NIGERIA: WHAT POLITICS IS NOT By Emmanuel Onwubiko

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

NIGERIAN ONGOING STORY: A TRAGICOMEDY BY Emmanuel Onwubiko

Emeka, my profoundly gifted younger brother travelled to one of the upwardly mobile Asian Countries for his masters degree in Information Technology after he rounded up his University education in one of the Federal Universities based in the South East Nigeria. He excelled in his Degree examinations whereby he read Philosophy as his first course after much encouragement from me who inspired him to embrace the study of Philosophy because of its inherent intellectual benefits of broadening the thinking faculty of the scholar and readily put the person in the right frame of mind to interrogate issues around his/her environment with a view to finding meaningful and relevant conclusions to such probing questions of existentialism.

In our many conversations in the recent past just before he rounded up his post-graduate studies, Emeka appeared very worried that the crop of political leaders that Nigerians have entrusted our future with are really not committed to transform Nigeria from our current backward status as one of the most dangerous places to live on earth and also one of the most corrupt countries of the World. On several occasions, my sibling has sounded very worried for my safety because of what he called my consistent advocacy campaign to compel the Nigerian political class to respect the basic rule of Law and the fundamental human rights of the citizenry. He, it was who rightly branded the unfortunate scenario going on in Nigeria as "the Nigerian ongoing tragicomedy." I think there is no other appropriate way to describe the Nigerian current situation than to use the word tragicomedy. 

In Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, the writers defined tragicomedy as " a literary genre that blends aspects of both tragic and comic forms. Most often seen in dramatic literature, the term can variously describe either a tragic play which contains enough comic elements to lighten the overall mood or, often, a serious play with a happy ending".

An interesting dimension in all of these sad scenarios playing up themselves in our contemporary times in Nigeria is that there are still many people with good and courageous hearts in Nigeria like my younger brother- Emeka who are truly worried about the fate of Nigeria if at the end of the day, our own kind of tragicomedy does not end up in a happy mood as contemplated by those who propounded the literary theory of tragicomedy.

These set of persons in Nigeria who wish that things turn out differently for the good of all Nigerians are sometimes branded as 'rebels' by the powers- that- be who are so unperturbed by the worries expressed by genuinely committed Nigerians regarding the existential consequences of their corrupt practices on the body polity called Nigeria.

But Mr. Albert Camus, one of the World's best known but departed Philosophers took his time to author a beautiful book he titled "The Rebel" in which he graphically painted a glorious picture of what it takes to consistently preach against these kinds of  corruption, economic crimes and perfidy that the Nigeria's current Political elite are busy perpetrating and perpetuating thereby exposing Nigeria to one of the worst cases of political instability, insecurity and the near- total state of anarchy and impunity that have enveloped the present day Nigeria.

Albert Camus, who was born in Algeria in 1913 and killed after a glorious intellectual life in a car accident in January 1960 had written thus; " There are crimes of passion and crimes of logic. The line that divides them is not clear. But the penal code distinguishes between them by the useful concept of premeditation. We are living in the era of premeditation and perfect crimes. Our criminals are no longer those helpless children who pleaded love as their excuse. On the contrary, they are adults, and they have perfect alibi; philosophy, which can be used for anything, even for transforming murderers into judges".

Put more appropriately, this great philosopher of all times, Mr. Albert Camus seem to have the present day Nigeria in mind while writing the book entitled "The Rebel" when he also stated with regret that; "...On the day when crime puts on the apparel of innocence, through a curious reversal peculiar to our age, it is innocence that is called on to justify itself...."

Still talking about the Nigerian ongoing story which my younger sibling [Emeka] who now resides permanently abroad has rightly branded as 'tragicomedy', there are instances of political and economic development in the polity that calls to question the integrity, credibility and commitment of those who currently presides over our affair as Nigerians and whether they are aware that their collective crime of political crimes have consistently pushed Nigeria to the precipice of destruction.. Few years back, when the current Economic Affairs Minister Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was the Finance Minister under the then Chief Olusegun Obasanjo's administration, she was credited with leading the international advocacy to successfully negotiate Nigeria's exit from the foreign debts trap whereby she was said to have led a team of negotiators that got Nigeria big reprieve so much so that the Country paid off $12 billion in place of the over $35 billion or so foreign debts that past federal and state Governments administrations accumulated dubiously for the corporate entity.

