On Friday, 23rd of August 2024, Nigeria’s Supreme Court delivered its judgment on the Kogi State governorship election. The verdict was as expected: Murtala Ajaka of the SDP party had no case, despite winning the majority of the votes cast.
Why was the verdict unsurprising to most of us? The answer is simple: the lethargic Governor Ododo, a protege of the fugitive, former governor Yahaya Bello, had bribed his way from the tribunal to the Appeal Court, and to the Supreme Court. It is alleged that between the three layers of the justice system, over N64 billion of Kogi’s peoples’ funds were used to secure the unjust victory.
Second, Yahaya Bello, the former governor, during the voting exercise, had instructed his constituency to inflate the number of votes as much as possible. According to him, “rig the votes and let the courts decide the outcome of the election. We will prevail because justice is for sale in Nigeria, and we have the money.”
This behaviour is in tandem with what has become the norm in both Nigeria’s electoral and justice systems. Every four years, elections are held. The results are always rigged or manipulated, and then, the extremely Schizophrenic judges with avaricious appetites dangle carrots to the go-between Senior Advocates of Nigeria ( SAN). No matter the merit of the case, the SAN with the heaviest bag of carrots wins the case. This is an aberration in any normal society, but in Nigeria, it’s the norm. Deviant behavior is the socially acceptable behavior and vice- versa, in our pseudo- democracy.
In every society, culture is defined as ” shared practices, values, and beliefs. Dishonesty, debasing truth, and fraud , the three variants of corruption, have become cultural in Nigeria.
Therefore, Yahaya Bello took this template from the fore runner governors: Bola Tinubu, Godswill Akpabio,etc., just to name a few.
Tinubu, the then governor of Lagos state, was on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s ( EFCC) list, but he bought his reprieve through the judiciary. He never once appeared before the commission. Yahaya Bello has dribbled and impudently defied the invitation of the EFCC. He learned it from the master.
The nagging question on my mind is: What kind of government or leadership does President Bola Tinubu want to show Nigerians and the world? Does he intend to foster a country devoid of law and order? Does he think that there will be peace in Nigeria if there is no palpable justice in all our endeavours?
Nigeria is captured! The robber barons, aristocrats, and gentries, who are mainly politicians, have held everyone hostage. Over 1000 Nigerians, who expressed their disdain for the poor economic state of the nation, are in jail. Obviously, the president is oblivious to the nuances of the predatory behaviour of the so- called public servants. Nysom Wike, who is currently the minister of the Federal Capital Territory, has remained glued to his patrimony, Rivers State. In Wike’s facile mind, all the resources of Rivers belong to him. Lagos state still belongs to Tinubu and his kinsmen. Yahaya Bello is in tandem with both. Bello is currently in charge of Kogi State and all its resources. Ododo is his puppet.
The sublime meaning of leadership is untenable in Nigeria. Therefore, separation of power between the legislature, the judiciary, and the executive that usually leads to checks and balances is dire illusion in a country of 200 million people in sheer despondency. The feeble structure of the federal government can not protect the rights of individuals to vote and be counted. Again, why creating an electoral system that is fraudulent and devoid of the rights of the electorates to choose who should govern them?
The concept of governance is straightforward: Citizens want a just and proper governmental authority that addresses inequality, respects individual rights, and protects the population as a whole. There is no doubt in my mind that the crop of leadership in Nigeria lacks basic moral fiber, which should be part of our collective categorical imperative. Sadly, the judges in Nigeria are inherently impervious to the difference between right and wrong when it comes to financial incentives. The unrestrained individualism has belittled the prior notion that the legal profession is noble. The judiciary in Nigeria is the most ignoble and corrupt institution.
We, the Igala, cannot give up our rights. Time and space will vindicate us in the next gubernatorial election. God willing,we will still present Murtala Ajaka, the true winner of the last contest.
Dan Omale
Miami, Florida.
