The Nation Newspaper

Category: Lawal Ogienagbon

  • At a time like this

    At a time like this

    AS A NATION, we are in a time that tests the souls of men. A time that breaks the strongest of will and turns giants to dwarfs. A time that is at once horrible, terrible, interesting and fascinating. A time that most people take offence at what they should normally ignore and laugh at.

    A time that is hard and nerve-wracking. A time that the led are not interested in stories but results. A time that they never imagined can ever come in their lives. It is here and the people are crying, whining and wailing. But a time like this should not only break us. It should also be for soul-searching; a time to look back and see where rain started beating us so as to stem the rot and chart a well-paved path to the future.

    After the rain comes shine, so said the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, in 1963 when he was jailed for treasonable felony. He returned from prison a greater man. This may yet be the case of Nigeria. What the country is going through today will not divide it. It is a phase that will pass away. For that to happen quickly, we must rise above the situation, pull ourselves by the bootstraps with eyes focused on changing the narrative.

    It should not be the job of the leader alone. It is our collective responsibility to see that Nigeria regains its glory. To leave the leader to do it alone will be unfair. As they say, it takes a village to train a child. So, it takes the citizenry to right the course of a nation. We have been in a battle of sorts with ourselves since the Tinubu administration came to power last May 29. The President is at the butt of attacks for some of his actions which his predecessors could not take.

    These policies are the removal of petrol subsidy and the floating of the naira. The consequences of these actions were the instant steep rise in fuel prices and the high exchange rate, with the naira now going for N1,350 or more to the dollar. In truth, this has never happened before in the nation’s history and the experience is shattering because of the multiplier effect on the prices of goods and services, especially food.

    Feeding had never been our problem. No matter how hard things were, the people had always been able to feed. This was possible because there was peace. Farmers could go to their farms and work all day without fear. Today, the farms, particularly in the north, where many food crops are grown, have been seized by insurgents, terrorists, bandits and kidnappers. The fear of these criminals have stopped the farmers from going to work.

    In the circumstance, something gave and the country is paying for it. President Bola Tinubu knew the hard choices before him when he decided to run for office. He knew that the country was on the brink, yet this did not deter him. He was committed to leading the country and bailing it out.

    But, his political opponents who have not forgiven him for defeating them at the February 25, 2023 polls are  not giving him any breathing space. They find fault with everything he does. I am not saying that they should not criticise him, but it should not be criticism for criticism sake. After all, what is the essence of the opposition, if not to make the government to sit up. Theirs has been to bring the government down, an action which is against the law.

    What I am saying is that criticism should not be destructive but constructive. It is not everytime that the opposition must go for the jugular of the President. Leadership is not easy and no other person should know this better than former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last election. Atiku’s bitterness against the President seeps through in the way he criticises the government. Nothing will give him more joy than to see the government fall, all because it is led by Tinubu.

      A patriot does not think like that. The love of country must always come first and not the lust for power which has blinded Atiku not to see anything good in what Tinubu does. Agreed that some of the President’s policies might have brought about pains, was the foundation for what Nigeria is going through today not laid by the Obasanjo administration in which he was vice president?

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    As for Labour Party’s Peter Obi, that one is a jester. What good can one expect from a former governor who claimed to have left assets worth billions in naira and foreign currency, but with a backlog of contract fees scheduled for payment? It goes without saying that the liabilities have cancelled out the so-called assets. The President is aware of the enormous challenges before him. He does not need Atiku, Obi and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), for that matter, which has since become a party under its president, Joseph Ajaero, to tell him what is going on.

    For now, the President should address the problem of rising food prices. The rich, the not so rich and the poor are feeling the heat. Opening up the grains reserve and silos is one thing, that is a temporal measure. The long-term solution is to reopen the borders and make it easy for merchants to bring in rice legally and not go through bush paths for the fear of intimidation, harassment and extortion by the many security agencies along those routes.

    The lasting remedy is to grow local production, which unfortunately the anchor borrowers programme of Godwin Emefiele’s Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) could not achieve despite blowing trillions of naira on bad loans . It is in the face of all these and the President’s shackling of money changers that he is being attacked right, left and csntre. Indeed, things are tough, but those who wish that they remained as they were in the past have met their match in the President.

