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Opinion: Pantami for President

Published

4 years ago

April 26, 2021

Eric

By Lasisi Olagunju

A normal southern Nigerian citizen would be shocked to hear cries of ‘Jihad now’ or ‘give us sharia or death’ or ‘it is sharia or bloodshed.’ In the fundamentalist north, what will shock the street will be if the rabble refuses to lick blood from the plate of those cries. The huge support which Isa Pantami has drawn from the far north since his case started should teach some lessons. There are two countries in Nigeria. One produced Isa Pantami whose wrong can never be wrong; the other sired Kemi Adeosun, a minister downed by her own people’s strict definition of wrong. You heard the president on Friday declaring Kemi Adeosun’s NYSC certificate sins heavier than his kinsman’s pro-terrorism charges. It is a function of where destiny put each of them. Sin here has ethnicity, and justice is defined by blood lines.

Nigeria is a theocracy being run by shadowy northern sheikhs and mallams. Pantami is one of them. The mistake he made was that he lifted the veil and showed his face in our public space. If he had remained politically unseen like the others, his eyes won’t be seeing the current insults from irreverent southern infidels. But, the scandal has further buoyed his A rating in the extremist north. He has become a superman, maybe to himself and certainly to his hailers, the loud and the silent. There is a cartoon online showing super-stud Pantami kicking out the teeth of his enemies. The authors labeled them wailers. If the man contests for the presidency of Nigeria today, the north is provoked enough to shame all of us by giving it to him. Indeed, there is a poster, probably made by his enemies, rolling across WhatsApp groups with the message: Pantami for President (PAP TEAM 2023). Before you say “over my dead body”, just pause and ask if there is any sin Pantami has committed which your incumbent did not commit during his Great Trek to power. What riles you about Pantami is the stuff that creates legends in our fundamentalist north.

My people say ironu ko papo (thoughts vary, they always lack unity of purity). A villain in the south may be king up north. Now, you know the internet does not forget. As the cyclone of the Pantami scandal raged last week, it threw up an old video of a GOC prophesying that a repentant Boko Haram terrorist could become the president of Nigeria one day. In July 2019, that General from the north east (what is his name?), told the press that “an ex-Boko Haram member who has laid down his arms and turns away from negativity stands to become the President of this country and take up any position in this country.” The nation heard him and gasped. But he was just being where he comes from. Or was it a Freudian slip? Or did he have any particular terrorist in mind? How many more snakes are in the rafters of Nigeria?

There is nothing Nigeria’s power elites cannot contemplate – and do – as long as it serves their purpose. They also condone anything that promises them control of Nigeria. Have you heard any of the power brokers from the north upbraiding Pantami for his past of unfortunate comments? It is either his views tallied with theirs or they are afraid of the principalities on whose terra firma Pantami stands. Indeed, the political and religious elites there can be ruthless and do anything for power and position. They are now equating attacks on Pantami’s extremist rhetoric as attacks on Islam. And it is not as if they are as pious as they roar. No. That is why even an exposed Sheikh Pantami would, because of his present ministerial morsel, repudiate his past of ‘pious’ puritanism. Everything is about packaging for politics and benefits.

