The Nation Newspaper

Category: Tuesday

  • Asaba: Beautiful without ‘Okada’

    Asaba: Beautiful without ‘Okada’

    Asaba, the capital city of Delta State always amazes me. I don’t know whether to say that it is a city that is often on the threshold of history or a city that attracts history to itself. Whichever one it is, Asaba sits in a vintage place where it enjoys the cynosure of activities not only from Niger Deltans but Igbos across the Niger. For Asaba, its major beauty and attractive tendency lies basically on that well-known handshake across the Niger, a handshake that breeds good neighbourliness, love and peace.

    But that is even besides the point here now. I hadn’t been to this wonderful city in the past couple of months. When I arrived there a few days ago to board a bus back to Lagos, the sparkling cleanliness and the orderliness of the town stunned me to my marrow. For many years, Asaba had been a place I held so dear to my heart. Due to a nasty experience I had in the hands of thugs and motor park touts when I was in the university many years ago, I never bothered to stop over at Upper Iweka section of Onitsha, Anambra State to board a bus to Lagos. For me Upper Iweka is a no-go area, a nightmare, a total contrast to the peaceful orderliness of Asaba.

    So, as usual on Sunday, the 25th of last month I headed to Asaba from Onitsha for an onward journey to Lagos. As soon as I arrived Asaba, two issues, very basic ones at that, quickly arrested my attention. One, I immediately noticed that there were no Okadas (Motor bikes) plying the roads. Second, I noticed that there were a lot of Keke NAPEP (Tricycles) stationed at different road junctions in the city.

    I was a bit taken aback when I asked and was told that I couldn’t enjoy a quick ride on a motorbike from that end of Ogbo-ogologo to Ibusa junction by Asaba – Benin Expressway. Traditionally I love to ply on Okada because it is easier and faster to get to my destination. Secondly I don’t usually need any protocol to make it happen. And so for me Okada is it especially at the point of emergency.

    So you can imagine how disorganized and perplexed I was on that early Sunday morning. However, the truth is that the ban on Okada has made Asaba more dignifying. Orderliness is the second nature of the town now. There is total respect for pedestrians and for human lives. People stroll and trek without fear of being run over by Okada. The level of decorum and decency in the city truly brought me back to my undue ‘love’ for Okada. For me then and even now, Okada constitutes evil; it belongs to the past as far as city transportation is concerned.

    Here is a city thriving now on good organization, good transport system which makes a total mockery of why we even degenerated to the level of allowing Okada to operate in the first place. What is the essence of Okada in a place like Asaba where there is plenty net work of good roads? Now with the introduction of Keke NAPEP, movement has completely become more secured, more assured and more pleasantly enjoyable.

    As I stood there pondering over what to do, a good Samaritan, for Asaba has a dose of such people, strolled over to me to find out what was amiss. After I told him my dilemma, he beckoned on me to follow him. At the junction not too far from the spot, he pointed to a Keke NAPEP park opposite. “They’ll solve your problem over there,” he said gently and then took his leave. With this, I was again reassured.

    With just N200, I boarded one Keke to the Ibusa highway junction to get a bus to Lagos. For me, it was the best form of picking a taxi drop. My interaction with the Keke NAPEP Operator was also instructive. Not only that the guy, who gave his name simply as Ikenna, is a native of Ogbunike, in Anambra State, he was equally more relaxed driving his Keke gently than being on the fast lane for which Okada is known.

    “My brother,” he said to me in the course of our conversation, “it is good to do what I am doing now. Okada is no good. In fact let’s give kudos to Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan whose love for the lives of the people first informed his decision to ban Okada,” Ikenna squirmed.

    He admitted that when the ban was first made, they almost went mad with anger. Everybody said it would not work. People kicked against it. Even some called the governor names, saying he was against the people. But it is a different story today. Asaba is cool, like a maiden on the threshold of her wedding. The city bubbles with clean smell and fresh coziness. You can’t take it away from Governor Uduaghan, a thorough-bred medical doctor who understands the ugliness of the Okada menace and how they have rendered a lot of people dead, legless, lifeless, handless and so on. The menace, the governor said, had to stop.

    Asaba now beckons on tourists. It welcomes lovers of peace, and promoters of good things of life. No wonder the city is now home to more people who flock into it to develop and invest. Good soup, na money make am, as we usually say in our local parlance. Let the bubble continue as the governor is also set to dismantle a lot of illegal and roadside motor parks in the city. If Asaba will truly wear the toga of an ideal state capital, that should be the next action by the governor.

    Illegal motor parks truly make mince meat of the governor’s efforts to decongest and make Asaba a model and modern town. Not only that the illegal motor park operators extort money from travelers, they usually hoodwink them into believing that what they do is decent and proper.

    Governor Uduaghan has to wade in now to create the necessary imprint. Especially those parks by Ibusa junction, along Asaba – Benin highway, where they usually deceive passengers who would board and may never get to their destinations. They operate with antiquated vehicles and hike fares, promising what they cannot provide.

    If these parks are destroyed forthwith, in no distant time, the city of Asaba will be among, if not the most ideal tourist destination in the country. For those who want to be away from their homes for a while, a stroll to the city of Asaba now provides the required tonic to make life worth living.

    • Azuka is a native of Okoh, Delta State.

     

  • The familiar games of Ekiti opposition

    The familiar games of Ekiti opposition

    The Ekiti opposition had planned their strategy to be debilitating, to hurt the ACN government fatally, at least; and they were riding on the recent NULGE strike in Ekiti State to launch the intensive campaign of hate, as a prelude to a governorship aspirant’s tour of the state.

    The malicious opposition in Ekiti State had apparently bought over some commercial drivers and sent out party faithfuls to pose as passenger-sympathisers of the striking LG wokers on a shuttle of Ekiti routes.

    There were a number of indentical sample cases that helped this writer to draw his conclusion, out of which he personally encountered three. And in each of the cases, the driver of the commercial vehicle had claimed to be a suffering LG worker who eked out a living to survive non-payment of salaries or denial of minimum wage. His sympathiser-passengers would then descend on the state government with diatribes, making the governor their particular target; the governor who was a supposed villian who, allegedly, was “conserving the money (of the state) which is God-given anyway and merely wells up on oil fields for the use of all Nigerians”.

    Their base and crude arguments were laced up with deliberate, libellous statements that were delivered so virulently to intimidate those who might want to challenge their vituperations.

    Of course there were still a few cases where innocent passengers challenged or tried to educate the campaigners either until they discovered that they were talking to sheer blackmailers or until they alighted at their destinations. While deliberate, desperate misinformation was the mission of the malignant opposition, sanity has always been the goal of the Ekiti Government in restruaturing or reforming both the education and local government systems in the state.

    The opposition which would want to catch in on every opportunity of pretence to relevance had decided to over-celebrate the skirmish of the LG wokers and teachers with the Ekiti Government, forgetting totally that sancrosanct sanity can only be faulted temporarily, and certainly at the peril of those who faulted it. With the LG workers in Ekiti State back at work and their demands being met, just as Ekiti teachers are coming to terms with the government’s policy of genuinely raising the standard of teaching to improve the quality of education, we can watch the smart campaign of the opposition to collapse soon and fast.