    Tough times need tough men and the President has shown that he is up to the task. He should continue to lead from the front and remain sensitive to the pains of the poor, who feel the heat more than any other group. In the words of Rudyard Kipling, he should keep his head when his detractors are losing theirs and blaming it on him. Leaders worth their onions do not listen to side talks; they concentrate on the task at hand in order to avoid the harsh judgement of history.

  • Frank Akinola (1954-2024)

    Frank Akinola (1954-2024)

    The Daily Times of old was a citadel of learning. No matter how educated you were, you still had to learn even from those not as educated as yourself. Respect was also key. It was a place where line editors treated reporters at arm’s length, except if you were good at your job. One of the star reporters then was Frank Akintayo Akinola, who died on January 24. He was 69. Frank was an affable, jolly fellow.

    Though diminutive, he was packed full of energy. He joined the Daily Times in 1980 and had become City Editor by 1993 when he was leaving to serve as press secretary to Maj Gen John Shagaya, then ECOMOG Field Commander in Liberia. ECOMOG Soldier as I used to call him wrote a book: The ECOMOG Story: Dynamics of African politics and international conspiracy in African wars, on his experience in Liberia. A chapter, titled: The last assignment of Krees Imodibie and Tayo Awotunsin, is a gripping account of how those two journalists were killed.

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    After life’s endless battles, Frank has gone home to rest. A service of songs  will be held for him today at the Foursquare Gospel Church, Abesan Gate, Ipaja, Lagos. The funeral service comes up at the same church tomorrow. Frank was a frank fellow, who said it as it was. There was no cant about him. He was fearless and outspoken, but always in high spirits and full of bonhomie.

    Born on December 1, 1954, Frank grew up in Accra, Ghana. He returned home with his parents in 1970, following the introduction of the Aliens Compliance Order by the Ghanaian government. He was among others, Defence, Crime and Dodan Barracks Correspondent before becoming City Editor, presiding over editorial affairs at the Kakawa, Lagos office of the Daily Times. He was also the author of: Ota Awori Kingdom: Synopsis and biography of Oba T.T. Dada, Olota of Ota (1954-1992).

    Frank is survived by his widow, Lydia, a retired director in the Lagos State Ministry of Education, children and grandchildren.

  • Pros and cons of state police

    Pros and cons of state police

    The hottest topic in the land today is security. The reason for this is well known. Our country has been under the siege of criminals in the past 15 years, beginning with the invasion of parts of Borno State by some insurgents operating under the aegis of Boko Haram (western education is a sin).

    Contrary to Islamic tenets, the sect argued that western education is meant  to indoctrinate Muslims to become and think like Whites and I am not being racist here, but merely trying to situate things in their context. Matters came to a head when Muhammad Yusuf, the Boko Haram leader, was killed in police custody.

    Since then, the insecurity net has widened from insurgency to banditry, cattle rustling, kidnapping, herdsmen/farmers skirmishes and other related crimes. The police and other security arms now have their hands full trying to restore law and order. Truth be told, they are stretched because the rate at which crimes are committed daily has overwhelmed the police, civil defence, secret police, and the military, among others.

    But securing the country is still a police job. It will be an understatement to say that the police are finding it difficult to handle this problematic child, despite all the help from related agencies. Crimes being local, criminologists say, are best tackled locally, hence the renewed clamour for state police. I have never been a fan of state police, but if that is the way to go to address this protracted security challenge, so be it.

    State police has its good sides, though. But its abuses in the past, especially in the First Republic, have made many to lose faith in such a force. Certain things must be done before state police can be created. The first is to amend the 1999 Constitution, which provides for a centralised police service and invests the President with the enormous power of control and management of the institution.

    The process of amending the Constitution has begun and the bill passed second reading at the House of Representatives on Tuesday. Amending the Constitution is one thing, making state police to work after its creation is another. If the governors who will run state police do not do what is right and decide to go the way of their precursors in the First Republic, no amount of Constitution amendment will do the trick.

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    The public is clamouring for state police now because the present police appear far removed from the people. They are usually not on the scenes when needed and only appear long after a crime had been committed. Even when they get to the scenes in time, they go after the innocent and not the suspects who it is believed they know. The planned decentralisation of the police is to ensure that crimes are reduced to the barest minimum and not used to hunt down political opponents as witnessed in the First Report.

      We have seen what security outfits can do in a society determined to stem the tide of crimes, especially kidnapping, banditry and insurgency. Amotekun in the Southwest, Eastern Security Network in the Southeast and Civilian-Joint Task Force in the Northeast, among others, have been helping the police in their respective regions to fight crimes. Turning these outfits to state police will  have consequences because the equation changes once they become constitutionally recognised.

