The Nation Newspaper

Category: Monday

  • Methuselah Ambassador

    It is indeed curious President Muhammadu Buhari has re-nominated for Senate screening and confirmation, 82 year old Sylvanus Adiewere Nsofor (rtd) as a non career ambassador. In a letter to that effect dated March 29, the President was silent on the reasons for Nsofor’s re-nomination.

    When the nominee appeared before the Senate on March 23, he was rejected due to his refusal to respond appropriately to questions posed to him during the screening exercise by members of the committee on foreign affairs. The committee chairman, Senator Monsurat Sunmonu had then said Nsofor was not rejected because of his age even as he walked in looking frail and was supported as he was not able to walk on his own.

    According to him, “his responses to issues raised were either not answered or devoid of details and mostly satirical. When we asked him to recite the National Anthem, he said we should have sent him a syllabus”. A member of the committee asked him if he knew about IT. He asked what is IT and I told him Information Technology and he said “it’s for your age and not mine”. Also when asked if he was not too old, he said we should go and ask Mugabe who is still working.

    For this inability to respond to questions in the appropriate manner for reasons best known to him, the Senate refused to approve his nomination for the ambassadorial position. Now that the President has re-nominated him, what assurances are there that he will not again ask to be sent a syllabus when asked to recite the National Anthem, refer them to Mugabe when issues are raised about his age and tell the committee that information technology is for their age and not his?

    Even if a new set of questions are asked him by committee members, what guarantee is there his responses will not toe the same evasive pattern? This poser has been raised to underscore the inappropriateness of his re-nomination by the President. From all indications, Nsofor is neither prepared for the job nor is his age best suited for it. At 82, and given the committees’ characterization of his appearance, it is obvious he has no business with that job. Perhaps, he knows that too well and that may have accounted for the manner he responded to questions posed to him by members. A nominee who felt so confident to tell the Senate committee members that information technology is for their age and not his has no business taking up appointment either as a career or non-career ambassador.

    But more importantly, at 82, it is ridiculous that somebody is still considering the retired judge for such appointment. There are other ways of helping him if someone is interested in his welfare rather that make a mockery of that sensitive office. The situation is even more disconcerting when it is recognized that such appointments are made on representative basis.

    Imo State which he is being appointed to represent has a surfeit of high level, energetic and well-qualified manpower for such positions. It is a slap on the collective psyche of people of that state that a retired 82 year old judge is the person found fit and proper to fill its slot at the ambassadorial level. What a shame!

    So the issue is not just about his inability or refusal to address questions posed to him in the appropriate manner. Even if he was able to answer the questions to the satisfaction of the committee members, his age cannot possibly permit his approval for that position. The Senate should not hesitate to reject him on account of old age even if he now answers questions to their satisfaction.

    President Buhari should be asked to nominate a more suitable candidate from Imo State for that position. We cannot continue recycling people who have served out their terms in their chosen fields in the face of the spiraling unemployment challenges that pose the greatest challenge to order, peace and stability in this country.

    The re-nomination of Justice Nsofor is a sad reminder to the controversy generated by the re-nomination of the acting chairman of the EFCC Ibrahim Magu who was equally rejected for non-satisfactory performance during screening in addition to the damning report on his credibility to lead the anti-graft war. Since the second rejection, we have been made to believe that a proper interpretation of the constitution shows clearly that the President does not really need the approval of the Senate to appoint the EFCC chairman.

    Yet, in the past, that tradition had been followed without any adverse consequence. We are not looking at the overall intendment of the act setting up such bodies in stipulating that their heads should be approved by the Senate. We now show scant interest in the principles of separation of powers, checks and balances and their overall capacity to check abuse of power which corrupts absolutely.

    In a bid to find escape route, we had to scrutinize the constitution to find a way out. And our researches paid off in section 171 of the constitution which they said empowers the President not to seek Senate approval for Magu’s appointment. We are now only interested in working from the answer so long that answer enables us achieve a predetermined end. That is the interpretation of the legal opinion offered by Femi Falana and copiously adopted by the Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo that the EFCC chairman does not need Senate confirmation.

    But, Magu’s name had been sent to the same Senate on two consecutive times and rejected. Had he been confirmed, perhaps nobody would have cared to search the constitution to seek and explore loopholes. Given the above, it could be safely concluded that the whole idea is to have Magu on the EFCC seat by all means. But the interpretation of that part of the constitution by Falana and its adoption by Osinbajo is still not the end of it all. The final resolution of the matter lies with our courts.

    It is true that when any law clashes with the constitution, the latter takes precedence. But that is not the only issue that will be taken into account when the matter comes before the courts. The courts will also consider issues of public interest, what stood to be gained or lost by subjecting such appointments to Senate confirmation. They may also consider the dangers inherent in having the executive solely appoint heads of such sensitive bodies on the overall assignment they have to prosecute.

    Besides, it has been argued that section 60 of the 1999 constitution (as amended) empowers the Senate and the House of Representatives to make rules to guide their activities. It is further being contended that section 60 is not inferior to section 171 and that the rule of the House is subsidiary legislation deriving its powers from the grand norm, which is the 1999 constitution.

    The above point underscores the contention that the interpretation proffered by Falana and adopted by Osinbajo is still largely provisional as it cannot be the final position on the matter. The issue should be challenged in the courts for us to get to know the true position.

    But then, should we undertake all this trouble just because Magu is involved? Must he stay in that office by all means? These are the issues to ponder especially given the valuable energy dissipated on this singular appointment. Even if he does not need Senate approval to retain his job, has he cleared himself of the damaging allegations against him by the DSS?

    This poser is germane given that Babachir Lawal, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF who was earlier cleared by the President together with Magu on the allegations made against him has now been suspended from duty and being investigated. If the government has seen reason even very belatedly to suspend Lawal, it needs to revisit the Magu saga instead of exploring loopholes in the constitution to retain him by all means.

  • Is that the law?

    Is that the law?

    Though justice be thy plea, consider this
    That in the course of justice, none of us
    Should see salvation” – Shakespeare

    Imagine that in the course of investigating the source and sinners behind the over $43 million, no one is caught, and the story peters out. Imagine further that names roll out, file before the court, get judgment that releases them back into the halcyon luxury of their homes. The names go home not as a roll-call of the damned but the justified of the land. Imagine also that, in the grass-cutter saga, Babachir David Lawal fizzes gloriously out of sight as quickly as he has snapped into scandal.

