Poor Justice Isa Ayo Salami, the embattled former President of the Court of Appeal who was recommended for reinstatement from suspension by the National Judicial Council, NJC. The Council, undoubtedly, must have been inspired by the admonition of Lord Mansfield, 1705-1793, the English jurist, who left the world with the immortal words: “We must not regard political consequences, how formidable so ever they might be, if rebellion was the certain consequence. We are bound to say: “Fiat justina et ruant coeli (let justice be done, though the Heavens fall)”.
Last week I ended this series by stating that President Jonathan does not know those behind the Boko Haram threat; neither does the National Security Adviser, NSA. They don’t know, not because they are incompetent or lack the will, as some have asserted but because we are engaged in a guerilla war in which the opponents of government forces know the JTF and Police but the forces cannot readily identify the terrorists.
First of all, let me apologise for my error about the Rt. Reverend Oladunjoye. He is still the Bishop of Owo Diocese and not retired. My sincere regrets on this Sir!
“I CAN TELL YOU THAT President Goodluck Jonathan knows those behind this ugly act. He is taking it with levity; he has refused to expose them. The President is demonstrating his weakness and telling the whole world that he is not capable of ruling the nation.
“This world is a comedy to those who think; a tragedy to those who feel”. Horace Walpole, 1676-1745.
HE personally authorized the disbursement of N50m for 109 senators then, as well as other sums of money, which amounted to an excess of N8b to pass the third term bill into law”.
When the new acting Inspector General of Police, IGP, first ordered the numerous police check-points, nationwide, to be dismantled, few people believed him. To be candid, I never did; and for good reason. Every IGP since Babangida’s administration, had announced that those illegal and shameless toll gates be removed – without success.
When Abacha died on June 7, 1998, the world changed suddenly for a lot of people. But, for one man, Major Al-Mustapha, the world as he knew it for over four years, as Abacha’s Chief Security Officer, came to a disastrous end. For a man who headed our intelligence outfit, it was shocking that he failed to understand that he was in mortal danger. So, on Sunday, July 12, 1998, I had published the article below on this very page. If, I may say so myself, the accuracy of the prediction, after the death sentence passed on Mustapha amazed me. Read on.
“Fresh evidence shows that Nigeria’s ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) used Halliburton bribe money for the 2003 campaign that gave former President Olusegun Obasanjo a second term in office. Our investigations show that a significant portion of the $180 million bribe was given to the party through the presidency [emphasis mine], which doled out the money using cheques”. NEXT ON SUNDAY, July 5, 2009.
Ibori disgraced Nigeria; twice convicted in London; going for a third and possibly again in Nigeria, still he managed to file false applications to rule Delta State for eight years under the banner of PDP. Is it possible that nobody knew of these convictions in the past? The British must be amused. What sort of a political party is this PDP which fields outlaws? Side by side with Ibori, to be sentenced in April should be a lot of people and a political party. Read on.
“Though this be madness, yet there is method in it”.William Shakespeare, 1564-1616.
Last week, in the first part of this series, I had assumed that the judgment of the Tribunal with regard to Akwa Ibom State governor’s election was an aberration.
Perhaps that was why in an essay by someone calling himself “a Noble Writer” derisively announced that “Law is injustice codified”. He might have a point. However, granted that it has become almost universally accepted conventional wisdom that “the law is an ass”, reasonable people, who hold the view that the law should be an instrument to serve justice, expect magistrates and judges to ride the ass and not crawl, on all fours, with it.
