On
a very cold morning of November 3rd 2012 after a two weeks
Spell in the United Kingdom while on holiday, I set out to stroll around
some landmark
institutions in Central London to catch a glimpse and to learn one
practical
lesson or two in the art of maintenance culture of public
institutions/infrastructure that is deeply engrained in the lives and
times of
British people. Besides, the media, court system and the civil society
are vibrant, independent and respectable in Great Britain.
I began my early morning Odyssey from my modest travel lodge guest
inn located near church street Bust Stop in Sidcup High street where I took a
ride on bus number 321 to Lewinsham police station from where I found a friend
who drove me to a near – by train station from where I boarded a fast moving
underground train that took me to Charing Cross Road Station.
Stepping out of the train station afforded me another
Inspirational thought to stroll around the streets to take a look at some
important selling out lets.
It was in the course of moving around that I spotted a magnificent
books store named Foyles and my undying passion for good books took the better
part of me and compelled me to look in for the latest book by the globally
acclaimed Novelist Professor Chinua Achebe titled “There was a country”.
Navigating my way around the huge edifice to locate the book was
not an easy task as there were millions of copies of beautiful books. However,
in less than twenty seconds, one of the very courteous sales girls accosted me
to assist me locate whatever books I wanted.
The long and short of this drama was that rather than pick only
the book I actually meant to buy, I stumbled on several other books and ended
up buying them including the 582 page book by the influential British law maker
Mr. Jack Straw which was an autobiography that he philosophically titled “Last
Man Standing: memoirs of a Political Survivor”.
I have since made this very voluminous book an intimate companion
in my study even as I have learnt huge body of knowledge on what politics is
not. These facts which were found scattered around the book by Jack Straw are
the motivating factors that informed the writing of this piece with the
conviction that our large army of politicians who hold a predatorial and
self-seeking view about why they are in politics will have a change of heart
and begin to work to make Nigeria a better place for us all.
Jack Straw was born in Buckhurst Hill in 1944. Brought up in
Loughton, he read law at the prestigious Leeds University and practiced at the
British bar before winning a seat in the British Parliament in 1979 to
represent his Black burn Constituency.
He served as Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary and the leader of
the House of Commons during Mr. Tony Blairs Premiership, and Secretary of State
for Justice and Lord Chancellor under the immediate past Premier Minister Mr.
Gordon Brown.
In this book, Mr. Jack Straw who is arguably British most
experienced politician, clearly wrote that “Politics should be a high
calling – the means by which we make difficult, sometimes nigh-impossible
decisions without resort to violence and bloodshed”.
Jack Straw also stated as a matter of fact that one of the
fundamental rules of democracy is that a democratic political party cannot pick
and choose which laws it says should be obeyed.
The above statement brings me back to the ongoing political
drama in my country Nigeria where those in authority since 1999 that the
military restored what they called civilian democracy have betrayed the
collective trust of the citizenry to implement two constitutional
reforms that would have transformed Nigeria.
One of these constitutional obligations of those in government and
political authority is to eradicate corruption and abuse of office and the
second is to create an Independent and vibrant Judiciary so as to clean up the
Augean stable of lawlessness of all dimensions.
I as well as several other thinkers are of the considerable
opinion that when these two constitutional obligations are enforced,
then the myriads of challenges that confront Nigeria would be effectively
tackled to the greatest satisfaction of the greatest number of the citizenry.
The constitution of Nigeria which for now is the binding body of
laws for all parts of the federation captured the two obligations in section
14(5) which states that; “The state shall abolish all corrupt practices and
abuse of power”, and section 6 which states that; “The Judicial powers of the Federation
shall be vested in the courts to which this section relates, being courts
established for the federation”.
But from available evidence, the lack of political will to
effectively build strong democratic institutions to eradicate corruption and
the deliberate failure on the part of policy makers and enforcers to build an
independent Judiciary are the fundamental reasons why the Rule of law seems to
have collapsed in Nigeria therefore creating room for the state of near-anarchy
and chaos that Nigeria is witnessing that reached an all time low with the
recent kidnap by force of arm of the Mother of the Nigeria's Finance Minister
Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala [Professor Mrs. Kemene Okonjo] the wife of a First
Class traditional ruler in Delta State. Hundreds of other Nigerians have been
killed by armed non-state actors in the North even as several hundreds of
others have similarly been kidnapped by freelance armed kidnappers who seek
ransom payment before freeing their captors and the police is incapable of
stopping this evil trend.
Politics is certainly not all about corruption, primitive
acquisition of wealth to the detriment of the public good and definitely
politics is not all about the consistent desecration and weakening of the
institution of the judiciary and law enforcement as are being witnessed
systematically in Nigeria.
Nigerians of all class, status and background must do everything
humanly possible to reverse these evil trends now.
Importantly, Nigeria needs strong, independent, corrupt -free
judicial institution to put the judges in a good position to frontally punish
citizens who due to corruption have virtually destroyed basic critical
institutions such as the police and the defence sector, the educational and
health sectors.
