The Senate has been thrown into confusion as 15 members dumped the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and moved to the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) even as the APC Senators are set to impeach the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki.
This is just as the Senate abruptly adjourned plenary shortly after the defection drama, which did not include Senator Saraki.
Saraki is rumoured to have concluded his defection plans from the APC sometime this week, a move that would leave the leadership of the Senate in the hands of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party.
Sources close to the Senate hinted: “there is plan for rival Senate group to sit and elect new principal officers today,” a source told The Guardian.
Saraki’s nPDP caucus of the APC last month accused the APC of failing to honour its campaign promises, tagging the party as deceitful. The group has since cut ties with the APC.
Saraki on his part has been having a running battle with a power bloc in the party. This culminated in him being invited by the Nigerian police in June after it claimed that members of a robbery gang that attacked six banks and killed 33 persons in Offa, Kwara, confessed to have a “direct link” to the senate president.
Saraki denied any wrongdoing.
He was again invited late Monday night to appear at Guzape Police Station on Tuesday morning.
His residence, as well as that of his deputy, PDP’s Ike Ekweremadu, was initially besieged by police officers who thought he was going to abscond. He was, however, allowed to leave his home to honour the police invitation.
In his absence, The Guardian, a group of senators, plan to install a new Senate President.
16 Senators have decamped from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). This was announced by the Senate president, Bukola Saraki on the floor of the senate this morning.
This development is coming a few hours after police officers tried to prevent Saraki from attending Plenary on Tuesday morning.
Saraki reportedly sneacked himself into the Senate complex by driving in a rickety private vehicle.
The names of the Senators who decamped are as follows:
It is more than two weeks now since His Lordship Justice Ijeoma L. Ojukwu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, gave clear, positive and unambiguous orders in the matter between Col Mohammed Sambo Dasuki (rtd) as applicant and three persons – the Director General, State Security Services, the State Security Services and the Attorney General of the Federation as respondents. His Lordship affirmed that the continued detention of the respondent by the operatives of the second respondent, under the instruction of the first respondent since 29th December 2015, without granting him administrative bail, “is a violation of his fundamental right to liberty under Section 35 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999”. The Court grants Dasuki bail, with clear conditions that must be fulfilled, and even goes further to add that “where there is any interview with the Applicant by the Respondents in respect of those allegations, the Applicant shall not be detained and such interview shall be conducted on working days only between 9.00 hours to 18.000 hours.”
This would be about the fifth time that a court of competent jurisdiction, including the Federal High Court, the Federal High Court of the Federal Capital Territory and the ECOWAS Court will grant Col. Dasuki bail, and the Federal Government will refuse to obey the orders of the court. Commitment to the rule of law is by far, the strongest demonstration of the democratic credentials of a government. Failure to respect the rule of law translates into the rule of men and blatant dictatorship, if not fascism. It is scandalous that a government whose leader is the only President to have been invited to address the International Criminal Court on issues of justice and the rule of law, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Rome Statute, and who gave a commitment before that Court that his government is indeed committed to the rule of law and fundamental human freedoms, is to be seen to be abusing the courts of the land and violating the judicial process. This hypocrisy is condemnable. The disobedience of the courts in the Dasuki case is not the only one of its type; it is a pattern that we have seen since 2015.
What is worse is that the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice has been in the forefront of this entrenchment of a culture of impunity and official lawlessness. When the ECOWAS Court in October 2016 ruled that Colonel Sambo Dasuki’s continued detention was a violation of his fundamental rights, an aide of the AGF reportedly said the Ministry of Justice was studying the judgement. Close to two years later, they are still studying the judgement! In some other instances, they don’t even bother to study anything before telling the courts to shut up. But it is perhaps in reacting to the latest ruling by Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu that the Attorney General fully revealed the mind of the government. He has been quoted as saying, and he has not denied saying so, that the Federal Government will not release Dasuki from detention because according to him, Col. Sambo Dasuki is responsible for the killing of more than 100, 000 Nigerians, and so, he is being kept by the state in the interest of the “larger pubic good”, because “government is about the people and not only for an individual.”