    Soon, they would realize that they should have accepted , at least in principle , that sanitization of the LG system was a necessity which they, themselves, had attempted while in power, even though without success. The honesty would have won them some admiration, you know, but might have appeared not too politically wise.

    Soon, they would also realize that they had hurt themselves fatally by not accepting the need for educational reforms when there was a dire need for it. They would be ashamed to have instead chosen to canvass the perpetration of negativity in the forms of crushing presence of ghost workers and absentee workers in Local governments and existence of examination magic centres in public schools.

    They were taking the Ekiti people for being gullible, treating them as nincompoops who would not know or care if ghost or absentee workers cheat them; who won’t know that the teachers or schools that indulge in securing undeserved bright results for pupils could render such pupils potentially useless to themselves, to their parents and to the larger society.

    The familiar Ekiti opposition did not even spear time to lament the 16% pass which the Ekiti public schools recorded in the recent WAEC exams. Perhaps they had blamed the John Kayode Fayemi administration which scrapped exam magic centres! One recalls now that some teachers, in an earlier interview, had gaily described exam magic centres as”a vogue all over Nigeria”. The opposition might have borrowed a leaf to say: “It serves the governor right if Ekiti schools recorded low WAEC performance. Why didn’t the Governor leave the teachers to fix results?” What a Pity!

    Apart from the fact that reaping the fruits of travesty does not portend true and real progress anywhere, the positive posture of the current administration in Ekiti State has obliterated all doubts about its intention. But for the cross of reforms in the LGs and the schools that the JKF administration had to courageously carry, the clever Ekiti opposition would have been dazed and deflated by now.

    Nevertheless, the Ekiti opposition’s smartness is already blowing on its face as the tour of the aspirant, at which its reckless mischief was targeted, has failed to draw the projected crowds. Rather, it has met with resistance at each stop.

    Yes, a government’s performance can speak louder than virulent blackmail!

     

    • Oguntoye writes from Oye Ekiti.

     

  • The shame of our prisons

    The shame of our prisons

    Just when you think you have crossed that threshold where nothing in the Nigerian public sphere can shock you, something jolts you out of your smugness.

    No, I am not referring to the N2 billion that President Goodluck Jonathan has asked the National Assembly to appropriate for building a “befitting” banquet hall in Aso Rock, where he can treat his guests to the delights of gourmet cassava bread and fish peppersoup.

    I do not see the delusion of grandeur that some mischievous people have insinuated into the project. On the contrary, I see great vision, and transformative genius. If previous residents of Aso Rock possessed these attributes, they would not only have dreamed up the project, they would have executed it at a fraction of what is now projected. Is it ever too late to do that which is befitting?

    Nor am I referring to N9 billion being requested to complete the official residence of the Vice President, over and above the N7 billion it was projected to cost. Poor Architect Namadi Sambo! Since taking office, he has been squatting in a cramped guest house that is far less swanky than servants’ quarters tucked in a corner of his expansive compound in Zaria, to say nothing about his living quarters on the grounds.

    Instead of praising him for his sacrifice, some so-called analysts have been carping about cost overruns and fiscal recklessness. I commend to them Dr Kingley Mbadiwe’s timeless dictum that those who want greatness must be prepared to finance greatness.

    Nor yet do I have at the back of my mind the vast sums being requisitioned for building new residences for the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The proper authorities have certified that they cannot guarantee the safety of those principal officers of state, aforementioned, in their present quarters.

    That consideration alone should have settled the matter. When they cannot even guarantee the safety of the President and Commander-in-Chief, when they put him in the humiliating position of having to take the salute at the National Day parade behind the fortified walls of Aso Rock, is it any wonder that they cannot guarantee the safety of these lesser officers unless they relocate to fortified quarters?

    In any case, shouldn’t such protection come with the territory? Is it not a crucial aspect of national security?

    It is, to be sure, galling that Mohammed Abacha, son of the repellent dictator Sani Abacha, is openly laying claim to a chunk of the proceeds from what is without question a colossal theft of the national patrimony, namely the Malabu Oil Field. Too much can never be enough for some people. But again, that is not what is on my mind.

    To cut the crap as they say here and come right out with it, what moved me to write this piece is the living conditions of the inmates at the Kuje Medium Security Prisons, in the Abuja Federal Capital Territory reported in this as reported by this newspaper (December 4, 2012, at page 24).

    Even without the picture accompanying it, the story is disquieting enough. Of 507 inmates there are at the time of the report, 424 were awaiting trial, a good many of them for 20 years or longer, without ever having their day in court. Many of them do not know whether they will ever be released. The facility was not designed to hold so many inmates

    The picture could easily pass for a frame from Rwanda’s national archives of horrors. Absent the debris, it can pass for the mass of bodies washed ashore the tsunamis in South-east Asia and Japan. It evokes memories of the “Black Hole of Calcutta” ginned up by Tory historians to justify a further tightening the imperial chokehold. It conjures up haunting images of conditions on the ships that ferried millions of Africans into enslavement in the so-called New World.

    My equanimity was restored somewhat by the finding that the picture was not taken at Kuje Prisons and cannot therefore be presumed to reflect prison conditions there. It is file photo illustrative of just how horrid prison conditions can get, not of conditions in any Nigerian prison.

    Still, as the once merely notorious Lagos Boy and now totally infamous PDP chieftain, Chief (Dr) Olabode George will testify from personal experience, a prison is no holiday resort even if you are housed in its luxury wing.

    Rare is the prisoner who gets that kind of treatment. Gani Fawehinmi, the departed crusading attorney, certainly never got it. So crowded was the prison cell in which he was once held that inmates had to sleep in a foetal position. If anyone was allowed the luxury of lying on his back, some other inmate would have had to stand throughout the night, assuming there was room even for that.

    Wedged in such suffocating juxtaposition for years on end, with no regard for personal hygiene, the inmates are stripped of their humanity. The squalor and degradation breed further degradation and bring out the worst in the inmates.

    For persons who have not been convicted of any offence, it is punishment most cruel and unusual. Even for those who might eventually be convicted, the punishment is already more severe than the law could have envisaged.

    Even convicted persons have rights. There is thus no reason to abridge the rights of persons awaiting trial. The degradation and dehumanisation to which they are subjected has gone on for far too long.

    It is time for the National Human Rights Commission, the National Assembly, religious bodies and civil society groups to take up the plight of our prison inmates with renewed and sustained vigour.

     

  • Osun, Hijrah and equity

    Osun, Hijrah and equity

    This piece is not for the Christian bigot or Muslim fanatic. Neither is it for the emotively misguided, warring for God who could war for Himself. It is rather for the open-minded; with absolutely no hang-up about religion, the bastion of immensely personal faith.

    Look at Nigeria’s green-white-green. Isn’t green rather dull for Nigerians known for their vigour, dynamism and corky pride, when the subject is national bragging rights?

