The ugly drama currently being displayed on the stage of the political theatre in Rivers State ought to be disconcerting to all Nigerians and all lovers of democracy across the world. It is a tragi-comedy that foretells of greater danger to the entire country given the implications that could be gleaned from the nuances surrounding the sad episode with regards to the nation’s political development and the wider firmament – democratic ethos.

We are troubled not just by the development alone, we are saddened greatly by the fact that today’s dramatis personae are unwilling either to look at history or are determined not to learn from it and therefore replicating the same acts, just the way they were played decades ago, which resulted in disastrous outcomes.

Yes, while much of the reasons for the failure of the various attempts to grow Nigerian democracy – believed to be the major trigger to waking up the sleeping giant many have described the country as, could be linked to the activities of individuals, especially the power mongers that came at various times – the greater culprits, had always been the institutions.

No other institution is as culpable in this outside the police – the most visible of the security agencies – and the judiciary. They rank the highest, and when added to the electoral umpires who conducted elections at various stages, no one needs look further. They are the vector carrying the dangerous disease that has afflicted Nigerian democracy or what looks like the caricature of it as we are witnessing presently.

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Sadly, nothing seems to have changed from what happened in the past. Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, the French journalist, who wrote in 1849: plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose – the more things change, the more they remain the same – could not have had anything in mind than the Nigerian picture – past and present. The major factor at the root of this malaise had always been the independence of the institutions.

1n 1962, George Sodeinde Sowemimo, presiding over the trial of Obafemi Awolowo, failed to let the former Premier of the Western Region and opposition leader in the First Republic go home a free man, but sent him to jail, because he was constrained by weight of the interplay of extraneous factors between the federal authorities and the regional forces controlled by the late sage.

Here is what he said in the now famous – my hands are tied – speech before sentencing him: “Whatever others may say, this is my personal view. I am not speaking as a judge but as a Nigerian. Here we have one of the first Premiers of the autonomous region standing trial. If you were the only one before me, I would have felt that it was enough for you to have undergone the strain of the trial. I would have asked you to go. But I am sorry, I cannot do so now because my hands are tied.”

Nigerians now know the consequences of Awolowo’s incarceration. In fact, many people swear that it was the main reason for the January 15, 1966 bloody coup, which swept away Nigeria’s first attempt at self-governance. Obviously, the subsequent degeneration of the polity including Nigeria descending into an internecine civil war that clamed an estimated four million lives, did not teach any lesson.

For if it did, the politicians who came between 1978 and 1983, would not have upped the ante in bad democratic behaviour, which resulted in their being excused by the military once again. Again, unfortunately, both the police and the judiciary constituted the tag-team in that outcome. They completed what the Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO), which is today’s version of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) started.

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With the judiciary’s infamous 12-two-thirds of 19 states verdict and Sunday Adewusi’s Mobile Police team, especially, providing cover to ensure that the oddity stood, the stage was set for the further degeneration in the system, so that by the time 1983 happened with its notorious landslide victories, nobody was left in doubt that Nigerian democracy, or what was left of it had gone kaput completely.

Who would have forgotten the role of the police and the judiciary in the political volcano that enveloped Anambra State a few years ago? Who could have forgotten how Raphael Ige, an Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG), led a team of his men to practically abduct Chris Ngige, a sitting governor from his desk.

But for fate which played a fast one in saving the situation, nobody knows till date how that heist would have ended, The ex-governor was already being spirited to the land of the unknown. It took that miraculous call he made to Atiku Abubakar, then Vice President, through the phone he borrowed from Igwe Peter Nwokike Anugwu of Mbaukwu, who chanced by to stall the horrible macabre dance.

Today, like the scenes from the same reel, Nigerians are being suffered with a similar movie. Few weeks ago it was Edo State. Today it is Rivers. The relay race between the judiciary and the police and vice versa, since the Rivers schism started unfolding between Siminalaiye Fubara, the Governor and Nyesom Wike, his predecessor and now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), seems to be getting to a crescendo.