    Both dramas ease into anti-climax. The courts and inquiry panels say goodnight, the pens freeze and gavels drop. The people sigh. The government pivots away to another business. The nation pines for another rite of officials behaving badly. Then follows the cynical rigmarole that leads from allegation to acquittal. We are fed with scandal as entertainment. We have seen it before. We are blessed because we shall be entertained again very soon. We don’t need to stay tuned. Its channels will find us, even when we are not paying attention.

    It is this scenario that propelled me in the past few weeks to herald the virtue of justice over law. It is not enough that the law should acquit a person. The society should know that it has had justice. When that fails, the law fails. Some reactions, especially from lawyers, have cavilled at my view, accusing me of calling for arbitrariness. They claim my view will usher in chaos and tyranny in the court. Those who say that know little about the way justice works. They have become slaves of texts, or what in jurisprudence is called textualism or originalism.

    They believe that the law is the end of all things. But as Apostle Paul said, the law is only a school master, and a shadow of a better spirit, the spirit of the law. Students of history know what damage the law can inflict. Was it not the law that locked Nelson Mandela away for 27 years, that incinerated millions of Jews in concentrated camps, that swept Awo in Calabar prisons, sprang Hitler as Chancellor of Nazi Germany, that justified Franco, anointed the tyrants of Rome like Caligula and Nero who almost obliterated Christians and others who made Christianity a tyranny.

    Was it not law that made blacks less human in America, hanged Ken Saro Wiwa here, deported Shugaba in the Second Republic, imploded France into a revolution and canonised violence in the names of Robespierre and Danton, blessed the shipping of millions of Africans across seas of no return, etc.

    When law does not serve justice, we have nothing but the tyranny of lawyers who work for the despotic and manipulative elite. We should not speak of law as though it is a series of words of wisdom. Nor am I saying we should have no laws. We should, but we should bring it to social but not textual justice.

    Some judges claim it is all about balancing. The lady of the law is blindfolded. But as Femi Falana (SAN) noted in an interview on my television show on TVC, the lady with veil over her face is no longer innocent. The best legal mind of his generation said, “she has been raped.” But that is partly due to the neo-colonial heritage of our laws.

    We imported the western law into our land, and want to use it uncritically. Our society did not follow their historical pattern. Their law was based on their history, which involved revolutions, religious ferment, ideological collision and synthesis, economic stress and rebirth, colonial wars, cousin conflicts, etc. Their experience produced the law, and our founding lawyers schooled in London and the USA, imbibe their standards because the colonial fathers transplanted the laws here. With little adaptation, we consume and practise them.

    We may call ourselves a nation of laws, but we are witnessing neo-colonial justice. This calls for activism that takes what is good and adapts it and jettison the alien. In addition to the story of Justice Ademola, Patience Jonathan, Ayo Fayose and the Ozekhome link, we have SGF Babachir Lawal and Ayo Oke. It means the people are not only happy to see their funds returned to the central bank as in Oke, and a process of accounting as in Lawal, but solution that involves justice. It is not about doing away with the law, but doing away with evil.

    The lawyers rely on the western dictum that everyone is presumed innocent before they are guilty. That works in their societies because the law abides in their hearts. In the American squall to dislodge England, Benjamin Franklin said the revolution was in “the hearts and minds of the American people.” So, if their society roared into shape, ours is still a jungle. We cannot apply the law of well-bred dog to the sty of screaming pigs. You cannot bring the ways of organised society into a jungle and expect it to bring justice. That is why Nigerians presume their public officers guilty even if courts declare them innocent. A breach of contracts festers between the judiciary and the society.

    Law should serve our culture for justice, not the western system that sets the powerful loose. Scholars of law have interpreted Shakespeare’s play, Merchant of Venice, to show how technicalities can destroy justice. Shylock asked for the pound of flesh of his debtor. He rebuffed lawyers and judge who begged him for leniency. He insisted on the law. When the knife was dangled, he was warned against any blood drop. Shylock asked, “is that the law?” This was a case of justice using technicalities. The judge could have argued that the blood is part of the flesh. As the Bible says, the life of flesh is in the blood. But because Shylock was savage, the law smiled on the debtor. Hence, a character, Bassanio, asked the judge to “wrest once the law to your authority. To do a great thing, do a little wrong.” To do wrong here is a plea to pragmatic use of texts for the good of all.

    Ifedapo Adams Adedipe in response to my column last week ran away at a tangent. He described my comments as “unfair, and unjust attack on judges and lawyers. As the lawyer who argued the matter for Patience Jonathan, I can confirm to you sir, that the EFCC did not appear in court. Neither did it file any form of defence. To expect a judge to nonetheless wait for EFCC at its own pleasure to come to court is to expect too much from the courts. And regrettably, for a senior journalist to conclude, without knowing all the facts show (sic) how human we all are after all. So, it is not all lawyers that need to be saved. So too are our all-knowing journalists, who are too busy to investigate matters before judging others.”

    I appreciate the false humility in the latter end of that note from the senior advocate of Nigeria. Before I address those jabs, let me reiterate his confirmation of my agony with the so-called SANs. How could a man who has risen to the top bracket of lawyers truly want to defend a woman who was first lady and had no job by law and even in practice except being an absentee permanent secretary in Bayelsa State? How could he even do that and be proud of it? Was he not supposed to question her on how she came about $5.9 million? He should know, if he doesn’t already, that SANs like him are not the beloved people of our society when they defend cases of such low moral content.

    He says EFCC could not keep the court waiting for too long? How long? A few months. How many SANs have complained over the many cases of corruption that have endured years in court without verdict. Some cases have been in court for about a decade and they have thrived on dubious technicalities. And behind any such delayed case is a SAN. Because Adedipe was clouded by his case, he could not read my article for truth the way he reads his law for technicalities to defend the ilk of Mama Peace. I investigated and found the disgust of a judge who hurriedly asked for the money to be released to the woman.

    Most SANs have rigged the law for the elite, and they are partners in darkness.

    Just as Bassanio in Merchant of Venice, we need avenging angels of technicalities who bend the law for justice. They know the law is an ass but would not let it ride us.

  • Yari’s sermon on Meningitis

    Apparently troubled by negative reactions to his statement attributing the outbreak of Type C cerebrospinal Meningitis to a direct punishment from God for the sinful acts of Nigerians, Zamfara State governor, Abdulaziz Yari came out quickly to deny it.

    In what appeared a careful attempt to save the governor from the folly of his statement, his media managers claimed that at no time did he say “God is punishing Nigerians with the outbreak” and that meningitis was a divine punishment from God for fornication.

