Re - Jibrin Ibrahim acting surprised and wondering why “All Eyes on the Judiciary” appears to seriously irritate the Tinubu Government.” ?
Cornelius Hamelberg
For the time being, only the poor man feels it …
Jibrin Ibrahim is acting surprised and wondering why “All Eyes on the Judiciary” appears to seriously irritate the Tinubu Government.” That was only the opening line; the rest of his article PBAT Takeoff is downright pessimistic, not a ray of hope for the zealots who are dreaming or dreamed that Brer Tinubu is the Messiah. Indeed, the rest of Brer Jibrin Ibrahim’s article makes for painful, depressing reading, no salvation in sight, speak less of REDEMPTION of all Africa and the naija nation.
“No reason to get excited,”,
the thief he kindly spoke,
“there are many here among us,
who think that life is but a joke” ( All Along the Watchtower)
I read somewhere (can’t remember exactly where in the Nigerian jungle of big and little grammar, tales of the super-natural, in magic pidgin journalese) that these billboards like electioneering campaign posters, signposts and placards on prominent display everywhere, were calculated to put pressure on the judiciary to be as even-handed as possible when deliberating on the election petitions being brought to their august attention for some non-partisan judgement , by the hopeful losers, namely runner up silver medallist Alhaji Atiku Abubakr who officially came in second, and in third place, bronze medallist, sour grapes Peter Obi who says that it was he the one and only Peter Obi who won, who really came in first, as in “ America First”
So, according to Obi who was second, was it Alhaji Atiku or was it the Jagaban, gold medallist Bhagavan Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu?
“All Eyes on the Judiciary”, no matter how intimidating that may sound to those suffering from the pangs of bad conscience or feeling guilty and remorseful, actually means what it says. As a matter of fact “ “All Eyes on the Judiciary” is a perfect summary of the Law of Jante
In Africa South of the Sahara, from Mauritania through Senegal often being touted as a lone democratic outpost where Ousmane Sonko the main opposition leader is currently languishing in jail and where the main opposition party has been “ dissolved” by the Senegalese judiciary) from there on the Western edge of the Atlantic Ocean, eastwards, through all the so called democratic ECOWAS countries right through Central, East and Southern Africa, there is a general perception that the sacred democratic ideal known as ”the separation of powers” is OK in theory and on paper, in some of the written constitution ,but in practise, sadly, the separation of powers is anathema and seldom adhered to - if anything in quite a few African countries the judiciary is in the back pocket of whichever incumbent Mr. President.
When Raila Odinga lost the last two presidential elections in Kenya, just like Messrs Obi and Atiku, he took recourse to legal proceedings, and as in most cases in Africa, it’s “a hapless journey's end” …
Mr. President’s judiciary is NEVER going to reverse the election results that have been officially announced….
In some cases, it's not only the judiciary that is in Mr President's pocket, even more essentially the national treasury is also in his pocket ( a part of him) and generally speaking, in the election season, the national treasury is the heart of his campaign war chest, the hack writers, the the military and police are also in his pocket, to use indiscriminately to execute, vilify, harass, arrest and otherwise stress the opposition miscreants who have “ the gumption” to want to take from Mr. President's mouth, that which is his daily bread…
In fledging nations where democracy and the rule of law is being threatened or subverted, to correct and to suggest remedies for what’s going wrong is one of the functions of good journalism; it is likewise a function of concerned citizens (with Nigeria in mind) among which are to be numbered e.g. the martyred investigative journalist Dele Giwa, martyred out there in the field, in the course of bringing to light, and to justice, that which was covered, and of course on the same quest, some of our literary giants, artists, poets, dramatists, such as political commentator, human rights activist and Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, novelists such as Teju Cole ( Every Day Is For The Thief), songsters, comedians, mirrors of our society, such as Mr Macaroni, civil rights activists, such as Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, doing really admirable work, lawyers such as the late great Gani Fawehinmi, and hopefully, others of the same legal bent , and in my book when it comes to sound political commentary there’s Mobolaji Aluko a man for all seasons, just as our now dearly departed the dynamic Pius Adesanmi ,followed to the here-after by the outspoken - in my view during his last days here on this earth, to the extent of throwing discretion ( the better part of valour) to the winds : Obadiah Mailafia - and, to this day, the doyen of Nigeria’s political commentators, Ayo Olukotun the always modest, deeply insightful and profound, and over the years and increasingly so, on so many levels, the inordinate contributions of Ojogbon Falola, fearless but not arrogant, balanced and nuanced, not least of all through the wide and far-ranging Toyin Falola Interviews of some of the great movers and shakers…and last but not least, not sitting ,ensconced in some imagined academic ivory tower in the middle of nowhere in cyberspace, enveloped and insulated in an egomaniac, solipsist mental fog completely isolated from down -to-earth reality, the opposite of all that the aforementioned Jibrin Ibrahim ,a real brother’s keeper, asking questions and doing some really admirable work…
N.B. On this people's planet, just in case I didn’t mention your name, or didn’t give your name an honorary mention, well, ss Groucho Marx ( no relative of Karl) famously said : ”Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others.”