I respect Abubakar Malami. He is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, and as desperate as things may be in this country, we have not yet reached a level where the SAN certificate can be procured at the famous Oluwole market. It is earned. Senior Advocates are therefore respected because they are at the peak of their chosen profession as distinguished persons. Malami, SAN, certainly knows the law but with due respect, what he has said about the Dasuki case is sheer, reckless twaddle. Every lawyer, even while serving clients, is expected to be an officer in the temple of justice. The Attorney General of the Federation is the chief law officer of the country, and the chief legal adviser to government. In Sections 150 and 174, the Nigerian Constitution places enormous responsibilities and burdens on his shoulders. Nowhere in that Constitution is he required to engage in beer-parlour talk; serve partisan interests or function as anybody’s sycophant. AGF Malami should know that he cannot by administrative fiat disobey a court of law, to do so would amount to a clear abuse of court, and an act of contempt. If there are any compelling arguments to warrant the continued detention of Dasuki, the best place to canvass those arguments would be in the court of law, and through an appeal process.
Knowing this, the AGF indeed made some reference to the possibility of an appeal, but what he seems to have done is to convict Dasuki. The former National Security Adviser was arraigned on charges of illegal possession of fire-arms, breach of public trust and illegal diversion of $2.1 billion. Malami amends the charge list, ex facie curiae, when he says the accused was responsible for more than 100, 000 deaths. This is most strange, for, the Attorney-General, no matter how heavy the pressure of his work may be, must be seen to be the chief protector of due process, standards and best practice. He cannot be seen to be acting as the accuser, the jury and the judge in either the Sambo Dasuki case or any other matter. This will amount to a violation of the doctrine of the separation of powers. The Attorney General’s personal opinion cannot override the duty of the court to grant every accused person the right to fair hearing.
Section 36(5) of the Nigerian Constitution provides for a presumption of innocence. In the absence of conviction, it is unfair to lock Dasuki up and throw away the key, and to at the same time, take away his dignity and liberty, and prosecute him in the court of public opinion. The sacred duty of the Attorney General of the Federation is to ensure that the letters of the Constitution take precedence. The liberty of any Nigerian should not be deprived except through due process. The spectacle of an Attorney General advising the Federal Government to disobey the courts must also be shocking to all lawyers and every party involved in the administration of justice. Except there is a supernatural reason for such a development, which is unknown to us, it makes no sense within the province of the law to so act, because the Attorney-General, in the contemplation of the Constitution, is an officer of the law and not a marabout.
This is the more reason why we should re-open the debate about the possibility of separating the office of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice. The National Assembly is accordingly enjoined to take a second look at Section 150 of the Constitution and amend it in order to resolve an inherent conflict which places the protection of the rule of law at the mercy of the strength of character of the occupier of that office as currently defined. Section 150 states that: “There shall be an Attorney-General of the Federation who shall be the Chief Law Officer of the Federation and a Minister of the Government of the Federation.” Let me try and define the conflict.
The Attorney General of the Federation as “Chief Law Officer” of the Federation is necessarily performing a professional function, part of which is further explained in Section 174. He is expected to know the law, enforce due process and advance the cause of justice. He is a technocrat, and that is why he must be a lawyer of not less than 10 years experience. A Minister of the Government of the Federation is basically a political appointee, exercising delegated authority as determined by his appointor – the President of the Federal Republic. While the Attorney General’s commitment should be strictly to the rule of law, the Minister is judged and retained by his boss, and party members on the basis of his or her loyalty, the quality or non-quality of it. Not too many men can walk this tightrope successfully, balancing these two functions and the conflicting expectations, and this has been the major challenge with the idea of combining in one person the functions of an Attorney General and Minister of Justice. .
