The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Antics

  • 2019 elections: CJN urges judges to be wary of politicians’ antics

    THE Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, has admonished judicial officers to be wary of the antics of politicians as the country gradually moves into another season of intense political activities.

    Onnoghen, who advised them to always be guided by the constitution, their code of conduct and oath of office, warned justices and judges against yielding themselves and positions as tools for politicians.

    The CJN also regretted the growing impunity in the executive arm, which he said was the reason some states were reluctant to comply with the constitutional provision for fiscal autonomy for the Judiciary.

    Onnoghen spoke in Abuja yesterday while swearing in 12 High Court judges recently elevated to the Court of Appeal.

    He said: “You have to abide by the Constitution and the Code of Conduct, which actually is an extension of the oath of office that you have just taken.

    “When you adhere to your oath of office, the code of conduct, the constitution and the application of the law to the task before you, and abide by judicial precedent, you will be home and dry. You will continue to sleep and snore.

    “You don’t care whose ox is gored because the law is there to defend you. It is only when you apply short cut that you invite problem.

    “Be focused and courageous because you are carrying the whole country on your head in terms of dispensation of justice.

    “It is now time for politics. Things will be done to raise the temperature of this country within and outside of the political space.

    “You have to be very, very careful not be used as a tool. You should be guided by judicial precedent, particularly in election and election related matters,” Onnoghen said.

    He said the responsibility of a judge is to resolve disputes in accordance with the dictates of the law and to always apply the law in resolving cases brought before his court, without bothering who wins and who loses.

    The CJN said the Bill recently signed by President Muhammadu Buhari did not just provide financial autonomy to the Judiciary as being erroneously implied, saying that the provision has always been in the Constitution.

    He said: “Section 121 of the Constitution has always been there. The only amendment is to bring in the state Houses of Assembly.

    Onnoghen, who read the provision of the Constitution, said: “The provision for financial autonomy for the Judiciary has always been there in the constitution.

    “What has always been the problem is the absence of courage, political will in the executive arm of government to implement and enforce this provision. That is all.

    “Some state governments have done the right things, others are ready to do. Those who are yet to, we encourage them to enforce and implement this provision.

    “This is because the independence of the Judiciary, particularly its financial independence, is the bedrock of democracy itself. We have gone too far to go back.

    “We are under a democratic dispensation; a constitutional democracy for that matter. That is why I keep on saying that the rule of law is the solution to all of our problems.

    “If we operate under the rule of law and are bound by the rule of law, then impunity, which is the bane of our democracy, will disappear.

    “If not for impunity, did the Executive not know that the issue of financial autonomy for the Judiciary is a constitutional provision?”

  • Melaye and his antics

    Few days ago, Nigerians were forced to witness, yet Few days ago, Nigerians were forced to witness, yet another drama scripted and acted by Senator Dino Melaye representing Kogi West when he jumped down from a moving police vehicle after presenting himself to the police for interrogation over some grievous allegations levelled against him.

    While some Nigerians watched the drama with keen interest, many viewed it as nothing new, considering the ‘uncivilised’ manner and way some law makers in Nigeria behaved in recent times.

    Others, however, saw the drama as embarrassing, disgraceful and irresponsible, especially from a supposed distinguished lawmaker who ought to be a shining example to the society.

    Melaye has, hitherto, been having a running battle with the Nigeria Police Force over the allegations of funding some thugs to destabilise the country.

    The key leader of the suspected thugs, KABIRU SAIDU a.k.a OSAMA, told the police after he was arrested that Melaye handed over a bag containing one AK47 rifle, 2 Pump Action guns and N430, 000 cash to share with his boys.

    To get his own side of the story, “the Nigeria Police Force sent a letter of invitation dated and acknowledged on March 2, 2018, addressed to the Senate President, informing and requesting him to release Senator Dino Melaye to report to the Police on March 7, 2018, to answer to criminal offences of conspiracy and unlawful possession of prohibited firearms levelled against him.

