Crocodile tears for Baga

“May you never witness the tears of a fish” -An ancient Chinese prayer Most fishes found in a distressed state of extreme discomfiture in Nigeria, must have been a smoked one, likely caught and dried in the banks of Lake Chad Basin and most probable, originating from the most famous, now turned infamous town of Baga. It is said that every congregation is communal, from the little union of a single wife and her husband, to the greater family relationship having the presence of sired children, to the compact block of a village, district, local government and a federating state, up to the level of a recognized nation state, continental union and the greater world stage at last. For somebody who has lost one or two close relations to the grim reaper, what always fascinates me every time a death occurs is the appearance of a group of women, who offer their services of crying for the deceased, for quite a handsome fee of payment, even though they might not have known the dead person while alive or even cared much for the bereaved family, theirs is just a business enterprise of sharing grief with the family which lost someone very dear to it. At such a moment, everybody is expected to understand and appreciate such mercantile business arrangement, because what is important at such an epochal time is giving the dead a befitting burial, it seems this is exactly what happened with the victims of Baga military massacre, where despite the African cultural refrain of never speaking evil of the dead, their northern kiths and kin mourned them loudly with an ostentatious hypocrisy, while the southern segment of the national divide, saw them as nothing more than a mere collateral damage, who are as guilty of complicity as the terrorist, in shielding and hiding the insurgents, from the long arms of the Nigerian Security Forces. The question demanding an immediate answer is could most Nigerians honestly say the massacre took them unawares, because, to have inferred that it would have meant that nobody had expected what occurred to have happened. But, if history is a mirror of the past which foretell the future and a human being is a creature of habit, who always follows the set precedence of others, then, it is highly disingenuous to express a surprise on a notorious fact that such tragedies have been happening, since the advent of our nascent democracy, from the ungodly destructions of Zaki Biam to the mass murder which occurred in the town of Odi. Where leaders both military and civilians, allowed a bout of emotions to rule their heads and judgmental decision making capacity, because of an evident murder of their security officers, the path of retaliation was chosen over the route of the rule of law. Unfortunately, if such reckless action was taken to send a message, to a citizenry who are infamously known for lawlessness, it seems the state sponsored violent admonishing of a population, never made anyone to fear acting their usual irresponsible self, confirming the general wisdom about the rule of law that it is never about punitive sanction, but about a corrective sentencing to reform an individual in a most humane manner, to change a character trait from undertaking any deviant behavior again. A lot of Nigerians have often pondered and indeed subtly justified the actions of the soldiers, on whether such a military action, could enjoy protection under the formal concept of state or its agents in uniform who do no wrong, insofar as they acted on lawful orders, while any loss of lives resulting fell under the term collateral damage that is acceptable in every military engagement, which requires the use of heavy weaponry and gunfire. The applicable principle is that even persons participating in military warfare, have an officially sanctioned rules of engagement, which requires and expects an officer in a certain combat manner, even if they are provoked or threatened with a serious conflict as in a war situation. There are a codified set of rules and regulation, usually issued by the army chief in conjunction with a Joint Military Board, to guide the actions of officers and men in military engagement. Under such issued orders, preservation of lives and properties of third party civilians, who are not involved in the conflict is of paramount interest, because, wars are never won with the conquest of a people with pure force of arms, but, rather the eventual defeat of men with weaponry, while the general mass of the citizenry are brought under the power of vanquishing authority, through winning their hearts and minds, as to the reason why they are the ones chosen to be elevated into the glory of the winning team. The important question here is whether what happened in Baga, deviated from the normal applicable tradition of best practices in military engagement rules and regulations in civil armed conflict or rather the inhuman tragedy of the death of hundreds of people, could easily fall under the military necessity of a collateral damage, whenever the exchanges are that of heavy gunfire and massive conflagrating bombs. The applicable rule were a non combatant civilian death to become a collateral damage is an open declaration of war, meeting the international laws of war enshrined in the Geneva Convention, on an invoking of a state of war, which in the case of Nigeria falls under the powers of the National Assembly, to declare a state of emergency, as a proclamation that announces to the world what is happening in the area. Unfortunately for the people of Baga, they did not enjoy such necessary constitutional notice as such they never knew they are in a war situation, despite the fact that they see the presence of military fighting force amongst them.