      Temptations will set in as the governors, some of who have even been using the present police to harass their perceived enemies, may become larger than life with a full force under their control. The Houses of Assembly which should naturally act as a buffer in such situations are unfortunately already in the governors’ pockets. The character of the head of the police force also matters. Will he be an officer beholden to his appointor or will he be true to his calling and serve diligently?

      State police may be an idea which time has come in the prevailing security situation we find ourselves as a nation, but things should be set right in creating it to avoid its being used to settle scores in the heat of a political acrimony that could burst out at any time by those expected to protect the law, people and society at large at all times.

  • Shall we tell the President?

    Shall we tell the President?

    Governance is serious business. It is not a tea-party and it is both an act and art. These are not things taught in school, yet they are elements that a leader must possess to govern well. If a leader knows how to govern, he must also have the ability to relate with the governed and come down to their level.

    There are levels in every society. Created by man, people are ranked according to their wealth, position, connection and influence. In other words, society broke itself into classes, using the standing of an individual as metric. Thus, the rich court the rich, the poor mingle with the poor. But, a leader cannot afford to deal with the people on that basis. A leader must treat all equally, irrespective of their status. 

    A father can afford to have favourites among his children, but a leader cannot be caught engaging in such fancy. A leader is the father of the nation. He is father to the wealthy and the poor, those who voted for him and those who did not, members of his party and the opposition. It may be hard as a person to discharge this fatherly role of a leader, but it is an issue in which the leader has no choice. He cannot afford to be caught on the wrong foot in his dealings with the people.

    It is a constitutional mandate for the leader to have the people’s interests at heart. According to the Constitution, these interests are two – security and welfare – but they have wide implications. Security is about the safety and preservation of the people; their protection in the face of internal and external aggressions as well as job security, economic and social justice, et al.

    Welfare is about meeting their needs and catering to them. The leader must, therefore, ensure the comfort and wellbeing of the people. Meeting their basic needs of shelter, food and clothing becomes  imperative. Power supply must be regular and affordable and the environment conducive for life and living. The 1999 Constitution (as amended) puts it in this simple but meaningful way in two of the four provisions in  Section 14 (1) and (2) (b):

    •The Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be a State based on the principles of democracy and social justice

    •It is hereby, accordingly, declared that –

    the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.

    Things have been tough and rough for the people in the past eight months. They took the turn for the worse following the removal of petrol subsidy on May 29, last year, and the subsequent floating of the naira. These are sound economic decisions, no doubt, but it seemed, the inherent consequences of the actions were overlooked. What, for instance, did the government put in place to cushion their effect?

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    With the benefit of hindsight, nothing. It was just taking for granted that, with time, things will fall in place on their own. Government is not run like that.There must be a plan in place for the fall-out of any policy. It is a well known fact that the removal of subsidy will result in a concomitant increase in fuel price and also have a multiplier effect on other things. Without a working refinery and no other substitute readily available, this is what eventually happened.

    What the country is going through now was, so to say, inflicted on the people. What then is the way out? The foundation for the prevailing economic and security challenges may have been laid long ago, however, it is today the duty of President Bola Tinubu to resolve them without any excuses.

    Mercifully, the President knows the enormity of the task before him. Nobody, whether in or out of government, friend or foe should compound things by playing to the gallery or by giving him unsolicited advice, which tends to put the blame elsewhere. The President may not be responsible for the nation’s woes, but it is his responsibility to take us out of this mess.

    Helping rural farmers in getting their produce to the urban centres and securing farmlands in the north from terrorists and bandits will go a long way to enhance food supply and bring down the rising prices. The President must also charge the security agencies to do more. It is unthinkable that criminals have become more stronger than security operatives. Many of our security men do not enjoy the people’s confidence because of their proclivity to corruption.

    They would rather be on the roads extorting money from motorists than go after the hardened criminals that are making life difficult for the people. This attitude must change, otherwise the man on the street will continue to see that as a reflection of what the Presidency stands for and continue to call it names and throw barbs at it: Ebi pa wa (we are hungry). Indeed, there is hunger in the land and the people are angry. The President has the will to change the narrative. He should use it now.

  • What a cruel life!

    What a cruel life!

