Author: Our Correspondent

By Ochanja Obayuana

The man-made virus targeted at ensuring a total desecration of the judiciary appears not yet done with what has become the current fate of Nigerian judges in the face of calculated and unending attacks on them in the performance of their judicial functions. The minions of this war of attrition have again upped the ante in their antics of attritional crusade of attacking not only the mainstream judiciary but have also directed their barrage of bullets against any quasi-judicial bodies sitting in any judicatory capacity.

The ongoing Justice Ayo Salami-led Presidential Panel of Inquiry investigating the many allegations of corruption and abuse of office against the suspended acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Ibrahim Magu, has become the latest victim of the calculated and unwarranted attacks against judicatory bodies. 

Trouble started when the chairman of the Presidential Panel, Justice Ayo Salami (Retired), in what has become a new normal not only within the protocol of court room trial but also in all public gathering as dictated by the current Covid19 protocol of social and physical distancing, directed that only one counsel would be permitted at a time to appear for a party or any interested party into the venue of the trial sitting at the State house in Aso Rock. 

It is to be noted that this directive is not out of the blues nor out of tune with judicial sittings, as even in the regular courts, only limited number of lawyers and witnesses are allowed into the court room by the presiding Judge per time in keeping with the Covid19 precautionary measures of physical and social distancing.

The above was all that the attritional minions of anti-judicature bodies required, led in vanguard by a self-acclaimed Professor of Law, one Zainab Abiola, and who also claims to be a widow of late Chief MKO Abiola, to descend on the highly respected Chairman of the Presidential Panel, in torrents of vituperations and media campaign of calumny, describing Justice Salami’s directive in such derogatory terms as a “Hitler’s Gestapo rule”. Not done, she went on to describe Justice Salami in a more derogatory expression as an “emperor” sitting at a “kangaroo contraction”(sic)” in respect of Twenty-Two allegations which she referred to as “22 lies” against Ibrahim Magu! 

Whilst not holding forth for neither Justice Ayo Salami nor any interested persons in the ongoing investigation of the suspended acting Chairman of the EFCC, (even as the relevant Legal practitioners’ Act and Rules of professional Conduct for lawyers obligate me as a member of the bar to speak in defence of the judex in the face of such slurs as cast on My Lord justice Ayo Salami, Retired), it has become a public duty for all men and women of goodwill to speak out against the pervasive bullish conducts and utterances of persons on self-serving missions, running amok at any slight opportunity to wantonly cast aspersions on judges and persons on quasi-judicial functions. 

If the said Zainab Abiola who claims to be a Professor of Law and wife of the late philanthropist and business mogul cum politician, can truly own the two claims of a professorship in Law and wife of the late Chief MKO Abiola, then she has woefully failed in the legitimate and reasonable expectations of what those two claims ought to resonate in her in the eye of the public.

 A professor of law is presumed as one who is a lawyer by training, called to the Nigerian Bar and trained in the finest tradition and etiquette of the Bar and who has reached up to the zenith of the discipline of law, from whom the profession, nay, the world expect of her the highest level of decorum both in conduct and speech. In similar vein, her claim as a widow of the late Chief MKO Abiola, a claim not supported by the Wikipedia on the personal details of the late MKO Abiola were there are listed the names of the late MKO Abiola’s wives, except Zainab Abiola belongs to the “other women” listed in the Wikipedia under the listed wives of the late MKO Abiola therein, one should equally expect of her a manifestation of the culture of speaking from the enviable heights of aristocratic decency even in extreme situations of provocation as seen in the behavioural conducts of wives of the late MKO Abiola such as Simbiat Abiola (of blessed memory), Kudirat Abiola (of blessed memory), Doyinsola Abiola, to mention but only the three above, as against the resort to gutter language that came handy for the said Zainab Abiola in a scenario where such descent to the low that she went was unwarranted. One is therefore hard put to believe, against the reasonable expectations of the very backdrop of her claims  as a Professor of Law and a widow of the late MKO Abiola, her claims in the above respects as there has never been any mention of her name or appearance of her lawyer’s seal on any process of courts nor membership of any branch of the bar in Nigeria or elsewhere, not to mention any publication credited to her as her contribution to the development of the law in any reputable journal in proof of her claim as a Professor of law, only to pop up at the venue of the sitting of the Presidential Panel to do a yeoman’s hatchet job, apparently for the press, to satisfy whatever interest of causing a distraction she came to serve.