United States-based journalism teacher and Nigerian Tribune columnist, Farooq Kperogi, in the spring of 2020 did an academic paper on this elite politics of religious opportunism, extremist posturing and sharia in northern Nigeria. He titled it: ‘”Sharia or Death”: The mass mediated hegemonic rhetoric of theocratic populism in Nigeria’s Muslim north.’ The piece is about how our north used “contingent, ephemeral, opportunistic, power-grabbing theocratic populist stratagem” to win back political power after the Obasanjo years. It is an ‘insider’ exposition on how a people could and, indeed, use religion to serve the end of selfish politics. I quote him: “In the service of their goal to recapture political power (from the south), northern Muslim political elites deployed not just threats of violence and actual violence, but also cruel, selective capital punishments against poor northern Muslims to instill fear and overawe their southern counterparts. In other words, northern Nigeria’s theocratic populism used ‘the people’ both to lend legitimacy to their politics and as expendable fodder in a self-interested hegemonic power game.” In other words, the northern big men (there are no women there) use their own people as firewoods to cook their broth of political religiosity. In case we have forgotten (and our memory is always short), Kperogi reminds us of the March 2000 amputation of Buba Bello Jangebe because he was found guilty of stealing a cow. He points also at the 2001 case of a divorced woman known as Safiya Hussaini who was sentenced to death by stoning by a Sharia court in Sokoto State for having a child outside wedlock. He adds that “in January 2002, a man in Katsina State was hanged by the state government after admitting to murdering a woman and her children. Months later, in the same state, a single mother by the name of Amina Lawal was sentenced to death by stoning for adultery. The sentence was overturned two years later by an appeal court.” The goats of sacrifice are always either the subdued talakawa or the infidels outside the north; the elites are too precious to go down no matter the weight of their sin.

A minister’s past of reckless extremist rhetoric caught up with him and the state excused his sin because “he was then in his 20s.” How old was the president himself when he fought in the civil war 54 years ago? How old was Chukwuma Nzeogwu when he committed the 1966 sin for which the north made all his people suffer? How old was Odumegwu Ojukwu when he did his own thing in 1967? The truth is, the north and its government are with Isa Pantami because he is blessed to be of them, and because his problematic rhetoric is no problem to them. Indeed, if not for the international dimensions of what the Sheikh said, the big men who are quiet would be on the rooftops saluting his courage. Pantami can hold extremist views if the law cowers before him and what he represents. What he lacks is the moral right to continue sitting on state resources ministering to the affairs of those he wantonly called infidels. He lost them the moment he was found out with those views. No presidential ‘amnesty’ and tough talk will restore the confidence of the abused. And the president, in allying with him, has added himself to the list of those in the dock. If Nigeria is a poultry house, these gentlemen will henceforth be seen as kites and buzzards to whom chicks are snacks.

A northern president declaring the sin of a northern minister as weighing less than that of a southern minister is intriguing. My people would swear such happens only in the animal world where might is always right. They would sum it up with just a saying. They would say this dog knows how to breastfeed his own children while also knowing how to seize the bush rats’ cute kids for supper. Using captured state power to create victim-states and victimized populations in the south is foreboding. In all places where such seeds were planted, the fruits were sour eventually. Read the Serbo-Croatian, Yugoslavian experience. We are seeing that already complete with molten lava. The president of a country should be a national property, a cover for all. He must do nothing that turns him to a sectarian, sectional warlord. A leader must not speak on a problem unless he has a solution to proffer. Unfortunately, President Muhammadu Buhari, who speaks to us through mediums, spoke on Thursday and Friday on the Pantami matter and left his southern worshippers speechless. A matter is ripping apart the country and you would think that if he had no cure for the headache, the president would be quiet and keep his gullible fellows to guess where he stood. But, maybe, in his native wisdom, keeping quiet and not taking a (partisan, parochial) stand is a badge of cowardice. It may be that openly backing and girdling a shaken taliban is a sacred duty of religion. So, our president of courage spoke and cleared all doubts. Buhari’s verdict: His admission notwithstanding, Pantami is not guilty; he is on solid, dry ground. The guilty scale weighs heavily against his accusers and they will not go unpunished. That is the judgment from a man elected by people across the country, and who swore on oath, before God and man, to do justice to all without fear or favour.

