Posts
Dear Mr. Acting President,
I remember meeting you on a courtesy call in your office in Yenagoa a couple of years ago. I was a young lawyer in the company of my bosses and we had wanted to meet your erstwhile boss DSP Alamesiegha who was unavailable. We were prospecting in your territory (Kaiama-Mbiama-Yenagoa axis) as part of our operations in the Niger-Delta. In the little time that I spent in your company you came across as friendly, unassuming and loyal to your boss. These are still character traits that you have displayed particularly in the last 100 days. A 100 days of rubbish that has been displayed to the whole world and has greatly undermined the whole black race. We have been portrayed as a collection of people who do not know their left from the right.
Enough is enough and it is time to end this nonsense. I do not know if in the last few days you have been following the news? I know that when people are in such positions as fate has thrust you into, they are cut away from the reality of the real world. A close knit of people form a tight cordon round you. The result is that you lose touch with the reality of life as being experienced by the normal citizen on the street. In my capacity as a bona fide citizen of our dear country Nigeria, I pose to you a few questions:
(1) Is it true that you as the Acting President and Commander-In-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was unaware that your 'brother', President Umaru Yaradua was being discharged from the hospital in Saudi Arabia? Therefore you could not make adequate preparations to meet him and usher him back home even as we hear that he was brought into the country on a stretcher?
(2) Is it true that troops whom you command with powers vested in you as the Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of our nation were deployed to the Abuja International Airport without your knowledge? If this is true, what have you done about this?
(3)Have you summoned the Chief of Defence Staff, the Chief of Army Staff, the Commanding Officer of the Brigade of Guards to explain their action? Are you aware that this action of theirs borders on treasonable felony and it is perceived as such by the wider peoples of Nigeria in whom you derive your powers as invested on you by the National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria?
(4)Are you aware, that the person who instructed those troops to the airport without your knowledge can also instruct the troops to cordon you off in your Akinola Aguda residence and quarantine you from the nation? Are you aware that the implication is that foreign troops can land in Nigeria (right under your nose in Abuja) and take over the airport of the country which you preside over and you will not have a clue and proceed up to the Presidential Lodge without your knowledge? You mean nobody (right from the air traffic controller, the watch-tower where the aircraft got clearance to land, the aviation chiefs et cetera) could let the cat out of the bag to you?
(5) Is it true that Mrs. Turai Yaradua (the wife of President Yaradua) has kept you (the President and Commander-In-Chief) from physically seeing your sick friend, colleague, brother, boss et cetera? Are you telling us that one particular woman place a restricting order on you within the Federal Territory of Nigeria? I don't think so.
Commander-In-Chief Sir, you are playing with fire! If all these allegations are true, now you need to use your Sword of Office before it is used to behead you, so to speak. I would suggest you do the following:
(a) Redeploy all the security that are cordoning off your friend and our President. He is the President of Nigeria and he cannot be held hostage by his wife and cohorts. There must be a change of guards now! Replace them with troops loyal to you. When you do that you will be able to see the true state of health of your friend and brother. Remember that you campaigned for the Presidency together, worked together, dined and wined together. Now that he is ill, you are honour-bound to take care of him. Do as you will be done by. Anybody can take ill, even you and I at any point in time.
(b) When you see him and you are able to ascertain the true state of his health (because all you and I have been hearing is hear-say which is not admissible evidence in law) you must provide the best medical brains available in our country for him. Oh yes! Nigeria has brilliant professors and medical experts who still reside within Nigeria even though previous governments have tried to kill off all our infrastructures. If you spend what has been spent on the trip to Saudi Arabia in the last 100 days on the National Hospital in Abuja or the premier teaching hospital in Nigeria, the University College Hospital Ibadan (UCH) you will be amazed on its transformation. He can be hospitalized there. Do not transform Aso Rock and the Presidential Suites into an ad-hoc infirmary. The Presidency should project vitality, robustness, vibrancy and not this dark cloud of uncertainty, or the gloomy mood of a sick nation or that of a sick President hovering over it. It has a dangerous psychological effect on government and governance and the way we are perceived by foreign dignitaries that come to the Presidential Lodge. We love our President, but he is ill. Sick people go the hospital!
(c) Stop this 'Office of the first lady' sham. Start that by redeploying all staff to other quarters where they can be productive to the country. Instruct Mrs. Yaradua to continue looking after her husband as a wife, (emphasis mine) whilst the medical experts continue their job. We did not vote for a first lady. It is unconstitutional, a waste of money and a charade. In our part of the world, it is a virus that must be exterminated immediately by abolishing that office. Mrs. Turai Yaradua can support her husband as he recovers. She can also support him in all other ways. A good wife is a praying wife, not one struggling for presidential power with you by virtue of her association with the holder of the office ie. her husband. The same goes for State Governors wives. The position is illegal, unconstitutional and potentially damaging to the entity of our country as we have all seen now.
