Barometer

As Nigeria marked her 60th independence anniversary on Thursday, the atmosphere around the country was telling. There were reports that a fell wind passed through the polity  the sort that pervades an unsettled society. Perhaps only the federal government was eager to celebrate the occasion, but even then, they were careful to proclaim that the celebration would be low-key and would stretch for all of 365 days. Unveiling the logo for this year’s independence celebrations, the federal government had themed the celebrations “together shall we be”. Nothing could be further from the spirit of independence, and secessionist Nigerians punned the theme by ironically protesting together for a separate Nigeria. The last time the Yoruba and Igbo would unite for a cause was during the independence struggle leading up to 1960. Although not all Yoruba and Igbo leaders are pro-secession, it is pertinent to note that agitators for the Republic of Biafra and Oduduwa Republic stood side by side both in England and in Nigeria asking for self-governance.

The president was asked in 2015 about his plans for an inclusive government and he appeared to be unfamiliar with the concept, even going so far as to clarify the meaning of the concept from the compere of the show where he was asked the question. Critics have often accused his government of mismanaging the nation’s diversity and this forced him on September 16, while unveiling the independence logo, to promise that he would run a more inclusive administration. It is not clear how he plans to do that seeing as he has conveniently shelved the report of the National Conference of 2014 calling for the restructuring of Nigeria and is even seeking to control more of Nigeria’s natural resources including water.

One lone protester in Sokoto, fearing that there would be more damnation than strength in numbers, or perhaps simply unable to muster others to join in his protest, donned two placards and roamed the streets of the state announcing to all who cared that he was rather fed up with the state of things in the country. In Lagos state, the Police Command had a rather busy day as it rounded up some 30 protesters at various locations within the state for unlawful assembly and conduct likely to cause a breach of public peace. This ilk belonged to the Revolution Now protest group convened by Omoyele Sowore, who is a former presidential candidate and human rights activist. During the protest, an errant police officer betrayed his true nature and roundly cudgelled a journalist on the head. Aware that the wider world was watching, his superior made a scapegoat of him and the police naturally bragged about the entire tragic affair, a peculiarly Nigeria Police story since independence which no new Police Acts can correct, but which reorientation and retraining, however, can.

Meanwhile, irked by the imperial declaration of a yearlong celebration, many groups and prominent individuals tried to steer the presidency from what they thought was a misplacement of priorities with ample suggestions of nobler courses of action. The federal government discarded these suggestions by simply ignoring them, just as it blatantly ignored the twelve demands of the Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond (ASCAB), a coalition of over eighty organisations, led by human rights lawyer, Femi Falana.

Prior to October 1, the body had written the presidency urging it to accede to twelve demands. In any other democratic entity, a coalition of over eighty organisations would be a compelling enough pressure group to the government. Not in Nigeria where a portentous replay of history has not moved the folks of the federal table. ASCAB’s demands were not outrageous; they were basic. They concerned promises, which the federal government had made several times in the past.

ASCAB had asked the president to implement N30,000 minimum wage in all states, prevent job or wage cuts by governments or the private sector, increase wages as inflation rises, guarantee security of life, protect the livelihoods of the poor and informal sector, refrain from hiking electricity tariffs, VAT or fuel prices and reverse all price increases, provide PPE and payment of hazard allowances for medical workers, ensure a safe and conducive environment in schools and universities, upgrade facilities in public hospitals and prohibit medical tourism by top public officials, ensure a frontal fight against corruption, implement all previous agreements with trade unions, and use federal and state security votes to meet basic needs and institute a committee of representatives of labour, civil society organisations and government to keep track of the revenue leakages.

The letter, if reworded, would have read, “Be a successful and honourable government.” The presidency has so far ignored them. It will continue to do so until they act compellingly. As is manifest in the industrial action of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the federal government sees no problem with allowing a crucial labour union sit at home for more than six months. Nigerians’ frustration with the president’s style has brewed widespread resistance to the federal government. Somehow, the president unblushingly gloats over the Edo election as a mark of his commitment to democracy, when he should be worried about how it is a loss and a ripple in the water that could go on to flood whatever legacy he hopes to leave behind.

Barometer

The recent outing of Justice Ishaq Bello during an assessment by the International Criminal Court (ICC) speaks volumes of both President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision-making process and the image Nigeria continues to garner on the international stage. Concerning the former, there is nothing but mystery to be found, as no one is clear on the criteria the president adopted in nominating the controversial jurist for the ICC position. In June, the president had nominated Justice Bello to be a member of the ICC jury, citing several qualifications. Not all the public outcry and international slamming could make the president rethink or withdraw his nomination, and the chickens coming home to roost do not look so healthy  not for the president and not for the country that voted him in.