    Why would anyone therefore pick such drab colour for Nigeria, when Britain the departing colonial master had draped itself in a blaze of red, blue and white?

    Why green? A surreptitious tinge of Islamic green, as parting gift to the Sokoto Caliphate and its green flag, for its lasting partnership in the British colonising mission in Nigeria?

    Look at the Nigerian currency: N1, 000, N500, N200 and N100 notes. All have Arabic inscriptions. Yet Nigeria’s lingua franca is English, not Arabic.

    None of Nigeria’s native national communities has Arabic as their mother tongue, though a lot of Muslim scholars and clerics in these communities use Arabic as the Islamic code: for teaching and scholarly discourse; a reality that led the religiously liberal Yoruba to tag Muslims Imale (literally, hard stuff, regarding Arabic), as distinct from Igbagbo (Christianity).

    That tag underscored the relative inaccessibility of Arabic in the local Yoruba community, since they could access Christianity by English (the colonising language) and Yoruba (their mother tongue, thanks to the works of Bishop Ajayi Crowther, who translated the Bible into Yoruba). Islam enjoyed no such twin-luxury of lingo accessibility, even if both religions are bastions of unquestionable faith, and Islam had cohabited with Yoruba traditional beliefs long before the advent of Christianity.

    There appears therefore ample evidence of Islamic symbolism in the panoply of Nigerian national symbols, even if Nigeria is constitutionally a secular state.

    But look at the other side of the religious coin. The government calendar and the routine work-free days are decidedly Christian. The colonial master worked from Monday to Saturday and worshipped on Sunday. So, Nigeria’s official rest day is Sunday, after the Western, Christian calendar.

    Femi Abbas, a Friday columnist with The Nation, has claimed Seventh Day Adventists, a Christian sect, successfully persuaded Gen. Yakubu Gowon to, from half-day, make Saturday a full work-free day, since the Adventists worship on that day. But not even the strong Islamic lobby could persuade the British colonialists and independent Nigerian governments to make Friday, the Muslim rest day, work-free, though Muslims are allowed ample time for Friday Jumat prayers.

    Before aligning the school calendar with the international September-July cycle, the January to December calendar was decidedly Christian. Schools took short breaks in the first term in April (which dovetailed with Easter), second term in August and the end-of-year longer holiday in December (which also dovetailed into the Christian Yuletide, a season in Christendom starting from December 24 – Christmas Eve – to January 6, well beyond the Christian New Year’s Day of January 1).

    Indeed, ever so adaptive Yoruba Christians have promptly tagged Christmas, Odun Kekere (small festival) and New Year’s Day, Odun-Nla (big festival). Besides, the harmless Yuletide wish of “a merry Christmas and happy New Year” holds in its goodwill cheer an imposed Christian calendar.

    Indeed, Yuletide appears some unseen parallel to Saudi Arabia, which theocratic court declares as many as 10 days to celebrate the two Islamic feasts of eid-al-fitr (after Ramadan) and eid-al-adha (which Yoruba adherents simply tag Ileya – literally, “time to go home and feast”).

    The Nigerian case is even more interesting when compared with Egypt, a secular state with a Muslim majority and a sizeable Coptic Christian minority. Egypt, each year, celebrates the Coptic Christmas (January 7), Orthodox Easter (April 25, this year). For the Muslim festivals of eid-al-fatr, it sets aside three days of public holiday, and four days for Qurban (eid-al-adha). It also observes a public holiday for Al-Hijrah, the Islamic New Year, but only recognises what, in most of the Arab world is called the international New Year’s Day, January 1, though on that day, offices remain open.

    From the foregoing therefore, it would appear Nigeria is under the twin-domination of Muslim and Christian symbolisms, which is just as well: since a majority of Nigerians claim to be Christian or Muslim.

    It is also clear that though officially January 1 is not in Nigeria a Christian holiday, its root is Christian. It is the first day in the Gregorian calendar, decreed into being by Pope Gregory XIII on 24 February 1582. Besides, January 1 cannot be totally separated from the international celebration of the Yuletide, the Christmas season.

    That moves the discourse to the hoopla State of Osun Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, caused with his declaration of November 15 as Hijrah (Islamic New Year’s Day) this year.

    Was the governor right by law? No doubt. Was it politic? Not convinced: that the Yoruba are famously tolerant of rival faiths does not eliminate residual Christian-Muslim tensions, which the Hijrah declaration appeared to have goaded in many a Christian psyche.

    Was the declaration legitimate? If legitimacy is interpreted as quiescence in Osun, it would appear so: for while Osun Muslims appear happy and proud of their latest concession from the state, hardly any Christian groups have growled over the holiday.

    So, why the media hue and cry? Perhaps because a governor just accused of putative Islamisation should be very circumspect on religious matters. That is good faith.

    But much of the media flak veered beyond good faith into impish intolerance and sweeping but false claims. The most blatant of these claims that no Arab and Muslim country has Hijra as public holiday is false.

    According to www.schoolholidaysguide.com, Egypt, Malaysia (marked as Awal Muharram), Indonesia, Kuwait and United Arab Emirates (UAE) have Hijrah as public holidays, though all of these countries, except Egypt, also observe January 1 as public holiday. Saudi Arabia runs an official Islamic calendar but does not declare Hijrah a public holiday. Neither does it declare January 1. Hijrah is no public holiday in Pakistan. But Pakistan also only observes January 1 as “banker’s holiday”, according to information on this website.

    Thinking Aregbesola’s Hijrah move is impolitic, therefore, is within the explosive realm of political gains and losses. If that Machiavellian motive indeed drove the declaration, then it is well and truly condemnable.

    But if it was driven by meeting deeply felt but much repressed Muslim aspirations, there is nothing sinister about it, so long as no non-Muslim is forced to join in the Hijrah celebrations.

    The notorious fact is that the Nigerian Christian and Muslim majority, having carved the country in their twin-images, bawl and scream anytime they sense a tilt on the domination scale. That is no ode to tolerance.

    So, let all in the State of Osun beware. As citizens, Osun Muslims have a right to Hijrah. But adherents of other faiths, like African traditional believers, have rights too.

    So, when this most repressed group come to the fore to claim their own religious rights, let no one turn emergency jihadists or crusaders!

  • PDP and Fayose’s unholy alliance

    PDP and Fayose’s unholy alliance

    What kind of human being returns to his or her own vomit? Because even a dog does not… But, obviously, some people, for whatever reasons seem to be comfortable around puke, whether it is theirs or that of others. I’m pointedly referring to how the elite Nigerian political class as personified by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). As it is, the party continually gains notoriety for infamous acts of some of its high profile members across the length and breadth of the country. And this trend does seem to abating anytime soon.

    The latest is the re-arraigning of one of its recently re-admitted members, former governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, for embezzlement of N1.2billion while in office, at the Federal High Court, Ado-Ekiti. Even on that occasion, the high-handedness exhibited by security cohorts of the former governor spoke volumes of the brigandage associated with the PDP. At the court premises, it was reported that ‘loyal’ policemen to Fayose initially barred journalists from covering the court proceedings. It took the intervention of the state’s police public relations officer before journalists were allowed access. Now, that sends dangerous signals.

