‘‘Only a thorough probe of the former military bandits and their civilian collaborators will swiftly reposition the country on the route of positive development’’- Quoted in Nowinta’s book, 2009: Where We Are (page 88)
Pebbles with Igbotako Nowinta
As I really expected, the fight against corruption being waged by the Buhari administration is turning bloody by the day as some renowned political bandits are already getting bruises on their faces and ego.
Change is not an easy thing to adapt to, that is a fact we cannot fault. That is why some politicians who have found themselves on the wrong side of the current ‘war’ against corruption are fighting ‘roforofo’ (meaning dirty and desperate) fight with the authorities.
When late afro-beat music king, Fela Anikulapo sang about ‘roforofo’ fight in one of his hit tracks-‘Am not a gentleman at all’ he was actually referring to a tug of war being fought inside muddy water.
A fight in which caution is normally thrown to the wind as the pugilists employ every weapon at their disposal to finish off.
The other day it was some petitioners who felt they were going down the river and decided to clutch at a straw by accusing Ibrahim Lamorde, the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of alleged corrupt practices.
Not quite long ago members of the nation’s leading opposition political party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) raised alarm when President Buhari ordered that all ex-ministers should drop their diplomatic passport with the relevant authorities.
The PDP stalwarts even went ahead to state that President Buhari was introducing dictatorial tendencies into our democratic setting.
Because some political criminals are used to getting their way anyhow before they are now fighting the battle of their lives with every weapon available to them.
Such desperate fight is being fought today by the nation’s number three citizen, Senator Abubakar Olusola Saraki.
Because the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) sitting in Abuja and headed by Justice Danladi Umar felt Senator Saraki was playing ‘Mr. Big and untouchable’ by not obeying its summons to appear before it to answer to allegations of false declaration of assets, it issued a bench warrant for his arrest.
Instead of Senator Olusola Saraki to be law-abiding and lead by example as a giant stalwart of the All Progressives Congress (APC) that campaigned vigorously on the promise of change during the March 2015 general election he has decided to behave otherwise.
Senator Olusola Saraki is pulling some strings within the nation’s Judiciary today to avoid being prosecuted according to the due process of the law, saying that he is being prosecuted by his political rivals and enemies.
If this former Governor of Kwara State between 2003 and 2011 has nothing to hide or is not uncomfortable about his staggering assets he would not have run to seek ex-parte motion in a Federal High Court presided over by Justice Ahmed Ramat Muhammed in Abuja.
In the said ex-parte motion Senator Saraki had sought that the Federal Ministry of Justice, chairmen of Code of Conduct Bureau and the Code of Conduct Tribunal etc., should stop his further arraignment pending the hearing of the substantive suit, asking them to appear before Justice Mohammed by September 21st 2015.
Interestingly it is equally on the same date, September 21st that Justice Danladi Umar has ordered that the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase or other relevant security bodies should produce Senator Saraki before the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
The point being made by Senator Saraki and his lawyers that it is only the Attorney General and Minister of Justice of the Federation or any officer appointed by the AGF that is empowered by law to prosecute him is like postponing the date of reckoning or trying to block his appearance before the CCT on the 21st.
I think Senator Saraki is a bad omen for the change mantra being introduced to the nation by President Buhari today.
We have not forgotten the nasty role he played in the Senate that led to his emergence as Senate President, in the process rubbishing his party’s zoning arrangement.
Now given the way Saraki obtained his ex-parte order from Justice Muhammed it shows that President Buhari needs to do more than the ordinary to sanitize the Judiciary in Nigeria.
As we know the Judiciary in Nigeria has been ridiculed, shattered and mocked by gigantic corruption, a situation where justice has become cash and carry for the highest bidders.
If Buhari must succeed in his fight against corruption the Judiciary must be at par with him. Certainly the likes of Justice Muhammed have no place in this crusade.
As it is being rumored in the press character like renowned activist Femi Falana will be perfectly okay to head the Justice system under Buhari.
The Itse Sagay- led Presidential Advisory Committee on Corruption should be proactive and focused.
It is hoped that if the right guys are planted in the National Judicial Commission (NJC) to discipline black market judges, Nigerian Judiciary will be of immense help to President Buhari’s frontal fight against corruption.
Nowinta wrote: Where We Are – A Call for Democratic Revolution in Nigeria.
