THE coin in issue is Nigeria. A coin is said to have two sides, a head and a tail. The head does not and cannot make the coin; nor can the tail. We then usually say two sides of the same coin, meaning the head side and the tail side. I saw the Nigerian coin at work on October 23.

JUST last week, I was straining to present in a more palatable way the crass lawlessness we have exhibited in the operation of our laws. I wanted the proof of the pudding in that regard to be in the eating, more because I wanted to save face for us than that I had no facts and figures to back up the claim that we are an embarrassment to a world where the recognised method of accessing justice is through the rule of law.

The amnesty programme of President Umaru Yar’ Adua was a success. This is obviously his biggest achievement so far, even though in Nigeria it pays to withhold praise from politicians.

A COUNTRY would not be a country if it was not anchored on laws. But a country can be described as one without laws where it has laws that are not enforced or that are enforced more in the breach than the observance.

But there is one other way he can grant reprieve, and that is if the person pardoned was concerned … with any offence created by an Act of the National Assembly. All the offences in the Criminal and Penal Codes are Acts of the National Assembly for which reprieve may occasion either because the one being let off had been convicted by a court of law or he had been accused of committing such an offence. He does not even have to have been arraigned. Read section 175 (1) of the Constitution ten times.