The Nation Newspaper

Category: Lawal Ogienagbon

  • Standing with Buhari

    The economy is central to every country. How strong or weak the economy is goes a long way to determine how powerful a country may be. If the economy is strong it will reflect in the status of a country. The country will be strong. But if the economy is weak, the country will be weak. There are no two ways about it. The economy is the live wire of any country. This is why countries do everything they can to ensure that they have a robust economy. The economy does not grow overnight. It requires coordinated and sustained planning to build.

    For an economy to be vibrant, a country must have functional industries. The real sector, especially, must work in order to generate massive employment. Where the mass of the people is out of job the economy will not thrive. Former American President Bill Clinton knew the importance of the economy to the life of a nation. So during his campaigns, he emphasised that he would concentrate on the American economy, which was then in bad state, if he was elected. ‘’It’s the economy, stupid’’ was his refrain. He did as he promised as he revived the economy and set the United States (U.S) on the path of growth again.

    The economy matters and every leader knows this. Any leader, who does not appreciate the value of the economy to the continued growth of his country, does not deserve to be in office. We have seen what can happen if a country’s economy is in tatters. Greece comes to mind in this regard. We all saw what happened to the historic country of recent. It was neck-deep in debt that its economy was shaky. Its citizens were fleeing to seek refuge in other European countries. At a stage things were so bad that its banks shut down because they could not fulfil their obligations to customers. Many went to Automated Teller Machine (ATM) portals to withdraw money, but could not because the machines had no cash.

    Greece was on the verge of bankruptcy. To avoid a major crisis, which would have reverberated all over Europe, the European Union (EU), after marathon talks in Brussels, Belgium, resolved to give another 10.3 billion euros to Greece in a third bailout fund. For Greece, the debt relief came at an appropriate time. Since the release of that fund, it has been putting the money to good use to enable it meet the repayment deadline, according to the terms of the bailout. With a debt overhang of 321 billion euros said to be worth 180% of its yearly economic output, things are certainly not looking bright for Greece, but with the continued support of other European countries it can still pull through.

    But can the same be said for our country? Where will we get relief if push becomes shove in our own case as our economy keeps tottering?  Though we are not burdened by huge foreign debts like Greece, our economy, the so-called rebased economy described as the biggest in Africa by former Coordinating Minister of the Economy Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in April 2014 is prostate. What she and her boss, former President Goodluck Jonathan, handed over to President Muhammadu Buhari is a debased and not a rebased economy. What did they rebase to make our economy the largest on the continent? The rebasing was just the mere inclusion of other sectors hitherto not captured in the economy into it. The fast growing telecommunications and entertainment sectors were brought in to raise the number of industries in the economy.

    Knowing that most of us are not literate in economic matters, the government used the rebasing thing to hoodwink us to make us believe that it has done something great with the economy. But the government did nothing because the rebasing did not change anything; it merely raised the number of sectors in the economy. In terms of a thriving economy, South Africa’s is still far, far better than ours and that country is not making noise about it. Firms from that country are just making cool money here and sending it back home to strengthen their economy, while we are gloating about rebasing. Rebasing, my foot.

    After battling with the damaged economy handed over to him more than a year ago, Buhari has seen the need to do something urgent about reviving it. This paper reported on Monday that he will seeking emergency powers from the National Assembly on his plan to ‘’stabilise’’ the economy. If this is the way to revive the economy, I am all for it. We are in a drastic situation and we need drastic measures to get us out of it. When American President Barack Obama took over in 2009, he found his country’s economy in similar mess and he wasted no time in asking for a $800 billion stimulus package from the Congress. The Congress granted his request and the US, where unemployment rate was high seven years ago, is today enjoying a good employment rate. Things have never been this better for the US.

    The powers Buhari is seeking are for the betterment of our economy. Only those opposed to the revival of the economy will object to what he wants to do. The National Assembly is there to monitor him to ensure that he does not misuse the powers once they are conferred on him. There are too many controls, which have now become strictures on the path of our economy. Though they were not meant as such, the problem we have found ourselves in has made it imperative for these strictures to go, at least for now, for the economy to grow. What Buhari has going for him is his integrity, which is what is required now from anybody seeking to rescue the economy. We will only be deceiving ourselves if we say we are not already in emergency when talking about our economy.

    What economy is that when the real sector is virtually dead? What economy is that where there is no regular power supply? What economy is that when over 80% of youths are jobless? What economy is that when there is no security of life and property? We cannot continue to live like this or else we will be breeding criminals that will make life unbearable for us. Is that what we want? Surely not. To the organised private sector (OPS), the president’s plan is in order. The industrialists are all for it because it holds the promise of reviving the comatose economy. I pray that the ‘’Emergency Economic Stabilisation Bill’’ sails through at the National Assembly when it gets there.

  • The umpire who failed us

    Long before his appointment as Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman in 2005, Prof Maurice Madukolam Iwu had served as national commissioner representing Imo State. In that capacity Iwu was in the centre of the commission’s power matrix. The national commissioners and the chairman determine what happens in INEC. The chairman as it were is the first among equals. So Iwu already knew how the commission works before he mounted the saddle. With his experience of the inner workings of INEC much was expected of Iwu.

    The professor of pharmacognosy also promised to do his best to redeem INEC’s image. But, he ended up shattering what remained of that image. When it comes to elections, Nigerians hardly trust their electoral commissions. The people do not have faith in the electoral umpire because it panders to those in power. An electoral agency is supposed to be above board. It is expected to be impartial in the discharge of its duties for democracy to thrive. And democracy thrives where elections are free and fair  But our elections have always been marred by irregularities because of the inadequacies of our electoral commissions.

    No matter how principled and honourable many of the chairmen were before assuming office once they get the job they throw these attributes away for filthy lucre. They believe that their appointment is an opportunity to make money and without any qualms they throw themselves into the political arena and become more partisan than the politicians themselves. The politicians too who are ever ready to get someone to do their dirty job quickly read the situation and put the electoral umpire on their payroll. With free money pouring in from right, left and centre, the umpire loses his sense of judgment.

