Editorial
Nigerian judiciary: When an integrity-challenged institution sheds crocodile tears
“It is only here that judicial officers work harder than slaves and yet, they are not appreciated. But, the consolation is that the judges in Nigeria are attached to the devil they are contending with. Whether we like it or not, we have to be proud of our judges and justices. They are brilliant and bold and some of them are appointed as justices in other countries.
“A mistake by one judge should not be generalised to warrant general condemnation from any quarter. They surpass judges from other countries. They deserve commendation for resisting the evils. The majority of judicial officers are standing in the face of challenges and unless we are careful with the way we attack judges, we will lose our minds and conscience.”
These were the exact words of Kanu Agabi, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (AGF-MoJ) a few days ago. He was invited to speak on behalf of the senior members of the SANs, otherwise known as the Inner Bar, Nigeria’s equivalent of the UK Queen’s Counsel, now King’s Counsel, on Monday, September 25, 2023, at a special court session marking the commencement of the 2023/2024 Legal Year in Abuja.
As usual, and as it is wont with his ilk, the learned silk, once again attempted to shift the blame, this time for the rot in the society, particularly the heist that underscored the 2023 general elections which has hurt Nigerian democracy so badly. His was that instead of Nigerians directing their condemnation where they believe it is supposed to be firmly resting – the Nigerian judiciary, the camera of shame should be panned elswhere.
But what that would entail is to confirm as the judicial camp, perhaps believes, is that Nigerians are equipped with the brain matters of animals or at best morons. Otherwise, there is no other way the Nigerian judiciary would not take a large chunk of the blame if not all the blame in its entirety. In fact, nowhere else could it be more fitting.
Before him, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem President of the Court of Appeal (CoA), while opening the event, was no less unhappy herself about the brickbats the judiciary has been getting from Nigerians, while attempting to shift the blame away from the judiciary to Nigerian politicians, whom she blamed for not accepting their fate by walking away.
By the combined efforts of the two and indeed many other lawyers and commentators, some of them employed as undertakers, not only to beautify the ugly corpses that judicial pronouncements have become, but deodorise their putridity, the judges remain irreproachable, simply because they are merely interpreting the law the way it is rather than the way it ought to be.
For the rest of Nigerians who believe that judges should go beyond this straightjacket concept and deliver the justice of the matter before them in all ramifications, they are accused of committing a mortal crime of daring to bemoan the fate they have been handed. Their insistence that saving the society and the people from the insults, indignities and consequences arising from practically being fed their own excreta – a cocktail of faeces and urine, the usual mantra is that they are dwelling on sentiments. “Law is not sentiments, they would readily say.”
But put this statement on a proper societal balancing scale, it simply lacks the basic elements of logic. In the first place, judges are not inanimate objects. They are not machines either that could be placed at a spot and remain there permanently, never acting until their owners move them. They are also not trees that would be threated with being hewed down and still remain standing. No! Judges are not only human beings, but live in the same society they deny justice.
So, if democracy is raped so furiously and brutally as Nigeria has witnessed over the decades, most particularly in the 2023 elections, which has been acknowledged in informed quarters as the worst in the history of the country, judges, who by their pronouncements, help to sustain the outcome, cannot escape the blame, by snoring in the save and comfortable duvet of merely interpreting the law as it is or enjoy the alluring lullaby of praise singers, who tell them that their refusal to unilaterally take up the gauntlets to defend the society, reflects professionalism and courage as Agabi implied.
Rather they deserve to be called out and the guilt of the collapsed house that could result from such a convenient, irresponsible and most times devious shirking of their supposed ennobling duty, hung on their necks like yokes on the bull of burden. They must be dragged through the septic gutters of the infamy they deserve to travel on. That is what Nigerians are doing at the moment and there is no way they can escape the anger of the people no matter their obvious attempt at a pushback.
Yes! Agabi described Nigerian judges as “brilliant and bold” reasoning that “some of them are appointed as justices in other countries.” Of course it could be true and he may be right. But brilliant and bold in what sense? While the brilliance part of it is left to the jury, it is clear that only a bold judge could look at what happened in the 2023 elections, allow it to endure and keep a straight face. But that is in the negative sense.
