Judiciary

Atiku Is Not Fit To Rule Nigeria

/ Adeola / Leave a comment

In 2006/2007 the police (EFCC) and the judiciary had more than enough to pursue the criminal offences of both Obasanjo and Atiku. But nothing happened. These arms of government are totally useless.

By Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola Aderounmu

 

If we back track to 2006/2007, that time when Mr. Olusegun Obasanjo was bidding for a third-term and spending billions of naira of taxpayers monies to bribe senators and legislators, we will also remember that the resistance to that bid was headed by his deputy, one Atiku Abubakar.

At that time Mr. Olusegun Obasanjo had turned the EFCC in the hands of Nuhu Ribadu to a tool of witch-hunting instead of the cleansing for which it was intended. So he turned the EFCC on his deputy but it was an incomplete process because no one was arrested or prosecuted. The EFCC published details of the criminal offences of Mr. Atiku and did so almost daily in various newspapers in Nigeria.

In the fight back, MR. Atiku’s media aides did a fine job. They dug deep into the criminal records of Olusegun Obasanjo and also made sure that these criminal records ended up the pages of the newspapers.

So for several months, Nigerians enjoyed a free soap opera.

The two men who were supposed to lead Nigeria were consumed by their quest for power, Obasanjo for the 4th term actually having been a dictator/tyrant in the 1970s.

Atiku won the fight because Olusegun Obasanjo did not get a civilian 3rd term in office. Majority of Nigerians were against the idea because it would disrupt the already dysfunctional constitution-one that had already ensure that majority of Nigerians are poverty stricken even to this date!

The saddest thing, from my perspective, is that when Yar Adua became the president of Nigeria in 2007, Nigerians went to sleep as if nothing had hapened.

The Nigerian Media is a piece of rubbish.

The Nigerian police is the biggest joke in the world.

The Nigerian judiciary, for me, is absolute nonsense and ingredients!

The media needed to pepper the system and the people. It failed, and even now still sleeping!

The police ought to have utilised the documents that were released by both Obasanjo and Atiku because they are hard evidence on each other’s criminalities. They both showed why the other person was a thief.

The Judiciary and the police had more than enough to pursue the criminal offences of both Obasanjo and Atiku. But nothing happened.

Nothing concrete had taken place in Nigeria’s civilian regimes to put criminals and thieves behind bars even in the faces of hard evidence.

Now we hear that Atiku is a top notch for the 2019 elections. He is aiming to become the president of Nigeria.

Nigeria is one of the few countries on earth where known criminals achieve their political ambitions. I don’t need a reply for this article. I don’t need a rejoinder. I am so sick of the Nigerian political system where people try one way or the other to justify why we must coninue to run the political system we have and why every four years we must queue behind a thief.

Once, Obasanjo had boasted that Atiku will never become the president of Nigeria. So far, this remain the case. I don’t know if there is a settlement between them now or if one had gone behind to beg the other.

In Nigeria’s politics, no enemy is permanent. It is the interest (to seek power and to steal from the commonwealth)  that is permanent. That is why today APC government is full of looters and criminals from 1999 and earlier regimes.

As soon as Atiku’s interest came up again, the Nigerian Media owed Nigeria and humanity a re-publication of all the crimes that were made public by Obasanjo’s camp. They need to open the EFCC files and tell him why he needed to first go to court than to try to seek a return to the seat of corruption in Abuja.

They must re-publish those allegations and support them with the documents so that young people can see how Nigerian politicians have stolen their future even before they were born and whilst they were growing up.

People like me cannot prove these crimes, we have our limitations. Those who have access to the criminal files and offences and do not open them to the public and media will never know peace.

It is such duties that the media owed the people: to investigate, to bring back memories that could help to save the children yet unborn from these old scavengers.

For, once a criminal is allowed back to the seat of government, this entire circus will continue and suffering will persist in the land.

Atiku in my records is a criminal, just the same way as his boss  Obasanjo was. They both made this clear in their roforofo fight. So this is not something l made up. They told us themselves!

Nigerians need to thank Obasanjo for his misadventure, his 3rd term quest which we together with Atiku made sure never came to pass. But Obasanjo will deny this 3rd term bid until the end of time. We don’t care because it does not matter anymore. The other pain left from that was the ghana must go bags that went to the sena-thieves and legis-looters.

That Atiku, like 99% of other Nigerian politicians, is a free man is a failure of the Nigerian police, the Nigerian judiciary and the Nigerian law system.

So don’t blame the people who classify the Nigerian police as the worst police in the world. There are so many reasons for that including the zero effect of ensuring that politicians are arrested and prosecuted accordingly.

If there is a report tomorrow classifying Nigeria’s judiciary as the worst in the world, l will sign under it. l will, because as long as criminals can vie for office in Nigeria, then we can as well do away with the police and the judiciary. Why do we have police and lawyers when criminals are what we get in public service?

