Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Engr. Babachir David Lawal is scheduled to visit Ebonyi State on Thursday, 14th January. A statement today by the Ebonyi state government said that during the visit, David will commission the newly reconstructed Governor’s Lodge in the Government House in Abakaliki and inspect the CBN Road in the Centenary City. The statement said that the SGF will also inspect road and street projects in the capital city of Abakaliki as well as the three dual carriageway flyovers along the African Trans-Sahara Highway. [myad]
The newly sworn-in Caretaker Committee caretaker Chairman of Igbo Etiti Local Government Area of Enugu State, Nigeria, Malachy Agbo, has dissolved all revenue-collecting agents and committees engaged by the council to collect revenues on its behalf. In a statement today at the council headquarters at Ogbede, the Chairman directed all the committees, agents and any other such persons previously working for and on behalf of the council in this regard to stop immediately. Agbo promised to plug all leakages in the system and shore up the Council’s revenue base by creatively exploring other tenable sources to generate funds hitherto neglected. He said that these actions became imperative in view of the inclement economic weather the country is experiencing following dwindling oil revenue that has left the three tiers of government panting for survival. He warned that he would not tolerate the indiscipline that has characterised the collection of the Council’s revenues by the agents. According to the council, if there is accountability and transparency in collection of the revenues, though small, it will go a long way in the running of the council. Agbo said that the move is in line with the vision and programmes of the present administration of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, which is anchored on prudence, fiscal discipline and imaginative resource management designed to lift the state up the ladder of development. This, he said, would ensure that the real dividends of democracy get down to the people to positively touch their lives during these challenging times. [myad]]
The Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, has said that so far, former President Goodluck Jonathan is still innocent over the controversial $2.1 billion arms deal in which the former National Security Adviser (NSA), retired Colonel Sambo Dasuki is a central figure. Ibrahim Magu said that so far no document has been traced to Jonathan giving any approval for the disbursement of the money for any other purpose than arms purchase. Magu who spoke when he met with online publishers under the aegis of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP), today in Lagos, said that all those who have been investigated in connection with the money were people who disbursed or collected it for reasons other than the purchase of arms and ammunition. Magu said: “All approvals by former President Jonathan did not mention that it was for political purposes.All the memos approved by him were for the purchase of arms.” The bulk of the money disbursed from the $2.1 billion had been traced to financing the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and promoting the bid of Jonathan to retain the presidential seat in the 2015 general election. The Director of Media and Publicity of the PDP Presidential Campaign team, Femi Fani-Kayode, confirmed he received N1.7 billion for publicity for the 2015 election. The National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Olisa Metuh, was also given N400 million out of the money. Metuh has been with the EFCC since last week Tuesday. Political parties that did not produce presidential candidates for the election were also given N100 million each to support Jonathan. The N100 million gift is still causing a major rift in the Social Democratic Party ((SDP), with some state chapters denying they received from the money as alleged by their National Chairman, Chief Olu Falae. Magu said it was not in the character of the EFCC to just summon people for the sake of it, adding that the Commission does its work thoroughly before inviting anyone and that it had not summoned some people as clamoured in the public space because there were no documents indicting them. [myad]
It is apparent that Femi Falana (SAN) is not well conversant with the facts of Dasuki’s case otherwise he would not have argued that the Federal Government of Nigeria disobeyed the order concerning Dasuki’s bail.)
Dasuki was initially arrested and charged to Court by the DSS on allegation of possession of firearms. He brought an application for his bail which was granted.
However before he perfected his bail conditions, the DSS re-arrested him on another allegation of misappropriation of the money budgeted for the purchase of military hardware for the military to fight Boko Haram
This was after a Panel set up by the National Security Adviser , General Mungono (rtd) headed by Retired Air Vice Marshal John Ode had submitted a Report indicting Dasuki and others of mismanagement of money budgeted for purchase of military hardware.
Immediately the Report was made public, President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the arrest and prosecution of all those indicted in the Report.
This is how Dasuki was re-arrested. In other words, Dasuki was re-arrested for a different crime from which he was initially arrested and granted bail.
This is legal and proper in law because the facts of the previous case is different from the subsequent one.
However, the Federal Government of Nigeria brought a motion before Honourable Justice AFA Ademola seeking the Court to set aside the bail earlier granted Dasuki.
