Nemesis At Play In Our Polity: A Call For Genuine Remedy By AbdulRahman Agboola

When people in power discharge their full strength to hoodwink opposition to their stance or compelling submission, they rarely think of posterity with their winner takes it all mindsets, what amazes me most about lamentations of political leaders at moments of frustrations or strangulations is their forgetfulness of their past deeds when in possession of naked power.

The economic situation has indirectly redefine our tiers of government from three to one, in similar manner the State Governors hijacked the third tier of government and dictates the running of the local government administration exploiting the flexibility of our Constitution to appoint sole administrators and decide the expenditure of local governments, the full reliance of the State Governors on bailout from Federal Government for settling their accumulated debt speaks volume of their loss of independence.

Affinity and sentiments have beclouded our sense of judgment, most people expected to be reasonable and rational in thoughts and actions seems to be caught in political correctness syndrome heating up the polity at the moment. The commoners are expected to show absolute solidarity to the cause of loot recovery and abating corruption are blindfolded with web of political patronage, the oppressed still sympathizes with the alleged looters as they cry foul of selective prosecution, without disproving the allegations against them.

The Presidency deserves all the blames for faulty strategies in the fight against corruption, considering the political influence of the bigwigs under different prosecutions, the Presidency ought to have engaged the services of opinion leaders across board to gain superior influence among the general public. On the other hand, what is good for the goose is good for the gander, in the fight against corruption, sacred cows ought not to surface at any point but there are serious pointers towards the existence of sacred cows.

The leadership of the Nigeria Senate expected of collaborating support with the Federal Executive Council have been at loggerheads for over a year now, that crisis has degenerated to throwing of tantrums across the divides to the extent where the Deputy Senate President petitioned Foreign Governments in an attempt to secure soft landing against allegation of forgery. Without been prejudicial, the merit of the case against most politicians facing charges in courts over one allegation or the other can only be decided by a competent court of law, but a beam on the antecedents of these personalities under probe reeled out shocking revelations about their antecedents.

It is a usual practice for every influential accuse person to implore even non-conventional means to evade diligent prosecution and escape the wrath of the law, the onus lay with the prosecutors to brace up against all odds in getting justice delivered in due cause, when people deal with you crookedly without recourse for due process, must be you equally mind decency in getting them out of circulation, it is a matter of smartness, a law breaker struggles to escape, there is no big deal, whatever the system permits becomes lawful when not properly challenged.

Nemesis is really at play today in our polity, people with analytical minds will easily decode how some former Governors sanctioned legitimately elected Local Government Chairmen for reasons best known to them and even when the suspended or sacked Chairmen approached Courts, sought redress and gained the favourable judgments, the Governors failed to adhere to the directives of the Courts as they rubbished the law in discharging their executive powers.

When we engaged in the practice of borrowing without minding the consequences of our indebtedness, we refused to admit the signals and warning for the sake of posterity, our debt profile as a Country is not commensurable with our developments while the State Governors indebtedness through several loans locally and internationally is really shameful. The State Governors have thrown several States into generational indebtedness as the loan repayment has become an albatross towards development, a situation that has led to challenges in salary payment obligations by Governors, how long this nemesis will scare us in the face will only be determined by attitudinal changes by the Governors that have failed to exhibit extraordinary talents in solving problems, most of them are creating more problems in their bids to solve the existing ones.

The manner which our politicians suppress all dissenting voices against their wishes and suspend their followers for anti-party activities not minding previous relationship and contribution to both party and caucus success when it mattered most, is nemesis not repaying the politicians today under this administration they laboured extremely to install. The ill treatment meted on some politicians by superior power brokers years ago, are the current champions not exhibiting the same characters against their opponents today without recourse for nemesis as well, most people under prosecution seems to be paying for his goofs which should serve as lessons to those with mindset of tolling path of niggard behaviours while occupying public office.

