wrong with it in the face of kidnappings and sundry acts of terrorism by those taking advantage of the forests to kill and maim their victims.

     Yet, we want to stem the tide of insecurity in the south linked to the masquerades hiding in the forests? If gun-wielding hunters from the south cannot similarly invade forests in the north without clearance from the local authorities, something must be wrong with the manner of hunters that invade southern forests in the face of subsisting insecurity.

    These are issues of double standards that challenge our notion of equity, fairness and justice. They interrogate the actions and responses of the government and influence the swing of opinion between our conventional notion of justice and its characterisation by Thrasymachus and Karl Marx.

  • The Uromi killings

    The Uromi killings

    The killing of 16 travellers of northern extraction by a vigilante group in Uromi, Esan North East Local Government Area of Edo State, has exposed the dangers in the quasi security outfits that emerged in response to the festering insecurity in the country.

    More than anything, the chilling incident highlights scant regard to law and order, due process and sanctity of the human life. In it can also be located a culture of violence that is increasingly enveloping this country and increasingly threatening its social fabric. If this culture of violence, mistrust and easy resort to self-help is not urgently stemmed, it may soon begin to define us as a people.

    But can we afford the relapse to a state of anomie without dire existential consequences? That is the searing question thrown up by the circumstances of the killing of the travelling hunters in the most dastardly and callous manner by the vigilante group. What were the issues?

    A group of northerners now officially identified as hunters were travelling from Port Harcourt in Rivers State to Kano State in a truck. Somewhere in Uromi, Edo State, their vehicle was flagged down by a vigilante group ostensibly for a routine security check. They ordered the driver and passengers down and proceeded to search the truck. In the process, they discovered some locally made guns and hunting tools.

    The discovery sparked off suspicion with the vigilante concluding that the travellers were kidnappers especially as some undisclosed sums of money were found in their possession. They may have also been influenced in their conclusions by incidents of kidnapping for ransom rampant in the country including the axis the travellers were accosted.

    What followed defied rationality and will continue to assail public sensibilities for a very long time. The vigilante group descended heavily on the travellers beating and visiting jungle justice on them even as their pleas of innocence fell on deaf ears.

    Soon, a mob gathered, lynched and set fire on the bodies of the travellers. It was a despicable scene to behold even as it raised questions as to what has become of our collective senses of empathy and regard for the sanctity of the human life. Sadly, as this act of bestiality and man’s inhumanity to his fellow man was going on, nothing was heard of the intervention of the security agencies to save the situation.

    Neither is there any record that the vigilante group alerted the security agencies on their discoveries and suspicion. In matters of this nature, the right thing is for the vigilante group to hand over the suspects to the police authorities for profiling and further investigations. Nothing of such happened. The laws of this country do not permit any person to take human life. Only the courts have that right as guaranteed by the constitution. But the vigilante group opted to take laws into their hands and levy jungle justice on the travellers.

    One of the victims who managed to escape narrated how they were made to lie down and mercilessly flogged by their traducers. He said he ran away when some of the people that gathered, probably out of sympathy, shouted that they should run for their lives. According to him, as he made to run, two of the vigilante men pursued him. But he outpaced them and hid in an uncompleted building from where he saw all that happened. He saw how his friend was so beaten that he could not run, only to be killed by the vigilante in the most inhuman manner.

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    The circumstances of the killings raised tempers and have been roundly condemned with demands on the security agencies to fish out the culprits to face the raw teeth of the law. Security agencies were quick to swing into action following President Tinubu’s directive to that effect. Arrests have been made and 14 suspects have been taken to Abuja to ensure proper interrogation.  Two other suspects said to be key to the investigations have also been apprehended.

    The swiftness and prompt response of the high echelon of the police to the incident is reassuring. That should be their standard response to such infractions anywhere they happen in the country.

    Before then, Edo State governor, Monday Okpebholo had embarked on peace building mission to douse tempers inflamed by the incident. He visited his Kano State counterpart and families of the victims most of whom hail from two local government areas of Kano State. He also promised to aid the bereaved families.

    These are very reassuring measures that go to show the various levels of government can still rise up to their primary duty of maintaining law and order. It is also instructive that the response came at a time cascading insecurity across the country had begun to erode public confidence in the capacity of the government to maintain law and order; guarantees the sanctity of lives and property.

    But the investigations must be thorough and comprehensive for the country to identify and realistically address the issues that incubate incidents of this nature. One is the immediate response of security agencies in the areas where such killings take place. Nothing was heard of the role of the police and other security agencies in Uromi as the situation escalated.

    How come all the hullaballoo unfolded in the manner they did without any form of intervention from them? The role of the security agencies is a critical lead in the investigations. The responsible officials should be interrogated on the issue. They will definitely have something of value to the investigations.

    The role of the vigilante is another issue. Understandably, they were set up by the state and local governments to provide some form of security assistance in the wake of the assortment of security challenges that have continued to assail the country. It may be uncharitable to dismiss their place within the security architecture. But their operations in some states have lent themselves to brazen abuses with heavy toll on human lives.

    The Uromi incident is a serious case of such costly and avoidable abuses. There was also the killing a few years back, of seven wedding guests returning to their community in Otulu, Oru East Local Government Area of Imo State by gunmen suspected to be operatives of the Ebubeagu security outfit. They were riding back home on motorcycles when from nowhere, bullets were rained on them on suspicion that they were members of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra IPOB.

    Such has been the excesses of quasi security outfits that go by various names across the country. This is in addition to many cases of unaccounted killings and disappearance of persons that are often blamed on them. This is the time to interrogate the type of training and mandate given to these quasi security outfits. Investigations will unravel whether their excesses and resort to jungle justice are as a result of weaknesses in their training or part of their brief. Such findings will aid in refining their operations for better effect and permanently put a stop to the brazen abuses that have taken serious toll on human life.

    The nature of hunting that brings a group of armed men from one far-flung state to another is a key issue of investigation. The Uromi vigilante discovered local guns and hunting tools in the vehicle and erroneously concluded that the travellers were either kidnappers or terrorists. All efforts to explain to them that they were hunters returning to Kano from Port Harcourt failed to convince them.

    They were apparently not convinced that people could travel from Kano to hunt in Rivers State that is predominantly a riverine state. It was a cultural mismatch and misunderstanding. Incidentally, this is not the first time such claims of hunting by a group of people wielding guns together with dogs marching into the forests in southern parts of the country has been challenged by the local communities.

    Not long ago, the Amotekun security outfit in Ondo State arrested 149 suspected criminals posing as hunters in three local government areas of the state. Even as they claimed to be hunters, they were at the time of their arrest found with different weapons concealed inside their luggage and kept in the truck. There was an earlier arrest and profiling of a similar incident in Delta State with the police authorities clearing them as hunters.   

    There was discomfort and outcry in Imo State when a group of northerners earlier offloaded by a trailer in some parts of Owerri, Imo State together with their dogs headed into the forests for what was said to be hunting expedition without clearance from the authorities. It is clear from these arrests, suspicions and mistrust that the manner of hunting that takes a group of northerners to states in the south for hunting expedition without clearance from the local authorities is largely misunderstood by the host communities.

    That may have been the situation in the Uromi incident. The people of Uromi may not be that heartless as the leader of the Arewa community in Edo State Badamasi Sally admitted: “it was the people of Uromi who rescued some of the victims from the assailants”. Rampant cases of kidnapping for ransom by criminals taking advantage of the forests may have played a role in the ensuing confusion. It is vital to highlight this dimension for the security agencies to interrogate. The times are dire and dangerous. Suspicion is everywhere as insecurity reigns supreme. Any activity capable of injecting a modicum of suspicion of complicity into the cycle of violence that has enveloped the country must be avoided at all costs. But the authorities must fish out and bring to book all those fanning embers of discord despite measures to douse tempers frayed by the unfortunate incident.