To be fair, even in the United States where there is only an Attorney General, who functions independently of the Presidency, there is always conflict. This is the main story, for example, of James Comey’s book, A Higher Loyalty (2018). Comey insists that loyalty to the country and the rule of law is more important than loyalty to Mr. President. I am paraphrasing him of course, but it is a book that Abubakar Malami should read. An amendment of Section 150 of our Constitution should create a separate office of the Attorney General of the Federation, which will be completely independent, and whose occupier will have a security of tenure, and no party or political affiliation. There can then be a Minister of Justice, who if he wishes can attend party functions and go to the Villa every day to shoot the breeze. As long as he is not in any position to do any damage to persons and institutions, he can be as political as he wants.
What we cannot afford is an Attorney General who would behave in such manner, mixing the law with politics, cherry-picking in the temple of justice, and politicizing the management of cases. We have enough anarchy in the country already; we do not need to extend the frontiers of anarchy by allowing government to break the law. The men of today should guard against setting dangerous precedents that could consume them and the country tomorrow. The rate at which institutions have been bastardized to pave way for recriminations and vengefulness is bound to bounce back negatively and our democracy will be worse for it. Abubakar Malami is the 23rd Attorney General and Minister of Justice of the Nigerian Federation. He should be more keenly aware of the twin-burdens of law and history that rest on his shoulders – by doing what is right in all matters and to all men.
Ekiti election: A few words
I have up until this moment resisted the temptation to comment on the just concluded gubernatorial elections in Ekiti state for the simple reason that the more the facts of the process emerged, the more confusing they seemed. About a week later, certain things have however become clear which deserve our attention.
One, the Ekiti gubernatorial election is a classic Nigerian type of election. It was certainly a do-or-die election, in which the two main parties involved were determined to win by all costs and by any means possible. Nigerian politicians believe that whoever wins and gets declared has the upper hand. Win first and if the other party likes, he can go to the tribunal or the appellate courts. But just don’t lose at the first instance. Whatever happens thereafter is a matter of chance and technicality. In this regard, the APC smartly outwitted the PDP, and the victory seems sweet. However, the reduction of the Nigerian electoral process to such tragic melodrama certainly does not serve our democracy well. There were no heroes in the Ekiti election, only villains.
Two, there is no evidence here or elsewhere that the Nigerian electorate has learnt any lessons from past experiences. They openly collected money, from all possible sides in the conflict. Vote buying sets us back by a long stretch. Tethered as it is to a transactional root, Nigerian democracy is physically challenged. This is sad, and it is important that reports of vote-buying by both local and international observers should be investigated. A cash and carry voting process is a violation of free choice.
Three, the Ekiti election presents us with perhaps the most brazen case of godfatherism that we have yet seen. There were two major candidates, Olusola Eleka of the PDP and Kayode Fayemi of the APC. But the whole thing soon became a contest between Fayemi and the out-going Governor, Ayo Fayose. You would think Fayose was the one on the ballot. He danced more than the bride and cried more than the bereaved. Why do outgoing Governors insist on anointing their own successors and dictating to the electorate? They abridge the people’s choice by seeking to impose their own will. They are driven not by public good but their own insecurity.
By rejecting Fayose’s candidate, it can be said that the people rejected his presumptuousness. And by the way, what manner of man is Olusola Eleka? He accepted and projected himself as a puppet throughout the entire process. Many Nigerians do not even know him as a candidate. He was absent, voiceless and timid. If he had won, he probably would have ceded authority to his Godfather and allowed him to do a third term by default. He did not deserve to win. If I had a stake in the matter, I certainly would not have voted for him. His spinelessness is disgusting. But Fayemi should also not be over-triumphant. He may end up with a hostile and aggressive PDP-dominated House of Assembly. The war with Fayose may also only just have begun. It will be naïve to under-estimate Fayose.
Four, the electoral commission, INEC, still has to clean up its act ahead of the 2019 general elections. Its performance in Ekiti is far from satisfactory. What we have seen is that the professional political elite is prepared to do battle in 2019, and that promises to be a really fierce battle. Voter education will be most critical; the people’s readiness to sell their votes speaks to the level of poverty and depravity in the country. Nigeria itself needs to be saved.
Operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS), the Nigeria Police Force and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) laid siege on the Abuja homes of President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki and Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu.