Like the Anambra episode, the battle is all about godfatherism – a phenomenon, which has assumed a completely different meaning in Nigerian than other lands where it is being practiced. Again, like in other states, it is also about the seizure and control of the so-called “political structure,” an euphemism for control of power and tools for sharing corrupt patronages, largesse and dividends.

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What is the issue in the instant case? Like other states across the federation currently in frantic run to beat the deadline for enthroning elected officers or lose revenues from the Federation Account, Rivers obviously did not want to be caught napping. So, Fubara had scheduled the Rivers’ edition for Saturday, October 5, 2024.

But Wike and his group, seem sworn to scuttle the move. What did they do? The courts, of course! There, they met Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, who acceded to their request. Specifically, in a case filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) he ordered INEC not to release the voters register to conduct the election.

What was the reason? He agreed with them that the voters register ought to have been displayed for claims and objections 90 days before the election. Now picture this. On July 19, the same Lifu, had ordered the same INEC not to release the same register to the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC), for the same purpose.

So, if the said register was not released as Lifu directed through that ex-parte order in July, how would the RSIEC have attained the 90 days threshold? What then is the state supposed to do in the face of the obvious threat that its councils would be denied the revenue to conduct their affairs? What then is the fate of the millions of people that would be so affected?

Answers to those questions are still buried in the sands. What is left is that Fubara, obviously desperate to save the situation, seems to have found some loophole to navigate out of the troubling maze. Among some of his reasons for going ahead with the election, regardless, was that he already had the register even before his traducers went to court. So, the horse, for him had actually bolted out of the stable.

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Now, if indeed peace was actually part of the bouquet the naysayers are bringing to the table, what is wrong with returning to the court to test Fubara’s claim after the election? Surely proving that the governor lied, would obviously be enough ground to declare the process inadequate and therefore nullify the election, would it not. So, why resort to this strong-arm tactics?

Yet, as observers are still chewing the implications of their streak of successes at the courts, including Monday’s direct orders that they must stay away from the polls, the police interpretation appears even more astounding. Yes, the court prohibited the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Department of State Services (DSS) from providing security for the election. But that is where it stopped.

So, on what ground did the police stand in their attempt to take over the RSIEC office and insist that the polls must not hold? Quo warranto? That was the question Fubara put to the police authorities on Friday, when he practically placed his life on the line and dared the police to kill him first before stopping the election. We join in asking this very important question.

Unfortunately, Kayode Egbetokun the police IG appears not in the mood to look in the direction in his determination to execute the matter his own way. Not even the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), a clearing house for lawyers in Nigeria is in agreement with the IG. It said so on Friday. Afam Osigwe, NBA President, particularly expressed the disgust of the body to the entire saga.

Hear him: “We agree with the statement issued by the Chairmen of NBA Branches as we find it deeply troubling that the Police would brazenly issue a statement that they would shirk their constitutional responsibility of providing security in Rivers State in purported compliance with an order of court. Even if a court has directed the Police not to work with the Electoral Commission on Rivers State, nothing says the Police should not provide security for peace and order of Rivers State.

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“The refusal to provide security is not only unconstitutional but also illegal, immoral, and a dangerous signal that invites lawlessness and undermines democracy. It is, in every sense, a direct attack on the democratic rights of the people of Rivers State and, by extension, Nigeria as a whole. In fact, it threatens our democracy.

“The Nigerian Bar Association condemns, in the strongest possible terms, any attempt to undermine the scheduled elections in the 22 Local Government Areas of Rivers State by refusing to provide security. We will continue to closely monitor the situation as it unfolds. We call on all security agencies to rise to the challenge of protecting lives, property, and democracy during this critical time.

