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The Oracle: Ethics and Discipline in Law: Akin to Waiting for Godot (Pt. 9)

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By Mike Ozekhome

INTRODUCTION

It has been said that the relationship of ethics and law considers that conscience is the guardian in the individual (ethics) for the rules which the community has evolved for its own preservation (law). There are limits to the law. The law cannot make people honest, caring, or fair. For example, lying, or betraying a confidence, is not illegal but it is unethical. While not every physical therapy practice act requires adherence to a code of ethics, all do require adherence to the law. On this note, we shall continue our discourse on this vexed issue.

MEASURES TO CONTROL INDISCIPLINE (CONTINUES)

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ETHICS, DISCIPLINE AND LAW

There is an ongoing debate about the relationship of ethics and the law. In 1958 the Harvard Law Review published the famous Hart Fuller Debate, which addressed the relationship of law and ethics (Harvard Law Review, 1958). Hart stated morality and law are separate, and Fuller opined that morality is the source of laws’ binding power. Ethics and law both address similar issues.

To make a somewhat distinction between the concepts we may say that ethics focuses on actions of individuals and groups, and political philosophy centres on political institutions such as the state or democracy. Legal philosophy is then the discipline that focuses on the institution of the law. It is the primary perspective, not the issue, which determines the discipline. We may, for example, study civil disobedience from the vantage point of each of the three disciplines. Ethics asks when individuals have a moral obligation to obey the law; political philosophy studies how the democratic state should react to civil disobedience; and legal philosophy analyses whether it is possible for legal institutions to take into account the specific character of civil disobedience in prosecution and punishment. Obviously, these analyses are related and partly refer to each other – yet they can be distinguished.

In Nigeria the basic national ethics and discipline include self reliance, patriotism, loyalty to the nation, honesty, dedication to duty, obedience to authority, respect of elders and seniors in authority, participation in national service, payment of tax, reporting criminals and members of cults to the police, assistance to the poor and the needy, parental care, participation in an election, protection of government property and contribution to national development.

The observance of these ethics and discipline in national life would instill national consciousness on the people. Once a person examines his conduct in line with its effect on the nation, he is bound to participate in the activities that will bring good name and development of the nation.

It is the non observance of national ethics and discipline in Nigeria that has given rise to fraud (419), political unrest, embezzlement of public fund, corruption, indiscipline, forgery, armed robbery, cultism in higher schools of learning, bribery, religious bigotry and fanaticism, exam malpractice, vandalism, and smuggling.

Ethics, morality and discipline have been jettisoned in the conduct of national life for financial gains. Much of the Nigerian problems in terms of development are resultant effect of none observance of ethics and the standard of ethical conduct in national affairs. A nation is said to be developed when the standard of her discipline and social structures are measured in comparison with others in the developed society.

Ethics is the moral principles that govern a person’s behavior or the conducting of an activity. Morals are concerned with the principles of right and wrong behavior and the goodness or badness of human character. Law is the system of rules that a particular country or community recognizes as regulating the actions of its members and may enforce by the imposition of penalties.

If you are ethical you can abide by the law. If you are Moral you can be ethical. Also, if you are moral you can abide by the law. But you can never be all three together.

Morality governs private, personal interactions. Ethics governs professional interactions. Law governs society as a whole, often dealing with interactions between total strangers.

Some people talk about their personal ethics, others talk about a set of morals, and everyone in a society is governed by the same set of laws. If the law conflicts with our personal values or a moral system, we have to act – but to do so we need to be able to tell the difference between them.

Ethics and morals relate to “right” and “wrong” conduct. While they are sometimes used interchangeably, they are different: ethics refer to rules provided by an external source, e.g., codes of conduct in workplaces or principles in religions. Morals refer to an individual’s own principles regarding right and wrong.

Morals and Law differ because the law demands an absolute subjection to its rules and commands. Law has enforcing authority derived from the state. It is heteronymous (being imposed upon men upon the outer life of men). Law regulates men’s relations with others and with society.