Nigeria must enthrone the Rule of law to check these corruption;
economic crimes of grandscale and to ensure that lawlessness is no longer
attractive. Again, other institutions such as the civil society and media must
also be made independent and corrupt-free if we ever hope to free Nigeria from
the clutches of corrupt-minded politicians.
Professor Yemi Osinbajo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, had in a
paper he delivered on 13th November, 2007 in Abuja captured the two salient
constitutional obligations which as pointed out above must be observed without
breach for Nigeria to be transformed.
Osinbanjo, a Professor of law wrote thus; “Today the nation is
also faced with the challenge of fighting corruption. There are cases of
individuals, who are said to have stolen billions of naira and acquired assets
locally and internationally. The minds boggling figures have riveted every
one’s attention. Many calculations are done daily on how many social services
could be rendered to millions with money cornered by so many few”.
Professor Osinbanjo blamed the failure in respecting the principle
of rule of law and weak Judicial Institution as reason why such monumental
corruption Continue.
His words: “The accused persons are wealthy, they can engage the
legal system for years, they can appeal every point, they can mobilize public
opinion. The longer the cases against them drag, the surer it is that Nigerians
will lose interest and after a while begin to wonder why these individuals are
being “Persecuted”. “The Rule of ‘law’, or “due process” often lead to this
ironical path”.
Several years after Professor Osinbanjo penned down this
beautiful essay, his worst fears are still very much with us thereby making it
look as if corruption in political offices pays great dividends to political
office holders, and their cronies including of course their lawyers, media
consultants and other bunch of bad guys in the organized civil society groups
who are ever so willing to be mobilized to play the devil’s advocate against
apostles of anti-graft crusades and genuine reformers determined to put their
enormous talents and time to try to save Nigeria from the twin evil of
corruption and collapse of institutions of law enforcement and the judiciary.
Two examples will suffice to show that the essay authored by
Professor Osinbanjo is factually relevant.
Firstly, for over one year, a drama of unprecedented proportion
involving alleged bribery, and corruption is playing itself out in the
Nigeria’s National Assembly involving a long standing law maker from Kano State
Mr. Farouk Lawan and a businessman Mr. Femi Otedola. Otedola’s company was
allegedly indicted for the monumental heist of several billions of public fund
dedicated for funding the fuel subsidy program but he (Otedola) alleged that he
was blackmailed to part with $650,000 USD by Mr. Farouk Lawan who headed the now
discredited House of Representatives Ad-Hoc probe panel on the fuel subsidy
scandals so as to clear Mr. Otedola’s company.
The indicted legislator publicly accepted that he collected money
from the businessman but denied that it was a bribe. Worst still, the Nigeria
Police Force which stepped into the matter has so far failed to either recover
the said huge “bribe” money or to prosecute the legislator for whatever it is
worth to at least allow the due process of the law to be adhered to. The
hierarchy of the Federal House of Representatives are comfortable that the
public image of the National legislature is messed up even as the individuals
indicted are still going about their public activities and drawing salaries
from public treasury. The media and members of the civil society may have
conveniently forgotten about this monumental fraud that wounded Nigeria's
public conscience. Oh what a country?
Secondly, one of the many former state governors accused by the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC] of huge economic crime
running to several billions belonging to his people, Alhaji Abubakar Audu
of Kogi State is said to be on the run from the law after he delayed his
anti-graft prosecution for years from the lower to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court of Nigeria recently cleared the way for the
anti-graft charges to be filed against him [Abubakar Audu], but the anti-graft
agency said the man escaped the long arm of the law when operatives stormed his
Abuja mansion on December 11th 2012.
But Abubakar Audu is not alone as most “big men” accused of
theft of public fund have hired many senior lawyers to frustrate their eventual
prosecution.
The Nigerian Judiciary should be made independent in all
ramifications and men and women of good conscience made to become judges to
handle such historic anti-graft cases and there should be an in – built
internal mechanism to stop lawyers by law from using interlocutory applications
to frustrate quick, decisive and courageous completion of prosecution of cases
involving bad people who misuse and abuse their public offices to enrich
themselves illegally. Conversation around this issue has gone on for far too long
and so this is the time to match our words with action and stop overflogging
this important matter. Here, the National Assembly's ongoing constitutional
amendment process is key but the question is again whether these men and women
in the national legislature are ready to become the needed change
agents.
Car Baar, Professor of politics, in Brock University, Saint
Catherine, Ontario, Canada writing on the theme of “the emergence of the judiciary
as an institution”, clearly stated that good governance, transparency,
accountability and rule of law are impossible in a nation whereby the
institutions of law enforcement and judiciary are weak.
His words: “Courts not only share Functions that both reinforce
and check the exercise of public power, but also share common institutional
characteristics and concerns. These are often summarized in the twin concepts
of judicial independence and impartiality”.
The best way to actualize the real benefits of politics in Nigeria
which is the service of public good, is for corruption to be stamped out and
this can be done only if the institutions of law enforcement and the Judiciary
are made truly independent and impartial in principle and in practice and for
men and women of good character to be appointed to oversee these critical
public institutions. The current status quo will not achieve much in Nigeria.
* Emmanuel Onwubiko, is head, HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’
ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA and blogs@www.huriwa.blogspot.com.
12/12/2012
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