Justice Ademola in a considered ruling dismissed the motion and ordered the Federal Government to comply with his previous order.
The Federal Government of Nigeria filed a motion seeking for a stay of execution upon lodging an appeal against the ruling of Justice Ademola refusing to set aside his previous order granting bail to Dasuki.
In December 2015 when the motion was scheduled for hearing,the Counsel to Dasauki filed a Notice of Preliminary Objection challenging the jurisdiction of the Court to hear the motion filed by the Federal Government seeking for an order of stay of execution of the Order granting bail to Dasuki on the ground that the Federal Government was in disobedience of the Order granting bail to Dasuki.
This stalled the hearing of the motion filed by the Federal Government seeking for a stay of execution because the Federal Government ‘s legal team was served in Court that morning with the Notice of Preliminary Objection filed by Dasuki’s counsel and needed time to react. The case was accordingly adjourned to the 21st January 2016 for hearing.
So factually and technically and indeed in law, it is wrong for anybody to suggest that the Federal Government of Nigeria is in disobedience of order granting bail to Dasuki.
In law when a party has appealed against a court order and sought a stay of execution of such order, that Party cannot be said to be in disobedience of that order.
In Kanu Nnamdi’s case, the offence which he was previously charged with and granted bail is also different from the subsequent one which the DSS re-arrested him
Chief (Barr) Okoi Obono-Obla, was a member of the Legal and Security Directorates of APC Presidential Campaign Council. [myad]
President Muhammadu Buhari has been conferred with the Glo/CAF Platinum Award for Good Leadership. The award was conferred on the President in recognition of his support for football, which resulted in Nigeria winning two major international tournaments last year. The Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Solomon Dalung received the award on behalf of the President and presented it to him at the Presidential Villa today. Receiving the award, President Buhari acknowledged his love for the game of football. President Buhari recalled that Nigeria first won the Under-17 World Cup in 1985 in China, when he was military head of state. “Thirty years after the first victory, Nigeria won again last year. What a fabulous coincidence. I think football loves me,” the President said. The minister praised the President under whom the nation won the Under 17 World Cup “and we also won the Under 23 African Cup of Nations. “We have had very good fortune in football since you came to office and the sports family is very happy.” the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for honouring him with the award. The Glo/CAF Awards are held annually to reward deserving players, coaches, managers and supporters of African football. [myad]
Taraba Mandate Group (TMG) has described as laughable, the denial, by the flag governorship candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Aisha Al-Hassan of saying in the video that has gone viral that she was very close to the judge presiding over her electoral case. In a statement today, the Group’s public relations officer, Gani Bako said that the denial showed the crisis of charater in the APC’s candidate. The statement said that the watery explanations which APC has been giving over the leaked video where Aisha Alhassan, among other things, boasted that she had fore knowledge of the Appeal court judgement, is sad. “Apart from making lousy attempts to deny even the very existence of the damaging video, APC is now resorting to the usual blackmail as if it was the PDP that cooked up the video. “Unfortunately for Aisha, the video is already out there and is trending.” The statement recalled that in the video, Aisha clearly said she knew that the appeal court judgement was going her way days before the verdict was read. “How did she know? Does she have an undue knowledge of the inner workings of the Judiciary? Are parties supposed to know anything about their suits while undergoing considerations? By saying she knew the outcome of the judgement, is she not indicting the Judiciary? That they probably leak such information out to parties?” The Group insisted that Aisha’s claim of closeness to the top hierarchy of the Judiciary should be investigated by the relevant agencies of the government. [myad]
