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.

Kano: An anthology of whispers

Among all the resource materials, serving as the sources of history, non is as contentious as the oral tradition, which are a collection of stories, statements and occurrences that was passed from one generation to the other, involving the passage of information from the revered wisdom of old age to the impressionable minds of the youth or simply put, a message from a father to a son, through the windy length of time to the present period. Indeed, I have not encountered any document, which has celebrated this unique method of preserving our past, than the famous Kano Chronicles, which is a compendium of historical occurrences, about the unrecorded facts of earlier eras that enlighten us on what happened in the course of time. Although, some might question its veracity, the greater majority of the people, have already identified with the segmented series of anecdotes as the gospel truth. However, while storing ancient tales tell us what happened a long time ago, it is the chronicling of the present, which after sometime metamorphoses into a documented manuscript of the past. This is a discourse on the series of whispers, which are the prevalent topics of discussion, within the fabric of Kano community and in time, could constitute the multitude of evidences which have caused a certain situation to subsist. No factual reality confuses the soul, than the city’s elite reaction to the Kwankwaso administration, who initially never voted for the incumbent, yet as of today, they are amongst its committed defenders. While the dregs of the society, amongst who constitute the poor, the wretched and the armada of unskilled manpower, have taken a leave of absence from their love affair with the cult of red cap men. But, what could have happened to engineer such a monumental three hundred degree change, because, during the 2011 elections, the governor’s support base was strictly from the class of the unemployed and the underemployed youths, both of the male and female genders, while the educated breed and their entrepreneurial cousins had already pitched their tents with other political parties and at the eve of the polls, when it became clearly evident, that the incumbent is winning the contest, most slept off the weekend as a carefree resting period, strictly avoiding the usual hassles that is the typical character of a polling center in Nigeria. Today, the fiercest defenders of the administration lay within the circles of the intellectual community, the literati, the business community and the super rich elites. While it is perfectly understandable the position of the last two groups, after all, Aliko Dangote the world acclaimed richest person from Africa, who is like a Maharaja to every upstart and budding money man, once quipped, when asked whether he is with the government, where he stated; a wise business man is always in support and a supporter of the leadership of the day. The other groups could only support the government, despite the fact that by their tradition, cynical opposition to everything within governmental leadership is the norm, more so, an individual belonging to the fold of the People’s Democratic Party, which is the much vilified party in power at the federal level, also widely regarded as the root of most of the problems bedeviling the polity. Fortunately for him, the projected image of the Kwankwasiya movement about town is that of an opposition, forced to co-exist within a hostile ruling party environment. Evidently, it is a contradiction both in terms and concepts of what we know of Nigerian politics, especially after the eight year interval of the last administration in office, where the mercantile psychology of citizens of the state was exploited to the fullest, which is the clear preference for the acceptance of monetary gratis, rather the development of concrete social infrastructures. Perhaps it is a surprise, yet it is not, because of the wonderful vagaries of electoral democracy, that lends itself to the periodic assessment of a re-election, which the present incumbent faced in the year 2003 and spectacularly faltered with an unexpected defeat. A fact which has made Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso to be among a minute few, if at all there are others, to have won, lost and won again, forcing him to study and understood the intricate nature of a people, who have inflicted on him one of the grossest acts of electoral betrayal. To say the man understands the people of Kano is one of the greatest understatements of the century, because it is trite law of natural behavior, which is that the length of time it takes for a monetary gift to last in the memory of an individual is not very long and subject to his or her ability to spend the collected sum, pending which the attitude is as though the cash was never collected. But a grand and grandiose project last for decades, with its image etched on the minds and psyche of supporters as well as the adversaries of a regime, a critical example being the ongoing overhead bridges project upon a beautified landscape, which must have satisfied a city most famous as a commercial nerve center of the north. Because, one of the unique features of a trader is the ability to travel far and wide, soaking the spectacular wonders of the foreign lands, thus, the question has always been why not in my city.

The Remaining Task Before The Adamu Chiroma Committee

It was last Thursday the 13_th of January that the People's Democratic Party nominated its presidential candidate at a National Delegates Convention held at the Eagle Square in Abuja, with a crushing victory by the incumbent president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, what transpired before, during and after the convention have been subject of media interest and discussion, regarding the fairness, forthrightness and corrupting nature or otherwise of the whole purported democratic exercise. However these challenges to the credibility of the delegates elections would not be the primal context of my discussion in this article, rather my interest on the issues raised by the results of the convention fall within the realm of the core interest of the north as a political force and the new mantra of the ultimate demystification of the northern political block as relevant player in the Nigerian political system, also it will be a deep examination of the long held belief on that demise of the myth or reality of the concept of a monolithic north.

I know most of the readers of this write up would be under the erroneous impression and mistaken belief that I am referring to the geographical north, actually the context of my discuss lie within the confines of a concocted contraption cloned for the convenient purpose of political expediency called the Northern Political Leaders Forum, that assigned to itself the task of finding a northern leader through the means of an consensus that would be graciously availed to the Nigerian nation, of course those members of the Group of Nine would have secured and cemented their everlasting mortality, by ensuring that North Nigeria was able to produce a leader even though what the region needs is responsible governance rather than perpetual leadership, yet right from the leadership of the committee and down to the membership of the self appointed amalgam, this period of political party primaries had been a time of unveiling of their chronic irrelevance individually and collectively as a group, the man endowing leadership for a whole region could not bestow a miserly number of delegates from Yobe State, in fact his political god son in the person of the former minister of police affairs Alhaji Adamu Maina Waziri, lost out at the state People's Democratic Party primaries under the watch of the chairman of the committee, unfortunately the other membership of the consensus outfit did not fare better in terms of availing the grace of their influence at other states party primaries.