    When death strikes a home and takes away a younger person, leaving the elderly, the grief is unspeakable. When such happens, we find solace in God, the giver and taker of life. The death in a plane crash of Access Holding Company chieftain Herbert Wigwe, his wife and son, as well as a family friend Abimbola Ogunbanjo, on Friday has left people wondering about the ways of the Almighty. Why take the younger Wigwe when his octogenarian parents, Pa Shyngle and Mama Stella, are still alive and well? We cannot question God, as the scriptures say.

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    There is nothing more heartbreaking than to break the news of a dead child to his aged parents. I know because I have walked that road before. Tears welled up in my eyes as I beheld the pictures of Wigwe’s friends and associates who visted his parents on Monday to condole with them. The photos were at once moving, touching and heartrending. No parent should predecease his child. This is our wish as humans.

    But, at times, God’s plan as we have seen in this case, may be different. My heart goes out to Papa and Mama Wigwe. May their eyes never behold this kind of tragedy again. May their son and others find rest in the Lord’s bosom.

  • Abduction: When kings become easy targets

    Abduction: When kings become easy targets

    What makes a king? His word, which is unquestionable? His mystical powers to disappear and reappear in the face of danger? His inherent right to marry as many wives as possible as well as take over (gbese le) other people’s wives. These and many more define a king, especially in Nigeria, nay Africa.

    Our kings see themselves as god and seek to be worshipped as such by their subjects. In Yorubaland, where they are referred to as Kabiyesi (the unquestionable being), they reign under the divine right of having God’s mandate. Indeed, it is said, “God chooses kings”. Whether our kings behave godly on getting to the throne is a different thing entirely.

    Our kings boast of many things, especially their supernatural power to divine the future and prepare well ahead for it. So, a king does not go out without consulting the auguries. He leaves the confines of his palace only after being assured that he will go and return. As ordinary mortals, we lap up all these stories about the ‘super’ being that our king is. Nothing will ever happen to him no matter when he goes out! So, we thought until kidnappers exploded this myth.

    Right in his palace somewhere in the riverine area of Lagos, an oba was kidnapped a few years ago and taken away in a boat. What is more, the get-away boat was anchored right behind his palace until it was used to whisk him away. After his release, he was quoted as saying that he was abducted cheaply because he was in boxers! Whether in boxers or even unclad, an oba of African origin, especially of the Yoruba stock, should be battle-ready. He should not be taken by surprise under any circumstances.

    This is not a mockery of our tradition,  custom and culture. It is an exposition on what has become of our revered institutions, which ordinarily should act as buffers, in the face of the prevailing insecurity and economic hardship. As traditional rulers, kings hold sway in their domains. Security, economic, cultural and domestic disputes are brought to them for resolution. Even when a person goes missing in the  community, the matter is brought before the king to consult the gods to determine that person’s whereabouts.

    But who do the people consult when their king goes missing? Are kings even supposed to go missing in the first place? They are not because it is a development that should have been foreseen and nipped in the bud. This was the parallel a seasoned Ifa priest, Chief Yemi Elebuibon, was trying to draw while reacting to the killing of two monarchs in Ekiti State, Oba Olatunde Olusola, the Onimojo of Imojo, and Oba Babatunde Ogunsakin, the Elesun of Esun Ekiti, by kidnappers. Their counterpart, Oba Adebayo Fatoba, the Alara of Ara Ekiti, escaped.

    The monarchs were returning from Kogi State when they ran into an ambush by the kidnappers. Kings running into an ambush? Ewo (abomination)! But it happened. Were they not alerted of the danger ahead by their occultic senses (Sara o so fun won ni), as the Yoruba will say. They walked blindly, so to say, into a trap, something that should never happen to a king. Elebuibon put it succinctly in his analysis of the situation:

    “We do have traditional means of protection in Yorubaland. It is just that the foreign religions that were embraced by Yoruba traditional rulers have rendered them powerless. Most of the monarchs did not go through the necessary rites and rituals, and therefore, they lack the necessary charms that can make someone disappear and reappear, charms that can free someone from clutches when held.

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    “A monarch should not be kidnapped anyhow like that if he is immune and he embraces traditional things. Before a king sets out on a journey, there are things he must do. He must be able to see ahead, if it is a journey he should embark on…”   Kidnappers have weighed our kings and found them light, too, too light on the scale. This is why they have become become bold and audacious in attacking and kidnapping monarchs.  Their thinking is If they can do it to one, they can do it to others.