A lot of people in Nigeria settle for criminals in political offices because of the anomaly that has become the normal thing. That is there are no saints in Nigerian politics and since the law is ineffective in dealing with looters and criminals in government, the people have accepted the situation.

The consequences are huge. Nigeria is withholding one of the most tragic mode of existence for humans. Forget about the flashy lives of the rich and the celebrities! More than 100m Nigerians are poor and live in extreme poverty.

Some Nigerians prefer to go and die as slaves in Libya. That summarises the mode of life in Nigeria!

The people think that saints will never emerge on the political platform. The people have accepted criminals to go and come as they like into government offices. The people are easily carried away by the cash that these criminals spread around mostly every four years.

Some fools will come to the social media to defend crooks and looters in goverment. They will ask you, what options do you have? They will ask you, who do you want to be the president? Stupid thinking, stupid questions, senseles mentalities!

The people of Nigerian unlike the people in Sweden or England do not know that their rights and they think that their lives depend on what the politicians do or not do (largely true) but it should be the other way round. The people, if they are upright and thinking straight, should ask accountability from politicians and fire them within 2 to 3 days if accountability is not given.

That is where the people, the media, the police and the judiciary have let the system down in this unified passiveness.

In Nigeria, people continue to choose between different grades of criminals, they call them politicians because they think they don’t have a choice. Nigerians don’t look inward to promote good people and people who can actually change the system for good.

The other sad thing about Nigeria is that since there is absence of accountability and as a result of almost 60 years of stupid leadership/rulership, the people don’t know what a real government feels like. So, even when a good person is put into government, the system corrupts the person and he or she start to steal or loot.

A friend once told me that if any person in public office does not conform to these criminalities, that the person will be killed or gotten rid off one way or the other.

That is why today, in many government offices, there is sharing of bonuses every Friday or other regular intervals. I mean there is a lot of loose cash in the Nigerian economy that it appears everybody is crazy and corrupt.

In any case, Atiku can continue to exercise his rights for as long as the useless system of government in Nigeria permits him. He is not alone, l always say 99,9% of Nigerian politicians are criminals/looters and it’s so true.

The system of government in Nigeria must change. If we restructure the political landscape and make the president a ceremonial and figure-head position, the corruption and even the urge to become a president will likely disappear. Now everybody wants to become the president or the governor because of the lawlessness in the land  and the useless constitution on which Nigeria runs.

If Nigeria returns to regional government, Atiku will be vying to become a regional leader and l am sure the sharia law will cut off his hands if he is found guilty.

A regional form of government will bring about healthy competition among the various regions in Nigeria and any region lacking behind will ask for the heads of its custodians.

The regional system of government is the most promising option for Nigeria. The other option which is also growing nowadays is the outright dissolution of Nigeria.

One day the people will be pushed to the wall, they will take the laws into their hands too and they will chase the corrupt politicians, catch up with them and send them into exile or out of this world.

Nigerians, the ordinary citizens are hungry, angry, frustrated and see no meaning with life. Again, that is why crazy and lawless Libya is an option. I am sure there are Nigerians in Yemen and Afghanistan looking for ways to survive when we have a state governor who can steal 300 billion naira or more at this very minute and walk free!

The politicians are looting, living large, sending their children around the world, buying houses around the world and doing what they like with taxpayers monies. These crazy ways will stop. These crazy things will come to an end. I don’t know when, but l don’t think Nigeria will continue for another 60 years of criminals ruling and making the people slaves in their homeland and in places like UAE and Libya.

Nigerians must see the 2019 elections as an opportunity for 2 things.

One, push for political changes before the elections so that regions re-emerged no matter the opportunity cost. There is a need to pause this nonsense APC-PDP Dilemma deluxe.

Two, for once in our life time, look for saints, good people and visioners to move the respective regions forward.

If we recycle criminals in 2019, if we recycle those who became rich stealing from us (people who became businessmen/women after looting the treasuries around the country) and if we maintain the currrent system of government, then it is just another cycle of idiocy. Nigeria will remain a country heading nowhere.

aderounmu@gmail.com

 

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No Rage, No Change..!

/ Adeola / Leave a comment

In his eyes, he (Saraki) is fighting a political battle. In my view, he is a thrash that Nigerians have refused to dump in the un-recyclable bin. Saraki and the rest like him in/out of politics are not the shame of Nigeria alone; they are the scum of [the] Africa that we are hoping to turn around.

No Rage, No Change!

By Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola_april_2016

In Nigeria criminals in government do not resign even when they are discovered.

A bigger worry is how these criminals have found their ways into governance especially since 1960.

We have read about, seen, and experienced the misrule of Nigeria since the mantle of reign fell on the citizens of Nigeria after independence in October 1960.

What is sad is that the federal government of Nigeria over the years and till date is still very disrespectful to the citizens, failing to address issues and lacking any form of proactive-ness.