Perhaps if our presidency has been fighting extremist bandits with as much energy it has pumped into defending Pantami, the country would be safe today – and be shifted from the precarious edge. But, no. Bandits are omo ijoba; they are beyond reproach; forgiveness is their punishment. You heard Professor Wole Soyinka at the weekend as he spoke about our “collective wails of impotence.” About Nigeria becoming a plague to Nigerians, especially to the youth. You heard him as he spoke to those “who have been proven weak and incapable” but who wallow still in the bosom of hollow arrogance. You heard his warnings about hammers on our gates, about death throes with “vultures and undertakers hovering patiently but with full confidence.” You heard the plaintiveness of his and others’ unheeded whistles. You also heard the loud absence of our government as bandits murder the young for blood ransom. You feel the growing confidence of murderous bandits as leadership weakens the state. It is not strange. A country where the wages of sin of extreme crimes are measured by where the sinner hails from risks becoming desolate; it is called Ahoro in Yoruba, an ex-state. The world has examples.

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Senate Approves Tinubu’s ₦1.77trn Loan Request

Published

1 month ago

November 21, 2024

Eric

The Senate has granted approval to the ₦1.77 trillion ($2.2b) loan request of President Bola Tinubu after a voice vote in favor of the request.

The Senate presided by Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, approved the loan after the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts chaired by Senator Wammako Magatarkada (APC, Sokoto North) presented the report of the committee.

The request which was submitted by the President on Tuesday is part of a fresh external borrowing plan to partially finance the N9.7 trillion budget deficit for the 2024 fiscal year.

Tinubu had on Tuesday written to the National Assembly, seeking approval of a fresh N1.767 trillion, the equivalent of $2.209 billion as a new external borrowing plan in the 2024 Appropriation Act.

The fresh loan is expected to stretch the amount spent on debt servicing by the Federal Government. The Central Bank of Nigeria recently said that it cost the Federal Government $3.58 billion to service foreign debt in the first nine months of 2024.

The CBN report on international payment statistics showed that the amount represents a 39.77 per cent increase from the $2.56bn spent during the same period in 2023.

According to the report, while the highest monthly debt servicing payment in 2024 occurred in May, amounting to $854.37m, the highest monthly expenditure in 2023 was $641.70m, recorded in July.

The trend in foreign debt servicing by the CBN highlights the rising cost of debt obligations by Nigeria.

Further breakdown of international debt figures showed that in January 2024, debt servicing costs surged by 398.89 per cent, rising to $560.52m from $112.35m in January 2023. February, however, saw a slight decline of 1.84 per cent, with payments reducing from $288.54m in 2023 to $283.22m in 2024.

March recorded a 31.04 per cent drop in payments, falling to $276.17m from $400.47m in the same period last year. April saw a significant rise of 131.77 per cent, with $215.20m paid in 2024 compared to $92.85m in 2023.

The highest debt servicing payment occurred in May 2024, when $854.37m was spent, reflecting a 286.52 per cent increase compared to $221.05m in May 2023. June, on the other hand, saw a 6.51 per cent decline, with $50.82m paid in 2024, down from $54.36m in 2023.

July 2024 recorded a 15.48 per cent reduction, with payments dropping to $542.50m from $641.70m in July 2023. In August, there was another decline of 9.69 per cent, as $279.95m was paid compared to $309.96m in 2023. However, September 2024 saw a 17.49 per cent increase, with payments rising to $515.81m from $439.06m in the same month last year.

Given rising exchange rates, the data raises concerns about the growing pressure of Nigeria’s foreign debt obligations.

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DIAMED CENTRE: Kesington Adebutu is a Father in a million – Daughter, Abiola Olorede

Published

5 months ago

July 20, 2024

Eric

By Eric Elezuo

A United States and United Kingdom trained prolific doctor, Dr. Abiola Olorede, the first daughter of accomplished businessman and renowned philanthropist, Sir Kesington Adebukunola Adebutu, is not a run-off-the-mill medical practitioner. She knows her onions, her worth and the mandate she is programmed to fulfill.

She is the Chief Medical Director of the just opened DIAMED CENTRE, a fully equipped diagnostic and medical facility saved with the responsibility of catering to the medical needs of the Nigerian public.

The hospital, which was built and handed over to her by her philanthropic father, is located at Kuboye Street, in the heart of Lekki Island, Lagos.