But only on December 6th 2012, the local media are awash with stories that in the year 2013, the Federal Government has completed plans with the 36 states to also approach some creditor agencies and nations such as China, International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to attract a foreign loan of over $9 billion USD payable in forty years time to immediately finance the building of some infrastructure and also facilitate the building of some mass housing projects for the benefits of poor Nigerians. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala who briefed the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, on the desirability of this huge foreign loan sounded as if it is being done to satisfy the greatest happiness of the greatest number of Nigerians.

This is a tragicomedy because Nigeria is now being gradually enslaved into another foreign debts trap similar to the situation that we found ourselves when the past federal administrations collected huge but dubious foreign loans which only took the ingenuity of Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and her economic management team under President Obasanjo to exit Nigeria. But the Finance Minister who was the person that actively and vigorously campaigned for the international community and precisely for Nigeria's foreign creditors like Paris Club and other multinationals to forgive part of our total foreign debts overhang, has also begun another campaign but this time around to also drag Nigeria into another foreign debts.  Oh what an unfortunate irony of fate? 

Only recently, the Finance Minister asked the National Assembly to quickly approve the Federal Government's external borrowing plan of N1.8Trillion. Nigeria is seeking the loan facility from World Bank , Africa Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, Exim Bank of China and India's lines of Credit. Okonjo-Iweala said the loans were required to complete some ongoing projects captured in the year 2012 budget. This line of reasoning is absurd because what immediately comes to mind is to ask the Finance minister why Nigeria had to use the scarce fund to finance the last line of foreign debts which were mostly dubiously obtained and only to return few years now to seek another huge foreign loans. Where are the huge revenue accruable to Nigeria from the crude oil exports in the last twelve months? Have they all being stolen by Government officials?

Again, some of the Nigerian States that would benefit from these loans are also some of those unfortunate states in the federation in which their state Governors who behave like emperors have acquired for themselves state- of- the art private jets using the scarce fund available in the treasury of their state Governments to finance their high taste and profligate lifestyle.

In River state for instance, Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi is in the news for the wrong reason of seeking to justify the fact that he diverted $30 million USD to buy private jet [chopper]. This is River State whereby basic infrastructure are lacking in much of the rural areas and even in the state capital there are evidence of abandoned and uncompleted projects that are littered all over the place. Taraba state has had the singular misfortune of producing a state Governor who not only bought private jets but flew himself into mishap with the same private jet that he allegedly diverted public money to purchase and worst still, the poor rural state of Taraba is being compelled to shoulder the financial burden of bearing the huge cost of foreign hospital treatment of the ill-fated Governor Danfulani Suntai who flew himself into this misfortune using the state scarce fund to fund his extraordinary high lifestyle of flying in private jets of different variety, shapes and sizes. Reports have emerged to show that the accidented Governor Danfulani Suntai for two weeks running is still in a life support machine in an expensive German hospital at the cost payable from Taraba state public fund.

At the last count, over five serving Governors are said to have purchased private jets. The other day, I read in the press that the Niger State Governor Aliyu Babangida who branded himself as the 'Chief Servant' was said to have celebrated his birthday anniversary inside exotic private jet. What a tragicomedy in Niger state whereby students of public schools practically take lectures under trees and much of the primary and secondary schools have leaking roofs even as teachers are paid like modern day slaves.

The Nigerian story of tragicomedy came to an international climax with the recent scorecard released by Transparency International [TI of Germany]and the Economist Intelligence Magazine [of the United Kingdom] with varying degrees of international opprobrium for Nigeria. Transparency International, a non-governmental organization with global repute, said Nigeria ranked the thirty fifth most corrupt country in the World. Economist Magazine released a report saying that in the year 2013, Nigeria will rank as the Worst place for 'newborns' meaning that infant mortality will be at its worst peak due to collapse of health infrastructure across Nigeria.