    He no longer sees himself as serving his country; he feels beholden to the politician who picks his bills. Although the commission takes care of all his needs, the chairman is never satisfied until he gets that extra change from his new master, the politician. The job is full of temptation and it takes only a chairman with the fear of God to survive in our highly corrupt political process. In the Second Republic, former Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO) chairman the late Justice Victor Ovie-Whiskey caused a stir when he told reporters on being asked ‘’whether water passed under the bridge’’ during the much-criticised 1983 election that he would faint if he saw N1million. Then N1million was a lot of money. Today that amount could be the equivalent of N10billion or more.

    What I am trying to say going by the eminent jurist’s remark is even where the umpire does not go out of his way to look for free money such money will come looking for him through unscrupulous politicians and their ilk. Only an umpire, who is not on the take like the late Ovie-Whiskey, can emphatically say that he will faint on seeing a million naira. Many such honest men still abound in the country, but unfortunately they will not touch the electoral umpire’s job even with a 10-foot pole for reasons best known to them. Iwu should have learnt one or two things from the late Dr Abel Guobadia who he succeeded. The late Guobadia would have conducted the 2007 election if he had not died two months to the poll. But fate decided otherwise.

    Instead of using the opportunity to write his name in gold Iwu chose infamy. The 2007 election conducted under his watch remains till date the worst poll ever in the history of our country. It was a charade of an election. Both foreign and domestic observers condemned the election, which was marred by barefaced rigging and other malpractices. The victory of many of those elected during the exercise was voided by the courts. The late President Umaru Yar’Adua also condemned the poll, promising electoral reforms before the 2011 election. If a winner, and the president for that matter,  could condemn his own election shouldn’t the umpire just keep quiet and watch? No, not Iwu as he went about defending the indefensible. He even had the temerity to describe the election as one of the best ever in the country.

    He was only deluding himself. He did not stop there. Under him, INEC joined issues with petitioners at the election tribunals rather than just stay out of the way. Some of the judges were baffled by the commission’s stand that they wondered what it was up to. They could not believe that a supposed impartial umpire could come to court to take side with a party. An electoral commission does not work like that, they held. Iwu still did not take the hint. A wise man would have pulled the brakes there and then. But, as they say, he carried his sacrifice beyond the mosque, huffing and puffing about how he would conduct the 2011 election. He was daydreaming. Acting President Goodluck Jonathan, as he then was, removed him in April 2010.

    Now, Iwu’s name has been written in the hall of infamy for his poor conduct of the 2007 election. Based on the judgements of some tribunals, he along with scores of others has been tagged as ‘’electoral offenders’’ by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). The commission has recommended that they be prosecuted by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice. According to NHRC Executive Secretary Prof Bem Angwe, “unless steps are strengthened to deal with electoral impunity, the right to vote and be voted for and related rights will continually be infringed upon with adverse consequences on democratic governance’’.

    I agree with Angwe. If we do not do anything to stop electoral impunity our democracy will be in danger. What is democracy without free, fair and credible elections? Nothing, absolutely nothing. This is why the “electoral offenders”, particularly those involved in the conduct of the elections, should be tried and severely punished if found guilty to deter others.

  • Is Dogara a judge?

    House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara may yet be fighting the toughest political battle of his life. Since the House went on recess last July 20, Dogara has not been on break because he is under fire from a friend and an ally, Abdulmumin Jibrin. The Speaker and Jibrin come a long way. They were in the Seventh House where they served as committee chairmen. Dogara was House Services Committee chairman, Jibrin headed the finance committee. They interacted well in those capacities and became pally.

    They carried their friendship over into the Eighth House where Jibrin worked to ensure that Dogara became Speaker. Jibrin was the linchpin of the campaign to get Dogara elected as Speaker against their party’s wish that the presiding officer should be from the Southwest. Jibrin virtually carried the Dogara-for-Speaker campaign on his head. He took on those who accused him of flouting party directive, saying the All Progressives Congress (APC) could not decide for the lawmakers who their leaders should be. For effect, he added that the country is practising presidential and not parliamentary system of government.

    Jibrin and his group had their way. Dogara became Speaker with the help of people like Jibrin and the grace of God. Dogara showed appreciation by making Jibrin the appropriations committee chairman. Jibrin played a significant role in the passage of this year’s budget. His committee was the warehouse of sorts for everything concerning the budget. He had the powers, so he thought, to do whatever he liked with the budget because it was still a proposal. He tinkered with the proposal, calling on colleagues to submit what they wanted so that he could insert such items into the budget

    He misused his power to oversight the budget as appropriations panel chief. What Jibrin did not know was that his office did not give him the power  to treat the budget as his personal property. This was a national budget submitted by President Muhammadu Buhari to the lawmakers in line with the provisions of the Constitution. The lawmakers job is to go through the budget and ensure that it meets the needs of the people. How will they do this? By calling the ministers and the top bureaucratic officials who prepared the document to come and defend it. The budget was not prepared at a whim. A lot of job went into it. Several budget sessions were held by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

    The Ministry of Budget and National Planning also had sleepless nights working on it. I remember that the Minister, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, invited Vice President Yemi Osinbajo ‘’to see what we are doing’’. All these efforts seemed not to have cut any ice with the appropriations committees of the Senate and the House. They still felt that they should insert something into the budget from which they will benefit. That is wrong. They padded the budget for selfish reasons. It was not done in utmost good faith because if it were, it would have been to the benefit of the masses.

    Padding may not be a legislative lingo; it may also not be known in law. But when you are padding with the intention to steal public funds, that is no longer mere tinkering with the budget, but abuse of position which amounts to corruption. Those involved in this shameful deed are so eager to exonerate themselves from it because of their belief that there is nothing like padding. But they seem to forget that it takes two to tango. If that be the case, can we then say that no offence has been committed when two or more people decided to pad the budget for pecuniary gain just because they have oversight power over the document?

