“Dear members of the Howling and Barking minority, You and your chieftain, Debo Adeniran seem to justify this saying: "A fool does not know the gravity of an offence".
That is why none in your rank has asked Adeniran the outcome of the petition he fired off to the Chief Justice of the Federation, accusing the Justice of the Asaba Federal High Court of "causing" (whatever in hell that means)a letter to be written to a London court. And only a fool or a hireling bent on nothing but mischief would have attempted what he did; he attached no copy od such a letter. He gave no date of such a letter. He did not even say who signed the letter or when it was received in London.
Then, some one left the matter at hand to be talking about a non-issue; whether someone was jailed in London or not. Is that issue before any court whether in London or Asaba?
Raise a relevant question and I will answer. I have answered relevant questions raised by anyone here.
I hope that one day sooner or later, Debo Adeniran will tell us the outcome of his own act of corruption; the sending of a nasty petition that tpotally lacked merit as it actually did not point to any wrong done but only spread rumour just so that the Asaba Judge would not deliver his ruling on a certian day. That is an act of corruption, and a clog placed on the wheel of progress. Now what is the overall out come of that petition? Has the London trial commenced. And before anyone accuses me of any ill, he should please go and read that petition again.
It is only in Nigeria that acorrupt people would be deceiving funding organisations and peddling their services to the highests bidder and then pretend to be fighting against corrupotion. I will expose them soon in a way they have never suspected.
Just a few days ago, a group wrote about the London case and its relationship with the London case. In the comment, they claimed that they believed that the accused is innocent until proven guilty. Yet, a quick check on their past articles would show their shamful bias. And why they would be so confident that none would check on their antecedents beats the imagination.” -------- Tony Eluemunor
Dear Mr Eluemunor,
It has come to my attention that you made the above post on some listservs where you are a contributor. Before now, I can say we have communicated twice. First, in response to your account of the court proceedings in London, I have had cause to explain to you why your rather amateurish attempt at misinformation and propagandizing was likely to cost you and your principal dear. I thought you would take my honest advice to heart and reduce the damage to yourself and your client by being a little more forthright in your approach, yet your numerous comments thereafter have clearly taken your ordinarily ignoble antics to a new low. At some other time, you felt you had reasons to respond to my article, “Ibori’s Goose and Ribadu’s Trumpet”; but you did this by mangling and cherry-picking the points I made there to suit your fancy in your continued attempt to defend your principal in your exchange with others. Indeed, you promised to return to engage me on some of the issues I discussed there, but not surprisingly you never did.
As you must have noted, I am quite happy to ignore you as you get on with the business of digging yourself deeper into the hole you’re in. But at this point, after reading your post above, I am more inclined to set you straight. I do this not out of spite, but as a public service to those Nigerians you’ve relentlessly assaulted with your sickly and smarmy defence of your principal. Though this response of mine is mainly triggered by a claim you made in your last paragraph above; yet, before I address that, let me comment on the other points you’ve made.
In all honesty, I wonder if you realize how incredibly diminished you’ve become (intellectually, at least) by your resort to heckling and bandying childishly pejorative appellations for those who are engaging you here in a debate on the issue of corruption and justice in our nation. But while you moan and drone on and on about discussants using the travails of your principal as a case study, would you mind sparing a thought for ordinary Nigerians who are live victims of the menace? A little altruism kills no one, you know!
Of course, no one is in doubt that the job you took on is a Herculean one akin to running against the wind; but how you yourself have managed to undo yourself remains a recurrent highlight in your exchange with others. For instance, rather than show gratitude to those debating you, despite your insipid and I dare say dishonest contributions to the issue, you have the effrontery to describe them as “the Howling and Barking minority”. If the truth be told, there is only one chap barking, howling and rolling in muck right here and it’s none of those you refer to. I’m sure you know that describing anyone or group but yourself as “minority” can only mean you’re having a laugh. Let’s just say if a vote were to be taken on the matter here or elsewhere amongst the Nigerian public or a cross-section of them, you will woefully lose your deposit! In other words, you, my friend, clearly need a reality check!