The arithmetic of a committee of nine that purports to represent a geographical entity and conglomeration of twenty one states would be hard to calculate, because any effort at mathematical projection must be undertaken as a speculative forecasting of how the group represents the north, perhaps had the membership claimed representation based on statehood we could easily ascribe two states per each member, yet that scenario would have still not add up as a division a twenty one does not result in the total sum of nine, thus may be geography is not a factor in membership of the committee rather it is belonging to the fold of the People's Democratic Party, but it is a known fact that it is not all members of the forum that could claim lineage to the so called largest party in Africa. Thus lies perhaps the intrinsic root of the problems and challenges of actualization of the core objectives of the regional political forum, which has these major deficiencies yet it was able to set and determine the electoral agenda of the 2011 general elections, because while a significant number of Nigerians derogatively sought to belittle and sometimes ignore the body, however most of the political discussions and strategies preceding the presidential primaries of the People's Democratic Party and indeed the main opposition political parties, was determined by the pronouncements and even the silence of the nebulous political forum.

However with the completion of the nomination processes of the presidential candidates of all the political parties in Nigeria, it seems the primal objectives upon which the forum was set up to attain has not been realized, thus the burden of expectation over the claims by the committee that it was a patriotic duty of finding the right balance of leadership for Nigeria, should not die with the dreams of ordinary Nigerians regarding issues of failed development of Nigeria as a nation. But could a real consensus arrangement be premised upon intra political party primaries that is a preliminary process of finding leadership, rather than the inter party and candidacy stage that has institutionalized representatives of the political parties as presidential candidates, as at now among the major political parties the Congress of People's Convention has General Muhammadu Buhari a former head of state as a candidate, the Action Congress of Nigeria has its candidate in the person of Mallam Nuhu Ribadu the former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, while the All Nigeria People's Party has the incumbent governor of Kano State Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau as its candidate, surely this is a crowded field for any region seeking to right the wrongs of abandonment of zoning arrangement and contesting against an incumbent with the massive advantage of state power.

Thus any consensus arrangement or agreement that could not find a means of making these three candidates to collapse their individual ambitions is a deficient project. However the main problems afflicting the Nigerian state are not issues of heritage or lineage of the political leadership. Rather it is the issue of individuals seeking contrived relevance through perpetual search of high political office, of course to satisfy their innate personal and family interest thus every household, hamlet, village or town must enjoy the grace of zoning, thus political power is shared among the component parts of Nigerian nation while the nation state is deprived the compendium of good governance, meanwhile issue of producing and baking the national cake is left to the vagaries of natural endowments such as crude oil and natural gas.

The Right of First Refusal: Myth or Reality

The term right of first refusal has recently been introduced into political lexicon, stating that a representative or senator of the federal republic of Nigeria, while seeking re election to his or her office should be given ascending right of re-contesting the office over other contestants and other seekers to such office are availed the right of contest only when an incumbent is refuse the right to seek for re election. This concept of nomination process is attributed to the system of democracy in the United States of America, that it ensures that there is continuity and experience in the legislative arm of the government.

Thus to understand the position of the concept in the United States of America, we have to do an exploration on the principal document establishing American legislature. Article 1 of the United States of constitution provides that the congress shall consist of a house of representatives and the senate, establishes the manner of election and qualification of members of each house, and outlines their legislative procedure and enumerates the powers vested on the legislative branch. Finally it establishes limits on the powers of both congress and states.

Under section 2 clause 1 of the same constitution dealing with the composition and election of members "The house of representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several states, and the electors in each state shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature."

The second clause of the same section 2 provides that "No person shall be a representative who shall not have attained to the age of twenty five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of the state in which he shall be chosen." Section 3 of Article 1 of the same constitution, dealing with the composition and election of senators stated that "The senate of the united states shall be composed of two senators from each state. Chosen by the legislature thereof, for six years; and each senator shall have one vote."

Clause 2 of the section 3 dealing with classification of senatorial vacancy duely stated that "Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of the first election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three classes. The seats of the senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of the second year, of the second class at the expiration of the fourth year, and of the third class at the expiration of the sixth year, so that one third may be chosen every second year; and if vacancies happen by resignation, or otherwise, during recess of the legislature of any state, the executive thereof may make temporary appointments until the next meeting of the legislature, which shall then fill such vacancies."

Clause 3 of the same section, dealing with the qualification of senators stated that "No person shall be a senator who shall not have attained to the age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state for which he shall be chosen."

From the foregoing provisions, it is evident that the concept of the right of first refusal, was never recognized as a right in the context of the united states constitution, nor was it acknowledged as a privilege that the supreme document could take notice of, thus if it ever existed in fact rather than at law, it falls within the prism and mechanism of internal political party arrangement, where a political party confer the choice of giving preference to an incumbent, and denying same such right to an aspiring seeker of public office, such a reality should not be legitimatized with the nomenclature of a right.

The format, context and settings of the enacting provisions of the united states constitution, was so organized and crafted that membership of the congress of the united states of America, would be a continuous process, while elections and ascension into the chamber of the second arm of government is in different batches, that ensures that legislature is never populated by new entrants and people lacking the requisite experience in functions of the law making activities.

The perception and contention of what constitutes a right, is usually an entitlement that where it to be deprived upon an individual, grave harm would result to the interest of such a person, as in the case of fundamental rights enshrined in our constitutions, while in the case of infringement of other rights, injury would subsist on the surrounding situations of such parties, thus the denial of a privilege that other parties are also entitled to, could not a create an infringement upon a right.

The process and procedure of our electoral democracy, should be tailored to be in conformity with our norms, values and surrounding circumstances, in the case of the united states of America, different dates for elections were set to create a condition of continuity, the federal republic of Nigeria could model its own system, in a way that could suit our special needs and circumstance.