  • One judgment, two interpretations

    One judgment, two interpretations

    It is difficult to brush aside the conflicting interpretations by sections of the media of recent Supreme Court judgment on the rightful occupant of the office of the National Secretary of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP). The reportage of that ruling left many seemingly confused regarding the proper meaning of the apex court’s judgment.

    It might be helpful to take a brief review of a few headlines of some national dailies and online newspapers on the judgment to appreciate the extent such reports left the public confused. Conflicting claims to victory by constants to that office after the ruling did not help matters. Rather, they further bloated the air of ambiguity regarding the proper reading of the apex court’s verdict.

    But was the ruling by the Supreme Court actually ambiguous? Answers to this question will come clearer after a perusal of some newspaper headlines and other opinions on the issue. One of the leading national dailies had as its lead headline, “Supreme Court restores Samuel Anyanwu as PDP’s national secretary”. Its introductory paragraph amplified this further:  ‘The Supreme Court has pronounced Senator Samuel Anyanwu as the authentic national secretary of the People’s Democratic Party, putting an end to the legal contest over the post’.

    Another popular online newspaper wrote, “Supreme Court declares Wike’s loyalist, Anyanwu, as the PDP national secretary amid party crisis”. It went on: ‘In a fresh twist to the deepening crisis in the Peoples’ Democratic Party, the Supreme Court has declared Samuel Anyanwu, an ally of Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike, as the party’s national secretary.

    Yet, a mainstream national daily deviated from this pattern of headline when it wrote, “Supreme Court asks PDP to decide its national secretary”. It pushed this angle further in the first paragraph… ‘The Supreme Court on Friday ruled that no court has the powers to decide who become officers of a political party. It also set aside the concurrent judgments of the Court of Appeal and the Federal High Court and declined Anyanwu’s prayer to be declared the party’s national secretary.

    This national daily got an ally in a national television report with the headline, “Supreme Court declares PDP national secretary an internal party matter, both factions claim victory”. The same pattern of varying interpretations of the apex court’s ruling was reflected in the headlines of some other publications.

    True to this pattern of mixed interpretations, the parties to the contest were quick to lay separate claims to victory. Anyanwu saw the ruling as victory for him especially with the setting aside by the apex court of the concurrent judgments of the Appeal Court and the Federal High Court challenging his claims to that office.

    He may have reasoned that with the setting aside of the case challenging his claim to that office, the ruling automatically translates to his affirmation as the authentic national secretary of the PDP. Thus his claim to victory.

    But the PDP holds a different opinion on the issue. In a statement by its national publicity secretary, Debo Ologunagba, the party said the judgment of the Supreme Court affirmed Sunday Udeh Okoye as the national secretary. The party based its position on the ruling of the apex court that party leadership positions including that of the national secretary fall within the internal affair of the party requiring only internal party mechanisms for resolution to which the courts have no jurisdiction.

    According to Ologunagba, the ruling affirms the standing position of the party and emphatically settles the emergence of Udeh Okoye as the substantive national secretary of the PDP having been duly nominated, endorsed and ratified through the internal mechanisms of the PDP’s statutory organs and bodies in line with its constitution (as amended in 2017).

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    The party further cited its NWC’s decision at its 576th meeting of October 11, 2023 which directed the Southeast Zonal Executive Committee to nominate a replacement for Anyanwu upon his nomination as the governorship candidate of the PDP for the November 2023 election in Imo State. Following that directive, it said the Southeast Zonal Executive Committee at its meeting on October 20, 2023 passed a resolution nominating and forwarding the name of Udeh Okoye to the NWC as the national secretary of the party.

    And at its 577th meeting of November, 2023, the NWC received, deliberated upon, accepted and approved the emergence of Udeh Okoye as the national secretary of the party. That appointment has since been endorsed by the relevant organs of the party and bodies including the Board of Trustees BOT, Southeast zonal caucus, the PDP governors’ forum and officially communicated to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the publicity secretary clarified.

    What was the actual judgment of the apex court? We shall rely on reports which in our estimation captured the proper meaning of the Supreme Court’s judgment. This will entail an abridgment of two reports taken from different media publications.

    The report will be reproduced without necessarily quoting the contents. Here it goes: The Supreme Court has nullified the judgments of the Court of Appeal and the Federal High Court which had earlier, sacked Samuel Anyanwu as the national secretary of the Peoples’ Democratic Party PDP.

    A five-member panel of the court headed by Jamilu Tukur held that matters relating to the leadership or membership of a political party fall strictly within the internal affairs of the party and should not be the business of the court to adjudicate. Justice Tukur said the exceptional circumstances that would have given jurisdiction for the court to decide on the internal affairs of a political party were ‘missing’.

    Such exceptional circumstances according to the court, include if the Nigerian constitution grants the judiciary jurisdiction over the matter, if a crime has been committed, or if there is a violation of contractual rights.  

     The court also held that the plaintiff, Aniagu Emmanuel who initiated the suit at the trial court lacked the necessary legal backing to do so since he did not show how he was affected by who is the national secretary of the PDP. That is the summary of the Supreme Court ruling.

    As can be seen from the above, the apex court set aside the concurrent judgments of the Appeal Court and the Federal High Court on two grounds. The first is that both courts lacked the powers to entertain the suit in the first place because it borders on the internal leadership affairs of the political party which the apex court said are not justiciable.

    The second reason for which the case was thrown out was that Aniagu Emmanuel who originated the case at the trial court did not have the necessary legal rights to do so because he failed to demonstrate how he would be affected by who the national secretary of the PDP is. In other words, he was an interloper. These were the basis on which the Supreme Court set aside the concurrent judgments of the Appeal Court and the Federal High Court.

    There is nowhere in the entire judgment the apex court reinstated Samuel Anyanwu as the substantive national secretary of the PDP. There was nothing like that. Neither did the apex court explicitly affirm Udeh Okoye as the substantive national secretary of the party. No!

    One is therefore at a loss on how and from where some media organisations generated such misleading headlines as: “Supreme Court restores Samuel Anyanwu as PDP’s national secretary’ or ‘Supreme Court declares Wike’s loyalist, Anyanwu, as the PDP national secretary amid party crisis’. There is no evidence of such restoration or declaration of Samuel Anyanwu as the national secretary of the PDP in the ruling of the Supreme Court. Nothing like that.

    The newspapers may have been misled by the setting aside of the concurrent judgments of the Appeal Court and the Federal High Court on grounds of lack of jurisdiction as victory for Anyanwu. But that is far from it given the further ruling that matters relating to political party positions are internal affairs of the parties for which the courts cannot adjudicate.

    This is more so as the apex court even demonstrated the grounds on which it can intervene but declared them missing in the instant case. The case was set aside for lack of jurisdiction.  It did not give explicit victory to any of the parties.

    That brings us to the headlines that are closer to the real meaning of the ruling: ‘Supreme Court declares PDP national secretary an internal party affair’ and ‘Supreme Court asks PDP to decide its national secretary’. There was no explicit order on the PDP to decide its national secretary but that is the proper reading of the ruling that political party leadership positions are internal affairs of the parties for which the courts lack jurisdiction to entertain.

    Between Anyanwu and Udeh Okoye, who is supported by the party’s constitutional provisions as the national secretary? Ologunagba said Udeh Okoye is the person and has shown evidence of compliance with the PDP constitutional requirements for the selection of the national secretary. So, the battle now is within the PDP as the apex court did not explicitly give that post either to Anyanwu or Udeh Okoye.