    But they know where to draw the line. As mad as they are, they know that they cannot cross the path of some kings. Come to think of it, should kidnappers even ever think of crossing the path of any monarch? No, they should not. We got to this sorry pass because many of our kings are not kingly. They may even be friends with these kidnappers who are terrorising the country.

    It is unfortunate that while these unsrupulous kings are stewing in their own juices, the innocent among them are not being spared. E get as e be for kidnappers to go after kings. There is more to it than meets the eye. If the obas have any gods to invoke to stop this shame, they should do so now and stop issuing mere threats.

  • Uneasy lies the head…

    Uneasy lies the head…

    The President has said on several occasions that he should not be pitied because he asked for the job to lead the country.  Leading a country like ours is not a tea party. President Bola Tinubu might not have known the enormity of the country’s problems before he came to power. By now, he knows what he is up to. Insecurity, economic hardship, unemployment, a comatose real sector, irregular power supply, rising food prices and hunger.

    The last two, if not well handled, could cause cataclysm. Three days ago, there were protests in Niger and Kano states over the rising food prices. Many families are finding it difficult to feed because of lack of purchasing power. A bag of price now sells for between N65,000 and N75,000, whereas the minimum wage is N30,000. How the prices of rice and other goods and services can be brought down immediately should be the government’s priority.

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    Once the poor can get food at affordable prices and  feed well, half of their problems is solved. An hungry man is an angry man. This might have been what we saw play out on the streets during the protests, but that is not to say that they were not contrived. Truth is, there is suffering in the land. The earlier steps are taking to cushion the suffering, the better. The President must act fast so that the protests, whether politically motivated or not, do not spread.

  • Cry, the ailing country!

    Cry, the ailing country!

    What is happening in the country today beggars belief. Nigeria is under siege. It is besieged left, right and centre. Banditry, terrorism, kidnapping, robbery, looting, raping and other forms of criminality have become the order of the day.

    Kidnapping, especially, has become an industry – it is booming and thriving – and those involved have become so daring that they no longer wait on the road to strike, but go to people’s homes to seize them, take them into captivity and wait for the payment of ransom before releasing them.

    We are battered, beaten and bruised as a nation. Life no longer has meaning. People move around in fear, living on a daily basis with their hearts in their mouths because they do not know who the next victim is. We are all potential victims.

    Nobody is sure of the other person. Even family members do not trust one another again. You trust your brother or sister at your own peril. People now prefer to keep to themselves because that brother or sister might have negotiated away your life with kidnappers and only waiting for the right time to tell them to strike.

    The bedrock of our society is the family. This unit is fast giving way because of the insecurity which has allowed kidnapping to become a huge business. No country is totally free of crimes. But the difference between what happens elsewhere and here is that there are deterrents which make criminals think twice before striking.

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    A criminal who knows that his chances of being caught are high would never go into the world of crime. Painfully, we are in a season in which crime pays. Where violence and other related acts bring in so much money, with the perpetrators living big to the chagrin of their compatriots.

    In the circumstance, the citizenry face the brunt. They are left to their own devices. In most cases, those who unfortunately fall kidnap victims are left to devise ways of freeing themselves. What this means is that they have to cough out a huge sum as ransom. They buy their freedom or that of their loved ones at a huge price to avoid being killed. Yet, the government is telling them not to pay ransom!

    What then is the way out for the victims if they do not pay ransom? Wait until they are killed before their traumatised families will know that the kidnappers mean business. We all know about the Al-Kadriyar family story. They lost a daughter when they did not quickly respond to the kidnappers’ demand for ransom. Yes, it is wrong to pay ransom, but what can a family whose loved one (s) is (are ) in captivity do? We can sermonise when we are not embattled, but he who wears the shoe knows where it pinches.

    What is the government doing to secure the people or to make kidnapping bad business? It is good to talk about the illegality of ransom payment, but it is better to tackle first the illegality of kidnapping itself before blaming ransom payers. Kidnapping is a crime, but it does not seem so now, with the way the unlawful act is being carried out brazenly.

    Kidnappers have turned the land into hell. Why the rise in this unlawful act? I have been pondering over this poser in recent times. But I have not been able to lay a finger on why kidnapping has become this lucrative. Kidnapping! I shudder at the thought and how it has become a huge enterprise under our democratic dispensation.