    The statement went further, “no doubt as a God-fearing man and Muslim, the governor believes in the powers of Allah to inflict whatever punishment He decides on the human race. Fornication should not spread so much in society that it becomes common place and if that happens, Allah promises to inflict on its perpetrators (people) a sickness that would have no cure”.

    In order to appreciate whether Yari successfully denied the statements earlier credited to him, it is apposite to reproduce his encounter with State House correspondents at the Villa and not with a BBC Hausa reporter as claimed.

    Hear his sermon “What we used to know as far as meningitis is concerned is the Type A virus. However, because people refused to stop their nefarious activities, God now decided to send Type C virus which has no vaccination. People have turned away from God and He has promised that if you do anyhow, you see anyhow, that is just the cause of this outbreak as far as I am concerned, adding there is no way fornication will be so rampant and God will not send a disease that cannot be cured”.

    Apart from denying having said specifically that God sent the Type C virus to punish Nigerians for their sinful ways, there is no substantial difference between his denial statement and the one earlier credited to him. This is evident from the similarities in his claim that where there is rampant fornication, “God will send a disease that cannot be cured”. He did not deny this. The inference from the link between the pervasiveness of fornication and God sending a disease that has no cure as a punishment is that Type C virus is part of the punishment of God to this country for rampant fornication.

    So what is there to deny when everything is put in context.

    Why is he talking of the wrath of God? What is the link between fornication and the outbreak of Type C virus if not an attempt to establish a causal relationship? The purport of the analogy cannot be any other than rationalize the seeming helplessness of the state government in responding to the debilitating challenges of the pandemic. If his comparison has nothing to do with the reason for the outbreak of the deadly disease, there would have been no reason for him to raise it when confronted with reporters’ question on the virus outbreak.

    It would appear Yari came up with this excuse in the face of strident criticisms of his government’s inability to take proactive steps to control the spread despite warnings from relevant agencies. This is more so given that Zamfara is worst hit by the rampaging effects of the scourge.

    At the last count, more than 300 people have been reported dead in the state even as several others are receiving treatment in various hospitals. The scary situation prompted the state chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association NMA to accuse the state government of negligence given copious warnings on the impending outbreak.

    It would therefore seem Yari delved into the realm of religion to get away from the obvious inaction of his government in controlling the scourge.

    Given the above, this column views his rebuttal as an afterthought.  The reason proffered by the governor for the outbreak of Type C Meningitis in this country is nothing but an alibi for not doing the needful after several warnings.

    Yet, that is not to dispute the awesome powers of God or the fact that there is much iniquity in this country. That could as well be.

    But this perspective is of very limited value in accounting for the prevalence of the disease in some countries as opposed to others. It cannot also explain why the pandemic is so acute in Zamfara and a few northern states and not in others.

    Neither can it be claimed that states that suffer more from the outbreak of the disease are more of fornicators than areas it is less prevalent. There is nothing to sustain that contention.

    There must be other reasons for the pattern of spread than what Yari wants to feed us with. There is also no evidence to show that evil life, the type fingered for the spread of incurable diseases, is more rampant either in Nigeria or Zamfara to attract the heavy casualty that has been recorded so far.

    Whereas it can be admitted that the Type C virus is relatively new on these shores, it is not true it is entirely strange to the world. Vaccines for its combat had long been developed. That we do not have them in sufficient quantity may be partly because the disease has been alien to these shores. Yes, we are conversant with the Type A strand that our people are usually vaccinated against.

    With the world becoming a global village, it is to be expected that this will come with its positive and negative sides. Practices, habits and diseases that were hitherto alien to us will find their ways into our territory as people interact and mingle together. That is why countries demand certain degree of health certification from foreigners entering into their territory. That is why inoculation is required for Yellow fever et al.

    Medical records are replete with behaviours that aid the spread of viral and bacterial meningitis which are considered contagious. Both can be transmitted through droplets of respiratory secretions during close contact such as kissing, sneezing or coughing on someone. Viral meningitis is most commonly spread through faecal contamination. The risk of infection can be decreased by changing the behaviours that lead to transmission.

    The point here is that these diseases have always been around the world. That they are not known to have infected this country does not in any way whittle down the fact of their existence. What is important is that at each point they rear up their ugly heads, relevant governments and agencies take appropriate measures to stem their spread.

    That is the minimum expected of the Zamfara State government in the instant case. And that was exactly the case with the outbreak of the Ebola virus in this country which has since been controlled. It had nothing to do with either fornication or the sinful acts of the people of this country.

    The position of Yari is not entirely surprising. Before now, we had been treated to such convoluted and ill-informed perspectives with the immunization programme. We cannot forget in a hurry the controversy that dogged that programme because of dubious interpretations given it by some governments. Hiding under religion and some other mundane suspicions, some of the governments have had cause to take actions that are at once, in contradiction with the demands of modern civilization.

    It is not surprising that people of states where such warped reasoning hold sway, have been at the lowest rung of the ladder in taking advantage of the successes of modern science. Little wonder the disparities in the development matrix between sections of this country. Yari can do better by accepting the realities of the scourge rather than seek escapism through moral and religious precepts.

    It is very refreshing the federal government has come out boldly to refute any link between the spread of the virus and punishment from God for our sinful acts.

  • Poverty of prosperity

    Rich tributes enriched the 60th birthday of Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, on April 10, but there was no publicised striking philanthropic gesture by the Nigerian billionaire businessman to mark the milestone.

    At the helm of the Dangote Group, “which has interests in commodities,” Dangote is well rated among the world’s super-rich giants. He is the 67th richest person in the world and the richest in Africa, according to the rankings by Forbes, the influential US-based international magazine.  His many-sided company “operates in Nigeria and other African countries, including Benin, Ethiopia, Senegal, Cameroon, Ghana, South Africa, Togo, Tanzania, and Zambia.”  Dangote became “the world’s richest person of African descent” in 2013, and was the 23rd richest person in the world in 2014. The Forbes list of the top 10 richest Nigerians in 2017 puts his net worth at US $12.5 billion.

    If “Money is the medium by which earthly success is measured,” Dangote is indeed a huge earthly success. The quoted definition of money can be found in The Richest Man in Babylon, a bestseller by George Samuel Clason.

    It is thought-provoking that Nigeria’s richest man comes from Kano State in the country’s “most backward” region.  The Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi, painted a picture of the region’s backwardness in an April 14 speech to mark the third anniversary of the outrageous abduction of over 200 Chibok schoolgirls by Islamist insurgents in 2014. It is sad that most of these girls have not been brought back.