    “Another separate letter was equally written in this regard to enable the Police investigation team to carry out a discreet and thorough investigation into the case. But Dino Melaye refused to honour the invitations,” the police said.

    The questions thus are: Why did Melaye refuse to honour the invitation by the police to prove his innocence on the allegation? Is he above the law? Does he enjoy immunity from invitation by the law enforcement agencies? And most importantly, why is he running from his home state?

    It beats one’s imagination that a ‘distinguished’ Senator of the most populous nation in Africa can bring down himself to behave in such a degrading manner by attempting to jump down from a moving police vehicle.

    It must be made clear that, in the provision of our constitution, no Senator or any law maker for that matter, enjoys immunity from arrest and prosecution. Even the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has been in and out of the courts and has never at any point attempted to decline or resist invitation.

    It is worrisome that it is only in Nigeria that law makers can flagrantly refuse to obey court orders or deliberately evade invitation to make some clarifications to agencies of government.

    For Senator Melaye to go to the extent of attempting to jump from a moving police vehicle despite the risk involved, shows something is fishy somewhere. The nagging question again is: What is Melaye running from his home state – his constituency?

    While some argue that the Senator will not be safe when facing trial in his home state because of his face-off with the governor, the question here is: Does a governor have the right to prevent a Senator from visiting or going to his home state?

    If at all, Senator Melaye feels unsafe to go to his home state, he can apply for more security cover to ensure his adequate protection. In fact, if Melaye is loved by members of his constituency, they can provide security cover for him.

    On the other hand, one wonders why Melaye is afraid to go and prove his innocence on the weighty allegations against him.

    It is natural that when one is accused of any wrong doing, the first and immediate step is to look for every opportunity to state one’s side of the story prove the accusers wrong and clear his name.

    One is therefore forced to ask, what is Melaye running away from? Are his hands stained with blood and, hence, already feels guilty?

    • Continued online www.staging.thenationonlineng.net

  • When PDP antics resonate in Ekiti APC

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is well known to all Nigerians for its antics in election rigging, gangsterism and unbridled corruption and abuse of office.

    All the negative tendencies reverberate in the conduct of their members wherever they make any political sojourn. These nuances are what the party is exhibiting in the seeming protracted factional crisis between Ahmed Makarfi Caretaker Committee and the uncompromising Ali Modu Sheriff group.

    Shortly after the party crashed out of relevance in 2015 due to President Muhammadu Buhari’s electrifying popularity and doggedness of our leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

    Though, every Nigerian has the right to belong to any political party of his choice in line with Section 35 (b) of the constitution, but what piqued some of these apprehensive leaders was that PDP has become a leopard that would never change its spots.

    The apprehension has begun to play out in Ekiti APC and if nothing is done, the party may end up being consumed by some interested governorship aspirants of PDP’s descent in the forthcoming 2018 poll.

    An ardent follower of the events in APC as the governorship race gathers momentum would come to conclusion that all the over 30 aspirants had been busy doing their subtle legwork on how to woo delegates.

    It is worrisome to learn that in the last few days, Facebook and other social media platforms have been inundated with the exchange of verbal tirades between politicians and this was a confirmation that the PDP fire is gradually being stoked and proactive actions must be taken to quench this visualised inferno.

    As these people regale their readers with their taunts, one thing crept into my mind and that was the words of wisdom from our revered leader and former Governor of Osun State, Chief Bisi  Akande, that the

    PDP members are the same wherever they may be.

    APC is a party founded on convention. It was formed so that there could be departure from the old ways and the party must stand by what it believes and not what any self-acclaimed moneybag wanted.

     

    Emmanuel Akinyede

     Agbado Ekiti

     

  • Ugwuanyi and the antics of a bad loser

    I have been following with keen interest, the recent media war over the false and retracted allegation of gift of Padro jeeps to the members of Enugu State House of Assembly by the state government. The controversy started when the labour unions in the state made some reservations concerning the vehicles. At the time, they had no information of the new vehicle scheme introduced by the state government to save cost in response to the current economic realities in the country.