A promissory note is in force for three years. It is the debtor’s duty to repay the loan. It is the legal duty. The creditor can enforce legal action against the debtor within three years from the date of execution of a promissory note before the court of law. The legal duty involves a corresponding right. The state provides organized machinery for the enforcement of the law. Legal disputes admit to the principle of alteration by legislation. Legal disputes can only be settled by an appropriate court of law. Law is narrower than morality. It extends to a great number of such acts. The law applies to all the citizens whether they want or not. Law cannot be changed into morals.

Morality demands that men should act from a sense of ethical duty. Morality has no such enforcing authority from the state. It is autonomous (coming from the inner life of men). It governs the inner life of men. If the promissory note is time-barred, then the legal duty of the debtor turns into moral duty. Of course, moral duty is not enforceable before the court of law. It is also accompanied by a corresponding right. But right is not enforceable before the court of law. There is no such organization for the enforcement of morals. Moral rules do not admit even in principle admit of change by legislation. Moral disputes can be solved by the mediation of caste elders, village elders, etc. Morality applies to every human act.

Morality also applies to all persons. But it depends from person to person, from religion to religion, society to society. It is his/her pleasure to follow or not. But morals sometimes can be converted into law. Example: a donation to a charity institution is a moral principle. The income-tax recognized and exempts a certain percentage of income-tax towards donation from the total income.

Ethics and Law – Ethics are rules of conduct. Laws are rules developed by governments in order to provide balance in society and protection to its citizens. Ethics comes from people’s awareness of what is right and wrong. Laws are enforced by governments to their people. Ethics are moral codes that every person must conform to. Laws are codifications of ethics meant to regulate society. Ethics does not carry any punishment to anyone who violates it. The law will punish anyone who happens to violate it. Ethics comes from within a person’s moral values. Laws are made with ethics as a guiding principle.

It is clear that one cannot be Ethical, Moral, and follow the law. In today’s society following the law affects the morality of people. Being ethical makes you look like you are against someone or something. What do you do? It is not to please anyone but make sure you are ok with what you will follow. Choose wisely because only two go side by side.

ETHICS AND DISCIPLINE IN LAW: THE NIGERIAN PERSPECTIVE, A CASE OF WAITING FOR A GODOT?

The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria particularly made an unending relationship between the concept of ethics, discipline and law. The concepts are both in operationally and constitutionally inseparable. Any attempt to distinguish between any of the concept will end up lopping into others.  In this regard, the constitution of Nigeria graciously sought to make a constitutional balance. See Section 23 and 24 of the 1999 Constitution.

The various professions, such as the legal profession, medical profession and the others have put in place set of ethical rules to regulate the affairs of their members in the practice of their respective professions and the application of which has help to shape the conducts, behaviour and relations of its members. Example as stated earlier is the Rules of Professional Conducts for Legal Practitioners, 2007.

An ideal society where ethics and discipline in law reign, is realistic in Nigeria if only Nigeria and Nigerians could have an unflinching resolve to have it so, otherwise with the crop of politicians and citizenry Nigeria currently has, the case of ethics and discipline in law may be the tale of Waiting for a Godot.

Nigeria cannot become a state where ethics and discipline in law is possible where Nigerians continually cherish bags of rice and a few Naira Notes more that having a beautiful tomorrow realizable by good leadership. How can Nigeria be a society where ethics and discipline in law reign where favouritism, ethnocentrism and tribalism all have a filled day?  It would amount to erecting a great edifice in the air to expect ethics and discipline in law where we keep revolving, rotating and regurgitating old set of people who have erstwhile dissipated the Nigerian economy as elected and/or appointed leaders. We cannot have a nation where ethics and discipline in law exist where all we keep having as leaders are visionless, purposeless and directionless homo sapiens. Until those we have as leader hold Accountability, Transparency, Responsibility, Discipline and Meritocracy as virtues, we will keep wallowing in a society where ethics and discipline in law are in abeyance.  (To be continued).

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK

“In law a man is guilty when he violates the rights of others. In ethics he is guilty if he only thinks of doing so”. (Immanuel Kant).

