The Nation Newspaper

Tag: corruption

  • Blaming all on corruption

    SIR: An average Nigerian today strongly believes and holds the opinion that corruption is the root cause of Nigeria’s problems. Nigerians have developed a self-loathing that manifest in a habitual cynicism. Nigeria has become a synonym for disease, dislocation and destruction, a byword for pity where pious westerners earn their saintly credibility. It is the playground for experimentation in western social ideas based on half-baked data estimates. More troubling is the standards designed by multinational organisations based on these dubious estimates that drive governments policies, which commit themselves to climbing the mountains of goals and benchmarks that are rarely in sync with the aspirations or even the needs of their people.

    Nigerians’ mentality is the major factor why the system is not working; policies are designed by those at the top who are far from the true point of interaction with the environment and who have little openness to the wisdom that emerges from the front line.

    Nearly half of the world now lives in urban areas. The use of digital communications has increased exponentially across the world seeing the decline of agriculture as an economic activity. Yet the discussion on our continent is about mechanising agriculture and industrialisation. We are given the correct answer to a question that is relevant to the preceding century, when in fact quite different questions need to be asked and answered.

    Nigeria has the potential to be well structured, with equipped vibrant mind to create ideas that would manifest in rapid structured development. Very good example is the metropolis of Lagos Island. E very day, people head to Lagos Island en masse, home to about a quarter of million people and the working destination of over five million people. They all aim to get to work by 9am for the start of official working day, and are home bound about 5pm, creating one of the largest and most crushing traffic jams daily. If complex thinking was applied to manage this uniform approach, then organisations would use the entire spectrum of the day to organise work, with some starting at, say, noon and finishing much later. Government would have to make Lagos a 24 hour city. Working stakeholders would have to designate optimal closing times and encourage flexible working approaches.

    The average Nigerian sees himself as indigenes, not citizens. Most Nigerians are indigenes because their sense of belonging comes from being born in the country with the expectation that they are entitled to a certain standard of living. On the other hand, being a citizen is a conscious engagement with the sense of nationality that recognises the complement of rights and responsibilities.

    To address the Nigerian system by focusing exclusively on dysfunctional parts such as leadership or even a perceived pathogen such as corruption will lead to a partial analysis and often-incorrect conclusions. Most Nigerians hold this opinion that corruption is the cause, but in reality most Nigerians don’t even know our role as citizens thereby blaming any challenges or difficulties on the government.

    The Nigerian man should stand up to seek knowledge and shouldn’t be caught in the rat race of blaming every eventuality on the government of the day. Government do have faults and a role to play; but our mentality that anything goes should be curtailed because corruption don’t just start when a man attains power but the way he runs his home.

     

    • Folawiyo Kareem Olajoku

    Osogbo

  • Corruption and Nigeria’s excuse

    It is no longer news that Nigeria remains one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Transparency International, a non-governmental organisation that monitors and publicises corporate and political corruption in the world recently published this year’s corruption perception index, a comparative listing of corruption worldwide; unsurprisingly, Nigeria has declined further.

    The list is in a descending order of least corrupt nations to the most corrupt nations. This year, Nigeria is ranked 144th among the 177 countries monitored. This implies that Nigeria has plunged deeper in the pit of corruption in the last one year, because last year the country was ranked 139th.

    As expected, this revelation was greeted with mixed reaction. While some expressed disappointment, others believed the country should rank lower judging from cases of monumental corruption being perpetrated in high places today. There is nothing that has not been said; blames have been traded, accusations and counter-accusation and all.

    While we all rant, we should not forget that we have not heard the President’s explanation on why the level of corruption in our country has taken such a turn. This is more so because he has promised on several platform to fight corruption, tooth and nail. Why then have we not seen positive changes in terms of reducing sleaze in the past few years?

    Of course, this is very unusual. We all remember how the presidency had come out to explain, sorry, deny the fact that 100 million Nigerians still live in poverty; a report that was published by the famous Forbes magazine. The Federal Government vehemently refuted that fact, with claims that Nigeria is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and with our vast resources, it was impossible for a 100 million citizens to still wallow in poverty.

    Logically, that is very correct but unfortunately with the level of corruption in our country today, the resources are not extended to the masses. Our leaders are definitely not oblivious of the fact that the country has enough resources to cater for more than 60 per cent of the population. The question, therefore, is: where have the resources gone?