    Yet, the same Fayose still aspires to hold public office. In saner societies, such ambitions would be a no-go after being arraigned on a 27 count charge bordering on mis-appriopriation of state funds. I find it also sad that Fayose is resorting to cheap legalese to buy time and perhaps a further lease of life for himself. Owoseni Ajayi, counsel representing Fayose had reportedly tried to stall the former governor’s re-arraignment. In a bid to frustrate the proceedings, Ajayi had sought to dismiss the EFCC’s counsel, Adebisi Adeniyi, saying it was only Rotimi Jacobs that had fiat to prosecute the case. It was a relief that Justice Adamu Hobon ruled in Adeniyi’s favour.

    Fayose definitely lacks the stuff good leaders are made of. But, this is just my take.

    It must be recalled that Fayose was first arraigned for the offence in Lagos in 2007 while he was still governor. The biggest challenge lawyers of the former governor could offer then came in the form of ‘lack of jurisdiction’ as it was pointed out that the offence was not committed in Lagos. Hence, it was back to Ekiti State. Well-known for his frolicking lifestyle, around Fayose, there was never a lack of the best comforts life offered. He explored them and it seemed that to him, cost was no restrain. As governor, there were various ways to pay for such a flamboyant lifestyle as long as Ekiti State coffer was still liquid. And seemingly, for his profligacy, he found ways to explore the state’s till.

    I have often wondered why associations continue to adopt certain individuals despite allegations of treasury looting, stealing, and subsequent public disgrace labelled on such individuals. The PDP would do good to begin to renounce some of such individuals; rather it seems to make a penchant of rubber-stamping them.

    Bode George, after being ferried off to prison was given a hero’s welcome by the party. Also, former chairman of the PDP Board of trustees, and former minister of works, Tony Annenih was recently asked by the House of Representatives concerning how N2.3bn that was awarded for road contract in 2001. These are examples of the sort of individuals sensible political parties should sever alliance with. Why does the PDP continue to swell its folds with characters like Fayose? Perhaps, the major reason why this severance may not be possible may be because birds of a feather flock together.

    While in law, a suspect is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond any reasonable doubt. In the eyes of the public, it is a different game. In the public glare, a suspect is presumed guilty should any accusation be levelled against him or her. And responsible politicians do the honourable thing of hiding their face in shame. In some climes, Fayose would have been ashamed for rubbishing the party’s name by such accusation of theft. But, sadly, this is Nigeria and the party concerned is the PDP, widely acclaimed as Africa’s biggest political party by its members.

    However, with so much recklessness, the people of Fayose’s party plundered state funds, and like smart ‘crooks’ which most of them are, they covered their tracks. But, one can only cover his or her tracks well for so long. There comes a time when a wrong step is taken and a wide opening comes up. That crack for Fayose came with the allegation of theft in 2007. As it is now, the law machinery is grinding for Fayose who has another set date in court for January 24th 2013. I wish him well. And he had better be prepared to face judgment.

    Lastly, while I do not speak for the entire Ekiti indigenes, I believe I can stick out my neck, that apart from the few crooks and PDP apologists in the state, the people are tired of the brigandage which the state was hitherto held by both Fayose and the PDP cabal. And for this, Fayose must not count on support from Ekiti people. Already, 31 witnesses are ready to testify against him. Interpreted in another way, Ekiti people no longer want to tolerate non-performers like him. Fayose may not know now but being accused of theft has proved he is a good example of a bad leader in the public square already.

    • Akinbayo writes from Ado-Ekiti

  • A farewell to two legends

    A farewell to two legends

    What can anyone say now about Justice Kayode Eso and Dr Olusola Saraki, both recently deceased, that has not been said with greater eloquence and insight by persons who knew them closely?

    I met Eso only once, at the Third Obafemi Awolowo Foundation Dialogue, in 1995. His paper for the colloquium, which had as its theme: “Nigeria: In Search of Leadership,” was the product of a supple mind versed in the liberal arts, and an erudite piece of expository composition withal.

    Eso’s career on the Bench was marked by judicial activism. But it was activism informed by the noblest ideals – to humanise the Constitution, to enlarge rather than constrict human freedom, and to make the law an instrument of citizen empowerment, not subjugation. He never flinched from raising his learned and resonant voice against governmental acts that were inconsistent with the Constitution or were carried out in disregard of the extant law or the rule of law.

    Two cases are usually cited in support of this summation.

    The first centred on the one Justice Eso himself called “the mystery gun man” in his engaging memoir — the gunman who sneaked into the studios of Radio Nigeria, in Ibadan, and ordered the staffers to replace a taped recording by Premier Ladoke Akintola already on air with another one pouring abuse and scorn on Akintola and his lawless “Demo” Administration.

    Wole Soyinka, a militant opponent of the regime, was arrested and arraigned before the Ibadan High Court, in Ibadan, Justice Eso presiding, for the armed intrusion. Prosecution witnesses contradicted themselves on key points. One said the gunman was bearded; another said he was clean-shaven.

    Eso dismissed the prosecution’s case. Ordinarily, no judge should be praised for abiding by his oath of office. But Akintola’s Western Nigeria was no ordinary place. A regime that came to power by usurpation preserved itself by the most brazen subversion of law and process. Those who did not fall in line stood to be humiliated and hounded out of the system. And many were the judges who dutifully fell in line.

    Not Eso.

    For his fidelity to the law and to his judicial oath, Eso was transferred to Akure, then a provincial backwater. Today, we can only speculate how a finding of guilty would have changed the trajectory of the life of the no-longer-mysterious gunman and, for that matter, that of literary history.

    The second case stemmed from the outcome of the 1979 Presidential election that was supposed to inaugurate a new democratic order in Nigeria after 13 years of unbroken military rule. To be declared winner, a candidate must secure a majority of the popular vote, plus a majority of the votes cast in at least 12 and two thirds of the nation’s 19 states.

    The leading candidate, Shehu Shagari, won the majority of votes in only 12 states. Then, cardsharpers for the NPN, led by Richard Akinjide (SAN), inveigled the electoral umpires into declaring Shagari the victor on the ground that he had won the majority of the votes in 12 states, plus one quarter of the votes in two-thirds of a13th, thus satisfying a literal interpretation of the electoral law that had never been canvassed, namely, that two-thirds of 19 states translates into12 states plus two thirds of a 13th state.

    Holding that the law could never contemplate an absurdity, that what the law states is exactly what it means, the Supreme Court nevertheless went on to consecrate a legal absurdity.

    By what alchemy could a state with defined geographic borders and a juristic person to boot be transmuted into two-thirds of a state? When was the state divided into three equal parts for the purpose of ascertaining one quarter of the votes cast in two of its three constituent parts? Which law provided for this curious expedient?

