Politics
Onnoghen’s Trial And Rule Of Law
Nigerians woke up in the morning of January 7, 2019 to hear that the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen was a very corrupt man and that he would be charged to court on the 11th of January, 2019.
The news initially was thought to be just a rumour but when it was confirmed, there was hues and cries across the country.
One funny allegation was that he did not declare one of his assets ..Domiciliary account, which did not hold water. For every public servant, asset declaration is done every four years. And if a person gets a political appointment or elective post, it is done twice, while taking the oath of office and when the person is about to leave or leaves. These are the only stipulated periods assets are declared.
So, if the Chief Justice buy shares in a company or invests his fund in a business venture, years or months after declaring his asset on assumption of office, it is not a crime, asset declaration is not done every month.
The question here is not whether Chief Justice is guilty or not guilty but in tackling issues of corruption, the Federal Government has continuously goofed and made itself look foolish in the eyes of the public and the international community.
This is the second attempt to assault and rubbish the judiciary. 2016, the residence of six justices were raided with crow bars, chisels and hammers, their doors broken, furniture thrashed and the justices were accused of corruption and illegal possession of arm and ammunition, all these deeds were done at midnight, but at the end of the day the government still goofed as noting substantial could be deduced from its action.
The disturbing feeling here is that this ugly trend is coming barely month to the presidential and general elections in the country. And to the discerning mind it has political undertones. this is because to some observers of Nigerian politics, Justice Walter Onneghen, was never at any time the preferred candidate for the position of Chief Justice of Nigeria by who rather believes in appointing people he could trust especially persons of Northern extraction, preferably his fellow Muslim.
This feeling cannot be easily dismissed as virtually all heads of the country’s security outfits are headed by people from one section of the country and the only arm of government that is still outside this reach is the office of the CJN.
In condemning the recent assault on the judiciary, eminent nigerians including governors, legal practitioners; human rights activists and opposition political parties said the action was not only nauseating but a shame on the government for ridiculing itself in the eyes of the public and the international community. They said under the 1999 constitution, section 158 (1) it is only the National Judicial Council, NJC, that has the ample powers to deal exhaustively with matters pertaining to allegations of misconduct and discipline of Judicial officers, adding that without following the laid down procedure those responsible for the infamous act are just wasting their time.
What makes the proposed arraignment of the chief justice before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) look picious To that the petition was submitted to the EFCC on 7th of January and within 48 hours investigation has been concluded and the Chief Justice was invited to appear before the CCT on the 11th of January.
The psychological warfare being waged by the All Progessives Congress-led Federal Government right from its inception in 2019 against its Progressives political opponents and those it disagrees with on constitutional issues has been unrelenting. All what is does is tag someone as being corrupt, leak the information to the social media and other selected media houses and fan the flames of disinformation and propaganda and the rest they say is history. But one thing we should understand is that in a democracy dissent, criticism opposition, legislative and judicial independence are virtually part of the system.
Nigerians should be grateful that we have a vibrant media, judiciary and active set of social justice advocates otherwise the country would have been like Uganda under the dictatorship of late President Idi Amin who brooked no criticism, dissent or opposition to his rule.
After killing over 300,000 people or sending hundreds of thousands into exile his next target was the judiciary. He even had the effrontery to order the killing of the Chief Justice of Ugunda, Justice Benedicto Luwum. The justice was kidnapped right in his office at the court premises in broad day light in 1972 in Kampala and was never seen again.
When some Nigerians expressed their long held view that General Buhari has not shed his military posture, is not a democrat and will not fit in well in a democratic culture the naive ones disagreed and today what do we have? Yesterday, it was former President Goodluck Jonathan who was vilified, almost on a daily basis, then it was the turn of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki Saraki was accused of not declaming his asset of which he was discharged and acquitted.
Later he was accused of sponsoring armed robbers and he is still battling with the police. After Saraka Dino Meleye was next. Today it is the Chief justice, Justice Walter Onneghen Don’t be surprised if tomorrow it wont be the turn of one prominent critic or presidential candidate being accused of running a prostitution ring or peddling hard drugs.