    Since the labour union has known the true position of things and has equally retracted its ill-informed allegation over the car scheme and apologized to the government, I would rather not dwell much on the matter but review some serious and shocking issues that were revealed in the course of the controversy.

    Let me first of all commend the unions and the state government for resolving the issue amicably. It shows that they have the interest of the state at heart and are willing to maintain the existing cordial relationship between them and the government. I would have been surprised if the issue was not quickly and cordially resolved considering the fact labour has severally attested to Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi’s unprecedented commitment to the welfare of workers in the state.

    But what is worrisome was the fact that after the issue was amicably resolved by both parties, political opponents of the governor cashed in on it by instigating a smear media campaign against the governor through strange and biased editorials aimed at unjustly undermining the integrity of the state government.

    Given the clarifications and defense put forward by the government on the issue, the matter ordinarily ought not to have attracted negative editorial attention. Indeed, contrary to the negative impression created, I was pleased when I read in national dailies that the whole idea was that since the state cannot afford the luxury of procuring new cars for the lawmakers as against the previous arrangement where they go home with the vehicles at the end of their tenure, government allocated its pool vehicles to them to enable them discharge their duties and return them at the expiration of their tenure. The reasoning     behind this is that the government will no longer spend a dime on vehicle allowance for lawmakers or political appointees, something that takes a huge chunk of government resources. The initiative is embedded in the sound vision of the governor towards innovation, prudence, transparency, accountability and fiscal discipline and therefore ought to be appraised rather than condemned. It is a worthwhile cost saving venture that should be emulated by the federal government and other states of the federation.

    One of the interesting fallouts from the develoment was the publication in some dailies by a group, the Enugu Peace Mandate Forum, EPMF, alleging the mastermind of the smear media campaign against the governor to be the individual behind the fraudulent acquisition of Enugu State landed property located at the Airport road, Abuja.

    The group charged that the particular individual “enjoys enormous goodwill from chief executives of some media houses in the country who were his colleagues during his days in the media, and has been leveraging on their relationship to sponsor and instigate negative and false reports against the governor in order to undermine his laudable vision for the state and ridicule him in the public for his selfish agenda.”

    That was not all: the group claimed that “the individual enlisted the support and assistance of a former commissioner in the state who is his close ally and a former editor in a foremost national newspaper. Another journalist with the same newspaper who comes from the same locality with the politician and was recently deployed to the state ostensibly to play out his master’s script.”

    In the circumstance, the group called on the state government and relevant security agencies to re-open the alleged unauthorised alienation  of Enugu State landed property by the unnamed Enugu politician.

    This writer is aware that the Enugu State Government through the Enugu State Housing Development Corporation recently placed an advertorial in some national dailies informing the general public that the corporation “lost the original letter of offer of Statutory Right of Occupancy to its plot of land known as plot 804 Cadastral Zone B03, Wuye-Abuja, File No. MFC7/LA/92/MISC-9765”.

    Could it therefore be the same land in question? If it was so, the context of the call by Enugu Peace Mandate Forum,  on the state government to take appropriate step to cause the Economic Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) to re-open investigation on the land scam becomes understandable.  The group is of the view that “since the detractor has taken the people of the state for granted by daring to undermine the integrity of their governor through falsehood and incessant blackmail, it is important that the world knows who he really is.

    From the foregoing, it is clear that the SUV saga has opened a Pandora’s Box of allegations that need to be addressed and investigated thoroughly especially now that the war against corruption is receiving serious attention.

    Even though the group did not mention the name of the Enugu politician in question for obvious reasons, the fact that the state is looking for the document on the said property appears to give credence to the allegation hence the urgent need for the intervention of the security agencies in the country to speed up action with a view to investigating the circumstances surrounding the missing document – the Original Right of Occupancy of the landed property belonging to the Enugu State Government.