Dinning at the table of Shekau

For there to be a well ordered and properly structured society, every human activity must operate from the premises of certain accepted beliefs, which include ethics, etiquettes and values. Indeed, no matter the relative unimportance of so personal a task, it still requires to be done on its accepted normal procedure. Take an ordinary task, like having a dinner amongst a group of close family friends and relations, which should neither require a special training, nor an expertise of specializing in filling one’s own stomach. Yet, even an automatic and necessary human activity such as this, requires its partaker to observe certain norms, like the basic instinct and simple etiquette of imbibing formal table manners, which are knowing where to sit, how to sit, what to wear, proper handling of the cutlery, how to eat, acceptable topics of discourse during dinner and even the required quantity to be served, to avoid creating the tag of heavy and predatory consumer. Any deviation from the established norm and a quiet albeit enjoyable evening activity is turned into an unmitigated and ill-digesting disaster. In a similar context, appointment into a public office or a representative committee also has its own fundamental ethos, which include; seeking for competent and qualified persons, vetting of the individual chosen to determine suitability and prior contact with the personalities appointed as a ground to explore whether he, she or even them are interested in the job offered. This is regarded as the basic minimum requirement of employment in any responsible corporate organization, much less an accountable government body of great importance. Thus, you could understand the shock of many a citizen of this great yet threatened country, when news filtered from Abuja, on the announcement of a number of individuals in a regional security committee, widely called as the Boko Haram Amnesty Committee. What flabbergasted, annoyed and confused a lot of Nigerians, was not merely a government pronouncement on a highly divisive matter, which has yet to achieve a consensus of majority of the countries citizens, but, rather a proclamation that took almost everyone including the appointees unawares. Before the pronouncement of the unveiling of the committee, it has been a confusion galore, as much speculation has been going on in the media, on the existence of an exploratory security committee, composed of mainly top national security and military officials, having as its main term of reference, the desire to determine the necessity or otherwise of granting amnesty to the insurgents of Jama’atu Ahlil Sunna Lil Da’awati Wal Jihad. The widely accepted and speculated acclaim on the committee is the inference that it is being headed by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, though he later forcefully rejected any association with the committee, confirming the general wisdom that the panel was never a formal committee, since its inauguration was never broadcasted in the media, but, that it was merely a presidential exploratory group composed of Lieutenant General Azubuike Ihejirika, the Nigerian Chief of Army Staff and his boys, who have always believed in the military option as the best solution, despite its evident failure to quell the simmering civil conflict of terroristic proportion. It is upon such a maze of confusion, the committee on amnesty came into existence, which was established to grant pardon to individuals who have never shown remorse for their action, accepted responsibility for committing a wrongful act or exhibited a form of repentance on any action ever taken. Indeed, it is even questionable whether an exploratory group composed of notoriously known hawks in the administration, could have been the persons who recommended granting amnesty to the insurgents to the Nigerian president, after all, none of the major players in the conflict had acknowledged meeting any membership of the highly secretive committee, nor was a published report of its findings formally submitted to the presidency. In fact, the announcement of amnesty committee looked seemingly like a kneejerk response, to a journalist’s forced disowning of membership of the panel by the Sultan of Sokoto, which as an information, had it being allowed to linger for a long time in the media without a response, it would have caused a great sense of embarrassment to the government. Because, it would have merely confirmed the widely held suspicion that the administration never believed in the proposed amnesty program. What happened after the unveiling of the committee, even before its much anticipated inauguration, highlighted the evident futility in the lack of following of due process and fundamental ethos of officially congregating a committee membership, as two of the twenty six members immediately declined interest in being part of the group, while majority of the others openly complained of lack of proper protocol, in announcing their names in such a highly sensitive assignment, without first informing them of the task ahead and the committees greater mandate, procedurally known as the general terms of reference. Of course, many citizens of this country including some of the committee membership, have acknowledged the fact that the stage of granting amnesty has not arrived, since not even an exploratory talks have started, as a prelude to general reconciliation exercise that could encapsulate an acceptance of responsibility, seeking for a pardon, granting of amnesty and proposing of an adequate recompense to the party goaded to drop arms and sheath its destructive activity. Thus, pending the attainment of these well established conflict resolution stages, Nigerians could be left with the impression that an involvement in the proposed committee membership, was only a vain effort at partaking in a sumptuous federal dinner at the expense of a highly indoctrinated group, who would hardly take it lightly.