Mrs. Yaradua and your wife as well can take a cue from Mrs. Michelle Obama of the US and Mrs. Sarah Brown of the UK. They are all supportive of their husband without being disruptive. Please end this idiotic parade. The President and Governors wives can be useful without being brash, corrupt and wasting tax payers money. You start that change by leading by example. Curtail your own wife and others will follow. However, if they are interested in power and governance it is their right as enshrined in the constitution of our country . All they have to do is to go through the ballot box. The famous Margaret Thatcher of the UK, Angela Merkel, (the present German Chancellor) and other women have done so and ruled their countries. Ellen Sirleaf-Johnson is next door in Liberia, she can offer them expert opinion in how to run for the presidency in West Africa and win. Therefore capable women will be given a chance, but you must follow the due process and the rule of law.
(d) After your meeting with your service chiefs and the Commander of the Brigade of Guards, you will have known the truth as regards who tried to undermine your authority. You must now address the nation in a very brief speech not more than 10 minutes and brief us of the state of health of the President. You must also dismiss or retire (depending on how grave the treachery was) the responsible persons for that atrocious deployment of troops. You must do this live on television and name their replacements immediately. You must also make sure that there are no unusual movement of troops within the territory of Nigeria whether for training purposes or otherwise until you have consolidated your hold and the polity cools down.
Remember that you did not lobby for this post, therefore you owe less people political favours. Shuffle the cabinet, if you need to. Surround yourself with capable hands. There is no reason why you can't call back Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi to come and reorganise our foreign policy. It is in shambles! Prof. Wole Soyinka should be speaking on behalf of Nigeria either at the UN or as your Presidential Special Envoy to the whole world. Bring back Nuhu Ribadu and Nasir El-Rufai and stop the witch-hunting. These are the kind of people that the wider world will listen to. But they will only come and serve you if you assure them of your seriousness and they know that you are truly serious. Time to get busy and send that signal to the whole world.
Fate and circumstance has thrust power on your shoulders. Now prove to us that you are man enough to lead the most populous, potentially prosperous and brilliant black nation in the world. This is the first time in a very long while that the majority of our country will rally round one man. You must remember that Nigerians are very impatient people. Move fast, swift, and decisively. Reform the electoral commission now by use of a digital biometric register to prevent fraud. Use Option A4 to ensure that people are electable by their own communities before they say they want to lead. Restructure our nation and return it to its rightful place internationally. You have been made the Commander-In-Chief for over two weeks. The only person person who can stop you is yourself. I hasten to remind you that in this instance, only 'goodluck' will not suffice. Now talk like a Commander, walk like a Commander, be a Commander. The whole world is watching. Or do you still need us to wish you 'good luck'?
Saturday, 27 February 2010
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
Option A4, Electoral Reform and a Biometric Voters Register: The Survival Manual for President Goodluck Jonathan
Initially this article would have been published two weeks ago titled 'Wishing You Goodluck President Jonathan' save for two ocurrences. Firstly, events have overtaken that and secondly I lost the initial five or so paragrahs written when my computer lost power. I am trying to incorporate the elements of the lost work into this and we'll see how it turns out.
The Ignominious Role of Aondoaaka
Well, the first shuffle of cards in the Presidency was dealt the former Attorney-General Michael Aondoakaa. It was hardly a joker or a masterpiece move, it was just a purely Machiavellian strategy. It had to be done and he had to be kept within the palace, right under the ruler's nose. That explains why he was unceremoniously relieved of the most powerful political law job any lawyer can aspire to and put into the strait-jacket of the Special Duties Ministry. It seems the new ruler knew how much mischief Aondoaaka will cause if let to run loose outside the palace hence why he still has to report weekly for the Federal Executive Council meetings every week. At least, you give him the false impression of being a cabinet member when what you have done technically, is to place him under surveillance. The AG's office is one of the most cherished legal jobs any citizen can aspire to hold for his country. The AG is the Chief Legal Officer of the nation, the legal mind and brains of the administration. His word is law and woe betide any government or official that disregards it. The Iraq War Inquiry by the British government amongst other things has revealed that the Tony Blair administration and its American allies had to practically bully the former British AG Lord Goldsmith into overuling the earlier advice given to them that the invasion of Iraq would be illegal without a UN Security Council Resolution empowering it to do so. If Lord Goldsmith had maintained his position that the war would have been manifestly and undisputably illegal. The whole course of history might have been changed because it would have legitimised the British people's position for Tony Blair not to go to war. Neither would the British have formed a coalition with American forces. Probably, Tony Blair's legacy would have been different to what he has now as a leader who led his country into an unjustifiable war based on faulty intelligence reports . The rest is history as they say. We are where we are now.