    If the evidence of compliance with the PDP constitution in the selection of Udeh Okoye and the surrounding circumstance are anything to go by, then the coast is clear for Udeh Okoye. How the PDP resolves the matter in the days ahead will make an interesting watch.

  • Opposition politics’ challenge

    Opposition politics’ challenge

    The fate of opposition politics is one great challenge to democratic governance in this country. The phenomenon is not entirely new. But it has assumed a threatening dimension given the crisis of relevance engulfing opposition parties in recent times.

    Virtually all opposition parties that secured governorship and National Assembly seats in the last general elections- the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP) and the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) are embroiled in one form of crisis or the other, real or contrived. At the centre of it all, is the struggle for power supremacy amongst key leaders.

    Even before these crises, the political atmosphere had been polluted by a rash of cross-carpeting by legislators at both the state and national levels to the parties controlled by the governments in power. Legislators qua legislators have jumped ship, often, rationalising their action on purported division within the parties even when such conditions do not really exist.

    Though the constitution permits such defection only when there is a division in the party, that condition is rarely met, as lawmakers defect at will and retain their seats without consequences. The relative ease and frequency of these defections is a measure of the weakness of the constitutional provisions in this regard. Deepening democracy by guaranteeing virile opposition suffers serious reverses in the face of the inability of the laws of the land to keep such defections at check. Sadly, the judiciary has not been of much help in stemming the tide.

    The net effect is seen in the gale of defections that sometimes defy logic except the allure of the stomach. This has weakened opposition politics both at the state levels and at the National Assembly. Most state assemblies are nothing more than rubber stamps of sitting governors unable to actuate the checks and balances expected of them as the second tier of government.

    Apparently weakened by this rash of unprincipled defections and internal party strife, the political space has been awash with conversations on realignment of forces to build formidable opposition to the ruling party. There are reports of meetings on realignment of forces, possible mergers or the adoption of a political party into which all those committed to providing alternative platforms for virile opposition will empty into.

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    The argument is that with the current state of opposition parties especially the internal crisis they are entangled in, they will be ill-equipped to mount serious opposition as the next elections draw closer. Thus, the need for an alternative platform free from the encumbrances that are currently holding down opposition parties. Not a few Nigerians share the view of possible slide to one party state should opposition parties remain in their current ineffective and disorderly form.

    One politician that has surprisingly become an apostle of this idea is Nasir El-Rufai, former governor of Kaduna State and one of the foundation members of the ruing All Progressives Congress (APC).  El-Rufai recently came up strongly against his former party accusing it of orchestrating the crisis rocking the opposition parties.

    “The crisis in the Labour Party is contrived and funded by the government of the day, everyone knows it. Jumping from one court to another is all designed to distract the party leadership from their core functions. The same thing is happening in the PDP and even in the NNPP” he said.

     He has decamped from the APC accusing it of deviating from its core values and promoting personal rather than national interest. He has been beckoning on some other key political figures to empty into his new party to form a formidable force.

    The presidency and the APC leadership have in separate reactions taken a swipe on El-Rufai refuting some of his claims. They accused him of hiding under self-serving interest to bandy sweeping allegations.

    His inability to scale through senate ministerial screening was cited as the real grouse the Kaduna-born politician has with the APC government. But the NNPP took serious exceptions to the claims of El-Rufai especially as they relate to their party. They had in a statement repudiated the claims that the federal government was responsible for the crisis in their party. They rather, blamed it on internal rancour within their leadership.

    Beyond these, the current state of opposition parties will continue to attract serious attention among keen political observers. Given the primacy of virile opposition in any democratic engagement, genuine fears of possible decimation of opposition and recline to one party state cannot be dismissed with a wave of the hand. Not with the hallmark antagonistic disposition of African leaders to opposition politics.

    This uncertainty nurtures all kinds of theories; the kind El-Rufai canvassed. Even before he came open to accuse the federal government of sponsoring the crisis in the parties, other key opposition politicians have openly blamed external influences for stoking the series of crisis rocking the opposition.

    When this is juxtaposed with the penchant by elected leaders and politicians of all hue to gravitate towards the government in power, the signals do not leave anyone in comfort. But democracy, the type we copied and purport to be practising is predicated on plurality of views; alternatives and dissent.

    Political parties as agents of interest articulation, ventilation and political education provide alternative views and choices to the electorate before, during and after elections. They present themselves as credible alternatives and keep the government in power at check.

    That culture of virile competition for power has continued to suffer serious reverses in the African context. The intolerance of African leaders to opposition or dissent especially at the budding stages of the new states was legendry. And it was fingered in the rash of military interventions that marked that epoch in Africa. Then also, scholars had noted the pervading culture of intolerance to opposition rooted in the African kingship structure.

    The gale of defections and gravitation of politicians to the government in power, especially at the federal level illustrates this point most poignantly. This lure is neither based on any ennobling principles nor national interest.

    Sadly, all these weaken opposition and depict the political class as a band of opportunists lacking in principles. Benevolent dictatorship as suitable governance construct for the African nations gained considerable traction in the past because of the dissonance between the plurality of choices presented by Western liberal democracy and the marked intolerance of dissent in the African setting. This has raised questions on the propriety of the development systems we copied.

    Even with the unpopularity and anachronism military rule has become, the fact that four African countries are at the moment under that contraption should call for serious introspection. Democracy both as a development paradigm and ideology is governed by the culture of dissent.

    Ironically, some of our leaders are quick to celebrate and eulogise democracy and embellish their credentials with the sacrifices they made to get the military packing and enthrone democracy. But, when it comes to allowing the culture of democracy to flourish, they are found wanting.

    Dissent and alternative choices constitute the fulcrum on which the wheels of democracy revolve. Any attempt to emasculate these principles detracts substantially from the core values that make democracy more preferred than other forms of governance construct.

    It was in view of these imperfections that former president Obasanjo recently grilled western democracy both as an ideological construct and development paradigm. He had at a consultation on “Rethinking Western Liberal Democracy in Africa” faulted the ideology for neither delivering good governance and development to Africa nor factoring in their history and multi-cultural complexities.

    In its place, he had proposed what he called ‘Afro Democracy’ without stating its essential attributes. But he did not leave anyone in doubt of his dissatisfaction with western liberal democracy in the form it manifests in African countries especially for its deficiency in fully reflecting the will of a majority of the people. That is the point.

    The practice of democracy in Nigeria, wittingly or unwittingly shunts out a majority of the people. That questions the relevance of that ideology to truly reflect the collective will of the people. The trend calls for urgent reversal through constitutional amendments that sufficiently guarantees strong opposition. Our laws should be amended to allow defection only on the ground that it will entail loss of elective seat of the incumbent. This will not only halt the rash of defections but ensure credible opposition. It will grow genuine and purposeful opposition and deepen democracy.

  • Electricity tariff hike disambiguation

    Electricity tariff hike disambiguation

    Indications from officials of the federal government point to an imminent increase in the price of electricity paid by consumers. The Special Adviser to President Tinubu on Energy, Olu Verheijen was quoted last month as saying that the current power tariff would rise by about two-thirds in order to reflect the cost of supplying it.

    She reportedly told journalists during the Mission 300 Energy Summit in Tanzania that the higher energy tariff is required to fund the maintenance necessary to improve reliability and attract private investors into power generation and transmission.

    She was later to clarify that she was misquoted. According to her, what she said was that following the increase on Band ‘A’ tariffs, the current tariffs now cover about 65 per cent of the actual cost of supplying electricity with the federal government subsidizing the difference.

    But this arithmetic did not just add up. Under the Service-Based Tariff (SBT) scheme, consumers were classified into bands A to E with different tariff’regimes and hours of electricity supply. Those on Band A pay N209 per kilowatt-hour while their Band B counterparts pay N68 per kilowatt-hour for 20 hours and 16 hours of daily electricity supply respectively. Band E customers are supplied only four hours of electricity.