Dying for polio is nothing

Despite the chaotic nature of the obnoxious checkpoints, at repetitive and rapid intervals within the commercial city, with all the stories about a state on the verge of civil armed conflict with mysterious insurgents, whom nobody could really and truly pinpoint. Kano is quite a calm and sleepy place, where violence is a misnomer apart from the type deeply rooted in sociologically deviant behavior, easily associated with densely populated environments, which have high concentration of unemployment, habitual usage of illicit of drugs and challenges of the insufficiency of requisite skills for production. As somebody who has to pass by the Africa House every day, which is the official title for the government house, nothing mystifies the soul and gladdens the sight than the leisurely pace and atmosphere, exhibited by those it is for whom the duty to guard the place. Indeed, you hardly find guns drawn at passersby except when there is a special guest in town, which was exactly what happened last Friday the 8th of February 2013. Most citizens of the city apart from the few that were media savvy, did not know of the planned visit of the Minister of Police affairs with the Inspector General of the Police on that very day, which was a tour to examine the progress of work at the Nigerian Police College, Wudil. Thus, the sight of a battle ready combat fatigued troops on the streets, seemed adequately reassuring for any eventuality of a security breach, which has become the situational norm for a city searching for its soul. Unfortunately, the news that filtered from various media outlets around middle afternoon is the story of an evident massacre of health workers, serving under the Polio Immunization Program of the federal government, who were callously and cowardly shot by some individuals while reporting for duty. Indeed, the grand irony for the Nigerian police is the fact of the presence of big masquerade or when strategic areas of the municipality are swarmed with security personnel, could still not prevent the premeditated attack on a soft target of unarmed women, presenting a clear picture of the security challenges bedeviling the polity, which by far outweighs peripheral initiatives of intimidating a determined opponent with the parade of armory. Unfortunately, it is the façade of a political battle which the somber global fight for the eradication of polio has assumed in Kano, which is not merely within the class of ill informed peasants that do not know better, rather it is inclusive of professionals in the fields of pharmacy and medicine pondering on why is it only polio, which has seemed to galvanize the international community into action, when other communicable disease abound within a poverty stricken society struggling with issues of clean and healthy environment. In fact, unlike before when the argument about the composition of the contents of the vaccines is among ordinary folks, whom the influence of temporal and spiritual authorities could be easily brought-in to bear, the epochal 2003 governorship election in the state elevated the suspicion on the global inoculation drive into an administrative problem, when a government basking on the euphoria of winning a mandate from the masses, a fact distinctly abnormal in a nation notoriously known for rigged and fraudulent elections, sought to lead from the back rather than the front, which was about allowing the people to set the agenda, that seemed to have backfired with Ibrahim Shekarau’s shenanigans of investigating the authenticity of polio vaccines medicinal roots. As a society highly unapologetic and exceptionally proud about its links with religion or more precisely Islam, clerics are very important figures in the hierarchical order of power, influence and loyalty of the people and play an important role in the dissemination of information from the government to the people. However, to enjoy and attain such revered status of interceding on behalf of the authorities, a scholar must develop a fiery resolve of opposing anything coming from the western world, even if it is through mediums of European enterprise such as radio and television, which has brought them fame, supporters and power. A fact which perfectly describes a cleric, who is known within and without the vicinity of the city, whose silence at this very moment of deep communal tragedy desires an explanation, as the ultimate authority on polio, not through an international recognized peer reviewed research on the probable causes and cures for the ailment or even a proven discovery of a premeditated plot to contaminate the vaccines for ulterior motives but on the strength of an internet inspired newfangled theories, about the complicity of some extraneous forces to the conspiracy to sterilize the population. Indeed, unlike most other clerics whom ignorance could be easily leveled against their opposition to polio vaccination, Dr. Datti Ahmed could seemingly argue from the enlightened pedestal of deep knowledge in virology, as an honor graduate of the University of Ibadan, a former presidential aspirant in the government funded Social Democratic Party and an acclaimed friend of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, thus could certainly not be associated with the perfidy of shouting without a cause.