Anyway, Aondoaaka forgot that the enormous powers wielded by the AG is subject to approval in the court of public opinion. Once an AG becomes as unpopular as he or Clement Akpamgbo was under the Ibrahim Babangida regime he is a sitting-duck (ironically the late Akpamgbo called me to the Nigerian Bar in his position then as the Chairman Body of Benchers). It is only a matter of time before one in the volley of shots hit you. The AG's attempt to engage the Information Minister Prof. Dora Akunyili in a market woman style shout-at-me and I will also shout-at-you politics spectacularly back-fired. An AG must not engage in oyingbo market' style of politics. It will not work! Especially, not with a woman like Dora emerged to be seemingly more polically astute than the AG, not because she is more knowledgable in state matters. No, far from it. Otherwise she would not have written a memo. History and contemporary politics teaches us that great political schemes, machinations, reconstructions et cetera are more of an unwritten nature than written. Power is brokered and consolidated in various ways and forms ranging from persuasion, blackmail, pleas, bribery, inducement, adoption, marriage and sometimes even death. The Abacha Indian girls and apple and the Abiola tea episode in Aso Rock is a pointer to the evil twists and turns in the corridors of power (I hasten to add that I am not advocating any of this). But Dora, was simply in touch with the mood of the nation that has become tired of the 'amala and gbegiri' politics that ultimately played out before our eyes particularly when we got enlisted as a terror nation. We could not fire a salvo back because there was no one at the head of affairs who had constitutional powers vested in him as the head boy. In Washington, the Americans had no one to talk to because Ojo Maduekwe had fired the Ambassador there. The replacement was refused because his son had been implicated in a criminal matter - Rape is viewed very seriously here in the West - and in Nigeria the senior prefect had simply vanished from the boarding house. Why won't they kick some sense into our heads? Are we in the position to use our oil has a weapon of international diplomacy and politics? No, we are not. Years of rubbishing the Niger-Deltans has turned them against the unbalanced union called Nigeria. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger-Delta (MEND) and other splinter groups has ensured an economic sabotage against the polity as symbolised by the government in Abuja.
(A) We do not export the requisite amount of crude oil to warrant that the non-exportation of the product to America would result in an economic blockade. And crucially, we do need the money, since we are not producing enough. Everyday, Nigeria loses money on refining abroad or rather buying back refined petrol from the crude oil we have exported abroad.
(B) Our refineries do not work, therefore we depend on other countries to refine our petrol, kerosine, diesel et cetera which equals to: Nigeria is not independent and therefore cannot afford to call the shots. To say that we are in a prostrate position is not far from the truth since everyone now stamps on us. They only pander to our ego when they need something badly from us. As soon as they get what they want, we are cast away like orange pips.
To conclude, Dora simply knows like the majority of Nigerians that Yaradua is unlikely to return back to the Presidency and even if he does, the office has been dealt a serious blow so much that many people would not want a sick president to lead the nation. It thus confirms the rumours that this man had been ill all along when suspicions arose at the beginning of his tenure. His response on the BBC was to challenge anyone who said he is ill to a game of squash to prove his fitness. If I were in the court, I would hereby say: My Lord, I rest my case.
Electoral Reform and A Digital Biometric Voters Register
There is a saying which says that 'A fish starts rottening from the head'. The Niger-Delta crisis, lack of petrol, lack of security, power, lack of good roads and amenities all boils down to leadership or the lack of it. Nigeria since perhaps the late Murtala Mohammed or say to a lesser extent the Buhari/Idiagbon regime has lacked a credible leader, a proper statesman who would lead us and restore our dignity as a people and a nation. Fifty years after independence, more times than not we still fill the mould of what Obafemi Awolowo termed Nigeria: 'a mere geographic expression'. How can we have our fellow countrymen and women performing and achieving outside Nigeria and the country is rubbish? Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is a Managing Director at the World Bank, Oby Ezekwesili is VP for Africa at the same institution, Bayo Ogunlesi heads Global Infrastructure Partners, they just bought London Gatwick Airport a few months ago. And many others too numerous to mention are exceling in various fields in the developed world. Yet, Nigeria doesn't have light, water and security. But we can send troops abroad to bring peace to other countries and serve with distinction. When apartheid fell in Namibia and Sam Nujoma became the President, the Nigerian Police Force re-trained the Namibian Police from scratch they also won accolades. That would have been the first time Namibians would have first seen black policemen en masse. That was how bad the racial discrimination was. These same Nigerian Police men of the N20 fame training another country's police and security infrastructure with distinction. Yet we are under siege from armed robbers and hired assasins at home.