In this brief chat, the achiever, who lived most of her educational life in Dublin, Poland, expressed her gratitude to a father like no other, and how she and her team intends to make the best of the facility and equipment to totally affect humanity for the better.

Excerpts:

CAN YOU TELL US THE IDEA BEHIND THIS GREAT PROJECT?

Thank you very much, my name is Abiola Olorede, I am a medical doctor by profession. I schooled in Dublin, worked in the United Kingdom and in United States of America. When I came back home to Nigeria after my education including postgraduate studies, I realized that one of the major challenges is that a lot of the diagnostic tools that we need to use for evident-base treatment of our patient were lacking. Since then, I have always had a dream that when i am able to afford it, I will like to have a place that Nigerians can go to as comparable as those round the world because, just as I have always spoken about it, every Nigerian should have any treatment obtainable anywhere in the world in their home country.

CAN I DEDUCE THEREFORE, THAT YOU INTEND TO STOP MEDICAL TOURISM BY ESTABLISHING THIS ALL INCLUSIVE MEDICAL CENTRE?

Hmmm…Intend to stop is a very big word. I am hoping by the service we would offer here, a lot of Nigerians will see it as comparable to anywhere in the world and would want to use it instead of going out of the country. So, a lot of people that go out of the country can benefit from world class treatment in Nigeria.

SO OUT OF ALL YOUR DAD’S PHILANTHROPIC GESTURES, HOW DOES THIS ONE MAKE YOU FEEL?

If you noticed, the Kensington Adebutu Foundation, KAF, as it is fondly referred to, has major pillars and that’s education and health. It does a lot of other projects no doubt. I know that in any society, if the people are not educated, it’s a big loss to the country, if you don’t have the healthy workers too, it’s a big loss. So this brings out much of my pride in the service of Nigeria.

AS A PROUD DAUGHTER, WHAT MORE COULD YOU SAY ABOUT YOUR FATHER?

First of all, I would like to thank him. I tell everybody that he is father in a million. He supported his children over the years, financially, and with wisdom. I’m going up to 60, and my father still supports me pursue my dreams; it’s very rare. I want to thank him from the bottom of my heart. He’s always there, so thank you dad, you are a wonderful dad.

CAN YOU JUST ANALYZE THE KIND OF EQUIPMENT WE HAVE HERE?

We have a lot of facilities that are available, we have 3D monogram, it gives better images, and it’s less painful when you do that. We also have 64 high CT scan, digital X-rays, a lab, Haematology, Dialysis department, Dental suite, Opthalmology and Physiotherapy. We have a fully functional Pharmacy; so it’s like a one stop shop.

We have a Cardiac Suite where you can do ECO and other tests. We engage patients morning to night, make them comfortable as they get their test done. We don’t want you to feel you are in a hospital premises; you come from home and get all your test done.

WHAT DO YOU PROMISE NIGERIANS USING THIS FACILITY?

I promise Nigerians is that only experts, who will give the right diagnosis will be engaged here so we can give world class treatment and service. We want to use evidence and innovations to manage patients. Those are our promises to Nigerians and others as an organization and God will help us deliver all these promises.

AND HOW AFFORDABLE IS IT TO PATRONISE THIS PLACE?

We would try to make it cost effective in as much as medical care is not cheap. I tell people that being healthy is cheaper that being sick and that’s true, and that’s what we hope to accomplish. It is difficult to maintain some of this machines, some of them are very expensive so we must be able to recoop cost to get and replace equipment when due.

Thank you doctor Abiola, you have been very helpful and I wish you well in the management of this facility to the best interest of Nigerians. God bless you ma.

The pleasure is mine

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The Independence of the Judiciary in a Democratic Dispensation (Pt. 4)

Published

5 months ago

July 19, 2024

Eric

By Mike Ozekhome

Introduction

In the last part of this intervention, we examined the abuse of ex-parte orders as part of our survey of the independence of the judiciary. We then moved on to political pressures exerted on the judiciary. We continues with this theme today and extend economic/fiscal pressures which undermines judicial independence. We shall also x-ray the intellectual dimensions of the judicial remit as well as the relevant legal codes for their appointment. Come with me.