The security operatives arrived at the homes in the early hours of today, Tuesday.
Those at Saraki’s Maitama residence, however, left around 7:30am when the Senate President was said to have left the premises.
The operatives, however, are still at the Apo residence of Ekweremadu.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has expelled its Ogun State Senator, Buruji Kashamu, from the party. Three other members of the PDP in Ogun State: Bayo Dayo, Segun Sarki and Sanimu Sodipo were also expelled.
The National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan announced the expulsion today, Monday, at the end of an emergency National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the party in Abuja.
Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki has made it clear that the latest invitation by the Police on him to appear before them tomorrow, Tuesday, cannot stop him from moving to other political platform to realize his political ambition.
“While I continue to maintain that the issue of my position on the 2019 elections is not a personal decision for me alone to make, it should be noted that all these concoctions and evil plot cannot deter me. Those behind this fresh assault will fail as I have nothing to do with the robbery incident or any criminal matter for that matter.”
Reacting to the invitation letter which was signed and forwarded to him today, Monday, by the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, in connection to the Offa armed robbery, Senator Saraki described it as a mere afterthought which is designed to achieve political purpose.
In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, the Senate President said that he has it on good authority that the Police had already decided on the suspects to arraign in court in Ilorin, Kwara State on Wednesday based on the advice of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Mohammed U.E. and that the turn around to invite him was a ploy aimed at scoring cheap political points.
“I have been reliably informed that the police invitation was planned by IG as a ploy to stop an alleged plan by some Senators and House of Representatives members from defecting from the All Progressives Congress (APC). It was also said that if I was detained between Tuesday and Wednesday, that will abort the so-called defection plan.
“I am aware that following a request made by the Police on June 13, 2018 to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) of the Fedeeation had written a legal advice dated June 22, 2018, in which he stated on page 5, paragraph (f) that “For the Senate President and the Kwara State Governor, this office is unable to establish from the evidence in the interim report a nexus between the alleged office and the suspects”.
“The Police have obviously corrupted and politicized their investigations into the Offa robbery incident. They have turned it into an instrument for the party in power to suppress perceived opponents, witchunt issue for blackmailing people from freely choosing which platform on which they want to pursue their ambition and a matter for harassing the people whose exit from APC would harm the chances of the party in the forthcoming elections.
“I want to make it apparent that I have no hand in either the robbery incident or any criminal acitivity. The Police in their haste to embarrass me sent the invitation to me at 8pm and requested that I report to the station by 8am tomorrow morning. This obviously demonstrated their desperation as I do not see why they are now in a hurry.
“They also stated in today’s letter that because in my response of June 7, 2018 to their own letter written on June 4, 2018, I stated that I was responding simply to the contents of the letter and that the full text of the statement made by the arrested suspects which they claimed indicted me was not made available to me, they were now including the suspects statements in the current letter. Yet, instead of including the suspects’ statements, they only attached two copies of my own letter to the invitation. No suspects statement was made available.
“This plot aimed at compelling me and my associates to stay in a party where members are criminalised without just cause, where injustice is perpetrated at the highest level and where there is no respect for constitutionalism is an exercise in futility and it will fail.
“Once again, my confidence in God and our judicial system remains intact and unshaken. The truth shall also prevail in this case.” [myad]
Media owners, including Newspaper publishers, those in the Broadcasting Organization of Nigeria (BON) as well as Editors and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), have risen to oppose the New Media Bill currently before the National Assembly which they described as draconian, unconstitutional, anti-people, anti-business and anti-free speech.
This is even as the new media, Nigerian Press Organization (NPO) and other media stakeholders have joined in asking the National Assembly to drop the bill. They also asked the Senate to borrow from best practices in other jurisdictions that had expressly provided for and guaranteed press freedom without any form of government interference.
The NPO and others implored the Senate and the National Assembly, to enable the media in the exercise of its constitutional obligations, as spelt out in section 22, by passing laws that will promote transparency, accountability and open government such as mandatory delivery of the State of the Nation address by the President and State of the State Address by governors on specified days of the year.