The hypocrisy of criminalizing a guilty plea

Perhaps, it is because the origin of the legal system is foreign, that is why a lot of Nigerians had always exhibited crass ignorance, on the highly technical matters of the prosecutorial processes within the refined confines of a courtroom but should we blame them, after all, it is said that; justice must not only be done within a judicial chamber, it must seem to be done within the mindset of the public. Thus it is highly understandable yet inexcusable, the opprobrium generated by the highly flabbergasted Nigerian people, about the conviction and light sentencing of Mr. John Yakubu Yusuf for 2 years to run concurrently, with an option of the payment of 750 thousand naira as a fine, who is an Assistant Director at the Nigerian Police Pension Office, on a 20 count charge bordering on criminal conspiracy, theft, money laundering, breach of trust and the conversion of pension funds entrusted in his care, into a personal usage, belonging to the Nigerian Police Pension Fund. A charge brought by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission under section 309 of the Penal Code Act, Cap 532 Laws of Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The premises of the interdiction lie in the allegation on the accused of converting individually and collectively with others, the various sums of 24.2 billion, 1.3 billion and 1.7 billion naira into purposes other than which it is meant to be administered, which also includes the unlawful acquisition of a vast number of choice properties, that had been acquired from the proceeds of illegally procured funds of the Nigerian police retirees. When the story hit the airwaves and the print, the reaction was immediate, swift and in unison, which is a total condemnation of the conviction, especially the length of the sentencing, which is to run concurrently or rather the option of the payment of a paltry sum as a fine, an act that I could gladly align with but the attempt at impugning the whole of the judiciary is highly erroneous, because a judge applies justice by the virtue of provable facts before him and subject to the provisions of the codified law applicable, which is this instance case is the applying of section 309 of the Penal Code and upon a conviction, it had decreed a sanction of 2 years with an option of the payment of a fine for similar type offences. Right from time immemorial and within the development of civilization, human beings have adopted the operation of the rule of law, to govern, organize and develop the whole society and one of its fundamental principles is the concept of separation of power, which is a system that entails the three arms of a government to be independent in their functions, yet cooperating with each other in the provision of necessary essentials of power, which are governance, infrastructure, security, leadership and justice. However, from the context of this specific discourse, it is important to note that the function and responsibility of enacting laws, has always been placed on the legislature, which is a body of elected representatives of the people, constitutional endowed and authorized to make laws. While the judiciary is only enabled to interpret such legislative enactments, which within such limited confines has given rise to judicial enactments, that is a situation when a judge sitting in chamber delivers judgment, which becomes a binding precedent on lower and equal courts of superior record, raising the term and a referral of the Doctrine of Binding Precedent as a judge made law. Of course, the enormity of a crime which has captured the imagination, the deep disapproval and almost a universal condemnation, could tempt a judge to seek to make such a law, by giving a sentence that is not within our codified statute books, as an expression of dissatisfaction with the penalty contained therein. Unfortunately, such judicial activism is neither tolerable within the law, nor acceptable to procedural conventions of justice guided by tendered facts, as against the earlier times and periods when the law was applied at the whimsical urgings of a mob action, which could be momentarily great but deeply imbued with the possibility of the misapplication the law and institutionalization of injustice. A wide gulf that announces the rule of law, which also separates a society of unenlightened savages from a colony of civilized modern state, governed by an established norms and values codified in an agreed constitutional document. In fact, despite the widely generated condemnations, could a country that tolerates illicit acquisition of wealth, express such emotive outrage on an integral part of itself, as represented by its judiciary. The simple truth is that every Nigerian knows it takes a number of years to obtain a valid conviction, were a proper trial is to be conducted, which in this instant case did not happen, because the accused easily pleaded guilty, while forfeiting his illegally acquired assets to the government, serving as a mitigating factor in sentencing, while his status as a first time offender is a factual reality to be noted, during the delivery of judgment. Thus, if justice is about reforming an offender, rather than punishing a convict, an admittance of guilt is one sure way of celebrating a legal system, while the lack of resolve and unprofessionalism within a prosecutorial body like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, that lends to the inability to trace stolen funds and assets for judicially authorized confiscations, should not be entirely blamed on a whole system governed by a group of fallible gentlemen.