Are Party Delegates Our New Electoral College

It was on the beginning of this January that we witnessed an affirmation of the predicted departure of the Nigerian electoral system, from all the known norms, character, values and tradition of the carnal context of the democracy as a people's approval project, yet the activities of the representative and candidacy elections has also confirmed the generality of Nigerian people as willing accomplices in the subversion of all accompanying processes that must be available for stable democracy to exist and blossom, though the citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria could claim ignorance to this allusion of guilt on them, however the individuals basically accused of these chain of electoral and indeed moral infractions are the disclaimer delegates of the various political parties, that have constituted themselves into an impromptu electoral college, thus while the people could claim ignorance of the delegates as their status as their representatives, the executives of the amalgam political parties and indeed the colluding favored aspirants of the political parties, have bestowed upon them the eminent status of representative agents without of principals, for while the Nigerian people seemed to have been deluded into giving them representative power by presumptive acclamation of the treacherous party executives, as there is usual silence of the graveyard on the whole charade which is easily misconstrued as acquiesce and an approval of the subsisting situation.

According to The Wikipedia, an electoral college is a set of electors who are selected to elect a candidate to a particular office. Often these represent different organizations or entities, with each organization or entity represented by a particular number of electors or with votes weighted in a particular way. Many times, though, the electors are simply important people whose wisdom, ideally, would provide a better choice than a larger body. The system can ignore the wishes of a general membership. The origin and genesis of the concept of an electoral college, could be traced to the Germanic Law were it stated that the German King led only with the support of the nobles. Thus, a Pelayo needed to be elected by his Visigothic nobles before becoming the King of Asturias, and so did Pepin the Short by Frankish nobles in order to become the first Carolingian King. Though later most Germanic nations had to develop a strictly hereditary system due to the need for self preservation of lineal dynasties. However Holy Roman Empire could not follow the trend as the King of the Romans, who would become Holy roman Emperor or at least Emperor-elect was selected by the college of price-electors from the late Middle Ages to until 1806's.

The concept of an electoral college is usually an indirect representative mode of choosing a person to represent a certain interest, either at an elective office or a through representation at a constitutional congress or conference, thus the elected delegate to that position of a representative in an electoral college must attain that position and status through the of grace of popular vote, in an election that is conducted for the generality of all citizens of an area requiring an electoral college representation, unfortunately the Nigerian political party delegates do not fall within the category of people that were elected to their positions of representatives, as even the members of their own political parties find them as merely the products of imposition by party leaders and their elected principals. Even in the context of an ideal situation where a properly constituted electoral college is regarded as the legal norm like the case of the United States of America, it was found to be inadequate, archaic and undemocratic and susceptible to creating the swing vote syndrome, where election results could be predictable manipulated to arrive at a particular form of verdict, indeed after the 2000 American presidential elections conundrum between President George Bush and Vice President Al Gore, a 2001 Gallup article so stated: "a majority of Americans have continually expressed support for the notion of an official amendment of the U.S. Constitution, that would allow for direct election of the president."

The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 has clearly stated that elections into governing offices must be through a direct form of voting, however in a circumstances and situation where all the political parties conspired to unveil an electoral college, through the fielding of favored and incompetent candidates by manipulating the process of nomination for political offices, the inherent constitutional right of universal adult suffrage of the generality of the Nigerian people in determining who accesses leadership positions would have been stolen or at most subverted, whereupon lie the legitimate right of the Nigerian people to graciously confer political power and positions to any individual that desires a governing mandate in an electoral democracy such as ours, the basic cardinal context of democracy anywhere in the world is the grace of free choice, that ensures an electorate is not precluded from getting the type of leadership it so wishes, thus the idea is if a particular party or rather a group of parties made a bad decision of fielding an undesirable candidate, that electorate have wherewithal to exercise their franchise of not voting them, however in a situation where all the parties conspiratorially field unmerited candidates what happens to our inalienable right of choosing competent leaders.

Tea party as a substitute to triumphant presidency

To the Obama's and indeed the Democratic party, it started as the Boston Tea Party of 2010 as a united states senate special elections in Massachusetts, held on January 19^th in order to fill the vacant Massachusetts class 1 united states senate seat for the remainder of the term ending January 3, 2013. The senate seat was won against all odds by the republican party candidate senator Scott Brown, the vacancy that prompted the special elections was the eventual death of the democratic party senator ted kennedy on august 25^th 2009, the seat was held until the elections by the an appointee senator Paul Kirk, a nominee that did not have the wish to contest the seat for the special elections.

The seat vacated by the late Senator ted Kennedy regarded as the lion of the senate, was considered as a political birth right of the democratic party, because the senator has been on that seat since 1962 after taking over from his brother and former president of the united john Fitzgerald Kennedy, thus to have conspired to lose such a safe seat was a monumental act of political miscalculation, because the hard earned victory of 2008 was been subverted by the internal fighting and bickering for spoils of office.

The unexpected victory by the republican party coupled with harsh economic environment and the persisting unemployment in the American labor market, embolden the far right fringes of the republican party in the mould of the tea party, to tap at the disenchantment of the American people who have been promised so much yet only delivered more taxes and less tangible results. These is the origin and genesis of the tea party as a grassroots political movement, that is a conglomeration of disparate groups united by a common cause that seeks for a change in politics of Washington, from a big over bearing federal government that hardly listens to small people with their core values and interests.

It started with the attempt by Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevic to sell the senate seat vacated by president-elect Barack Obama as a trade off to the presidency, the nominee candidate being Valerie Jarrett a close associate and confident of the president, that the controversial senate nominee later worked with the president at the white house raised a lot of suspicion, more so as there were later evidence that president Barack Obama actually corresponded with Andy stern and Thomas Blanoff, the two union officials implicated as the facilitators of the deal that led to the eventual impeachment and conviction of governor Blagojevic.