“Furthermore, we urge the Inspector General of Police to launch an immediate investigation into these troubling report that Policemen sought to cart away electoral materials and ensure that any errant officers involved are swiftly and appropriately disciplined, regardless of whose interests are affected. The NBA has also taken note of the conflicting judgments from the Rivers State High Court and the Federal High Court in Abuja concerning the scheduled Local Government elections. It is deeply disheartening and amounts to judicial rascality that courts of concurrent jurisdiction are issuing contradictory orders on the same matter.” We could not have agreed more.

The consoling part was that the players caught in the ugly incidents were punished. In the case of Anambra, Ige was booted out of the police immediately the heist against Ngige failed. Not only him, Wilson Egbo Egbo and Stanley Nnaji, two judges caught in the web of the Anambra crisis were equally excused from their judicial duties abruptly. Not even their powerful godfathers could save them.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in power appeared to spare some thought for their image. But this obviously not so under the APC, a party of the so-called democrats, who had taken over to entrench democratic ethos in Nigeria.  Nobody seems to hear anything about punishment for bad behaviour.

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Interestingly and ironically, the eventual triumph of Ngige over his traducers, seemed to have signalled the new face of politics in Anambra. It marked the successful dislodging of the godfather syndrome in the state, which hitherto made the perfect example for showcasing governance failure in Nigeria. Today the opposite is the case. Who knows how the case of Rivers might turn out?

Fubara actually mentioning the state on Friday while speaking to reporters in Port Harcourt over the development appears an indication that he is attempting to recreating the Anambra magic. Quite heartening should that be the case. Anambra remains the test-kit for the good, the bad and the ugly of Nigerian politics and the triumph of one over the other.

For Egbetokun, history also beckons. He ought to have quietly left the police on September 4, when he attained the mandatory 60 years retirement age it might be a different kettle of fish. Had he resisted the lure of office, he might have saved himself from becoming another Sowemimo. Even after becoming the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Sowemimo practically etched his name across the pages of history.

Many remember his my hands are tied declaration today than his attaining the position of the CJN. Egbetokun still has a lee-way to navigate himself out of the airtight cage politicians seem to have forced him. He could insist on toeing the line of resistance by sticking to the best practices in patriotic move to save Nigeria, or throw in the towel, damn the consequences to save his name from further damage. Yet, still, he could go the whole hog and end it all in predictable tragedy! His call!

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Nigerians are currently witnessing the most horrifying experiences in their country at the moment. Perhaps, only those who witnessed the civil war on the side of Biafra, between 1967-1970, would probably connect with the present situation. It is a mimic of the Biafran harrowing, horrendous experiences, that have been variously recorded by historians and those who suffered them.

Already, many people are dropping dead by the day, as it was then. What probably remains are the refugee camps and the ugly pictures of children with tiny feet, distended stomachs and glazy eyes, that announced the presence of kwashiorkor – that awful disease that sent millions to their untimely death – that terrible condition, more merciless with slow, punishing end than the swiftness of bullets or bombs dropped in market places, which ended their ordeals quicker.

But, from the look of things, we are getting there. Already, criminals have continued to seize a substantial part of the Nigerian space, carving fiefdoms for themselves and progressively competing with the remnant of what we see as government of the nation’s entity, something not even as bad as the Biafran side contended with during that hideous era.

The culprit the sorry pass, this time, is not the disagreement between any part of the country or talks about secession. No it is not about such slogans like On Aburi We Stand, or Go On With One Nigeria, that were prevalent during that time. It is also not about soldiers taking aim at one another, the menacing echoes of the clatter of bullets, the ominous hovering of airplanes with the concomitant anxiety from the scare-gripped people, of their weapons of mass destruction dropping on them.

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No! These have been replaced with a fresh weapon – petrol – a commodity which instead of becoming the major item to propel the vortex of national development, has turned the direct opposite – stagnating growth and even pulling it back into the dungeon of hopelessness and bottomless pit bleakness – leaving in its wake – hunger, disease and death. That is the new felon.