These are basic facts that are so notorious so much so that even Presidential spokesman on public affairs Dr. Doyin Okupe never dismissed the bad record in the area of transparency achieved for Nigeria by the current crop of political elite. He was reported to have stated that the Transparency International report on Nigeria is a wakeup call. The federal minister of Health Dr. Onyebuchi Chukwu, a gentleman of the finest dimension is helpless because Nigeria operates a system whereby budgets are not adequate and the components so approved by the National Assembly and awarded financial backups by the federal ministry of Finance end up not being completely financed and the oversight agencies in the National legislature is also heavily compromised to monitor to ensure that projects to consolidate public health infrastructure are implemented transparently. Most of our Federal and state legislators are commercial contractors who fight with other contractors for government patronage. So can a kettle call pot black?

On the issue of corruption and economic crimes, the Nigeria's ongoing story is indeed a huge tragicomedy because several tons of public fund have disappeared into private pockets of some influential individuals with close ties to the Federal Government officials and especially the Federal Ministry of Petroleum under the President Jonathan administration. At the last count over N5 trillion was reportedly missing from the public treasury since the current Federal administration emerged, according to report in one of Nigeria's respected print media. The Finance Minister said over N400 billion was stolen by thieves who presented fake companies as fuel importers to collect fuel import subsidy from the Federal Government in the last twelve months.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is currently prosecuting some of these subsidy fund thieves who are connected to some powerful government officials. It is uncertain how successful the anti-graft commission will achieve in the ongoing prosecution given that these fuel subsidy thieves have stolen enough cash that they have gone to town to hire Senior Advocates of Nigeria who charge big handling charges including slush funds to allegedly compromise the judicial proceedings.

 The Labour Minister Chief Emeka Wogu was alleged to have links to one of the indicted companies that allegedly stole N2 billion of the fuel subsidy money but he vowed publicly with document to show that he indeed sold out the said company long before he assumed public office. I personally led my team of private investigators to interact with him and some other officials at the corporate affairs commission and we came up with some findings to justify his defence based on available material evidence within our reach so far. But by and large, corruption is indeed threatening the fabrics of our body polity and if nothing revolutionary is done to check this evil trend then sooner rather than later we may be forced to sing nunct dimities for Nigeria as a sovereign entity because no sovereign nation can survive with the scale of massive fraud and corruption that have enveloped our nation. There is a general climate of fear and instability because the resources meant to develop security infrastructure and architecture have all been stolen and no genuine effort is ongoing to retrieve these funds and prosecute the thieves who presided over the various security outfits at the highest levels including the Nigeria Police Force and the office of the National Security Adviser in the past few years. The Presidency has recently earmarked N16 Billion to complete an edifice being built for the holder of the office of Vice President of Nigeria just as N2 billion has also being voted to build new Presidential banquet hall only few years after the huge edifice was erected by the then General Ibrahim Babangida military junta. President Jonathan's Government is so insensitive that it is going about borrowing money to finance high lifestyle even when all the basic public infrastructure have collapsed. We must reverse this tragicomedy immediately.

+ Emmanuel Onwubiko, Head, Human Rights Writers' Association of Nigeria, blogs @www.huriwa.blogspot.com.  

10/12/2012

N2.7 BILLION SUBSIDY SCAM: HURIWA ISSUES REPORT

  

+Says Labour minister is victim of political witch hunt

A pro-transparency organization-HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has waded into the controversy trailing the allegation of N2.7 Billion petroleum subsidy scandal allegedly linked to a company- The Pinnacle Contractors Ltd allegedly linked to the Minister of labour and productivity Chief Emeka Ngozichineke Wogu with a preliminary findings based on available document obtained unofficially from Corporate Affairs Commission and other competent quarters that the minister is not remotely linked with the current ownership structure of the said firm.