The seed of distrust was eventually sown on the American populist, highlighted by the activities of the unofficial spokeswoman and arrow head of the group Madame Sarah Palin, basically the tea party is a movement that does not have a single leader nor does it have a concretized policy option for the American people, rather it is a collective that is united by a common enemy that is represented by an Obama presidency, thus the first battle of control and the eventual victory was obtained over middle of the center republicans, after which with the aid of hardliners like the republican leader in the house congressman John Boehner concretized the dominance of the tea party collective over the republican party.

The position and status of the tea party as a primarily a grassroots movement created a problem and a challenge to the obama presidency, as it was so under estimated and in some instances ignored by the white house strategist, because the democratic party as an institution found it very hard on the ways to confront a leader less movement populated by desperate house wives, thus the party strategies and officials sought to ignore the movement as a collection of hard liners that are unelectable to the American people, in fact the former democratic chair of the party Howard Dean found it as derogatory to compare the tea party as a similar grassroots movement, to the movement for change in America that swept president Barack Obama to the white house.

The evident tyranny of the majority that lend itself to complacency, aided in no small measure the Democratic Party's and the white house under estimating the strength and capacity of the party to confront the tea party challenge. The party in power was blessed with having a single party controlling the first and second branches of government, as apart from being in control of the white house the democratic party also has the majority in the capitol hill, which are the senate and congress of the united states of America.

The apparent sense of history and efforts at comparison with past great American presidents, especially the president that survived the great depression in the person of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, further assisted in beclouding the sense of judgement of the president and his officials, by deluding their foresight at the extent of challenge posed by the tea party collective, more so as the president is a man that is aware of the value of legacy to the history and persona of the individual holding the office of the president of the united states of America.

 

Professor Aminu and the Law of Karma

It was during the past week that the senator representing Adamawa central senatorial zone and chairman of the senate committee on foreign affairs Professor Jubril Aminu, stated that his heart weeps for the People's Democratic Party and that he is living the platform upon which he is serving in the senate of the federal republic of Nigeria, what caused this gargantuan disclosure was the witnessing and participation in the impromptu delegates congress and elections of the senatorial candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, where he described the whole exercise as nothing more than a mere sham and a rape on the content, character and values of democracy. His contention was that due to the undemocratic nature of the contest that was only set to affirm the anointed candidates of the governor, a lot of valuable and important members of the party were leaving the People's Democratic Party, which included the current Nigerian ambassador to South Africa Brigadier General Buba Marwa and a host of other important members of the party, that have been disenfranchised by the present factionalized leadership and executive of the party in Adamawa State, though with the active support and connivance of Governor Murtala Nyako and the government of Adamawa State.

It was the belief of diplomat senator that the elections if allowed to stand, holds dire consequences for the People's Democratic Party in Adamawa State and indeed in within the greater Nigerian nation, as according to him the People's Democratic Party seems unwilling and unable to reconcile itself with the basic tenets of democracy, more so as the party seems unaware of the fact that in Nigeria there are other political parties, that could offer an alternative platform to any disenchanted and marginalized yet willing aspirant with political aspiration for leadership. My first reaction was to join the able senator as a paragon of political virtue, in his homily and disappointment with the perilous turn democracy has taken within the ambit of the greatest political party in Africa and indeed all other political parties in the federal republic of Nigeria, with regards to the belief in compliance to the dictates and adherence to the concept of internal democracy.

However, my first issue with the virtuous admonishing of the distinguished senator, lie within the context whether it only his political party that is guilty of the lack of internal democracy within its fold, as the other parties during the congresses have been exhibiting similar trait of character, in fact the Nigerian opposition political parties have never failed to show their admiration of the ruling party, in the way and manner it is conducting its affairs, as they always try to exhibit exceptional mode of democratic thinking, for while the Peoples Democratic Party adopt the delegates model of choosing candidates, the opposition political have been adopting the consensus option of electing its representatives in the general elections, that is even less democratic in orientation to the adopted model of the ruling People's Democratic Party, thus even though the opposition political parties are always quick to criticize the Peoples Democratic Party, in the way and manner it is governing the Nigerian nation, yet they always seem happy to join the conurbation called the government of national unity.

The fundamental context of my encounter with mystery and confusion regarding the contentious character of the latent opinion and position of the senator diplomat, lie within the legal confines of the equitable dictum that states: He who comes to equity must come with clean hands. Professor Jubril Aminu is a founding member of the People's Democratic Party, a high ranking member of the Nigerian senate and most importantly a grand beneficiary of the previous 2007 general elections, that was adjudged as neither free nor fair and subjected to so much international derision and opprobrium within the comity of democratic nations of the world, in fact some of the election monitors at the voting exercise went as far as ascribing to the elections, the tag of being the worst elections ever in the whole wide world, thus howb could a presumed winner in such an anomie of an elections find cause of deficiency in any kind of elections, whatsoever the level separation from the realm fairness and justice as the basic necessity of democratic norm.

It is of note that the distinguished senator from Adamawa central senatorial district, despite all the international condemnations of the 2007 general elections, continued to attest at the efficacy, sanctity, legitimacy and legality of the whole exercise, that a significant percentage of the election results were nullified by the courts, was merely a conspiracy against the successes of the People's Democratic Party by the judiciary, in fact during the reign of Professor Jubril Aminu recent friend, confident and a new conscript to democracy the insufferable Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, it was them that conspired to de-register some members of their own political party, their belief then was that a political party striving for unity and contrived greatness, should not tolerate dissent among the constituents of its followership, thus anybody having a different opinion to the position of the leadership of the party, should seek for another platform to express his or her views, in these context the question that confuses the mind is how could a profiteer in the abridging of democracy expect to enjoy the grace of its fairness.