The law embraces the apparent thief. The thief catcher, however, has to answer to the law. That is a paradox with a Nigerian DNA. So we saw Sambo Dasuki, bright-eyed but subdued, in his dark-hued danshiki walk voicelessly out of the court, flanked by lawyers and associates. We wonder what roils inside his billion-dollar soul. He has said little. He has neither denied the flurry of statements from so-called miscreants who famously crackled out of his office with choice dollars. Neither has he defended himself. Like a ram on sacrifice day, his face only reflects a muted melancholy. In dazed stupor, the ram keeps mum before the ominous eyes of butchers, the ferocious glitter of knives, the bowl awaiting its entrails and offal, the platform on which its neck will squish under the descending blade, the innocent giggle of children drooling for a happy meal.Of course, a small dug hole that indicates that burial is not an option except for the waste and blood that will rush out of the buxom flesh when the sullen ceremony of cutting and slashing is over. All of the butchery represents the people, who have already made judgments on Dasuki. But that is the majority opinion, but not the majority opinion of the law. Two majorities? By law, majority opinion is the opinion of a few people on the bench. It reflects the superciliousness of lawyers and judges that they equate their narrow standpoint with the viewpoint of all of us. President Muhammadu Buhari must be privately moaning this. He believes the guys stole. They broke the law. They farted on our holy of holies. They danced on the grave of our fighting men. They adorned themselves for that. Everybody knows it is wrong. So, why are they surprised when they are not allowed on the streets, but away in outer darkness, the key thrown away somewhere in the marshes of Bayelsa? With his septuagenarian laugh and martial eyeballs, Buhari is still not a temperament for 2016. He is a romantic of the 1980’s. In the presidential chat, the ramrod man of still winsome mien sparked fire in the eye when he reminded the questioners that somebody took N40 billion from the Central Bank, that the IDPs are groaning, that a man call El Zakzaky with his rambunctious men defied the army, and a good government is not supposed to sit idle and watch impunity like a Nollywood show. A deep chasm lay between the questioners and the former general. For him, it was a case of good versus evil. That made him into a sort of messianic force. The others thought good began with law and you could not be right with mere appeal to might like Greek philosopher Meno. If they invoked law, Buhari echoed law and order. Yet those who want law believe also that the good ought to be punished. The irony is that the law, as Thoreau famously said, never made anyone a whit more just. So, there. Kanu, by common consent, railed against the law. The Shiites have no right to deny anyone the right to move. Those who stole our money must account. But this is a democracy, and one of the lies of democracy is that majority always wins. This is one of those test cases of majority in a coma. Buhari’s war on corruption is a noble cause. But by defying the courts, it is a case of impunity chasing impunity. Two wrongs, where is the right? The real problem is that the war against corruption is not a movement. For now, it is still Buhari’s war. He is cheered, but from afar. It is a war of one for all, but the one is lonely. In a democracy, a sense of consensus can help drive the battle. It happens in what political scientists and sociologists call corporatism. That implies that all institutions instinctively work as one to pursue a collective interest. Liberal thinkers suspect such ideas because they bear the seed of tyranny. John Stuart Mill in his famous book, On Liberty, calls it the “Tyranny of the majority,” but Marxists wear it as an epaulette of honour. It has happened many times where a shared value or set of values is enshrined into the spirit of the law. But Buhari lacks the charisma, the strategy and even energy of moral suasion to spark such firelight of fervour across the land. If he had it, he would not have to disobey the judges. The bench would understand that thieves and miscreants have no place on the streets and they will find the law to keep them under lock and key. Gani Fawehinmi once told me in his chambers that, “if there is a case between a rich man and a poor man, I will find the law for the poor man.” It was a statement of values. The United States had a movement in the Progressives Era at the turn of the 20th century. With the big corporations running rampant with men like Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Carnegie, etc, a spirit bubbled in the country to checkmate the acquisitive excesses of capitalism. Journalists, courts, businessmen, churches and a cadre of politicians were caught in this redemptive aura. The most famous member was Theodore Roosevelt who became president, one of their best ever. The movement succeeded. The danger is the possibility of a slide into dictatorship. Mussolini, Franco, etc exploited it. They did not triumph. French philosopher Rousseau designated it as “collective will” or “general will.” Mills objected and craved individual sovereignty. But both men, while denying it, agree that unfettered individuality and state-backed totalitarian control will destroy society. As Machiavelli – no lover of freedom – noted, “where everyone is free, no one is free.” French philosopher Michel Foucault noted test cases in his book, Madness and Civilisation, and concluded that inside freedom creeps subtle malignancies of tyranny. Buhari will have to look for the laws to help him. Or exercise patience. The civil society and media also need to isolate such judges as moral pariahs. They may know the law. But they might not know