    Some of us are laymen when it comes to law, but that does not mean that we do not know what is right or wrong. What the lawmakers did was not in exercise of their functions to oversight the budget. They deliberately padded the budget in order to make money and not to provide projects for their constituencies as they are now claiming. All the noise being made over the issue today shows that it was not done with the best of intentions. If it was, Dogara and Jibrin will not have become sworn enemies. If it was, Dogara would not have removed Jibrin as appropriations committee chairman. If it was, Jibrin will not be shouting all over the place that Dogara, his deputy Yusuff Lasun, Chief Whip Ado Doguwa, Minority Leader Leo Ogor and nine others padded the budget with N284 billion.

    Their squabble shows that the padding was done with criminal intent and to that extent, it is an offence. It is where padding is done with honest intention by the legislature that we can say no offence has been committed. So, padding in some cases may be an offence and in other cases it may not be an offence. So, in this instant case, is padding an offence? My answer is capital YES. From the actions of the key players in the House saga, something is certainly not right with the way the 2016 Budget was padded by the Jibrin committee without, perhaps, the knowledge of the executive, which still believes that it signed a clean budget. We will know how clean the budget is in the days ahead.

    For now,  Dogara should keep his gun powder dry. Whether padding is an offence or not, he will soon have all the time in the world to educate those of us seen as ‘unlearned’ by lawyers when he takes his turn before the panels looking into the case. It is too early for him at this stage to say ‘’padding is not an offence’’. Hear him : ‘’What is budget padding? I don’t know, educate me. I am a lawyer and speaker and I have never heard of the word padding. What does padding mean? What is padding? You haven’t told me. Ask Jibrin what is padding. I studied Law and I have been in the legislature and all this period I have never heard of the word padding being an offence under any law…’’

    Yes, he may not have heard of the word padding all his years in the House before now because it was done then with the cooperation of all, with nobody feeling cheated. Padding has become a public issue today because the ‘padders’ fell out. If they did not, we would not have heard about the case. But can Dogara be judge in his own case?

  • Budget blues

    T appears the row over the budget will never end. Right from the outset, the budget has been dogged by controversy. There was no stage of the document that did not have its own drama. Whether at the compilation, preparation, appropriation, documentation or signing stage, it was one drama after the other. It is as if we have never seen a budget go through the mill since the return to democracy in 1999. Yet, between then and now, 15 budgets have been presented to the National Assembly by a sitting president.

    Budget 2016 seems to have a life and a story of its own. These two elements derive from the persona of the person of the president, who we can safely call the author of the budget. The budget bears the imprimatur of President Muhammadu Buhari. He may not have personally prepared the budget, but his influence over its preparation cannot be ruled out. Known as a man of integrity, this attribute would have been at the back of the minds of those who worked on the budget.

    In discharging this onerous task, top officials of the various ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) charged with this task must have been guided by the philosophy of the president that every kobo must be accounted for. To account for every kobo, there must be transparency and prudence in the compilation of the fiscal document, which will guide the nation’s spending during the year. Some of them tried to play games with the process by adding their own figures to some areas of the budget. It was a trick that they used in the past and got away with. But this time around, with the wind of change blowing across the country, it was not business as usual.

    The president caused the process to be double checked with the eyes of an elder and it was found that certain things just did not add up. Since then, the budget has been reeling from one case of padding to the other. Officials of MDAs started this padding, which from all indications did not start with the 2016 Budget. It is more than certain that our budgets since 1999 would have been tampered with one way or the other by these people, who know where to hide some cash and how to get it out when the time comes. A budget cabal, it seems, exists in every ministry, department and agency.

    This cabal knows that without the National Assembly, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to steal from the budget. So, it infiltrated the National Assembly, with which it has been working for the past 17 years to steal our money via appropriations. The chicken has come home to roost with what is playing out among leaders of the House of Representatives. The lower chamber’s debacle clearly shows that there is something intrinsically wrong with the way our budgets have been appropriated over the years. The lawmakers, who are supposed to be the representatives of the people, have turned budget appropriation into an avenue for stealing.

    Under the guise of making a case for projects in their constituencies, they appropriate funds under bogus heads and when the cash is released they, in connivance with top officials of MDAs, take the money and share. Abdulmumin Jibrin, until about two weeks ago, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, knows all the tricks deployed in this budget-for-project-scam. His committee worked on the 2016 Budget and from what he is saying today, the panel did not do a good job. Instead, it was more interested in serving the needs of members under the pretence of serving the people.

    Members were using their influence to get money appropriated for fictitious projects, which cash will end up in their pockets. Jibrin, according to some members, was also into the game. He was said to have asked some of his colleagues to name projects for their constituencies which would be included in the budget. In some cases, he was said to have told his colleagues that he had put projects and appropriated money for them in the budget on their behalf. Just like that! Yes, just like that! Some played along with Jibrin, others allegedly raised the alarm, but nothing came out of it because Speaker Yakubu Dogara and Deputy Speaker Yusuff Lasun seemed to know what was going on.

    If they knew, as their colleagues are saying, why did the presiding officers keep quiet? Is it that they benefited from Jibrin’s ‘generosity’, that is if we can call what he did generous? We would not have heard of this matter if Jibrin had not been removed as the appropriations committee chairman. His removal, which he prefers to call resignation, triggered the budget padding scandal in the House. What annoyed him, he said, was the statement credited to Dogara who he supported with all he had for the speakership last year. He said Dogara painted him black, pointing out that the speaker’s statement suggested that he abused his position as committee chairman. Didn’t he?

    Known to be a fighter with the way he mounted the Dogara-for-speaker campaign, which no doubt fetched him the committee job, Jibrin is deploying the same arsenal and zeal in fighting the speaker over this budget padding matter. The speaker, Lasun, Chief Whip Ado Doguwa and Minority Leader Leo Ogor, among others, he alleged, wanted to appropriate to themselves N40 billion out of the N100 billion earmarked for the 360-member House. In all, he said the over N6 trillion budget was padded with N284 billion. Dogara has described his estranged friend as a blackmailer and asked him to withdraw the allegation or face legal action.