    These were the questions that rang through Justice Eso’s robust dissent which, Professor Ben Nwabueze said in his majestic 2005 Justice Kayode Eso Lecture at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, should have been the court’s opinion. Nwabueze’s endorsement is all the more remarkable, considering that he was rooting for Shagari to become president

    But Eso’s judicial activism extended beyond these cases.

    There was his famous pronouncement that the Lagos State Government committed “executive lawlessness” when it evicted former Biafran leader Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu from his residence while determination of the ownership of the property was pending before the courts. There was the Adewumi case, in which he voided an edict of the military governor of Oyo State on the ground that only a decree of the Federal Military Government could override those portions of the Constitution that were operative.

    Whether writing the lead judgment, concurring or dissenting, under military rule no less than under civilian rule, Eso insisted on maintaining a proper balance between the powers assigned to the Federal Government and those granted to the states by the Constitution. He sought to free the courts from technicalities that valued form over substance.

    May his great example endure.

    Olusola Saraki had already made his name and fortune in Lagos, where he ran a chain of clinics patronized largely by employees of government parastatals and private sector companies before he entered national politics to vie for the NPN presidential ticket in the First Republic. I saw him frequently at Lagos and Abuja airports, but never up close.

    His preparation for the career move was vintage Saraki. He set up a state-of-the-art bakery in Ilorin, which flooded the city and environs with its delicious loaves and sold them below cost, undercutting Mafarosere bread, which had been a reliable staple in the community for decades, subsequently forcing it out of business.

    The Saraki bakery would collapse not long thereafter, but its proprietor had endeared himself to the public. He dispensed favours small and large to just about anyone who could show up in the right place or at the right time.

    He failed in his bid to clinch the NPN ticket for the presidency, but ended up as Senate Majority Leader.More importantly, he helped ensure victory in the Kwara gubernatorial election for his candidate.

    Since then, nobody has become governor of Kwara or attained significant federal office on the Kwara quota without his imprimatur.. He would install you in the office, but if you failed to keep your end of the bargain, he took you out. Not for nothing did they call him “the strongman of Kwara politics.” He made and unmade.

    Remember Adamu Attah, and Mohammed Alabi Lawal? Ask Shaba Lafiagi.

    Only when Saraki sought to install his daughter as state governor, to succeed his son Bukola who had held the office for the two consecutive terms permitted by law did he run into a communal brick wall. Even he could not turn the conservative tide of Kwara politics.

    The remarkable thing is that Saraki dominated Kwara politics so comprehensively and for so long without espousing any ideology or even what might be called a para-ideology; without any set of ideas that could be distilled into a framework for good governance and development.

    He made no memorable speeches, wrote no books, set up no institutions. His Société Général Bank collapsed in insolvency.

    Yet, when Saraki died, Kwara State went into deep mourning, and so did his political family and the countless beneficiaries of his munificence across the nation. The day he was buried, Ilorin and environs stood still. Persons of consequence and aspirants to that status gathered from all over Nigeria to pay their last respects, with the former military president General, Ibrahim Babangida, revealing that he had learned not a few political lessons from Himself the Oloye.

    He had little in common with the grassroots; yet he was the quintessential grassroots politico.

    Truly, this was a man of the people, and of his clime.

     

  • Delta’s educational policy of ‘every child counts’

    Delta’s educational policy of ‘every child counts’

    The Uduaghan-led administration’s commitment to education and human capital development has led to the birth of such laudable programmes as the Delta State Bursary and Scholarship award scheme to prove that “every child counts”.

    When Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan assumed office in 2007, he compartmentalized the challenges of the state into peace and security, human capital development and infrastructural development. This three point agenda has not only remained the cardinal focus of his administration, during his first and now in his second tenures but has been vigorously pursued.

    In achieving his goals towards Human Capital Development, the government has continued to support the educational advancement of Deltans with bursary, scholarship awards among other forms of financial aid to students at all levels.

    From primary pupils to postgraduate students, there are various forms of scholarship schemes and financial assistance at their disposal. West African Educational Council (WAEC) fees are paid for secondary school students among others.

    This year alone, additional 518 students of Delta State origin were beneficiaries of N73.9 million released by the state government as scholarship awards to outstanding students, including those currently studying in different countries across the globe.

    A break down of the figure shows that 367 undergraduate students received amounts ranging from N100, 000 to N300, 000 apart from 106 masters and 45 doctorate degree students.

    Though the Delta State Bursary and Scholarship Board through which the scholarship is disbursed was established in August 2003, the impact of the Board was not felt till the Emmanuel led administration took over the reins of government in the state.

    As the scholarship scheme is being pursued, expanded, courtesy of Governor Uduaghan’s education consciousness, it has clearly become part and parcel of the present administration’s vision for massive manpower development as well as to secure the future of Deltans.

    The award also puts into consideration the financial challenges of certain categories of students such as children of deceased civil servants in secondary and tertiary institutions across the country. N30 million has so far been disbursed to 403 children of deceased civil servants and 101 students with physical disabilities in the state as a way of encouraging them to attain their educational goals.

    The Chairman, Delta State Bursary and Scholarship Board, Monsignor Buchi Aninye said this while presenting cheques to beneficiaries of the 2011/2012 scholarship scheme for children of deceased civil servants and physically challenged Students at the Board’s office in Asaba.

    Monsignor Aninye disclosed that since the inception of this administration the government has expended over N71million to 1,233 children of decreased civil servants and 346 physically challenged students adding that this administration has continued to demonstrate its unparalleled commitment and determination to her education policy of ‘’every child counts’’. According to him, children of deceased civil servants in secondary school category got N30,000 each while those in the primary school category received N20,000 each. with the physically challenged receiving N50,000 each.

    Other schemes in the board also includes; Student Special Assistance scheme, scholarship recipients of first class degree honors to study to PH.D level any where in the world, scholarships to students in Aviation college within the country. Overseas postgraduate scholarship scheme and financial assistance to students in the Nigeria law schools.

    The values of the scholarship award are on merit and selection of beneficiaries on the basis of academic performance and other competitive criteria.

    Established in August 2003 by the former governor the state, chief Ibori, the Delta sate Bursary and Scholarship Board formulates and implements policies as it pertains to scholarship and student special Assistance scheme. However the board never took off till the warri boy as I always call Dr Uduaghan came on line.

    Since then, the board has achieved tremendous success. In 2007, the sum of N402,499,816 was released for the payment of bursary to 36,967 students of Delta state origin while in 2008 over N213 million was paid as scholarship for 10 students attending the maritime Academy Oron and Aviation college Zaria.

    The board is also managing the special Assistance Scheme to Delta sate indigenes attending the Nigeria law school valued at N30,000 per student.

    In the year 2007, total disbursement was over N13 million, this assistance has now been increased to N50, 000 per student.

    The Board which is made up of seasoned administrators , technocrats and politicians,on the postgraduate scholarship, has disbursed over N7 million in 2008 while N45million was expended for this project in 2009.The most recent being on November 16th when N12 million was disbursed to 40 beneficiaries of it’s local PhD scholarship scheme at the rate of N300, 000 per beneficiary.