Only a bold and courageous judge would look at Nigerians in the face and tell them that it is okay for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), not to upload results of the 2023 elections real time, in line with their guidelines and what they mouthed everywhere in the market places across the country and even as far as the world stage, including the Chatham House in the UK, because they are not legally bound to do so. It is only a negatively-tutored and inspired judiciary that could hug such an obtuse, even if convenient excuse.
Perhaps, the former AGF was talking about the Nigerian judges of old and not the type Adamu Bulkachuwa, a Nigerian Senator once told his colleagues in his contribution at the closing session of the ninth Senate, held at the hallowed chambers of the Senate before the beaming cameras and millions of eyes within and without Nigeria, that he he effectively influenced and manipulated from his bedroom.
They are certainly not the type Chidi Odinkalu, former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), told the world recently that Nigerian politicians put behind their pockets as they go about committing various forms of crimes and whose skewed appointments are the products of bedroom and other filial considerations. Certainly not!
If indeed they were, those who whose vice grip on the throat of the 2023 election asphyxiated life out of it, would not have been that daring to be singing the go to court mantra. It is because they were aware of the insipid and pliable nature of the current Nigerian judiciary that they sang that song with such ecstasy. That way Dongban-Mensem, would not not have to cry out about how election cases have overshadowed the entire judiciary system by the sheer number. In other words, the only way of stopping the deluge is to do justice. That way, electoral brigands will have no reason to continue in their bad behaviour. If they continue enabling the criminals, not only the judiciary but the entire polity would continue to suffer.
It is such raw, indisputable boldness and courage that delivered that heavy blow to the impunity demonstrated in the Rotimi Amaechi case in 2007. Ordinarily the former Rivers State Governor, would have been told to go home and lick his wounds, if he had presented his case today. But the judges demonstrated that they were part of Nigeria and decided to go for the spirit of the law in righting the wrong embedded in the impunity of one man authority, who posed a danger to democracy.
It was still within the same period that Peter Obi, against the moving train that was the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) got justice in the Tenure Determination Case, and was restored to power, even as a member of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), one of the least influential political entities in Nigeria at that time.
That obviously ought to be the judiciary Agabi should be cloaking in the toga of brilliance and boldness and not the obviously timid, lethargic and probably compromised judiciary of today that would permit the type of judicial murder that saw Dave Umahi and Godswill Akpabio return to the Senate after contesting presidential elections in one circle. How could such a judiciary earn the type of respect the former AGF envisages?
Imaging the cacophony of contradictions that are coming out from the election petition tribunals in the states – judges giving with one hand and taking with the other at the same time – in shameful display of outlandish pronouncements. Are they reflective of the type of judiciary that Nigerians would ignore and celebrate?
Certainly no! In the unlikely case that the present Nigerian judiciary has forgotten the colour of justice, only a scratch back to history would reveal it in the eternal description of the late Chukwudifu Oputa, one of the unforgettable minds that had ever sat on the noble and exalted position of the Nigerian bench.
Indeed, the only argument Agabi seemed to have got right is when he reminded his audience that whatever decisions they made or failed to make in the journey towards delivering justice, they must account for them, if not on earth, before their creator when they die, as many of them are doing right now.
But beyond that the eternal words of Oputa, Justice of the Supreme Court (JSC), as he then was, remains enduring – Justice to the accused, justice to the accuser and justice to the society. That is what Nigerians want and demand, without which, everything is but a white-painted sepulcher, beautiful outside but habours rotten remains in its bowels.
Nobody needs be told that the Nigerian society have continued to hold the short end of the stick in this context. But so long as it is denied its own share of justice, the judiciary would continue to suffer and endure the bespattering image from the paintbrush of shame! No more no less!
In the early hours of Monday, January 26, 2026, Charles Chukwuma Soludo, stormed Onitsha Main Market, reputed to be the biggest enclave for trading and other commercial activities in West Africa, on what he called on-the-spot assessment.