Frankly, what you ought to be doing is using reason, logic and a generous dose of honesty to put across your point without employing the desperate tactics of name-calling or appellative disconnect. Of course, I know you would come up with the excuse that these others first attacked your person and integrity, but the fact is they are not the ones doing a job for a paymaster. They are members of the public judging your boss as a public figure. You know the rule; but failed your very first test, which is when you sweat, don’t let them see you sweat! You’re unravelling like caked palm oil in the Sahara heat and that’s not good for a Media Assistant.
Okay, to the first substantive issue of your attack on Debo Adeniran, tell me, what exactly do you mean by proposing that anyone asks Adeniran about “the outcome” of his petition to the Chief Justice of the Federation? Does the outcome depend on Adeniran or any other than the authorities to whom the petition is addressed? What exactly did Adeniran do to qualify as a fool? Where is the mischief in raising an issue that should be of concern to any right-thinking Nigerian? Oh, is it because he accused Justice Marcel Awokulehin of “causing” a letter to be written to a London court? Is that such a terrible lie that undermines the purport of his organization’s petition? I don’t think so.
First, the account of how the letter got written and got sent to London by “Emeka Arinze” is only an account uncorroborated by no one else. While I would not at this stage say the chap was being untruthful in the claims he made, I can confirm that the letter he claimed to have sent to Andrew Trollop QC was signed by one Ifeoma Esogbue as Registrar of the Federal High Court Asaba, while the one submitted to the London court by Mr Trollop was signed by one Mr Dawodu. This was stated clearly on the floor of the court. Now, this could either mean one of two things – either Mr Arinze’s letter wasn’t the one showed at the court or he was lying. Of course, it is quite possible that Mr Arinze genuinely assumed it was the letter he sent to Trollop that was shown at the court, but that possibility seems very remote considering that Mr Arinze has direct access to Mr Trollop and took his time to come out to speak publicly on the issue and make his claim.
Secondly, it really should not matter how the letter got to London or who sent it, as far as it is sent in the name of the court over a case the Honourable Justice Awokulehin has conduct of. It is a given that no letter about that case would have gone out to another jurisdiction or to another judge without Justice Awokulehin’s knowledge. If he didn’t cause the letter signed by Dawodu to be written, he surely acquiesced to it being sent and that is absolutely enough to put him in the picture as the judicial officer in charge. As for the one you have been vouching for (the one sent by the said Emeka Arinze), even the wordings of the letter itself mention that it was being sent sequel to the approval of Justice Awokulehin. So, CACOL is quite right to state that he caused the letter to be written since no Registrar or court official would do so without his express consent. He does not have to sign it in his own name. All that is required is that some appropriate administrative official of the court does so and that is what has been done in this case. Thus nitpicking on the point of who wrote it or who caused it to be written is quite otiose. The buck stops at Justice Awokulehin’s table. The fact that he or no official of the court has come out to deny this says enough. Having said this though, let me point out that there is nothing wrong with judges or courts of one jurisdiction writing to others in another jurisdiction. What is in issue here is the circumstance under which this one is written.
And back to the question of outcome, isn’t it obvious that the petition has caused Mr Justice Awokulehin to be asked to comment by his superiors? Hasn’t it caused him now to postpone his ruling? Hasn’t it put him out of his comfort zone? Clearly, even as he claims to have written the judgment two weeks before coming in front of the world to say he is postponing it, no one is in doubt that such a position is in reaction to the petition and those written by others. Mr Adeniran’s petition being the first triggered an outcome that today means we are still waiting for Mr Justice Awokulehin to make his ruling.
Laughably, your description of Adeniran’s patriotic act as “corruption” is self-evidently untrue. If you have facts to prove that Adeniran is deceiving funding organizations or peddling the services of his organization to the highest bidder or pretending to be fighting corruption, then please do provide it, otherwise you would have to take your own advice not to peddle rumours and not to create them. So, my dear, don’t badmouth him simply because the credibility of your principal is at stake. To do so would be leaving your own credibility in tatters – not Adeniran’s, not CACOL’s. The man and his organization have the right to seek funding or support from persons and institutions that share their ideals; but even in doing so, they have to operate under rules. Thus, if you know they have broken any of these rules, let us know. In the absence of your proof, what we know is that when the history of contemporary anti-corruption effort in our country is written, Debo Adeniran and CACOL’s humble efforts will at least make the footnote; but if that isn’t good enough for you, it’s good enough for the clear majority who do not share your platform. That is the reality; deal with it!