Let us presume that our absentee President is not going to be fit for purpose after this Saudi trip and I dont think he will because the handwriting is on the wall. The game is over. Therefore, it logically follows that the Acting President would be foolish not to secure and consolidate his position. Secondly, even if he is not going to run for the Presidency next year- I doubt he wouldn't anyway - he needs to swiftly put a structure in place that would ensure his relevance forever in the polity called Nigeria. So which way out? There has only been one election in Nigeria that could be said to be the free, fair and widely accepted one before Babangida, the ultimate student of Machiavellian manipulations scuttled it. That was the 12 June 1993 elections and the system that produced it was the Option A4 system. The only reason which the ruling class have refused to use it again was the irrefutable power of choice it gave to the masses. The Godfathers of Nigerian politics and the tiny cabal of greedy, twisted-minds that feed fat on the endless supply of ill gotten wealth flowing from the fountain of government in Nigeria would never want an independent electorate. The lure of the easy, cheap no-questions-asked, no-anwers-given supply of money in the political structure and government of Nigeria is our bane. If Jonathan can solve this, he would be catapulted to a statesman as great as Nelson Mandela. Reforming the electoral process goes to the very root of how we will elect a credible leader. A leader who we choose of our own volition knows he is accountable to us and not to a Godfather who has facilitated trailer loads of rice, salt, cooking oil and N1,000 notes on the eve of the elections to induce votes for his candidate the next day. Are we now surprised when the political Godfather wants to be the one appointing the Commissioner for Finance in the state, appoint the AG, appoint the Commissioner for Works and Housing, appoint the Secretary to the State Government and even appoint the Deputy Governor? He is only trying to recoup his investment.
As a matter of urgency, the Acting President must quickly ensure that the Electoral Commission not only goes digital, it must also go biometric. It does not cost much in finance, it only needs will power and sincerity. How will this work? A mechanism would be put in place ensuring that all voters are registered simultaneously and electronically nationwide. During this registration process, the voters would be registered electronically and biometrically through battery powered devices (where there is no electricity). This will all be linked to a central supercomputer. No person can register under the same identity twice, nor can anyone once register under two identities because there would be a clash of identities. Shikena! Problem solved. This is how the British authorities have resolved the issue of persons using bogus identities to apply for visas. The result for Nigeria would be that there would be no ghost voters, no stealing of ballot boxes and no need for endless printing of voting papers which would also translate into environmental friendliness. One man would equal one vote. One vote equals credible voter power. Voter power equals credible change and accountability to the electorate. This signals bye-bye to Godfatherism, vote rigging and other manipulations at the voting booth. No need for even party agents anymore. Then it logically follows that we are able to vote for the right man and he would know that he is not indispensable or invincible. He will simply not be re-elected. Then the voted also knows that when the voter threatens not to vote for him at the next election because he has underperformed, he takes this seriously and he can sit up. The elected will know that he cannot subvert the public will by buying his way. Only then can we start having credible change from the neglected in the Niger-Delta to the unemployed /'agbero'/ in the various motor parks. From the disgruntled and disillusioned civil servant to the angry university youth who has lost faith in his country. From the armed forces to the Fulani cattle rearer, credible and merited change would cool the polity. If the President needs help in this regards, all he needs do is ask. This particular help is available without much fuss. To the contrary, if there is no hope of clearing this mess once and for all even goodluck is not enough for President Jonathan, he simply will not survive the evil machinations of those who continue to suck our blood dry. A word is enough for the wise.
Kola Alapinni is an International Human Rights Lawyer and writes from Birmingham UK
Tuesday 23rd February 2010
The Ignominious Role of Aondoaaka
Well, the first shuffle of cards in the Presidency was dealt the former Attorney-General Michael Aondoakaa. It was hardly a joker or a masterpiece move, it was just a purely Machiavellian strategy. It had to be done and he had to be kept within the palace, right under the ruler's nose. That explains why he was unceremoniously relieved of the most powerful political law job any lawyer can aspire to and put into the strait-jacket of the Special Duties Ministry. It seems the new ruler knew how much mischief Aondoaaka will cause if let to run loose outside the palace hence why he still has to report weekly for the Federal Executive Council meetings every week. At least, you give him the false impression of being a cabinet member when what you have done technically, is to place him under surveillance. The AG's office is one of the most cherished legal jobs any citizen can aspire to hold for his country. The AG is the Chief Legal Officer of the nation, the legal mind and brains of the administration. His word is law and woe betide any government or official that disregards it. The Iraq War Inquiry by the British government amongst other things has revealed that the Tony Blair administration and its American allies had to practically bully the former British AG Lord Goldsmith into overuling the earlier advice given to them that the invasion of Iraq would be illegal without a UN Security Council Resolution empowering it to do so. If Lord Goldsmith had maintained his position that the war would have been manifestly and undisputably illegal. The whole course of history might have been changed because it would have legitimised the British people's position for Tony Blair not to go to war. Neither would the British have formed a coalition with American forces. Probably, Tony Blair's legacy would have been different to what he has now as a leader who led his country into an unjustifiable war based on faulty intelligence reports . The rest is history as they say. We are where we are now.