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Opinion

The US Court Proceedings on Order Directing Discovery from Chicago State University: A National Embarrassment

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By Osita Chidoka

I speak as a Nigerian. That it took the courageous activism of HE. Abubakar Atiku to force the discovery of information concerning the President of Nigeria is a disgrace to our national institutions.

As a nation, we have a full retinue of staff at the Department of the State Security, the National Intelligence Agency, the Independent National Electoral Commission, the Embassy of Nigeria with the full complement of staff in Washington DC and the Nigerian Judiciary that have variously ruled on matters concerning President Tinubu’s academic qualifications. Yet, we can not have a definitive conclusion about whether he has the academic qualifications he claimed he had or not. Disgraceful.

That all the aforementioned institutions allowed a man to be sworn in without definitive statements about his qualifications is a national tragedy. For 23 years the issue of President Tinubu has been a recurring decimal in our national equation. Under his reign, a current youth corps member is serving as Minister, and people under investigation by EFCC and made public are sitting in the Federal Executive Council. And they all passed through security screening.

The office of the President of Nigeria is so important both in its moral authority and its strategic importance to our national security and safety that nobody who has possible blind spots that can make him or her a potential asset for foreign intelligence or governments should be allowed a mile near that office. This should be a primary burden on all our national institutions. Legal technicalities and silence by state institutions should be deemed high treason.

It highlights my previous statement that a constitutional amendment to finish all electoral cases before the assumption of office is now a matter of urgent national priority. The current disgraceful proceedings against a Nigerian President in a foreign court under election petition matters are damaging to our collective moral and legal standing as a people.

If it turns out tomorrow that our President presented a forged certificate to INEC, Nigerians will bow down their heads globally in shame. On the other hand, if it turns out that his certificate is genuine, again our reputation as a people is still in tatters because of the failure of national institutions to perform due diligence no matter who is involved. On both counts it reinforces global perceptions and prejudice against Nigerians. We all bear the burden.

A forged certificate finding leaves President Tinubu in a vulnerable position morally and legally. As he did not present primary and secondary certificates to INEC, a forged CSU certificate makes him unqualified to stand for the office of President as he does not possess the minimum qualification S.131(D) of the 1999 Constitution as amended. of course, the next issue is the case of perjury, the presentation of false documents under oath.

How INEC, accepted a university degree without the qualifying certificates would continue to be a national mystery. A language in our electoral legislation to forestall such obvious infractions is required.

The decision of the District Court and the whole proceedings is not a moment of triumphalism but a sober moment of introspection. It is a moment when as a nation we ask ourselves:

What are our national values?

Who or which institution should have ordered the full investigation of the questionable certificate?

Considering that he did not present a primary or secondary certificate should our courts be concerned with the technicality of the tendering process of the CSU certificate or the disgrace and global moral damage a forged certificate would wrought on Nigeria?

Why did our national security system not conduct a discrete investigation and advise the candidate and INEC about the status of his certificate?

A few years ago The DSS, in an act of institutional independence and courage, wrote to the Senate to reject Police Commissioner Magu as EFCC Chairman not minding his nomination by a sitting President. This was based on their intelligence report of his nefarious conduct that pales into insignificance against a possible forgery case by a President. Why the silence now?

For me, the issue is beyond legalism. If and that is a big if, the certificate is forged, President Tinubu should resign immediately. It is not a legal matter but a national honour and moral issue. If he does not, the National Assembly should do the needful to restore our dignity as a people. I also expect the Supreme Court to rise to the occasion and restore order to our electoral process.

If the certificate is not forged, the President should conduct a wide-ranging reorganisation of our national security system for failure to save the country from this needless embarrassment and reputational damage.

On either count, the National Assembly should start a constitutional amendment process to end all election judicial challenges before the assumption of office of all elected persons at all levels.

A reform of the judiciary to introduce an automated case assignment system, the introduction of a transparent process for recruitment of judges, and the public display of evaluation of judges’ performance annually using the agreed framework to increase public oversight of judicial officers and improve the administration of justice. The growing unanimity in arriving at decisions in our courts is disturbing.