justice. Law is meaningless without justice. The individual is important. We cannot pursue the law without a Dasuki, or a Kanu or an El-Zakzaky knowing that the law took its full course. That is the essence of liberalism and the strength of democracy. Sophocles’ The ban play, Antigone, pursued the subject of individual right and state right. There was a famous line that “under the cover of darkness” the people support Antigone against the king. Zulu Sofola’s Wedlock of the Gods pursues the conflict of the individual and collective will. In his column, my former teacher Biodun Jeyifo (Happy 70th Birthday, by the way) reflected on a law now in the cooler to fast-track corruption cases, a thing Femi Falana has also harped upon. It is the measure of Buhari’s advisers that the legal framework for this battle was not put in place before launching the warfare. Not even the emotional framework is ready. Part of the problem is that Buhari is part soldier, part democrat, but the soldier has failed to part ways with the past. It’s a schizophrenic tension. He can learn from Churchill, De Gaulle, Eisenhower, etc who sloughed off their martial coats. If, for instance, Buhari steps down today, there is not a structure, not even a whiff of it, to point to the debris of his legacy. Not yet. He can start now. [myad]
Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) has given all those who shared in the allegedly diverted $2.1billion arms deal scam a soft-landing proposal, asking them to return what they got before it is too late. This was even as the commission confirmed that the former military administrator of Kaduna State, General Lawal Jafaru Isa, who was arrested late last week, has refunded 60 per cent of the money he allegedly collected from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA). Some of the beneficiaries of the cash include the following:
Former governors Peter Odili (N100m) Rashidi Ladoja (N100m) Attahiru Bafarawa(N100m) Mahmud Aliyu Shinkafi (N100m) Jim Nwobodo (N500m) Chief Tony Anenih (N260m) Ex-PDP National Chairman Ahmadu Ali (N100m) Chief Bode George (N100m/ $30,000) Yerima Abdullahi (N100m) Chief Olu Falae (N100m) Tanko Yakassai (N63m) Gen. Bello Sarkin Yaki (N200m) Raymond Dokpesi, Iyorchia Ayu’s company(N345m) BAM Properties (N300m) Dalhatu Investment Limited(N1.5b) Ex-PDP National Chairman Mohammed Bello Haliru, Abba Mohammed, Sagir Attahiru, serving and former members of the House of Representatives (over N600 million) Former Chairman of the House of Representatives on Security and Intelligence, Bello Matawalle (N300m) ACACIA Holdings(N600m) Bashir Yuguda (N1,950,000) Many other companies. EFCC insisted that all those implicated so far must refund the “illegal disbursement” of cash to them or face trial. “We have conducted a thorough investigation and we have retrieved some of the memos sent to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan by the former National Security Adviser; none of them indicated that the cash should be for political purposes. “There was never a memo for cash advance for political matters like campaign or election. “We have also traced some of these funds directly to the accounts of these bigwigs or their proxy companies. “Having gone far, we are asking them to return these funds or else, we will go after them any moment from now. I think they should respect themselves and make urgent refund. “In the alternative, we will arrest them and arraign them in court to defend such strange allocations. “We will retrieve every kobo given out from ONSA. It is insufficient to say somebody gave me this money. Once we trace undeserved public funds into your account or phony and proxy companies, we will ask for refund.” Regarding the interrogation of Gen. Isa, EFCC said: “He admitted collecting money from ONSA and he has refunded 60 per cent of the sum credited to him. I think it should be about N100 million. “Isa is the only person who has so far refunded money among the political figures who collected funds from ONSA. We have granted him bail to allow him time to source for the balance.” On the detention of the National Publicity Secretary of PDP, it said: “So far, Metuh has admitted the transfer of N400 million by ONSA into a company in which he has substantial interest. “It is left to him to justify why he deserved such benefit from arms cash. We are still questioning him on other remittances into the company’s account. We are also demanding how he will refund the cash. “Contrary to the noise outside, we did our homework very well. Anybody we bring to the EFCC this time around, we used to make sure that we have established a case against him. “So, we don’t invite or arrest on frivolous basis. We do thorough investigation this time around.” [myad]
Governor David Umahi OF Ebonyi state has announced a special package, including monthly allowances for the families of fallen heroes in the state and members of Nigerian Legion,
The governor, who announced this during an interdenominational church service to mark the 2016 Armed Forces Remembrance Day celebration in Abakaliki, said there would also be free transportation to anywhere they collect pensions.