Unfortunately, the hand propelling this misfeasor is the All Progressives Congress (APC). In the last nine years the party has been in power, Nigerians have been subjected to the level of pain and deprivation never known or contemplated in history. Muhammadu Buhari, the first President on the platform of the ruling party, practically made the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), smell roses, despite the misgivings in the country during much of its 16-year rule, for which the people grabbed the change APC promised with both hands.

Incidentally, the wailing, trailing the deterioration occasioned by the ex-General has been upgraded to something worse since his exit last year. Like the biblical account, Buhari flogged Nigerians with whips, but Bola Tinubu, his successor is flogging them with snakes and scorpions. The only common denominator is that both have employed the same tool – the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), as it is now known.

However, Tinubu’s template is nothing near comparison. Under him, the monster has not only been let loose, but aided with bits and spurs to rampage across the nation with the ferocity of an angry tsunami. Do not forget that Buhari, in 2016, announced the “total removal” of subsidy on petrol products, when he raised the price from N86 to N145, but gradually ended at N195 by the time he left in 2023.

But look at what Tinubu has done with the same product. As if he was bidding his time to punish Nigerians and concern Buhari’s whips to history, one of the first words that came out of his lips, minutes after his inauguration on May 29, 2023 was – subsidy is gone! It was one magic expression that instantly plunged the nation down the hill to the jagged rocks at the bottom of the precipice. It is obvious that he could not wait.

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Within hours after that odious and outlandish pronouncement, the same PMS jumped from N195 to N550. That did it. Since then, it has been tales of woes. The price has continued to climb progressively with little checks to the level that at the last count, it hovered around N617 and N700. That was before the arrival of the Dangote Refinery Limited (DRL). Now the story has become wackier.

Millions of Nigerians had expected Dangote to be the game-changer to obviate their suffering. But in the common Nigerian street parlance, whosai? That angle seems covered too in the apparent determination of the government, seemingly vengeful for yet to be determined reason(s) to cut its pound of flesh. The long, filthy hands of its patrons, appears to have clutched DRL in a vice grip. It started with the controversy over the refusal to supply crude to the facility, forcing it to source products from abroad at more than the prevailing rate in the international market.

This was followed with the sudden, outlandish and totally obtuse tale that the Dangote products are below standard compared to the imported ones. In which other country in the world has such a narrative been heard of a government that is supposed to protect local manufacturers at all cost? But this is Nigeria where no lie seems too heavy to tell even to an imbecile. Perhaps, they changed course from stifling the Dangote operations, out of the deafening din from the rest of the world, probably their collaborators abroad – the vested interest whose imprimatur seem quite evident in their activities – for it is obvious that they take the outcries of Nigerians as the trumpeting of crickets at night.

Now, the reason for that odious episode surrounding the Dangote saga a few weeks ago appears to be crawling out. It was obviously meant to bring DRL to its knees in other to cut a deal, more like – You either sell to us so that we sell to the people or you don’t produce. Or what else could be responsible for Aliko Dangote telling a bemused nation that he could not reveal the price of his product and that, that aspect would be left to the Federal Government. This is supposed to be a private concern.

Even a total moron would notice the asininity behind account we hear daily. They are nothing more than a sequence of an entirely childish, if not idiotic effort to hoodwink the public. Over the years, they and their goons had tried to do a yeoman’s job of trying to drum it into the ears and minds of the people that it would make no difference, whether Dangote came on stream or not because “oil is an international commodity.” That nonsensical piece of reasoning, is the same strange argument they also labour at various times to make in the expectation of fixing the local refineries.

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They are quick to suggest, in other words that even if the cost of loading, shipping, transportation, insurance, labour, and everything put together to conduce that dreaded expression – landing cost – nothing changes. Where else do you hear that in the entire globe, except in a clime which has made Voodoo Economics, a la Samuel Aluko, the late globally-acclaimed Nigerian economist, a template? Check it, they will never cite any other place in the world where such happens, just like they never tell of any other oil producing country in the world currently suffering the snares of crude thievery, which has become part of the nation’s sad story.