    Surely, this gbomogbomo business did not start today. It began long ago when

    kids were the targets. Those days, we were warned against picking what we found on the ground, especially coins, which it was believed were used as bait. Kidnapping has now gone nuclear, so to say. The targets are no longer kids, but the rich. Once in a while too, kids are still kidnapped.

    Kidnapping has gotten out of hand. The kidnapping and killing of two Ekiti monarchs and the abduction of some school children from the state have more than brought home the menace staring us in the face. Things cannot continue like this. If kidnappers can kill monarchs, then there is nothing they won’t do to have their way.

    No matter what it takes, those pupils who were snatched from their school bus which windows were shattered by bullets must be freed from the kidnappers’ grips to show them how serious we are about stopping kidnapping.  

    End-time devotees

    Many will be shocked by the revelation of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, that two religious organisations have been linked with crimes. One, he said, was linked to N7 billion in the course of investigating a N13 billion fraud. The other, he said, laundered money for terrorists. He spoke at a one-day dialogue on “Youth, religion, and the fight against corruption” in Abuja yesterday.

    Apparently to avoid the shame of its involvement in an illicit activity, one of the suspected organisations has obtained an interim order stopping the EFCC from inviting its leaders. Igba wo ni maku, oni ku. It is just a matter of time, the organisation will be known. It has made exposing it easier by going to court.

    By the time the facts are out, the injunction will be lifted and the wind will blow and the world shall see the anus of the chicken.

    At a time like this when terrorists are wreaking havoc everywhere, especially in worship places, should any religious body be seen associating with them? Perhaps, the end-time has come. If not, religious bodies will not be caught in the company of fraudsters and terrorists. What a shame.  

  • The Plateau palaver

    The Plateau palaver

    The Supreme Court’s judgment came at a wrong time for them. If only the judgment had been delivered before their own cases had been heard and determined by the Court of Apeal, the sacked lawmakers from Plateau State would today still be in their respective hallowed chambers at the stae and national levels.

    They are no longer ‘honourable’ members of the National and Plateau State House of Assembly because of what the apex court called ‘perverse’ judgment in the case of Governor Caleb Mutfwang and Nentanwe Goshwe of the All Progressives Congress (APC). 

    The cases of Mutfwang and the lawmakers, who are of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were ‘on all fours’, as lawyers will say. But, the lawmakers’ cases, as similar as they were with Mutfwang’s, did not get to the Supreme Court, where the governor got the judgment which reinstated him

    Appeals in the lawmakers’ cases end at the Court of Appeal, where their fates were sealed following the court’s decision that they won elections on the platform of a party without structures. According to the appeal court, their party, PDP, disobeyed the order of the Plateau State High Court to hold fresh ward, local government and state congresses to fill executive posts. The apex court found otherwise.  That was the governor’s saving grace.

    The apex court’s hands were, however, tied in respect of the lawmakers’ issue. The matter never came before it and coud never have gone there because of the provisions of the law on disputes over legislative elections. The disputes end at the Court of Appeal. This was also the case with governorship election disputes until the law was amended to allow the cases to get to the Supreme Court.

    In deciding the Mutfwang case, the Supreme Court nevertheless noted the harm the Court of Appeal did in respect of cases similar to the matter that never came before it. It was a mere observation, which could not and should not be taken as a pronouncement on the lawmakers’ cases. As members of the society who see what goes on around them too, judges are free to comment on vexed issues, which though not before them they cannot pretend to be unaware of.

    There was no way their Lordships would have dispensed with Mutfwang’s appeal, without making a passing remark on the lawmakers’ cases. The import of their remarks was in the message for their constituency to be more thorough in the adjudication of cases to avoid becoming “irrelevant” to society. The import was not in not making a pronouncement on a case not before them. The Supreme Court will never do that. Give an order in a case in which it has no jurisdiction!

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    The Supreme Court will not be Supreme Court if it does that. The lawmakers’ agitation to benefit from the verdict is understandable. Of course, grave injustice was done them by that Court of Appeal’s decision, which the apex court in Mutfwang’s appeal described as “perverse”. From the reading of that, it means justice was also perverted in the lawmakers’ cases which stood ‘on all fours’ with Mutfwang’s. But can they benefit from the judgment when their cases ended long before the verdict came?

    Can the verdict be, so to say,  retroactively enforced to accommodate their cases? As it were, it is unfortunate that they cannot rely on the verdict in order to regain their seats. On what basis can they do that when their rights of appeal do not extend to the apex court? If only the verdict had come before the disposal of their cases, the appeal court would have had no choice than to abide by it as a binding precedent.