It was a military-style display, reminiscent of the Muhammadu Buhari-Tunde Idiagbon, best-forgotten taskforce days, when soldiers, without warning swooped on markets, broke into their owner’s shops and practically sold available goods to the public at giveaway prices – many their cronies, in the guise of forcing their Essential Commodities policy.
In like manner there and then, the governor ordered the immediate closure of the market after accusing the traders of harbouring criminal intents and engaging in economic sabotage that costs the state a whopping N8billion in lost revenues. To boot, he even warned not only to close the market on a permanent basis, but if need be, even bulldoze it to the ground, should the traders remained recalcitrant in their decision.
Hear him: “Each Monday, we’ll come and inspect. If people are not in their respective shops, it will be shut down again. If you like I don’t mind shutting down this Main Market for the remainder of this year. If you don’t like it, go elsewhere and trade, but if you’re here, we’re not going to allow this plain economic sabotage. Also, we suspect whoever closes their shops to have some criminal intents.”
From the outset, we must state that what the world saw in that spontaneous encounter and subsequent days as the issues therein remained on the front burner, has little place in democracy, neither does it reflect sound, people-oriented leadership under the ethos of what has now been accepted across the globe as the best form of government.
Now, the last time we checked, Soludo is neither a military General nor even a soldier, but a highly-decorated academic, whose influence in the knowledge industry spans beyond education institutions, government – he was formally Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) – to international reckoning – consulting for some of the highest global bodies, including the United Nations.
Now, how does this selfsame global icon, reduce himself to a local dictator, dishing out orders as in regimental commands rather than employing that power of persuasion, which distinguishes brainpower – the emblematic factor of his training from raw strength of dictators in the gun business?
How does it fit? Do concepts like immediate effect and automatic alacrity form part of the recommendations Soludo makes to those global institutions he consulted for? Certainly no! So, why introduce them as his own governance template? That is the confusing, if not the disturbing part.
Is it not becoming clearer now? Is this military-style tendency not finding expression in the audacity captured in that ghoulish spectacle last year, where one Jennifer Elohor Edema, the young lady serving Nigeria under the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme, was stripped down to her birthday suit by some youths, visibly inebriated on influences of some brain-damaging substances, who were working for Soludo’s government?
By the way, when last did anyone hear anything about those criminals, outside the initial apparent crocodile tears at government places in Awka? Has anyone heard of any form of punishment? Have they been arraigned in court? If yes, what is the state of the trial?
In the instant case, we particularly detest the governor’s attempt to feign ignorance of the issues behind the conduct of the traders or his efforts to bury them under the veneer of righteous anger. To so do is deceitful, arrogant, if not self-serving – elements that seem to have, so unfortunately, formed part of the governance structure in Anambra State, as in most other states across the country, including the central government.
The issue here, if Soludo needs be reminded, is about the fate of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), currently serving life sentence at a facility in Sokoto, to where he was sent by Justice James Omotoso of the Federal High Court, Abuja.
Of course, the governor was right in claiming that the dangerous security situation in the state has changed for the better and that Anambra is no longer the killing field it was until recently. Obviously, the blood-thirsty terrorists responsible for the carnages witnessed in the state, including those ostensibly aimed at enforcement of the sit at home orders, seem to be on holiday and from the look of things are no longer returning.
So, if the governor says security or insecurity of the traders is no longer the big issue, he has a foundation to so state. At least for the first time in recent years, Christmas was celebrated in the entire Igboland with the usual fanfare under the robust atmosphere devoid of fear. That alone gives credence to the extent of these changes.
But that is not the end of the story. Kanu’s fresh ordeal seems to have introduced a new chapter to the entire saga. Now, the current sit-at-home option appears no longer out of fear of being attacked or killed, but the willingness of the traders to donate every Monday, in solidarity with the IPOB leader. This was evident in the Tuesday demonstration, where the message of the traders who thronged the streets of Onitsha, was clearly delivered with renditions like – Nnamdi Kanu is another saviour.