Although the eventual selection of judges will take place sometime between December 7 and 17 this year, a preliminary assessment of all 20 nominated candidates  Justice Bello being the only Nigerian  has gone badly for both the jurist and Nigeria. For candidates to be elected they must garner two-thirds of the available votes, and it remains to be seen how the Nigerian can do that, having landed himself firmly in the lowest possible assessment rank. Justice Bello was deemed by the assessors as articulate and knowledgeable regarding criminal law and procedure at the national level, but lacking in the knowledge of the workings of the ICC.

This comes as no surprise to Nigerians who were scandalised by the judge’s controversial ruling in 2005 where he freed one Danjuma Ibrahim, who was accused of ordering the extra-judicial shooting and killing of six people  Ifeanyi Ozor, Chinedu Meniru, Augustina Arebu, Anthony Nwokike, Paulinus Ogbonna and Ekene Isaac Mgbe  and sentenced two junior officers to death. Mr Danjuma would later be promoted to Commissioner of Police and then Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG).

Earlier in September, the United States and United Kingdom issued visa bans to Nigerians whom they accused of complicity in electoral malpractices and the perversion of democracy. This worrying trend continues to depict Nigeria as a country that is either unaware of the difference between rights and wrongs or powerless in the face of manifest wrong. There is no way this looks good for a president who raised much hope in 2015 but has been nationally and internationally assessed as failing to meet these expectations.

Barometer

No one is sure who exactly is behind the proposal to bring the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) firmly under the rule of the Justice minister and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF. But an executive bill is being proposed to make doubly sure that if the anti-graft body ever imagined itself autonomous, it must be set free from its delusions. Abubakar Malami, the AGF who has had a running battle with the former EFCC chairman, Ibrahim Magu, is widely believed to be behind the proposal. He overcame Mr Magu in July through an inelegant removal, and has sought very strongly to rein in the organisation, citing constitutional provisions.

The proposed amendment to the EFCC Act provides for the appointment of a board for the EFCC, headed by a chairman, and a director general to effectively run the organisation. Both are to report to the AGF who has been accorded immense powers to control and shape the organisation. This, naturally, has been interpreted as a weakening of the EFCC and a surreptitious attempt by the AGF to gain full control of the body to end the kind of squabble and challenge he faced in the days of Mr Magu. But Mr Malami, who has the ear of the president, insists he does not need any amendment to gain any powers he doesn’t already have by virtue of the constitution. Few believe him, considering how fiercely Mr Magu defied him over what was interpreted as his meddlesomeness.

After the passing of former Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, Mr Malami has come to wield enormous influence in the corridors of power. And with the general acquiescence of the National Assembly, which has comingled its operations and philosophy with those of the executive branch, there is little hope that the amendment would suffer either outright rejection or extensive reworking. Mr Magu’s fall was largely engineered by the AGF, regardless of what the public believed to be the former’s personal flaws. The EFCC is today run by an acting chairman. Before a new chairman is appointed, whatever he is called, it seems clear that the anti-graft body must wear new clothes, whether it fits well or not.

Right from the start, the EFCC had been controversial, partly because of the undisciplined and arbitrary approach adopted by the appointing presidents who virtually turned the organisation into an attack dog against opponents. And because the rate of corruption in Nigeria was gargantuan, the EFCC in its battles against powerful and corrupt public and private officials, was intrinsically bound to be controversial. Consequently, after many years of suffering harassment from EFCC agents, powerful officials began to advocate reform of the organisation, feigning to make it either more independent or efficient.

In November 2017, the Nigerian Law Reform Commission (NLRC) had advocated the unbundling of Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) from the EFCC, arguing that such decoupling was necessary to confer independence and effectiveness on the NFIU. In late 2018, the NFIU was finally separated from the EFCC, made autonomous, but domiciled in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Strictly speaking, that unbundling did not negatively impact the EFCC. However, in July, with the National Assembly never fond of the EFCC, the legislature began moves to reduce the grip of the police on the anti-graft body, believing that it would make the organisation more responsive to the rule of law. Finally, Mr Malami has stolen the thunder of all the aspiring reformers by advocating a strange restructuring. It is even more strange that without scrutinising the proposal, nor finding out whether the proposal is altruistic, the executive has embraced the AGF’s advocacy.