    Sanusi said: “I recently gave a speech in which I said the North-East and North-West of Nigeria are the poorest parts of the country. This simple statement of fact has generated so much heat the noise is yet to die down. But what really are the facts?”

    Sanusi continued: “…the South-West of Nigeria has less than 20% of its population living in poverty while the North-West has more that 80% of its population living in poverty. In the North-East the figure is 76.8%. Over 90% of the people in Yobe and Zamfara States are living in poverty compared to 8.5% in Lagos and around 11% in Osun and Anambra states.”

    Further information: “According to published research: Over 70.8% of women in North-West are unable to read and write compared to 9.7% in the South-East zone; More than 2/3 of 15-19 -year- old girls in the North are unable to read a single sentence compared to less than 10% in the South; In 8 northern states, over 80% of the women are unable to read and write; Only 4% of females complete Secondary schools in Northern Nigeria; 78% of adolescent girls are in marriages in the North-West, 68% in the North-East and 35% in the North-Central-these numbers clearly mirroring the poorest regions in the country. The statistics in the other zones are 18% in SS, 17% in the SW and 10% in the SE.”

    Where does Dangote enter the picture? Well, he did nothing significant on his 60th birthday that reflected an awareness of his region’s crisis. Hear Sanusi: “We have a problem. In fact, we have an existential crisis. And all of us in this country, politicians, intellectuals, Emirs and traditional rulers, religious leaders, businesses, NGOs have to come together to solve this.”

    To be fair, when in May 2016 Dangote made a donation of N2 billion to internally displaced persons (IDPs), he also made a powerful statement by his example. Apart from being the single largest donation by an individual, what Dangote gave reflected his appreciation of the enormity of the humanitarian crisis caused by terrorism. This exemplary humanitarian response was reinforced by Dangote’s presence. It was a demonstration of empathy that communicated the humanity of Nigeria’s and Africa’s richest man. He was touring IDP camps in Dalori and Bakassi in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, when he announced his relief package which he said would be delivered through the Dangote Foundation.

    But prosperity comes with a social burden; the bigger the prosperity of the individual, the bigger the burden of social giving towards social development.

    Perhaps the most enlightening demonstration of this important implication is the thinking that produced the idea for The Giving Pledge launched in June 2010 by the world’s richest man, Bill Gates, worth US$86 billion in 2017, and wife Melinda, in association with super-rich Warren Buffet. It is a remarkably ethical “effort to help address society’s most pressing problems by inviting the world’s wealthiest individuals and families to commit to giving more than half of their wealth to philanthropy or charitable causes either during their lifetime or in their will.”

    The beauty of the pledge is that it represents no more than a moral commitment and it is volitional.  By April 2011, 69 billionaires had reportedly joined the campaign and pledged to give 50% or more of their wealth to support philanthropic causes. A year later, the campaign had attracted more of the elite rich and a report said “81 billionaires committed to giving at least half of their fortunes to charity.” According to a report,   “As of August 2015, 137 billionaire or former billionaire individuals or couples have signed the pledge.” Most of them are, like Buffett and Gates, American citizens. Considering America’s rich status, it speaks volumes for the enduring relevance of a giving philosophy driven by social responsibility that the original promoters of the pledge were prosperous Americans.

    It is noteworthy that there is an annual UN-endorsed International Day of Charity on September 5. Hungarian Csaba Korosi in a speech he gave at the UN on benevolent giving in the social context said: “Charity can alleviate the worst effects of humanitarian crises, supplement public services in health care delivery, education, housing, and child protection. It assists the advancement of culture, science, sports, and natural heritage.”

    It is popular to argue for speaking truth to power. What about speaking truth to the power of money? The Giving Pledge is built on the socially influenced and socially influential logic of giving back to society. It suggests that demanding measurable social responsibility from the super rich is not necessarily inspired by a sense of entitlement; but there is a sense in which it is a social entitlement.  It does not need to be imposed because it is properly self-imposing.

    In the final analysis, Dangote’s 60th birthday was a big occasion that he could have used, and should have used, to make a big statement on the social purpose of personal prosperity.

