Through history, no ship ever sank with her consignments unaffected. Like bubbles strive for sphere of operation in a choppy ocean so does established governments institutions gasp for survival when entrapped in a quagmire government. As the Nigerian rudderless ship battles waves of criminality in every facets of government dealings with her citizens, the overwhelming swirl over-boards weak institutions, leaving the seaming tough ones to enjoy the tempest tossed sailing. This is the case with the Nigerian judiciary, a once revered arm of government whose reputation soared greatly amidst unbreakable tyranny during the military juntas.
The judiciary then has in stock some of the finest brains and gifted jurists in West Africa. Lawyers of that era were lively, vociferous and much animated in discharge of their functions to the court and clients. That very era birthed jurists and ministers in the temple of justice whose words emits nothing but wisdom, glory and erudition unlike today where people of questionable IQ superintend affairs of the judiciary. We still mourn the passage of Supreme Court Golden Age where the likes of Justices Oputa, Kariby White, Nnaemeka Agu, Obaseki amongst host of others whose pronouncements on law have over the years acquired immortality anchored on timeless truth. Nigerian jurisprudence owes its enrichment to these born jurists whose reserved appraisal and appreciation of national issues are laced with philosophical and theological virtues, the principles of common humanity and fraternity.
Today, more than ever, our judiciary ails on all fours. What a national tragedy!
One would appreciate best the gravity of denigration and despicable level the judiciary has fallen into by the incoherent and bigotry nature of people its harbors. A case of study is the Attorney General of the Federation and minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami who knows little or nothing about the national loftiness of his office as against parochial, ethnic chauvinist interest.
Malami’s hasty reaction to subtle issues of national importance that demands patriotic employment of objective lens impervious to tribal sentiments bugs the mind.
Let’s ponder about his unthoughtful reaction to the Communique issued out by Southern Governors in their meeting at Asaba, Delta State on 11th May 2021 ” It is about constitutionality within the context of the freedom expressed in our constitution. Can you deny the rights of a Nigerian? For example it is as good as saying, perhaps, maybe, the northern governors coming together to say they prohibit spare parts trading in the north” he enthused.
Malami not only justified our esteemed fears that he never sat in a logics class but also, if he ever attended logics class, he owns the lecturer a resit. How in the world can one reconcile spare parts trading and open grazing of herds and hordes of cattle?
The spare parts merchants purchased and developed lands of their business, pay rents, pay taxes implicitly upping the GDP of host towns. Terrorists herdsmen obviously have no business with purchasing land nor payment of taxes but trespass at will and leave tears in their wake. Nigerians have always been compelled to yield to the brazen fibs that the criminal herdsmen are foreigners, if so why the sudden conferment of rights of movement available to citizens only, to these seemingly foreigners also?
The unlearned learned Malami’s parochial befuddled lens appears to be unaware of a decisive provision of the Penal Code Act operating largely in the North where he hails from. Section 342 of the said Code provides that ” Whoever enters into or upon property in the possession of another with intent to commit an offence or to intimidate, insult or annoy any person in possession of such property, or having lawfully entered into or upon such property, unlawfully remains there with intent thereby to intimidate, insult or annoy such person or with intent to commit offence, is said to commit criminal trespass” and made punishable under section 348 with one year imprisonment.
The drafters of this code unarguably had in mind the cross-country criminal exploits of the herders and had devised measures to stem it. However, no legislation can lay claim to be all embracing as to every eventualities for law deals with the most chameleonic of all creatures, the humans. The drafters never envisaged that then innocent and innocuous looking Fulani herder with a lean prod hanging languidly across his neck now clutches AK 47 to ply his nomadic herding dispensing deaths and unconscionable wanton destruction of properties at the detriment of others means of livelihood. What’s more? Malami seized of ageless hatred and prejudice against a certain people came to an embarrassing illogical allusion of “spare parts” traders. His bigotry mien couldn’t save him from deploying their divide and rule politics antics. He forgot that heaven didn’t come crashing when sales of alcoholic beverages were banned by northern governors including other abhorrent Hisba penal laws only to jump in agitating why southern governors chose to shield their people from fulani preditermined extermination. If the southern governors had gone by this ugly precedent of their northern counterparts, the sale of beef as suya(of no nutrition significance) would have become history. Equally stories are rife where these cattle have gone mostly injuring and killing people indiscriminately. How many spare parts left their warehouse to hunt lives?
Perhaps, section 14(2)(a) of the unpopular Constitution, 1999 provides to the effect that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of the government; though one inebriated fellow by his unguarded utterance suggests the opposite that southern governors should seek leave from the northern political elite before such legislative embarkation.
Maybe such a curious proviso should find its way to the constitution so as to massage his penchant for master and slave coexistence.
Malami and his ilks epitomize all that is contrary to legal profession. His unthoughtful mishmash reactions to portentous questions of national colouration left no one even the highly impressionable that his cerebellum affixes somewhere below his butt or can you demur otherwise?
Bibian Anekwe News…added…May God heal our nation, May Gov. Ugwuanyi accept to restore our nation come 2023..
Written by
IKEMSINACHI NWA-ONAH
A Political Analyst
Media Team Member: Enugu di n’akachukwu movement
From Makurdi
