OPINION
 |
| Mr. Yinka Odumakin |
By
Yinka Odumakin
Nations are built by leaders but nations can
be destroyed by leaders. For leaders to build or destroy a nation,
they will have the tacit support of a critical segment of society. History is
replete with leaders who build their nations and also
leaders who destroyed their Nations. As citizens of
our great country, it is within our control to support our
leaders to either build Nigeria or destroy our nation. The
choice is ours.
Nigeria is under a democratic leadership, the
type that requires a President to belong to a political party.
In one party system issues are less complex but in a multi-party
system like ours, leadership becomes more complicated, especially
as members of a ruling party do not see anything wrong with the
Government. Whatever the Government does is right. The common parlance is “It
is Our Government”. Is the President or indeed the Government always right? The
answer is No, but the Government must be supported at all cost because “it
is our government”. There is no doubt that Nigeria
is reeling under the burden of “it is our government” mentality.
Dictators that have destroyed their nations
always start with subtle intrigues. They take one step after the other,
trampling on the rights of citizens. At the beginning, they are usually
supported by the people because beautiful reasons are always advanced. With
time, they grow out of proportion and become a problem to the society,
consuming even those that support them.
Following the DSS arrest of senior judicial officers,
a number of people have appeared on television to justify the
arrest. Although some of them
are experienced lawyers, their discussion of the
issue has been so absurd. They even deliberately change the
narrative. Even those who present TV programmes have
been recruited to change the narrative. They generate lead questions
to discussants and sometimes even suggest suitable words for them. They
have all joined in the bizarre newspaper trials of Nigerians. As
far as they are concerned, the Judges are corrupt Q.E.D. The DSS are
the investigators, prosecutors and have also delivered the judgement.
I listened to some members of the Federal Government
Committee on Corruption and I was extremely sad. I was saddened not because of
what they said, after all they are working for the
Government; but because some of them are about 70years old,
Professors and Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN). One expects that they
will look the President eye ball to eye ball and tell him to start the
corruption war with some of his Ministers and Senior Aides that have had
reports and serious allegations made against them.
A Judicial Commission of Inquiry has indicted Amaechi,
the former Governor of Rivers State and present Minister of
Transportation. There is the issue of MTN bribing
allegation hanging on the neck of a top officer of Government working in
the State House. There are also reports of N250m used to clear grass
in IDP Camps when the IDPs have no food to eat.
These and many other issues are
in the air but a member of the Committee proudly told Nigerians on an AIT
morning programme on Wednesday, 12thOctober 2016
that until two Judges are sentenced for corruption, Nigerians will not take the
Government serious. If such senior citizens cannot tell Mr. President that
until he clears his house, Nigerians cannot take his anti-corruption war
serious then they should resign. Are they there because of the allowances or
they are on that Committee to help reduce corruption in Nigeria?
This Government has cleared a Chief of Army Staff who
owns properties in Nigeria and Dubai, claiming that they were procured
from savings and sales from a snake farm but a Supreme Court Justice is under
arrest for possessing €5,600 in his house. An online newspaper mentioned
properties owned by one minister in Abuja and the US, but there was no
query for the Minister who just left Government. Charity begins
at home. The corruption war must also start at home.
No one is saying Judges enjoy immunity. Nigerians know
that the constitution provides immunity for only holders of four offices
in the land. The President, Vice President, Governors and Deputy Governors. If
a judge while travelling out of this country is caught with hard
drugs, surely the NDLEA will arrest him. They will not need the
permission of the NJC to arrest him. Judges know that they will subject themselves
to searches at the airports.
Also while coming back to the country if a Judge is
found with contraband goods, the Customs will apprehend him. If a Judge
wakes up and uses a stick to club his house help to death, surely he will
be arrested by the police without any kind of clearance from the NJC.
What Nigerians are against is the circumstances and
manner of the arrest and the nature of cases these Judges have been
presiding over before their arrest. It is extremely embarrassing and ridiculous
for Abdullahi Garba, a Director in the DSS who spoke to the Nation to
describe the incident as a “sting operation”. Is the DSS trying to deceive
Nigerians or calling us illiterates? Or could it be that the
Director, DSS does not know what to classify as “sting operation”? In law enforcement, a
sting operation is a deceptive but carefully researched operation designed to
catch a person committing a crime. Generally, a law enforcement officer or
co-operative member of the public play a role as a criminal partner or
potential victim and go along with a suspect’s wrongdoing. A common example is
the issue of marked money.
One gets worried when journalists and lawyers
also continue to describe it as a “sting operation”. It is like Adolf Hitler’s
belief that when you say a lie one thousand times it becomes the truth. No
matter how the DSS describes their operation, there are basic questions they
must answer for the citizens of this country to understand the motive behind
the operation.
Those hired to speak for them and the believers of “it
is our government” must also provide the answers.
The issues include:
1.
Why was it better to arrest them
in the night between 9pm and 4am?
2.
Why must all the Judges and
Justices be arrested on the same day across the country?
3.
Why did the DSS mention the total
amount recovered from the Judges but refused to mention how much was found with
individual Judges?
4.
In Port-Harcourt, the DSS knew
the total amount of money the Judge had even when they did not gain access into
his house.
5.
Why were the arrests effected on
a Friday night?
6.
Can the DSS tell us that all the
Judges that have been giving favourable judgements to the Ruling
Party are not corrupt?