According to them, this can also ensure by law, Presidential and governorship election debates before elections; complete transparency in election funding, including public declaration of sources of election finance by all candidates and political parties and ensuring the integrity of our electoral process, etc, Rising from a meeting in Lagos, weekend, NPO and media stakeholders in a communiqué signed by President of Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria, NPAN, Mr. Nduka Obaigbena; President of Nigerian Guild of Editors, Mrs. Funke Egbemode, and President, Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Mr. Waheed Odusile. observed that the bill was unconstitutional and contrary to the rule of law. Bill subjudice
The communiqué, also signed by other media stakeholders such as Mr. Lanre Arogundade, Director, International Press Council; Akin Akingbulu, Executive Director, Institute for Media and Society, and Mr. Richard Akinola, Director, Media Law Centre, also noted that the bill was actually subjudice, given that a case on the subject matter was still pending in the highest court of the land— the Supreme Court— in view of which the bill should not have been drafted in the first instance. The communiqué It read further: “The meeting painstakingly studied the provisions of the proposed bill in the context of its implication for free speech, press freedom, media independence, the safety of journalists and the right to operate as a business in accordance with the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. “The meeting also took notice of the fact that a lawsuit instituted by Nigerian Press Organisation, NPO, on the same subject matters of the bill is pending at the Supreme Court. “The meeting resolved that the bill is, for all intents and purposes, draconian and anti-press freedom, being an amalgamation of the obnoxious Public Officers Protection Against False Accusation Decree No. 4 of 1984 and Newspapers Registration Decree 43 of 1993, both vestiges of the dark days of military rule and, therefore, incurably and irreparably bad, is also inconsistent with values of our democratic society.
“That the bill seeks to criminalize journalism practice, despite the fact the laws of the country already have enough provisions and avenues for seeking legal redress. “That the bill smacks of an attempt at undue interference in the operations of the media in Nigeria as businesses registered under the relevant laws of the federation. “That the bill seeks for the Nigeria Press Council to usurp the powers of the courts by assuming extra-judicial powers. “That the bill seeks to incapacitate the media in the exercise of the duties and obligations imposed on it by section 22 of the constitution to monitor governance and hold government accountable to the people. “The section states as follows: ‘The press, radio, television and other agencies of the mass media shall at all times be free to uphold the fundamental objectives contained in this chapter and uphold the responsibility and accountability of the government to the people.’ “That the bill violates the provisions of section 39 of the 1999 constitution (as amended) sections 1 and 2 which state as follows: ‘Every person shall be entitled to freedom of expression, including the freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference.’ “Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) of this section, every person shall be entitled to own, establish and operate any medium for the dissemination of information, ideas and opinions. “At the same time, it also violates Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement Act) No. 2 of 1983 to which Nigeria is a signatory and which is now part of the country’s laws.
“That the bill, through some of its other obnoxious provisions, seeks to indoctrinate Nigerians, through the use and misuse of curricula in training of journalists and usurp the powers of the regulatory bodies in the educational sector affecting media training, especially the National Universities Commission, NUC, and the National Board for Technical Education, NBTE. “That the bill seeks to create the impression that the Nigerian media community does not take the issues of ethics and self regulation seriously, whereas it is a well-known fact that the mechanisms actually exist, including the Code of Conduct of Journalists in Nigeria, the Ethics Committees of the NUJ and NGE and the recently launched Nigerian Media Code of Election Coverage endorsed by media stakeholders. “Meanwhile, as responsible members of Nigerian society, we hereby state without equivocation that the media will continue doing all it can to further promote media ethics, professionalism, transparency, accountability and self-regulation, to ensure that the public interest is served at all times.”
Former Petroleum Minister, Diezani Allison-Madueke
The Federal High Court in Lagos on Monday ordered the temporary forfeiture of a total of N387 million found in the bank accounts of four ex-officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which obtained the forfeiture order, told the court that the ex-INEC officials benefitted from the N23 billion, which a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, allegedly doled out to influence the 2015 presidential election in favour of then incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan.