POLITICAL INDEPENDENCE (continues)

The duty of maintaining a Judiciary that is free from political influence, an independent and impartial Judiciary in line with section 17(2)(e) of the 1999 Constitution, rests on the honourable men and women on the bench, the political class, the other two arms of government and all and sundry. An independent Judiciary that inspires confidence is a sine qua non for sustainable democracy. Judges have a special role to reject any attempt to undermine the independence of the Judiciary in this dispensation. It is sacred! The admonition of Hon. Justice (Prof.) A.F.D. Kuti in this wise is instructive.

“Of course, judges make laws by interpretations, as judges, by nature and training do not succumb to partisan considerations they are political, they should be abstinat a fabia. They must not allow themselves to be torn apart by any form of differences in our societies… The judges have a duty to chart an independent course and let it be known that the independence of (the) judiciary is of vital importance to the democratic process to maintain Human Rights Provisions and to maintain the non-adoption of sate Region… The Judiciary itself must be like Cinderella living in a glass house, above board like Caesar’s wife, also above suspicion”.

Economic/Fiscal Independence

It is a trite warfare strategy that the easiest way to weaken an army and overrun it is to cut off its supplies and starve it. Vital in the question of independence of the Judiciary is the issue of fiscal autonomy, and proper funding. As soon as we institutionalize the practice of judicial officers going cap in hand to beg for funds from the Executive, the idea of independence of the Judiciary has been trampled upon and blown into smithereens! Independence must involve economic ‘self-reliance’ and fiscal autonomy. By these, we mean that the Judiciary under this dispensation should always be able to have the funds due to it constitutionally falling directly to it without having to approach the Executive for any form of lobbying before funds can be released to it. The Constitution has substantially taken care of this area. It only remains for the frontiers of fiscal autonomy to be widened so that the Judiciary, (especially State Judiciaries) would be able to carry out capital projects so as to maintain befitting physical infrastructure for the Judicial institution. Agbakoba has argued that:

“Judicial Independence is meaningless if it is not accompanied by economic independence. Dishonest judicial staff has no credible claim to judicial independence. It is necessary to take steps to ensure that judges and magistrates can enjoy a professional status capable of guaranteeing them the required amount of professional independence coupled with an adequate remuneration package that can effectively isolate them from pecuniary pressures.”

In Nigeria and under this democratic dispensation, some jurisdictions have had to contend with dilapidated office buildings, inadequate supplies and regular power outages. Starvation of funds is a weapon used by the Executive, the keeper of the Federation purse, to achieve a balance of judicial power by giving judicial officials a sense of economic/fiscal dependency.

To stave off starvation of funds, many countries have had to increase budgetary allocations significantly in favour of the judiciary both to provide adequate physical facilities and to allow for the continuing education of judges, magistrate and their staff. In some cases, as in Madagascar, this new approach has resulted in the establishment of a school solely dedicated to the training of judicial personnel.

The poor state of fiscal ability of the Judiciary in Nigeria today aptly depicts the observation of the Federalist, Alexander Hamilton that:

“The Judiciary is beyond comparison the weakest of the three departments of power. It has no influence over either the sword or the purse; no discretion either of the strength or the wealth of the society; and can take no active resolution whatever. It may be said to have neither FORCE NOR WILL, but merely judgment.”

Although the salaries and recurrent expenditures of the Judiciary are constitutionally charged upon the Consolidated Revenue Fund, it does not appear that the Constitution specifically ensures the provision for the capital expenditure of the Judiciary. This is another ploy to still keep the Judiciary low and check its ferocity in holding the balance over government excesses. There are other pockets of ploys and half-truths.

It has, for example, been argued from the Bench that the concept of accountability has often been relied upon to justify restricting the administrative independence of the Judiciary. The Executive must, in this democratic dispensation, allow unfettered fiscal independence for the judiciary by freeing its funds from all restrictions so that judges do not have to continue to go to the Executive to seek for funds for capital projects and recurrent expenditure or extra budgetary expenses.