The bold challenge of President Tinubu by HE Abubakar Atiku in the US is the most prominent sign of state failure. It is depressing but maybe it is an inflection point to alter the character of the Nigerian state to live up to the words of the second stanza of our old national anthem

Our flag shall be a symbol

That truth and justice reign

In peace or battle honour’d,

And this we count as gain,

To hand on to our children

A banner without stain.

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Opinion

Voice of Emancipation: Who Will Save the Falling Naira?

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By Kayode Emola

It would be a profound understatement to say that the dwindling fortunes of people living in Nigeria is concerning. A country that had the fastest-growing economy in the 1960s is now classed as the poverty capital of the world. Instead of people sitting down to look for a viable solution, they look only to elections and which criminal politicians they will elect.

In the 1970s, when Nigeria was productive, the Naira was double the US Dollar and a little higher than the British Pound. In 2023, a mere 50 years later, both Pounds Sterling and the US Dollar are a thousand times stronger than the Naira. If this statistic does not worry the intellectuals and provoke the masses to action, then we will end up sitting on our hands until the Naira has gone the same way as the Zimbabwean Dollar, to utter destruction.

Zimbabwe, which boasted of a highly intellectual population, saw its currency destroyed when hyperinflation forced it to redenominate. Between 1980 and 2009, there were three massive redenomination events in an attempt to control the skyrocketing inflation. As a result, 100 *trillion* Zimbabwean Dollars became worth only 40 U.S cents, forcing the country to officially adopt the use of currencies like the Chinese Yuan, U.S. dollar, and British Pounds, just to mention a few.

I know people in Nigeria would say “God forbid”, that what happened in Zimbabwe can never happen to Nigeria. But it behooves us to remember that Zimbabwe is not alone: Venezuela also suffered similar crises of hyperinflation, forcing it to change its currency three times.

In Nigeria, the inflation figures are not accurately reported, causing the people to be unaware of the real dangers that they face. When four tomatoes that cost ₦200 a year ago now cost over ₦1,000, it gives lie to the claim that inflation is only at 20%. The example of the tomatoes alone puts inflation at 500%, suggesting that the reported figures are merely a smokescreen to stop the people from revolting.

In the 10 years from 2012 to 2022, the Naira has lost its value by more than 700%: from an exchange rate of around $1 to ₦135 in 2012, it is now at $1 to ₦1,000 and falling rapidly. In 2023 alone, the currency has fallen by more than 50% against the U.S. dollar. In early 2023, it was exchanging at around $1:₦460 at the official rate –around $1:₦600 on the parallel market; whereas today, the official rate is around $1:₦790, with the parallel market exchanging at $1:₦1,000.

This is clearly unsustainable for the general populace, given that the Naira shows no sign of slowing its descent. Both history and its current trajectory suggest that the worst is yet to come. Every economic indicator in the country shows that it is heading in the wrong direction. The foreign reserve that we were led to believe was around $60 billion has been revealed to have only around $3 billion; no thanks to the most recent ex-Governor of CBN, Godwin Emefiele, who opened the treasury for the wolves to feast on it.

If truth be told, we Yoruba have existed in this farce called Nigeria for too long, which is why our fortune has eluded us. To correct this turpitude, the only solution is Yoruba independence. However, we must ensure that whilst we are pursuing this dream, we also begin putting mechanisms in place to safeguard our children’s futures.

We must realise that the Naira is beyond redemption. Currency redenomination is not the answer, as it is a very expensive means of addressing leadership failures. Therefore, we must begin to create our own financial system independent of Nigeria. Creating our own blockchain currency would be able to stand the test of time without being devalued by political whim. We must embrace this technology that will help us to advance the cause of independence, protecting our people from being left out in the cold.

As we march on toward our independent Yoruba nation, may I use this opportunity to reassure our people that victory is certain, though it may take a little time. However, we are far closer to our destination than from where we started, so we must not surrender at this eleventh hour. It is only those who quit that have lost the battle; since we are no quitters, by the Grace of God we will overcome all the challenges ahead of us to reach the victory.