Anyway, Aondoaaka forgot that the enormous powers wielded by the AG is subject to approval in the court of public opinion. Once an AG becomes as unpopular as he or Clement Akpamgbo was under the Ibrahim Babangida regime he is a sitting-duck (ironically the late Akpamgbo called me to the Nigerian Bar in his position then as the Chairman Body of Benchers). It is only a matter of time before one in the volley of shots hit you. The AG's attempt to engage the Information Minister Prof. Dora Akunyili in a market woman style shout-at-me and I will also shout-at-you politics spectacularly back-fired. An AG must not engage in oyingbo market' style of politics. It will not work! Especially, not with a woman like Dora emerged to be seemingly more polically astute than the AG, not because she is more knowledgable in state matters. No, far from it. Otherwise she would not have written a memo. History and contemporary politics teaches us that great political schemes, machinations, reconstructions et cetera are more of an unwritten nature than written. Power is brokered and consolidated in various ways and forms ranging from persuasion, blackmail, pleas, bribery, inducement, adoption, marriage and sometimes even death. The Abacha Indian girls and apple and the Abiola tea episode in Aso Rock is a pointer to the evil twists and turns in the corridors of power (I hasten to add that I am not advocating any of this). But Dora, was simply in touch with the mood of the nation that has become tired of the 'amala and gbegiri' politics that ultimately played out before our eyes particularly when we got enlisted as a terror nation. We could not fire a salvo back because there was no one at the head of affairs who had constitutional powers vested in him as the head boy. In Washington, the Americans had no one to talk to because Ojo Maduekwe had fired the Ambassador there. The replacement was refused because his son had been implicated in a criminal matter - Rape is viewed very seriously here in the West - and in Nigeria the senior prefect had simply vanished from the boarding house. Why won't they kick some sense into our heads? Are we in the position to use our oil has a weapon of international diplomacy and politics? No, we are not. Years of rubbishing the Niger-Deltans has turned them against the unbalanced union called Nigeria. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger-Delta (MEND) and other splinter groups has ensured an economic sabotage against the polity as symbolised by the government in Abuja.
(A) We do not export the requisite amount of crude oil to warrant that the non-exportation of the product to America would result in an economic blockade. And crucially, we do need the money, since we are not producing enough. Everyday, Nigeria loses money on refining abroad or rather buying back refined petrol from the crude oil we have exported abroad.
(B) Our refineries do not work, therefore we depend on other countries to refine our petrol, kerosine, diesel et cetera which equals to: Nigeria is not independent and therefore cannot afford to call the shots. To say that we are in a prostrate position is not far from the truth since everyone now stamps on us. They only pander to our ego when they need something badly from us. As soon as they get what they want, we are cast away like orange pips.
To conclude, Dora simply knows like the majority of Nigerians that Yaradua is unlikely to return back to the Presidency and even if he does, the office has been dealt a serious blow so much that many people would not want a sick president to lead the nation. It thus confirms the rumours that this man had been ill all along when suspicions arose at the beginning of his tenure. His response on the BBC was to challenge anyone who said he is ill to a game of squash to prove his fitness. If I were in the court, I would hereby say: My Lord, I rest my case.
Electoral Reform and A Digital Biometric Voters Register
There is a saying which says that 'A fish starts rottening from the head'. The Niger-Delta crisis, lack of petrol, lack of security, power, lack of good roads and amenities all boils down to leadership or the lack of it. Nigeria since perhaps the late Murtala Mohammed or say to a lesser extent the Buhari/Idiagbon regime has lacked a credible leader, a proper statesman who would lead us and restore our dignity as a people and a nation. Fifty years after independence, more times than not we still fill the mould of what Obafemi Awolowo termed Nigeria: 'a mere geographic expression'. How can we have our fellow countrymen and women performing and achieving outside Nigeria and the country is rubbish? Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is a Managing Director at the World Bank, Oby Ezekwesili is VP for Africa at the same institution, Bayo Ogunlesi heads Global Infrastructure Partners, they just bought London Gatwick Airport a few months ago. And many others too numerous to mention are exceling in various fields in the developed world. Yet, Nigeria doesn't have light, water and security. But we can send troops abroad to bring peace to other countries and serve with distinction. When apartheid fell in Namibia and Sam Nujoma became the President, the Nigerian Police Force re-trained the Namibian Police from scratch they also won accolades. That would have been the first time Namibians would have first seen black policemen en masse. That was how bad the racial discrimination was. These same Nigerian Police men of the N20 fame training another country's police and security infrastructure with distinction. Yet we are under siege from armed robbers and hired assasins at home.