    This, of course, brings us to President Jonathan’s excuse which is still pending. The FG is probably still trying to cook up some cock and bull story for Nigerians in explanation to this bitter phenomenon. They must be finding it really tough, I must say. This is because there is really no excuse. Nigeria has all that it takes to win the fight against corruption and eradicate the scourge.

    It must be noted that some of the countries at the bottom of the list this year are countries at the edge of precipice – Somalia, Libya, Syria and Mali. These are countries whose governments are not functioning effectively. As a result, people have to explore every means to survive. But in Nigeria’s case, there is a functioning government; why do we have to be on the same level with nations that are absolutely helpless in corruption index? What is our excuse?

    There used to widely-held belief that corruption in Nigeria would continue unabated because of the “high and mighty” – the untouchable in our society. During the tenure of former Mallam Nuhu Ribadu as chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nigeria experienced positive changes in terms of corruption and our ranking on transparency internationals index also improved greatly. Ribadu may have his shortcomings as human but it was obvious he put in his best to erase corruption on the face of Nigeria. Then, there were no sacred cows, the high and mighty in government were pulled down once they were found guilty of sleaze.

    Today, this is not quite the case. Why wouldn’t we be one of the most corrupt countries in the world when all we can give a minister who fraudulently acquired bullet-proof vehicles without following due process is a pat on the back? Our sister country, Ghana, did not hesitate to show one of its ministers the way out recently when she was found guilty of corrupt practices. The least Nigeria can do is to follow good example.

    I doubt Nigeria would ever find a valid excuse for the terrible state of corruption neither would we find the perfect perfume to ease out the stench of impunity from our quarters not until we decide to act and fight corruption from our immediate environment. We are also guilty, and a nations rulers they say, are only a replica of its followers. When we decide to shun corruption no matter how minimal, then we are takeing bold steps to finally see to the end of corruption and bold steps would someday become giant steps. Now that Nigeria has no excuse, are we going to walk the walk or just talk the talk?

    •Sarat, 200-Level Applied Chemistry, UDUS

     

     

  • Cosy with corruption

    Cosy with corruption

    Tambuwal hits the nail on the head; dismisses President Jonathan’s anti-corruption war

    The Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, last week took a swipe on President Goodluck Jonathan’s weak fight against corruption. The Speaker spoke at a roundtable to mark the International Anti-corruption Day by the Nigerian Bar Association, in Abuja. He emphasised that the President’s body language does not show the political will to fight corruption. He also decried the President’s undue secrecy in governance, and the unnecessary setting up of committees to probe corruption, instead of referring cases of corrupt practices to statutory bodies empowered to investigate and prosecute such allegations.

    These assertions are unassailable, and it is important that they are treated by the President with all seriousness. Indeed, it will be tragic if the presidency treats these grave allegations with levity. Unfortunately, there are signs of this already, as the President’s media handlers have retorted that the President cannot be judged by body language; instead of denying in specificity the allegations by the Speaker. The Speaker listed glaring cases of scandalous allegations of corruption, and the President’s scant regard to the recommendations of the legislature on them.

    Tambuwal listed the oil subsidy probe, the aviation ministry’s scandal, the pension scam probe and allegations of corruption in the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In most of the probes by the House of Representatives, allegations of monumental corruption were exposed. As rightly argued by the Speaker, the decision of the President to set up administrative committees to probe the allegations instead of referring their recommendations to police agencies is duplicitous. In the Speaker’s words, ‘the executive, by constituting committees to investigate what ordinarily should have been investigated by the EFCC, the ICPC and the Code of Conduct Bureau is engaged in duplication of efforts’.

    It is encouraging that the Speaker, who is in the same party as the President, has shown the courage to condemn the attitude of the leader of his party, publicly. It shows maturity, and we commend it. We had exerted efforts in the past, even in the last few weeks, to condemn the lukewarm attitude of President Jonathan to fighting corruption. We have also condemned the nuanced assertion by the President that corruption is not the primary challenge militating against our national development; and his further assertion that the allegations of corruption in our country are more of perception than reality.

    One of the pending corruption scandals which the Speaker raised is the illegal purchase of two armoured cars by the Ministry of Aviation, for a humongous N255 million. To underscore the rightness of the Speaker’s allegation against the President, it is unfortunate that despite a national outcry, nothing has been done by the executive and its agencies to bring the culprits to justice. The same attitude applies to the subsidy scam that almost convoluted the country last year. Despite the confirmation by even the committee set up by the President, that the subsidy was a huge scam, what we have as trials, is akin to a circus show, involving some of the scions of the ruling party, who were identified as the culprits.