 Having brandished her professorial status before our faces, it is therefore meet to equally call her out in public scrutiny to lay bare to the public her entire biodata showing the schools she attended and qualifications obtained, in proof of the professorial claim.

It is instructive to note that among the many allegations of corruption and abuse of office against the suspended acting Chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, subject matter of the investigation by the Presidential Panel, is the allegation of use of proxies who acted as go-between in the collections of bribe money from the many victims of extortions in the allegations of corruption and abuse of office against Ibrahim Magu. It calls to mind the truth of the saying that “if you fight corruption, corruption fights back”.

It bears repeating to state that the façade of constitutional and democratic rights advocacy that she put up in apparent justification for staging her outing on that day of the incident under review, was only intended to mislead unsuspecting members of the public to buy into her antics that the Justice Ayo led presidential Panel is acting out a script against her principal, Ibrahim Magu.  

Otherwise, it is difficult to fault the directive of the Presidential Panel on any issue of bias or violation of right of representation as alleged or being insinuated by Zainab Abiola in her diatribes against Justice Ayo Salami, as the Panel never denied, but satisfied, the constitutional requirement of Ibrahim Magu’s right of legal representation. 

I have taken time to monitor the proceedings of the Panel and observed that for over one month, and still counting, that this panel has sat, Wahab Shittu has always appeared as lead defence counsel for Ibrahim Magu. At no time has the said Zainab Abiola ever appeared otherwise, she would have been aware of the Panel’s insistence on having only one counsel per party in representation. That a host of counsel must be allowed in at the venue of sitting in satisfaction of that requirement, as Zainab Abiola appears to suggest, is to stretch that legal requirement to suit other interests than the legal interest it is, as even where more than one counsel is representing a persons in court or tribunal, only one of the counsel is allowed to speak in representation.

 This is the standard practice all over the world. Any other counsel in the team can only make his/her contribution in ideas or otherwise and harmonise with the lead counsel prior to the sitting.

 There is therefore no justification, whatsoever, for Zainab Abiola who was expected to have made all her contributions and handed same over to the lead counsel prior to the sitting, to conceive of any ill motive against Justice Ayo Salami on his directive to permit only but one counsel, across board for that matter, to represent persons at the panel. 

Except the Bar rises up to set in motion the legal Practitioners’ Disciplinary Committee against such erring members of the bar, if the claim of Zainab Abiola as a lawyer called to Nigerian Bar is anything to go by, the desecration of the legal profession, particularly the Bench, and by members of the legal profession, as it has become the pastime of many with attritional interests to serve, may yet continue with the attendant consequences of total collapse staring at us in the face.

Ochanja Obayuana, is a public Affairs Analyst writes from Abuja.