Let us presume that our absentee President is not going to be fit for purpose after this Saudi trip and I dont think he will because the handwriting is on the wall. The game is over. Therefore, it logically follows that the Acting President would be foolish not to secure and consolidate his position. Secondly, even if he is not going to run for the Presidency next year- I doubt he wouldn't anyway - he needs to swiftly put a structure in place that would ensure his relevance forever in the polity called Nigeria. So which way out? There has only been one election in Nigeria that could be said to be the free, fair and widely accepted one before Babangida, the ultimate student of Machiavellian manipulations scuttled it. That was the 12 June 1993 elections and the system that produced it was the Option A4 system. The only reason which the ruling class have refused to use it again was the irrefutable power of choice it gave to the masses. The Godfathers of Nigerian politics and the tiny cabal of greedy, twisted-minds that feed fat on the endless supply of ill gotten wealth flowing from the fountain of government in Nigeria would never want an independent electorate. The lure of the easy, cheap no-questions-asked, no-anwers-given supply of money in the political structure and government of Nigeria is our bane. If Jonathan can solve this, he would be catapulted to a statesman as great as Nelson Mandela. Reforming the electoral process goes to the very root of how we will elect a credible leader. A leader who we choose of our own volition knows he is accountable to us and not to a Godfather who has facilitated trailer loads of rice, salt, cooking oil and N1,000 notes on the eve of the elections to induce votes for his candidate the next day. Are we now surprised when the political Godfather wants to be the one appointing the Commissioner for Finance in the state, appoint the AG, appoint the Commissioner for Works and Housing, appoint the Secretary to the State Government and even appoint the Deputy Governor? He is only trying to recoup his investment.
As a matter of urgency, the Acting President must quickly ensure that the Electoral Commission not only goes digital, it must also go biometric. It does not cost much in finance, it only needs will power and sincerity. How will this work? A mechanism would be put in place ensuring that all voters are registered simultaneously and electronically nationwide. During this registration process, the voters would be registered electronically and biometrically through battery powered devices (where there is no electricity). This will all be linked to a central supercomputer. No person can register under the same identity twice, nor can anyone once register under two identities because there would be a clash of identities. Shikena! Problem solved. This is how the British authorities have resolved the issue of persons using bogus identities to apply for visas. The result for Nigeria would be that there would be no ghost voters, no stealing of ballot boxes and no need for endless printing of voting papers which would also translate into environmental friendliness. One man would equal one vote. One vote equals credible voter power. Voter power equals credible change and accountability to the electorate. This signals bye-bye to Godfatherism, vote rigging and other manipulations at the voting booth. No need for even party agents anymore. Then it logically follows that we are able to vote for the right man and he would know that he is not indispensable or invincible. He will simply not be re-elected. Then the voted also knows that when the voter threatens not to vote for him at the next election because he has underperformed, he takes this seriously and he can sit up. The elected will know that he cannot subvert the public will by buying his way. Only then can we start having credible change from the neglected in the Niger-Delta to the unemployed /'agbero'/ in the various motor parks. From the disgruntled and disillusioned civil servant to the angry university youth who has lost faith in his country. From the armed forces to the Fulani cattle rearer, credible and merited change would cool the polity. If the President needs help in this regards, all he needs do is ask. This particular help is available without much fuss. To the contrary, if there is no hope of clearing this mess once and for all even goodluck is not enough for President Jonathan, he simply will not survive the evil machinations of those who continue to suck our blood dry. A word is enough for the wise.
Kola Alapinni is an International Human Rights Lawyer and writes from Birmingham UK
Tuesday 23rd February 2010
Monday, 1 February 2010
IGP Vs Chief Gani Fawehinmi & Mallam Nuhu Ribadu By Kola Alapinni
It is with the utmost shame and sense of bewilderment that I read the headlines attributed to the current Nigerian Inspector General of Police Mr Ogbonnaya Onovo. I mean, did this man really think before speaking? How could the number one police officer of the most populous black nation in the world be on the record as saying that a man of high visibility and profile as the former Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC Chairman Nuhu Ribadu did not visit Nigeria. He further said that if he did, who ever has the proof should provide it. To say the least, the Nigerian media went hay-wire providing documentary and real evidence in form of photographs both in still and motion form.
A few issues are worrisome here. Firstly, has Mallam Ribadu been found to be a criminal? If so what crime did he commit and to which court of law has he been found guilty? Secondly, did Ribadu jump bail in Nigeria so much so that his return to offer his condolences to the family of the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi triggered a discussion bordering on arresting this man (a Nigerian citizen) if he sets foot on the territory of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (his home country)?