A global scandal swept the world a few weeks back. It is now called the Panama Papers.

What followed in many parts of the world following the revelations is instructive.

One of the major casualties was the (former) prime minister of Iceland. The man did not even try to go to court to ascertain if he was guilty or innocent. He just resigned.

Definitely, the prime minister could afford to put up a team of lawyers to defend him and his family. He could even point out that the country is a developed country and that the people should not worry about his wealth on a strange island.

His conscience was enough for him.

He resigned and took a bow out of governance.

There was another man working for Transparency International in Chile. He was indirectly involved in some revelations bothering on the panama papers. He has resigned.

Some prominent Nigerians got mentioned in the scandal. It is not as if Nigerians do not know already before that these men are criminals.

Nigerians know that but they have not taken the bold steps to pursue and chase these bad men out of governance. They should be facing justice outside of governance. Not within it.

If the men mentioned in the panama papers were getting favours from government thereby getting rich at the expense of the people and country, Nigerians care less.

Names like David Mark for several years have become synonymous with endless, shameless scandals. Names like Saraki have been associated with the spread of poverty in Kwara and now across Nigeria through the senate.

Yet these names and several others in their class continue to steer the affairs of Nigeria.

Nigeria is a special country and Nigerians are special breed.

No one can write enough or fill the volumes when it comes to corruption and the criminal tendencies of the Nigerian political class, their families, employees and friends. It is one of the greatest scandals under the sun-that criminals rule over the largest accumulation of the black people in the world.

There is a grading of political thievery in Nigeria, that much l have explained in several essays.

Then when the blend of tribalism and religion are added, you have an insolvent that is going to last for as long as Nigeria exist unless an unexpected revolution wipe things and people away.

It is not in the character of Nigerian politicians or prominent politicians with skeletons in their cupboards to resign.

Rather it is in the character of the people, due to more than 50 years of disorientation, to align themselves along tribal or religious lines and defend the evil people in Nigeria.

The role of the law in Nigeria is another disgusting aspect of the ease of evasion of justice.

The prime minister of Iceland could have stayed on and fight.

But there is justice and there is conscience. In Nigeria, we lack both.

The politicians and criminals in public offices have no conscience and the people do not understand the real meaning of justice. So the judiciary served them with rubbish as justice.

Mr. Saraki wanted to be tried in the court of law for all his crimes and at the same time hang on to power.

Everyday new scandal emerged about this man who now appears to be bigger than Nigeria.

In his eyes, he (Saraki) is fighting a political battle. In my view, he is a thrash that Nigerians have refused to dump in the un-recyclable bin.

Saraki and the rest like him in/out of politics are not the shame of Nigeria alone; they are the scum of [the] Africa that we are hoping to turn around.

Indeed we know that all the political parties in Nigeria harbour thieves. Our dilemma will remain how to weed all of them before the end of the next century.

If we start now, we are doing our children a huge favour. If we don’t they will curse our graves.

The thieves in politics are too many and too cankerous to deal with under a normal system. If there is a system called flushing, Nigeria needs it.

This panama paper scandal came up not long ago. Our problems in Nigeria are older than more than 50 % of the population.

The panama paper is not our wake up call. It will fade soon.

We, the people have actually resigned long ago and left our fate in the hands of tropical gangsters in uniform and mufti.

Since we have resigned, criminals like Saraki and the others do not see the need to resign.

There is no shame even to family names that are now nonsense and rubbish.

They will fight back tooth and nail; they will hide under the permissiveness of law to justify evil.

Things are not going well for Nigerians right now, so it’s very easy to fight for one’s survival at the expense of the prosperity of the country.

It is very easy to become fatigue thinking about fuel, light, road and other areas that highlight the failures of past and present government.

The problems confronting Nigerians give the politicians an ease of passage, a ride over the will of the people. This has been the way since time immemorial.

In the face of all the problems, Nigerians must know that change as promised by the APC is not forthcoming for several reasons beyond the scope of this essay.

I can recall several golden moments in Nigeria’s history where the opportunity for change were missed including but not limited to the June 12 elections of 1993 that was cancelled by the military gangsters led by one Ibrahim Babangida.

Every time Nigerians needed to react in unity and show their rage, they divide along political lines, along religious lines and along ethnicity.

Nigeria needs a political solution before economic solutions or true changes can be reflected. The system of governance is not working and it is not going to work.

One factor that is missing and which can propel or force changes to begin is the “people’s rage”. It’s long dead.

Nigerians, read this loud. No Rage, No Change.

You can start tomorrow morning by sacking the wasteful, inefficient, needless and scandalous Nigerian senate. Then the change begins!

aderounmu@gmail.com

 

 

Multiple Charades

/ Adeola / Leave a comment

You need to know that the enemies-the Unbroken-exist and they are universal.

