BY Emmanuel Onwubiko<\/p>\n
Ruminating typically on what may have served as intellectual but fictional
\ninspirations for one of the world\u2019s most brutal tyrants, Adolf Hitler of
\npre-World War 2 Germany, I came up with the findings that there were
\nspecific cowboy novels that played that role.<\/p>\n
This brutal dictator Adolf part Hitler apart from creating cross country
\nand cross borders’ disagreements and problems that precipitated the Second
\nWorld War is held responsible for the genocides of over 6 million Jews.<\/p>\n
One of such novels are the adventure stories of Karl May set in the
\nAmerican Southwest have charmed millions of Germans, but especially
\nHitler, who patterned Nazi policies on their plots.<\/p>\n
Alan Gilbert, a John Evans Professor at the Josef Korbel School of
\nInternational Studies, University of Denver, offered clearer elucidation
\non these adventures.<\/p>\n
His words: \u201cThe aura of Indian names\u2014Massachusetts, Monangahela, Arapahoe
\nCounty, Mississippi, Minnesota\u2014hangs over America, even after the
\nindigenous people are often gone. A Founding Amnesia has long erased the
\nstories of Native Americans in history texts and the media. From silent
\nmovies until the \u201960s, \u201ccowboys and Indians\u201d\u2014John Wayne as a hero, \u201cApache
\nblood\u201d as a sign of \u201csavagery\u201d\u2014were fixtures and fixations of Hollywood
\nfilms, the last bastion of the ugly, 19th century military watchword
\nManifest Destiny.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThanks to the resistance of the American Indian Movement, however, the
\nrecord has been corrected, at least in part, to reflect the actual stories
\nof white America\u2019s encounters with native people: tales of expropriation,
\nadmirable resistance, and genocide from coast to coast. Nonetheless, the
\nSmithsonian still has a collection of 20,000 indigenous skulls, cut off in
\nmassacres, the flesh boiled down. Many had initially been sent to Dr.
\nSamuel George Morten to concoct 19th century anthropometry, a
\npseudo-science of \u201cracial\u201d measurements alleging \u201cAnglo-Saxon\u201d
\nsuperiority. But in 1990, Congress at last passed NAGPRA, the Native
\nAmerican Grave Protection and Repatriation Act. Slowly, slowly, body parts
\nare being returned to indigenous communities for burial.\u201d<\/p>\n
An avid reader may by now be swimming in the imaginative pool of what
\nnexus there is between the above narratives and the existential narratives
\nof our contemporary political existence in Nigeria Vis-\u00e0-vis the
\ncorelationship between the executive and judicial branches of government.<\/p>\n
But you need not wonder any further because the earliest impressions of
\nhow bellicose and tumultuous the relationship that exists between these
\ntwo arms of government currently, manifested with the refusal of President
\nMuhammadu Buhari to respect three separate court orders to release on bail
\nthe leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the Director of
\nthe United Kingdom based Radio Biafra, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu.<\/p>\n
The current federal administration also showed disobedience and discontent
\nagainst an order of a high court of Abuja which asked it to release on
\nbail the erstwhile National Security Adviser to the President Colonel
\nSambo Dasuki.<\/p>\n
Colonel Dasuki as he then was is said to be the young military officer who
\nplayed key role in the palace coup that saw the overthrow of the then
\nmilitary ruler Major General Muhammadu Buhari who now as a retired
\nInfantry Major\u00a0 General\u00a0\u00a0 succeeded in winning election after four
\nattempts as the democratically elected President.<\/p>\n
Buhari as the head of the executive branch of government is by virtue of
\nSection 6 of the Constitution not clothed with the Judicial Powers of the
\nfederation but is obliged to respect all orders of competent courts of law
\nwhich rightly exercise such Constitutional Mandate to adjudicate over all
\nmatters.<\/p>\n
It is being interpreted that personal vendetta is behind the ordeals of
\nthe former National Security Adviser who is facing multiple accusations of
\nalleged diversion of security votes of nearly $2 Billion USD.<\/p>\n
President Muhammadu Buhari has denied all these conspiracy theories weaved
\naround the contrived ordeals of Colonel Sambo Dasuki.<\/p>\n
Nnamdi Kanu is also receiving these Illegal treatments because as the
\ninspiration behind the global agitation for the restoration of Biafra in
\nline with international humanitarian laws such as the International
\nCovenant on Civil and Political Rights regarding self-determination
\nclause, he has reportedly angered Muhammadu Buhari for his attacks
\nthrough the Europe based Radio Biafra of the personality of Buhari.<\/p>\n
It would seem the judiciary was cajoled and arm twisted using security
\napparatuses at the disposal of the Executive arm of government to kowtow
\nto the caprices and whims of the powers that be in Abuja currently.<\/p>\n
Aside President Buhari\u2019s failure to respect binding court orders in the
\nabove cases, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has since
\nunleashed incredible disrespect for courts of competent jurisdiction and
\nhas on many occasions been compelled to cough out huge compensation and