I would proceed to draw a few inferences before concluding my analogy. It is safe to infer that if indeed Nuhu Ribadu is either officially or unofficially a marked man by the Nigerian security forces, he outsmarted them by having a safe ingress and egress out of Nigeria. It would be safe to further infer that either he enjoys so much goodwill within the country that his former colleagues in the security agencies in Nigeria would not arrest him or oust him or he has decided to utilise the Handbook of - Afenifere, NADECO, JACON, CD, CDHR et cetera, et cetera, - on evasion of State Security Agencies and he employed the expertise of no other than the great Femi Falana (a master of the famous NADECO route himself) who was at his side at all times during the video recording of his visit to Gani’s house.
As I write this piece, I cannot but share with you a little of what happened at the Oyo State High Court, Ring-Road Ibadan a few years ago during the notorious case of State vs Iyiola Omisore & Others. I covered the case as the Law Editor of New Age Newspapers in company of Sola Balogun the Oyo State Correspondent. The facts of the case were that the serving Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) Chief Bola Ige was murdered at is Bodija residence at about 9-10pm. Amongst the the many twists in the drama that surrounded the case, when the late ‘Debo Akande (SAN) was cross-examining, it was revealed that the SSS guys who were detailed to protect their principal had locked up their guns in the house for’safe-keeping’ and had gone to look for bread and akara down the road. The assailants came in, met an unprotected Ige and shot him in the presence of his family. The pertinent question that Akande asked was that even if they had returned about the same time the assailants arrived or they had met the assailants inside the premises, what would they defend themselves with, not to talk of their principal?
I think I can conclude my analogy by saying the mentality of the men of our security agencies from top to bottom as encapsulated by the Inspector General of Police’s recent statements has once again brought to the fore the deep rottening mess and pile of rubbish that we have sank neck-deep into in Nigeria. And even in death, a visit to see Gani’s body still managed to make the security agencies who had for decades beaten,tear-gassed, harrassed and molested Gani and countless others look like they have lost the plot. I can bet Gani has been grinning at Beko, Aka-Bashorun, Pa Ajasin, Pa Adesanya and others saying that even in death he still made the top cop look like a flop.
Kola Alapinni
Birmingham UK
23rd September 2009
A few issues are worrisome here. Firstly, has Mallam Ribadu been found to be a criminal? If so what crime did he commit and to which court of law has he been found guilty? Secondly, did Ribadu jump bail in Nigeria so much so that his return to offer his condolences to the family of the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi triggered a discussion bordering on arresting this man (a Nigerian citizen) if he sets foot on the territory of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (his home country)?
I would proceed to draw a few inferences before concluding my analogy. It is safe to infer that if indeed Nuhu Ribadu is either officially or unofficially a marked man by the Nigerian security forces, he outsmarted them by having a safe ingress and egress out of Nigeria. It would be safe to further infer that either he enjoys so much goodwill within the country that his former colleagues in the security agencies in Nigeria would not arrest him or oust him or he has decided to utilise the Handbook of - Afenifere, NADECO, JACON, CD, CDHR et cetera, et cetera, - on evasion of State Security Agencies and he employed the expertise of no other than the great Femi Falana (a master of the famous NADECO route himself) who was at his side at all times during the video recording of his visit to Gani’s house.
As I write this piece, I cannot but share with you a little of what happened at the Oyo State High Court, Ring-Road Ibadan a few years ago during the notorious case of State vs Iyiola Omisore & Others. I covered the case as the Law Editor of New Age Newspapers in company of Sola Balogun the Oyo State Correspondent. The facts of the case were that the serving Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) Chief Bola Ige was murdered at is Bodija residence at about 9-10pm. Amongst the the many twists in the drama that surrounded the case, when the late ‘Debo Akande (SAN) was cross-examining, it was revealed that the SSS guys who were detailed to protect their principal had locked up their guns in the house for’safe-keeping’ and had gone to look for bread and akara down the road. The assailants came in, met an unprotected Ige and shot him in the presence of his family. The pertinent question that Akande asked was that even if they had returned about the same time the assailants arrived or they had met the assailants inside the premises, what would they defend themselves with, not to talk of their principal?
I think I can conclude my analogy by saying the mentality of the men of our security agencies from top to bottom as encapsulated by the Inspector General of Police’s recent statements has once again brought to the fore the deep rottening mess and pile of rubbish that we have sank neck-deep into in Nigeria. And even in death, a visit to see Gani’s body still managed to make the security agencies who had for decades beaten,tear-gassed, harrassed and molested Gani and countless others look like they have lost the plot. I can bet Gani has been grinning at Beko, Aka-Bashorun, Pa Ajasin, Pa Adesanya and others saying that even in death he still made the top cop look like a flop.