    As we have noted in several of our interventions, the President has the constitutional responsibility to lead the anti-corruption war in the country; after all he is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. The enormity of his responsibilities to rein in corruption must not be taken lightly, and he must appreciate that he insults the sensibilities of Nigerians, when he makes light that challenge. For the purpose of emphasis, even the General Secretary of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, has identified corruption as the greatest challenge to development in Third World countries. It is at the heart of the deficiency in infrastructure, as money earmarked for development is usually creamed off into private pockets.

    We urge Speaker Tambuwal to also take his fight against corruption to his primary constituency. This is not to take away anything from his unassailable indictment of President Jonathan’s attitude to corruption in the executive arm of government. It is unacceptable that Nigerians are left to conjecture what it costs the tax payer to maintain the National Assembly. The sundry allegation that the members of the legislature earn more income than their contemporaries around the world, despite our gross poverty is also condemnable. It will be edifying, if in the spirit of transparency, the legislature comes clean on this blot on its integrity.

    In the meantime, President Jonathan must take heed to the challenges posed by Speaker Tambuwal.

  • Anti-Corruption rally in Abuja

    Anti-Corruption rally in Abuja

  • Corruption: One more reason Jonathan must not be re-elected

    Corruption: One more reason Jonathan must not be re-elected

    Mr. President has gone on a self-congratulatory tour, regarding how negligible corruption is in Nigeria

    I am completely disillusioned being the citizen of a country permanently in the league of failed countries like Afghanistan, Syria and Somalia, whenever the topic of discussion is corruption. It pains to the marrows to wake up each morning remembering you are a member of a country where the entire leadership of the ruling party celebrates each time an election has been successfully rigged as in the shambolic Anambra elections. These facts must have accounted for a presidential ultra loyalist like Asari Dokubo to , this past week, flagellate the president, claiming that he surrounds himself with incompetent and corrupt persons. Speaking further he was quoted as saying: ‘“We mainly speak out on issues that are very critical to the survival of the people of the South-South and the South-East. Jonathan is surrounded by very greedy people who are only in the Presidency to enrich themselves ’.And quoting voraciously from Ijaw proverbs, Dokubo could not hold back from pointedly saying: ‘“Everyday people die on the East-West Road. If Orubebe is incompetent as he has shown himself to be, he should be removed. Nobody voted for Orubebe’. Orubebe, the Niger-Delta minister is a man only a mere breath away from the President Jonathan.

    Dokubo most probably spoke without an inkling of Transparency International’s latest report on Nigeria which is ranked 124th most corrupt country among the less than 170 studied. In my article: ‘Mr President When Is Corruption In Nigeria Enough?’ which appeared on this page on 26, May 2013, I wrote as follows: ‘You will not but pity Nigeria, and ordinary Nigerians when you read that the country ranks with the likes of Nepal, Azerbaijan, and Pakistan on the global corruption perception index. That was as at the Transparency International’s last report in December, 2012 which could actually be far worse now when you factor in the humongous oil subsidy and pension rackets. For moving up a measly 4 places on the T.I’s list, scoring 27 out of a possible 100, presidency officials are out on a binge gloating; attributing that miracle to President Jonathan’s muscular anti- corruption efforts even when the world knows much better. The entire world now daily reads us like a book. In spite of the fact that there is no more hiding place, Mr President has gone on a self-congratulatory tour, regarding how negligible corruption is in Nigeria. He has even told the U.S to mind her many problems and stop getting unnecessarily exuberant about corruption in Nigeria.

    If Mr President cannot be persuaded to see Alamiesiagha, a fellow Ijaw’s state pardon, as a corruption of the process, then let us quickly remind him of other acts of putrefaction which have no other name besides corruption. Indeed, it needs be mentioned that Alamiesiagha’s pardon was so badly received by the outside world that the U.S could not hold back from issuing a statement to the following effect: ‘The US views this development as a setback for the fight against corruption, and also for our ability to play the strong role we’ve played in supporting rule of law and legal institution-building in Nigeria, which is very important for the future of the country’. Earlier in this presidential blitzkrieg he had said that “corruption is not the cause of our problems, claiming that Nigeria has more institutions that fight corruption. ‘Most of the issues we talk about, said the President, are not corruption. If we do things properly, if we change our attitude of doing things, most of the things we think are caused by corruption are not’. This is precisely what Nigerians are saying, Mr President. Change your compromising attitude to corruption, banish impunity, follow the due process and allow the anti-corruption agencies, the police and the courts do their work without interference’.