You need that knowledge to understand why a robber who stole mobile phones can be sentenced to death by hanging in record time while politicians and the elites who stole billions of dollars-under the same justice system-are receiving awards internationally.

 

Multiple Charades

By Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola Aderounmu

A former chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Haliru Bello Mohammed, earlier this month appeared before the court in Abuja, sitting on a wheel chair.

Until that day nobody knew that he was ill or when he became paralyzed. Only his immediate family members must have known of his paralysis.

Since the sacking of the primitive and evil government of Jonathan Goodluck, a significant number of the main actors have disappeared into exile or become mysteriously invalids.

The list of the probable invalids grew longer when Haliru Bello arrived in his wheel chairs.

I think that his medical certificate should be on demand on his next day in court. Haliru Bello Mohammed may be truly paralyzed, but his doctors must be able to back his claims.

The department of health in Nigeria should find the growing number of political invalids (especially from the Jonathan era) very useful in updating the health statuses of public officials.

For real, both the federal departments of statistics and health should find the figures useful for the purpose of documentation and national planning.

In particular as parasitologists some of us should be interested in the causes of paralysis in adults.

The former chairman and his doctors should be able to provide data showing the etiology, symptoms and treatment of his illness.

Did he beome infected with some existing microbial organism of medical importance? Could it be a new type of microbe that the rest of the population or the political class should be wary of?

Is Bello Mohammed a rsik to the society? Does he need quarantine so that he does not spread a new and dangerous virus in the society?

Was his paralysis caused by stroke? Was that a result of the stress or tension that arose because of the knowledge of his imminent arrest and probable imprisonment should he be found guilty?

These information are important in preventive medicine and national planning. They must not be neglected.

Nigeria cannot add a new virus to the prevailing lassa fever currently on tour in Nigeria. Hold Bello Mohammed down now.

There are other dimensions with the fight against corruption in Nigeria. They are not funny. They have become like parts of the tradition in Nigeria. None of them is new and this will not be the last time we will be repeating them.

Reminding ourselves of what is wrong with us should one day bring out the consciousness that we need to turn on the real button of change.

Cross-carpeting at all levels is a permanent survival kit for all criminal politicians in Nigeria. Did anyone miss the news that Jim Nwobodo’s switched from PDP to APC ? This is one out of the thousands of annual cases in Nigeria.

The people do it, the politicians do it. The reasons are the same. Lack of principle and bad family names among others.

Whilst the clampdown on the Jonathan’s men and women is necessary, there is nothing in Nigeria today that prevent the total clampdown of all criminals in past and present government except the will to do so.

If anybody misses the point that the looters in PDP remain looters in APC after cross-carpeting, or that they team up with the ready-made criminals in APC, then it is a shame.

If you think that the monies that Nigeria lost to corruption under the regimes of Babangida, Shonekan, Abacha, Abdulsalami, Obasanjo and Yar Adua are not worth chasing, then you don’t love Nigeria. Every kobo counts.

The judiciary lost its good name many years ago when money became the basis for judgements and outcomes in courts. The politicians and military gangsters paralyzed the judiciary.

The weakened judiciary and the short-arm of the law in Nigeria are among several reasons the political and economic charades in Nigeria are permanent.

How many cases of corruption have been logically concluded in Nigeria? Many of the cases were sent into permanent coma either through bails or irreversible adjournments. Several more were not even visited.

Nigerian invented a charade called plea bargaining for extremely corrupt politicians and elites.

Last week l stated that the support for tyranny is dangerous.

The best way to get fairness and justice for more than 100 m Nigerians living from hand to mouth is for everybody to demand a total independence for the Nigerian judiciary.  The justice system must work otherwise justice will never be served.

But Nigerians are not united. We antagonize ourseleves in ways that help perpetrators of evils and injustice to thrive. We have come to the un-agreeable conclusion that all Nigerians must be corrupt.

Nigerians must learn that once the voting or selection season is over, they are not to stay on the same side as the politicians. The people should learn the difference between civil responsibilities/patriotism and being slaves to political manipulations.

In all of these messes the outstanding and undeniable fact is that is that majority of Nigerian politicians are psycopaths. They are totally mentally sick and incurable.

If the Nigerian judiciary had been functional and effective, if Nigeria’s health system had been remarkable, several Nigerian politicians would have gone to prisons nicely. Their terms in prisons would have been done in conjunction with treatment for various mental ailments.

The men who supervised the looting of more than 200 billion naira or the women who made 40 billion dollars disappeared from a nation’s national treasury cannot be sane people.

I don’t understand how a robber who stole mobile phones can be sentenced to death by hanging in record time while politicians who stole billions of dollars-under the same justice system- can have their trials lasting forever.

Mr. Goodluck Jonathan under whose command atrocties were committed leading to the total draining of the Nigerian treasury is receiving awards after awards in foreign countries.

Even Ngozi Iweala under whose watch monies were looted away from the Nigerian treasury has also received international awards.