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Opinion

Opinion: Soyinka and the ‘Gbajue’ Metaphor

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By Promise Adiele

Akin Akingbesote was my roommate at Q107 Eni-Njoku Hall, University of Lagos. Akin was in 200 level studying Mass Communication while I was in 100 level studying English. Given the large number of Igbo and Yoruba students on campus then, the general lingo was dominated by code-switching straddling pidgin English, Yoruba, Igbo and other forms of slang. My knowledge of Yoruba was poor, Akin’s knowledge of Igbo was abysmal. So, we struck a deal to teach each other our mother tongue at least, to retain a faint knowledge of all linguistic strategies and slang on campus. Akin, a good-natured guy from Ondo State, suggested that the best method would be for us to come up with expressions in the opposite language and bring it to the table while the other person interpreted and analysed them. I agreed. Every day, I came with different Yoruba expressions and Akin interpreted them. He also came with different Igbo expressions and I interpreted them. Both of us sometimes played pranks and were mischievous with the interpretations. However, we managed the situation and it was fun.

One day, I returned to campus from town and asked Akin to explain the meaning of lo toju eru e! I had seen the expression boldly written inside a bus. He explained that it means keep your load safe. Also, I asked him to explain the meaning of owo da! He said it means where is your money? I disagreed with Akin’s interpretation of owo da! I argued that the bus conductors were wrong to use Owo da as where is your money? I told Akin that owo da could mean where is the money which I thought was arrogant and rude. I further argued that Owo da sounded like a thief demanding money from a helpless victim. Pay your transport fare in Yoruba should mean something else, more peaceful and respectful, something like san owo re. Akin laughed at me and said, “When they ask you owo da, don’t give them your money and see what will happen to you”. I told him that in Igbo, pay your money could be translated as kwuo ugwo gi, or nye m ego gi. Although kedu ego gi could be interpreted as pay your money, it didn’t quite capture the accurate linguistic potential of the expression.

One day, I returned to the room and asked Akin, “what is the meaning of gbajue”? He looked at me intently, smiled and asked, “Why do you want to know the meaning of gbajue, abi you don join them”? His response did not make meaning to me. “Akin, please tell me the meaning of gbajue”, I insisted. Well, it means 419, he laughed as he explained. I noticed that Akin was not serious with the gbajue lecture, so I decided to contact a course mate the next day, concluding that to get the best answer, I would approach an Igbo student who also spoke Yoruba fluently, as well as any Yoruba person. So I went to George Nkwocha, the ever-smiling, peacefully disposed guy in my class. Georgie, as we called him, gave me different meanings of gbajue depending on the context. At last, I concluded that gbajue means deception, dubiety, and all forms of criminal tendencies that are meant to mislead, confuse, and lead astray. End of story. Armed with my knowledge of gbajue, I moved on. No one would bamboozle me with the word again.

Having learned and understood the meaning of gbajue in school, I was therefore irked when Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka used it in faraway South Africa as a metaphor to describe the activities of Africa’s most avant-garde political group, Labour Party under the aegis of Obidient movement. According to Soyinka, the Labour Party employed gbajue tactics to befuddle Nigerians, claiming that they won the last presidential elections. The accomplished man of letters avowed that he “can categorically state that Labour Party did not win the election, they came third, not even second”. Let me quickly admit that I am not fit to untie Soyinka’s shoe lace. He is a great man revered and respected across the world. I teach Soyinka’s texts every year. But I am not one of his disciples. I subscribe to Femi Osofisan’s Brecht, Marxist, dialectical leaning more than Soyinka’s ritual cleansing, tragic world view illustrated through his appropriation of Ogun, the Yoruba god of iron and the subterranean agent of self-examination. Soyinka is entitled to his explication of gbajue, although many people think he erred. Many people think he is gradually losing that invincible, iconoclastic portrait of his by consistently aligning with bourgeois, upper-class echelon against the masses. Many people also think that he is gradually eroding all the virtues and principles he stood and fought for as a young man. His “the man dies in all who keep silent in the face of tyranny” has morphed into an ideology with which he is appraised and found wanting because he continues to maintain grave silence in the face of tyranny pro max. Like Soyinka, let me also exercise my intellectual prerogative by offering a personal, surgical dismembering of gbajue, at least within Nigeria’s evanescing, socio-political environment.