The Human Rights group which supports the call by organized civil society community for stiffer action by anti-graft bodies such as the EFCC and ICPC against suspected fuel subsidy thieves, however stated that from the facts it has so far gathered it appears as if some persons nursing Gubernatorial ambition in Abia State in 2015 who perceived that the current Labour minister being the most visible national political appointee from Abia state may be anointed by the party's national hierarchy to contest the polls, may be the persons remotely engineering the carefully coordinated political witch hunt campaign against the person and office of the current minister of Labor so as to cause credibility deficit.  

In a joint media statement by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National media officer Miss Zainab Yusuf, HURIWA also disclosed that it has resolved to file a freedom of information request with the Corporate Affairs Commission with a view to obtaining officially certified true copies of the all the relevant registration documents on the said The Pinnacle Contractors ltd so as to issue final report on our findings concerning the raging controversy in few days time. HURIWA stated a team of lawyers working for the organization immediately went into investigation in the relevant government and non-Governmental quarters making use of our extensive contacts and resource persons and have successfully obtained what for now we verily believe to be genuine proves which for now exonerates the Labour minister of involvement in the ownership structure of the said company and we have also being informed that no member of the minister's family benefited remotely or directly from the alleged fuel subsidy payment said to have been made to the controversial company-The Pinnacle Contractors Ltd.

The Rights group stated thus; “Based on currently available information obtained from some competent sources by our commissioned team of legal practitioners, we are of the view that the minister of labour Chief Emeka Wogu could be a victim of political witch hunt from some adversaries. We know that most Nigerians are determined to stamp out the hydraheaded monster of corruption and economic crimes weighing down the economic well being of Nigeria and Nigerians, but again in making allegations of such a damaging consequences against a high profile public office holder, we must be conscious of the fact that it is possible that overzealous political adversaries and opponents could play on the intelligence of Nigerians to spread misinformation against certain targeted persons especially the current Minister of Labour who has was recently made the Chairman of a White Paper drafting panel by President Goodluck Jonathan to work on the reports of the Nuhu Ribadu-led Special Petroleum Presidential Task force. We plead with Nigerians to be patient and circumspect in accepting hook line and sinker allegations of graft against any Nigerian except and unless there are overwhelming evidence to prove otherwise in accordance with section 36 [5] of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria of 1999 as amended".

The Rights group affirmed that based on its findings, the following facts have emerged; “that the Pinnacle Contractors Ltd was sold to Masters Energy Oil and Gas Ltd March 2010 for an agreed sum of which payments have been effected in accordance to the sales agreement; that the resignation of the Honourable Minister from the Board of Directors and Shareholder of the said company was duly registered by the CAC on the 7th day of April, 2010 after his formal resignation on the 9th day of March 2010; that after the said sales and business takeover of Pinnacle Contractors Ltd by Masters Energy Oil and Gas Ltd the new owners took over the affairs of the said company completely and ran the enterprise without any recourse whatsoever to the Honourable Minister; that their transactions were sometimes in August 2010, 5 clear months after they had taken full and effective control of the company and that all documents relating to the sale and transfer of Pinnacle Contractors Ltd to Masters Energy Oil and Gas Ltd are public documents and are available to all Nigerians to see with the CAC". 

HURIWA stated however that it was happy that the Minister of Labour and Productivity and the owners of the said company have al vigorously denied the involvement of the current Minister of Labour even as the Rights group wondered why it is difficult for doubting Thomases to appropriately approach the relevant Government offices using the extant provisions of the well considered Freedom of Information Act of 2011 to obtain any documentation concerning ownership of privately or publicly quoted and/or registered companies in Nigeria which are public documents at the custody of the Federal Government which was the same authority that passed the Freedom of Information Act of 2011 into Law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.   

4/12/2012

NIGERIA: YEARS OF POLICING ERRORS By Emmanuel Onwubiko

A universal fact that has over time been acknowledged by even the die-hard supporters of the inefficient and corrupt status quo in Nigeria is that the Nigeria police has failed as a potent force for crime detection, prevention and combat. The raison d’être for establishing the Nigeria Police Force is for the prevention and detection of crime, the apprehension of offenders, the preservation of the law and order, the protection of life and property and the due enforcement of all laws and regulations with which they are directly charged, and shall perform such military duties within and without Nigeria as may be required by them, under the authority of, this or any other Act, [ see Police Act].