You are not angry enough

Was it a threat, is it a veiled attempt at communicating a message, has it come to this, was the diverse range of emotions, which has been playing in my head, since the House of Representatives, rejected the presidential demand of re-introducing the budget proposal of the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission. That has been rejected at the first instance, because of the evident disagreement between the executive and the legislature, on the probable culpability of its chief executive officer Mrs. Arunma Oteh, in the possible misapplication of government funds. In fact, seemingly like a cataclysmic afterthought, some have even questioned her eligibility, to hold such a position of the director general of the supreme and primary regulatory agency of the Nigerian Stock Exchange. As if when she was appointed into the post, this particular brand of the republic did not come into existence or the even more glaring fact that appointments into public offices are principally within the purview of executive functions, except in some few instance, where such appointments require legislative confirmations of a forgone executive deed, indeed, in the few instances, where a legislature refuses to confirm, it is still the executive duty to withdraw, lobby and re-submit the name of the individual or a different breed of a human being. The most dangerous and need I say frustrating reality in the art of communications is trying to generate a conversation with a deaf, because of the asphyxiating feeling of being ignored, neglected and disregarded. More so, if such failure at understanding each other was not merely between two individuals, confronting an issue uniquely personal to them, but, where such a breach in communication is between institutions of the government, most especially, two of the three arms of the government, no less. A gargantuan problem of failure in the administrative mechanism of the government arises, because and despite the fact that Securities and Exchange Commission, has a close relationship with the private sector, generates a lot of its own revenue base and has the capacity for self accounting. The overall necessary requirement for the oversight function of the legislature, should never be taken lightly, more so as, such duty is a constitutional as well as statutory right of the National Assembly. It is a cultural thing, yet it is distinctly uncultured. Perhaps, it is about reputation, though, ill-repute has never being a ground for disobeying the law. It seems a set of government officials within the current republic, have developed a destructive habit of acting with impunity, especially against the members and institutions of the National Assembly. The cultural aspect being a sustained tradition of refusal to subject oneself to any inquiry from another arm of the government, it is uncultured, because persons who are accused of this habitual trait, are also individuals celebrated as high end achievers, who have made their names and attained eminence from the famed bastion of western democracies of Europe and the United States of America, countries most famous for respecting the parliamentary oversight phenomena. However, one thing that is not even an issue, among the disparate mass of Nigerian citizenry is an almost universal unanimity, on the challenges of bad reputation afflicting the whole of the National Assembly, which is; if it is not an allegation of corruption, it is always about the habitual influence peddling of its membership or even the re-known attitude of blackmailing persons appearing before the august body. All undertaken for no other just cause, than pure and simple personal interest or individual selfish gain. But, could such a widely held belief, justify acting against the universal norms, values and tradition of accountable governance, by ignoring the people’s assembly, more so as, it is also acting outside the law to perpetuate such uncharacteristic behavior, in a modern state practicing fundamental rudiments of democracy. Historically, for the nations operating a system of bicameral legislature, the lower house is always the most vibrant, lower not junior in the context that it is not having any less power, because of the name tag given to it, rather, because of its having more membership, thus blessed with more delegates than the higher arm of the people’s assembly, which automatically makes it to contain more youthful, active and responsive representatives. Indeed, this has been a factual reality with examples, which is easily explained with the status of the United States Congress, in the tradition of passing more laws for the good governance of the republic, while it is from it, balancing the democratic equation of executive oversight function mostly arises, a visible example is the impeachment of the 42nd President of the United States of America, Mr. Bill Clinton by the Congress, when the United States Senate was prevaricating on what to do with a perjuring leader with wandering hands and eyes. In fact, it is from this martial art and trait of political bluster we can find a solution, to a problem slowly assuming the proportion of gridlock. When the Nigerian Senate became frustrated with the seeming collaborative attitude of the executive in shielding Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina, former Chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team, from the appearing before the legislative grace of the red chamber, they chose a particular day, where they raved and ranted for hours and threatened President Goodluck Jonathan with untoward consequences, while cleverly refusing to make any mention of a highly divisive impeachment notice and he quickly acceded to their request. I recommend same strategy for the House of Representatives.