Therefore, Soludo, must be a complete novice or pathologically naïve to claim he is not aware of this new sentiment. But he is neither of the two. There is no way the governor would not have been seized of the compelling emotions around him.
So, for him to put up that show on Monday, is nothing but a gambit tailored towards gaslighting the public. His feigned anger against the traders for not opening their shops is as manipulative as it is deceitful, just as argument thereto regarding the economy implications is as puerile as it is spurious.
It is demonstrative of lack of emotional intelligence, as it showcases the absence of the required synergy between the government and the people, a phenomenon that has become characteristic in the South East in recent years, where a huge gulf and trust deficit exist between the people and those who lead them.
It is indeed laughable when South East governors, including Soludo, lay claims to the current calm in Igboland, when on the contrary, many of them are accused of being collaborators, either as active agents of being complicit through their conspiracy of silence.
Who does not know that the late President Muhammadu Buhari, was the vector that transported that killer disease to Igboland? Dan Nwanyanwu, National Chairman of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), has remained relentless in establishing this fact most pungently in the past and even quite recently.
Soludo, in his chest-beating mode, gives the impression that he somehow sprung a genie out of the magic lamp to create a sudden miracle that turned the parlous security situation around. No! It was the death of Buhari that ended the blitzkrieg in the South East. Simplicita!
Where was this genie when during the Buhari days, when the Aguata Local Government headquarters, where he comes from was razed to the ground or when a swathe of Ihiala and adjoining areas in the state became a hunting ground for the rampaging terrorists, codenamed Unknown Gunmen.
He was only content in the open and shut attitude of dismissing the carnage they wrought as the handiwork of Kanu’s Eastern Security Network (ESN), even when the group swore on their father’s grave that they were not involved.
Indeed, if there is ever going to be anything good in the government of President Bola Tinubu, it is the fact that he is not as hungry for the blood of the Igbo man as Buhari, who never hid the fact of his desire to continue the civil war against Ndigbo, more than 50 years after.
Had Tinubu, who upped the ante in the marginalisation of Ndigbo in many ways, escalated this penchant by toeing the line as part of his continuation of the Buhari legacy, which he promised Nigerians, he might have renewed the military contract Asari Dokubo claimed to have with Buhari.
Yes, though he never revealed details of the so-called contract, its nature could be gleaned from the manner the people were dying wotowotowoto, as the Niger Delta warlord, himself gloated about some years back.
He even backed his gloating up in that viral video, with a display of an AK-47, boasting how he would use the weapon to cure Ndigbo their “madness.” Is it not surprising that in all his public comments, neither Soludo nor his South East colleagues ever mentioned this obvious threat to his people.
So, nobody is deceived by the governor acting like Idi Amin of Uganda, who went berserk because he could not get more money printed from his central bank. Nobody is moved by his threat to even bulldoze that market. He is only being clever by half, if not acting a script.
It does not remove the fact that he and his colleagues suddenly went mute, then and now and remained tongue-tied at a historic moment when Ndigbo are battling to extricate themselves from the soggy, foggy, belly of the whale, like the biblical Jonah, as they are in Nigeria today. It does not belittle the fact that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is a metaphor for that horrible situation.
It is even worse that Soludo, arguably the most intellectually-gifted governor in Nigeria today, would be introducing some ethnic, sectional or indigene-based sentiments into the matter by trumpeting that those pursing the sit at home drive are not from Anambra. What a shame!
Who cares? Instead of such obtuse, infantile, if not asinine suggestion, would it not be more apposite for him to conduct a census in the entire Anambra, Aguata, his local government, Isuofia, his community and even the Soludo family to determine the number of Igbo people that are happy with the fate of not only Kanu, but Ndigbo in the hands of his friends in high authority today?
We hear that the traders have caved in. So, by Monday, expectedly, they would return to their shops – though definitely against their will. Soludo, would have scored another point and proven himself a strong man. But is it not a crab that makes itself king in shallow waters? Times shall tell!
The systematic bastardisation of Nigeria and its degraded worth in the eyes of the global community seem to have reached to its inglorious height in recent months. How damning!