An investigator with the EFCC, Usman Zakari, said in an affidavit that the ex-INEC officials received the money through a non-governmental organisation, West Africa Network of Observers, which they formed to purportedly monitor the 2015 general elections.
According to Zakari, the NGO, WANEO, had a former INEC Chairman, Prof Maurice Iwu, as its National Coordinator.
The investigator claimed that though “WANEO was formed under the guise of monitoring the conduct of 2015 election, distribution of Permanent Voter Cards, sensitisation of voters, delimitation of electoral constituencies, etc, its primary objective was to ensure the victory of the PDP candidate in the presidential election.”
Zakari said through WANEO, the ex-INEC officials facilitated the disbursement of N510m Diezani fund to Osun, Ogun and Oyo states.
“After the conduct of the 2015 presidential election and in order to conceal the sources of the money collected by Ogun, Osun and Oyo states, the remainder of the money was fraudulently laundered,” the investigator added.
Zakari said the EFCC had, however, recovered N387m out of the N510m from the four ex-INEC officials.
The anti-graft agency gave the names of the said ex-INEC officials as Victor Chukwuani, Okesiji Adeniran, Gabriel Oke and Torgba Nyitse.
Counsel for the EFCC, Nnaemeka Omenwa, urged Justice Muslim Hassan, on Monday, to order the temporary forfeiture of the N387m pursuant to Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, No. 14, 2004.
He said it would be in the interest of justice for the temporary forfeiture order to be made.
After listening to him, Justice Hassan granted the ex parte application. He gave 14 days for anyone interested in the money to appear before him to show cause why the N387m should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.
Further proceedings in the case were adjourned to August 6, 2018.
The world has not yet heard the last of the controversies surrounding the presidential elections held on June 12 1993. Not even the bold decision recently taken by President Muhammadu Buhari to honor MKO Abiola and some of his fellow travelers can finally bury the ghost of June 12.
The popular conventional wisdom in Nigeria is to heap the whole blame of the June 12 fiasco on the head of one man, the one who was the leader of the country at the time – President Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida. The man himself has accepted this tragic judgment by saying that as the President of Nigeria at the time, the buck stopped on his table. I will therefore not be wrong or cruel to say it serves him right.
But that is not the end of the story. More fundamental questions should be asked. There is no doubt about the fact that Ibrahim Babangida was the President of Nigeria at the time. There is also no doubt that even though he was called a president, he was not running a democratic government. It was a military dictatorship.
When he took over the government in 1985 from another military government, there was no transition program in place for the country to return to civil democratic rule. In fact, the military government he sacked that year had in one of its frightening edicts decreed a ban on all public discussions of theform of government that was best for Nigeria’s future. We were rudely told to our face that we were stuck with a military dictatorship.
The Babangida government therefore put a smile on the face of democrats when he rolled out a transition program for a return to democratic rule. It was an elaborate program with twists and turns, banning’s and unbanning’s – adding a generous dose of hiccups to the political drama. Is it possible as has been canvassed in many quarters that President Babangida deliberately put the country through this wrench and then finally decided to single handedly void all that had been achieved by the process?
I have followed pronouncements by those who were closely engaged in the June 12 event since President Buhari brought back the controversy to public space. What led a government which had invested so heavily in a transition program turn around to sabotage it at the end? Why did Babangida void an election that was globally accepted as free and fair?
These are difficult questions for an outsider like me to answer. I was however reading an interview granted The Point newspaper the other day by Senator Jonathan Silas Zwingina and he had an argument which to my mind sounds the most reasonable under the circumstances we found ourselves in 1993. Senator Zwingina was in the vortex of the June 12 event where he played an immodest role as the Director General of Hope 93, Abiola’s campaign outfit. He was certainly in a position to know what happened. This is what he told The Point newspaper:
“A number of factors were responsible for the annulment of the election. I think there was a split in the ruling military council between a faction that had the control of the arms and did not want to hand over, and the faction that was in control of government but did not have the control of the arms but wanted to hand over. So those who didn’t want to hand over would have overthrown the government by force if it had been done. Sometimes I say it is quite possible that Babangida must have annulled the election under duress and many of the discussions people had with him indicated that. It was a split within the military command that led to that. There were also other elements in the military that had issues with my principal and used this as advantage to get even. And then there were some who had been promised a taste of power and when it was now their turn, an election was being conducted, they were not happy about it.”