    Now, a mere seven months on, things are far worse as eloquently attested to by the Transparency International’s latest report.

    For elucidation, I shall skip the putrefying allegations against Stella Oduah, his Minister of Aviation, who is already back in business, inspecting airports and promising a billion jobs. I will choose, instead, to quote, mutatis mutandis, from Mohammed Haruna’s, article in The Nation of Wednesday, December 4, 2013. Deprecating the arrest of two sons of Governor Lamido of Jigawa by the EFCC for money laundering but which the author attributes more to political witch hunt, he cited the following examples of how President Jonathan protects, and encourages corruption in Nigeria.

    Wrote Haruna: ‘Easily the most glaring of such cases is that of Malabu Oil and Gas, reportedly controlled by a Chief Dan Etete, a former Oil minister under General Abacha who was previously convicted in France. According to newspapers like The Economist (June 15) of London, two years ago, a consortium of Shell and Eni/Elf which had controversial stakes in the oil well, OPL 245, paid nearly $1.1 billion to Malabu, reportedly on orders of the president, as settlement of the ownership dispute of the lucrative oil well. According to Premium Times (September 30), an investigative online newspaper, the former minister, in turn shared the money paid to his company into several dubious accounts, some of them owned by close political associates of the president’s.

    Clearly this payment (of N184 Billion, under the direction of a government which cannot adequately fund tertiary education), and which the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke, tried to rationalise away during a public hearing of a House committee investigating the deal, as voluntary with government acting only as a “facilitator”, reeked to high heavens of the worst form of cronyism’, another name for corruption.

    ‘Second, he continued, was an earlier case of the president versus Spynet Magazine which in its maiden edition in August 2007, accused him of perjury in declaring his assets and liabilities during his tenure as deputy governor and governor of Bayelsa, and eventually as vice-president under Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, as demanded by the Constitution. Days after the publication its premises were ransacked by the State Security Services and its editors detained. To date nothing more has been heard of the case. Not even after the president angrily told Nigerians he doesn’t “give a damn” about whatever Nigerians thought of his refusal to publicly declare his assets as President’.

    Finally, concluded Haruna, ‘ is the paradox of a worsening insecurity in the land, especially from Boko Haram insurgency, despite the huge budgetary allocations to our security forces since 2009. One glaring illustration of this, wrote Haruna, is the fact that the Army Chief, Lt-General Azubuike Ihejirika, has lately been complaining of an under armed and under equipped military confronting a rag tag Boko Haram’.

    Nigerians are now fully satiated with stories of oil subsidy, pension, budget crude price benchmark bribes, and the lot, that they no longer mean a thing except that the Jonathan government continues to negatively serve the country as EFCC no longer diligently follow up on these crimes and where it does, at all, it comes up with nothing more than a slap on the wrist. In any decent country, increasing corruption should naturally send the government packing. Come the next elections Nigerians must do likewise.

    LAST WORD

    The above article was written long before I got to read about the following senseless and totally irrational statements allegedly made by two men who were integral to the ruination of Nigeria: Alhaji Lawal Kaita, quoted as saying:”a northerner must emerge President in 2015 or we will divide” and, the ever repulsive Dr Junaid Mohammed who was reported as saying: “there will be bloodshed if Jonathan runs in 2015”.

    Who exactly do these people think they are; Nigerian overlords? Rotational presidency may be equitable. But this level of arrogance?

  • Denmark, New Zealand, Finland lead top least corrupt countries

    Denmark, New Zealand, Finland lead top least corrupt countries

    The Corruption Perceptions Index 2013, released on Thursday, ranked Denmark, New Zealand, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Singapore, Switzerland, Netherlands, Australia, Canada, Luxembourg, Germany, Iceland, among the top least corrupt countries in the globe.

    Other countries where corruption is zero include United Kingdom, Barbados, Belgium, Hong Kong, Japan, United States, Uruguay, Ireland, Bahamas, Chile, France, Saint Lucia, Austria and United Arab Emirates.

    The 2013 index ranks countries and territories based on how corrupt their public sector is perceived to be. A country or territory’s score indicates the perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of 0 – 100, where 0 means that a country is perceived as highly corrupt and 100 means it is perceived as very clean. A country’s rank indicates its position relative to the other countries and territories included in the index. This year’s index includes 177 countries and territories. “The Corruption Perceptions Index 2013 demonstrates that all countries still face the threat of corruption at all levels of government, from the issuing of local permits to the enforcement of laws and regulations,” said Huguette Labelle, Chair of Transparency International.