Kola Alapinni
Birmingham UK
23rd September 2009
An Ode To Gani By Kola Alapinni
Sometimes in 1997, I was a research assistant as a Part IV Law student in UI to one of my lecturers. She asked me to pop into the Chief’s office to set up a meeting since I was in Lagos gathering some research material for her. The Owolabi Afuye Memorial Lectures of the Ibadan NBA were coming up and my teacher was in charge of organizing the ceremony for the NBA. She wanted the Chief to play a part.
I remember being ushered into his office by his then Deputy Head of Chambers Mr. Rotimi Jacobs, himself an alumnae of the Ibadan Law Faculty. The rain had beat me silly on the ‘okada’ from Anthony Village Junction to his Law Office had had me drenched and shivering from head to toe. But as soon as I laid my eyes on this great man, I was well! I was simply awestruck by the simplicity exuded by this great man. He offered me a handshake but I didn’t even notice! I had been consumed and lost in ‘Ganiphilia’. The pictures on the wall, various memorabilia, the books and books and books all around and scores of people all waiting in the lobby downstairs.
I did set up the meeting and I drove Mrs. E.S. Olarinde there the following week in the company of Mr. Akanbi, now Justice Akanbi of the Oyo State High Court. Unfortunately as typical of the military years, the operatives of the State Security Service SSS were hovering round his office premises. He called the office from his car to inform us of his inability to meet with us and he offered his apologies. I remember the other members of the entourage were absolutely gutted on not being able to meet him on that occasion. Such was the magnet of the man called Gani.
The second was shortly before a trip to South Africa in January 2001, I had just won a scholarship to study for an ill-fated LLM at the Center for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, the whole world was at my feet or so it seemed. The LLM programme coordinator Norman Taku, now the Deputy Director of the Centre had requested via a phone call if I could get him one of Gani’s books; Murder of Dele Giwa: The Rights of a Private Prosecutor. There was only one place to go again, Gani’s Chambers.
I met him once again and he congratulated me on my scholarship. I stated my mission and he asked one of his men to get the book from a portakabin downstairs. As a good measure, he also gave me his Human Rights in Africa Law Reports when he found out my area of study was in Human Rights Law and a few other books. And he autographed them as well. Norman was well pleased I should say. These books were all donated to the Centre for Human Rights Law Library in Pretoria. And I am happy to say that I facilitated them. Such is the kind gesture of this great man.
Amongst all the numerous stories and anecdotes that abound of Gani, let it be remembered that this great human rights activist also sowed into the study of human rights law in a land where human wrongs and man’s oppression and segregation of his fellow man based on the colour of his skin had been Africa’s greatest festering sore.
Rest in Peace Ganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi
Kola Alapinni
Birmingham, UK
10th September 2009
I remember being ushered into his office by his then Deputy Head of Chambers Mr. Rotimi Jacobs, himself an alumnae of the Ibadan Law Faculty. The rain had beat me silly on the ‘okada’ from Anthony Village Junction to his Law Office had had me drenched and shivering from head to toe. But as soon as I laid my eyes on this great man, I was well! I was simply awestruck by the simplicity exuded by this great man. He offered me a handshake but I didn’t even notice! I had been consumed and lost in ‘Ganiphilia’. The pictures on the wall, various memorabilia, the books and books and books all around and scores of people all waiting in the lobby downstairs.
I did set up the meeting and I drove Mrs. E.S. Olarinde there the following week in the company of Mr. Akanbi, now Justice Akanbi of the Oyo State High Court. Unfortunately as typical of the military years, the operatives of the State Security Service SSS were hovering round his office premises. He called the office from his car to inform us of his inability to meet with us and he offered his apologies. I remember the other members of the entourage were absolutely gutted on not being able to meet him on that occasion. Such was the magnet of the man called Gani.
The second was shortly before a trip to South Africa in January 2001, I had just won a scholarship to study for an ill-fated LLM at the Center for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, the whole world was at my feet or so it seemed. The LLM programme coordinator Norman Taku, now the Deputy Director of the Centre had requested via a phone call if I could get him one of Gani’s books; Murder of Dele Giwa: The Rights of a Private Prosecutor. There was only one place to go again, Gani’s Chambers.
I met him once again and he congratulated me on my scholarship. I stated my mission and he asked one of his men to get the book from a portakabin downstairs. As a good measure, he also gave me his Human Rights in Africa Law Reports when he found out my area of study was in Human Rights Law and a few other books. And he autographed them as well. Norman was well pleased I should say. These books were all donated to the Centre for Human Rights Law Library in Pretoria. And I am happy to say that I facilitated them. Such is the kind gesture of this great man.
Amongst all the numerous stories and anecdotes that abound of Gani, let it be remembered that this great human rights activist also sowed into the study of human rights law in a land where human wrongs and man’s oppression and segregation of his fellow man based on the colour of his skin had been Africa’s greatest festering sore.
Rest in Peace Ganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi
Kola Alapinni
Birmingham, UK
10th September 2009
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