Good day Sir,
Whilst i listen to you every morning on the way to work, my messages seem to never get delivered and i keep getting a funny automated reply from the short-code.
I would like to raise few points:
1. You are indeed correct in that Fayose is immune to prosecution and not investigation and as a lawyer i can appreciate the difference. However, i wonder what stopped the EFCC from perpetually tracing the funds in the account till 2018 when he would no longer have such immunity as opposed to freezing his account now and heating up the polity further?
even if done in bad faith, by 2018 APC will still be in power so why the rush?
Good or bad, Fayose is seen as a fierce critic of the president and his regime and this action by the EFCC is typical of the EFCC under this administration; reckless. They operate under no laws and respect no laws. Note that the rule of law is much more that merely obeying the laws of the land and all parties being subject to the law. Its objective is ensuring law and order in the society which the EFCC’s actions have threatened regularly for the past year.
2. You touched on the pressure being put on the judiciary by litigants who begin to claim all sorts of bias even the ridiculous. This is a very BIG issue that should be addressed. However, you will recall that this trend seems to be in reaction to this governments media campaign on the judiciary being a thorn in the flesh of the anti-corruption fight. This statement being made at home and abroad by the president himself was more calculated than erroneous. This was an aggressive campaign that conditioned the mind of the average Nigerian to endorse or ignore the abuse of power and disregard for the rule of law that this regime is now famed for.
I believe it was somewhat unfair this morning that you failed to touch on the role of this government in the unfortunate trend of putting the judiciary under undue pressure.
One must understand that a Judge cannot do the job of a litigant. The focus should be on the capacity of lawyers in the public justice system/public prosecutors (Ministry of Justice, etc). e.g. i can tell you right now that the CCT does not have jurisdiction on criminal matters such as money laundering, etc, but if you follow the trial there is so much focus on topics outside the jurisdiction of the tribunal … you get where this is going
3. I understand that you analyse the headlines in the papers and give your views as you see it (personally), but kindly understand that in such a docile nation (a product of years of bullying by successive military regimes) the voice that can speak is expected to speak. Heavy lies the head (mouth). Lol
4. You rightly advised that the SP consider resignation in order not to heat up the polity further. May i also point out that you touched on a statement made by Bismark Rewane to the effect that the NDA could be corruption fighting back. I watched the channels programme where he made this statement and i was utterly appalled that an economist felt it was his place to allude such a connection on national TV bearing in mind the tense state of the nation. I expected him to get one of your short and sharp reprimands for heating up the polity and playing politics unnecessarily and was surprised that you seemed to endorse the statement.
5. As a human being you are prone to want PMB to be successful not just as a Nigerian but also because you voted for him. I wanted GEJ to work, and whilst i acknowledge the positives in his government (policies and institutions built, quality of his cabinet, personal mien and democratic outlook), it was obvious that things could not continue the way it was corruption wise. I would like to plead that, like you often say with public officers, you do away with whatever personal bias that you may have and shoot from the hip with respect to constructive criticism. (i acknowledge that you are not an official public office holder – key word being official). It seems to be a sin (and definitely a crime) to criticize this govt
e.g i love how you shot down the idea that returning on Sunday to resume on Monday made any sense for a 70 something year old. Its a bit sad that our respected prof was inclined to defend such a position. However, prof being out of place and sticking out like a sore thumb in this administration is a story for another day
Have a great day.
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