  • Ambode and celebration of history

    Ambode and celebration of history

    History is here and deserves a welcome. The journey to this juncture took 50 years.  The journey will continue, but this is time to take a look back at the beginning and to look forward to unending continuity.
    It is symbolic that the year-long celebration of the 50th anniversary of Lagos State, which will climax on May 27, was re-energised for the last 50 days of the festivities. By the logic of history, the story of the state’s journey from 1967 is also the story of its journey to 1967.
    Two realities define Lagos today: its megacity status and its remarkable resilience. It is noteworthy that Lagos was in 2015 listed 12th among the world’s largest 35 cities.   Evidently, a megacity needs mega governance because it has to grapple with mega challenges. In the light of its status-related difficulties, Lagos also needs mega resilience. Indeed, its recognition as an important resilient city is evidence of the extent of its resilience.
    If resilience is elasticity to manage change, then the inclusion of Lagos State in the circle of 100 Resilient Cities (100RC), a project of the U.S.-based Rockefeller Foundation, is a testimony to the administrative adroitness of the Akinwunmi Ambode administration.  This definition by the organisation gives an insight into the nature of resilience: “Urban resilience is the capacity of individuals, communities, institutions, businesses, and systems within a city to survive, adapt, and grow no matter what kinds of chronic stresses and acute shocks they experience.”
    As Governor of Lagos State at a historically significant point in time when the state is celebrating its 50th anniversary, Ambode is particularly positioned to manage its colourful complexity.  ”Being a part of the network of 100RC comes at a good time when our state is hoping to join the leading city-states of the world. We are open to new ideas, new technology and new methods,” Ambode had declared while receiving the 100RC Certificate of Admission at the Renaissance Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, on February 7.  The 100 Resilient Cities include places in Africa, U.S.A., South America, Europe, Asia and Middle East.
    A report said: “President of 100 Resilient Cities, Mr. Michael Berkowitz, said out of the over 1,000 applications received and three rounds of selection process, Lagos was chosen for its innovative leadership, infrastructural strides and influential status not just in Africa but in the world.” In reality, a city’s resilience is driven by its Chief Resilience Manager. In the case of Lagos, Ambode’s gubernatorial role makes him the chief driver.
    On the eve of the 100RC event, Ambode had focused on the challenges of urbanisation at the 14th Annual Lecture of the Centre for Values in Leadership (CVL) held at Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos. Ambode had observed: “The issues lying at the heart of urban policy making in any city, old or new, developed or developing, include infrastructure, employment, population growth, economic sustainability and environmental viability. In addition to these, there are the classic urban challenges of overcrowding, unplanned and chaotic growth, insufficient provision of municipal services, from policing to healthcare to education to electricity and sewage – all of which are top of the agenda in many African cities.”
    He continued: “There is perhaps no better classic example of where these challenges of rapid urbanisation come to life than in Lagos. It is estimated that 86 immigrants enter Lagos every hour -the highest in any city in the world – and they have no plans to leave… This ever increasing population of the state however means that we have to be “on our toes” to provide facilities for this more than 23 million population.”
    At this point in its evolution, the centrality of a capable resilience manager cannot be overemphasised; and with Ambode at the helm, the signs are that the megalopolis will continue to survive and thrive. The rhythm of resilience is the rhythm of dynamism; and only the dynamic remain resilient. Less than two years in office, Ambode is impressively focused on remodelling Lagos and making it a model megalopolis. It is a reflection of the city’s resilience that the country’s other states cannot resist applauding Ambode’s governance model.
    There is no question that Lagos @ 50 is a special anniversary and deserves a special celebration. It may be said that Ambode’s position makes him the chief celebrator. The 53-year-old governor is not only at the centre of the show; he is central to the show. It is interesting that Ambode, born on June 14, 1963, was just three years old when the state was created in May 1967.
    When all former governors of the state join Governor Ambode for a special state executive council session on May 24 to mark the golden jubilee, the presence of 81-year-old Mobolaji Johnson, a retired Nigerian Army Brigadier and former military governor of Lagos State from May 1967 to July 1975, will reinforce the historic celebration.  Johnson, the state’s first governor, represents a beginning; Ambode represents a broadening of that beginning.  It is food for thought, and a reflection of the course of the journey, that Johnson was a military governor under military rule, while Ambode is a democratically elected governor.
    Lagos Carnival, scheduled for May 13, is an important part of the last lap.  The unique Eyo Festival, last held five years ago, will happen again on May 20. The grand finale on May 27 coincides with Children’s Day 2017 in Nigeria, and the major events include “a photo exhibition and the unveiling of a special coffee table book that captures the essence of Lagos through the lens of 50 accomplished photographers.”
    How much of history can be packed into a celebration of history? Perhaps providing an answer to this question has been a significant challenge to the organisers of the celebration.  Even as the festivities approach the finishing line, the question of what more should have been done, and the question of what more could still be done, remain relevant.
    Where will Lagos be 50 years from now? As Lagos turns 50, this is a logical question. The answer is unfolding, and Governor Ambode’s applaudable performance is part of the answer.

  • Senate and Sagay’s tirade

    Senate and Sagay’s tirade

    It is getting increasingly clearer that the chairman of Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay has a penchant for emotive outbursts. How else do we account for the recurring controversial positions ascribed to him in the matter involving the rejection of the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC, Ibrahim Magu by the Senate?
    When a few weeks back the Senate rejected Magu’s re-nomination by the president citing the damning report on him by the DSS and poor performance at the screening, Sagay had said “whether they like it or not, he (Magu) will be there as his chairmanship will keep on being renewed. Sagay attributed Magu’s delayed confirmation to “corruption fighting back”.
    He further said non-confirmation does not in any way impair his duties even as he described allegations against him as spurious and a distortion to give wrong impression about the EFCC boss.
    Sagay would again be in the news, when he described their action as childish and irresponsible. He said the Senate is filled with people of questionable character who place their selfish interests above that of the nation. For him, Buhari should call the Senate’s bluff and continue to run his government with people appointed in acting capacity.
    The Senate did not take kindly to these wild accusations and has therefore invited him to shed more light on them. But as usual, he stated that the Senate has no powers to invite him since the office he occupies does not classify him in the category of persons under Senate inquisition.
    Some of those who spoke on his invitation by the Senate have tended to question the powers of that body to interrogate him for exercising his fundamental rights of freedom of speech. They contend that as a public institution, the conduct of the Senate must regularly come under the prying eyes of members of the public. They therefore see the Senate action from the prism of an attempt to emasculate dissenting views on some of its activities.
    This perspective is clearly beside the point as his invitation in all fairness, cannot be ascribed to an attempt to emasculate public criticism of that key national institution. Of course, the Senate is open to public criticisms as reactions to some of its decisions have shown. In this case, we are concerned with the damaging and weighty allegations he made against the Senate as a body. He claimed that the Senate is filled with people of questionable character.
    The ordinary interpretation is that a preponderance of the senators is of shady character. That strikes as a sweeping generalization. And the senators are within their rights to feel sufficiently injured by that unguarded characterization. It may not be entirely out of place that some senators have serious credibility deficits. But to proceed beyond that to label most senators as people of questionable character is to dwell in the realm of recklessness.
    Sagay is an appointee of the president on whose behest he speaks. That makes it difficult to draw a line between his views as a private citizen and that of the office he holds. When he pointedly told the Senate that its powers is merely to confirm and that the president can afford to disregard the Senate by retaining Magu in an acting capacity, he was merely obfuscating the right relationship that should exist between the legislature and the executive in a presidential democracy.
    It was reckless for him to have averred that Senate confirmation of the relevant appointees of the government is of no consequence as the president could go ahead and retain in acting capacity people who failed the integrity test at the floor of the Senate.
    He may have relied on Section 171 of the constitution (as amended) which vests on the president, the powers to appoint and remove from office of such functionaries. But the same section made it mandatory that certain categories of public functionaries must be confirmed by the Senate. The same Section 171(4) mandates that an appointment to the office of Ambassador, High Commissioner or other Principal Representatives of Nigeria abroad shall not have effect unless the appointment is confirmed by the Senate.
    Yes, the president is vested with the powers to appoint or remove from office. But the president is still required by our laws to seek Senate approval. And as has been seen from the above, certain categories of appointments by the president shall be of no effect unless they are confirmed by the Senate.
    Democracy would have been rendered a nullity if the tiers of government stick very rigidly to the roles assigned them by the constitution without regard to that cooperative spirit only through the overall welfare of their people will be enhanced. Thus, it is not just about power tussle, as the capacity of the three arms to muster and galvanize the synergy of action that will promote the greatest good of the greatest number of people.
    The nation is currently buffeted with debilitating problems. We are contending with excruciating economic recession with no end in sight. Insecurity and fissiparous tendencies are at an all time high. They require the synergy and cooperation of all arms of government for immediate and lasting solutions. Muzzle-flexing and sticking to rigid dispositions, the kind Sagay has high preference for, will only exacerbate the situation.
    So when the Senate decided to put off the confirmation screening of the 27 REC’s, it was meant to prove that its’ confirming powers are of some serious consequence. Those who accuse the Senate of arm-twisting or blackmailing the executive by putting off the confirmation of the REC’s are missing the point.
    The blame should be laid at the door steps of Sagay whose unguarded statements brought about the unfortunate pass. Sagay can do with more caution in his current job. Else, he becomes an unmitigated liability to the Buhari administration in its new resolve to seek a mutually respecting relationship with the Senate.