It seems that the present administration has a dirty tricks department where allegations are cooked up against potential threats to its interest. The notion could not be farfetched as its modus operandus has always been the same, no finess, same story corruption and nothing else. For God’s sake there are other teething problems bedeviling the country. The presidency and the APC should focus more on issues like job creation, rapid infrastructure education, power supply than sing the archaic song of corruption ! corruption ! corruption !!!.
There is no country where you don’t have corrupt elements but in Nigeria we seem to have lost focus and instead of being holistic in our approach to issues have become “Tunneled visioned”. We can’t think outside the pox that’s why the democratic culture in most African countries are by far better than that of Nigeria.
The Judiciary in Nigeria is well respected globally, that is why prominent Nigerian jurists have served in the Gambia, Sieme Leone, Uganda and even at the Hague. And if the corruption mantra is so widely spread will these jurists be called to serve in these places?
The Nigerian Bar Association and other well meaning Nigerians must speak out and act now otherwise our hard earned freedom for a democratic culture will eventually fizzle out. Not even under the military rule where judges riducled and harassed publicly. This action has really taken Nigeria to the stone age. Wake up Nigerians! Wake up !!
Tonye Ikiroma-Owiye
The immediate past President of Obolo Youth Coalition( OYC), Mr Ijong Ama Nkpon Amon, has commended the National Assembly committee on constitutional review for the inclusion of Obolo State as one of the states proposed to be created in the country.
Mr Amon also urged the NASS Committee to give priority to Obolo as the proposed state is viable in terms of human and material resources.
It would be recalled that the proposed Obolo State compromises eight local government areas, one from Rivers State and seven from Akwa Ibom State.
The OYC former National President who briefed newsmen on the issue described the proposed Obolo State as the most viable among the 31 proposed new states in the country.
He also described the inclusion of Obolo State among the list as a dream come true for sons and daughters of Obolo nation who have for years yearned for a political entity that will bring the Obolo people who are scattered in various states across the country together.
According to him, the proposed Obolo State is even more viable than some existing states in the country as it has both human and material resources to survive, adding that the proposed state is not only rich in oil and gas but has enough marine and forest resources to generate revenue.
Mr Amon who recounted how the agitation for the proposed state started said Obolo State agitators were the first to submit a memorandum to both chambers of the National Assembly for the creation of Obolo State.
According to him, the agitation started way back in 2022 when, as the president of Obolo youth coalition, he submitted a memorandum to the National Assembly, adding that he was happy that his efforts were yielding results.
The youth leader also said that there is no impediment to the creation of Obolo State as population wise and natural resources the state is fully qualified
“Obolo is over qualified in terms of geographical spread and resources.
Also population wise and land mass, Obolo is richer than some states in Nigeria. Obolo is the most viable, it has oil and gas,fishes and forest resources”, he said.
Mr Amon, who is also a one time Speaker of Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Youth Parliament and president, Andoni Youth Coalition, further said the creation of Obolo State will not only help to improve the conditions of life of the Ijaw nation but also Niger Delta at large.
He argued that even if the creation of the state does not come to pass, history will record that Obolo people once agitated for their own state but expressed the hope that the agitation will yield positive results this time around.
Mr Amon urged Obolo people to be resilient and continue to pray for the actualization of the Obolo State.
Meanwhile Mr Amon has said that the creation of more states in the country will pave the way for the practice of true federalism in the country.
He told newsmen that it would enable states in the country to depend less on federal allocation as they will be made to source for revenues to survive.
According to him: “creation of more states will give more powers to the states to source for revenues and pay taxes to the federal government and this will bring true federalism”, he said.
By: John Bibor
A former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, has faulted calls for the creation of 31 additional states in the country .
Speaking during an interview yesterday, the PDP chieftain said creating additional states would not solve the country’s challenges or promote its development.
Recall that the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, last Thursday said the House had received proposals for the creation of 31 new states.
Hon. Kalu, who is also Chairman of the House Constitution Review Committee, said that six new states were proposed in the North-Central, four in the North-East, five in the North-West, five in the South- South, five in the South-East and seven in the South-West.