Now, I also note that you consider something other than the question of Ibori’s double conviction in London as “the matter at hand”. What exactly is this all-important matter that supersedes the question of Ibori’s previous convictions? Ribadu? SaharaReporters? Well, while I wait for you to tell me, let me explain briefly why Ibori’s conviction in London matters. It matters because it ordinarily should have disqualified him from being presented to contest for the governorship of Delta State in 1999 based on the relevant electoral law and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999). By denying the fact of his conviction and presenting himself for that office and supposedly winning it, Ibori had obtained by false pretences the office of the governor and the resources of the state put at his disposal or appropriated by him pursuant to performing the function of governor. Basic common law rule, which is part of our received common law in Nigeria, dictates that no one is allowed to benefit from their own illegality. Ibori by sitting as governor for 8 years, including enjoying the benefits therefrom, has benefited from his criminality (note I’m not talking of the ongoing trial, but the settled fact of his London convictions, despite your furtive attempts not to accept this and Ibori’s own less-than-convincing threat to sue people who make the claim at some future date). In civilized climes, he would have been made to refund at least the pecuniary benefits he enjoyed while his governorship period would have been annulled as if it never happened. Of course, in civilized climes, the electoral authorities would not have looked the other way while he was being presented in the first place. Anyway, I eagerly await you to tell me anything that is more important, more relevant or worthier of discussion than this perfidy, while I leave, for now, the shameless embrace of patented putrefaction by the authorities of the University of Benin.
Finally, I come to the matter that really, really concerns me, which is your reference to a group that “wrote about the London case and its relationship with the London case”. First, is it okay to assume that what you wrote there is a mistake? Is it okay to say what you really wanted to say is that they wrote about the London case and its relationship with the Asaba case” or vice versa? Now, if we are clear about this, is it okay to further assume that you are referring to the Statement issued by Respect Nigerians Coalition, a link to which I provide below? Now, check this link and please confirm that it is the same Statement you’re referring to:
Statement on developments with the Ibori trial at Asaba, Nigeria and the adjournment of the case against his associates at Southwark Crown court, London
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content1'); });
If it is, as I know it is since this is the only organization that issued a Statement of the nature you refer to, I make bold to say your comment is not only untrue and deceptive, but outrageously cowardly. Why can’t you refer to the group clearly or write an enlightening rejoinder to challenge them fully? Are you such a lazy Media Assistant? Well, if you want to know why I am very interested in this, it is because I am a proud member of that organization and there is nothing we have done or said that mirrors the slithery imputations in your claim. Anyone conversant with the work of Respect Nigerians Coalition will tell you that when it champions a campaign, it does so fairly and knowledgeably. The belief that every accused person is innocent until proven guilty is part of its credo and every member of Respect Nigerians Coalition, inside and outside the court, showed that by their conduct and what they said. Indeed, it was members of Respect Nigerians Coalition that openly criticised the barracking of the accused persons at court.
The fact that Respect Nigerians Coalition registered in court as an interested party in the matter is only in line with our belief that as Nigerians we should be interested in any matter dealing with corruption in our country. The first three paragraphs in that Statement clearly state our stance and the purpose of the Statement. It was not a Statement meant to indict people still on trial, but one aimed at exposing the shenanigan that is going on in Asaba in the name of a trial. If you have any issue with our viewpoint or the things we said, why can’t you say it? I mean, is there anything in that Statement that isn’t true? Is there no stone-cold case of conflict of interest against Ibrahim Isiyaku who is supposedly prosecuting your principal? Is there anything we have said about Justice Awokulehin’s conduct of that trial that isn’t true? Is there anything we have written before now to support the claim you make? Of course, there’s none. You told barefaced lies in a public forum, Mr Media Assistant, and you hope to get away with it? Not a chance!
Mr Eluemunor, let me make something very clear to you. If in the course of doing your duty for your principal you think you can take on everyone, note that there are those who would think nothing of skinning you alive. What I have explained to you here is not an official response of Respect Nigerians Coalition to your silly comment about the organization; it is my own view of things as I know them. As you should know, Respect Nigerians Coalition does not consider you worthy of any response. But people like us can go rogue at anytime and breach the party line in defence of the organization and our personal integrity because we are an association of free men and women; not hirelings of those seeking to repair some grubby image.
Be warned; next time I won’t be this friendly.
CHEERS!
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('comments'); });
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content2'); });