    Presenting the cheques to the beneficiaries at no 2 Anwai road Asaba, office of the bursary and scholarship board, the chairman of the board said the beneficiaries were different from the batch that would soon receive the third tranche payment of their scholarship.

    These beneficiaries are those that wrote the board’s competitive exam on September 1st and scaled through the bench mark set by the board. The scholarship is not tied to the beneficiaries working for the state after the completion of their programes.

    With the above, well articulated schemes, it becomes undoubtedly true to say that the government has shown enough passion about the educational needs of her citizens.

    Already registration is on for the 2012/2013 first class degree scholarship while registration for Masters in Science (M.Sc)scholarship for delta state female students who want to go for post graduate diploma in media and communication ended in July.

    The commissioner for higher education in the state Prof. Hope Eghagha had earlier charged the beneficiaries to work hard and show greater determination in their endeavours, stating that they can not get to the top without being focused in their academic pursuit.

    Some of the beneficiaries of the first class scholarship this year are Raolat Abiola, Ika South, studying at Cornell University ,New York. Chukwuedo Achi,Onisha south, Delta state University Abraka. Hillary Adibeli, Ndokwa west ,university of Benin. Daniel Akpo,Isoko south ,university of Lagos. Ufoma Diakparomre, Ethiope East, University of Benin, among others.

    As the Uduaghan led administration works hard to afford every Delta the opportunity to attain his educational goals, it is a project that requires all hands to be on deck in order to move the state to an enviable height. It is an undisputed fact that education is needed to achieve the development of human resource base required to drive the economy of the state.

    • Otumara writes from Asaba

  • Listen to the message

    Listen to the message

    Central Bank governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi is a straight talker, always shooting from the hips. Although some of his views could be annoying and irritating, but give it to the Kano prince, he says it the way he sees and feels it and seems not to care whose ox is gored.

    And any time ‘Basket Mouth’ decides to leak or open, apologies to late Afrobeats legend Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, you can be rest assured that not a few feathers would be ruffled. And so it happened last week when the head of the apex bank decided it was time the government was told the home truth (according to St.Lamido) about its workforce; it is too large, he says, cut it.

    In plain language, the economist is calling on the three tiers of government to sack some of their workers. And you may want to know why. The CBN governor says the government is spending about 70 per cent of resources available to it to service its workers, leaving just 30 per cent for other sectors. And for a government workforce of just a little more or less than a million, consuming the resources meant for a population of about 167 million does not just make sense, he argues.

    He is therefore calling on government to lay off some of these workers in order to free some of the revenue used in paying their salaries and other emoluments for investment in social infrastructure that are presently seriously deficient. Spot on did you say? Good talk. But then that is just looking at the problem from purely an economist point of view. A sociologist will definitely differ and consider the wider implications of a massive sudden job loss as being suggested by Sanusi on the entire society, including the government.

    As expected, the CBN Governor’s suggestion is not being well received especially by organised labour which has called for the sacking of Sanusi instead, by the Federal Government, which itself doesn’t seem to fancy the top banker’s unsolicited advice. And Sanusi as usual is unperturbed, after all this is not his first time of swimming against the tide of public opinion and every time he emerged unscathed. Will he be lucky again this time and weather the gathering storm of public anger, especially of workers against him? I think so. Will this basket mouth once again get away with this intellectual arrogance and I know it all attitude that gives him that aura of an untouchable who could talk down on anything and anybody and nothing will happen? Sadly, yes. Has our CBN Governor attained that level of infallibility like the Pope that he can say and do no wrong? Something like that. Is he beyond reproach? It seems so. Recall that this man had done and said certain things outside his core area of competence as an economist/banker that could have caused social upheaval and nobody called him to order? Even in banking where we are told he is an expert in risk management, some of his whimsical decisions (some bordering on political rather than sound economic considerations) have done more harm than good to the sector and not a few workers have a sad story to tell as a result. The success or otherwise of his famed banking reforms is there for all to see and the jury is still out. You remember his failed N5,000 note project that crashed following public outcry? Even when his reasons for wanting to introduce this new note fell short of basic economic principles and were shot down by fellow economists, he still insisted on going ahead until public outcry and common sense prevailed on the government to turn him down.

    I am not trying to catalogue the sins of Sanusi, and they are many, depending on which side of the argument you are, the man also has some strong points that could help us get out of our economic problems. Now before we crucify him over his latest unguarded comment and unsolicited advice wouldn’t it be better if we look at what he said and not himself? That is, looking at the message and not the messenger. Quite often the personality of the messenger tends to influence or interfere with the reception the message gets. And this is exactly the problem with Sanusi. He has put himself in a situation where not a few would read meanings into every of his actions or utterances no matter how altruistic and genuine they appear. They now look for the motive first before supporting or believing him, even when he is saying the truth, as he seemed to be saying in the matter at hand.

    Speaking last Tuesday at the second annual Capital Market Committee Retreat in Warri, Delta State, Sanusi observed that “at the moment 70 per cent of Federal Government’s revenue goes for payment of salaries and entitlement of civil servants, leaving 30 per cent for development of 167 million Nigerians. That means for every naira government earns, 70 kobo is consumed by civil servants.

    You have to half of the civil service because the revenue of the government is supposed to be for 167 million Nigerians. Any society where government spends 70 per cent of its revenue on its civil service has a problem. It is unsustainable.

    The various tiers of government should cut down their recurrent expenditure and use the fund to provide basic infrastructure like schools, hospitals, etc

    “How can we be using the proceeds from our major source of revenue to service recurrent expenditure, by paying salaries, allowances, etc. The country should be thinking of enhancing its productivity base rather than spending on things that cannot create wealth,” Sanusi said.

    Whether his observation in terms of the percentages is true in fact is debatable, giving the fact that accurate statistics are rare to come by in Nigeria, but what is undeniable is that we spend far too much; the bulk of our resources paying its workers and this is unfair to the rest of us in the private sector. So why call for Sanusi’s head for saying the ‘truth’? is the solution he proffered to the problem he identified.

    Calling for the sack of half of the population of government’s estimated one million workers cannot be the only solution to the problem. Indeed it was a callous suggestion borne out of insensitivity and utter show of contempt towards these set of workers. Agreed that they are too many, but to what end are they being deployed by government? If government is not optimally utilizing them whose fault? Do you blame them for that? Bureaucracy definitely can not grow the economy the way business would, but then government can use bureaucracy to pave way for job creation and growth of the economy. This same one million or so government workers can still be effectively used by government to facilitate wealth creation in other sectors apart from oil for the rest 166 million or so other Nigerians not in government employ. I agree they are taking too much out of our resources but this is an issue now because they are not serving us well. If the civil service is actually providing the service to the public as expected, how much they earn wouldn’t necessarily be an issue. When the 30 or so players and officials of our national teams play well and make us proud, nobody cares how much they get as match bonus. It is only when they lose matches and play disgracefully that we remember that what they earn per match individually is probably more than the monthly or annual take home pay of the bulk of this same workers.