    Jibrin has said he would not withdraw the claim, daring the speaker to go to court. Before they go to court, Nigerians will be interested in knowing whether or not both of them benefited from the padding of the budget. Reason: It is now certain that some figures, which should not be there, found their way into the budget despite all the president’s efforts to ensure that that did not happen. Our lawmakers are just too much. See how they beat the president in his anti-graft war. Right under his nose, they smuggled their own figures into the budget and he signed it without knowing. I do not know what could be worse than using the president to perfect what could be called stealing from the budget.

    As if the president knew. Little wonder, he initially refused to sign the budget until the lawmakers removed some of the padded figures. How do we remove the remaining padded figures from the budget and bring those responsible to justice? This should be an urgent task for the law enforcement agencies.

  • This too shall pass

    It is no longer news that Nigeria is in a recession. What should be paramount now is how to get us out of it. That, we have been told, will be this quarter, which is July to September. With July ending on Sunday, that means we have two months left to ensure that the recession does not drag further. If it extends beyond this quartet to the next, we may be heading for another thing entirely, but certainly not depression, which name alone connotes fear.

    Last week’s confirmation by the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, that the nation is in a recession caught many off guard. Though we have known for long that things are not economically okay with the country, we did not know that they were of recessional proportion. A recession is not something to be afraid of because countries do get in and out of it, where properly managed. We can also get out of this recession, if we do the right things. Here is where the government should take the lead.

    Adeosun has assured us that we have nothing to fear. Again, I want to believe her, but all the same the people are still afraid. Reason : they have never before been confronted like this with the hard fact of a recession. Many are still wondering what she meant by a recession. ‘’Does it mean that the economy is dead?’’ ‘’How will we manage under this situation?’’ Will we still be able to afford the basic necessities of life?’’ ‘’Can we believe the government that things will change for the better soon?’’ These are some of the questions many Nigerians who are afraid of these times are asking. These are indeed trying times, which require the thick-skinned to survive.

    Having endured terrible economic times in the past, we cannot blame our people if they feel that they are still being asked to show more understanding before things get better. When will that be, they are wont to ask. Many find it hard to trust the government and you cannot blame them. They have been asked often times to tighten their belts, which they did, but those who made that request never practised what they preached. They slackened their own belts to acquire more from our commonwealth, while we, the people, languished in penury.

    This recession is all about tightening our belts until things improve in the third quarter. The improvement will be hinged on how well Adeosun and her Budget and Planning counterpart Senator Udoma Udo Udoma handle the economy. The prospects, according to Adeosun, are bright. Hear her : ‘’We are not the only country in a recession; many countries are doing far worse than us. But for Nigeria, what Nigerians want to know is ‘how’s that going to affect me’ and I want to assure everybody that what we are doing is going to work and it’s going to turn this economy around’’.

    How will this recession affect Nigerians? I expected Mrs Adeosun to dwell more on that when she appeared before the Senate last Thursday. But, she did not; she just mentioned it in passing. The only way Nigerians will make sacrifice during this recession is if they know how it will affect them. I had expected the minister to break it down in terms of naira and kobo so that we will know what we are facing. It is not the Buhari administration’s fault that we have found ourselves in the position we are economically today. It is, however, his administration’s lot to get us out of our economic mess.

    It is the cumulative effect of  past misdeeds that led to the two negative quarters growth we experienced between January and last month. It is soothing that Adeosun and Udoma are assuring the public that with what the government is doing we would soon be out of the woods. The government must work assiduously towards that because most of what we are going through today were brought about by some policies, whether made now or in the past. According to economists, high lending rates which reduce borrowing and investment, falling wages, falling consumer confidence, credit crunch, inflation and appreciation in exchange rate are some of the causes of recession.

    We cannot gloss over the fact that for quite sometime, the lending rates have been so high that businesses are complaining. Salaries too have become irregular. In some cases, workers go without pay for months and when they eventually get paid their purchasing power is reduced because of the enormous debts hanging over their heads. Banks are facing liquidity crunch, making it difficult for them to perform their roles as lenders. There are many medium/small scale enterprises that require loans to push their businesses, but they cannot get credit facility because the banks are going through hard times. What do we have to say about the exchange rate, with the naira selling for over N300 to the dollar at the official market.  We can go on and on. The brunt of the matter is that Nigerians are suffering.

    Even before the national recession set in, the personal economies of many have been in a recession, making  life harsh, brutish and short. Some have died from inability to pay hospital bills of as low as N500; some cannot afford to pay house rent or their children’s school fees; some have resorted to begging with their babies to make ends meet, yet they have continued to endure with the belief that tomorrow go better, to borrow a local slang. Yes,  this (recession) too shall pass, but by then, we pray that many of us would not be in the grave.

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) may have set the ball rolling in getting us out of recession, by raising the interest rate from 12 per cent to 14 per cent after its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja on Tuesday. Banks have been cheating depositors for long, paying them little or no interests on their savings, while they charge very high lending rates. The nation may have found itself in a recession today because of the activities of these banks. It is heartening that for once, the CBN is acting like a true regulator. If only it had acted like this before now, we may not be where we are today.

    It is never too late to do the right thing. If the CBN is canvassing pro-people policies today, it is a sign of good things to come and that sooner than later, we will not be talking of recession but of a swinging economy.

  • Are the gods angry?

    Who is safe in the country today? With what is happening nationwide, it seems nobody is safe except those in power. Even at that how safe are they? Most of them move about with a busload of security men, carrying guns and bombs when we are not at war. Those who can afford it hire private guards and arm them to the teeth. With their money, they secure their lives, yet they are not safe too. They are not safe because they cannot move about freely like you and I . They know the consequences of trying to walk on the streets alone.

    They cannot engage in the leisure of a stroll. To take a stroll could amount to ending up in the lair of kidnappers. For every Nigerian, whether young or old, rich or poor these are not the best of times. These are times that try the souls of men. Every day we are confronted with evil not only at night but also in the day time. The evil doers no longer strike under the cover of darkness; they have become so daring that they strike under the brightness of the sun. To them, there is no difference between sunshine and darkness.