Stretch it further, what the prevailing argument they make means is an attempt vitiate the expectation that by buying the 450,000 barrels of crude daily earmarked for domestic use at Naira rate, and with the prevailing conditions in Nigeria, including cheap labour, Dangote could produce, and indeed should produce PMS and profitably sell at less than N100 per litre.

They now want their illicit and untenable position to prevail. It is clear now that because of the condition under which he operates, Nigerians would be forced to buy the product at the current rate of N890 – NNPCL rate or N1,000, N1,2000 at the other dispensing stations. That is the tragedy Nigerians have found themselves in.That is the wickedness of the APC government!

Else, how could anyone explain what is going on? Is it not clear that neither the cabals in the NNPCL, which have ensured that the nation’s three refineries have remained comatose despite the billions of dollars they have gulped in terms of Turnaround Maintenance (TAM) nor their replication in government filthy hands are prepared to let go?

If it bears repeating, we do so with our full chest! Dangote petrol can sell for less than N100 at profit. But the cabals, which have ensured that the nation remains the country with the highest production cost of crude – $45 per barrel, as opposed to $10-$15 in other climes, the only country where crude is stolen, the only oil producing country with comatose refineries, are at work. Yes! We know who is telling the truth between Dangote and NNPC. The only sin the former could commit is being an enabler and or complicit.

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We, at Whirlwindnews.com.ng are happy Nigerians are getting out of their cocoons to speak out. Thursday’s statement by the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), a pressure group of Muslim faithful in Nigeria, is quite apt. It means that nobody is deceived. Our final words – just like this body has maintained is – let Dangote sell his petrol and let Nigeria breathe!

Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, was on Friday, August 23, 2024, inaugurated as the 19^th Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) – Nigeria Judicial Council (NJC) record. She is the 18^th Nigerian to occupy the position, down from Justice Adetokunbo Ademola, who took the first shot, as the first Nigerian from 1958 to 1972, having taken over from Justice Stafford Foster Sutton, a Briton, the first Nigerian CJN, who occupied it between 1955 to 1958. She is also the second woman to occupy the position after Justice Mariam Aloma-Muktar – 2012-2014.

Apparently to underscore how important the assignment was, President Bola Tinubu, who jetted out to France in his new Presidential aircraft on Monday, August 19, had to return to the country to perform the swearing-in ceremony, at the State House, Abuja, before hundreds of eyes from the Nigerian judiciary and millions of Nigerians watching the event.

Armed with Masters degree in law, from the London School of Economic and Political Science in November 1983, Kekere-Ekun, was pulled out in December 1989. From private practice where she was a lawyer from 1985 to 1989, she moved to the bench, beginning as a Senior Magistrate Grade II, in the Lagos State Judiciary in December 1989, and later appointed a judge of the High Court of Lagos State on July 19, 1996.

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There, she served as Chairman, Robbery and Firearms Tribunal, Zone II, Ikeja, Lagos, from November 1996 to May 1999, from where she was elevated to the Court of Appeal on 22nd September 2004, serving in various divisions of the court and as presiding justice of two divisions of the court (Makurdi & Akure) in 2021 and 2023, respectively. She finally made it to the Supreme Court of Nigeria as the fifth female justice of the court, on Monday, July 8, 2013.

What this means is that the new CJN is not bereft. She has history behind her and plenty of experience to boot – experience picked up both in the classrooms, where she was equipped with adequate knowledge, and in practice, where she honed it for the past 39 years. It then means what comes out of her office as the head of the judiciary, henceforth, is deliberate. Her actions and deliverables cannot be a function of inexperience or lack of knowledge.