    As at the time the SBT scheme was being sold to the public, the impression conveyed was that Band A tariff was the appropriate price for the commodity supplied to those in that band.  Is Verheijen now saying that the current rate paid by Band A customers represent only 65 per cent cost of the power supplied to them? Or was she referring to consumers in other bands? She needs further clarification on this.

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    But that is really beside the point. The real issue is, increase in electricity tariff is imminent irrespective of how it is framed. The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu toed the same equivocating line last week when he announced plans to ‘regularise’ the country’s electricity tariffs to address the significant disparity in tariff between different consumer bands.  

    The minister shied away from presenting it as tariff hike when he spoke at the public presentation of the National Integrated Electricity Policy (NIEP) in Abuja. “We’ll look at the tariff again. I’m not saying that we’re going to increase the tariff before I’m misquoted. We are going to look at the tariff and see how we can improve upon the modest achievements we made last year”, he said.

     Adebayo pointed out what he saw as the incongruity in differentials in prices paid by Band A and their B counterparts and stressed the need to close such gaps. He finds no justification that Band B which enjoys about 16 hours of electricity daily pays only N68 per kilowatt-hour while those on Band A enjoying about 20 hours pay N209.  He may have a point here. But how come the government is realising this about a year after the Band A billing system took effect? The answer may be located in the current inability of official of the government to come clear on what regularising the electricity billing process is all about.

    In spite of the garb government functionaries have sought to dress the plan, the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) sees it for what it is – an attempt to hike the price of electricity supplied to consumers. It has therefore vowed to resist it.

    In a statement issued in Yola, Adamawa State after its National Executive Council meeting, NLC rejected what it called “sham reclassification” of electricity consumers by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission NERC). It accused the minister of power and NERC of attempting to force consumers into higher tariff bands under the pretext of service improvement while in reality deepening economic hardship. Beyond electricity, the NLC also expressed concerns over the recent increase of over 35 per cent in telecommunications tariff.

    Though it acknowledged having reached an agreement with the federal government on the 35 per cent increase instead of 50 per cent earlier floated, it is yet sceptical of the federal government’s commitment to keeping to its words. The concerns of the NLC are not unfounded especially given the manner government officials are packaging and presenting the plan. Their manner of presentation conveys the unmistakable impression that either there is something to hide or they are not comfortable with such plans.

    Verheijen who initially spoke of two-thirds increase, later said she was misrepresented as what she meant was that the current price paid by consumers represented about 65 per cent of the actual cost of supplying electricity while the federal government bears the difference. That clarification came with flaws as pointed out earlier.

    Adelabu would rather speak in very unclear terms. He talked about regularizing the country’s electricity tariff to close the significant disparity in tariff differences between different bands. Yet, he would not want to be quoted as saying there will be a hike in electricity tariff. What else was he talking about if not the imminence of tariff hike?

    So, the scathing remarks and scepticism by the NLC on government’s commitment to keeping to the 35 per cent telecommunications’ tariff agreement are not out of place. But the reason the government does not want to call a spade its rightful name is not hidden to the discerning public. It has to do with the manner the STB scheme was sold to the public last year.

    Then, the policy was presented as discriminatory pricing.  It allowed Distribution Companies (DISCOS) to raise electricity price to N225 per kilowatt-hour from N68 in return for guaranteeing 20 hours of electricity supply per day. NERC said then that Band A customers represented 15 per cent of the population but constituted 40 per cent of electricity users. 

    The government also said the price paid by Band A customers represented the appropriate pricing for the commodity and would allow the DISCOS fully recover efficient cost of operation including a reasonable return on capital invested in the business. Now, it appears to be singing a different song.

    Ironically, this brand of discriminatory monopoly was not necessarily based on the ability to pay or some other social or demographic indicators but on the capacity of the DISCOS to supply at least 20 hours of electricity to the earmarked areas. It is still unclear whether the price regularising scheme will guarantee other bands longer hours of steady electricity supply or how the price adjustments will affect the various bands.

    The prospect of steady power supply to all the bands appears a tall order given the experiences of customers initially graded under the Band A scheme. The DISCOS were soon to find out that they lacked the capacity to maintain the agreed hours of steady electricity supply to their consumers. This saw to the down-grading of customers hitherto in Band A to Band B.

    Band B could not also deliver on promise as epileptic power supplies coupled with national grid breakdowns made a mockery of the scheme. Even then, the total power generation in the country which is still about 5,000 megawatts is still a far cry from the national power supply demand.

    It remains doubtful whether the government can possibly market the regularisation process on the grounds of improved and steady power supply. That will make no sense. Apparently conscious of that contradiction, the new argument is that cost reflective adjustments will improve funding for maintenance and reliable supplies and attract investors into power generation and transmission.

    What this entails is that consumers across all bands will have to pay more before the investments in infrastructural maintenance that will guarantee steady supplies could be attracted. If this interpretation is correct, then electricity consumers must be charged more for services rendered irrespective of their level of efficiency. That seems where we find ourselves now.

    That would appear a negation of the foundation on which the STB scheme was erected. Then, all the rigmarole on nomenclature- STB tariffs, cost-reflective pricing and regularisation of tariff are just subsidy removal from electricity dressed in other garbs. Such policies have been coming in torrents and the government appears scared calling it by its real name for fear of backlash.

  • Foreign fraud cells in Nigeria

    Foreign fraud cells in Nigeria

    The alert by Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukayode on the existence of foreign fraud cells in the country opens a new dimension of threats to our national security.

    This is especially so with recent EFCC intelligence suggesting that foreign fraudsters are also illegally importing arms into the country using cryptocurrency as a means of payment. The fraud syndicates are also said to be establishing criminal cells in our cities, recruiting young Nigerians into cybercrimes including cryptocurrency fraud.

    Special operations carried out in Lagos recently by the agency led to the arrest of 194 foreigners in the heart of Victoria Island, Lagos. Among them were Chinese, Filipinos, Eastern Europeans, Tunisians and others; all in a single building. Some lacked valid visas and most of their financial activities were conducted through cryptocurrency.

    That was not all. Some of the arrested foreigners were ex-convicts in their home countries who had escaped prosecution and sought refuge in Nigeria and some other African countries.

    The EFCC further interrogated the flow of arms and ammunitions into the hands of terrorists, bandits and sundry criminal elements in the country and established a link between money laundering and national security threats. It is seeking the cooperation of all the security, intelligence and law enforcement agencies in Nigeria and Africa to deal with this potent danger.

    Two distinct but closely related challenges were thrown up by the EFCC’s alert. The first is the existence of foreign fraud cells in the country recruiting young Nigerians into cybercrimes and cryptocurrency fraud with dire repercussions for national security.

    The other with no less lethal consequences for the nation’s security is the intelligence suggesting that foreign fraudsters are illegally importing arms into the country using cryptocurrency as means of payment. That again, raises issues on the integrity of cryptocurrency as a credible means of transaction. Before now, Nigeria has had a running battle with one of the leading cryptocurrency companies operating in the country-Binance. Two of its officials were arrested after they flew into the country following a ban on their website. The arrest and detention followed investigations which implicated Binance in money laundering and terrorism financing activities conducted on their currency exchange platform.

    Curiously, one of the detained officials escaped in very questionable circumstances while the other was released after the prosecution dropped the charges against him following pressure from his home government. But the sabotage of the national economy through cybercrimes and cryptocurrency fraud by foreign nationals never abated.