You need to be suffering from mental slavery not to understand this familiar trend. It is the same way some famous world rulers who are war criminals are being eulogised and even given peace prizes.

Still, it is madness.

Anyway, the Nigerian judiciary needs to sit up. They have to help the people in their fight for freedom. The judiciary must win back its independence.

For those criminals who want to go and see their doctors abroad, the request should be turned down on the basis of the fact that there are hospitals in Nigeria.

Politicians facing trials and even the others (from the president to the last man at the local government) should be restrained from travelling abroad for medical tourism. They should be ordered by the courts to stay back home in Nigeria to enjoy the medical facilities that they have provided for the people.

One speedy way to improve public health care provision in Nigeria is to implement such a ban and entrench it in the constitution.

Recently also, l wrote about the total disappearance of the loots that are recovered or returned to Nigeria. It remains an issue that recovered loots have not been utilised for obvious projects for the people to see the actual effects of the loots and what they are worth.

In the absence of visible, completed extra-projects specifically financed with recovered loots it is safe to assume that the loots were relooted because loots are not used when budgets are made.

When you talk about budgets in Nigeria, people don’t know if the budget is in the National Assembly or if the goats have eaten it. We don’t even know which version they are now referring to. The budgets grew legs and then re-emerged in newer dimensions.

In the end, the fight against corruption in Nigeria remains an optical illusion, a part of the charade.

The more you look, the less you see.

Now the former military generals of the Jonathan era are coming to trials too. So far, it’s all trials and no judgements. Back door settlements and plea-bargaining made possible by the EFCC have taken over the role of the judiciary.

This is a shameful democracy. A laughable justice system.

The politicians are getting richer, new political recruits are made and the circus continues.

The rich get richer, the poor gets poorer and the ranks of the Broken and the Unbroken are rearranged.

The charade continues.

The daily human struggle for existence, for living in Nigeria continues too.

The economy is paralyzed, the Naira almost valueless.

Salaries are not paid. Jobs are cut off. Unemployment remains high.

The prices and availability of fuel are perfect on government papers while the reality bites the people to death daily.

Government is full of promises. Government says ”smile”. People are suffering as the disconnection between the government and the people gets thicker.

What we are saying now is what we have said before. I am not tired to repeat it again next week.

We are not talking about baby mammas here. We are talking about serious issues that concerns the largest collection of black people on earth. The future of the black race is at stake.

The people need to know that the political system is wrong and not working. Let’s take a took again at what we benefitted and how Nigeria made progress under regional government before the useless unitary system was enforced by the military.

Does anyone think that militants will still exist again under regional government? Will there be a Boko Haram if Northerners determine their own future?

The pipelines are now in flames again and Mr. Buhari is not in Nigeria. What do you think?

We need to enlighten our people, free them from mental and religious slavery.

One day they will understand. One day, now or in the future or in the next generation of thinkers, we-the people-will be on the same side and the march to freedom will begin.

aderounmu@gmail.com

You Should Never, Never Stand With Tyranny

/ Adeola / 1 Comment

Our hopes have been that the judiciary will be able to act faster and dish out judgements on all cases irrespective of who is involved or what the issue is all about.

You Should Never, Never Stand With Tyranny

By Adeola Aderounmu

Ade_jan 10

Sometime in 2015 under the present regime in Nigeria (what l prefer to call the APC-Buhari mandate) the Nigerian National Assembly (NASS) tried to introduce a bill that will send bloggers and social media commentators to prison.

To the clear the NASS is largely a collection of economic parasitic leeches. Their functions are not clear but their contributions to the spread of poverty are profound.

This is the same NASS that set out to cut a ribbon to inaugurate a series of suggestion boxes in its building.

In other places around the world, governments officials and assembly men are cutting ribbons to open public schools, public universities, world class roads, hospitals and other infrastructure that put the ordinary citizens and government at par.

When Nigerian politicians travel abroad, they enjoy the facilities that other people have put in place from public funds. Back home, they just steal the public funds. Pure criminals.

You have to be a fool in  this century to be at any ceremony where the purpose is to celebrate and party over the introduction of suggestion boxes in your organisation. I won’t get over the trauma.

Meanwhile the APC-Buhari mandate rode nicely on the back of the social media to get to power earlier in 2015. The social media was also a perfect place to cover up all the atrocities that marred the 2015 elections and sentiments were high enough to cloud the people’s judgements. Little problem.

I must admit though that with a government as useless as the Jonathan government, change was in demand in 2015. The time for such a concept was ripe. So when the idea came, nothing was strong enough to stand in its way.

Against this background, it became a welcome development to find out why Nigeria has not made progress during the PDP years (1999-2015), so far the worst years of the Nigerian life post civil war.

Incidentally, the outcomes are the same reasons Nigeria has not become a global super power since her stillbirth in 1960. The PDP years was just an additional nightmare.