Why do we emphasise on this? Simple! The Nigerian judiciary she is taking over is in complete tatters – a mess – desolate, dishevelled and disgraced. Incidentally, she is part of that awful history, and in some cases, directly responsible for why many Nigerians turn away their faces and cover their nostrils at the very mention of that arm of government, especially in the years of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Not that other arms of government – the executive and the legislature are better in any way. But the emphasis on the judiciary is because of its superintending powers over the other two. The judiciary, apart from possessing the power of life and death, so to speak, also has the power of redemption, not only to tame other powers, but to heal the society.

Till the end of humanity, long after the bodies of the present generation must have completely decayed and manured the earth, the name of Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, would always be mentioned as the lead-judge that delivered that notorious judgement, which made Hope Uzodimma the Governor of Imo State on January 14, 2020, catapulting him from the number four to the first position in the original rating by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

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Now, it does not matter, neither does it redeem the situation, whether the erudite jurist delivered the judgement according to law as it is, which many in the legal profession, could argue is The Justice. What matters more is how much justice has been done and is seen to have been done to the society. In other words, how much did that particular outing, satisfy the three-way traffic concept of justice – justice to the accused, justice to the accuser and justice to the society, so poignantly made by the late Chukwudifu Oputat, Justice of the Supreme Court (JSC), as he then was?

Put differently, how did that judgement satisfy the dictum in law that justice must not only be done, but seen to have been done? That was the contentious issue in the Imo case and many other cases in the Nigerian judicial system in recent years, particularly in the APC years and more particularly in last year’s general elections and even in the latest cases – Imo, Kogi, Bayelsa, governorship election cases that were decided by the apex court on Friday, the same day the new CJN was inaugurated.

Even non-lawyers, these days, have come to terms with the fact that law in itself has two components – the letters of the law and the spirit of the law. But over the recent years, the Nigerian courts seem to have concentrated on the former and completely ignored the latter. Court verdicts taper more on technicalities to cushion nagging questions, rather than answer them.

That is why the pronouncements of the courts, particularly the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) and the Supreme Court in the last presidential election cases, have at the best, remained suspicious, while at the worst, totally dismissed as horrifying. It is because neither the original court nor the apex court, answered the basic questions, based on the actual winner of the election, based on examination of figures, but merely relied on technicalities in deciding the cases.

That is why we find it gratifying that the new CJN is thinking about restoring judicial integrity as one of her priorities. What is more? The adverse public feeling about the judiciary, would have been mitigated if it is coming from ordinary members of the society not counted as “learned.” But when such is coming from as high as Musa Dattijo Muhammad (JSC), who, in fact retired as second in command to Kayode Ariwoola, the immediate past CJN, it is no longer a function of ignorance.

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Now that Kekere-Ekun, has vowed to take up the matter, we recommend that she visits that classic treatise of October 27, 2023, where the retired erudite jurist, in his valedictory address, all but agreed with the public perception that the judiciary is oozing the stench of corruption, sleaze, and mismanagement.

“Well, my expectation is that we will take the judiciary to higher heights. The reputation that it has, we will improve it. We will make sure that people have more confidence in the judiciary. I believe that it’s not a one man job, we all have to be on board. And because we all see where the areas are that need improvement, I believe that there will be cooperation, because we all want to see a better judiciary.

“A better judiciary is for the benefit of the entire nation. Whatever the shortcomings that we see today, we’re all members of the society. So if you want to see improvement, let the improvement start with each and every one of us and our approach to justice. Let us also have faith in the system.” These were her words after taking her oath of office on Friday.

What could more comforting. Some people have actually claimed that her appointment is to continue where her predecessors left and complete what they left behind. Nigerians will be waiting to see where the wind blows. Luckily for her, the Nigerian Senate is a rubber-stamp institution. So, nobody expects any sort of hiccups regarding her confirmation.

But, as William Shakespeare, once wrote – the purest treasures mortal times afford, is a spotless reputation. The misgivings about her previous outings could actually be excused by the argument that she was under some hierarchical leash in the apex court and could therefore be beholding to some powers therein. Now, she has no such constraints. She is now in charge. It is left to her to swim or sink. Her decision! We wish her luck.

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