By Dele Sobowale

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”.

Rev.Dr Martin Luther King Jr, Black Civil Rights Activist and Nobel Prize Winner, 1963.
(VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, p 104.

The Supreme Court of Nigeria has got caught in a web, inadvertently though, of its own making. Indeed, if it were not tragic, it would have been extremely hilarious. The highest court in the land recently gave a ruling which is not being obeyed and which cannot, and should not, be obeyed.

And, before you think I should be hung as an anarchist, you better seat still and read this piece from start to finish. It is about 86 oil wells which the Supreme Court had ordered transferred to Rivers State from Akwa Ibom based on some “agreement that must be respected”. To begin with, it is doubtful if there was any valid agreement which must be respected.

More to the point, the possible signatories to the “agreement” could not have acted based on the Nigerian constitution because they must have assumed the powers not granted to them under that constitution. In short, Akwa Ibom has no 86 oil wells to give back to Rivers State and no arrears to surrender also. But before going into the substance of the matter, permit me to make some observations.

We always assume that justices, especially at the highest court, are infallible, that whatever is delivered from the Bench is “justice” – as best as the panel of judges can come close to it. We even extend that trust to other judges from High Courts to Courts of Appeal and the highest court in the land. By holding on to that abstract view of the people on the Bench, we often ignore instances when their judgments have failed to meet the strictest tests of justice.

And, more importantly, we often forget that male and female justices are humans who put their trousers and skirts on one foot at a time like other members of homo sapiens – who anthropologists tell us descended (or was it ascended) from the great Apes. Individually, and collectively, they can be fallible –especially when faced with suspect evidence. In fairness to justices of courts anywhere in the world, they are not required to investigate evidence or documents brought before them. That is the job of counsel for both parties engaged in the case. So, in the matter of 86 wells, there was no way the justices could have known that they were being asked to pronounce on an agreement which is constitutionally-invalid because it has assigned to individuals powers that belong to the Boundary Adjustment Commission.

How did an Area Boy, from Lagos for that matter, get involved in oil palaver in the South-South? Simple, when ex-Governor Victor Attah published his book on Resource Control, he graciously invited me to write the foreword; and I did. Unlike any other VC of university but as the VC of UniJankara, I could smell trouble a mile off. I knew that the consequences of Attah’s claim will last us a generation. So, I bought a ring side seat ticket to watch this fight develop. And, I am glad I did. Nothing excites Area Boys like a good fight. I have quietly followed the twist and turns of this drama. As they say on CNN “don’t go away”…

ROPE A DOPE – 2: FUEL
“GSM NUMBER WITHELD ON REQUEST”
Learnt Madam Minister said that there’s nothing goverment can do about the price of diesel and kerosene since they are deregulated. Now we know government  officials were clearly lying when they told us that deregulation will solve all the problems in the downstream sector. What will happen when petrol is deregulated? Hide my number please.”

“Presido, what do you see?”
My regular taxi driver in Abuja, January, 2011.

Power supply to many areas became more regular from Friday, May 27, 2011 until May 29, 2011 when President Jonathan was inaugurated. Even if we were deprived of power after the elections, somebody must have cynically decided that “My fellow countrymen” must see the coronation – before darkness returns. That should tell all of us what to expect next as part of the breath of fresh air.

As if to leave us with no doubts about our prolonged agony with respect to steady power supply, the Minister of Power recently asked Nigerians to “be patient; the power supply will improve significantly in two years”. If you believe that then you are fool enough to believe anything from a bunch of people unaccustomed to keeping their words. Imoke promised 10,000Mw by 2007; Yar’Adua reversed it to 6,000 by 2010. Today, it is still less than 4,000Mw. It has not come to me as a surprise that we are again receiving the run around in 2011. The same political party, comprising most heartless leaders in Nigeria, has been involved in all these political rigmaroles. I dey laugh O! Fortunately, for PDP, their victims, “My fellow Nigerians”, are the most docile in the entire world. Their leaders can repeatedly kick them in the teeth and nothing happens. And, they have demonstrated it by going out and voting massively for the same party in 2011. Whereas before the last election people asserted that PDP was rigged into power in previous elections, now, nobody has that excuse. We voted PDP this time round. Now, we must face the consequences. We asked for whatever befalls us after May 29, –especially with fuel prices.

From January until the Presidential election this year, Ismael, my regular taxi driver, and a die-hard fan of FRANKLY SPEAKING, tried his best to change my mind about President Jonathan. His favourite tactic was to point out to me, every time I went to Abuja, how fuel scarcity and queues have disappeared since Jonathan became President May last year. Like my friend and the hotelier, who lauded the “achievement” with regular power supply, I told Ismael, “Wait until after the election”. This piece was written on May 25, in Abuja.

I was here two weeks before and the entire city was in the grips of one of the worst fuel scarcities in its history. When I finally saw Ismael, who had spent two days queuing for fuel, it was my turn to ask, “Ismael, what do you see?” He got the message and replied.

“Presido, I respect you. How did you know this was going to happen?” Today, May 25, 2011, Ismael could not work because he is again sleeping at a filling station.

Bad and potentially disruptive as the petrol situation might turn out to be, the questions raised about kerosene and diesel actually reveal how much the leading media houses had done to cover up a story which was there before the Presidential election. Deliberately or inadvertently, the media had ignored the kerosene story – mostly because it doesn’t touch them.

Then, diesel prices took off and are now heading for the skies. This week, it is going for N170 per litre – when available. Nigerians should get ready to ride a price escalator on fuel prices whose end nobody can predict and which will make nonsense out of the Minimum Wage. The Minister of Petroleum is merely telling us to get ready for the worst – naturally, after the elections. After the “Rope a dope” campaigns of 2011.

Just remember, you were warned before the elections. Good leaders keep their words.