By Josef Omorotionmwan
OF all the fine definitions of terrorism, the one offered by the ninth edition of Black’s Law Dictionary at page 1611 is the most appealing: The use or threat of violence to intimidate or cause panic, especially as a means of affecting political conduct. This definition accepts the fact that terrorism takes place at every level, every time, and every where.

There have been instances of where the thief would begin to pursue the owner of the farm. The story is told of that village setting, where a notorious thief went to another man’s farm on an Eken market day (native Sunday, a day of rest). This thief went to the head of the ban where the big yams were. He stood on a mortar and was picking the fattest yams when the owner of the farm suddenly arrived. The thief unleashed his sharp cutlass on the farm owner’s forehead saying, “See how you almost frightened me.” The man still went ahead to pack as many yams as he wanted. Not only did the farm owner now have a big sore to contend with, he was also warned not to narrate his ordeal to anybody.

In case you are tempted to believe that this could have happened only in the past, just wait till you hear what is now happening to the Edo State Government, where the State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Dr. Osagie Obayuwana, has just returned from the gulag, after a three-day abduction by authorities apparently loyal to Churchgate Industries Limited. I like the way the Nigerian Observer captured the episode on its front page of Thursday, 2 February 2012: In respect of a suit brought by an Indian Firm, Churchgate Industries Limited “over the ownership of the State owned Bendel Brewery Limited”.

This attitude of treating Government’s property as nobody’s property has been on for long. Under the so-called privatization policy, the Edo State Government had in a dubious agreement dated 25 November 1992, virtually dashed away the Bendel Brewery Limited, which was valued at that time for N212 million, to the Indian Firm. The Firm was said to have acquired controlling shares of 51 percent, which by simple mathematics would have translated to N108 million at that time.

In the usual tradition of the thief pursuing the farm owner, Churchgate soon started its maneuvering. Instead of paying the N108 million, it agreed to pay N12.75 million. Records available to us indicate that even the N12.75 million has apparently not been paid up.

By 2003, the dissatisfaction of the Edo State Government with the raw deal in the manner of the sale of the Brewery, the management track record of Churchgate and the fundamental breaches of the 1992 agreement had reached a crescendo. The Government had to reassert its direct control over the Brewery.

At this point, Churchgate dragged the Edo State Government to the Federal High Court, Benin. In one of the floodgates of interlocutory orders made in the process, the Edo State Government was ordered to hand over the Brewery to Churchgate.

Dissatisfied with the said order, which amounted to a grant of the claim in the substantive suit, the Edo State Government instituted an appeal, which is currently pending at the Supreme Court.

Last October (almost eight years after the order was made) and without the mandatory personal service of the required forms 48 and 49, as provided by the Sheriffs and Civil Processes Act, the Federal High Court issued a Bench Warrant against the person of the Attorney-General of Edo State, Dr. Osagie Obayuwana.

Out of deep respect for the judiciary, the Honourable Attorney General appeared in court on Monday, 30 January 2012, to explain the issues, only to be kidnapped and hauled away to maximum security prison, under very heavy security of more than 30 armed mobile policemen – six times the number and with more sophisticated weaponry, than those that accompanied a world-class Boko Haramist, Kabir Sokoto during the purported search of his house. Obayuwana was treated like a common criminal. The man was not allowed to offer any explanation before being carted away.

The most offensive aspect of it all is that the court summons, which the Honourable Commissioner was said to have flouted, was never served on him. Nigerians cannot be fooled into believing that the only issue at stake here was the contempt of court.

Here was a blatant abuse of judicial powers and a deliberate violation of the personal rights of Dr. Osagie Obayuwana. This raw deal in the hands of Justice Adamu Hobon had all he characters of a matter that was prearranged, properly planned and carefully consummated; purely reminiscent of the dirty politics of yester-years.

Quite often, black market judgments, apart from denting the image of the judiciary, do not last beyond a short season. They lend credence to the aphorism, “Why pay a lawyer when you can buy a judge?” In just the same way that you do not have factories and real establishments that are set up by outside terrorists, judicial terrorists only succeed in shaking the polity for a short while before vanishing into thin air. A few instances here will suffice:

Once upon a time, there was a Dosumu who shook Edo State to its very foundation by annulling a very credible election. During the Bababgida junta, there was an Ikpeme whose inglorious role in the June 12 annulment is still fresh in our memories.  Where are they today? They and others like them are gone with the winds. As for last week’s rape on our nascent democracy, this, too, shall pass away! Terrorist actions do not endure; good people do.