  • For justice

    For justice

    We should ponder the paradox. Magu is fighting thieves. He takes them to court but loses. Lawyers smile home with their fees and judges get their pay. The people do not get their due though. Why? Because when whistle-blowers scream, stolen money erupts from hidden places.

    A shop from a high-end store spews out about N500 million. From a market where iya amala retails folksy delicacies, a kiosk spits out N250 million. From an airport up north, five bags burst with crisp currency on the border of N50 million.

    An unknown receptacle of other people’s money stashes N4 billion in an unnamed bank. Then a flat hoists $43 million. A sitting governor salivates for it and accuses his predecessor of ferreting it away from a project. The National Intelligence Agency says it is their own, as though the Nigerian money should not reside in the bank. So, on its own, the huge sum rented a flat in a tony loft on Victoria Island.

    The people are miffed, and when the man who stalks the larcenous monsters goes to court, some lawyers of great knowledge know better. They hang onto technical matters of the law, and hang the prosecution. Magu weeps. The thieves sigh. The people wonder.

    The eruption of loot in private places juxtaposes with the SANs and justices who give victory to the defence. This shows us, as I indicated last week, that law has failed us in Nigeria. The courts say the thieves can go free, we can go to hell. What then is the purpose of the law?

    They claim the cases were not properly presented. It’s an excuse to canonise criminals. If the society as a whole owes itself the task to battle sleaze, the onus lies on the court, lawyers and judges to bring it to fruition. There lies the value of the lawyers.

    Yet, it is the same lawyers who fail to make the case, and the judges who fail to give the right verdict. So, is it the law that we should blame? Well, a little bit. Our laws pretend to be rooted in our culture. But it is an import from Europe and the United States. Nothing wrong with that. But we have failed to adapt them to our peculiar social context. The laws are domiciled here but not domesticated. It’s like a broadcaster employed from Coventry whose accent skews a local name on NTA.

    But those judges who claim to be loyalists of technical details know little about what the law means. In western societies, the technicalities work because the values are settled. For instance, a society that forces a judge to recuse himself because he is suggested to have a link with a lawyer is acting out of a sense of justice. In such a society, the law knows its technicality does not bow to mere letter of the law, but the spirit. It is the same spirit that forces the judge to resign that informs the jugular of verdicts.

    In Europe and the U.S., the same constitution that compelled the society to burn blacks at the stake was used to enfranchise them in the flush of the civil rights movement. The society must allow its values to determine the law. The society rose against racial injustice, and the eyes of judges were opened to the law that espouses equality. It was always there in the US law, that “all men are created equal.”

    They saw it when the society evolved. Before then, no matter the cleverness of the prosecution, the judges looked the other way as dark-skinned folks flared to ashes. Hence Gani Fawehinmi noted that if he had a case between the rich man and the poor man, he would find the law for the poor man. The law may be an ass, but we must not let it ride us. An instance was recently, when Justice D.D. Longi let two armed robbery suspects free because of “lack of diligent prosecution.” The justice was lazy. Did he not have the capacity of the law to scream to the state authorities and the media and compel them to make the case? If he wrote them formally and asked the attorney general to wade in, the media would holler with headlines. Social media would echo it. Longi made technicalities work against justice. The fellows may be innocent or guilty. He owed us the duty to exhaust all institutional resources first. It’s matters like this that made D.H. Thoreau say that “the law never made anyone a whit more just.”

    The founding father of Botswana, Seretse Khama, was denied under a technical law from being king because he married a white woman. They manipulated local chiefs, including his regent uncle. But he marshalled the law to expose the British, including shifty Winston Churchill, who were less interested in justice than the diamond in the bowel of Bechuanaland.

    Behind every big case of fraud is a SAN, and behind any judgment that liberates a thief is a judge with a callow mind. Shakespeare’s Henry the VI character, Dick the Butcher, said, “the first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” He meant it in jest, but the quote has endured through the ages because of the intellectual duplicity of wigs. Our SANs are a great bane of the age. Hence Jesus poured woe on lawyers because they have “taken away the key of knowledge. You have not entered yourselves, and you have hindered those who are entering.”

    The verdicts on Patience Jonathan, Ozhekome, Ademola point to this general decadence. To save the law, we have to first save the lawyers. The society has a role to play. The lawyers have fallen short, so have our judges. The judges failed in the three EFCC cases because they did not apply the principle of hermeneutics for justice. The reader interprets a text in context. No text is bland until the reader makes it. If the lawyer is making an imperfect case, a good judge will do the right and save the case. That’s when the rule of law makes sense. But our justices are lost because they love themselves and their money more, and the society less. “The more one judges, the less one loves,” wrote French writer Honore de Balzac. We want lawyers and judges that love our society more.

  • Man for this season

    Man for this season

    One of the virtues of Yorubaland is that Christians and Muslims live in harmony in ways not replicated elsewhere in the country, even in the world. Well, in Borno State, especially the southern part, it is the case. In an interview in the Daily Sun, comes a revelation from the Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Bishop Naga Williams Mohammed. He spoke on how the harmony was ruptured by the 2006 Danish cartoon scandal and the rampages of Boko Haram, and the extraordinary interventions of the present governor, Kashim Shettima.

    The cartoon led to the killing of Christians and destruction of churches. The former governor, Ali Modu Sheriff, now a PDP storm in a tea cup, refused to fulfil his pledge to the Christians and alienated them until Boko Haram rose and turned many communities to dust and blood. Bishop Mohammed, whose father was Muslim, crooned in the interview how both faiths lived oblivious of each other’s loyalties. Just as in Yorubaland, where Muslims celebrate Easter and Christmas with their sibling Christians, Christians slaughter rams with their fellow Muslims during Sallah.