    The issue must not be swept under the carpet. The media in particular have a great responsibility to assist in digging deep into the matter and to come up with their findings on the weighty allegation.

    May I end this piece with the words of the leader of Trade Union Congress (TUC), Comrade Igbokwe C. Igbokwe, who spoke on behalf ýof other labour unions, after meeting with the governor on the SUVs allegation:  ”We did not have adequate information on the SUVs until our meeting with Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi. We met with His Excellency today who gave us clarifications on the scheme and at the end of the day we discussed and reconciled the issue. Let me commend His Excellency’s modus operandi because each time there are issues, he makes out time to bring people to make explanations. Governor Ugwuanyi discussed extensively with us on the SUV and we are satisfied with his explanations.”

    I am confident that Governor Ugwuanyi will overlook the antics of a bad loser and continue to move Enugu State forward.

    • Ameh, a public affairs analyst wrote from Uwani, Enugu

  • 2015:‘Lanlehin’s antics’ll fail’

    A socio-political group in Oyo State, the Asiwaju Grassroots Foundation (AGF), has warned Senator Femi Lanlehin (Oyo South District) to stop antagonising Governor Abiola Ajimobi over his second term endorsement.

    It said the senator’s antics would fail in 2015.

    In a statement by one of its National leaders, Alhaji Folawiyo Bello, AGF warned Lanlehin against causing disunity in the APC.

    Bello said: “This is the first time since the return of democracy in 1999 that registered parties voluntarily gave up their individual identities and merged into a virile party.

    “The journey through the registration process was arduous, so the controversial statement credited to Lanlehin by the press, where he said the governor should not expect a second term was uncalled for.”

    He said Oyo has improved since Ajimobi assumed office, adding that the governor deserves a second term to sustain the present development for generations to come.

    Bello said: “We believe you are a lover of development and it will be our utmost happiness if you can genuinely support our rare gem and God-given governor till 2019. Please, do not heat up the polity.

    “The AGF stands behind the people’s governor, who has redefined and re-structured the state. His initiatives have given Oyo a face lift. His charismatic traits and leadership style have brought solace and development to the people and the society at large.

    “The AGF urges Lanlehin to stop parading himself as an agent of peaceful destruction and support Ajimobi beyond 2015 to build a modern Oyo State, which would be a clear departure from the one bequeathed to him by past administrations.”

     

  • Antics of five governors

    Apparently piqued by the worsening political temperament of the country, five governors from the north, last week embarked on consultations with some elder statesmen with a view to stemming the slide. The governors- Aliyu Babangida (Niger) Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Sule Lamido (Jigawa) Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano) and Aliu Wammako (Sokoto) held discussions with Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalam Abubakar, all former military rulers of this country. Feelers from some of those who attended the meetings indicated that top on their agenda were the festering crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the feud in the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) and the political crisis in Rivers State. Also on the table was the marginalization of some PDP governors by both the party and the presidency as well as the hurling of pebbles on the convoy of these governors when they visited their colleague of Rivers State.

    They were equally reported to have said that their main concern is not with where power swings in 2015 but the prospects of the tense political atmosphere derailing that election. For them, the road to the election is strewn with thorns such that the former leaders needed to intervene before things go awry.

    Not much has been heard from those they visited. But Babangida must have been so impressed by the concerns raised by the governors that he did not waste time in describing them as patriots. By that, the impression we get is that they are genuinely concerned and prepared to sacrifice for the peace, unity and progress of this country. That should be good news to all fair-minded people.

    This is not an attempt to diminish Babangida’s assessment of the motive behind the governors’ action.

    This is more so as the issues raised are already in public domain. There is no doubt that recent events in the country, especially the crisis in the ruling PDP, that of the NGF and its manifestation in the show of shame in Rives State have elicited genuine concerns about the fate of democracy. If the five governors were moved by genuine desires to save the country from the slide to the precipice, they may well qualify as patriots as Babangida has labeled them.