    It was in days past that daylight frightened evil doers; these days, it emboldens them because they control the instrument of fear – arms. It was the late Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe that said only a mad man will argue with the man with a gun. How true. Only God knows where they get the guns from. The worrisome thing is that those carrying these guns are teenagers, young boys barely out of school, but who have chosen the world of crime. Under the guise of unemployment, they have turned themselves into criminals. They engage in everything evil, believing that, that is the easiest way to wealth. Unfortunately, many of them are graduates. Instead of using their knowledge for the betterment of society, they are using it to kill, maim, rape and kidnap.

    There is no part of the country where they are not found and they go by all sorts of fanciful names to instil fear in people. ‘’Fear’’, the legendary novelist James Hardly Chase said, ‘’is the key that opens the wallet of the rich’’. Fear no longer only opens the wallet of the rich but also of the poor. These young marauders do not distinguish between the rich and the poor when they strike. To them, everybody is fair game. It is after they have struck that they look at the size of their victims’ purses. May we not walk on the day the road is famished. This is the prayer we all say daily before leaving home. But the thing is evil no longer waits for people on the road, it stalks them at home.

    The other day at Arepo in Ogun State, a family was having a quiet time at home when its generator suddenly went off. The father asked the son to go and see what happened. The next thing he saw was his boy being led back into the house by some gunmen. They fled with the poor man through the river behind his house. The abductors were said to have called to demand N10 million ransom from the family. I cannot say if the family was able to raise the money, but it has been over four weeks since the incident happened at the Orange Estate. Since then, a combined team of soldiers and riot policemen has been deployed in Arepo. With their presence there has been some respite in the community, but for how long will we know peace before the hoodlums return?

    We used to be troubled by pipeline vandals before kidnappers and assassins took over. Some weeks before the aforesaid kidnap, a man was killed as he returned home from vigil. In Ondo State, a monarch was kidnapped last month in his palace. Last Monday, the paramount ruler of Bokkos in Plateau State was killed by hoodlums. Things that were unheard of in the past are now happening across the country. Monarchs that are deified by the people have become easy prey to kidnappers. It is taboo to speak ill of traditional rulers not to talk of snatching them from their palaces. All these are now in the past as these scoundrels are no respecter of persons and institutions. To them, there is no difference between a monarch and a serf. They give them the same treatment without giving a hoot about the status of the monarch. Are they not inviting a curse on their heads with their own hands? Do they really care? I do not think they do because if they did, they would not be snatching monarchs from their palaces.

    Last Saturday night, they struck at Iba and took away the Oniba, Oba Yushau Goriola Oseni, from his palace. The monarch was in his room with his wife when they arrived. Their noise attracted him and the olori and when he came out to see what was amiss, they bundled him away. They fled through the bush path behind the palace. His family has been waiting to hear from the abductors to know what they want. But they have kept the family in suspense. They are playing the waiting game; they know that the family will be anxious to hear from the kabiyesi and also from them, especially on what they want. What will they want if not money? Why don’t they just come out and make their demand and put the family’s mind at rest?

    Why is all this happening? Did we offend the gods? According to the sage, when a child trips, he walks on; but when an elder stumbles, he turns back to ascertain what is wrong.  Why are the gods angry with us? What will they take to forgive us? We need to make propitiation to stop these sacrilegious acts happening across the country.

    For how long will we be under the mercy of hoodlums who have made our lives miserable? If they can go into palaces to kidnap kings, what becomes of those of us who are not royalty? It is sad that these boys breach our security at will. At times, they strike right under the nose of security men and get away. This is why they have become terror in the land and believe that they can take out their target at anytime without coming to harm. It is in a society where there is no law that there is no crime. In a society full of laws like ours, criminals should have no place. So, Acting Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Ibrahim Idris has a herculean task to rid society of these boys.

    Idris’ job is cut out for him. He cannot be in office and hoodlums will be terrorising the people of the country he is mandated to secure. It is not an easy job, but it is one that he must discharge so that the hoodlums will know that there cannot be two masters in a ship. The new sheriff in town must prove to these hoodlums that he is equal to the task. As the IGP, our safety lies in Idris’ hands. Will he watch and allow hoodlums to finish us off?

  • A preacher’s path

    Itinerant preaching did not just start today; it is as old as time. You may have come across these itinerant preachers in your neighbourhood as they go about doing their thing, inviting people to the Way. You may not like them, but you cannot hate their messages – if you care to listen. Most times, we are in a hurry, either rushing to work or dashing out to keep that important appointment that we do not have the time for these preachers. With a bell in hand, a megaphone and a Bible, they trudge the streets on evangelism.

    To them, it is all about propagating the faith so that the work of “our Father who art in Heaven” can be done. They do the work zealously. They do not care if their words sear souls. That is the purpose, anyway, so as to get ‘’the lost sheep’’ to change their ways. The Good Book says there is only one way to heaven and that is through Jesus. According to the Bible, he is the “way, the truth and the life”. The preachers’ job is to call people to this Way. Having given their own lives, these preachers believe that they owe it a duty to ‘’save’’ others to free themselves from guilt.

    They are only acting according to God’s admonition in Ezekiel 33 : 8-9 : ‘’When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul’’. The itinerant preacher perceives himself as winning souls for God; this is why he uses the Word to captivate his listeners.

    Whether in the morning or in the evening he has his job cut out for him. ‘’Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’’, he cries to our hearing, but how many of us listen? These days, the itinerant preacher is no longer a lone voice in the wilderness like in the days of John the Baptist. They abound everywhere in the country as they have gone into the world, as directed by Jesus,  ‘’to preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth…shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned”. The itinerant preacher is not on a frolic of his own, but carrying out the Lord’s commandment.