Most of our politicians are criminals. They have always been. Most of our military top brass are criminals. They have always been.

Some of the criminals that have emerged since Nigerians disposed of the Jonathan government have been on the scene as criminals even before some of us were born.

They are at different stages of investigation and confession levels.

Now, there are new propaganda in town. They always have to pass them through the social media to get them across. But this is the same social media they want to use for our persecution.

Why is it appropriate to use the social media for government propaganda but inappropriate for independent bloggers and social media commentators to fight back with the truth or criticisms?

I have seen many people now standing with tyranny on the social media. I hope they don’t do so in real life.

Of course, they won’t tell you to stand with tyranny using the word tyranny.

They have to always find a way to make sure that you don’t know the truth.

They have to always make sure that you don’t think for yourself. The pamphlets and posters are always ready-made to catch your attention and rob you of rational thinking.

By now everybody knows that Dasuki is the latest thief in town whose time is up.

Even the court of law knows that. It is common knowledge that he and his gangs (with the list growing everyday) committed crimes against humanity.

One shocking aspect of Dasuki’s revelations is how the APC-Buhari group have tried to limit the lists of criminals to the PDP circle.

The Dasuki-Jonathan-Iweala armsgate was an interparty and a national crime committed against Nigeria. It is so huge that some names will probably be chopped off at some point to save the APC-Buhari mandate from disgrace.

But during the 1999-2015 reign of the PDP, the APC people were also involved in some of the biggest heists in Nigeria’s history. Nobody is talking about them.

Even at that, in some places in the world that l know, there would have been a total revolution by now if 1% of Dasuki’s revelations is known among the people.

What that means is that even the equivalent of the Buhari-APC mandate in such places would have been history by now.

But Nigerians are used to suffering and smiling. So the roller coaster charade can rotate for life. Forever.

Leaping off the arms-gate and entering the Biafra warlord saga. Nnamdi Kanu is on both video and voice-records and nothing that he had stated recently since his incarceration can tip-ex those records.

In some of his hate speeches, he tolled the line of Hitler and called for genocide. Huge mistake!

Nowadays people press for referendum and open dabates to channel their aggressions and political demands.

Some of us have been writing about the need to see Nigeria return to regional govenrments. Regional governments will give back the eastern part of Nigeria to the easterners. There will be no blood shed.

Dear Nnamdi, if you get all/most of your people behind you, that is your option next time. Choose referendum.

One fact that cannot be denied is that Nigeria was prosperous under regional system of government.

But Nigerian politicians, just like the ancient colonialists and Middle-Age crusaders, will never give freedom to the people so cheaply. Not unless the people have the same voice and the same goal.

Nigerians are easy to rule today despite all the grave injustice because they have been divided by money, tribes and religion.

Even in Igboland there is IPOB and there is MASSOB. There is Anglican and if you are mad with the Anglican, you can get married again in the Catholic way.

Does anyone know the different classification of muslims or Islam? Seriously?

In both Dasuki and Nnamdi’s cases, president Buhari is not allowing the court orders to go ahead as the judges have proclaimed.

This is one of the reasons for the new slogan asking Nigerians to stand with tyranny.

The truth is that the Nigerian judiciary has never been allowed to evolved independently since the end of the civil war in 1970.

Everything in Nigeria collapsed with the parallel emergence of the unitary system of government. We blame the military. We blame the civilians. What about us, the people? Where do we stand?

Nigeria’s form of democracy is still a system of pseudo-tyranny and the evidence starred at us in our faces today.

That is why many things happen under Nigeria’s democracy that depends only on the president or head of state.

For example, it was possible for Jonathan to steal as much as he wanted and pass them to his cronies. No questions are asked. No queries. The CBN and finance ministry are rubber stamps only.

Similarly, during Obasanjo’s time, he was so drunk with the tyrannic power in the Nigerian presidency that he wanted a third-term and possibly a one-party state. Have we forgotten how he unleashed Ribadu’s EFCC on his enemies and opposers?

During Yar Adua’s time, one man said that Yar Adua can rule Nigeria from his toilet. That’s how tyrannic presidential powers are in Nigeria. The system is wrong and should be discarded.

There are 1 million reasons to discard Nigeria’s unitary system of government. It creates tyranny out of ordinary men because of the unlimited power conferred on it. If the man is now a former military ruler (like Obasanjo and now Buhari) the consequences are unimaginable.

Now, asking you to stand with tyranny means that the judiciary, under the APC-Buhari mandate,  will never be able to evolve the way some of us have been hoping for.

Our hopes have been that the judiciary will be able to act quicker and faster and dish out judgements on all cases irrespective of who is involved or what the issue is all about.

Rather than stand with tyranny what the people should be doing is keeping a constant tab on the judiciary and watching her every move.

