It was popular Nigerian evangelical pastor Tunde Bakare who insisted after couple of months of President Muhammadu Buhari in office, that unlike his predecessor he surely was not clueless but perhaps helpless. President Buhari may currently not be considered to be helpless seeing he has a cabinet full of ministers, but going by the undue criticisms and skepticisms he has received from some quarters, I did say surely to get Nigeria repositioned in the right direction that would benefit all of it's citizenry, Buhari would need plenty of help from concerned Nigerians and not just mere criticisms or wasted breaths.
Talk is cheap and playing to the gallery even more cheaper, but what Nigeria needs now is action, drastic re-invention that would deliver it's soul and proper leadership in all areas that would give us a semblance of a true nation the entire black race can be proud of. That does not mean Buhari cannot be criticised or told the truth when he is out of order, but what is the point criticising like the days of old or writing all sorts of meaningless open letters to the president when we offer no sound alternative? The issues bedevilling Nigeria are right there glaring us in the face, except we've been a beneficiary of the problems that is when we would not acknowledge what the issues are, but what we need to be talking about now is solutions not just the same old problems we already know.
First on the list of our problem is corruption, that robs the nation of vital resources and steals away the future of our fellow citizens and luckily we have a president who acknowledges the damage corruption poses and is doing something about it. To then criticise the president for fighting corruption and claiming he is not paying attention to the economy is just mere criticism and grandstanding. First we must realise with the level of corruption we have in Nigeria, there is more or less no meaningful economy as our economy and national life is a direct consequence of the level of corruption going on. You smash corruption to pieces and plug leakages, then you can begin to have a semblance of a real economy, at the moment what we have is a paper economy where growth is simply just a loose term used fancifully but makes no meaning to the lives of many Nigerians. Thus when Buhari's government faces corruption headlong, it would need help and plenty of it from all Nigerians and not just loud-mouthed criticisms for the sake of it.
To help the President and his government we need to proffer genuine alternatives in cases where they are wrong or offer proper advise to make them do better if already on the right track not just criticising. Buhari cannot do it alone and it hovers on every single Nigerian to ask ourselves how do we view Nigeria? Do we see it as a country we call our own and would be happy to leave our children and grandchildren behind in the way it is at the moment, or a mere corporate entity we want to make our own profit from and don't care what becomes of it? If we view it as a country, then judges at the Supreme Court for example would need to be reminded that their decisions in some recent cases are contrary to national expectations and perhaps interests.
The Supreme court as the highest constitutional court in the country should not allow itself be involved in anything that would ridicule it's position and judgement. I dare say, that we would need to pass a legislation that forbids the Supreme court from hearing appeals from Gubernatorial and all other elections except the Presidential elections. Every other elections bar that of the presidential should terminate at the Court of Appeal, this is so that when there is any travesty of justice, the Appeal Court judges can be probed and removed compared to Supreme court judges who can only evidently retire from their positions except in worst case scenarios like we have now. It would be a sure road to anarchy if the Supreme court starts dishing out all sorts of political judgements and politicians in their desperation begin to flout their decisions. We've seen Senators asked to vacate their positions by the Supreme court, who are still questioning the decision and providing their own private interpretations. We going down the road to anarchy with such attitude and we need to pull back from the brink.
There is nothing stopping the Supreme court from sending back election cases for retrials to the Court of Appeal and High Court divisions whilst narrowing down the grounds of appeal for example, or the point of law that needs to be looked at so as to save time on the case considering they are more eminent jurists and with a pronouncement that the decision reached at the retrial would be adopted as their own decision. They do not have to decide on every case and assault the sensibilities of some Nigerians with their decisions. The Supreme court is not a place for every Tom, Dick and Harry particularly in matters of elections in respective states that can simply be concluded at the Court of Appeal division except if it is the presidential election that affects every Nigerian. Thus, taking a look at the written decision of Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun on the Rivers state Gubernatorial elections would make one disappointed as it dwells more on matters of technicalities that could makes it referable to the Tribunal or Court of Appeal for a re-trial, as it does not show any principle or specific point of law they disagree with that could help add to our body of law except for procedural errors in the case from the lower courts. For the love of God and everything good, of what interest are matters of technicalities or procedures to the highest constitutional court in our land that they should use that in overturning a decision before them based on evidence? It is a ridiculous joke to be honest. Justice Kudirat Kere-Ekun and her other Supreme court justices have shown us what their belief in Nigeria and what kind of future they want to leave behind for their children and it is not impressive one bit as evidences from the Rivers state Governorship elections in 2015 were glaring for everyone to see including local and foreign observers. Should matters of technicalities or procedural errors rule out an evidential case or should the Supreme court be ordering a retrial instead while pointing the lower court to issues they should concentrate on to save time? I had to go in that direction for us to understand that Buhari cannot do it alone in terms of resetting the destiny of Nigeria, he would need help and decisions like the one from Justice Kekere-Ekun et al. does not help one bit except of course their written decision when published shows us superior reasoning.