Gbajue means to insidiously submit fake academic credentials to the electoral body, serve eight years in an executive capacity and recruit foot soldiers to drum support for you. It is the indoctrination of school children who grow up knowing and answering that someone was this and that, a position attained through deception and beguiling posturing for gain. Gbajue also includes benefitting from the commonwealth having attained a glorious political position riding at the back of fraudulent academic and genealogical claims. All the wealth amassed in that process, all the people who benefitted from that deception are indebted to the gbajue phenomenon and must be made to pay restitution.

Gbajue means when the electoral umpire promises to follow a particular pattern in an election and even goes ahead to publish these regulations in national dailies and the internet. Then, suddenly, like real gbajue-seared beings, make a complete turnaround and abandon the patterns and devices already scheduled for the elections. Then the electoral umpire reverts to its invidious, treacherous, double-dealing methods to conclude the election. The real gbajue element is when the people trooped out in millions based on the promises and assurance of the electoral umpire but only to be deceived, cheated, and abused.

Gbajue means when, during an election, the security apparatus in the country assures people to come out and vote, guaranteeing them ultimate protection and safety. Then, when the people came out, a particular ethnic group is harmed, maimed and dehumanized yet, the same security apparatus connives and looks away from these incidents even with incontrovertible video evidence. Gbajue is when some disoriented people make open threats towards an ethnic group and go on to carry out these threats while the government lapses into hypnotic paralysis only to use media outlets, radio, tv and newspaper to release sterile, hackneyed statements, “we are on top of the situation”.

Gbajue means when in a particular state in the South-South of the country, elections were openly rigged and electoral officers glaringly harassed and threatened by the governor. Yet security personnels looked away and the results were finally admitted by the national electoral body, blurred results. Gbajue is when the electoral umpire, while people of good conscience slept, announced the results of the presidential elections in the wee hours of the night. It is when a group of people representing the judiciary set aside loads of electoral malpractice evidence, chide and rebuke election petitioners as if the judiciary is an arm of the electoral body. Yet, gbajue is surely involved when Abuja is ingeniously stripped of its status as the federal capital territory but does not have a governor as a state, therefore, 25% votes there is inconsequential. Gbajue is big.

Gbajue is when a new government announces the removal of fuel subsidy upon assumption of office without any corresponding, well-thought-out plans to mitigate the excruciating effects of such a knee-jerk decision. Petrol now sells for N620. Pure horror. Gbajue is when a new government titillates the populace with a spurious student loan scheme which lacks any fundamental base and, therefore, crashes as soon as it is announced. Gbajue could be more. It is when a government inaugurates a falsehood industry primarily to hoodwink the people daily with unsubstantiated, misleading tales – UAE lifts visa ban on Nigeria, Mr President is the first to ring the NASDAQ bell, Mr President is the only African leader Biden accepted to meet after UNGA. Gbajue could also mean distributing five billion naira to the states for palliatives when the people received disgraceful, next-to-nothing food items, when, unexpectedly 1$ exchanges for 1,000 naira. Gbajue could be more.

The gbajue culture is maintained and desperately sustained by a coterie of desperate felons whose motives are glaringly tied to gain and the protection of the same. Thus, Nigeria is caught in a whirlwind of different gbajue metaphor. The result of the growth of gbajue in the land is the international embarrassment the country is currently facing regarding the inconsistent academic records of the number one chief executive officer in the land. But gbajue’s comeuppance could be summarized in these words by former US president Abraham Lincoln “you can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time”. I hope the majestic Kongi agrees with my definitions of gbajue.

Promise Adiele PhD is a lecturer with Mountain Top University, and can be reached via Promee01@yahoo.com

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