If actions are promptly taken by an independent judiciary, there will be no need for a tyrannic imposition like what we have on our hands today.

I think the Judiciary should make haste on Dasuki’s case. On the revelations that kept coming, he can still come to court as a witness whether he is on bail or already serving time for his crimes.

I think a guilty, not guilty or bail decision should be passed and honoured in record time.

Once, l did not support the bail of Dasuki if it was to protect the APC people involved in the scam.

But if bail conditions are met, Mr. Buhari has not right to stop the men who have been granted bails.

What message is the APC-Buhari mandate trying to send by disobeying court orders? I know. They want Nigeria to stand with tyranny by putting fears in the general population.

The price is huge if you stand with tyranny.

We may all end up in prisons because we have a different points of view to the way APC-Buhari mandate is running Nigeria.

As it is for Dasuki, so it is for Kanu. It should be so for any Nigerian granted bail. They must be able to exercise their fundamental human rights.

Again, to be clear, rather than stand with tyranny, Nigerians should be putting pressure on agencies like the police, the EFCC and the security agencies, to provide evidence for their cases. They should be putting pressure on the judiciary- to dispense justice quicker without fear or favour.

The effects of fear induced by tyranny are profound.

If everybody leaves the PDP and decamp to the APC, it does not change anything. It will only establish a full blown tyranny under a one-party state.

Is that what you want to stand with?

I stand with fairness, justice and the rule of law.

aderounmu@gmail.com

 

War On Corruption, Biafra And The Untrue Claim Of Igbo Marginalisation (Part 1 of 3)

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For historically conscious Nigerians, Biafra connotes war, mass starvation and death. However, many Nigerians are afflicted with Alzheimer, a disease that robs its victims of their memories to learn from the past and present

War On Corruption, Biafra And The Untrue Claim Of Igbo Marginalisation

By Salimonu Kadiri (Guest Writer on Thy Glory O’ Nigeria and The Nigeria Village Square)

Mr Salimonu Kadiri

Mr Salimonu Kadiri

For Nigerians, every day is first of April in which they are either fooling someone or someone is fooling them. For Nigerians, December is a month of hypocrites and as usual Nigerians join the rest of the world in wishing one another happy Christmas and prosperous New Year even when in reality every celebrated Christmas and New Year is less happy and less prosperous in ascending order.

Nigerian hypocrites carry their religions on foreheads but their behaviours are inversely proportional to Godliness. They shout the name of God every now and then but act satanically.

In Nigeria, roads are simply non-existing, hospitals have become morgues, schools have crumbled, electricity is epileptic, pipe borne water is away on permanent leave, the streets are filled with filth, dead animals and sometimes human corpses because politicians and civil servants, apart from collecting their salaries and fringe benefits, have stolen monies appropriated for providing essential commodities for Nigerians.

The sixteen years rule of PDP led to so much head ache for Nigerians that they decided to take APC as a remedy at the March 28, 2015, Federal elections in Nigeria. That was the first time a government was voted out of power in Nigeria and the world exclaimed in surprise.

The All Progressive Congress (APC) and its Presidential candidate, ex-General Muhammadu Buhari, had gone into the elections with the campaign to deal with kleptomania which is on the verge to suffocate Nigeria.

As it turned out, the Presidential election was not only won by the APC, but they had majority in the National Assembly encompassing the Senate and the House of Representatives. This implies that majority of Nigerian electorates have empowered the Executive and the legislators to expunge kleptomaniacs from Nigeria.

After election victory the APC decided that the speaker of the House of Reps and his deputy should be Femi Gbajabiamila and Mohammed Monguno respectively while the President of the Senate and his Deputy should be Ahmed Lawan and George Akume respectively.

The Senate contains 109 members but it was reduced to 108 before June 9, 2015, when the 8th Assembly was to be inaugurated as a result of the death of one APC Senator after the election. Thus, APC have 59 members while PDP and allies have 49 members. Democratically and politically, the APC party had decided who among its elected Senators would be the President and Deputy President of the Senate respectively.

The decision of APC did not please Senator Bukola Saraki, therefore he openly connived with PDP, the political antagonist of APC, to become the Senate President against the wish of his party. On June 9, 2015, a compromised Clerk of the Assembly arranged the election of Senate President in the presence of 57 out of 108 Senators.

The 57 Senators consisted of 49 PDP and 8 APC. By the time the Deputy Senate President was about to be elected, the number of APC present had increased to 25, and the PDP Senator, Ike Ekweremandu, was elected with 54 votes against Ali Ndume, APC, who scored 20 votes.

Thus, a Senate President and his Deputy were elected through a process similar to those described under Article 419 of the Nigerian Criminal Code – Obtainment by false pretence! In democracy and party politics, it is an abomination. In explaining their behaviours, Senator Bukola Saraki and his ilk have said that after elections the legislators are free to conduct the affairs of the National Assembly without the interferance of the political parties on whose platform they contested elections and won.