The concept of democracy is more than a mere event that is confined within the context of elections, as what constitutes a democrat include the believe and belief in the contents of democracy, which are fairness, justice and respect for difference in opinion and most especially playing the game according to the rule, thus certainly precluding a bout of crocodile tears from a senator experiencing a carnal fact of nature, which is that what goes around shall certainly comes around.

The 1999 Constitution: What Manner of A Grundnorm

The history of constitutional making and development all over world, either of the unwritten pact as in the case of England or the written document as in the case of united states of America and of course Nigeria, is supposed to encapsulate all the norms, values, traditions and beliefs, that have been agreed upon and resolved to bind the people's hopes, dreams, aspirations and projections of what it entails to be either a subject of the queen as in the case of the united kingdom or rather to be a citizen as in the case of a republican conglomeration of a federal nation of united states of America or Nigeria. In the case of the Nigerian federation, such a status of citizenship confers upon, certain rights and privileges that creates a lineal patrimony of patronage and patriotism.

The 1999 constitution as a document is supposed to be our collective grundnorm. According to the father of European model of constitutional review, the Austrian jurist and legal philosopher Hans Kelsen regards the basic norm as the order or rule that forms the basis for a legal system, his belief is based upon the need to find a point of origin for all law on which the basic law or the constitution can gain its legitimacy, the binding effect of the legal norm is premised on the science of mind that accepts what ought to be, as a against what shall be done. Thus this theory believes that the constitution as the supreme document, needs not to contain and codify every required norm of rights and responsibilities expected of a citizen of a nation state, rather its role is only highlighting fundamental guidelines of values and conduct that should be contained in the supreme document.

A constitution as a binding norm does not have to contain every presumption and assumption of goodwill, as it not a document that should contain what is proper and what is right in terms of our inherent behavioral character, as that expectation shall fall within the realm of social norms of ethics and etiquettes. Dates, timelines, moral codes, patriotism and other modes of behavioral patterns are things that cannot be enforced by mere insertion into the binding document of 1999 constitution, rather only codes of general rules and guidelines that directs the extent and extant of rights and responsibilities between individual citizens themselves and their collective relationship with the Nigerian state should form part of the provisions of our grundnorm.

By the nature and heritage of our constitution combined with the intendment of the originators and framers of the supreme law, in its content and context it is supposed to be a rigid document that should contain provisions, that makes it very difficult to seek and perform the tedious act of amendment, thus as a written document within the realm and classification of constitutional stratification, it is expected that only circumstances and situations of monumental importance that could warrant such exercise of an amendment, also because of the expected hardships that should be associated with changing the provisions of the constitution, the rapidity of embarking upon the act would be so curtailed to the level were only extreme necessity would create the need to seek an amendment of the binding norm, unfortunately this is not the subsisting situation of today's Nigeria.

A constitutional document is nothing more than a mere body of binding agreement, that is agreed upon by the generality of Nigerian people, to guard, guide and direct their affairs, thus as part of the fundamental characteristic of any agreement pact is the terms, signatory parties and most especially the framers of the agreement, the constitution being the supreme law of the land confers upon the individuals that create it with the title of lawgivers, who by their eminent status are expected to poses certain unique qualities that placed them above their normal peers, in terms of character, condor, foresight, soberness and calmness, these is to enable them to produce a document of lasting legacy and quality that would withstand the test of time, unfortunately in the case of individuals and personalities performing the function of amending Nigeria's constitution, the ideal situation is not available as the reputations of our lawgivers is subject of debate.

The binding nature of the 1999 constitution confers on it the need for the Nigerian people to have loyalty and identification with the supreme document, thus issues of credibility and sense of belonging associated with the origin or lineage of the pact, reduces its impact and effect upon the individual citizens it is formulated to serve, because the perception by the Nigerian people that the document belongs to them, further establishes its sanctity as the ultimate code of guidance and direction to the Nigerian federation.

Due to the important nature of the constitution to the lives and future of the Nigerian nation, issues pertaining to its origin, processes relating to its amendment, situations that afflict at its perception and circumstances that question its lineage, should be handled with the utmost gravity that befits its eminent status.

Our affliction with mob psychology

The recent happenings in the polity coupled with the impending 2011 general elections, has further re-enforced my belief that Nigerians are a set of people that have not been opportune with a leadership that guards, guides and grants them a sense of purpose and direction, thus their reaction to issues and occurrences is always so predictable that their actions could be equated and portrayed as a tragedy of a nationhood, in some instances falling within the realm of tragic-comedy as in the case of "I dey laugh" chronicles, were the former president Chief Olusegun Obasanjo could only offer laughter as a reaction to the nomination of his former vice president and political foe Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as the Adamu Chiroma's candidate of the north, as predicted the response for the northern consensus nominee was even more laughter to the distaste of the economically battered yet serious minded Nigerians.

What the two former leaders could not fathom or even comprehend is the fact that issues of governance have always been a peril to our development efforts, as the issues of politics, access to leadership and the means of cornering the national wealth became issues of paramount importance, while simmering tensions continued to be stoked and even profited upon for electoral gains, unfortunately these is the genesis of the current tragedy that is unfolding in the city of Jos, where failure of leadership and more particularly intelligence is so evident that issues of dereliction and even collusion could be argued against our leadership, off-course when a bomb was set-off on a Friday evening and in the Christmas eve, it must have been organized by the other side to the conflict, who are the conglomeration of Muslims and Hausa settlers resident in the city of Jos, after all whenever we watch the CNN international, images of death and destruction are the norm in Iraq and Afghanistan and are always there to confirm the obvious.

