By Ayo Gabriel-Abu
There is a worrying bandwagon trend in Nigeria where people who should ordinarily understand basic issues display crass ignorance about topical cases. We see this play out continuously in the Nigerian political scene at the detriment of the wellbeing of the nation – where apologists of various political parties would prefer to shut the window against sunlight to prove a dusk lie.
I have always wondered why some Nigerians would always advise people to disregard due process because history has shown that holding on to what the law says is not the norm in Nigeria and may not land the person involved at a safe destination. Such is the case of the former governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello.
I have seen quite a number of people arguing on his behalf and I have seen their logic. I have also seen the negatives and noticed the deliberate mischief. I had seen the difference between the informed commentaries and the hatchet/ignorant jobs even before my law school lecturer sat with me to throw more light on the basic ingredients of the lingering case between the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the former Governor.
At every stage of this case, it was clear that the man, Yahaya Bello, was well covered by the laws of our nation but was a lone voice in a system that glorifies sycophancy and dresses illegal conducts in royal garbs.
If we journeyed back to the day the EFCC themselves started this show by staging a movie in front of his Abuja residence in the name of laying siege, it would be easy to identify the clear missteps. This man had a valid court order against arrest or harassment pending the determination of a fundamental human rights case he filed. He was not the first Nigerian to obtain such order. Even if he was the first, it is within his rights as a citizen of Nigeria as long as he can demonstrate that there is threat to his safety.
Moreso, the present National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Umar Ganduje, got an order that stopped the EFCC from probing him. Who has vacated that order? Is he not the one gallivanting from one place to the other despite heavy allegations hanging around his neck? This is also in spite of various petitions submitted against him to the EFCC by individuals and organisations as well as his state government. Does he have immunity as APC chairman? NO!
Why has he refused to honour one single court sitting since his trial began at the Kano High Court? Nigerians need to wake up and see through the shenanigans of those who orchestrate ordeals for political enemies just because they are close to those who call the shots! There are many others who have the same order and are being shielded.
Back to Yahaya Bello, why would any educated person join the EFCC in a game that is clearly a breach of everything called fundamental human rights and not think of future implications on the Nigerian legal system? Was it right for the EFCC to have, in April, stormed the house of someone who had a valid court order preventing them from arresting him pending the determination of the matter in court? There was even no formal invitation to him and no warrant of arrest. From the news of that day, the controversial warrant of arrest was obtained much later, in contravention of an existing order from a court of coordinate jurisdiction.
Why do we like to celebrate lawlessness? So, because some people don’t like Yahaya Bello’s face, because God has re-written the slant of politics in his state through him and some people are angry, it is okay to disregard the law in his own case and obey the law in another case. I wish I had powers, this is a man to support because he has been subjected to nothing all along other than intimidation and oppression. Someone who no court has convicted is being treated as if he had been proven guilty. What the hell!
One writer used the headline: who is advising Yahaya Bello? And I laughed at his ignorance. He should be asking: who is advising EFCC or this Federal Government? Why are they making persecution so glaring? So because everyone fears EFCC, no one should explore all legal angles to protect his rights?
If the EFCC had succeeded in vacating the order that he had before the invasion and he refused to show up or they couldn’t arrest him, that would have been the point for a warrant of arrest. The warrant of arrest against him should be condemned in a sane society.
From news records, the EFCC only vacated that order at the Court of Appeal at the end of August. His media office, thereafter, released a statement that, in line with the development, he decided to present himself to the EFCC as a respecter of the rule of law. This was in spite of the fact that he had a leg pending at the Supreme Court. But what did the EFCC do? They told him to go home only to launch an attack at the Kogi State Government Lodge the same night.
Did that not confirm to an objective mind that even beyond persecution, his life was in danger and could not be entrusted in the hands of his aggressors? He has been under the firm protection of the law all along, contrary to what his political opponents and the EFCC want people to believe. If I were his lawyer, by now, I would have filed series of cases against them, particularly with respect to defamation and threat to life.
Well, the dust settled on that matter. Later, we woke up to the news that Kogi State was at the Supreme Court, along with some other states to challenge the constitutionality of the EFCC Act. Before I go on, let me point out here that I strongly believe that the activities of the EFCC are not in line with the provisions of federalism. It is also a known fact that the EFCC has always been an instrument in the hands of the government of the day against opposition or perceived political rivals. It has served as a ‘witch-hunt tool’ that always turns round to ‘witch-hunt’ the last user. It is a cycle.
I stumbled on a February 19, 2007 front page story of Punch Newspaper, where Nuhu Ribadu, the current National Security Adviser, who was the EFCC boss then, vowed to prosecute Tinubu, whose alleged corruption, he said, was of international dimension. Today, he works under the same Tinubu as NSA. The implication of this is that Nigeria does not have the right framework to tackle corruption yet.
Anyway, the states went to court and they lost. Since Yahaya Bello’s preliminary objection that a case was pending at the Supreme Court had now been quashed by that judgment, he again presented himself to EFCC on Tuesday, accompanied by his lawyers. So, what is the offence in that? In fact, he should be a hero for the voiceless in the society. He fought a good battle even though I never expected that he would win legal battles when his oppressors are the ones calling the shots.
Whether or not the case sailed through at the Supreme Court, it is on record that the status quo was challenged. And that doesn’t even put a close to it. It can be revisited. After all, there was a Supreme Court judgment that earlier gave exactly the opposite of the latest judgment. Nigeria’s Judiciary is still very much tied to the apron strings of the Executive if the truth must be told. So, the fact that a judgment was given against a state-oppressed person does not make it just.
Finally, if I would have any reason to ask about Yahaya Bello’s advisers, it would be to unravel the source of his confidence, fearlessness and doggedness, which, to me, have been the recipe for some unbelievable barriers he has broken in his political journey. Like a writer said the other day, he has given hope to people without godfathers that they can go far in life in a society where our oppressors have continued to concentrate Nigeria’s wealth in their households by recycling their children and grandchildren in positions of authority at the expense of the masses.
Like Yahaya Bello or hate him, you can’t dispute the fact that he is fearless and understands the game, politics. Without political sagacity, he would never have been able to puncture an age-long political myth in his state. This is why I would love to, one day, meet him, one on one. I need to know the secret.
Nigerians should stop listening to defamation contractors who have turned overnight activists. They smile to the bank every other day after being paid to run people down. It is a thriving industry.
Finally, now that the former governor is with the EFCC, the Commission should know that all eyes are on them. They are prosecutors not the court. Let the process be fair. The long adjournment, just to rule on a bail application, already raises questions!
*Ayo Gabriel-Abu, a lawyer and public affairs analyst, writes from Kaduna.