The decision acknowledged the Nigerian legion for the supreme price they paid in keeping the country together, even as he directed his Senior Special Assistant on Welfare and Religious Matters, Rev.Father Abraham Nwali, to take head count of the families of the fallen heroes to enable his administration come up with the said monthly allowance. “I want to congratulate and celebrate you, our Legion. I needed to find out your number in our state because we are not very sure of the number. “What we want to do is to ask Rev. Father Nwali to see how we can number the family of the fallen heroes in Ebonyi State and see how we can put them on monthly stipends to assist them. “We shall do this together with the Legions who are alive. Not only that we give you monthly stipend, we shall also try to assist your transport wherever you collect your pensions.” The governor, who commended President Muhamadu Buhari, for the war against Boko Haram, called on Christians to always pray for leaders, adding that fervent prayers is the only solution to the economic challenges facing the country. Governor Umahi admonished Christians to always forgive one another and resolve issues concerning them as a body of Christ. “I believe that Christianity, no matter your level, must have the act of forgiveness; it must have the act of giving and it must have the act of caring for the less privileged. I think this is true Christianity/” Governor Umahi called on churches all over the country to carry out regular enlightenment campaigns against Lassa Fever,which he said, has claimed many lives in the 10 states of the federation identified with the disease. Earlier in his sermon, the Dean of the Cathedral, St.Peters Presbyterian Church, Abakaliki, Rt. Rev. Onyeuwoma Godswill, called on Nigerians to cultivate good relationship with God in order to guarantee security and stability of the nation.
The governor stressed that for Nigeria to become a great nation, the spirit of patriotism among Nigerians should be made manifest. Prayers for the corporate existence of Nigeria, repose of the fallen heroes, President Buhari and his family, members of the National Executive Council, the Legislature and the Judiciary were offered. [myad]
A 34-year-old applicant, Anthony Nnakanagu has been punished by the Gudu Upper AREA Court in the Federal Capital Territory; Abuja with six strokes of the cane for stealing four pieces of toilet tissue valued N200. Nnkanagu, a resident of Airport Road, Abuja, was convicted on a two-count charge of criminal trespass and theft. The judge, Alhaji Umar Kagarko, asked Nnakanagu to be of good behaviour and desist from committing crime after receiving the punishment. The Prosecutor, Oyeyemi Adeniyi, had told the court that one Fidelis Agba attached to Bolton White hotel, Area 11, Garki, Abuja, reported the matter at the Garki Police Station on January 7 this year. He said that the convict criminally trespassed into the said hotel, pretending to be a customer and entered one of the hotel toilets to ease himself. Adeniyi said while the convict was in the toilet, he dishonestly stole four pieces of toilet paper valued at N200 only. He further said that the said toilet tissue was found in the convict’s possession and the offences contravened Sections 348 and 287 of the Penal Code. Nnakanagu, however, pleaded guilty and plead for leniency. [myad]
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Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Engr. Babachir David Lawal is scheduled to visit Ebonyi State on Thursday, 14th January.
To Catch A Thief… Sam Omatseye
So we saw Sambo Dasuki, bright-eyed but subdued, in his dark-hued danshiki walk voicelessly out of the court, flanked by lawyers and associates. We wonder what roils inside his billion-dollar soul. He has said little. He has neither denied the flurry of statements from so-called miscreants who famously crackled out of his office with choice dollars. Neither has he defended himself.
Like a ram on sacrifice day, his face only reflects a muted melancholy. In dazed stupor, the ram keeps mum before the ominous eyes of butchers, the ferocious glitter of knives, the bowl awaiting its entrails and offal, the platform on which its neck will squish under the descending blade, the innocent giggle of children drooling for a happy meal.Of course, a small dug hole that indicates that burial is not an option except for the waste and blood that will rush out of the buxom flesh when the sullen ceremony of cutting and slashing is over.
All of the butchery represents the people, who have already made judgments on Dasuki. But that is the majority opinion, but not the majority opinion of the law. Two majorities? By law, majority opinion is the opinion of a few people on the bench. It reflects the superciliousness of lawyers and judges that they equate their narrow standpoint with the viewpoint of all of us.
President Muhammadu Buhari must be privately moaning this. He believes the guys stole. They broke the law. They farted on our holy of holies. They danced on the grave of our fighting men. They adorned themselves for that. Everybody knows it is wrong. So, why are they surprised when they are not allowed on the streets, but away in outer darkness, the key thrown away somewhere in the marshes of Bayelsa?