Each day, the largest country of black people on earth seems to be gliding uncontrollably down the slippery slope of infamy where countries which hitherto stand in awe and trepidation, now practically spit at its global image.
Only recently, Burkina Faso, one of the smallest countries on the West African sub-region – a country with total worth far less than Lagos got Abuja crawling on its knees to Ouagadougou to plead for the release of a military aircraft flying the Nigerian flag.
Yes! It took a whole 10 days for the Nigerian Air Force C-130 and 11 soldiers on board to breathe the air of freedom once again, after they were detained in the hunger-ravaged African country for making an emergency landing – a routine aviation procedure that is ironed out in a matter of hours with nothing more than a mere explanation required.
But in this case, it took a special delegation of top Nigerian officials to move to the country with apology letter in hand to beg for the freedom of the detained men and plane from the Burkinabe authorities, whose personnel, openly walked on air to stamp their importance. Compatriots, this is your country – the giant of Africa.
Last year, it took a cough at the Oval Office Washington for Aso Rock Villa to catch cold and harass itself into a frenzy in search for way out of the decade-old issue of mass slaughtering of Nigerians by terrorists in addition to other forms of high crimes that have seized the country over the years.
Yet, even with all the frantic, frenetic and impulsive thrashing around, including a unilateral declaration of State of Emergency on security, what has come out of it?
It took the same United States, to make a decisive statement with the Christmas day bombing of a supposed hideout in Sokoto, said to have decimated scores of terrorist, who had assembled to plot how to wreak another havoc across the country as has become traditional during the yuletide season over the recent years.
But were these disgraceful outings limited to domestic affairs, it would have been more tolerable. But, unfortunately, it is not.
Internationally too, the tiger has also lost its tigritude. The same Nigeria that virtually stood shoulder to shoulder, gazing eyeball to eyeball as it confronted powerful western nations in a singular bid to end apartheid in South Africa – yes, the same Nigeria that took it upon itself to end the mass slaughtering in Liberia and Sierra Leone, is today cowering in its cocoon over issues it ought to have taken the lead in presenting the African perspective.
Last year, it was South Africa that roared like a lion by confronting Israel over the blitzkrieg in Gaza – going as far as taking the country to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague, The Netherlands.
Today, it is Ghana that is taking charge at the world stage, with its voice echoing beyond the seas and wildernesses over the US action in Venezuela where its special forces arrested Nicolas Maduro – that country’s President on Saturday.
“Ghana expresses strong reservations against unilateral use of force and strongly deplores such acts that violate the Charter of the United Nations and international law, as well as the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and political independence of States.
“The Ghanaian Government is keenly following the situation in Venezuela with great concern, and notes that such assaults on international law, attempts at the occupation of foreign territories and apparent external control of oil resources have extremely adverse implications on international stability and the global order.
“Ghana also notes with deep concern statements by US President, Donald Trump, that the US will “run” Venezuela “until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition” and that US large oil companies will be asked to “go in.”
“These declarations are reminiscent of the colonial and imperialist era. They set a dangerous precedent for the global order. Such colonial ambitions should have no place in the post-Second World War era.
“To allow this is to put the international community at great risk and undermine the sovereignty of every country. Ghana, therefore, re-affirms its commitment to the principle of self-determination and holds the firm view that only the Venezuelan people should freely determine their political and democratic future.
“Ghana calls for immediate de-escalation and the release of President Maduro and his wife. The Government of Ghana shall maintain and defend its long-held principled position against invasion, occupation, colonialism, apartheid, disregard for sovereignty and all forms of violation of international law.”
That was Accra’s bold and fearless response to the Venezuelan saga. Now where is Nigeria? Where is President Bola Tinubu? Mum is the word. The last we heard from our President was via an image of him having lunch with Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda in Paris. No single word uttered – just a picture!
Even that has also run into its own controversy as the image is now being disputed, because experts are convinced that it is AI-generated. How bad could it get! How deep could a country sink into the morass of infamy! How terrible!
But need anyone look far to ascertain the reason for this parlous situation and progressive dip into the bottomless pit of hopelessness. Of course, not! The answer is very apparent.