The evident reaction was so choreographed that the preceding retaliation and violence became inevitable, since the other side composing of the Biroms and Christians seems to have been the targeted victims of the un-Godly carnage, thus arises a desperate situation needing a sense of reassurance and direction. However the expected succor in the person of the self-acclaimed leader of the north, our amiable vice president Namadi Sambo rather postponed his fact finding mission to the city, the irony of the situation was that the real proclaimed leader of the north, in the mould the Sardauna of Sokoto the late Alhaji Ahmadu Bello would never have forsaken his flock, at the altar of his own personal safety and comfort, perhaps if it were an endorsement visit to promote and garner the necessary votes of the People's Democratic Party delegates, no amount of inconvenience would have delayed the visit.

A typical Nigerian always reason within the prebendal prism of the psychology of the mob, thus when a bomb exploded at the eagles square in Abuja, the president was at pains to comprehend how anybody from the Niger-Delta could even thought of committing such a heinous act, against the person of his own kith and kin as such it must been have the political adversaries of the president from the other groups or more appropriately the other Nigerians that are of different descent from the president. Thus the bombing activity was first seen an attempted embarrassment to the person of the president, rather than a criminal act comparable to every criminal infraction against the state. These is the binding precedent that preceded the Jos bombing incident, were from the leaders to the led everybody is in confused state of reasoning, the statement of the chief of army staff lieutenant general Azubike Ihejirika that Nigeria does not have an inventory of its bombs, confirmed the evident and recurring confusion on the polity.

In the midst of the present and persisting confusion, I nearly missed a posted message on the internet claiming responsibility for the bomb blast in Suldaniyya, apparently the speaker in the message perceives Jos city as the Suldaniyya plateau and according to him the group taking responsibility for the carnage is the Jama'atu ahlus sunna lid da'awati wal jihad but is falsely known as the Boko Haram, indeed there was strenuous effort to tell the world that it is the Boko Haram that struck though in an arabised name, However what the informant could not explain to the world through the release from the internet is how his groups action aids the cause of Islam and Muslims or how a group that operates with crude and basic weaponry has acquired the sophistry and sophistication of an international terrorist organization.

Perhaps we should all be laughing in a tragic-comedy fashion, as Nigerians kill themselves in a new millennium that promised us a chance of joining the twentieth position, in the comity of developed economies of the world. That such status is not ever attained by a population that acts and reacts over mundane issues is not really important, as our model of development strategy option is basically home grown which is premised upon the psychology of the mob.

If I'm President Laurent Gbagbo

These past weeks and month have witnessed an unprecedented focus on the personality, position and status of president Laurent Gbagbo of Cote D'voire, because he rejected the election results that declared him as the looser in an elections to Alassane Quattara, after the conduct of the historic presidential elections supervised by the United Nation's, that was set as an opportunity to unite the country after almost ten years of fractious civil war, that divided the country into two halves with the south been in government hands while the north opting to go at it alone, the genesis of the conflict was the question of the qualification and entitlement of who is an Ivorien and the argument that children of immigrants from up north, could not be granted the right of full citizenship as to entitle them presidency of La Cote D'ivoire, thus citizens like Alassane Dramane Quattara who had once served as a prime minister of the country stood excluded from seeking for the highest office in the land.

The genesis of my seeking to assume the option of a devil's advocate and insert myself into the current situational position of president Laurent Gbagbo, was the offer of refuge or more appropriately asylum granted to the Ivorien leader by the Nigerian government through the person of president Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, that Mr. Laurent Gbagbo is a welcomed guest in the Federal Republic of Nigeria and would be availed of all the state protect that an honored friend is entitled to, the first thing that come to my mind after hearing of the offer was the current situational circumstance of Mr. Charles Taylor and the journey of his present travails at the Hague, what landed him at the war crimes tribunal was actually also a refuge deal and a gentleman's agreement that Nigeria would grant him a sanctuary in Calabar for an unlimited duration of time. However, what happened later has been so documented in history that it is not a subject of dispute.

The concept of an agreement, indeed a gentleman's agreement pre-supposes an understanding and a Pact agreed between individuals or parties. That all the interest concerned abiding by it as a sacred undertaking that is tied to the honor and integrity of the parties, fortunately for the Liberian people but unfortunately for Mr. Taylor the pact was not honored by Nigeria and in particular president Olusegun Obasanjo, as the former Liberian leader was conveniently handed to the jurisdiction of international criminals court trying the Sierra Leonean war crimes in Hague, thus a similar offer from the leader of the same country in the person of president Goodluck Jonathan, the current chairman of the ECOWAS is bound to elicit the response is history seeking to repeat itself? more so as the issues are contextually similar in nature, an obstinate African leader daring and trying the patience of the international community.

The personality of the individual offering a gentleman's agreement is very important in determining the status of the deal, as it is usually a pact based on the inherent grace of the undertaker of the deal, also the previous antecedents of the personality is very important and a key to the strength of the agreement. Thus the personality in these case need to be thoroughly examined as his previous encounters with signed and unsigned gentleman's agreement, the statement of the president regarding the People's Democratic Party's zoning conundrum, were as a signatory and a party to the deal the president blatantly refused to acknowledge the existence of the Pact, it is worth noting that the concept of zoning principle is actually a constitutional provision in the party, that have not been altered or even undergoing the process of amendment, yet the leader of the PDP still regarded zoning principle as a mere claim from his detractors.