But the policing capacity and skills of the operatives and officers of the Nigeria Police has continued to nosedive so much so that few years ago, a serving Federal Attorney General and Minister of Justice Chief Bola Ige, [SAN] was murdered by suspected assasins in his Ibadan, Oyo State Country home at a time his team of armed Police security guards and the State Security Service [SSS] reportedly left their guns at the residential premises to go to near-by restaurant to eat. These killers of the then Justice Minister as well as many other innocent precious lives wasted have yet to be arrested and prosecuted.

Sadly, successive Federal administrations have adopted weak, inefficient, compromised and incompetent approach to solving this dangerous national malaise of a failed policing institution in Nigeria. These Federal administrations have used the formation of committees upon committees to find solution to the problems afflicting the Nigeria Police Force and suggest strategies for actualizing effective police reforms. But the formation of committees by successive Nigerian governments have failed to produce the desired results. Great thinkers believe that setting up committees is same as running away from facing the problems and solving them squarely. Charles F. Kettering once stated that; " If you want to kill any idea in the World today, get a committee working on it".

In Nigeria, to add salt to injury, most of these presidential police reforms committee were substantially composed by much of the same persons who worked at the highest echelon of the Nigeria Police Force and used their privileged positions to ruin the policing institution so much so that the Nigeria police is not only one of the most indisciplined police outfits in the World, but as currently constituted, the policing institution has witnessed systemic collapse compelling the current administration to draft in the operatives of the Nigerian Army to handle assignments of internal security that constitutionally ought to be handled by the police.

The involvement of the military in internal security and maintenance of law and order has brought international opprobrium to the image of the Nigerian military that has come under considerable condemnation for human rights violations. But violence and crime have continued unabated.

Nigerians endure daily cocktails of crime prevention errors by operatives and the hierarchy of the Nigeria police Force which usually result in casualties that end up as aspects of the larger picture of body counts and crime statistics.       

Killings of innocent lives have become commonplace and people are sadly assuming that policing duty starts and end with body counts and meaningless official press statements by police public Relations officers confirming numbers of innocent persons gunned down, maimed or wantonly destroyed by armed members of the underworld who are increasingly becoming very daring, well trained, well armed with sophisticated weapons over and above those of the regular police. The climate of impunity which gives violent criminals the impression that you can commit any atrocity and get away with it in Nigeria has embolden and made these criminals very callous, heartless and vicious. The other day in Umuahia, Abia State, a baby just born was stolen from the labour room by kidnappers and the operatives of the Nigeria police are groping in the dark and unsure of how to deploy intelligence to uncover the gang responsible for this crime against humanity. The Nigeria Police does not have competent, efficient and functional intelligence gathering department even as the commonest law enforcement tool which are forensic laboratories are nowhere near any police station in Nigeria.

Sadly, the foot soldiers in the Nigeria police force who are deliberately poorly equipped, poorly trained and poorly remunerated by the over-fed political elite and the police hierarchy are often in the first line of fire when these criminals deploy their usually sophisticated fire power to the consternation of Nigerians who look up to the police to enforce law and order.

A careful observer would have noted that for many years now, the gross incompetence and absence of professionalism by the Nigeria police has put Nigeria in the world’s crime map of infamy as one of the most dangerous places to live. Only recently, a national daily reported that the United Kingdom border Agency has turned down several asylum requests by frightened Nigerians running away from the firing line of these armed terrorists in Northern Nigeria who have made several successful forays into Abuja, the nation’s political capital with devastating consequences to the precious lives and property of Nigerians and foreigners alike.