It is all about legitimacy and integrity of the leadership of the individual countries. John Dramani Mahama, could stand anywhere on the world stage today to declare that the mandate he holds as President derives from the people of Ghana. Cyril Ramaphosa could also swear in like manner that he enjoys the mandate of South Africans.
Could Tinubu honestly make the same claims today? That is the difference. When Sam Amadi, Harvard-trained lawyer, captured the Nigerian variant of strategy for election victory as the ability to bribe the institutions – INEC, judiciary and security authorities, rather than constituency mapping and messaging to convince the people – this is the result.
When Chidi Odinkalu, a professor of law, states categorically that Tinubu did not need the votes of Nigerians but corrupt INEC and the judiciary, to be President, the consequence is illegitimacy, lack of credibility and a country limbo.
The African Democratic Congress (ADC), was even more emphatic when it linked Tinubu’s silence to the fear of being served the Maduro treatment based on the evidently fraudulent 2023 presidential election that brought him to power, the consequences he has been battling with till date.
Bolaji Abdullahi, its spokesman, recalled how the government of the ousted President was widely condemned as illegitimate and deeply flawed by nine governments across Latin America, the European Union, and international democratic institutions.
Stressing how political opponents were barred from contesting, peaceful protests met with violence, and state institutions weaponised against the very citizens, he pointed to the celebration that followed Maduro’s fate to underscore his argument, stating: “When citizens pour into the streets in celebration, it reveals more than approval of an intervention; it exposes the bankruptcy of the regime that has been upended.”
Back home, he was no less so: “Let’s be clear: the Nigerian government’s choice of silence at this moment has nothing to do with neutrality. Instead, it reveals a government that lacks confidence simply because it lacks integrity. In Nigeria, in Venezuela, and across the world, democracy must mean more than ballots and electoralism. It must translate to freedom, fairness, and a happier life for the citizens.
“In this context, the ADC believes that the situation in Venezuela is a cautionary tale to all dictators, including the supposedly elected ones, and election riggers everywhere. The world is watching, and contrived mandates will no longer find a place to hide.”
How would anyone dispute this position? The naysayer must give a credible reason for the rapid Nigeria’s current drift to a one-party state, despite the evidential failures of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on all fronts of developments since coming to power in 2015.
Why, for instance are all the 36 governors of Nigeria struggling for space in the All Progressives Congress (APC) and declaring open support for Tinubu, even when the President has posted the most disastrous if not the worst outing in Nigerian history, if they were not being corralled to do so.
Why would a Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) arrogate to himself the power of life and death and insist that Siminalayi Fubara, his successor as Rivers State Governor must be divested of his free choice to contest for re-election as part of a strange “agreement?”
The real story is that Nigeria is no different from Venezuela under Maduro. That a repeat of the 2023 fraudulent presidential election will not only continue to produce a lame-duck President that will either be a puppet a weakling, or a disgrace rolled into one. That will be the real TRAGEDY!
Nigerians, nay, the world woke up on Monday morning to the shocking news of yet again, the abduction of students in the country – this time at the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School, Maga, Kebbi State.
The incident has now added to the long list of a phenomenon, which started on the night of April 14, 2014 with the kidnap of the students of the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, an episode now popularly known as the Chibok Girls saga.
When an uproar reverberated across the globe following the Chibok incident, with world leaders weighing in on the matter, including Michelle Obama, former US first lady, who took it personally by joining the campaign to free the young girls, it was an instant response to the gory picture that hovered in the firmament over the fate of of such young lasses, many still in their puberty stage in the hands of such dangerous criminals.
Who would have thought that the development would soon become a constant feature that would continue to smear the nation’s landscape, especially with the exit of then President Goodluck Jonathan, who had suffered the butt of national and international ridicule, as the incident was attributed to him with the derisive term – cluelessness – was eventually tossed out of office as a result?
On the contrary, it turned out that Muhammadu Buhari, his successor, posted a worse outing, despite his record as a General of the Nigerian Army and former Military Head of State, who during his times as the latter, was known as a no-nonsense leader.
