By Louis Odion, FNGE
The introduction lately of the impeachment kite into
the ongoing tussle between the executive and the legislative branches over the
jugular of the EFCC - and potentially the soul of Nigeria's still fragile
democracy - has injected a new twist into what now clearly looks like the
nation's most cynical power play in recent memory.
Impeachment, it must be stressed from the outset, is
the civil equivalent of the nuclear button under extreme circumstance in terms
of unconventional military warfare.
As already pointed out by legal experts, merely
contemplating the impeachment of an Acting President in the absence of the
substantive (and a technically non-existing Vice President) over a disagreement
no more than who has final say over a public department at all is rather
unthinkable, if not lunatic. But it goes to depict the mortal danger
increasingly posed to the national edifice by a senate apparently overtaken by
buccaneers.
Of course, were the impeachment gambit to be pursued
any further, there is no prize for guessing who the beneficiary will ultimately
be. Never in modern history has the instrument of a public institution been so
openly abused and parlayed to the vigorous pursuit of a personal interest.
It would have been most farcical were it not so tragic
that what is truly a desperate manoeuvre to shield an evil enterprise is being
camouflaged elaborately before the nation today as a noble effort to preserve
public health.
More and more, we are
affronted by the monstrosity of those who should be described as
disheveled inmates of a moral leprosarium pushing to sack their minder from the
ether-smelling ward with a view to breaking loose and imposing their own will
on the entire community.
For starters, consider the latest in the litany of
absurdities at the Red Chamber. Last week, on the day the Senate spoke loftily
on the desirability of founding our democratic principles and processes on
institutions as against mortals, it yet lent itself zealously to open
subversion of the authority of the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC).
Odion |
The Abuja court would not oblige embattled Senator Dino
Melaye a restraining order against the recall process initiated by his
constituents in Kogi West. But never mind, the confraternity at the Red Chamber
would improvise an escape route for a comrade ensnared.
In clear contempt of the electorate in Kogi West and
utter spite of the nation at large, deputy senate president Ike Ekweremadu,
while presiding over the plenary, declared point blank that the recall process
commenced by INEC would, as long as he and company continue to hold sway, end
up an exercise in futility. So, the wishes of the people of Kogi West no longer
matter! And INEC would be castrated.
No less self-serving is the argument so far marshaled
by the Senate against the continued stay of Ibrahim Magu as EFCC boss, the
basis on which the senators now threaten hell and Armageddon, not minding if
the nation's democratic space was shut down in entirety.
But while arrogating to themselves powers the
constitution does not grant them and seeking to sit in judgement over others in
an holier-than-thou posture, the supreme irony is that a staggering number of
the lawmakers are themselves nothing but pygmies and lepers in moral standing.
With their individual closet literally bursting at the
seams with assorted skeletons, little wonder then that many are in morbid fear
of Magu. We shall return to this
presently.
Twice, the EFCC boss has been nominated for confirmation
by the senate; twice he has been denied clearance on the strength of a security
report from the Department of State Security now understood to have been
written more out of malice and vendetta than a desire to render public service.
It is now open secret that a cartel of powerful
operators in the presidency as well as the powers-that-be at the DSS had their
own candidate when the vacancy first opened at EFCC in 2015.
President Buhari is believed to have over-ruled that
partnership by settling for Magu who over the years had built a reputation for
ruthless independence of mind as far as the anti-graft battle is concerned.
But President Buhari's gross failing as a leader
apparently incapable of reining in the mischief and insolence of own
subordinates - the hyenas and the jackals (apologies Mrs. Aisha Buhari) - was
soon inadvertently exposed when that same unrelenting cabal opted to waylay his
nominee at the Senate gate with a rather salacious "security report"
accusing Magu of countless iniquities including champagne lifestyle, drug abuse
and cavorting with graft suspects.
This apparent personal inadequacy on the part of PMB is
what was invariably dramatized on the two occasions the conspiring and
conniving lawmakers had waved the "security report" as the smoking
gun against Magu at the senate chamber. Today, historians will certainly have
to scour the epochs all over and scratch their own heads real hard to remember
any appointee who has ever been so patently subversive, so openly defiant of
the Commander-In-Chief.
Regardless, Magu has consistently and stoutly denied
all these allegations in public court. But that is beside the point. Much more
telling is that at no point was the accused offered an opportunity to defend
himself before the authors of the "security report" filed their memo.
Nor has the Senate been fair enough to afford Magu a
chance to also defend himself consistent with the universal principle of fair
hearing or respect for his right and dignity as human being as dictated by
natural law.
Beyond the municipal law which expressly guarantees the
right of reply, Nigeria as a nation and member of the international community
is also a signatory to the universal protocols which emphasize right to fair
hearing as manifest and inalienable right of the human person.
But beyond the fine prints of municipal and
international laws, it is too obvious the continued fierce opposition to Magu
at the Red Chamber is more for self-preservation.
For now, Senate president Bukola Saraki can breath
easy, having been acquitted of sundry misdemeanors by the conduct bureau after
a titanic trial.
Same can however not be said of a good many others,
against whom the penal scale seems to weigh heavily. (To say nothing about
other shadowy characters in the house: from failed contractors, to the
practicing pedophile and the fugitive from American justice over narcotic
substances.)
For instance, Danjuma Goje, erstwhile Gombe governor,
still divides his waking hours between attending senate sessions and making
court appearances over a 18-count charge of conspiracy and fraud to the tune of
N25billion preferred by EFCC.
Beside the distinction of jumping bail abroad and
therefore qualifying to be called an international fugitive, Joshua Dariye has
been standing trial since 2007 on 23-count charge of money laundering, abuse of
office and specifically pocketing N1.2b ecological fund while governor of
Plateau State.
Farmer Abdullahi Adamu of Nasarawa state is also being
prosecuted by the EFCC on a 149-count charge of N15b fraud allegedly
perpetrated while he was Nasarawa governor. So far, his platoon of lawyers are
busy assisting him explore all the tricks in the book to stall proceedings by
challenging the competence of the charge and the jurisdiction of court before
the Court Appeal, Makurdi.
Further down the aisle is Abdulaziz Nyako, son of a
former governor of Adamawa Sate, Murtala Nyako, who made history by being
arraigned alongside his father by the EFCC over alleged siphoning N15billion
through various phantom companies between 2011 and 2013.
Not to forget Ahmed Sani Yarima, who gave Zamfara State
Sharia in 1999 but ironically ended up being docked after office in 2007 on a
19-count corruption charge by the ICPC including diverting part of the
N1billion meant for the repair of Gusau dam.
Meanwhile, Godswill Akpabio, the immediate past Akwa
Ibom governor, is currently under investigation for alleged
"uncommon" heist. While Ms Stella Oduah and Peter Nwaoboshi
representing Anambra and Delta States respectively already have their multi-billion
naira assets seized by the anti-graft agency over alleged shady dealings.
Sadly, these same characters are today among those barricading the Abuja
highway against Magu, invoking the spirit of probity and decency in vain.
No comments:
Post a Comment