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     As scary as the revelations by EFCC are, it is by no means the first-time foreigners are being implicated in cybercrimes and cryptocurrency fraud. Just last November, the Nigerian Police Force arrested 130 suspects comprising 113 foreign nationals primarily of Chinese and Malaysian origin and 17 Nigerian collaborators for alleged involvement in high-level cybercrime, hacking and activities that threaten national security. The arrests followed the raiding of a building at the Next Cash and Carry area of Jahi, Abuja.

    And a fortnight ago, 17 Chinese nationals and a company Genting International Co. Ltd were arraigned before the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos for fraud. They were among the 792-member cryptocurrency investment and romance fraud suspects arrested by the EFCC in a sting operation. One of the charges against one of the suspects spoke volumes on the dangers cybercrimes and cryptocurrency fraud pose to the health of the country.

    The Chinese was accused of having, “willingly caused to be accessed, computer systems which were organised to destabilise the social and economic structure of the Federal Republic of Nigeria when you secretly procured and employed several Nigerian youths for identity theft and other computer related fraud”.

    There are recurring issues in the arrests by the EFCC and the police. The first is the large number of foreigners-Chinese nationals – involved in these criminalities. The other is their recruitment of young Nigerians as collaborators in cybercrimes and cryptocurrency fraud.

    There is also the dimension that many of the foreign suspects were ex-convicts and criminals escaping the justice systems of their country only to take advantage of the porosity of our borders and our law enforcement weaknesses to continue their nefarious activities.

    Again, in the two major but separate arrests, all the suspects were apprehended in one building. That also says a lot on the procedure followed by property owners in renting accommodation to prospective tenants.  In saner climes, such fraudulent activities cannot go on for long without the property owner suspecting something amiss.

    It is really amazing that the only business conducted in those buildings is suspected cybercrimes and cryptocurrency fraud with the foreign nationals at the head and young Nigerians as their employees. One can begin to understand why such devious criminal technologies are growing in geometric progression among the youths of this country.

    In an environment marked by abject poverty, high level of youth unemployment buoyed by greed, it is not surprising that a lot of our young men will be attracted to the illegal employment offers by the Chinese. Such people may ‘see something but refuse to say something’ because it is in their survivalist interests to conceal.

    So that sense of patriotism and commitment which the government expects of her citizens may be difficult to secure in a situation of near hopelessness which many of our youths find themselves. That is the uncanny dialectics.

    But we are confronted with searing questions on how these foreign nationals with seemingly no value to add to the national economy found themselves into our shores. What business profile did they present when they applied for visas that qualified them entry into the country? This poser is raised because of the high number of Chinese nationals regularly featuring in sundry criminalities.

    The impression we get is one of flawed screening and processing procedures at the visa issuing points in our embassies. Or how do we explain the high number of crime suspects from China including ex-convicts that feature each time the law enforcement agencies make arrests?

     China shares no border with Nigeria. Her citizens do not pose the challenge of identification as some of our foreign neighbours that share geographical contiguity, cultural and religious affinity with our country.

    And we are being told that some of those arrested for cybercrimes and associated fraud have no valid visa to enter the country. It is either such people entered the country illegally or they overstayed their visas. Whichever the case, this exposes the weaknesses of our law enforcement systems. But the nation bears the brunt of these official lapses or corruption. For a country assailed by all manner of security challenges, the addition of the threats of cybercrimes and cryptocurrency will be too heavy to bear.

    Boko Haram insurgency affiliated to ISWAP, banditry and the insurgency of killer herdsmen are security infractions that exert undue pressure on the national economy, overstretching the capacities of the government to maintain law and order. Ironically, foreigners were also fingered in their unceasing lethality. The nation is yet to come to terms with the toll in human and material capital and threat to national security they present.

    And when you factor in the revelation by the EFCC that cybercriminals import arms and ammunitions for non-state actors via cryptocurrency, the enormity of the challenge becomes more glaring. Cybercrimes and cryptocurrency fraud are serious national threats and may account for the unceasing tempo of insecurity in the country. It requires concerted action to stem the scourge.

    It is one thing to recognise the lethal threats such hi-tech crimes pose to the health of the country and another ball game for the government to roll out effective responses to tame the monster. The visa issuing processes in our embassies and high commissions need urgent overhaul. A system that allows people of questionable character or no genuine business easy entry into the country cannot but nurture the multiplicity of foreign sponsored crimes that assail national security.

     Beyond this, our policy makers must take more serious interest in the propriety of the cryptocurrency trade. There is everything to indicate that its operations are working at cross purposes with our national security interests. The escape of an official of the Binance organisation in very questionable circumstances exposes the extent official neglect or compromise can go in scuttling national security objectives. A decisive war on corruption and its manifestations in public offices is a desideratum.

  • Jonathan and military’s role in elections

    Jonathan and military’s role in elections

    The role of the military and the general attitude of Nigerians during elections came under intense inquisition at the launch of two books at the Federal Capital City, Abuja last week.

    The books titled, Selected Readings in Internal Security and Selected Readings of Election Security Management were written by former Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase.  Former President, Goodluck Jonathan who chaired the occasion, took advantage of the subject matter of the books to interrogate the involvement of Nigerian military in elections’ security management.

    His verdict was that Nigerian military should be excluded from getting involved in election security duties and day-to-day management of elections as obtains in other parts of the world especially, the developed ones.

    “Here in Nigeria, we overstretch the army. In most other countries, the military doesn’t get involved in day-to-day management of elections. In some countries, they are used to manage strategic systems. The air force and the army are used to carry and convey materials to dangerous areas” he said.

    Jonathan said the military are neither used in manning polling booths nor do they stay around them citing the elections in Botswana and Senegal which he had the privilege of monitoring. He extolled the simplicity and orderly conduct of the electorate in those countries and the effective management of the process by their electoral umpires and the police.

    Drawing parallels with the simplicity and orderliness of those country’s elections without the participation of the military, Jonathan noted ‘but here, we fully do the wrong thing’.

    The former president lamented that even with the introduction of technology to enhance the integrity of elections in this country, there are still problems. “And we, Nigerians, celebrate the wrong thing. And I believe that one day, the country will get to the level where people will reject bad behaviour. And when we get to that level, that we reject bad behaviour, this issue will not happen again”, he believes.

    Two issues linked to our elections’ security management are under focus here. The first is the propriety of the continued deployment of the military in the day-to-day running and conduct of elections while the other relates to the negative orientation and attitude of Nigerians on matters concerning elections.

    Jonathan wants the military to be excluded from the management of election security because it overstretches their capacities and runs contrary to practices the world over. He was led to this position by his knowledge of the smoothness and simplicity of the Botswana and Senegalese elections without the involvement of the military. Yet, they produced outcomes that satisfied integrity and credibility tests.

    His government unarguably, presided over a general election that is rated one of the best in the country. That is not all. Jonathan stands out as the only civilian president of this country that presided over an election in which he was a candidate but lost. So, when he says Nigerian military should be excused from election security management, he should be taken seriously.

    Apart from aligning to global practices, excluding the military from election security duties will also isolate that institution from the blame game associated with the coterie of infractions and malpractices that often mar our elections. During the last governorship off-cycle election in Ondo State, the Defence Headquarters said it deployed troops in significant numbers to support the Nigerian Police Force ensure smooth election.

    “Troops presence is to ensure the security of citizens, enabling them to cast their votes without any form of intimidation while keeping mischief makers at bay”, the DHQ explained. But Jonathan says NO to that idea. He would rather keep the military out of such routine functions concentrating in securing strategic systems and conveying logistics to difficult terrains. He has a point.