\nlegal fines for serially engaging in illegal and arbitrary arrests and
\ndetention of suspects.<\/p>\n
This writer attended the Abuja Pre-London anti-graft summit which was
\nconvoked by the Ministry of Justice and funded by the department of
\ninternational development (DFID) of the British Council during which an
\naspect of the position paper drafted by the office of the Federal Attorney
\nGeneral States that there is a strategy being put in place whereby
\nanti-graft watch dogs such as the agencies under the direct purview of the
\nexecutive arm of government would be mandated to monitor life styles of
\nJudges.<\/p>\n
The above position can only be acceptable if Nigeria is part of the
\nadventure stories of Karl May expounded above or if members of the
\nExecutive branch of government have self-transmuted into EXECUTIVE
\nCOWBOYS.<\/p>\n
Some judges especially those handling the aforementioned cases seems to
\nhave bowed to the overreaching and insidious powers of the Executive to
\nissue frivolous verdicts denying the duo of Sambo Dasuki and Daniel Kanu
\nof the bails which other courts of competent jurisdiction had granted
\nearlier. IN this instance we can assume that most judges are now judicial
\ncowards. Put this side by side with the fact that the National Judicial
\nhierarchy are going cap in hand to veg the executive arm of government to
\nincrease its budgetary appropriations shows a picture of a judiciary that
\nhas been totally subjugated.<\/p>\n
If this is the true picture then our democracy is imperiled because the
\nmost fundamental ingredients of virile democracy is the constitutional
\nprinciples of separation of Powers and the independence of the Judiciary.<\/p>\n
This plot to institutionally weaken the Independence of the Judicial arm
\nof government by an executive branch whose top officials have set out to
\narm twist judges to decide cases in the favor of government through
\nsubterfuge is a direct affront to the constitution of Nigeria which
\nprovided for separation of powers.<\/p>\n
The Constitution of Nigeria in Section 158(1) unambiguously states as
\nfollows: \u201cIn exercising its power to make appointments or to exercise
\ndisciplinary control over persons, the Code of Conduct Bureau, the
\nNational Judicial Council, the Federal Civil Service Commission, the
\nFederal judicial Service Commission, the Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal
\nCommission, the Federal Character Commission, and the Independent National
\nElectoral Commission, shall not be subject to the direction or control of
\nany other authority or person.\u201d<\/p>\n
This shows that the adventures by EFCC and office of minister of Justice
\nand the Presidency to subjugate and cow the judiciary into institutional
\nsurrender of its independence to the executive branch of government are
\nabsolutely unlawful and illegal.<\/p>\n
Few years back, a justice of the supreme court of Nigeria Emmanuel
\nOlayinka Ayoola had warned of the dire consequences of any attempt by the
\nexecutive arm of government to usurp the powers of the judicial arm.<\/p>\n
Delivering a lecture titled: \u201cThe importance of the rule of law in
\nsustaining democracy and good governance\u201d, the retired Supreme Court
\nJustice had asserted that: \u201cAlthough the Constitution says that
\n\u2018sovereignty belongs to the people of Nigeria\u2019, it is clear that
\nsovereignty can only be exercised through the Constitution by adherence to
\nand enforcement of the values which are fundamental to the Constitution.
\nElected representatives of the people, empowered by a democratic
\nfranchise, can abuse the terms of representation with impunity if there is
\nno institution to call them to order”.<\/p>\n
He proceeded thus: “This is why the role, which the judiciary should
\nperform as guardian not only of the Constitution but also of its values,
\ncannot be taken lightly. Where the judiciary abdicates that role either
\ndeliberately or because of insufficient awareness of its responsibilities,
\nthe Constitution is trampled upon and disrespected. The result is
\ndespotism as was witnessed in the period of military rule.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite all the Constitutional safeguards and the moral and ethical
\nchallenges that follows the attempt by officials of the executive arm of
\ngovernment to intimidate, harass and coerce the judiciary to do their
\nbiddings, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Department
\nof State Services have continued in their bad ways thereby portraying
\nthemselves as executive cowboys.<\/p>\n
For instance, a certain Abuja High Court Judge was so disappointed by the
\nbrazen disobedience to his orders by the Department of State Security
\nrecently that he openly threatened to throw the case file away unless the
\nsuspect is produced in Court on the next adjourned date.<\/p>\n
Shortly after, the acting chairman of EFCC Mr. Ibrahim Maju an assistant
\ncommissioner of police was quoted in the media to have threatened to
\ninvestigate Judges who are in the \u201chabit\u201d of granting bails to suspects
\nfacing anti-graft cases brought by the anti-graft panel.<\/p>\n
The powers to grant bail to suspects is at the discretion of judges so
\nIbrahim Magu can only be referred to as an executive cowboy if he carries