The dangerous thing about military takeover of government is that once the men in arms and khaki get into power, they become a problem to society and even themselves. It is easy for them to take over especially from bloody civilians but it is not so easy for them to get out. In the case of Nigeria, they first ate the forbidden fruit in 1966. The beneficiaries of that original cardinal sin had to be forcibly pushed out of power the same year. Then those who pushed them out overstayed until they too had to be pushed out in 1975.
We had a brief relief in 1979 when the military said they had restored democracy that year. But it did not last long before they came back to reclaim their ‘rights.’ According to General Buhari who took over in 1984, the military came back to prevent the country from “imminent total collapse”. If he saved the country from “imminent total collapse”, he could not save his government from such fate. The following year he was shown the way out.
That is the tricky thing about military rule. You can get in. But how do you get out?
President Babangida found his way in. But how was he going to find his way out? If we are to believe the words of Zwingina, he wanted to get out. Zwingina should know because he played a role in helping him get out by organizing a powerful campaign that saw the country ignoring the ethnic and religious crack lines. Nigeria stood by Hope 93 with its odd combination of Muslim/Muslim ticket to help Babangida get out.
We did not know that the man was held hostage by those in the military who felt it was their turn to get in. They were the ones who played on the gullibility of the June 12 men. Babangida who perhaps knew better tried to rationalize what was going on by calling on Sonekan, Abiola’s kinsman to come and steer the ship briefly. But the June 12 people would have nothing but June 12.
That was how they fell into the trap of those who annulled June 12. They were enlisted to fight against and plot a coup against the government of Shonekan; then they were lured into a government they were made to believe would speedily make June 12 a reality.
That was the grand deception. Coup planning is high treason punishable with death under Nigerian martial laws. How will somebody risk his life to act treasonously so that another person will get to power?
That explains why the Abacha government turned violently against June 12 advocates when they started agitating for power. By the time they got to know the true identity of those who voided the mandate of June 12, it was too late.
It is like the story of the travelers who found out they had a mad man in their boat in the middle of a deep river. Pushing him out was risky because he was going to capsize the boat; going ahead with him was equally risky because nobody could even guess what his next move was going to be.
The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris has formally invited the Senate President, Bukola Saraki in connection with the Offa robbery in Kwara State in which he was implicated.
A letter which the IGP personally signed and forwarded to Senator Saraki, asked him to appear at the head of the Investigation Team at the Intelligence Response Team at Guzape Junction, Asokoro Extension, Abuja by 8am tomorrow, July 24 to clarify certain issues relating to the investigation going on regarding the armed robbery.
The Police boss said that In response to several allegations leveled against the Senate President by some of the armed robbery suspects arrested, he (Saraki) said that by virtue of his participation in politics, he had a large followership which made it impossible for him to know all of them.
The IGP quoted Saraki as saying: “I can say categorically that I am in no way associated with the vehicle mentioned in your letter nor have I given any armsto any thug or other persons in kwara State or anywhere else. For the records, your letter under reference did not include the full text of the statements made by the accused persons”
“After a careful perusal of your letter to the Police, it was discovered that the statement requires further clarification and coupled with the fact that you stated that the full text of the statements of the suspects were not shown to you, it is imperative you report to the Police to make further statements after giving you the full text of the statements of the suspects.”
The full text of the IGP letter is reproduced here:
CR:3000/IGP.SEC/ABJ/VOL.131/ 707 23rdJuly, 2018
Senator Bukola Saraki,
The President of the Senate,
Federal Republic of Nigeria,
National Assembly Complex,
Three Arms Zone,
Abuja.