    “It is time to stop those who get away with acts of corruption. The legal loopholes and lack of political will in government facilitate both domestic and cross-border corruption, and call for our intensified efforts to combat the impunity of the corrupt.” The world, Labelle stressed, “Urgently needs a renewed effort to crack down on money laundering, clean up political finance, pursue the return of stolen assets and build more transparent public institutions.”

    Expatiating, Transparency International boss said: “The Corruption Perceptions Index 2013 serves as a reminder that the abuse of power, secret dealings and bribery continue to ravage societies around the world.”

    The Index scores 177 countries and territories on a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). No country has a perfect score, and two-thirds of countries score below 50. This indicates a serious, worldwide corruption problem.

     

  • Confronting the cancer of corruption

    SIR: Corruption is like dodder, the yellow vine that wraps around trees and saps their life. Once it falls on a society it is a curse that grows from one branch to the next and then to the next until nothing remains visible, except a yellow sickness of corruption. Even such guardians of morality as religious and academic institutions become corrupt. The struggle against an evil depends on the ethical standards of a society; it is our response of dismissal or approval that matters.

    Corruption doesn’t spring up from nowhere. Corruption is planted, fed and watered. Roots in the ground, out of sight, are what hold corruption in place. Still, without a steady supply of nutrients in the form of money, greed and opportunity and without the right climate, corruption will not grow and produce more bad seeds. Nigerian’s are sickened by greed, corruption and decadency of our leaders and nothing can stop our country progress faster than a continued culture of corruption. The word favoritism, nepotism and covert corruption infect high and low places.

    Corruption is the Nigeria’s biggest enemy. The only way to get rid of it is with a full-scale assault. Anything short of that is useless. That means digging out the roots and their food sources: money, contractors on the hustle, and politicians on the take. For example, the first contact foreigners have when entering a country is with customs and immigration officers. In our airports, travelers often find themselves delayed at customs clearance until a suitable inducement (often hard currency) is forthcoming. Even our borders and ports are not left out, as officers receive bribes to speed up the checking of vehicles and containers smuggling in prohibited goods.

    The same shameful practice today is found among traffic Police, Police patrol, FRSC, VIO’s and security check points. The personnel in the government procurement departments provide information on tender to bids for a fee. Contractors bribe clerks, Personal Assistants and Secretaries to obtain information.

    The Politicians in Nigeria have turned our democracy to be a “Commercial Democracy. It’s no longer news that candidates vying for offices and positions offer bribes and gifts to delegates in exchange for votes.

    Now is the time to dig down and pry up the tendrils of corruption: those straw donors who allowed their names to be attached to campaign contributions they didn’t make; contractors who disguise their political donations and evade contribution limits by using the names of different companies that they own; and elected officials who violate laws that they have sworn to uphold. Corruption didn’t descend out of thin air. It is homegrown, and it must be killed. The government should through the National Assembly come up with the “Whistleblower Protection Act” which will give people the courage to report improper conducts in government establishments, Public awareness and anti-corruption crusades should be encouraged in schools, market squares, billboards at the airport, highways, sea ports and the government office complexes. This will in the long run help to fight and limit corruption in Nigeria, otherwise it will destroy our race, culture, religion and nation.

    • Ibrahim Muye Yahaya

    Jagbele Quarters Muye , Niger State

  • Public officers and foreign accounts

    SIR: The ongoing attempt by the House of Representatives to pass a bill that will allow public officers to operate foreign accounts is atrocious and a desperate bid by the lawmakers to institutionalise and legalise corruption and money laundering. It is sheer brinkmanship and political brigandage.

    The bill which has already passed its second reading if allowed to scale through will spell doom for our nation and turn Nigeria legally and institutionally, into a country where its leaders are accountable to no one. At present, the government is accountable to none but at least, it can still be made to account for its actions, because the substantive Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act, and relevant laws guarantee that, even though the mechanism for its enforcement is seriously jaundiced. But once this bill being championed by the lawmakers is allowed to fly, then there will be no more hope for probity, accountability and transparency in this country.

    It is sad to note that at a time when democracies globally are taking a giant leap beyond secrecy, opening up governments, and becoming increasingly accountable to their people-the electorate, ours is taking a precipitous slide to draconian days; days better imagined than experienced. Indeed, historical records worldwide had shown that a government that is open thrives better than that mired in controversy and concealment. A government that is accountable to its people, that conscientiously does all it can to strengthen the institutions of democracy, that punishes incompetence and malfeasance and rewards integrity and diligence does well, last longer and insures development for the greater good.