\nthrough his threats and intimidation against judges.<\/p>\n
As if they were keeping faith to the old saying that \u201cbad habit die hard\u201d,
\nthe EFCC have severally threatened to deal with Defence counsels
\nchallenging them in courts\u00a0 even as that agency recently dismissed the
\nNigeria Bar Association (NBA) as an organization made up of rogues and
\nvultures.<\/p>\n
This extremely vexatious description of the Nigerian Private bar by EFCC
\nresulted from an innocuous position taken by the newly sworn in President
\nof the NBA Alhaji A.B. Mohmood (SAN) that the EFCC needs to be divested of
\nprosecutorial powers so it can face investigations.<\/p>\n
But the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) took a swipe at
\nthe Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) for demanding that its prosecutorial
\npowers be whittled down.<\/p>\n
According to EFCC, such call should not be made by a bar peopled with
\nsuspected rogues and vultures incapable of being professional and
\nobjective in the on-going anti-corruption war.<\/p>\n
The Head, Media and Publicity of EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, who rebuked NBA in
\na statement, disagreed with the association\u2019s proposition, which
\nspecifically stated that the role of the commission be limited to
\ninvestigation alone.<\/p>\n
The NBA had at its 56th Annual General Conference in Port Harcourt, Rivers
\nState advocated the reform of EFCC and the Judiciary.<\/p>\n
Its President, Abubakar Mahmoud, who delivered his inaugural speech
\nshortly after being sworn in as the 28th President of the NBA at the
\noccasion, called for the review of the broad operations of the EFCC as an
\ninvestigative and prosecutorial agency, recommending that the commission
\nshould be limited to only investigation.<\/p>\n
But Uwujaren attacked the character of the messenger by saying that the
\ncommission viewed with concern, the call by the NBA president that the
\nEFCC be stripped of its prosecutorial powers and deplored the views.<\/p>\n
Hear him: \u201cA bar populated or directed by people perceived to be rogues
\nand vultures cannot play the role of priests in the temple of justice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Uwujaren noted that, \u201cMore importantly, the commission cannot comprehend
\nhow the redefinition of EFCC\u2019s mandate in narrow terms, ultimately
\nwhittling it down, fits into the clamor by Nigerians and the vision of the
\nPresident Muhammadu Buhari administration for a vibrant and courageous
\nanti-corruption agency.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead, Mahmoud\u2019s suggestions appears perfectly in sync with a cleverly
\ndisguised campaign by powerful forces that are uncomfortable with the
\nreinvigorated anti-graft campaign of the EFCC and are hell-bent on
\nemasculating the agency by stripping it of powers to prosecute with the
\ntame excuse that an agency that investigates cannot also prosecute,\u201d he
\nadded.<\/p>\n
According to Uwujaren, the question Nigerians must ask the Mahmoud-led NBA
\nis, what is wrong with EFCC prosecution, adding that \u201cMahmoud is in a
\nposition to answer this question\u201d.<\/p>\n
The EFCC Spokesman committed further fallacies of argumentum ad hominem
\n(fallacy of attacking the messenger\u00a0 rather than the message) when he
\nnoted that the NBA President was the Attorney General of the Federation\u2019s
\ncounsel in the trial of former Delta State governor, James Ibori, at the
\nFederal High Court, Asaba, a case which EFCC lost in questionable
\ncircumstances.<\/p>\n
He alleged that \u201cthe same ingredients from that case were used to fetch
\nIbori a 13-year jail term in London\u201d, and that \u201cMahmoud is also the
\ncommission\u2019s counsel in the appeal against the infamous perpetual
\ninjunction from arrest and prosecution by former Rivers State governor,
\nPeter Odili, which is still pending before the Court of Appeal in Port
\nHarcourt, many years after it was filed\u201d.<\/p>\n
Uwujaren considered it too much of a strange coincidence that the
\nsuggestion to strip the EFCC of its prosecutorial powers is being floated
\nfew months after the commission, in unprecedented fashion arraigned some
\nsenior lawyers for corruption.<\/p>\n
These different ramifications of subtle, open and brazen attempts to
\ndestroy the independence of the Judiciary must be halted now before our
\nhard won democracy is destroyed. The Nigerian people must speak out and if
\npossible pour out on the streets in Defence of democracy.\u00a0 The future and
\nprospects of a better Nigeria depended on not allowing executive cowboys
\nto achieve their diabolical mission of turning judges into judicial
\ncowards. God forbid that this scenario should be allowed to take firm grip
\non us.<\/p>\n
*Emmanuel Onwubiko is the head of the Human Rights Writers Association of
\nNigeria and blogs at www.emmanuelonwubiko.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BY Emmanuel Onwubiko Ruminating typically on what may have served as intellectual but fictional inspirations for one of the world\u2019s most brutal tyrants, Adolf Hitler of pre-World War 2 Germany,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52591,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n