    We may despise the preacher, but we cannot disdain his or her God to whom we owe the essence of our being. In the free world we are today, we need the itinerant preacher to awaken us; this does not mean that atheists will cease to exist. But by hearing the word of God, their hearts might be touched and they may give their lives and end up being another Apostle Paul. According to the Bible, we can never say who will enter the kingdom of heaven. Many of us going about wearing our faith as a badge of honour may end up not making it, while latter day converts or even sinners, who repent at the last minute, like the thief on Jesus’ right hand on the Cross of Calvary, may enter God’s Kingdom.

    Through their work, the itinerant preachers are trying to get us to lead a righteous life. But many of us tend to see them as irritants, who disturb our sleep early in the morning or our rest in the evening with their ‘unsolicited’ preaching. ‘’Didn’t the Bible say they should shake the dust off their feet in homes where they are not welcomed?’’ some would ask. The truth is by standing on the streets to preach, they are not in anybody’s home. The public space belongs to them just like any other person. So, we should learn to tolerate them.The problem is we are intolerant when it comes to religion. We always want to have it our own way when religion is at the heart of the matter. The Muslim is intolerant of the Christian and vice versa.

    It is this intolerance that led to the dastardly killing, last Saturday,  of Deaconess Eunice Olawale during her daily “Morning Cry” preaching in Kubwa, a satellite town in Abuja. What could she have done to have warranted been killed in cold blood a few metres away from her home? Was her preaching disturbing anybody? Did such people complain to the community development association (CDA) so that she could be called to order? But no matter how some might have felt about her preaching, killing her was not the solution. Her death will not deter other preachers. Rather, it will embolden them.

    By killing Mrs Olawale, her killers have made her a martyr for Christ. She died doing what she believed in – winning souls for God. I know some would have been touched by her preaching and saved. These ones will always pray for her whenever they remember what she did in their lives. Deaconess Olawale may have died young, but it is not how far, but how well. She fought a good fight and ran a swift race in the Lord’s vineyard and a crown of glory is surely waiting for her. As the Bible says, those who die in Christ are not dead, but sleeping and will rise with Jesus on the Last Day.

    Deaconess Olawale’s death is a challenge to the police. The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command must do everything to bring her killers to book. Someone must have seen or heard something that fateful day. It is the job of the police to ferret out such people so that they can get a lead to crack this case. Acting Inspector-General of Police (IGP)  Ibrahim Idris, who assumed duty last month, should also see it as a top priority case, which will define his tenure in office. If he cracks this case, it would earn him kudos and pave the way for his success. If he does not, it would be what he will be remembered by long after he has retired. The police chief should not allow the voice of the ‘’Morning Crier’’ of Kubwa to be stilled without justice being done.

     

  • INEC’s misadventure

    The fact of the right of appeal to the Court of Appeal granted by the constitution under Section 220 (1), and afortiori, to the Supreme Court under Section 213 (1) of the same constitution is in itself tantamount to a stay of execution, for the legislature cannot grant the right to the appellant to argue his appeal and expect him to argue it as a dead man.
    – Justice Anthony Aniagolu in Nasiru Bello v AG Oyo State (1986).

    It is the glory and wisdom of our constitution, that to prevent any injustice, no man is to be concluded by the first judgement, but that if he apprehends himself to be aggrieved, he has another court to which he can resort to for relief.
    – Justice Chukwudifu Oputa in Bakare v Apena (1986).

    Thirty years ago, Nasiru Bello was sentenced to death by firing squad for armed robbery by the Oyo State High Court. His counsel assured him that he had a right of appeal and that he would not be executed until he exhausted that right. He was mistaken. On the advice of the attorney-general of the state, the governor ordered Bello’s execution and he was executed before his appeal was heard. Then began the battle by his family members for compensation because, according to them,  they have been deprived of their breadwinner’s support. They lost at the high and appeal courts and the matter went to the Supreme Court.

    The public wondered what will be the Supreme Court’s take on the matter. Will it uphold Bello’s execution as an open and close case  just as the high and appeal courts did? The issue at stake in Bello’s case was whether he should have been executed when he had appealed the verdict. Unlike a civil matter, there is nothing like applying for stay of execution of judgement in a criminal case. All a condemned man needs do is to exercise his right of appeal up to the Supreme Court. It is deemed that the appeal will act as a stay until the case is determined. This is why a condemned man like Chukwuemeka Ezeugo aka Rev King was not executed during the pendency of  his appeal at the appeal and Supreme courts. He was convicted by the Lagos High Court over nine years ago on January 11, 2007. The Supreme Court affirmed the verdict last February 25.

    As I write this on Tuesday night, Rev King is still on the death row. I have used the cases of Bello and King as analogies to discuss the vexed issue of stay of execution of judgement following recent developments in Abia State. A Federal High Court last June 27 sacked the governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue the plaintiff, Dr Uchechukwu Ogah, a certificate of return (CoR) “forthwith”. INEC complied with the order ‘’immediately’’, despite being served with a notice of appeal and a motion for stay of execution of the judgement. In matters like this, opinions always differ, especially among lawyers, the very people who should know better, because of vested interests.

    Ogah’s lawyers are arguing that INEC did the right thing because its action, though misguided, favoured them. The Ikpeazu camp is, expectedly, condemning the commission for not waiting for the determination of its appeal before issuing Ogah the CoR. The Ikpeazu group tried to nip the Abia crisis in the bud. It wrote INEC intimating it of the filing of its appeal and a motion for stay, but the commission ignored the correspondence, issued Ogah the CoR and threw Abia into crisis. What would it have cost INEC to tarry until the disposal of the appeal before doing the needful? It would have cost the commission nothing.

    To now seek to hide under what it called the ‘immediacy’ requirement of Justice Okon Abang’s order to justify its action will not fly. INEC did not think it through before acting. Its action was hasty and unjustified though the court ordered it to act ‘’forthwith’’. If it were to be a criminal matter like that of Rev King, would the commission have executed him when his appeal is pending citing the ‘immediacy’ of the judge’s order? Public institutions like INEC, which should be non-partisan, must try as much as possible to stay so. They should like Caesar’s wife be above board. Why the hurry in issuing Ogah the CoR when the commission had already been served with processes showing that the case had gone on appeal?