With his septuagenarian laugh and martial eyeballs, Buhari is still not a temperament for 2016. He is a romantic of the 1980’s. In the presidential chat, the ramrod man of still winsome mien sparked fire in the eye when he reminded the questioners that somebody took N40 billion from the Central Bank, that the IDPs are groaning, that a man call El Zakzaky with his rambunctious men defied the army, and a good government is not supposed to sit idle and watch impunity like a Nollywood show.
A deep chasm lay between the questioners and the former general. For him, it was a case of good versus evil. That made him into a sort of messianic force. The others thought good began with law and you could not be right with mere appeal to might like Greek philosopher Meno. If they invoked law, Buhari echoed law and order.
Yet those who want law believe also that the good ought to be punished. The irony is that the law, as Thoreau famously said, never made anyone a whit more just. So, there. Kanu, by common consent, railed against the law. The Shiites have no right to deny anyone the right to move. Those who stole our money must account.
But this is a democracy, and one of the lies of democracy is that majority always wins. This is one of those test cases of majority in a coma. Buhari’s war on corruption is a noble cause. But by defying the courts, it is a case of impunity chasing impunity. Two wrongs, where is the right?
The real problem is that the war against corruption is not a movement. For now, it is still Buhari’s war. He is cheered, but from afar. It is a war of one for all, but the one is lonely. In a democracy, a sense of consensus can help drive the battle. It happens in what political scientists and sociologists call corporatism.
That implies that all institutions instinctively work as one to pursue a collective interest. Liberal thinkers suspect such ideas because they bear the seed of tyranny. John Stuart Mill in his famous book, On Liberty, calls it the “Tyranny of the majority,” but Marxists wear it as an epaulette of honour.
It has happened many times where a shared value or set of values is enshrined into the spirit of the law. But Buhari lacks the charisma, the strategy and even energy of moral suasion to spark such firelight of fervour across the land. If he had it, he would not have to disobey the judges.
The bench would understand that thieves and miscreants have no place on the streets and they will find the law to keep them under lock and key. Gani Fawehinmi once told me in his chambers that, “if there is a case between a rich man and a poor man, I will find the law for the poor man.” It was a statement of values.
The United States had a movement in the Progressives Era at the turn of the 20th century. With the big corporations running rampant with men like Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Carnegie, etc, a spirit bubbled in the country to checkmate the acquisitive excesses of capitalism. Journalists, courts, businessmen, churches and a cadre of politicians were caught in this redemptive aura. The most famous member was Theodore Roosevelt who became president, one of their best ever. The movement succeeded.
The danger is the possibility of a slide into dictatorship. Mussolini, Franco, etc exploited it. They did not triumph. French philosopher Rousseau designated it as “collective will” or “general will.” Mills objected and craved individual sovereignty.
But both men, while denying it, agree that unfettered individuality and state-backed totalitarian control will destroy society. As Machiavelli – no lover of freedom – noted, “where everyone is free, no one is free.” French philosopher Michel Foucault noted test cases in his book, Madness and Civilisation, and concluded that inside freedom creeps subtle malignancies of tyranny.
Buhari will have to look for the laws to help him. Or exercise patience. The civil society and media also need to isolate such judges as moral pariahs. They may know the law. But they might not know justice. Law is meaningless without justice. The individual is important. We cannot pursue the law without a Dasuki, or a Kanu or an El-Zakzaky knowing that the law took its full course.
That is the essence of liberalism and the strength of democracy. Sophocles’ The ban play, Antigone, pursued the subject of individual right and state right. There was a famous line that “under the cover of darkness” the people support Antigone against the king. Zulu Sofola’s Wedlock of the Gods pursues the conflict of the individual and collective will.
In his column, my former teacher Biodun Jeyifo (Happy 70th Birthday, by the way) reflected on a law now in the cooler to fast-track corruption cases, a thing Femi Falana has also harped upon. It is the measure of Buhari’s advisers that the legal framework for this battle was not put in place before launching the warfare.
Not even the emotional framework is ready. Part of the problem is that Buhari is part soldier, part democrat, but the soldier has failed to part ways with the past. It’s a schizophrenic tension. He can learn from Churchill, De Gaulle, Eisenhower, etc who sloughed off their martial coats.
If, for instance, Buhari steps down today, there is not a structure, not even a whiff of it, to point to the debris of his legacy. Not yet. He can start now. [myad]