It is an African adage that the you measure the individual's personality by the kind of friends, associates and company he keeps, thus the personality making these offer to you Mr. Laurent Gbagbo is actually a protégé of the former president Olusegun Obasanjo, some people are even claiming and ascribing the tag of a disciple to him, as times without number he has always sees him as a mentor that is worth emulating, thus for a personality like you that is seriously under pressure and in highly in short of trust , regarding his status as the president of La Cote D'ivoire, staking his future upon such a precarious deal would be asking for too much, more so as the international community in the mould of the French and the United States of America are mounting strenuous amount of pressure on the Nigerian president, to solve the Ivorien imbroglio by whatever means, as it is patently unacceptable to tolerate the current subsisting situation.

The history of Nigerian leaders right from time immemorial as affirmed and confirmed by the WikiLeaks cable on Nigeria, is about acting at the wishes its foreign friends and if correlated with the ECOMOG misadventure in Liberia, which was undertaken as a ploy to protect a friend in the person of late president Samuel Doe, then surely Nigeria would do everything to bring your reign to perdition, especially as the Nigerian president after recent disclosures most show the world how tough he is in an election year, mark my words if need be Ivory Coast most be destroyed at the altar of affirming Nigeria's leadership at the west coast of Africa, in the end Mr. president only your conscience can save the Ivorien people, thus please president Laurent Gbagbo follow it and step down.

AVOIDING THE TRAP IN SECOND AMENDMENT TO 1999 CONSTITUTION

The second amendment to the 1999 constitution [2010] process being undertaken by the national and states houses of assembly, seems to be facing a lot of challenges and problems, either from those that question the legality of the whole process or rather those that only question who the proclamation authority should be. The contention of the former view being that as a process that is sub-judice, having proceeded the first amendment to the 1999 constitution, that is subject to ongoing judicial review thus undergoing a judicial procedure, it would be legally unwise to continue with the whole process, the latter contention is however of the view that the only problem with the legislative activity is the question over the authority empowered to acclaim the effect of the amended 1999 constitution.

These confusing scene or situation and the evident need for legal clarification, led the former national president of the Nigerian bar association chief Olisa Agbakogba, to seek in the constitutional courts the interpretation of the relevant provisions of the 1999 constitution, on the responsible party that gives effect to the amendment of the provision of 1999 constitution. However as the process is going through the rigors of judicial process, a grave necessity arisen for the starting of another review of the provision of the 1999 constitution, thus a fundamental threat of rendering an ongoing judicial process a nullity arises, because to have allowed the second amendment to the 1999 constitution to subsist would led to a grave constitutional crisis.

The procedural law guiding the administration of justice in Nigeria, empowered the courts to issue injunctions that helps to preserve the status quo and ensure that no harm is done to the subsisting legal position of a litigant, that could and would render the final position of the court to be ineffectual, thus in the instant case an interlocutory injunction was issued to preserve latent positions. However such a position have opened and created the possibility of an imminent constitutional crisis, because of the lack of time for the conduct of the 2011 elections, little or no time for judicial review of the results of the elections and the proximity of the elections to the eventual handover date of may 29^th 2011.

The position of the senate of the federal republic of Nigeria, stating that the rules of the chamber bars it from abiding to interlocutory injunctions, in issues pertaining to constitutional amendment, have created a circumstance that could create the 1993 challenging scenery, were the ignoring of an interlocutory injunction by the national electoral commission of professor Humprey Nwosu, sought and obtained by the infamous association for better Nigeria from the chambers of former Justice Bassey Ikpeme, led to the judicial cover that was used by the military administration of general Ibrahim Babangida to annul the June 12th presidential elections.

Thus the danger lurking at the constitutional order of Nigeria's democracy, lie in the fact that indeed all actions pertaining to 2011 elections stand to be rendered a nullity, should the courts seek a judicial of all the processes that led to the elections.

….Factually the judge erred

I have decided to take this legal exploratory journey because of a judgement that have threatened to reduce the status our constitution, from a supreme and collective body of laws otherwise known as a grundnorm, thus requiring a special procedure regarding the mode of its amendment and taking effect, to a mere Act of the parliament that tolerates the normal process of changing our laws. The primal aim of these discovery exercise which is an objective and critical analysis on the judgement as delivered by Justice Okechukwu Okeke, in a case as instituted by Chief Olisa Agbakogba [SAN] seeking clarification judgement as to the powers and function of the president in the process of constitutional amendment, the issue on notice being the fact as to whether an act of constitutional amendment as undertaken and passed by the national assembly, with the full concurrance of the required quorum of consenting house of assembly members, does require the signature assent of the president before it becomes effective as a valid constitutional amendment.

The premises of the declaratory verdict as delivered in the instant case was demarcated within the confines of section 58 of the 1999 constitution, where section 58(3) stated that a Bill that has been passed from the house it originated, should be sent to the other house for concurrance, pending which it shall be presented to the president for assent. Section 58(4) states that where a Bill is presented to the president for assent within thirty days, thereof signify that he assents or that he withholds assent. However section 58(5) of the same constitution is of the opinion that where the president withholds his assent and the Bill is again passed by each house by two-thirds majority, the Bill shall become law and the assent of the president shall not be required. This position when dissected upon the grace of the Interpretation Act Laws of The Federation 1990 confirms the desirability and need for assent by the person of the president, section 2(1)of the Act thus states: "An Act is passed when the president assents to the Bill for the Act whether or not the Act comes into force. "

While I am not disputing the effect of the judgement pending review by an appealate court of superior status, however I duely differ with the verdict in Fact rather than at Law. Because of the presumption of the learned judge that the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is merely an ordinary Act of the national assembly, but by virtue of the enacting provisions of its mother document which is The Constitution of The Federal Republic of Nigeria [Promulgation] Decree No. 24 of 1999, the assumption is that since all Decrees are subsumed into becoming Acts after the coming into effect of the 1999 constitution on the 29^th of may 1999, then the constitution of The Federal Republic of Nigeria can only be an Act of the national assembly thus falling within the extant provisions of amendment and assent by the president.