    The Christians groaned until Shettima entered the scene. Hear him: “In the history of Borno State, there is no governor that has been as fair to the Christian community as much as Governor Shettima.” The bishop, who is the former head of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria in Borno, spoke of how Shettima personally visited the wards and allocated tens of millions of Naira for the welfare of the displaced Christians in the IDPs, as well as non-indigenes. He also waded into the pulverised churches. He monitored and ensured the rebuilding of many of the churches, allocating hundreds of millions to that project. He also is the first to allow the state sponsor pastors and other believers on pilgrimages and paying personal visits to the bereaved and supporting their families. He even wanted Christian and Muslim IDPs to stay together, although the religious leaders were wary of the move. Compassion trumps policy any day.

    Shettima is a man for all seasons, especially this season when people see blood instead of brothers. Kaduna State can learn from this example.

  • Has Lagos forgotten Herbert Macaulay?

    Long before Lagos became a megacity famed for its remarkable resilience, a mega figure did mega things to advance its development and the progress of Nigeria.  Herbert Macaulay, widely acknowledged as the ‘Father of Nigerian Nationalism’, made his exit almost 71 years ago on May 7, 1946, at age 81, but his spirit is energetically alive.

    As Lagos State celebrates its 50th anniversary, which will climax on May 27, it is curious that Herbert Macaulay is not on the front burner.   Without doubt, he belongs to the category of all-time greats.  It is noteworthy that Herbert Macaulay is generally associated with the spirit of Lagos. Indeed, his history is inextricably connected with Lagos history and the history of Nigeria.

    It is thought-provoking that the year-long celebration of Lagos at 50 has no space for Herbert Macaulay, which is a reflection of how the present tends to obscure the past, although the past is part of the present.  To see the past in the present requires presence of mind as well as a keen appreciation of history and historical progression.  In other words, it may be said that the reality of today cannot be separated from the reality of yesterday.

    To underline the relevance of Herbert Macaulay and his indisputable place in the context of the Lagos festivities, it is worth highlighting his celebration in drama.  It is testimony to Herbert Macaulay’s stature and his role in Lagos history that Prof. Akinwunmi Isola considered it fitting to write a 2009 play titled Herbert Macaulay and the Spirit of Lagos. It is heart-warming that this play was staged as Convocation Play on March 20 by the Department of Theatre Arts and Music, Lagos State University (LASU), as part of the institution’s “21st Convocation Ceremonies.”

    But this play deserves a bigger stage and a bigger audience. This is the story that Isola retells: “The governor quarrels with the Eleko over many developmental problems and decides to banish him. Herbert Macaulay, supported by some concerned Lagosians, coordinates a relentless agitation. The success of that spirit is recorded in the monumental judgment of the Privy Council in favour of Lagosians which culminated in the triumphal return of the Eleko to Lagos from Oyo where he served his banishment.”

    Herbert Macaulay was born in Lagos on November 14, 1864. His father, Rev Thomas Babington Macaulay, was the founder and first principal of the CMS Grammar School, Lagos, established in 1859. His mother, Abigail Macaulay, was the daughter of Bishop Ajayi Crowther, the illustrious 19th century cleric who in 1864 was ordained as the first African bishop of the Anglican Church at a ceremony in England.

    Herbert Macaulay studied Civil Engineering in Britain. He qualified as a civil engineer in 1893, and he is recognised as the first Nigerian with such a professional qualification. He proudly attached the letters C.E. (Civil Engineer) to his name, and also practiced as an architect.

    In 1923, he launched the Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP), regarded as the first political party in Nigeria, following the amendment of the Nigerian Constitution in 1922, which allowed elected representatives for the Legislative Council and also created a municipal council in Lagos.  The NNDP dominated the political space for many years, and Herbert Macaulay, who was known as Mr. Democratic Party on account of his pivotal position in the party, earned the unchallenged appellation ‘Leader of Nigerian Politics.’ When the political situation took a new turn and the Nigerian Youth Movement (NYM) successfully challenged the dominance of the NNDP, Herbert Macaulay’s patriotic spirit promoted inter-party cooperation   as a necessity in the struggle for political freedom. The formation of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) in 1944 led to a political merger that saw Herbert Macaulay emerge as the party’s first President.

    In 1927, Herbert Macaulay and his friend, John Akinlade Caulcrick, a medical doctor and politician, bought The Lagos Daily News, a newspaper founded in 1925 by Victor Babamuboni, a Lagos bookseller and printer. Herbert Macaulay was an intense monitor of the issues of the day, and expressed his views vigorously in pamphlets and newspaper articles. For instance, he criticised the government’s policy on the liquor trade, the water-rate scheme, the plan to build a separate church for white government officials, and the press law, among others.

    Herbert Macaulay’s pamphlet in 1908 criticising the Lagos Railway prompted Governor Egerton to propose a law that would restrict the press. The pamphlet, titled ‘Governor Egerton and the Railway,’ focused on corruption among white officials of the Railway. The power of the pamphlet drew attention to Herbert Macaulay.  He also regularly launched attacks on the colonial administration through critical newspaper articles.

    Herbert Macaulay fought various battles against the British colonial government. He was an anti-colonial combatant by conviction and choice, for he could have followed the comfortable path of collaboration with the colonialists if he wished. His background and education placed him among the elite of Lagos society. He actually belonged to the circle from which the colonial government nominated African representatives to the Legislative Council.

    But Herbert Macaulay was not the personality-type that appealed to the British administration, which regarded him as too principled, too critical, too independent, too bold and too assertive.

    In style and manners, Herbert Macaulay was so polished that the people of Lagos referred to him as Oyinbo Alawodudu (white man in black skin). He was noted for his handle-bar moustache, well-cut suits and long bow ties. He described his moustache and bow tie as “parallel and inseparable.” He was known as ‘The Wizard of Kirsten Hall.’

    But Herbert Macaulay was a striking grassroots politician. He played important roles in the celebrated Apapa Land Case as well as the equally celebrated Eleko case, which ended in favour of indigenous interests and gave a big boost to his image as a champion of justice. Herbert Macaulay was known as ‘Champion and Defender of Native Rights and Liberties.’  No other politician of his time could match his rapport with the common people.  For instance, he cultivated the friendship of Madam Alimotu Pelewura, the powerful leader of the Lagos Market Women’s Association, and could easily count upon the support of thousands of market women in Lagos. The masses composed songs in honour of Herbert Macaulay.

    A July 1931 edition of West Africa painted a pen portrait of Herbert Macaulay: “He has a voice and a laugh which would be passports anywhere. The quickness, the energy, the comprehensiveness, with which he can write an article – or a book, if need be – or make a speech, or organise a demonstration, are incredible.”