    Keeping the military out of election security duties will also isolate that institution from undue politicisation as well as partisanship accusations that are freely traded at each round of elections. Moreover, scholars have pointed to a link between the frequent deployment of soldiers to civilian duties and the rash of military takeovers at the foundation stages of new African states. That phenomenon is yet to peter out. Not with the currency of military rule in some African countries after sacking elected civilian governments.

     J.I. Clarke’s perspective on the issue is quite instructive. For him, unless the impulse to let the armed forces handle the ever-widening array of domestic tasks is checked, European countries may end up with “a very expensive, improperly equipped and overqualified emergency response instrument instead of a functional military force”.

    If the armed forces of European countries could face such potent challenges, the situation promises to be more dire for their Nigerian counterparts rated less in sophistication and capacity. The solution does not lie in the constant recourse to the military to handle internal security matters but developing, equipping and adequately funding the Nigerian police and sister organisations to effectively manage such situations. This objective is achievable given the right political will.

    The other strand of the issues raised at the forum relates to the attitude and disposition of the leadership and the led to elections. Jonathan gave clear account of the simplicity and orderliness of the voting process and the electorate in the two countries; how they complied with the regulations guiding voting. But he noted with disappointment that if it were here, people will observe the rules in their breach.

    He believes that the country will get to a point where the people will reject bad behaviour. He did not come clear on what he meant by bad behaviour. But viewed within the context he spoke, it is obvious that he had in mind, the plethora of infractions that mar our elections.

    In effect, he views the ills of our electoral process as a passing phase only if the people reject bad conduct and insist that the right things be done. That goes without saying even as it places the burden of positive change on the shoulders of the people.

    The penchant by the Nigerians to acquiesce to illegalities or succumb to all manner of inducements gives further impetus to the series of infractions witnessed during our elections. These can only stop with a positive change in the orientation and attitude of the electorate such that aligns with pristine democratic ethos.

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     But the electorate is not solely to blame. The governments in power share a larger chunk of the culpability.

    Former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi shared this view in his speech at the occasion when he emphasised that the integrity of elections is determined by the leadership in charge. Free and fair elections, he said, are possible when the right people oversee the process. He has said it all.

    How long it will take for the right people be in charge in a fragmented and highly polarised system characterised by rancorous and cut-throat politics, remains a moot issue. Ours is an inequitable plural society where the various segments are in constant competition for the control of the huge resources at the centre buoyed by prebendal predilections.

    It remains to be seen how that culture of decent electoral behaviour can emerge and endure in a system the central government controls disproportionate share of the national resources and disburses same at will with the sub-nationalities locked in bitter contest for dominance and control. An inequitable system cannot nurture the culture of free, fair and credible electoral conduct.

    This should instruct that we dilute the omnipresence and omnipotence of the federal order to lessen the pressure of bitter competition and the stress it imposes on the system. With devolution of powers to the constituents in keeping with the federal spirit, the acrimonious competition to control the resources at the centre would have been largely stymied.

    Then, moral re-orientation and re-engineering direly needed to grow the culture of decent electoral contest and effective governance can commence in earnest. That has been the missing link. And as long as our system continues to operate in the most inequitable and most aberrant form, so long shall acrimonious and do-or-die politics assail our progress.

    Perhaps, moral or ethical revolution in the Kuhnian fashion could also be activated to save the situation. But its prospects in the extant order appear a remote possibility.

  • Death penalty for fake drugs’ peddlers

    Death penalty for fake drugs’ peddlers

    A couple had cause to house a relation who had just secured a job at a medical facility in Lagos. After staying with his hosts for some months, the medical worker secured an apartment somewhere else and made the necessary preparations to move in.

    But before he finally left, he went to a prominent mall in his area and bought an expensive bottle of hot drink as a mark of traditional appreciation for the generosity extended to him by the couple. He proudly presented this drink to his hosts in the customised grocery bag of the mall and thanked them for the favour done to him. His hosts were very appreciative especially given the symbolism of such gifts in their culture.

    A day after he left for his new abode, the couple decided to have a taste of the hot drink gift. The husband opened it, took one or two shots, gave a shot to his wife and kept the remainder on the shelf.

    After a while, the wife began to complain of stomach upset. This was soon to be accompanied by frequent and ceaseless stooling that she had to be rushed to a hospital. The husband suffered the same health challenge but the effect was not as severe as that of his wife.

    One thing that continued to occupy their minds during this health encounter was the possible source of their affliction. They considered all possibilities including the food and other consumables they took in their house that day. They ruled out the ones they consumed with their children since none of them showed signs of stomach upset.

    They narrowed down to the hot drink because it was the singular item of consumption their children did not take. Their suspicion was high that the hot drink may have either been faked or adulterated notwithstanding that it was bought from a reputable mall with franchise all of the major state capitals.

    Buoyed by the suspicion of adulteration, the couple quickly went to the shelf, grabbed the bottle and poured its content away in the sink. They were lucky to have survived the affliction as no serious harm came their way.

    Henry Ogan (not real names) was diagnosed of an illness that requires him to be taking certain daily drugs duly recommended by his doctors. He went to a nearby pharmacy and bought the drugs. After taking the therapy for a good number of days, he discovered that relief was not coming.

    He was worried that the drugs were of no help in ameliorating his situation. A number of ideas began to run through his mind. After some time, he decided to see his doctor with the drugs. And on very close examination, the doctor asked him to discard those drugs because he was not just sure of their source. He then directed the patient to a particular pharmacy with samples of the brand.

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    Ogan did as instructed. This time he paid higher for the drugs but he got the right ones. And as he began taking them, considerable improvement in his health was noticed. Ever since, he has learnt to buy drugs from reputable pharmacies.

    The two accounts denote a tip of the iceberg in the mindless faking and counterfeiting of drugs, foods and assortment of consumables that go on in this country.  Sadly, innocent citizens are at the receiving end. The people in the two encounters were lucky to have survived.

    For many others, the reverse is often the case as they are dispatched to their early graves by the mindless quest of criminal elements to make illicit money at the expense of human lives. The situation is so critical and challenging even as efforts by relevant enforcement agencies to tame the menace have not achieved the desired results.

     The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has been raiding markets and sundry manufacturing and distribution outlets to curtail the activities of fake and adulterated drug peddlers. In the last couple of weeks, it embarked on the sealing of open drug markets across the country considered the largest source of fake, counterfeit and expired drugs.

    The Ariaria open drug market Aba, Abia State, that of Onitsha, Anambra and Idumota in Lagos State were some of the ones sealed by the agency. NAFDAC justified the simultaneous enforcement exercise in the three markets on the ground that they account for 80 per cent of the drugs sold in the country. That may well be even as they do not exhaust the list of markets such drugs are regularly sold to unsuspecting customers.

    Before now, the agency had severally confiscated lorry loads of fake and substandard products in various parts of the country, burning and destroying them to forestall their being pushed back into the markets. But all these efforts seem to pale into insignificance in the face of the high volume of fake drugs, foods and consumables that still flood our markets. In a clime where all manner of people seek quick wealth through cutting-corners and fraudulent manoeuvres, the challenge can be really daunting.

    The enormity of this challenge especially the mortal risks it poses to human lives must have so frustrated the Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye that she last week, called for death penalty for fake drugs peddlers. For her, only strict penalty can deter offenders especially when their action results in the death of children.

    Hear her, “Someone bought children’s medicine for about N13, 000 while another person was selling it for around N3,000 in the same mall. That raised the alarm.  Guess what? When we tested the medicine in our Kaduna lab, there was nothing inside. So, I want the death penalty”.

    She succinctly captured the mortal danger posed by fake drugs when she said, “you don’t need to put a gun to a child’s head to kill them; just give them bad medicine”. That summarises the life-threatening risks fake, adulterated, expired drugs and consumables pose not just to the lives of children but the adult population as well.