But whether the president and the AGF like it or not, the power of control does not reside in the title of the EFCC boss, call him chairman or DG. What is clear is that a deliberate plot to defang the organisation is afoot, regardless of who is behind the plot. Mr Malami’s aides suggest that he does not need any constitutional amendment to acquire more powers. Yes, he does, because he had engaged in a bruising battle with the former chairman, Mr Magu, and feared that new or additional provisions would be needed to make it clear beyond a shadow of doubt who is boss. What the presidency needs is not the needless amendment it is targeting, but greater autonomy for the EFCC, a more careful method of appointing the right and qualified candidate into that office, and better, altruistic supervision as already envisaged by the constitution. The amendment being sought is a reflection of the undisciplined leadership that has turned most African countries into the graveyard of sound constitutions and the rule of law. It is alarming that today’s public officials are so tragically short-sighted, and are unable to see how their self-serving reforms are orphaning an otherwise great institution simply because its former boss was despised.

Barometer

Shortly after the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) disinvited the Kaduna State governor Nasir el-Rufai from their annual conference, citing his disrespect for the rule of law, a group of lawyers claiming to be about 5,000-strong and spearheaded by Abdulbasit Suleiman and Nuhu Ibrahim broke away from the association and announced the formation of what they called the New Nigerian Bar Association (nNBA). Predictably, instead of being outraged by any attempt to link him with the rebels, the truculent Mallam el-Rufai has kept a sepulchral silence. The Justice minister, Abubakar Malami, at his waffling best, has promised to apply what he elegantly calls extant laws in forming an opinion on the nNBA application.

What is incontrovertible is that the sponsors of the nNBA are motivated by base considerations, particularly religion, though there were brief agitations by some supposedly disaffected Southwest lawyers to associate with the rebels. Had the shifty group of offended lawyers been spurred by morality, ideology and such likes, they would at least have earned the respect of some Nigerians, even if their rebellion was despised. Notwithstanding the threats by the nNBA and the governor’s thunderous blather, Mallam el-Rufai remains temperamentally and politically unfit to address any gathering that seeks to advance the interest of the rule of law. And as for rising to a higher national office in the future, he should perish the thought.

However, nearly all chairmen of NBA chapters in the North have pledged their allegiance to the newly installed president of the NBA, Olumide Akpata. They would not countenance any division, they said. Though they acknowledged that there might be some issues needing further discussions and resolution, they insisted they were not part of any breakaway group. The nNBA may eventually be a stillbirth, regardless of the unhealthy silence of Mallam el-Rufai, the umbrage taken by the governor’s friend and deposed Emir of Kano, Muahammadu Sanusi II, and the unprincipled tentativeness of Mr Malami. After all, the presidency of the association is rotated between North and South, and its destruction now could not conceivably benefit the North when it is its turn in the years ahead.

Worse, if every misunderstanding, especially a short-lived one that followed election disputes and extraneous issues like a simple disinvitation, ends in balkanisation, no professional association or society would be left standing. The breakaway lawyers undermine their own image and have done a disservice to the learnedness of the NBA. They insist they were not prodded into rebellion; but given the flimsiness of their excuse, not to say the illogic of their reasoning, it is hard not to show contempt for their education and the learning they posture so extravagantly to embody.

Barometer

The law of evidence, for example, is laced with these principles. The president’s argument, reworded, may touch on the judgements based on technicalities which confound lawyer, layman and judge alike. The Kogi and Bayelsa elections, for example, have confounded the bar, the bench and the public, excepting those who delivered the judgements and the respective beneficiaries of these judgements. These beneficiaries may not understand it, but they feel in their marrows that justice has been served, and understanding that much, they can live with the judgements.

Said the president, “My fourth issue is on the appointment of the men and women who will serve as judges, especially at the appellate level. We must put in place primarily merit-based selection processes, including mandatory tests and interviews for all applicants for judgeship. While our constitution urges federal character for ballots in appointments generally, this is not an excuse for mediocrity. We should get the best from different sections of the country. On security, we require full cooperation of all. People ask what is Buhari doing regarding criminal matters? But most offences are state offences. Police investigate, but states prosecute.”

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Here the presidency may recall that the removal of the immediate past Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) was riddled with controversy, which led many public analysts to declare that the process of appointing and removing judicial officers has become more political than merit-based. Eminent senior advocates took issue with the removal, but the presidency did not bulge. The Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) was not in a place to try, at first instance, the CJN. Worse still, the CCT chairman, Danladi Umar, was himself still party to an ongoing trial of his person at the Federal High Court in Abuja over his alleged receipt of a ten-million-naira bribe. The appointment of the current CJN, Tanko Mohammed, was also fraught with controversy and the presidency was involved in this controversy as it ratified all the decisions made in the matter.