LETTER OF INVITATION
CASE OF OFFA BANK ROBBERY AND GRUESOME MURDER OF MORE THAN 31 PERSONS AND SNATCHING OF 21 AK47 RIFLES ON THE 5TH OF APRIL, 2018.
I refer to this office letter CR:3000/IGP.SEC/ABJ/VOL./130/ 571 dated 4th June 2018 and your letter of response NASS/8th/S/SP/IGP/15/6/18 dated 7th June 2018 on the above subject matter (copies attached) and to further restate as follows;
Recall that the Police Intelligence Response Team(IRT)is investigating a case of Armed Robbery which occurred on the 5th of April, 2018 during which a gang of dare devil Armed Robbers, stormed Offa, Kwara State and attacked a Police Station, robbed six Banks namely First Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank, ECO Bank, Zenith Bank, Union Bank and Ibolo Micro Finance Bank, killed over thirty one(31) Persons including nine Police officers and pregnant women and snatched twenty(21)AK47 rifles.
During the investigation of the Armed Robbery by the Intelligence Response Team, a CCTVfootage of the Armed Robbery in one of the banks, captured the image of two persons. The CCTV footage was circulated on the social media and this led to their identification asKunle Ogunleye and Micheal Adikwu. The two persons were tracked and arrested by the Police and they made very useful statements and named the five gang leaders who organized the Armed Robbery.
Some of the five gang leaders made confessional statements admitting their participation in this worst Armed Robbery in the history of Nigeria and that they are political thugs under the name, Youth Liberation Movement aka ‘Good boys’ allegedly sponsored by you and that you have given them firearms, money and vehicles. It was equally discovered that one of the vehicles, a Lexus Jeep,used by the gang leader (Ayoade Akinnibosun) has a sticker plate number “‘SARAKI’ Kwara State of Harmony”.
The Lexus Jeep was parked in the Government House after the arrest of Ayoade Akinnibosun and in order to conceal evidence, the Chief of Staff to the Executive Governor of Kwara State, arranged for the removal of the sticker plate number “SARAKI Kwara State of Harmony” from the Lexus jeep and quickly registered it in the name of the suspect, six days after the suspecthas been arrested by the Police.
Specifically Mr Ayoade Akinnibosun ‘m’ 27 Years in his Confessional Statement stated that “members of his group are Political Thugs working for Senator Bukola Saraki and Governor of Kwara State”. That he is the head of the Political Thugs named Youths Liberation Movement coveringabout seven (7) Local Governments Areas of Kwara South. That he gets vehicle and monetary gifts etc from Senator Bukola Saraki through the Chief of Staff to the Governor of Kwara State; that the last money he got directly from Senator Bukola Saraki was Five Hundred Thousand (N500,000) Naira. He made mention of some other thugs in Kwara Central with guns which Senator Bukola Saraki is sponsoring as Alhaji Alawo, Alhaji Dona, Alhaji Jawando among others, that Senator Bukola Saraki supplies the arms and vehicles to the thugs; that everyone in Kwara Central fear them because of their guns and ability to kill anybody without hesitation”. Furthermore the suspect Ayoade Akinnibosun stated that the date you Senator Saraki visited Offa in sympathy with the victims to the Palace of the Oba, that he and two other gang members were with you in the convoy.
In your response to the above allegations, you stated “ by virtue of my participation in politics, I have a large followership which makes it impossible for me to know all of them. I can say categorically that I am in no way associated with the vehicle mentioned in your letter nor have I given any armsto any thug or other persons in kwara State or anywhere else. For the records, your letter under reference did not include the full text of the statements made by the accused persons”
After a careful perusal of your letter to the Police, it was discovered that the statement requires further clarification and coupled with the fact that you stated that the full text of the statements of the suspects were not shown to you, it is imperative you report to the Police to make further statements after giving you the full text of the statements of the suspects.
It is in line with the above that you are requested to report to the head of the Investigation Team at the Intelligence Response Team at Guzape Junction, Asokoro Extension, Abuja on 24th of July, 2018 at 8am for further investigation on the matter.
Please as always, accept my warm regards and high esteem.
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