    Even with efforts by the relevant enforcement agencies to stem the tide, the enormity and lethality of the challenge should instruct that stricter measures be taken to discourage the quick resort to faking and adulteration for profit. The malfeasance is so pervasive that one begins to question how some of these substandard drugs and consumables get into the country. It is true that some of them are faked locally. Yet, a good number come in through our ports. The regular seizures and confiscation of such products at the ports of entry give credence to this.

    Adeyeye was not unmindful of the limitations of NAFDAC in fighting the scourge. The conduct of other agencies of government at the various ports of inspection and entry must also be re-evaluated.

    There is the need for stricter laws to make fake and substandard drugs’ peddling a very dangerous enterprise. The way things stand, it is clear that enforcement and extant punishment in our status books have not been able to act as sufficient deterrent. Little surprising the illegal business continues to boom.

    During a recent sting operation by the agency in one of the markets sealed last week, Nigerian were shocked at the assortment of fake and substandard drugs, drinks, sachet milk products and consumable confiscated from there. Nobody is really safe as the public has no way of differentiating between the fakes and the genuine products.

    It took a lab test for NAFDAC discover that the drug sold for N3,000 had practically no healing value. It remains to be imagined the number of Nigerians that would have consumed them and the harm done to their lives.

    Adeyeye’s frustrations in routing for death penalty for fake drugs peddlers is understandable irrespective of its propriety as a necessary and sufficient deterrent to offenders. That prescription may also run into conflict with current concerns and diminishing lure of capital punishment. Bu the argument that those who take lives through unwholesome practices should be subjected to tame measure can only be ignored at our collective peril.

    Legislations no matter how well framed, may not achieve the desired results if the judicial system is weak. That is why the integrity and independence of the judiciary comes into serious reckoning. There is the urgency to re-jig our laws to make for penalties strict enough to discourage offenders. The pervasiveness of the malfeasance suggests loopholes in extant laws and administration of justice that requires to be plugged.

    It is also high time we addressed systemic and orientational dysfunctions that push our citizens to deadly trade practices in the name of making quick money. The level of moral decay in our society has become so alarming that some social re-engineering should be called into quick action to halt the slide to the precipice. But the starting point should be from the club of people the system throws up as leaders.

    The scourge of fake and adulterated drugs and foods is a national emergency; a mortal threat to human life. It requires genuine action to tame the monster.

  • Puzzling killings in Ebonyi

    Puzzling killings in Ebonyi

    How did suspected herdsmen succeed in wreaking havoc on three Ebonyi communities despite assurances of safety given to them by their state government and security agencies?

    That is the big puzzle the federal government has to untangle in penultimate Sunday’s massacre by suspected herdsmen of 15 innocent people in the Amagu, Amaokwe and Umunesha villages of Nkalaha, Ishielu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State. The inquisition is made more compelling by indications that both the Ebonyi State government and the security agencies were privy to potential threats to law and order in the community prior to the unfortunate killings.

    Why that threat could not be diffused such that it snowballed into the wanton killings and destructions witnessed in the three communities justifies a high-powered inquisition by the federal authorities.  Accounts of what led to the killings are largely foggy. But it was said to be connected to alleged killing of some cows belonging to the herdsmen.

    It is not certain the number of cows killed, the circumstance of the alleged killing, and those behind them. But while some reports blame the so-called Eastern Security Network (ESN), others suspect they were done from within the communities. The alleged killings of the cows had led to schism between the herdsmen and the communities with attempts by all parties including the state government and security agencies to resolve the matter.

    But these efforts hit the rocks when suspected herdsmen attacked the communities as residents went to church penultimate Sunday, killing those in sight, burning a total of 25 houses, yam barns and other valuable properties. Reports from residents after the attacks expressed displeasure on the handling of the crisis by agents of the state government and the security agencies. The pervading feeling is that the killings could have been averted had the state government and the security agencies taken the necessary preventive measures when threats of a possible attack by the herdsmen hovered on the air.

    The traditional ruler of Nkalaha community, Igwe Thompson Ebe showed obvious frustrations as he threw some insight into the duration of the crisis and efforts made to stem the tide. He said the trouble started on January 20, and dragged to January 31.

    “We have continued to mediate between the Agila in Benue State and the Fulani herdsmen. I even invited them to my house in Abakaliki to talk to them about the cows that were allegedly killed. We have even made some arrests to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to book. As we were still talking, this ugly incident of killing took place on Sunday”, the traditional said with regrets.

    If the traditional ruler’s account of the duration of the crisis and the prospects it presented for possible resolution does not throw up serious challenges on the handling of its possible threat to law and order, that of residents on the roles of the Ebonyi State government and security agencies lend themselves to serious interrogation.

    A community leader from area, Elder Simon Idenyi who spoke to the media had reasonable cause to accuse the state government and security agencies of aiding the herdsmen in the atrocities they committed. He said that on February 1, officials of the Ebonyi State government, the military and police authorities came to them that they wanted to make peace between them and the Fulani herdsmen.

    “After discussions with elders of the community, including women, they told us that the problem we had with the Fulani herdsmen had been resolved. They encouraged us not to leave our houses that the government and security agencies are here to protect us. They assured us that nothing will happen to us.

    “Regrettably, at about 9.30 am, strange faces we understood were Fulani herdsmen wielding AK-47 rifles and machetes surrounded the community and started killing anyone on sight and burning houses randomly. There was no security agent in sight while the carnage lasted. The attack started at 9.30 am and till they left the community around 3.30 pm; no single security agent came until around 5pm”, he further lamented.

    The community leader said the herdsmen took time to enter every nook and cranny to carry out their attack including a church where they killed two worshippers. Other residents alleged that security agencies left the area on Saturday only for the herdsmen to attack them the following day. Other allegations bordered on the seizure of their phones by soldiers preventing them from recording the gruesome killings with warnings of severe consequences should videos or pictures of the killings and destructions make their way into the social media space.

    “They (soldiers) later returned the phones after residents had recovered 10 corpses including that of a retired policeman”, one other resident whose phone was seized recounted.  

    If the account of the meeting between officials of the state government, the military and the police during which they gave assurances of safety to the communities and asked them not to leave their homes is a true reflection of events, the eventual attack, killings and destructions raise serious questions. This is more so given their duration and magnitude.

    The attack was said to have started around 9.30 am as people were in the churches and lasted till 3.30 pm. That should give ample time for information to get to the relevant security agencies to respond to the challenge. It is surprising that the attacks could go on for that long without the authorities coming for the help of the defenceless communities. And if the security agencies were promptly on ground to contain the attack as insinuated in some quarters, the gravity of the killings and destruction of properties weakens such claims.

    In an attack of the magnitude that took place in the three communities, one would have expected to hear of the arrest and neutralisation of some of the invaders by the security agencies as the mayhem was on. That would have served as a clear evidence to countermand the claims of residents. But nothing of such is of public knowledge.

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    Though the deputy governor of the state, Patricia Obila acknowledged that without the intervention of the security agencies, the casualty level would have been higher, she did not indicate at what point they arrived the scenes of the killings and culprits arrested for the heinous crimes.

    But she could not have issued a 24-hour ultimatum to the security agencies to arrest the killers had some arrests been made in the course of the attacks. Frustrations were evident in her lamentations: “No government is happy to see their citizens being killed in a bloody manner. This is a horrific scene to behold. If you look at the corpses, they are a younger generation that were lost”.

    The deputy governor hit the uncanny irony of the matter on the head when she lamented that most of the corpses lying out there did not even know what was happening – a reference to the alleged killing of cows that led to human killings and destruction of property. Incidentally, the killings in the Ebonyi communities epitomise the unfortunate fate of the country in disagreements between herders and host communities.