When no one want to admit his flaw, when power brokers assume the status of law and dictates who should be executed or  be spared without preference for conscience or legal jurisprudence, illegalities are disguised as legality. It has taking the Federal Government more than a year to get looters to appropriately sanctioned or convicted, if not for the purpose of loot recovery, but to cleanse the political space of fraudulent persons aspiring or holding public office, our Constitution provides for a minimum of 10 years for any ex-convict to be allowed to seek mandate or hold public office.

The imports of the claim of the Senate Leadership that the action of the Attorney General of the Federation by instituting a forgery case against them is against the spirit of separation of power explain the lack of integrity in our clime, in saner climes, alleged public officers whose hands are clean stands firmly at moments of scandals, they don’t whip public sentiments against their trials, they prove their innocence, protect their image by securing acquittal and exoneration from the Courts of Law.

On paper, there is separation of power among the tiers of government, but in operation, the Executives often takes the shot at the expense of other tiers of government, in terms of legal proceedings like prosecution, are the security agencies not under executive influence or can they independently institute a case without the wit of an Attorney for a judicial trial to commence and in terms of legislation, how many bills require a Presidential assent before it becomes operational and effective, the duties of the three tiers of government are interwoven in some circumstances.

For the purpose of clarity, considering the claim of political persecution by the leadership of the Senate on the two trials involving the Senate President, if found guilty on any front, he will face appropriate sanction and pay the ultimate price of losing his seat, his opponents will rejoice and his allies will feel oppressed by superior power, the continuation of the trials seems odd with all the attendant realities of the weakness of the handlers of these cases.

If the allegations that the Presidency wants the Senate President removed are true, then the Presidency should be lashed for his weakness to have battled the Senate President for more than a year to no avail, it is a serious indictment that the Presidency lacks men of capacity to combat the Senate President and the blame will simply go to Mr President for a proxy war. If it is true that people with worse records than the Senate President allegedly enjoy protection out of loyalty to the establishment, they should equally remember that change is a constant factor, what they sow today; they will equally reap with time.

The Presidency will eventually be a loser as the survival of the Senate President will add to his popularity and possible acceptability by the general public if eventually exonerated as the trial will be dubbed as political persecution, but if the antics and claims of the Senate Leadership against the Presidency are disproved as blackmail or sheer hypocrisy, a new order or phase will surface in the polity as the eventualities will be shocking and difficult to bear for them.

In all honesty, plea bargaining as operated in the era of President Obasanjo seems unhealthy at this material time, the Presidency must act beyond lip service in efforts towards loot recovery and conviction of those demagogues that drained our commonwealth and enthrone the reign of economic disorderliness in Nigeria. Proper sensitization campaigns and intellectual efforts towards coarsening overwhelming population of Nigerians to support the Anti-Corruption Crusade is the best shot for Mr President and no traces of sacred cows must be visible.

In a society already endemic with corruption, there are only few clean personalities that will not be confronted with evidence of dubious past, if the Chief of Army Staff, EFCC Chairman and Chairman Code of Conduct Tribunal can be easily labeled with corrupt tendencies, Mr President need to be thorough in discharging the duties of his office, else the whole show will become a charade and the essence of his emergence as a President to restore sanity into the polity will become either displaced or defeated.

When nemesis comes to play in the polity, a call for remedy becomes sacrosanct, public officers must be ready to amend their ways where necessary and admit the consequences of their flawed antecedents, show genuine evidence of repentance and readiness to act in the best interest of the public as commandeered by the duties of their offices. I make no isolation to any personality in coining nemesis at play in our polity, the revelations about public officers under probe are really shocking but the shocks must be translated to adequate gains by Mr President towards the improvement of our economy and general goods.

Our laws are not soft, but people often twist them to suit their purposes by exploiting laws through technicalities as seen in different scenarios currently at play, Mr President as the head of this administration must come out frontally to do his job, discharge the duties of his office, coordinate other arms of government to achieve the vision of his administration, we must admit the fact that it is an onerous task for Mr President, but with resilience and steadfastness, hope is not lost for Mr President to restore sanity into governance in Nigeria.

Comrade AbdulRahman Agboola

National Coordinator,

Mass Action for Good Governance and Grassroots Development in Nigeria

massaction4gg@gmail.com 08032813279