    But there are issues that can be raised against their composition and agenda. It is curious why the ‘patriotic’ governors did not include the menace of the Boko Haram insurgency as a very potent destabilizing factor requiring urgent therapeutic response. Boko Haram is even more threatening and devastating to our corporate existence than the items in their agenda. Moreover, most of the issues raised can be encapsulated within the domestic problems of the ruling party. No doubt, they could have wider repercussions for the country but they are the making of the PDP. Boko Haram is of a wider and more destructive dimension. To have left it out of their agenda did considerable harm to the credit which Babangida sought to give them. It is difficult to fathom how their largely skewed agenda can lead to national fame.

    It is not clear how the five governors were selected. But they are all members of the PDP. Incidentally also, they are known to hold views contrary to those of the presidency and the PDP especially on the country’s power equation. They are known sympathizers of Governor Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State who has turned out the anchor point of the opposition to President Jonathan.

    The five governors are entitled to their views. The opinions they currently hold on issues of our national being cannot be circumscribed. In fact, some of them have won the admiration of some people for their principled stance on issues.

    But their inability to attract some of the pro-Jonathan governors in that part of the country to their team lends their motive to suspicion.

    Hard as they try to convince the rest of us that power shift is not at the centre of their self-assigned consultations, it is still hard to believe.

    The problems the governors raised are just symptoms of the innate political sickness afflicting the country. They are all linked to 2015. If Jonathan announces today he will not present himself for the 2015 election, they will fizzle out unilaterally.

    But, that will not be the end of our problems. Sooner or later, they will rear up their ugly heads in other forms as we are yet to tackle the root of them all. And as long as we fail to genuinely address these fundamental distortions, so long will they remain a recurring decimal in our national affairs. Even if power moves back to the north in 2015, it is no guarantee that these systemic frictions will abate. They will not. At best, we would have succeeded in assuaging the feelings of a section of the north albeit temporarily. Within this north and south dichotomy, the fate of the Igbo, one of the tripod on which this country was erected and northern minorities has been relegated to the background. Moving power back to the north has not in any way addressed the grouses of these sections. They will be worse off when this happens given the number of years the north has held that post. With the posturing of the north, it is uncertain the use they intend to put political power when once they get. Key northerners are known to have said that rotation is dead. And when we juxtapose this to recent statements from northern elders and Arewa Consultative Forum that the north has the population to snatch power and retain it as long as it pleases it, then the danger lurking around becomes very manifest.

    It stands to reason that reverting power to the north is not a solution to the centrifugal tendencies that have gained higher momentum in the last couple of years. It will rather reinforce the fears of sections continually shunted out of the commanding heights of key national positions and institutions. These groups will in no distant time, begin to vent their pent up grievances. There is mistrust, suspicion and ill-feelings among the diverse groups on these shores due to inequitable distribution of power and resources. It is on account of these that some people organized themselves to throw stones on the northern governors who were on a legitimate solidarity visit to their colleague in Port Harcourt.

    Some of those who spoke accused Amaechi of wasting their money hosting the northern governors. What money one may wish to ask? Their posters had some unprintable inscriptions that could further fuel embers of discord. That is how bad the mistrust is. But that is their mood. One of the governors succinctly captured this dilemma when he wondered what would have happened in the north had harm come their way.

    It is vital we give deep thought to stemming the recurring frictions that have over the years, stood against national integration. Power shift being a symptom of the larger national disorder cannot effectively address the nagging issues of our federal order. Power is sought desperately in this country because sections want to gain advantage over others. Such a posturing cannot promote fairness, justice, equity and national cohesion. Jonathan may as well vacate office for the north in 2015. But the manner he is being harassed out of the contest may end up swelling a groundswell of public sympathy for him both in the south and the Middle Belt.