“Money makes everything legitimate; including bastards”.Jewish proverb. (VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS p 163).
And in no country is that statement truer than in Nigeria. Given loads and loads of cash, a certificate forger can be given an award, nay several awards, for integrity. It has happened before. It will happen again.

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.

Part of the text message from Idris has been recalled in order to remind our readers that this series is a response to a reasonable challenge from a regular customer of our paper; and like all customers we owe a duty to inform and, if possible, to also entertain.

Perhaps the place to start is to thank Idris for the message. It is the sort of text message which engages the columnist in dialogue in a manner that would make it impossible to hide – if he accepts the challenge contained in the message. I gladly accept because we are at a crossroad in our history and anybody who has an idea must place them on the table for all to read and either accept or reject – based on the merits of the arguments.

“Trust is a matter of bets about future actions based on experience. A track record of keeping promises is a good predictor”. Rosabeth Kanter, Editor, Harvard Business Review; Sept-October 1992. (VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS p 252).