    By its action, INEC constituted itself into an appellate court. By its action, it has concluded that Ikpeazu has no chance on appeal. By its action, it has shown its bias. By its action, it has decided that come what may Ogah will be the governor. So, because it has the CoR in large quantity, it should be issuing it anyhow? When its National Commissioner for Southeast, Ambassador Lawrence Nwuruku, made that careless statement on national television last June 29, I felt like throwing up.  As an umpire, INEC is required to be neutral and must be seen to be so; it should not join the fray. INEC ran into trouble because it interpreted the judgement by itself. If it had consulted its lawyers, it would have received experts’ advice which may have prevented the mess it has created in Abia.

    If the situation were beyond redemption like in the Bello case, the nation would have been foisted with a fait accompli. Thank God that despite INEC’s action, the situation is still redeemable. The courts and not INEC would have the last say on the matter. Truly,  an appeal does not constitute a stay, but it serves as a notice that the case is still hot and alive.  Being that the case, should the appellant be thrown out of office before the determination of his appeal? The answer is no. So, on being served with a notice of appeal, a law abiding person is not expected to take any action to destroy the subject matter of the case because he wants to enjoy the fruits of litigation. Unfortunately, this is what INEC did by issuing Ogah the CoR after being served with Ikpeazu’s appeal.

    The late Justice Aniagolu was unsparing of the Oyo State Government in his concurring judgement in the Bello case. Noting that the government “hastily and illegally snuffed off the life of an appellant whose appeal was pending without regard for the life and liberty of the subject and the principle of the rule of law”, the late justice said : “The brutal incident has bespattered the face of the government with the paintbrush of shame”. So has INEC’s handling of the Ikpeazu-Ogah matter brought it to public ridicule and scorn. But, we hope this is not the new face of INEC under the  Prof Mahmood Yakubu leadership.

  • Shared fate

    For Senate President Bukola Saraki and his deputy, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, these are not the best of times. The duo have been going through a rough patch since they became leaders of the eighth Senate through what some consider to be unfair means. They were said to have forged the Senate Rules to facilitate their coming to office on June 9, last year. Saraki and Ekweremadu do not belong to the same party. Saraki is of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC); Ekweremadu belongs to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    As the majority party, APC has the prerogative of filling the principal offices of Senate president and deputy Senate president. Acting under the principle that the party is supreme, the APC leadership settled for Senator Ahmad Lawan from Yobe State as its candidate for Senate president and asked its members to support him. Some members kicked, saying the party could not decide who their leader should be in the Senate since it is not made up of APC loyalists alone. As presently constituted, APC has 57 members in the Senate, PDP, 45 and Labour Party (LP), one; six seats are vacant. Then, it was APC, 59 and PDP, 49 because of the death of APC’s Senator-elect Khalifa Ahmed Zanna from Borno State..

    Among those who kicked against the party’s position was Saraki, who was also interested in the Senate presidency. His supporters went all out to campaign for him and castigated the party for meddling in what they called the Senate’s internal affairs. The APC insisted on Lawan despite the antics of the Saraki loyalists. To break the logjam, President Muhammadu Buhari invited the APC senators to a meeting at the International Conference Centre (ICC) in Abuja on June 9, the day he had fixed for the proclamation of the National Assembly. By now, there was a split in the rank of APC senators, with the creation of two opposing camps – the Unity Forum and the Like Minds.

    Lawan’s supporters are in the Unity Forum; those for Saraki belong to the Like Minds. The Unity Forum members went for the meeting, which eventually did not hold; their Like Minds counterparts, who seemed to be aware that the Senate will be inaugurated that day in accordance with the president’s letter to the Clerk of the National Assembly, were on the floor of the chamber in full force. They came prepared for the election of the Senate president and his deputy. Armed with the supposedly amended Senate Rules, which allow the  inauguration of the Senate without its full complement of members, the clerk proceeded with his job and called for nominations for the post of Senate president. Saraki was nominated unopposed, while Lawan and his loyalists watched the proceedings on television dumbfounded from the ICC.

    APC’s Ali Ndume vied for the deputy Senate presidency with Ekweremadu. With the PDP members outnumbering their APC colleagues at that sitting, Ekweremadu won hands down. The truth is God saved APC from losing the Senate presidency too. If PDP had contested the position with APC, it might have won because it had the number to carry the day, but it refrained from the race because of what some political pundits described as the understanding it had with Saraki, who was a member of the party before he defected to APC. Since then Saraki and Ekweremadu have become conjoined politically. With their shared destinies, they have been facing good and bad times together since June 9, 2015.

    Reason: the Senate Rules under which they became presiding officers are said to have been forged. Who forged the rules? This is the puzzle Justice Yusuf Haliru of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court is to unravel in the trial of Saraki, Ekweremadu, former Clerk of the Senate Salihu Abubakar Maikasuwa and Deputy Clerk Benedict Efeturi. They appeared in court last Monday and were granted bail. Their trial begins on July 11. Beyond the trial is what Saraki and Ekweremadu said after their arraignment last Monday. Saraki believes that he is being persecuted by the Presidency, which he claims ‘’is distracting the nation with its inability to move beyond a leadership election among Senate peers’’.

    Accusing Attorney-General Abubakar Malami of filing trumped up charges against them, Saraki asked : ‘’How does this promote public interest and benefit the nation…however, what has become clear is that there is now a government within the government of President Buhari which has seized the apparatus of executive powers to pursue its nefarious agenda. This latest onslaught against the legislature represents a clear and present danger to the democracy Nigerians fought hard to win and preserve’’. Not to be outdone, Ekweremadu said it ‘’is democracy and not the defendants that is on a ridiculous trial’’.

    He went on : ‘’This grotesque display of vindictiveness, arrogance and mindless targeting of innocent citizens should find no sanctuary in our democracy’’. Replying Saraki, presidential spokesman Femi Adesina said his ‘’allegation is not worth the paper on which it is written as anybody can wake from a troubled sleep and say anything…pretending to carry an imaginary cross is mere obfuscation, if, indeed, a criminal act has been committed. But we leave the courts to judge’’.