The utopia that the presidency seeks to create in the Nigerian judiciary is desirable, but it is unlikely to be achieved if the presidency does not first play its part in all the issues it has outlined as needing to be addressed. Nigeria is capable of producing courageous, erudite jurists. But, if the country does not create favourable conditions for its lawyers and judges, the country will find, as in the case of Justice T. O Elias, that the international climate will continue to snap up its very best.

Barometer

Nigeria continues to meet expectations. Some weeks are slow and dull with public officials and their aides just choosing to keep a clean nose. On other weeks, they simply let go, serving up the most jaw-dropping, applause-rousing or revolting genres of drama. Animals have been reported to develop gourmet relish in all sorts of hard currencies, probes constituted, committees and panels scattered all over the place, reporters get ripped by overbearing lawyers, they retaliate, lawyers threaten to sue for libel, life is fickle and unimportant –the macabre Wild West would be quite green with envy. More recently, and in addition, the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the Niger Delta Development Committee (NDDC) has suggested that it has the second sight.

What other reason could have emboldened the IMC’s Executive Director of Projects, Cairo Ojougboh to allege that Nigeria would be rent asunder if the commission releases the names and status of those involved in contract scams in 2017 and 2019, especially in the Senate? This prophecy is just one of the many salvos the NDDC and Senate have fired at each other since last October.

The country remembers with an odd mixture of amusement and reproof the unearthing of dirty laundry completed by the trio of Godswill Akpabio, Joi Nunieh and the House of Reps Committee on NDDC – a drama which culminated in the much celebrated swooning of acting managing director, Kemebradikumo Pondei.

Asked why the National Assembly had taken a keen interest in the IMC’s activities, Mr Ojougboh asked God to bless the interviewer before explaining that, “It’s the forensic audit that the President has instituted because the National Assembly is culpable. At the end of the forensic audit, you will see members of the National Assembly. A Senator came and said that in the list of 2016 they brought, that he had only six contracts. I said no, that he had more. What he didn’t know is that we did not release the list for 2017 and the one for 2019. If we release it this country will break.”

His prophecy, he illuminated, was due to “the people looting, the calibre, the names and people looting the NDDC. And who engineers it? The chairmen of the NDDC in the Senate and House of Representatives in the National Assembly.”

With each appearance before the media, the parties asked to explain the suspected defalcating of funds in the NDDC has repeatedly opened cans of worms. The IMC claims that the National Assembly is making spirited attempts to give it a bad name and hang it due to its presidential mandate to supervise the auditing of NDDC accounts from 2001-2019, an act which it divines will cause many heads to roll. The national assembly is also adamant that the IMC is not coming to equity with clean hands and that its fingers were heavily stained with the marks of corrupt indulgences.

While both parties have displayed adroitness at landing the spectating public in a catch-22 situation, the NDDC’s altruistic reluctance to release information continues to grieve analysts. Last July, Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, after losing his cool and making indicting statements, became reluctant to publish a list of names he claimed to possess; names of senators who were complicit in the illegal award of contracts. Caving in to intense pressure, he managed to release a few names – scapegoats maybe – and retreat from the limelight. He is happy to hug the shadows for now.

There is no evidence that Nigeria will break up if the NDDC releases the names of all the culprits it claims to have. Worse things happen daily in the country, including banditry, insecurity, inflation, extreme poverty, religious tensions, musicians facing the hangman’s noose, the nagging matter of those agitating for the Republic of Biafra, and an endless list of sundry matters.

In 2015, one of President Muhammadu Buhari’s first actions was to probe a reported two-billion-dollar arm scandal called the Dasukigate. Substantial names were released, and the country did not break apart. If anything, the country bayed for more blood and the presidency happily obliged. The probe of the NDDC’s accounts is one of the results of the presidency’s war on corruption.

Until the probe is over and even afterwards, the NDDC and Senate will continue to exchange accusations with all the shrewdness of sweet love lost. It is suspected that more secrets will be revealed before the affair is finally closed. The conduct and disposition of both parties have led many Nigerians to believe that both the commission and the senate were arm in arm when the going was good and that both parties are culpable in the suspected looting. The suspense is remarkable, but it is hoped that when the fat lady sings, she sings loud and clear.