However, the judge erred in Fact when he did not take judicial notice of the provisions of the enacting Act, which is The Constitution of The Federal Republic of Nigeria [Promulgation] Act No. 24 of 1999, where it states under section 1(3) that: "Whenever it may hereafter be necessary for the constitution to be printed, it shall be lawful for the federal government printer to omit all parts of this decree apart from the schedule and the constitution as so printed shall have the force of law notwithstanding the omission." Adhering to the golden rule of judicial interpretation, the duty of a jurist perfoming the function of determining the intent and intendment of any legislation, is to probe the state of mind of the legal draftsmen at the time they drafted the document, in this instance what could have been the wish of the originators and framers of the Act. The import of the subsumed provisions of section 1(3) of The Constitution of The Federal Republic of Nigeria [Promulgation] Act purely sought to divorce the schedule and the constitution from the mother Act, thus the presumption of the drafter is the separation of the constitution from the enacting Act, afterall the 1999 constitution took effect upon the proclamation of sovereignty of the nigerian people from a usurper military government on the 29^th of may 1999.

Thus the preamble of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, starts with a proclamatory testification that it is we the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that have agreed to be guided it, as such conferred effect to the supreme document, not through the representative activity of an ordinary parliamentary Act but rather through thespecial act of proclamation of the sovereign will of nigerian people, afterall in other legal climes the unveilng of the constitution is given effect through determination by a refrendum. Thus the special and separate provisions for amending the 1999 constitution identifies with the carnal context of the argument, as section 9 of the same such constitution confirmed that the act of altering its provisions is as different from the activity of passing an ordinary Act of the national assembly and indeed the whole composite document is very silent on the powers of assent of the president in matters of constitutional amendment.

Are Nigerians been robbed of justice?

It was last week while receiving an American envoy that the chairperson of The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Madam Farida Waziri, confirmed to the generality of Nigerian public that the agency has decided to settle the undertaken prosecution of the former United State vice president Dick Cheney as a former executive official of Halliburton out of court, through the mechanism of a plea bargain that confers on the commission the reception of the total sum two hundred and fifty million dollars, in order to drop the subsisting criminal charges of solicitation, currying of influence and abetting in the offering and reception of bribes to the officials of the Nigerian Liquefied Gas Company, in the Bonny Island contractual undertaking of 1994-1995 period during the past Abatcha administration.

The other component of the plea agreement as obtained by the corruption fighting and prevention agency, was that all the individuals and personnel alleged to have participated in commission of the crime but that are of foreign descent, stand to benefit from the discontinuing of the prosecution process, thus foreign national citizens involved in the act of giving bribes to Nigerian government and company officials would not be prosecuted by the agency. However the local Nigerian accomplices to the commission of the alleged crime would still be prosecuted to the full limit of our laws, as such the grace of the plea bargain agreement did not seem to have been extended to the Nigerian citizens, thus the agreed pact between the Nigerian government officials and the United States of America diplomatic officials, sought and settled for a less embarrassing circumstantial situation to the governments of both countries, this position was later affirmed by the spokesperson of the commission Mr. Femi Babafemi.

The principal officials of this administration which included the president himself and more particularly the chairperson of the commission, had at different fora and occasions stated that there would be no sacred cows in the prosecution and execution of court judgements against persons accused of corruption and corruption related activities, thus it is with a lot of surprise that the latest release from the agency reached Nigerians, where the principal officials of the commission while gloating announced to the world the deal to excuse alleged offenders on the alter of payment of large sum of money, some Nigerians were even congratulating the agency for collecting millions of American dollars from the Halliburton officials, yet the agency was never set up as a funds collection outfit as the previous times it sought to sell seized assets, issues of financial impropriety were repeatedly raised against the leadership and other officials of the commission.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission came into existence during the time of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo administration, after undue and strenuous pressure from the international community, because the Nigerian nation was seen as a country that tolerated corruption and corruption related activities, thus the agency was expected to prosecute persons accused of partaking in activities relating to corruption and money laundering, however it is also within the purview and powers of the commission to serve as a deterrence organ, by preventing activities that could lead to the commission of the criminal act of corruption, thus settlement agreements that further creates the impression that Nigeria is comfortable with the act of corruption, does nothing to aid the general belief and principal reason for the setting up of the agency, more so as the international community would be left with the belief that our fight against corruption is a mere lip service, indeed an American advisor linked to the case was quoted as saying that it is better to pay the money than be subjected to our corrupt legal system, what an irony!

Countries all over the world pride themselves in granting the best deals to their citizens, in terms of necessary rights and even un-entitled privileges that are bestowed to its nationals, thus the present and subsisting plea agreement that sought to treat Nigerian and foreigners differently, has further established in the eyes of Nigerians and indeed the greater international community, that these nation perceives its citizens as lesser in importance than other foreign nationals, because the accused persons were treated differently by the interdiction agency which does nothing to prevent or even deter corruption acts, indeed this action would further cement the belief that the fighting of corruption in Nigeria is merely halfhearted, as even the case of those Nigerian citizens accused of corruption would simply die in the courts due to non diligent prosecution.

The impetus for the execution of a plea bargain agreement anywhere in the world is the aggregation of the balance of culpability of an alleged offender, thus the degree and weight of involvement is measured to determine the extent of perceived guilt, as to whether the alleged offender is guilty and the body of weight of evidence is against the position of the alleged offender, thus plea bargain agreements when applied rightly always serves the interest of justice, in terms of ensuring quick and efficient prosecution of crimes and the achievement of justice in a cost efficient basis to the tax payer. However when it is applied merely to subvert the cause of justice by introducing and tolerating favoritism, the plea bargain option generally loses credibility in the eyes of the public.