According to him, the proposed states include Okun, Okura and Confluence from Kogi; Benue Ala and Apa from Benue; FCT State; Amana from Adamawa; Katagum from Bauchi; Savannah from Borno; Muri from Taraba; New Kaduna and Gujarat from Kaduna State; Tiga and Ari from Kano; Kainji from Kebbi; Etiti and Orashi as the sixth states in the South-East; Adada from Enugu; and Orlu and Aba.
Others are Ogoja from Cross River, Warri from Delta, Ori and Obolo from Rivers, Torumbe from Ondo, Ibadan from Oyo, Lagoon from Lagos and Ogun, Ijebu from Ogun, and Oke Ogun/Ijesha from Oyo/Ogun/Osun states.
Some political stakeholders have, however, vehemently opposed the idea, describing it as unnecessary.
Reacting, Chief George said what was needed in the country at this time was not creation of additional states.
He argued that the fact that some existing states were not viable clearly showed that state creation would not solve the country’s deep structural problems.
Instead, Chief George called on the National Assembly to make efforts to ensure the country achieves true federalism, saying that it was a sure way to achieve accelerated development .
He stated, “Don”t tell me we should create more states. Forget about more states. We want to create more states and then everybody will be rushing to Abuja. This is not sustainable. Let us look at our federal structure first, the same federal system we run with America. Why are we not running it as they run their own?
“Go to New York City, the Mayor of New York controls the airport, the John Kennedy Airport, he controls the ports, the sea ports, the Mayor of New York, not the governor.
“Go to New Orleans, the Mayor there controls the ports. The same in Texas, all oil companies are not controlled by the President. That is federalism. Those people don’t run to Washington every hour to meet the President.
“In America, they have state police and even county police. Why can’t we have such here? Creation of more states is not sustainable. What we need now is to address the problems in our federal structure.”
Calling for devolution of power, Chief George said power devolution would catalyse the development of the country.
He, however, said the present constitution was not working and there was a need to have a new constitution to drive the country’s development.
The PDP chieftain said the current constitution put too much power in the centre, leaving the states and local governments helpless and incapacitated.
He noted: “There is no state in this country that the Almighty has not endowed. It is either agriculture or minerals or human resources. But the constitution of this country is not right. We need to revisit it and now allow all those states to manage themselves, manage their resources. That is the beginning of the cleansing of this country. Nothing is working because the foundation is faulty”.
Chief George called for the adoption of the recommendations of the 2014 Confab to achieve true federalism and address the country’s numerous challenges.
A former Organising Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Andoni Local Government Area of Rivers State, Elder Blessing Tiko, has urged the people of Port Harcourt City Local Government Area support the administration of Hon. Ezebunwo Ichemati.
Elder Tiko made this in an exclusive interview with The Tide in Port Harcourt.
The former party organising secretary, who is also the coordinator of Port Harcourt Environmental Sanitation Initiative, said Hon Ichemati has raised the bar as far as the administration of the capital city is concerned.
He particularly praised the Mayor for embarking on some people-oriented projects within his first one hundred days in office.
According to him, the Mayor has bought vehicles for all the councilors and principal aides of the council including the Deputy Mayor.
He also praised him for the construction of a two bedroom flat for 93 years old widow at Elekahia and purchase of land for Ogbunabali community as its play ground.
Elder Tiko also commended the Mayor the for construction of a road in Elekahia and installation of street lights and the ongoing reconstruction of a road and drainage system at Ekwe Street in Diobu.
According to him the ongoing construction of international educational centre at the council premises also deserves commendation.
He further said that the Mayor, during the end of year festivities, also visited the Port Harcourt Correctional Center and some homes for the less privileged to celebrate with them.
Elder Tiko urged the people to appreciate the gestures of the Mayor by supporting him to ensure that he succeeds, stressing that, if possible, the Mayor should be endorsed for a second term in office.
In addition, the elder statesman also commended Governor Siminalayi Fubara for his purposeful leadership in the state.
By: John Bibor
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