Thus having said that, in fighting against corruption, we would need justices at the High Court division that would be fearless, radical and patriotic enough to look corruption in the face and say enough. Buhari is not the only Nigerian. High court justices appointed to sit over corruption cases are also Nigerians and they must realise that it is the effect of corruption that makes it hard to have proper education for their children in their own country and they have to send them abroad with all their earnings to acquire decent education. It is the same corruption that leaves their court room, offices and homes without functioning electricity and they have to rely on generators. Corruption leaves them with bad roads they drive on, no good hospitals to attend to their health needs, it puts so much pressure on them to become corrupt too in order to meet their needs, simply put corruption kills. So when they are asked to sit on corruption cases, it should be an opportunity for them to shine and put these so called Senior Advocates (SANS) - who use the old pony tricks we all know of to protect their thieving clients- to shame. The Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA 2015) puts so many of the SANS out of their old school business of the frustration of justice and it is time for High court judges to take many of them and their clients to the cleaners. We want fool-proof judgements that would be difficult to change on appeal by the corrupt elements brought before them, as Nigerians want to know and memorise the names of popular and incorruptible judges like in the days of yore.
We've had the likes of Taslim Elias who rose to become the President of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Chukwudifu Oputa, Mohammed Bello (first Northern Chief Justice of Nigeria), Kayode Eso all of blessed memory amongst many others. Those were names Nigerians respected in their hey days, and we want more High court judges like that who can use these present corruption cases brought before them to build their names to world class status with the foolproof judgements that they would deliver that would make it difficult to be tampered with at the Appeal and Supreme court divisions (where the problem of our judiciary seem to lie at the moment). Buhari cannot do it alone he would need help other wise we might as well just keep on criticising, if the judiciary does not see the corruption battle as their own and refuse to give in to any primordial, greedy or foreign interests they would only be sounding a death knell on the nation's future.
This article would be concluded soon.
Ambode, Lagos And His Quiet Works
Away from President Buhari for now and we cast a look at the works done so far by the Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode and I must admit that I'm impressed by his quiet but yet efficient job he is doing so far in the state. I was one person who criticised and still do criticise the manner of his selection and imposition on APC party in Lagos state by his 'Godfather' Bola Tinubu but judging from his reasonable performance one could admit with was a good choice made.
The governor was initially busy with some behind the scenes political bickering with his predecessor 'Tunde Fashola and soon took his eyes off the ball of administering the state. This led to increase spate of armed robberies, kidnappings and insecurity in the state, coupled with some good decisions he took concerning the state traffic management agency (LASTMA), traffic gridlock became the norm in the country followed by series of traffic robberies a la Mexico City or Caracas, Venezuela style. Lagosians started deriding his choice and everyone called him clueless, for me I was just indifferent as I had logged off concerning the state and the way things were done. However, to everyone's surprise, in one massive swoop the Police were re-equipped with modern equipments (which should be continuous to eliminate ear and tear from use), street lights installed on many roads and they stay on at night even without electricity in their environs and LASTMA returned to our roads with a more toned down approach.
The result was an end to endless traffic gridlocks, end to violent traffic robberies, armed robberies and kidnappings took a beating and the police are positioned in strategic locations across the state. There are also plans to construct two roads in every Local councils and council development areas (a total of 115 inner roads this year alone). If done continuously for the next four years in collaboration with counterpart funds from the local councils would ensure many of the inner roads in Lagos state are fully tarred and interconnected. There is also more focus on the Mainland compared to all the focus on the Island in the last 10 years of the Lagos state governments, and all these achievements, plans and efforts without much boisterous noise or aggressive use of the media for positive spins except for one or two press releases from his media team, makes it all the more commendable.
But there is still more to do and compared to his predecessor many Lagosians see Ambode has not been proactive enough unlike Fashola and believe he (Ambode) is tied to the apron-strings of his 'Godfather'. I beg to disagree and believe he is just as creative and efficient enough as Fashola, but he needs to be more proactive and ahead of Lagosians in his thinking. There are issues left for him to tackle in terms of the environment and making Lagos clean. At the moment waste disposal system by LAWMA is still not up to scratch and many neighbourhoods and markets in the state not efficiently covered by them leaving the state an eyesore to behold. The drainages are clogged and need clearing in many neighbourhoods, while the flowers and trees planted by Fashola are wilting off (they need to be attended too as it is important for our environment and healthy living). There is also the issue of the Lekki-Ajah Flyover that needs sorting, the Fourth Mainland Bridge from Ikorodu to Epe has been promised since 2003 and yet nothing has been delivered on it. The rail project is taking forever to complete despite the Federal Government late last year approving the release of another $200million tranche of funding from the World Bank for the rail project. In the past the state government blamed every delay on the rail project on the PDP led FG for example not giving them permit to use the Iddo rail tracks or not approving signals routes etc., but if by the end of 2016 it is still not finished as well as the Badagry 10 lane road project then it would be hard to blame it on an APC led FG this time.
The state loans (bonds) are due to start maturing in 2017 and luckily so far the Governor has been compassionate enough not to pass any extra burden on Lagosians through aggressive tax collection or extortion by government agencies, thus I believe the state already has a sinking fund to pay for it's loan starting from next year. If they do not they can start saving one or two month's IGR of the state (about N30billion) to meet some of the debts obligations from next year otherwise any default would make them lose their credit ratings. There is still plenty to do and come 2019, it would be Ambode's good works that would get him re-elected not the magic wand of any Godfather so he needs not to rest on his oars, be proactive all through and focus on his job. Thus far in all honesty, for Ambode and Lagos state it's so far so good and quietly done too.
Ola’ Idowu is a Management Consultant, Researcher and Humanist. Can be reached via:[email protected]"[email protected]