Painfully, decent members of the civilized World are daily insulted by the unintelligent and totally illogical media releases/statements that have emanated from the highest quarters of the Nigeria Police Force in their clever by half effort to conceal and explain away this monumental policing incompetence and fatal blunders that have collectively cost Nigeria high tolls in terms of the dimension of the bloody violence on precious lives by these depraved armed members of the underworld. Family members are wiped out intermittently in violence- prone flash points by armed bandits and the police primarily charged with the constitutional duty of maintenance of law and order are usually always caught napping. What a big shame?

The climax of all these policing blunders was the year 2011 June 16th terrorist attack of the Nigeria Police Force Headquarters in Abuja, few days after the then Inspector General of Police Mr. Hafiz Ringim had threatened to declare war on the Islamic insurgency group in the North. The bombing last year also of the United Nations House in Abuja is another show of shame that clearly demonstrated that the nation’s policing institution has systematically collapsed. Nigerian Government has now set aside a whooping N5 billion from the scarce public fund to rebuild this edifice which was wantonly destroyed because Nigeria has no proactive policing institution to nip crimes in the bud.

It took public outrage for President Goodluck Jonathan to wield the big stick and sack the immediate past Inspector General of police Mr. Hafix Ringim for these overwhelming collapse of the crime fighting mechanism of the Nigeria police Force.

If you think the change of guard at the highest echelon of the Nigeria police Force that brought in Mr. Mohammed Abubakar as the Inspector General of police would translate into change in crime prevention strategy then you must be among those who live in the high streets of ‘fools paradise’.

Do you ask why? Then consider the fact that only few weeks ago when four promising young Nigerian undergraduates of the University of Port Harcourt were slaughtered in the most primitive savagery by members of the Aluu Community of Ikwerre local government Area of River State, few distance away from the police, the current Inspector General of police insulted our collective intelligence when he explained that his men were ‘chased away’ by stones wielding villagers of Aluu Community before these four young Nigerians met their untimely, painful and gruesome end and further violated with reckless abandon when the abominable dastardly criminal acts were recorded by video and uploaded on the internet for the World to watch.

Again the nation’s current Inspector General of police has insulted our collective intelligence when he was quoted as saying that the Nigeria Police Force cannot prosecute terrorists in police detention because the anti-terrorism law has not been signed. Oh what a country?

Is the Inspector General of police not aware of section 36, subsection (8) of the 1999 Constitution as amended?

This constitutional provision states that; “No person shall be held to be guilty of a criminal offence on account of any act or omission that did not, at the time it took place, constitute such an offence, and no penalty shall be imposed for any criminal offence heavier than the penalty in force at the time the offence was committed”.                 

Assuming without conceding that Nigeria does not have extant anti-terrorism laws, is the police Inspector General saying that persons arrested for suspected grave offence of mass killings of innocent Nigerians cannot validly be prosecuted  in the competent courts of law under extant laws that forbids murder which are clearly enshrined in our common laws and other legal statutes?

However, since the senate Committee on Information Chairman Senator  Enyinnaya Abaribe has corrected the erring police boss and pointed out that Nigeria has extant anti-terrorism laws, the Federal government through the office of the Federal Attorney General must take over the prosecution of all cases of terrorism so as to bring effective justice to these suspects that have now being held for several months without trial and deliver effective closures to the pains of all those who have lost their bread winners in the hands of these suspected terrorists.

The public show of ignorance of the existence of the anti-terrorism laws as displayed by the Inspector General of police is a clear demonstration of the fact that the policing institution is incompetent and cannot professionally handle serious criminal matters connected with terrorism.

Nigeria must get her acts together and practically reform the Nigeria police to give Nigerians effective and efficient policing institutions at the local, municipal, state and national levels.  The National Assembly will do us a whole lot of good if they use the opportunity of the ongoing constitutional alteration process to wholistically introduce provisions that would bring about effective, independent and well funded Local, Community, and state police similar to what obtains in virtually all developed climes.

It is only insane people that can keep experimenting with a dead policing institution that the current Nigeria police Force has become and still expect a different result from the systemic failures that have occurred.

* Emmanuel Onwubiko, Head, HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA, blogs@www.huriwa.blogspot.com.      

22/11/2012