    Yes, the ball is in Justice Haliru’s court and milord has promised to dispense justice without fear or favour, affection or ill will. Saraki and Ekweremadu too should concentrate on defending themselves instead of making incendiary statements. What will it profit them if through their statements they heat up the polity? A clear conscience has nothing to fear. The law presumes that they are innocent until otherwise proven. The onus is on the prosecution to prove its allegation that the Senate Rules were forged. If, indeed, they were forged, who did it? This is the trillion naira question, which no amount of political chicanery can answer. Only evidence, credible evidence, at that, can answer the question.

    No matter how much the attorney-general may hate their faces, assuming that is the case, he cannot get them convicted without proving his case beyond reasonable doubt. The nation is watching how the case will go because it is the number three citizen that is being tried not just anybody that was randomly picked off the street for an offence he did not commit. Will this case sink Saraki and Ekweremadu or will they swim out of it?

  • Their American journey

    It is not April; so forget it, this is not an April Fool’s tale. Though it happened in April, the scandal blew open few days ago through the United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr James Entwistle. By now, every Nigerian knows about the envoy’s  complaint on the supposed indiscretion of three members of the House of Representatives during a trip to the US for a leadership programme. While taking part in the programme, they were said to have also gone for some extra curricula programme, which the US finds embarrassing.

    A member of the House of Representatives is not just any Nigerian; he is a high ranking member of society who many look up to. As such, a person that we all look up to must conduct himself at all times with decorum. He must not be seen engaging in activities that will bring opprobrium to him and his high office. Being a member of the National Assembly of the Federal Republic, a parliamentarian is a gold fish with no hiding place. What he does or does not do will always attract attention.

    This is why the ambassador’s allegations that these parliamentarians conducted themselves in an unbecoming manner have been generating heat. And I believe that Ambassador Entwistle knows the implications of accusing our lawmakers of ‘’soliciting for prostitutes’’ and ‘’grabbing a housekeeper to solicit for sex’’ before he made them. Is it that there are no more women in Nigeria? Or is it that the Oyinbo woman is sweeter than her black counterpart? The ambassador’s allegations are grave and they can damage the reputation of the affected men. But who are these people at the centre of this sexual scandal?

    Of course, you would have read about them elsewhere by now. They are Mohammed Garba Gololo, Samuel Ikon and Mark Gbillah. From the tone of Entwistle’s letter to Speaker Yakubu Dogara, the matter, it seems, may have been resolved quietly if the lawmakers had shown ‘’remorse’’. The envoy appeared to have been forced by the lawmakers’ lack of contrition to petition Dogara. If the lawmakers had accepted that they acted indiscreetly and apologised, does that mean Mr Ambassador would have kept quiet and swept the matter under the carpet?

    According to his petition, ‘’members of this group reacted very negatively to my deputy when she brought this matter to their attention, further calling into question their judgement and commitment to the goals of the International Visitor Leadership Programme’’. Did the lawmakers do what the ambassador  accused them of doing? Was that why they reacted the way they did when they were confronted by Entwistle’s deputy? My advice to these parliamentarians is that they should bottle their anger. Yes, it may be annoying to be accused of something that one did not do, but who will believe them in this circumstance if instead of addressing the issue, they allow their emotions to rule them?

    Whatever they do, they should bear in mind, the calibre of the person that has made these allegations against them? So, it is his word against theirs. The ambassador alleged that Gololo grabbed a housekeeper in his hotel room and solicited her for sex and also claimed that Gbillah and Ikon requested parking attendants to assist them to solicit for prostitutes. Trust Nigerians, this matter has become topic of discussions in parks, game centres and beer parlours. In the eyes of the public, the lawmakers are guilty as alleged by the ambassador. But in the eyes of the law, they are not because, according to the law, he who alleges must prove. Does the ambassador have proof of the lawmakers’ alleged indiscretions?

    If he has, this is the time to produce the evidence and expose the lawmakers for who they are. But if there is no such proof, we may not be asking for too much to say that he should apologise to the lawmakers for bringing them to public ridicule. But, if  I were Gololo, Ikon and Gbillah, I will do away with legal niceties in order to prove my innocence. I will tell the world my itinerary for the one week – April 7 to 13 – that the leadership programme took place in Cleveland, Ohio, US. Where I was each day of the programme and what I did will be made public to let the world know that the ambassador is trying to, as they say, give a dog a bad name in order to hang it.

    Thank God that the House has taken up the matter. The nation, nay the world, is waiting to see how it will handle the case. The House knows that there can be no cover up because the US is interested in the matter. The country sees what happened as an affront to it and if I know the US well, it will not rest until justice is done. I am not saying that we should sacrifice Gololo, Ikon and Gbillah in order to satisy the US. If they did not commit the alleged indiscretions, their fellow lawmakers should say so and stand by them. But if they did, they must pay for their actions for bringing shame to their fatherland in a foreign land.

    The US may have already passed judgement on them by revoking their visas, but we should not act like that. We should judge them based on the evidence produced by the US. So far, the US’ action is predicated on the fact that it is on sure ground. This is why the lawmakers must do everything possible to repudiate the ambassador’s claims. As stated earlier, it is the ambassador’s word against theirs. People will believe the ambassador more than the lawmakers; so they are fighting from the position of weakness. The only thing that can save them is to produce concrete evidence to counter the envoy’s allegations. Anything short of that, nobody will believe their stories that they did not do it; that is the unfortunate thing.

    I am saying this because I want to give them the benefit of doubt. It is possible that they did not do it and it is not impossible that they did it. The lawmakers have been insisting on their innocence, while the US has stuck to its guns that they were indiscreet. Who is right? Who is wrong? As Dogara tweeted last Sunday, ‘’together with the US Embassy in Nigeria, we (House) will get to the bottom of this matter and until then, let’s not be judgemental’’. The earlier this case is resolved the better for US-Nigeria relations.