Judicial accountability, in fact, complements and reinforces judicial independence by creating the public confidence on which judicial independence ultimately depends. There is no gainsaying that the point is sometimes made that in relation to their judicial functions, judges are subject to a higher degree of accountability and transparency than any other public officers, or even with the present democratic dispensation, than indeed any holder of political office, be they ministers or special advisers or chairmen or members of parastatals.

It has also been argued from the Bench that financial independence of the Judiciary can only be guaranteed where the ‘order’ allows physical projection and administrative control of finances by officers accountable to the Judiciary.39 The notion of Independence of the Judiciary would remain mere rhetoric without complete fiscal autonomy for the Judiciary.

Intellectual Independence

This subhead is used here in a technical sense as an issue of judicial independence. But, it can best be described by the story in the Bible of Israel’s sojourn in the land of Egypt. A wicked king that hated the Hebrews and was afraid of their independence and prosperity had given an instruction to midwives in this manner,

“When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women….if it be a son, then ye shall kill him but it if be a daughter, then she shall live…Every son that is born ye shall case into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.”

Pharaoh preferred Hebrew females because he was afraid of male power in the event of war with the Hebrews. The same stratagem has been employed to destroy the intellectual vibrancy of the judiciary so as to weaken its independence. The calibre of judges that can stand their ground against assault on judicial independence are those imbued with high independent, incorruptible and analytical mind laced with profound intellectual fecundity. While the High Court Bench has a mixed multitude of judges, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court are filled with such high calibre of intellectually vibrant and independent-minded justices. This would explain why the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court have not only set impressive records of independent-mindedness and incorruptibility. Those two courts can hardly be faulted in the area of independence and absence of external influence. The problem of intellectual freedom mainly lies at the High Court Bench, and the lower benches.

Appointment

By virtue of section 250(3), 256(3) and 271(3) Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, a person shall not be qualified to hold office of Chief judge or a judge of the Federal High Court, Chief Judge or a judge of the High court of the Federal Capital Territory and a judge of a High Court of a state, respectively:

“Unless he is qualified to practise as legal practitioner in Nigeria and has been so qualified for a period of not less than ten years”.

We are not really concerned here about the procedure for appointment of High Court judges. What has threatened the system with collapse is the bare assumption in these constitutional provisions that tends to imply that once a person has spent ten years on earth since he/she was called to the Bar, the person automatically has all the intellectual capability to be appointed a judge.

More than anything else, judicial incompetence (encompassing law intellectually, law productively etc) has contributed to rob the Judiciary the necessary intellectual freedom it needs to assert and guard its independence. According to Schewart:

“The quality of justice….depends more upon the quality of the men who administer the law then on the content of the law they administer.”

In his keynote address at the recent Bar Conference at Enugu, Chief Afe Babalola, SAN, observed on the constitutional qualification for appointment as a judge as follows:

“This allows great latitude for the appointment of ‘any lawyer’ who has met the ten years requirement regardless of where he is prior to his appointment. This explains why a new wig from the Nigerian Law School who, immediately after his call (and probably Youth Service) went straight to work in a company, multinationals and the life without any experience whatsoever in practice could be and are being appointed as High Court Judge”.

At the swearing in of the new Senior Advocates of Nigeria on Monday, September 8, 2003, the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Akin Olujinmi, SAN hinted that more stringent criteria for appointment of judges would be introduced. According to the Chief Law Officer of the Federation:

“We will propose that only those who can furnish evidence of contentious cases they handled in the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal and the High Court within, say, three years preceding their application should be considered for appointment. By so doing, it will be possible to select only seasoned practitioners to occupy positions on the Bench.” (To be continued).

Thought for the Week

“I believe that an independent judiciary is the crown jewel of our constitutional republic. Brett Kavanaugh”. (Charles Evans Hughes).