This Government should know that not all Nigerians
suffer from amnesia or are oblivious of what is happening around
us. There are so many questions begging for answers in this saga. The
DSS claimed it was a sting operation, that means they knew the movement of
the Judges. Why arrest them at such ungodly hour? Whether there is an
allegation of corruption against them or not, these people live in their homes.
They are not armed robbers who hide or move from one brothel to
another. Whether Judges or ordinary citizens, is it right to arrest them
at such ungodly hour?
In all civilised Nations this kind of treatment is
given only to suspected armed robbers, drug cartels and bandits not to ordinary
people who live in their houses. Anyone who justifies this act by the DSS is
manifestly justifying a civil and social wrong.
This is a nation that criminals wearing uniforms of
security personnel have been raiding people in the night claiming to be
government officers sent to search houses alleged to have drugs. Through
that process foreigners and Nigerians have been robbed. If the DSS will also
operate at that time how will people tell the difference between criminals and
law enforcement agents.
In addition, going by the claims of the DSS, one is
left with the impression that in Port-Harcourt, an insider must have informed
them that $2m was taken to the house of the Judge. Since the DSS carried out
the raids across the country simultaneously, did they also get similar
information as regards the other Judges? The DSS also insinuated that one of
the Judges was caught by the CCTV in a supermarket collecting bribe. Was the
bribe collected that same dayof the raid?
And if the DSS has evidence as clear as a Judge caught
on camera why not approach the NJC? The DSS proudly announced to Nigerians
how they recovered €5,600 from a Justice. Is that reasonable? Anyone who
undergoes several oversea trips will have some foreign currencies in his house.
These Judges travel abroad during their
vacations and they attend various meetings and
conferences abroad. Some have children working abroad and doing
well, so what is €5,600!
A friend told me that he was on a British Airways
flight in which three children of a top DSS operative travelled first class.
What is the cost of a first class BA ticket and how much will each child carry
as travel allowance? This same person is definitely one of those in the
DSS who authorised the arrest of a Judge for having €5,600 in his residence
with his wife and other grown-ups.
If some people cannot see this as an intimidation
gravitating towards dictatorship, then they should go and read the history of
dictators. The report of the Commission of Inquiry into the violation of
Human Rights in Uganda from October 9, 1962 to January 25, 1986 under Idi Amin
is an interesting document to start with. There is even an interesting
coincidence, in that the CJN of Uganda, Hon. Justice Kiwanuka was
kidnapped and killed .
I believe one day, one Government will also set up a
Commission of Inquiry into the Human Rights abuses from May 29, 1999 to a date
in the future. That is why those in power must know that they may have
a date with history.
Some people continue to justify the way these Judges
were brutalised because of allegation of corruption against them. I beg to
disagree. The DSS does not need to break down the walls of a house in the night
to arrest any citizen. I will be very surprised
if the Government underrates the impact of this arrest on the
image of this country and the attendant effect on the economy.
No one wants to live or invest in a
country where if armed robbers do not break into your home at night, law
enforcement operatives will break your walls and arrest you as if you are
a bandit or drug lord. Even if we are under the spell of “it is our
government”, we should try to help our leaders build a Nation we will all be
proud of. The three arms of government must complement each other for
our Nation to develop. Unfortunately, the National Assembly is not up to
the task.
Aristotle believed that man is a political animal so I
am not expecting a man to be politically inert irrespective of the office he
holds but it is only in Nigeria that a card carrying member of a political
party will be appointed to head a sensitive and serious intelligence service
such as the DSS. When that appointment was made, some Nigerians expected
members of the National Assembly to react but they kept mute. The DSS
operatives have been breaking into houses across the country at will.
In most cases, nothing was found in these houses yet
they leave behind a myriad of broken suitcases, boxes, cabinets, any door
and anything locked by the home owners. Is this the way the DSS
should operate?
By law, the Senate screens the prospective holders of
some offices but even for offices not expressly provided by law, the National
Assembly can raise issues if the President appoints someone that is not
competent or not expected to hold the office. Unfortunately, the
Nigerian Senate is under the spell of “it is our Government”.
People have been appointed to hold offices that
required Senate screening but assume such offices before names are sent to the
Senate and nothing happens. In a normal society, if there is a vacancy, someone
within the organization acts pending Parliamentary clearance. We have a
Minister in the Federal Cabinet who does not possess the “Ordinary
Level” qualification, the minimum academic requirement to be a
Minister of the Federal Republic but the Senate cleared the
individual without due diligence to be a Minister. It is only the Nigerian
Senate that can permit this kind of appointment.
When one wrong step is taken and it is allowed, it
gives room for the second, third wrong steps to be taken then one
is directly encouraging dictatorship that will consume us as
a Nation in the long run. People have been complaining that the DSS
and the EFCC are operating as Departments of the ruling party. The High Court
and Supreme Court Justices and Judges houses have been invaded by the DSS at
night and the walls and doors broken to arrest them and some people are saying
that it is acceptable and good. For these people, I am praying that one
day in their lives these Agencies should break into their homes at 1.00am
to arrest them or a relation staying with them on the suspicion
of stolen money or some other crime.
In all that we do, we must follow our laws and due
process. A Nation that does not follow her laws will not develop and will not
be respected among the committee of Nations. In Nigeria today,
if you are a politician, irrespective of your atrocities as long as you cross
over to the APC you become a saint.
Let be clear that I abhor corruption in the judiciary
because what is being sold is justice. We must kick bribe takers out of our
justice system through due process of law.
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