    We are in a fast changing world, a world evidently undergoing a three-pronged critical revolution in the socio-political and economic sphere, technology and human rights. These are the things that are, and will determine the shape and direction of issues in this century; a classic revolution of values, but alas our government, in particular the legislature is sleeping through this amazing revolution. Soon, this cancer will spread into the very fabric of this nation, and if we, the Nigerian people do not ask fast, it will become malignant.

    These heartless, conscienceless and shameless men cannot even work to strengthen a simple Freedom of Information (FOI) Act to make government more open and accountable neither could they pass a sound Fiscal Responsibility Law to check fiscal recklessness; all they did was watered down the Fiscal Responsibility Act. For almost one and half a decade since return to democratic rule, they have squandered our commonwealth and collective patrimony. All of the lawmakers regardless of party affiliation are up to no good; the judgement of God is upon them.

    The Nigerian people surely cannot allow them to get away with this one; they can’t continue messing up with our collective destiny, and jeopardising and mortgaging the future of our children. It is time to take a stand and make our voices heard.

    •Eneruvie Enakoko, Omotunde Adetula, Olaide Ekeolere, Papa Siakpere, Abu Babangida

    Conscience Reports Team, Lagos

  • Nigerian rulers’ five cardinal sins

    SIR: Nigeria is bedeviled by five cardinal sins perpetrated by the rulers. The Original Sin from which the others emanate is Indiscipline. The five cardinal sins identified here are corruption, politicization of religion, election rigging, neutralization of executive members of workers’ unions, and mass media gagging. I don’t want to mention ethnicism, because favouring “one’s own” seems all too natural, which is the reason Nigeria has the federal character policy in place, unfortunately more in the breach than in compliance; worse of all ignoring rotational presidency. Indiscipline of course means that you allow your emotion and feeling to get rid of your right-thinking faculty and so do wrong things, such as truncation of rotational presidency.

    Corruption is the number one cardinal sin built into the Nigerian system. Some parastatals are allowed to keep a percentage of their income for running cost. Meanwhile, the state or headquarter pays the workers’ salaries and allowances. The percentage kept by the parastatal for running cost grows into millions and the Director helps to clear the excess one way or another. Or, take another example; the Central Bank is allowed to keep “Social responsibility fund” and so donating buses, classrooms and halls, as deemed fit! Is that part of the purpose of a Central Bank in developed countries, or is part and parcel of the Nigerian factor? You also have explicit corruption in clear cases of misappropriation. I don’t know where to place Oduahgate, etc.

    Politicisation of religion is second on the cardinal sin list. It is explicit in Muslim leaders who claim that Islam is inextricably bound-up with politics. Meanwhile, some or many Christians keep saying Jesus is the answer to all problems, while some other Christians join in using religion to perpetrate corruption and political destabilization of Nigeria.

    Not less virulent is the third cardinal sin, election rigging. The Peoples Democratic Party banks heavily on it, and so has staunchly resisted electoral reform toward a truly independent electoral commission.

    The fourth cardinal sin, neutralization of executive members of workers’ unions, is grave because it means that checks and balance are eclipsed. That is one clear area where Ghana is doing far better than Nigeria. What is democracy without checks and balance? Ditto those who gag the mass media. All this is written to elicit repentance, positive reaction, or revolution.

     

    •Pius Oyeniran Abioje, Ph. D,

    University of Ilorin.

  • Court adjourns Daniel’s trial to 2014

    Court adjourns Daniel’s trial to 2014

    An Abeokuta High Court on Thursday adjourned till Feb. 6, 2014, continuation of proceedings in a criminal case brought against former governor of Ogun, Chief Gbenga Daniel.
    The former governor was arraigned before the court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for alleged fraudulent conversion of land and diversion of public funds.
    The trial judge, Justice Olarenwaju Mabekoje, said that the adjournment was to enable the Court of Appeal to deliver judgment in an appeal on its ruling delivered on Jan. 8.
    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Daniel filed the appeal at the Court of Appeal, Ibadan, challenging the dismissal of his plea to quash counts 1-13 of the 38 charges leveled against him by the EFCC in the subsisting suit.
    At the resumed hearing, counsel to Daniel, Mrs Titilola Akinlawon, informed the court that her client’s appeal had been argued at the Appeal Court and that judgment had been reserved.
    She pleaded for an adjournment to a date exceeding Jan.  28, 2014, “when the judgment would have been given in respect of the appeal.’’
    The case was consequently adjourned till Feb. 6, 2014 for continuation of trial.