Yet, and in accordance with the constitution, no one can contest election in Nigeria without belonging to and sponsored by a political party. By taking some members of the APC, to which he belongs, and merging them with PDP to form a new majority in the Senate, Saraki subverted the will of the electorates that voted PDP out of power and he has created a real impediment against change and war on kleptomania, the campaign slogan on which the APC went into election. Outwardly Bukola Saraki is an APC but internally he is a PDP.

On September 11, 2015, the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) filed a 13 count charge of financial crime, money laundering, false declaration of assets, owning and operating foreign bank accounts while being a public officer, against Senator Bukola Saraki at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Abuja. Saraki was to be arraigned before Justice Danladi Umar of CCT Abuja on Friday, 18 September 2015.

Instead of defending himself at the CCT Senator Saraki hired dozens of advocates to file ex-parte motion at an Abuja High Court, presided over by Justice Ahmed Mohammed, on Thursday, 17 September 2015 seeking injunctions to prevent the CCT from trying him.

Justice Mohammed then summoned the Ministry of Justice to appear before him on Monday, 21 September to show cause why the trial should be allowed to proceed. The judge also summoned the Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Danladi Umar and that of the CCB, Mr. Sam Saba as well as Mr Hassan who signed the charge against Saraki to appear before him on 21 September 2015 to show cause why Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki should be prosecuted.

However, the CCT commenced the trial of Saraki on the 18th of September 2015 and his lawyer asked the Tribunal for a stay of proceeding on the ground of Justice Mohammed’s summon. Justice Umar replied that the High Court had parallel juridiction with the Tribunal and as such, had no powers to halt a trial in the Tribunal.

Therefore, he issued order of warrant of arrest by the police against Saraki, so that he could be present at the next hearing to take a plea of guilty or not guilty in the court. Although Saraki had pleaded not guilty to the charges he has gone to the Supreme Court to challenge the jurisdiction of the CCT to try him and pending the decision of the Supreme Court, the CCT has laid the case to rest.

Bukola Saraki’s attempt to seek judicial embargo against the investigating authority is rather a norm than exception in Nigeria. The former Governor of Rivers State, Peter Odili, was the first to obtain a perpetual injunction against investigation, interrogation and prosecution over treasury looting of the State he governed from 1999 to 2007.

Others who were sluggish in obtaining perpetual injunction got their cases put into permanent coma by the trial judges. In recent time, Stella Adaeze Oduah, on August 26, 2015, obtained an interim injunction, from Justice Mohammed Yunusa presiding over a Federal High Court in Lagos, barring the EFCC and its agents from inviting or arresting her for questioning over the purchase of $1.6 million armoured cars when she was Minister of Aviation under Jonathan.

In the same spirit, on Thursday, 17 September 2015, an Abuja High Court presided over by Justice Valentine Ashi, in a ruling barred the EFCC, Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Department of State Security Services (DSS), the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) and National Security Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), from arresting, detaining and investigating Mr. Kingsley Kuku over his activities as former Coordinator of Presidential Amnesty Programme for Niger Delta under President Goodluck Jonathan. Billions of naira were said to have disappeared over Niger Deltan ghost students purported to have been on scholarships under amnesty programme.

In the 16 years of PDP governing Nigeria (May 29, 1999 to 29 May 2015), the three arms of government – the Executive (Presidency), the Legistilative (National Assembly) and the Adjudicative (Judiciary) – were deeply corrupt. Chinua Achebe once said that Nigeria is not a country but he would have been stating the truth if he had said that Nigerians are not human beings because if one-hundredth of government’s kleptomania in Nigeria were to occur in any country of the world there would be public uproar and outrage.

Since Nigerians have been narcotized with fake religion and false ethnic love, national rogues always attribute their rogueries to the will (blessing) of God and whenever their stealings were exposed they claim that their ethnic group were under attack.

As obnoxious and odious leaders cut across all ethnic groups, the APC government under President Mohammed Buhari has decided to kill corruption before it kills Nigeria. The PDP has accused the APC regime of witch-hunting members and supporters of the immediate past government adding that any true war against corruption should start from 1985.

In a storm where multiple of trees fall on one another would it not be wise to start clearing log of woods from the top? If Jonathan’s PDP regime is at the top of the heap of accumulated corruption in Nigeria, common sense demands that enquiries should start on his regime.

Just as the debate on what happened to the wealth of Nigeria entrusted in the care of Jonathan in the past five years was on-going, a diversionary agitation for the secession of Biafra beclouded the political terrain of Nigeria.

For historically conscious Nigerians, Biafra connotes war, mass starvation and death. However, many Nigerians are afflicted with Alzheimer, a disease that robs its victims of their memories to learn from the past and present. Moreover those who are 45 years of age now may not have heard the true history of the civil war that ended on 15th January 1970.

 

Ogunlakaiye@hotmail.com