    At Herbert Macaulay’s funeral in Lagos, Nnamdi Azikiwe, who succeeded him as NCNC leader, referred to him as “my political father.” Azikwe said in a graveside oration: “He has left an imperishable legacy, the struggle for the attainment of social equality, economic security, religious tolerance and political freedom.” This struggle continues today.

    This is the giant whose spirit deserves to be invoked as Lagos turns 50.  Perhaps something can still be done.

  • Of pinfall and pitfall

    Of pinfall and pitfall

    Magu had a pinfall. If it were once, we would say, it is okay. After all, he was only just smacking his lips over the Ngilari triumph. The former Adamawa governor’s drop signalled the first true and substantial victory in the war against corruption. So, it would be a draw; one for corruption and the other for EFCC and moral uprightness.

    But Magu fell two other times. His ICPC counterpart fell once. So, if we were in a football pitch, it would be a clear shellacking, Magu’s EFCC grovelling 1-3. But the war against corruption does not answer to the arithmetic of sport. Ridding the nation of scums and scams is not about sums of scores from sweaty men and women on the pitch of play.

    So, we are witnessing a sort of judiciary backlash over fiduciary fraud. As we say, corruption is fighting back. The losses have nettled the presidency. Hence it wants to get the EFCC back on track. It is afraid a sore thing has happened. The forces of graft have engrafted their lifestyle in the nation again.

    It thought corruption was in the emergency ward. He breathed laboriously, his limbs wilting, his skin perforated with perspiration while the doctors were weary and out of wits to save the monster. But suddenly, they remind one of the phrase in Charles Dickens’ famous novel, A Tale of Two Cities. A man thought dead and forgotten is suddenly “restored to life.” Not because he dies in flesh and blood, but because his activities are out of sight and hearing.

    Same to corruption. From the optics of the EFCC in the past two years, some thought the mighty bear had been subdued, even if not killed.  They saw figures and big figures exposed. We witnessed their lean and humbled looks as they waddled like ducks to the court. We also saw the mien of a gladiator in Magu, soft-spoken, reticent but poised always to bring down the crook. In the words of Apostle James in the Bible, he gave judgment without mercy. Buhari, also austere like his employee, clucked quietly behind the rocks of the presidency.

    Some now see it in the form of a revenant “restored to life.” They might even remember the phrase of the angel to the women who visited Jesus’ grave on the third day: “Why seek ye the living among the dead!”

    Now the presidency thinks what is wrong is that the cases were strong, but the EFCC was naïve in its legal weaponry. It has not employed the right investigative strategies and its lawyers lacked the intellectual brio, subtleties and aggressiveness.

    Yet when the stories first popped on the public radar, the targets were convicted generally in homes and offices in the country. So, why would Patience Jonathan who was no dollar millionaire hold such princely sum as $5.9 million in a bank account? How did Justice Ademola become so blessed that someone would, in the gladness of his or her heart, drape his wife with N30 million? Others wondered why Nigeria’s stolen money could easily become a lawyer’s fee of N75 million in the vault of feisty lawyer Mike Ozekhome? What of the election day hysteria man Orubebe, who was cleared because the money was still intact?

    The problem with the cases is not that the lawyers were mentally porous, or the judges were tendentious errants, or because the investigations lacked an eye for detail. It is simple. We have left the war on corruption in the hands of the EFFCC or ICPC alone? The two agencies have become lone rangers in a war that can only be waged with every segment of the nation up in arms.

    So, when a Patience Jonathan wins in court, she will feel justified. She believes the money was not stolen from the government? She may be right. And if she is right, that is the real problem. How did a first lady who was the president’s wife get so rich when she was only a permanent secretary in absentia and had no powers or access to the till?

    If she did no contract, or inspired none directly, we cannot see a legal way to convict her. That is the issue. We see the war on corruption as a case of law when it should be about justice. When the spirit of the law convicts and the person defeats the law in letters, we live in a corrupt and unjust society.

    The same applies to the case of Ozekhome. If Fayose pays a lawyer from the nation’s money, and we cannot retrieve that money, it is because Ozekhome is entitled to his fees. But what is the snag? That money is Nigerian and at the same time Ozokhome’s. Yet, we know that Nigerian money should not be used as fees to defend the allegedly stolen funds.

    When such matters arise, the law fails us. We know our money has not been made available to us. We have fallen short of what the father of modern philosophy, Immanuel Kant, called “the categorical imperative.” There are some things that are so universally right that we have to do them. If we don’t, we shall not rest. Kant would say, all that money is in the wrong place, and we should bring the money back to where they should be: in our coffers.

    To use the language in the Water Gate scandal of the Nixon White House, we should follow the money. The news source known as Deep Throat always urged the Washington Post reporters along that line.

    We are not following the money because we want the ICPC and EFFC to do so. As this column has noted before, all societies that brought down the high and mighty brow of corruption did it with public participation. This involves all the professions, the civil society groups, market women, banks, house wives, etc. Nigeria is not the first to be undercut by the maggoty mush of corruption. England, France, the United States wallowed once all in the mire. The phrase prebendalism did not originate in Africa. It was a European rot where big men placed their fronts in offices to steal for them. They have reined that in. in the US, the progressive era highlighted a massive purge of bad eggs and it redounded in the rise of Theodore Roosevelt to the presidency.

    Buhari needs to understand that convicting a man is not the same thing as dispensing justice. Just as my consistent assertion that the rule of law is a good thing, but we must have good men to enforce it. Or else we will have rule of law givers. Impunity can be explained within the law when we have bad judges who kowtow to an ethic that allows mere technicality to overshadow substantial justice.

    The law is made for us and not man for the law. I am for the rule of law, but I want to get the right law and the right persons. Hitler and Napoleon in their dreary days abided by the rule of law. The US fought against rule of colonial law, just as Zik and Macaulay did here. Trump is bringing a racist template of law to drive out dark-skinned folks.

    It is that same fidelity to obnoxious law that will set free thieves. Gani Fawehinmi once told me that if there is a case between a rich and a poor man, “I will find the law for the poor man.” So, the law is flexible. All I ask is that it be made for justice and not the law giver. To achieve that, the EFCC cannot work alone.

    It can research all it wants, get great legal strategies. But the presidency needs to galvanise the society, so it can play its role. Racial injustice was upheld with the same laws that defeated it in the United States and Europe. Justice cannot come to a society that is not ready for it. Our institutions cannot be clean when we are dirty.

    If we are ready to rid the nation of corruption, Magu would not have the pinfalls. To avoid such again, the pitfalls of an indifferent society must first be removed.