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BY EMMANUEL ONWUBIKO

The Delta State born United States’ Dollars denominated Billionaire- Mr. Jim Ovia is amongst the les than 0.01% of Nigerians that have garnered financial resources that will last for over five life times. 
This exclusive bunch of wealthy entrepreneurs are few and far between but they are classed into two subgroups namely those who made their wealth through their involvement in politics and the very few who made their wealth through their sweat by dint of had work and quick thinking. 
Mr. Jim Ovia obviously belongs to this fast diminishing subclass of the very wealthy Nigerians whose sources of resources are legitimate and credible. 
Others in this extremely exclusive class are Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Femi Otedola who just bought expensive cars for three of his daughters who is a friend of Aliko Dangote who is the richest black man on Earth. 
Then there is also Chief Arthur Eze and a few others who truly worked hard for their current wealth. 
The irony is that both subclass of rich Nigerians are interconnected in their near-infinite optimism they share about the prospects and future of Nigeria which realistically is seen by a majority of Nigerians as a place whereby the poor are only existing as extremely endangered species and a place whereby money can literally buy you everything from foods, privileges to government offices and justice in the Courts of law. 
I will return to the important issue of the chasm between the haves and the haves- not and then further deepen our conversations on why at the post independence age of 60, the Country known as Nigeria, is still a toddler in many spheres such as in the fields of Science and Technology,  TRANSPARENCY,  accountability and good governance.  
Nigeria’s inability to foster good governance practices and build strong institutions,  aaccounts for the breakdown of Law and order and the near -elastic status of insecurity and instability. 
To underscore the enormity of the challenges confronting contemporary Nigeria, we need to mention that China which is one of the few very advanced and developed economies on the globe, only got Sovereign independence from the British (Or so it seems)  and other Colonial masters only less than a dozen years before Nigeria also got independence from Great Britain on October 1st 1960 meaning that on October 1st 2020, Nigeria would be 60 years of Post Independence from Britain and yet all the teething problems associated with a failed state are the characteristics that are our second nature as a nation. 
As stated earlier, the story of Nigeria is seen from two prisms of those who are gravely underprivileged, endangered and impoverished and the second strand is the version told by the few extremely resource rich Nigerians who I had discussed in the beginning stages of this piece. 