Visit of a sword wielding peacemaker

It is said that life is imitating art, so does also art imitates life and nothing symbolizes these mutual symbiosis than the primal art of governance, which is conducted at the courtyards of the palaces of kings, queens, presidents and prime ministers. What is unusually ignored these days is the fact that in those times of the old, the forecourts of ruling dynasties were also the courtrooms of adjudicative justice, as it is mostly before his or her imperial grace, persons and individuals who were reasonable suspected of committing a crime are tried, convicted or acquitted, thus, crystallizing the thick interconnecting mutuality between power, law and drama, as best depicted in the timeless Shakespearian epic of the trial of Marcus Brutus at the royal courts of the ancient Roman Empire. Like a staged play, it is about auditioning for parts, unveiling of a script, undertaking the performance and the projection of a great masterpiece. In the courtroom of law, it is a similar plot no less, as what is expected of each and every member of a litigation community is the performing of an assigned role; a judge like a typical referee always stood in the middle as an impartial arbiter, a prosecutor produces a series of evidences to nail the accused, while the defence attorney stay in a lurch, deflecting any and every piece of incriminating material presented, which could tie his client and pass the test of reasonable suspicion of the commission of a crime, upon the person he is defending. At that juncture, all witnesses are examined, coached and couched in being comfortable, before an inquisitive audience, by the party which had invited them to aid their cause, to the extent that a capable attorney, always has a clear inkling of the likely answers to any question to be asked, even before the blurting out of an inquiry, at the majestic eminence of a temporal court of justice. At the royal courts of a modern day presidential villa, it is a similar scenario in action, where a democratically elected president performs an act, every time the demands of his executive function requires an appearance, before the soap box of a suspense stricken voting electorate, if in doubt, please focus on the presidential visit of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan to Yobe and Borno states last week. A well planned and executed act of embellishing the persona of a commander-in- chief, according to the initiators of the visit, while amongst the class of opposition elements, public commentators and even ordinary folks, a pure case of a redeeming afterthought, especially after the spectacle of the All Progressive Congress governors visit, which elevated the grandiose act of showmanship in governance to another limit, because, the governors in daring type of courage, appeared in places and locations susceptible to security compromise, thereby knowingly or unknowingly affirming and concretizing a belief, that our supreme commander is a chicken hearted prince. The personality who appeared at the Maiduguri International Airport, wearing a local traditional regalia is dark; evoking a physical feature of a typical Kanuri, fearless and sauntering majestically, with a veneer image of an all conquering king, decked with shiny sword strapped across the body, which makes it within easy reaches of a hand, with a sure smile of a confident leader visiting a once threatened territory, typified the image of a leader sending a message, that indeed I am in control, no doubt, a classical case of power meeting showmanship. Unfortunately, for the introducers of the plot, the group they met on ground was an angry bunch, a collection of former state officials who have lost out in the power game, either because of the age factor or the fated benevolence of the People’s Democratic Party, did not favor their assignment into high political office, indeed, it is among this group, who have coalesced into Borno Elders Forum, Mr. President came to convince of an impending peace plan, for the greater Yerwa region. For the two groups, a clear case of lack of credibility abound, for the visited, who have held plum offices of the government in the past and are susceptible to the charge of the derelict act of misgoverning or even a clear cases of misrepresentation, while for the visiting group, the dereliction lay in the ignoring of a significant proportion of one’s own country, simply because of an unreasonable suspicion of a plot, to cause the downfall of a south-south regional rival, by a northern group who had lost out in the power equation. As expected, the town hall meeting was an exercise in angry brickbats, as they tried to unbraid the president in public, which of course he matched with a response of a forceful dressing down of a recalcitrant child, by tacitly accusing them of sympathizing with the insurgents. Meanwhile, all what the ignoble Borno citizens could hear is an open and meaningless exchange, which sounds nice in the ear, if you are among those who doesn’t like the president, but does nothing to deflect the misery of a city experiencing an armed civil conflict. Like all staged plays, from recorded cinema to an opera, to each and every type of performance genres, the main aim is principally, to entertain, educate and most especially to send a message. In this instance case though, the question in the captivated and bedazzled minds of the Nigerian public audience is what is the message from Abuja? As the blood flows and security carnage continues unabated.