    The coming of the Supreme Court’s verdict after their own cases is a major blow to the lawmakers and this is perhaps why Justice John Okoro, who presided over the Mutfwang case, said in his concurring opinion: “A lot of people have suffered because of the judgments of the Court of Appeal”. The remedy does not lie in the lawmakers and their supporters laying siege to the House of Assembly as they did on Tuesday.

    That will not serve any useful purpose. It will only exacerbate matters. The lawmakers should return to court and see what can be done. From my layman’s perspective, it is a long shot though. But it is better than resorting to self-help by taking the law into their hands. They should remember that they are lawmakers and not law breakers.

  • Nabeeha: The tragedy of a nation

    Nabeeha: The tragedy of a nation

    She was just another citizen minding her own business until Nigeria, as they say, ‘happened’ to her. When people say Nigeria ‘don happen to you’, they are saying in effect that, that person has become victim of a system that does not work. Indeed, every sector is in dire straits.

    Is it the economy? Is it oil and gas? Is it banking? Is it labour, that is talking in terms of employment? Is it manufacturing? Is it security? Ah! Now, that is the real problem. With everything revolving around security, successive administrations’ inability to tame the tiger of insecurity is compounding the nation’s woes. The land is ailing today because of insecurity.

    Nobody prays that Nigeria ‘happens’ to them or even their enemies, but when it does, it is the nation and not the victims and their families alone that suffers. We all bear the brunt. This is what is happening today with the unfortunate Nabeeha Al- Kadriyar incident. Nabeeha came to national consciousness after she was killed by her abductors over ransom payment. She was kidnapped with her five sisters and their father on January 3.

    The new year had just dawned when they were abducted from their home around the notorious Abuja-Kaduna Road. The road has become a commuter’s nightmare. Whether in the day or at night, the road is unsafe yet there are checkpoints on the highway manned by a combined team of military and policemen. How these abductors operate under the nose of the security men and escape is inexplicable. What is the use of those checkpoints if they cannot come to the aid of residents and commuters when in distress?

    Six girls and their dad falling into their hands in one fell swoop, the abductors would have thanked their stars and done a quick arithmetic of what they will

    get. Without wasting time, they released the girls’ father, Mansoor Al-Kadriyar, to go and look for a N60 million ransom. Meaning that they are demanding N10 million for each girl. Sixty million naira is not N6 or N60 or N600 or N6000. It is not chicken feed. The ransom is not an amount that Al-Kadriyar could have gone home to pick up and return to the kidnappers to get his girls back.

    He needed time, ample time at that, to get the ransom. But, the blockheads, the animals in human skin that the kidnappers are, were not ready ro give the man a chance to save his daughters. They killed Nabeeha on Friday in what to them was a ‘warning signal’ that they meant business. It was a show of cruelty and callousness. That was no bravery, it was bestiality at its height. Why did they kill the girl? Has her death produced money? The kidnappers must have been high on some drugs to carry out that dastardly act.

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    The kidnappers might have killed Nabeeha in cold blood to instill fear in her family and the nation. Their callous act is meant to ginger us all into action in getting the ransom over to them pronto! This is a monumental tragedy. By wilfully killing Nabeeha, they were telling the nation to take them serious to avert the killing of her sisters. With the five girls still with them, they hold the four aces. Ransom paying, security experts say, is not the best way to tackle kidnapping. I agree.

    But in this instant case, will the girls’ lives not be in jeopardy, if the rule is followed? What matters most now is to ensure the release of the remaining girls, any other consideration can wait until they have safely returned home. For now, nothing should be done to aggravate the agony of the Al-Kadriyars. They have lost a child and five others are within a hair’s breath of death as they are still with the abductors. Rescuing the girls is not going to be a tea party.

    It will be a commando-like operation which must be well planned and executed. Time may be too short for such a precision operation. For now, the only option for the immediate release of the girls is the payment of the ransom which the kidnappers have jacked up to N100 million. It is not their fault. We are in this bind today because of the failure of our systems. It is a shame that criminals now rule the roost.

    This is the price the nation must pay for unabashedly abandoning its responsibilities to the citizenry. The Al-Kadriyars have lost a child, they must not lose another one for whatever reason. The state must do whatever it takes to rescue the remaining girls from captivity. This is the only way to soothe the family’s pain of losing a promising child.