    This is not the first time Ebonyi people have been mindlessly killed by suspected herdsmen over disagreements bordering on alleged destruction of farmlands, crops or the killings of cows. Unfortunately, in those earlier incidents just as in the present one, the invaders operated with an air of invincibility disappearing into the thin air after their atrocious escapades.

    Neither were arrests made nor credible intelligence provided for unmasking the standing force avenging any alleged wrong to the herdsmen across the country. This seems to have emboldened those avenging perceived wrongs to the herdsmen into the mindless reprisal killings seen across the country. But this sordid profile only reinforces suspicion, resentment and conflict between host communities and the herders. Before now, it was thought that the herdsmen were able to carry out the attacks and go scot-free because of the sympathy of the last regime to their cause.

    But the killings have persisted though on a lower scale. President Tinubu has to do something substantially different to halt the frequent resort to lawlessness by suspected herdsmen each time there is disagreement between them and their host communities. It has become a huge national embarrassment that a group of people can easily go on rampage against their host communities killing and maiming them only to escape without any trace. There is definitely more to it than ordinarily meets the eyes.

  • Compulsory voting bill ill-timed

    Compulsory voting bill ill-timed

    If the bill sponsored by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas eventually scales through, Nigerians of voting age will be compulsorily required to cast their votes during elections. 

    Titled, “Bill for an Act to amend the Electoral Act 2022 to make it mandatory for all Nigerians of majority age to vote in all national and state elections and for related matters”, it prescribes a maximum of six months imprisonment or fine of not more than N100,000 for any Nigerian of voting age who fails to vote during elections.

    Ostensibly, the bill is spurred by the low percentage of registered voters that actually participate in that civic exercise during elections. The proposed legislation aims at addressing the large- scale voter apathy that has been the uncanny fate of our elections thereby enhancing the legitimacy of those elected. In the calculations of its sponsor, a legislation making it mandatory for all those of voting age to vote in all elections is all that is required to redress voter apathy.

    That would amount to an underestimation of the complex issues promoting and sustaining that tendency in this country. Mandatory voting especially one that prescribes punishment for defaulters could improve voter participation during elections. But it is inherently defective as a solution for its inability to factor in other potent variables that frighten, threaten and prevent voters from exercising their franchise during elections in this country.

    Abbas is right to be worried by the increasing voter apathy during elections especially because of the philosophical and legitimacy issues it engenders.

    The level of legitimacy which an elected government enjoys is positively linked to the plurality of votes it gets during elections. The role of popular or citizen participation in promoting good governance is one of the justifications for which democracy draws more allure than other forms of governance construct. There is therefore good reason to eliminate all obstacles impeding citizen participation in elections.

    Figures released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the 2023 general elections showed that out of the 94.4 million registered voters in the country, 87.2 million collected their Permanent Voters Card (PVC). But during the February 25, 2023 presidential election, only 25 million people actually voted. And in the last Ondo State governorship election, 2.053 million voters registered but only 508,963 persons exercised their franchise.

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     The voting figures from the last presidential election and the Ondo State governorship poll highlight the fears that motivated Abbas in proposing the bill. Those that voted merely added up to one quarter of registered voters. And when the population of the country estimated at more than 240 million people is taken into account, including that of qualified but unregistered voters, the number of those who do not vote during elections becomes even more glaring.

    Situations like this raise fundamental and philosophical questions on democracy as a true reflection of the collective of the people as expressed at the ballot box. Democracy in the Greek city states involved the direct participation of all the people in decision-making and election of their leaders. Then, the sizes of the Greek city states were small and could accommodate direct participation.

    But the sizes of modern states cannot permit of that. Thus, the concept of representative democracy. The underlying philosophy is for voters to have a say in governance through elected representatives. This presupposes that those who emerge as leaders must derive their mandate through the ultimate sovereign – the people. This pristine principle of popular sovereignty is circumscribed when a preponderance of the electorate is prevented from exercising their franchise by some acts of omission and commission.   

     There is a wide gamut of practices and challenges that reinforce voter apathy in this clime that should raise questions on the propriety of compulsory voting as an effective remedy. And unless these systemic dysfunctions are identified and realistically addressed, compulsory voting will amount to a colossal waste of valuable time and energy. It is inherently defective in comprehensively addressing the multifarious and hydra-headed challenges that frighten and even prevent those desirous of voting from venturing out during elections.

    These have so negatively impacted on our elections that public confidence in its capacity to approximate and reflect the collective will of the electorate has considerably waned. There is the high level of violence arising from do-or-die competitions, sometimes leading to loss of lives and property.

    This is in addition to an assortment of contrived subterfuge and designs by politicians in collaboration with their rogue sponsors to manipulate election outcome and render worthless the actual votes cast at the ballot box.  Before the introduction of technology to enhance the outcome of elections, results were written in the comfort of the homes of politicians and hotels and announced before the arrival of the actual votes cast in the various constituencies.

    Our electoral process is also contending with a variety of manipulative practices that question the rationale for the electorates’ continued participation in elections when votes cast will not count in determining those that purportedly emerged victorious. These are the real issues to voter apathy. Even the modifications made in the Electoral Act permitting of the use of technology have not fared better on account of sabotage.

    The direct transfer of votes from the polling units to the result viewing portal geared to eliminate manipulation and falsification of election figures have in many instances turned out a huge aberration. During the last presidential election, the electoral umpire dashed the huge hopes reposed on that technological device when it claimed results could not be transmitted due to technical glitches.

    Issues of this nature shake the confidence of the electorate in the capacity and commitment of the electoral umpire to credible, free and fair polls. The fears and misgivings they engender are reasons for voter apathy. Compulsory voting is inherently defective in addressing the damage to voter participation by such official bungle. And it remains to be conjectured how mandatory voting will address high-tech official electoral fraud.

    The role of money in influencing the direction of voting is another key challenge. The modest progress made on account of the deployment of technology is suffering reverses because of what is commonly known as vote buying. In the last elections across the country, the influence of money in determining election outcome has been pervasive. Those with deep pockets especially governments in power at the various levels dole out huge sums of money to buy the votes and conscience of the electorate.

    Capitalising on excruciating poverty in the land and greed, the electorate is bought over to vote against their conscience just for a mess of porridge. How citizen participation in the democratic process envisaged by the proposed legislation will address such dysfunctions is left to be seen. Mandatory voting will achieve little in an environment the citizens are prevented from casting their votes by a combination of systemic obstacles.

    Yet, compulsory voting is not entirely strange to the democratic process. About 22 countries practice it. Switzerland, Australia, Belgium, Argentina, Egypt and the Democratic Republic of Congo fall into this category. Australia stands out as the most notable country that practices compulsory voting which fines defaulters $20. It is also reputed for recording about 92 per cent success in the exercise since it was put in place in1962.

    But that law is highly rooted in that country’s history as a symbolic honour to the heroism of those who died during the World War one. Some other countries like Egypt and the Democratic Republic of Congo that practice it, are not known for any significant contribution to the progress of the democratic engagement.

    The only attraction of such a law in the Nigerian situation is just to address voter apathy. But it will be difficult to address voter apathy in a system like ours where leaders of all hue aid and abet that tendency through devious activities for self-serving goals. It is not only incapable of redressing the wide range of infractions and practices that stand against the preferences of the electorate but strikes as a superfluous piece of legislation.

    The real concerns of our leaders should be how to improve the credibility and integrity of our elections through legislations that ensure votes cast approximate the collective will of the electorate as freely expressed at the ballot box. That is the real challenge and in it lies much of the solution to voter apathy.

    Compulsory voting is difficult to enforce; it is a piece of legislation whose time is yet to come.