So, if someone who is not conversant  with the workings of Nigeria decides to read the book authored by Mr. Jim Ovia which he aptly titled “Africa Rise and Shine”, you may be made to go with the idea that Nigeria is such a wonderful place whereby poverty, crimes and wars are not so much huge existential threats. 
Far from it, NIGERIANS are undergoing a period of the worst existential threat that any member of the human race can face with Nigeria ranking third as the nation that is amongst the worst impacted nations by terrorists attacks just after war torn nations of Syria and Afghanistan.  
This Global Index ranking of Terror threats is the latest. Nigeria is now a Country where you can embark on a journey of few kilometres and get kidnapped by armed non state actors who are waging a war of attrition against Nigerians in such a devastating way that the properly constituted armed security forces are overwhelmed and in some instances the current administration is compromised and acts like the officials are the sponsors of some of these TERROR attacks unleashed by so many armed Fulani herdsmen and terrorists including those the Federal Government gave the guy name of ‘armed bandits’. 
Half of the geographical territories of Nigeria is at war and the North East of Nigeria that is larger than Belgium and France combined is facing persistent terror attacks that have lasted a decade and still counting in which over 26,000 Nigerians have lost their lives and there are over two million internally and externally displaced Nigerians. 
I will return to give a run down of the devastating impact of the violence unleashed by armed Fulani herdsmen and terrorists on Nigerians but first let us summarise the views of Jim Ovia about Nigeria and Africa and then we see that these obviously one sided and unbalanced tales by moonlight lacking in sound logic tallies with the substantially phantom claims of Nigeria as rendered by President Muhammadu Buhari when he inaugurated today, the logo of the 60th anniversary of Nigeria’s independence.  
So that book by Jim Ovia  sounded too optimistic that you can mistake it for a government sponsored propaganda booklet because it began by quoting a western media known as The Economist in which we were told thus: “Africa now has a fast growing middle class: according to standard bank. Around 60 million Africans have an income of $3,000 a year and 100 million will in 2015. The rate of foreign investment has soared around tenfold in the past decade”.
This Optimistic Quotation was Published by the United Kingdom’s based The economist on December 2011. It must be stated that The Economist often publishes sponsored commercial information. So their statistics are not cast in stone or iron cast. 
Then in the beginning chapter in which chief Jim Ovia narrated the story of his meteoric rise from a humble beginning to becoming the successful owner of an enterprise that is worth in the neighbourhood of $16 Billion as at 2018 when the book left the press, this successful entrepreneur also gave an optimistic view of what Africa is to him which in reality is a stark contradiction from reality. 
Appearance is different from reality.  
His words: “When most people outside Africa visualise the continent, the associations they often make are with famine and poverty, conflicts and war. From the moment I began writing this book, I have been determined to redefine this narrative and illustrate the real Africa behind the headlines”. 
The empirical data and facts on the ground tell a different story line from what this rich entrepreneur wants others to believe about Africa and Nigeria specifically.  It must be stated that as an upwardly mobile investor whose substantial stakes are in the banking sector in Africa, he ought not  to be the one that will spread fatalistic story about Africa. 
But if the truth be told, Africa and Nigeria specifically is in a state of organised confusion and this quagmire which is self made has completely rendered Africa as a continent of wars, mass poverty, political instability and terrorism.  
The Sahel region of Africa is destabilised by terrorists from the global Islamists jihadist groups and Nigeria has faced constant stream of bombing campaign by the Boko haram terrorists and a number of other armed freelance hoodlums. 
However, President Muhammadu Buhari seems to be living in the World of fantasy and denial to the extent that he made some claims that are far removed from the current realities on the ground in the Present day Nigeria where I have worked as a Journalist for over three decades. 
In what can easily be dismissed as barefaced lies, President Muhammadu Buhari while Unveiling the theme and logo for the commemorative activities to celebrate 60 years of independence today in Abuja described Nigeria as Africa’s largest economy and the most prosperous black nation in the world. 
This exaggerated claim reminds me of a point made by Professor Chinua Achebe in one of his earliest works done in the 1980’s called ‘The Trouble With Nigeria”, this Philosopher rightfully stated that political elites are fond of over estimating the classification of Nigeria in such a dubious manner that a giant with clay feet that Nigeria is in their warped imagination is the best thing to have happened to the World. Like a Prophet that he was, the truth told in that tiny book by Professor Achebe has come true today in the claims and exaggerated rating of Nigeria made by President Muhammadu Buhari.   
The place of this celebration of falsehood was at the inaugural event to unveil the Nigeria at 60 theme, TOGETHER, with the logo which reportedly  was projected and unveiled virtually on the 12 by 20 feet screen at the Council Chambers, before the commencement of the e-Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Buhari.
The President, Muhammadu  Buhari performed the exercise in the presence of some cabinet ministers and other members of the council who joined the meeting online. Muhammadu Buhari was quoted as making these further unsubstantiated claims to make him feel messianic: ”Today, we stand on the threshold of history as we formally begin a series of activities commemorating Nigeria’s Diamond Anniversary.