    Rather than carpeting Sanusi’s suggestion what if these workers were retrained, refocused and redeployed to other more productive sectors or sent to the private sector to help grow the economy and create jobs. It’s just a matter of making them do other things that are more productive and beneficial to the rest of us than what they do now and still earn the same thing.

    Instead of sacking half of the civil servants to conserve funds for use in other sectors of the economy, the problem I think lies with the large retinue of political appointees that currently service our bloated democracy. What each member of the National Assembly earns annually for instance is probably enough to build, equip and staff a primary health care facility in his/her constituency.

    This is not a defence of the civil service. In fact I am in support of any measure that will make it effective and plag waste. Who knows, it might be that the bulk of the 70 per cent Sanusi is talking about goes into servicing ghost workers or the very few top people at the helm of our bureaucracy including himself.

    We have often spoken about the curse of oil, may be this lopsidedness is part of it but then cutting the head is not the cure for headache.

    Agreed Sanusi can be tactless and unguarded in his statements; call him basket mouth if you like, but don’t ignore his observations, they are valid. The problem is just his suggested solution. Take the message, you may ignore the messenger.

     

  • Exit Esho, model jurist

    Exit Esho, model jurist

    In a spate of one week, four of the most accomplished Nigerians died: Lam Adesina, former governor of Oyo State, Olusola Saraki, strongman of Kwara politics, Justice Bobakayode Esho, activist jurist and retired justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria and Hope Harriman, debonair surveyor, estate valuer and industrialist of the live-and-let-live philosophy.

    Of the four, the passage of Justice Esho (18 September 1925-16 November 2012) must be the most roiling – at least in Ripples’ opinion. Alhaji Adesina was a thorough-bred progressive and NADECO prisoner-of-war in Sani Abacha’s gulag. But he got gubernatorial reward for his “war wounds”.

    Dr. Saraki was a prodigious philanthropist, and no matter what opposing ideologues think of his politics, he was truly caring and compassionate. But he forged his winning trait into a winning political machine – and he rewarded himself as the Kwara lord of the manor.

    The frothy Chief Harriman worked hard, played hard and enjoyed life to the fullest. He was among a rare breed whose wealth was not tied to recurring public sector racketeering, in an elite generation of equal opportunity racketeers. He was the exemplar, if there ever was one, of the stark axiom of “no food for lazy man” and its contrast: “the industrious have earned their munificence.”

    And Justice Esho? He was the model citizen who put his prodigious intellect and steely courage at the service of the common good. Imagine the Jeremy Bentham dictate of the greatest happiness of the greatest number, as the apogee of governance? Esho was the puny individual who aimed for that Bentham societal elixir, sans government might, sans government perks. His unrepentant motto was Justice for all. His only tool? Profound knowledge of the law; and stubborn courage that the law rules.

    Just imagine how different Nigeria could have turned, had the majority in the Supreme Court adopted Justice Esho’s famous dissent, in Obafemi Awolowo Vs Shehu Shagari in 1979, at the birth of the troubled Second Republic (1979-1983).

    Chief Richard Akinjide, SAN, national legal adviser to the then National Party of Nigeria (NPN), had come up with a clear legal stratagem that two-thirds of the then 19 states was twelve-two-thirds and not 13, as the Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO), under Chief Michael Ani, had hitherto decided in all electoral matters.

    The motive was not so hidden. The presidential election was heading for a run-off, with NPN Candidate Shagari winning the majority of popular votes but falling short of the required one-quarter of votes cast in two-thirds of the 19 states of the federation. Alhaji Shagari had the one-quarter requirement in 12 states.

    On the other hand, Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) Candidate Awolowo, was running second on popular vote, though far less behind on the electoral spread requirement, so much so that had the envisaged electoral college held to pick the president as the 1979 Constitution stipulated, it would have been great injustice if Awo had won as a result of the rest of the four parties – Nnamdi Azikiwe’s Nigerian People’s Party (NPP), Ibrahim Waziri’s Great Nigeria People’s Party (GNPP), Aminu Kano’s People’s Redemption Party (PRP) and the UPN – ganging up to thwart the NPN candidate.

    But that was not even likely to happen, even if the UPN optimists were ready and eager to take their chances; and the NPN camp and their federal backers expected the worst. For starters, the rivalry between Zik and Awo was alive and well. Besides, Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo’s government’s body language that Awo was not the man was all but clear, even if Awo was widely perceived to have the best credentials. Enter then Chief Akinjide’s legal dues-ex-machina!

    The 6-1 (or more appropriately 5-1-1, for Justice Andrew Obaseki’s verdict was neither-nor) Supreme Court judicial validation of the Akinjide theory sank the new Second Republic in a legitimacy bog it never recovered from. But it was this equivalent of a roaring judicial ocean current that an unfazed Justice Esho swam against.

    The Supreme Court too must have realised its own judicial cant – who didn’t? – as it committed a further outrage that its twelve-two-third decision would not be cited as precedent at future electoral litigations!

    But that legal legerdemain by the highest court of the land cost Nigeria the collapse of the Second Republic, and the subsequent infliction on the polity, of the most virulent set of military dictators – Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida and the nadir, Sani Abacha. This relay also birthed the second coming of the ever-grandstanding and self-adulating Obasanjo, the luckless Umaru Musa Yar’adua and the clueless incumbent, Goodluck Jonathan.

    Besides, that Supreme Court decision further entrenched the regnant folly that the executive could manipulate elections anyhow, and suborn the judiciary to toe the line – until the judicial rebellion after the shameful 2007 general elections, with President Yar’adua clawing his stained mandate by a split 4-3 Supreme Court decision, thus forcing conscious efforts at electoral reforms.

    With the failed military-in-government and wobbling successor non-democrats in a supposed democracy, judicial manipulation of electoral matters brought the country perilously close to state failure, despite the heroics of the Court of Appeal under the presidency of Justice Ayo Salami, now ironically being tarred and tanned for doing the right thing! Yet, if only the Supreme Court of his time had shared Justice Esho’s golden sense of justice, all these would perhaps have been averted!

    The moral? Those who now play politics and expediency with the Salami case only lay land mines that may yet blow up the polity.

    Very early in his judicial career, the fearless jurist was involved in the famous “unknown gunman”, a charged political case involving the young Wole Soyinka, during the Western Region’s season of [political] anomie in the First Republic, to borrow the Nobel Laureate’s novel of that title.

    He ruled against government and the bully Leviathan bared its teeth. For his judicial temerity, the Ladoke Akintola establishment hauled Esho into judicial Siberia in Akure. For following the dictates of the law, therefore, persecution was his lot. Yet, that did not deter the judicial lion heart from giving justice, even if the heavens fell.

    Even among their peers of titan jurists, in an era regarded by legal historians as the Golden Age of the Nigerian Supreme Court, Justice Esho and Justice Chukwudifu Oputa (aka Socrates) – still very much alive – sparkled for their sheer brilliance, deep intellect, profound learning, towering character and stubborn courage to be guided not only by the letters of the law, but also by its spirit. That none of the two ever became Chief Justice of Nigeria is a salute to the Nigerian penchant to settle for the ordinary when the absolutely brilliant wastes away.