Indeed, while Jonathan was clueless, Buhari practically dozed, slept or actually slumbered on the same issue. Under him, the situation assumed an almost epidemic proportion – from Dapchi Girls, which saw the abduction of 110 students from the Girls’ Science and Technical College (GGSTC), Dapchi in Bulabulin, Bursari Local Government area of Yobe State, on February 19, 2018, to the 279 female students of Government Girls Science Secondary School, a boarding school in Jangebe, Zamfara State on February 26, 2021, which came few months after about 300 students of Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State, on December 11, 2020.
During this period, Kaduna suffered some of the worst hits. First, 150 students of the Bethel Baptist High School, in 2021 and then the 2024 edition, when about 285 students were taken from their school in Kuriga, in Chikun Local Government Area.
These are just some of the incidents that quickly come to mind. There are many other cases of similar nature before this latest addition in Maga, where 25 girls were picked up and herded into the bush like cattle.
Now this was the situation under which President Bola Tinubu, had actually packed his bag preparatory to boarding his much-fancied executive jet en-route South Africa and Angola for the 20th G20 Summit of leaders in South Africa and thereafter proceed to Luanda to attend the Seventh African Union-European Union (AU-EU) Summit.
Indications coming from the Villa, in Abuja, appear confusing, as it suggests “postponement” rather than outright “cancellation,” going by the statement of Bayo Onanuga, the President’s main spokesman, on Thursday.
Onanuga, wrote: “Disturbed by the security breaches in Kebbi State and Monday’s attack by bandits against worshippers at Christ Apostolic Church, Eruku, President Tinubu decided to suspend his departure.
“He now awaits reports from Vice President Kashim Shettima, who paid a sympathy visit to Kebbi on his behalf, as well as reports from the police and the Department of State Services regarding the attack in Kwara.”
Anyone could bet and be sure that the trip was paused substantially due to the general outcry in the country over the move and that even now, the pull similar to the bee to the nectar remains too strong that he might actually step on the plane before the events end.
Pray! What is his role and of what benefit would he willingly stain the floor of these events with the blood of his countrymen with which his feet are currently smeared?
Pray! With which face would the President be sitting among these leaders, considering the situation in his country, which is practically on intense inferno currently? How would he handle the stolen glances? Knowing the world of diplomacy where much are ensconced in those deep stares and benign but deceptive smiles, those sympathies he would receive could obviously be more pretended than genuine and he would become the butt of private jokes and conversations thereafter.
Remember the heat that attended the discovery of a headless body floating on the Thames River in the UK in 2001 and how life nearly came to a halt in the country as a result.
Now imagine Kier Starmer the current Prime Minister stepping into British Airways en-route the same South Africa or even United Nations summit without resolving the issue of a stolen pet-dog or assuaging the feeling of that little blue-eyed girl ruing over her loss, let alone one young British school girl being kidnapped and in the hands of mindless criminals. Just imagine it!
Did the US not deploy all its intelligence and military might in a multi-million-dollar operation just to rescue one of its citizens the terrorists currently tormenting Nigeria were too inebriated in their madness to abduct.
Now, consider a Donald Trump, even in his extreme eccentric nature, mounting Air Force One and jetting out to France, China or Saudi Arabia to sign some trillion-dollar military hardware contracts capable of jolting the US economy to a 50-year-record high, while one American Marine is in captivity, let alone some 20 students of a college in Alabama. Would the heat generated therefrom not be enough to power a spacecraft?
Why must Nigeria be different? Is the life of a Nigerian worth less than that of a dog in Britain? Does Tinubu consider the life of the school girl in Dapchi, Kaduna or Maga less valuable than that of her counterpart in Chicago? If no, why not stay back and prove it?
We must say so, unequivocally! Nothing – economically, socially, politically, globally – is more important than the rescue of these 25 young girls. Whether postponed or paused Tinubu must not be found anywhere near that aircraft. In fact, he must not leave Nigeria until those girls are rescued! Nothing could be more serious, nothing more valuable!
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