”The task history has saddled me with today is to proclaim a theme that will keep us united, help us forge ahead and unveil a logo that will form the critical pillars which our 11-month modest commemorative activities would rest on.
”Celebrating sixty years of independence really calls for pomp, but the global COVID-19 pandemic, which has forced all nations in the world to think and act differently, has also foisted on us the imperative of a low-keyed celebration.
”Operating within the limitations placed by the COVID-19 pandemic, we created an internet challenge for Nigerians to make a choice from a set of four pre-selected logos that would appropriately define the theme.
”Of these four options, Nigerians from all walks of life participated in making a choice and I am happy to let you know that the logo I would be unveiling is a product of choice from the Nigerian people,” President Buhari said.
President Buhari speaking further on the logo said; ”The selected option depicts our togetherness, a country of over 200 million people whose natural talent, grit and passion glitter like the precious DIAMOND we are.
”This, to me, is a special appreciation to our most precious asset – our people. Everywhere you go, Nigerians are sparkling like diamonds in the pack, whether in academia, business, innovation, music, movie, entertainment, fashion and culture.
”Furthermore, the neatly encrusted Diamond on the Nigerian Map symbolizes our age of treasure, the worth of the Nigerian people with our sparkle to the admiration of the world.
‘‘In the same vein, the pear green and dark green colours should respectively remind us of our warmth, welcoming spirit and love as well as the abundant wealth inherent in our human capital and the richness of our land.
‘‘All these properties make us unarguably the most prosperous black nation in the world and Africa’s largest economy.’’
On the theme of TOGETHER, President Buhari recounted that the country’s founding fathers, in spite of the differences in faith, tribe and tongue came together to fight for Nigeria’s independence.
‘‘This shall be a befitting tribute to the struggles of our heroes past,’’ he said.
The President thanked members of the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) on Nigeria’s Sixtieth Anniversary Celebration for the work they have done so far, reminding them ‘‘that this is just the beginning.’’
President Buhari pledged that his government would work towards greater inclusiveness and look forward to the participation of all Nigerians in the celebration.
Can we then ask if the President truly believed all these ghost claims about Nigeria when even his North West region is up in flames with persistent terror attacks against soft targets and even cases of kidnapping of security agents  have heightened? I’m sure some of his ministers would have laughed at these cheap propaganda that President Muhammadu Buhari tried to forced down our throats.  
Can we ask President Muhammadu Buhari why he believes or he wants us to believe that Nigeria that is so unstable and insecure under his five years old gross misrule  is the fastest growing nation in Africa when only recently his Agriculture minister told Nigerians that ECOWAS assisted to send us corns, cereals and foods to feed millions of starving Nigerians?  How can we be told these tales by moonlight by President Muhammadu Buhari when Nigeria under him became the poverty capital of Nigeria in 2019 with well over 100 million absolutely poor Nigerians even far above India with a population that is ten times bigger than ours? 
How can a Country where the President fails to rebuild the economy amidst abundant natural and manpower resources but goes about cap- in -hand borrowing money from all conceivable and inconceivable places just so his administration maintains the large and expensive bureaucratic structures it has maintained since coming to office five years ago be lying to us about some imaginary prosperity? How can a Country in which the government plays on the division amongst the various ethnicities and religions for political goals be said to be prosperous? Can a Country whose government lacks the capacity to protect the citizens be said to be prosperous? Can a President who gives strategic national security appointments to only Moslem Northerners be said to be genuinely interested in building Nigeria to attain prosperity? 
These are the facts: there will be no prosperity and peace or economic growth unless Nigeria’s structural imbalances are fixed and amended fundamentally  and all component groups are made to feel a sense of belonging. Anything short of STRUCTURAL REFORMS AND JUSTICE in Nigeria is a mere SMOKESCREEN.  
Nigeria needs a President who will behave like  a good and proficient driver to take the Country to the real next level of a comprehensively restructured federation of equal nationalities whereby no single religious or ethnic nationality will assume the BIRTHRIGHT OF MONOPOLIZING POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC POWERS OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA thereby treating all other groups as if they are conquered people. 
Nigeria has to be administered as a CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY WHEREBY THE PRINCIPLES OF THE RULE OF LAW WILL BECOME SACROSANCT AND NO PERSON WILL BE TREATED AS A SACRED COW AND EVERY ONE WHO COMMITS AN OFFENCE IS PROSECUTED IN THE COMPETENT COURTS OF LAW AND A NATION WHEREBY ALL ARMS OF GOVERNMENT ARE ALLOWED TO WORK INSTITUTIONALLY IN COMPLIANCE  WITH PRESCRIBED RULES AND LAWS. 
Nigeria right now is being mismanaged. 
Erstwhile President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Nobel Laureate in Literature Professor Wole Soyinka were right in making their considered assessments that Nigeria is drifting to the precipice of destruction, no thanks to the misgovernance of President Muhammadu Buhari.  
Professor Chinua Achebe of blessed memory was right in all the factual accounts about Nigeria that he published in his MAGNUS OPUS called “There was a Country”. 
Now indeed there is a contraption called Nigeria that is badly managed or beyter still grossly mismanaged by the ruling political and privileged class who lack patriotism. 
*Emmanuel Onwubiko is the Head of the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria.

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