Orange, one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators with sales of 39 billion Euros in 2014 and 157,000 employees worldwide, today, announced the taking over of Cellcom Telecommunications Limited of Liberia, acquiring 100 percent of its subsidiary. Orange said that it entered into a firm agreement with the Liberian telecom giant through its subsidiary Orange Côte d’Ivoire. In an announcement, Orange said that it will provide its marketing expertise and world-class technical capability to further strengthen the network operator, enhance services to consumers and contribute to the economic growth of Liberia. It assured that Cellcom’s founders and employees will remain involved in the business to ensure a smooth integration, support performance and continue long-standing relations with the Government of Liberia. “This acquisition is part of the international development strategy of Orange, which aims to accelerate its growth by entering new emerging markets with high potential. This will enable Orange to strengthen its positions in Africa, which is a strategic priority for the Group.” Orange said that Liberia is a country of over 4.3 million inhabitants, with a mobile penetration rate of 66 percent, lower than in many neighbouring countries. It said that with a national mobile license and its significant market share in the country in number of subscribers, Cellcom has excellent potential for growth over the coming years. The completion of the transaction, Orange said, remains subject to approval by the competent authorities. Orange is one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators with sales of 39 billion euros in 2014 and 157,000 employees worldwide at 30 September 2015, including 98,000 employees in France. Present in 28 countries, the Group has a total customer base of 263 million customers worldwide at 30 September 2015, including 200 million mobile customers and 18 million fixed broadband customers. Orange is also a leading provider of global IT and telecommunication services to multinational companies, under the brand Orange Business Services. In March 2015, the Group presented its new strategic plan “Essentials2020” which places customer experience at the heart of its strategy with the aim of allowing them to benefit fully from the digital universe and the power of its new generation networks. Orange is listed on Euronext Paris (symbol ORA) and on the New York Stock Exchange (symbol ORAN). [myad]
Lagos state government has voted the sum of N25 Billion as soft loan to small scale business men and women, under its Empowerment Trust Fund. The government assured Lagosians that they would have easy access to the fund as long as they have convincing business ideas and innovations. It assured that there would be no discrimination on the bases of status, locations, beliefs or political affiliations. The State Commissioner for Wealth Creation and Employment, Hon. Babatunde Durosinmi-Etti told news men as an interactive session in Lagos that the fund would be granted as soft loans to young entrepreneurs within the next four years with the interest rate of about one per cent as administrative charges. He added that this is among the lowest in the country and West Africa. He said that the board to handle the loan disbursement would made up of individuals from private sector and only two government officials with proven integrity with experience. He said that the government would assist in making other jobs attractive through provision of good environment for business activities rather than allowing the populace concentrate on the few available job areas like the multinationals, oil companies, banking sectors and the civil service. The Commissioner expressed confidence that the rate of unemployment across the State would have been reduced drastically before the expiration of the four year term of the Employment Trust Fund. Durosinmi-Etti traced the history of the high rate of unemployment to non inclusion of skills acquisition programme into the school curriculums which according to him forms part of cognitive value that had gone into extinction. “When examining the issues of unemployment, it is pertinent to study it from the indices perspective. There is disaggregated unemployment, underemployment and structural unemployment. This implies that there are graduates seeking for employment where their expertise is not needed but are bent on having such jobs because of the monetary turnovers” the Commissioner explained. The Commissioner emphasised that with the determination of the present administration to address the skill gap deficiency in the State through investment in skills acquisition centres to meet up with present day’s needs and demands, the influx of foreign artisans into the country would become history. He described the situation where the jobs that could be undertaken by Nigerian artisans are given to artisans from neighbouring countries as worrisome, stressing that the trend could be reversed if the home-based artisans are equipped with qualitative skills that would be more attractive to the private sector. Durosinmi-Etti, however pleaded with Lagosians to give the change mantra in the State a chance, trust the present administration and be progressive partners towards the attainment of a Lagos that will be the cynosure of all eyes in eradication of unemployment. [myad]
National President of Media Forum for the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), otherwise known as Shiite, Ibrahim Musa has alleged that a month after what he called Zaria Massacre some members are still in Army’s detention facilities. In a statement today, Musa said that contrary to the statement credited to the Commander, 1 Mechanized Division of the Nigerian Army, Major General Adeniyi Oyebade, stating that the Army had handed over all our brothers and sisters to civil authorities and that there is no one with them, members of the Islamic Movement are still in military detention facilities. According to him, no fewer than 700 members of the movement have been declared missing and that such missing people are either killed, burnt alive or in military detention facilities. It is in this figure that some are victims of mass burials by the Army. “There are still members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria in Bassawa Barracks and Nigerian Army Depot in Zaria as well as in Military Cantonment Jaji. “Also so, no corpse has been handed over to the Movement by the Army as some of them are still being kept at Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital Zaria. “We hereby declare the statement by the GOC that they have handed everybody over to the police as false and mischievous because with the way the Army is acting and doing everything possible to cover up its sins in the massacre, we fear they might eliminate those with them and claim that they are not with them. “We therefore call for the release of all our members that are currently in detention and being denied legal services.” Musa wanted the government of Muhammadu Buhari and other authorities in Nigeria to denounce statements credited to some Saudi-Wahabbi, commending the government for killing members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria and directly praising Governor Nasir El-rufai and President Muhammadu Buhari for fighting what they described as a “Jihad for them.” The movement also condemned hate sermons delivered in mosques and other religious places including those of the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Sanusi Lamido Sanusi against Shiite. These people, Musa said, have displayed what he called the peak of religious intolerance and marginalization of a section of the society. “The government is aware of the activities of these Saudi-Wahabbi scholars on radio and television, especially in Kaduna and the newspapers where it is directly described as using state machinery to fight jihad for the Sunnis against the minority Shi’ites of the Islamic Movement. “We are all aware that there is no such thing as a state religion in Nigeria and every Nigerian has the constitutional right to practice any religion of his choice and belong to any sect of his choice but contrary to this, a democratically elected government is being hailed for ‘doing jihad’ on behalf of some people. “In as much as the Islamic Movement in Nigeria is a Movement for all irrespective of sect and religion with a majority Shi’ite membership, we are concerned about the sectarian sentiment being sponsored by the state with the intention of intimidating the members of the Movement. “It is the duty of the government to assure Nigerians that it is not involved in using state apparatus in launching attack on and segregating a part of the citizenry because they do not belong to their religious faith.” [myad]
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]
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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]