    Justice Esho was a model citizen who put his character and learning at the disposal of his country. Despite his strivings, his country bluntly refused to be a model nation. That is the tragedy of contemporary Nigeria, which the present and oncoming generation must throw over-board for the country to find true greatness.

  • EFCC: Same old story

    EFCC: Same old story

    Are you a businessman or woman with substantial dealings with the Federal Government, or a politician fiercely opposed to the sitting government at the centre and eyeing a top position in Abuja? If you are, then take heed of this warning, it is in your own interest; don’t do or say anything that could make the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) come after you, because that could spell danger for you as the commission appears poised once again to go after the supposed enemies of their paymaster, the Presidency.

    Why am I saying this?

    Have you not been following the travail of Lawyer/Businessman Dr Wale Babalakin (SAN), the billionaire with connections in high places, who wines and dines with the high and mighty; the businessman who sits atop an emerging conglomerate that includes Bi-Courtney Highway Services, the firm that won the concession agreement to fund, build and manage Lagos/Ibadan Expressway for 25 years and recoup his money (of course plus profit) within that period, but has done little or nothing on the road almost four years after; the owner of the rebuilt terminal (MM2) at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja?

    Yes, the same man who has been battling the Federal Government to stop the construction of another domestic terminal at MMIA, which he claims contravenes the terms of the agreement with Bi-Courtney Aviation Services, leading to the construction of MM2. Recall that the Federal Government recently revoked that concession on the Lagos /Ibadan Road citing non-performance on the part of Bi-Courtney Highway Services? Now the man is in trouble, real trouble, multi-billion naira trouble, courtesy EFCC.

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has brought charges of money laundering against Babalakin and four others totaling N3.4billion. The 25-count charge were slammed on the accused barely 48 hours after the revocation of the concession agreement raising concern that the Federal Government could be using the EFCC to prosecute a political agenda of witch hunting and vendetta against its opponent. It also raises doubts about the sincerity and impartiality of the commission in its drive to rid Nigeria of corruption.

    Make no mistake about it, this is not a defense of Babalakin or a call on EFCC to go soft on the anti corruption crusade, but then it must be seen to be working devoid of government influence for it to continue to enjoy the support and confidence of all Nigerians, including the accused.

    Ordinarily, matters like this should not raise dust anywhere other than in the camp of those involved, but the timing of EFCC’s move against the accused when the man is involved in a contractual dispute with the government definitely points at more than ulterior motives on the part of the commission. Did this money laundering issue come up just yesterday? Why immediately after the man lost his contract for the Lagos/Ibadan Expressway reconstruction? Couldn’t EFCC have waited for this contractual problem between Babalakin/Bi-Courtney and the Federal Government to be resolved or even go down before bringing these corruption charges against him? All the commission needed to do if it was convinced it has a strong case against Babalakin and others, was to put them under watch while their contractual dispute with the government lasted and move in immediately. No matter the merit of their case against the man, the timing of their action has tainted the motive behind it and the public is likely to view it as such, whether the man is freed or convicted if and when the matter gets to court.

    Pursuit of vendetta by our leaders against political opponents in particular has been part of our politics for long. But this was raised to its peak by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who deployed every tool, trick and power at his command to fight his political opponents both real and imagined. The Nigeria Police used to be the willing tool for this, but since everything is a matter of cash to our policemen as they are always on the side of the highest bidder, the government, it seems needed a super agency with enough teeth and muscle and which enjoys public support and confidence to fight its dirty war against its opponents. I am not saying this was why the EFCC was created but over the years, especially under Obasanjo, the agency was used effectively to fight opponents of that presidency.

    Recall the K-Leg story of then candidate Rotimi Amaechi who was running for the governorship seat of Rivers State in 2007 on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)? He was stopped by Obasanjo and his clique using the EFCC to cook up and manufacture evidence of corruption against him. Eventually nothing was established against the man, but Obasanjo had his way as he was dropped as PDP’s candidate in the election. I am sure you know the rest of the story. Amaechi is today the governor of Rivers State.

    The story of the failed presidential ambition of a former Governor of Rivers State, Dr. Peter Odili and the role played by Obasanjo’s EFCC in his botched attempt to clinch the presidential ticket of the PDP in 2007 is known to not just a few. There were many people like that who were politicians in PDP and who at one time or another were close to Obasanjo but fell apart with the former president when their interests collided and the man punished them using EFCC.

    Some opposition politicians also suffered similar fate, but just as this was going on, a whole lot of Obasanjo’s friends politicians and businessmen alike accused of one form of corruption or another were left untouched. The EFCC pretended not to see them. They were untouchable. You still remember the story of Chief Olabode George, the erstwhile deputy National Chairman of PDP, who wielded so much power and influence under Obasanjo that he became untouchable. Until he fell out of favour with Obasanjo the EFCC defended him stoutly against accusations of corruption during his tenure as chairman of Nigerian Ports, but once he became an “enemy” of the Villa, the EFCC story changed and Bode George went to jail.

    I am not sure to what extent this trend continued under President Umaru Yar’Adua but definitely it wasn’t as rampant as it was under Obasanjo if it did happen. But then who knows, maybe illness and eventual death robbed us of knowing what kind of leader Yar’Adua would have been and how he would have deployed the EFCC under his watch. But this move against Babalakin by EFCC could eventually lead us into a clearer picture of what the anti-graft agency would look like under a Jonathan presidency. His EFCC is beginning to bear its fangs now and ready to bite. Good. But how far he can go, remain to be seen, especially considering the fact that he might need to bite some of the fingers that put him in the Presidential Villa. But if he has to bite and even cut off some of those fingers in the fight against corruption Nigerians won’t mind, but then he shouldn’t do it selectively; nobody should be untouchable. No sacred cow.

    The untouchables have been the pillars of successive administrations in this country and are somehow linked to this corruption we are all talking about. Until last week, Dr Wale Babalakin could rightly be classified as one of them, but whether he remains so after Jonathan’s EFCC onslaught or if indeed the onslaught can stand the stern test of the judiciary remain to be seen. But as things stand now, the man and his co-accused are innocent until found guilty by competent authorities.

    The lesson for EFCC here is that if it doesn’t assert its independence and be seen to be doing so by the public, it risks the erosion of its fragile credibility with the public and could easily go the way of the Nigeria Police. It should not allow itself to be used by anybody or be seen to be used by anybody, especially the government. It is about time it focuses attention on the government especially those ministers perceived to be corrupt to prove its independence. Let charity begin at home.

    To Babalakin and his co-businessmen/politicians, I don’t envy them. Mixing business with politics is tough and navigating that dangerous terrain requires tact and delicate balancing in order not to breach any unwritten rules. My advice to them is to stick with the international best practices in business relations especially with government and be fair and even handed/minded in their dealings with politicians. They could be dangerous.