₦airaland Forum

Recharge Card,
See, I'm not saying that I have not read all these good things these folks have done. Aside from Akunyili & Soludo, all the other folks perform only on paper. All these debt forgiveness thing is still on paper! They are good, but, with a pinch of salt! I mean, I have to be very careful with all these good people. How on earth could they be dining and wining with evil chaps around and not be soiled?

Abeg leave that Rice woman. She has enough on her hands for now at Iraq and Middle East. If she responds positively (you nave not said so though) to Okonjo, it's because there's some juicy things coming from Nigeria. Maybe some coins to help fund US interest in Iraq!

Have you read the entry by Alheri? Her sister was in the thick of the finance ministry. She was there when truckloads of cash exchanged hands and nothing was done to stop them. In fact they were told to be silent on the matter.

By my nature, I don't swallow any news I hear just like that. I do 360 deg view on sensitive national issues. That's why I'm very skeptical about this debt relief thing. In fact the thing dey worry me. E fit be say them don sell all of us now and we no know jack! Chineke God! Help us o and deliver us from people with ''tuface''

I think we should look at the finance minister's cupboard too. She might have some skeletons there. I for once have never trusted her one bit.

You know, one House of Rep. member had to shut OBJ up when he was presenting year 2006 budget at the NA. Reason: OBJ has never, since the inception of his administration, implemented any of his budgets to the letter during any fiscal year. He just comes around to read to the lawmakers his budget proposals and that's all. He goes back to do as he pleases. And that's under the watchful eyes of Mrs. Okonjo. I bet she's enjoying the show. In civilised economy, she would have resigned her appointment for the singular reason that the President does not implement budgets drawn out by her ministry and agreed to by all concerned.


Aside from this, Okonjo earns fat pay amongst the ministers in Abuja. What manner of person, who has the interest of her nation at heart, will want to collect her salaries in dollars? Does this not smack of an Apostle of the World bank in disguise? She might be a Nigerian, but, who does not know that many Nigerian can change their identity at anytime ''T'' especially for someone who has risen to the level Mrs. Okonjo got to in life? She's just here on a sojourn. She'll get back to NY and start cooling off after taking a lot of loot with her. God have mercy on us!

http://www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/editorial/ed04012006.html

My people, this is today's Vanguard editorial. The high and mighty in the land have started projecting billions for 2006 since last year. But the ordinary man in the street cannot walk on well tarred road, no food to eat, educational sector is comatose, health? well, I hear most of our hospitals are actually morgues in disguise - since 1999!

Them say FG own na in trillions! boy o boy! Make small reach man pickin now.

My body dey hot badly, and I think you people (Owo, Conscience, etc etc) fit help cool me down.......by firing all these thieves in high places come 2007.


Na Ono post this entry from Warri.

Otito, if u must know, there are a lot of folks out there with their minds running pretty wild with ideas on adding values to all those things u've listed.

I don't know how to put this, but our so-called leaders, looters, really, are responsible for most (90%) of our woes. I will continue to pray to God for good leaders, and that if there are none, Himself (God) should come and lead us in this country. The remaining 10% lies with us.

I want to make a clarion call to all the folks on this forum to go out there - do not be timid, do not be afraid of doing the right thing, and if u know you're with us on this sanitisation of our political landscape, then get ready to vote OUT evil men from our lands in 2007.

Someone said don't ask the Lord to guide your footsteps if you are not willing to move your feet. We've got to go all out and VOTE the right folks in the right place. When God sees that we're really willing to get good leaders He'll help us put the right person there.

But a situation where we only talk and talk about good leaders, leadership, and then we go home and meet the evil folks at night and strategise on how to defraud the land the more- just like OBJ's doing, will not help free us from the doldrums we're currently in. We have to fight corruption with all our hearts and soul and spirits. Then will the Lord hear from heaven and heal our lands.

And we got married, Ist October 2005.

I want to encourage every young man out there to tow the line. It's the best. What with this AIDS ravaged world of ours? why would you want to learn and get any sexual experience before getting married? It takes only 30 -40 minutes to learn all there is. I'm talking from experience.

It's a lifelong thing though, but, there's really nothing much to sex, than the coming together of MAN AND WIFE for pleasure and procreation. Please note MAN AND WIFE. That pleasure angle to it could mean all the jargons the psychologists attached to sex, for all I care. But, it's just pleasure. But the second thing is procreation, and that's all there is to sex. Chikena.

Why make life so complex for simple people?

Geez! This is the first time I'm making an entry on this romance page. All this whille it's been politics and nothing else.

Em, I was a vigin until I met the lady of my dreams.

Alheri, you mean Akolawole's optimism about OBJ and Nigeria? No mind am. E fit be say him dey get some kobokobo contract from OBJ. I wish him luck in his foray into the unknown. Maybe na SSS man sef. Man must be very careful on this forum o!

Kola, no vex o. I just dey joke. You have tried to make me believe in OBJ. But, sorry o, I don't believe in the man again. Not after IBB visited him in his chicken farm at Ota and came out boasting that he's one of those who can see OBJ at anytime, and that he has access to where ever OBJ is at anytime ''T''
Hear IBB ''I have been one of the privileged persons in the country that are currently accessible to him (the president. I can talk to him. I can discuss with him on anything that touches the government of the country"

Now, tell me, what will a corruption fighter be doing at anytime with a guy like IBB - the world acclaimed most corrupt leader and Maradona of Nigerian politics, in this day and age? This is the IBB that Femi Fani-kayode, the basketmouth of OBJ, whitewashed recently. Don't you smell fish in the way this country is being run? My brother pls have a rethink on this OBJ guy.

Kola,
Em, make u no vex. The ''ojoro'' in this our country don dey too much. All de thing wey I dey see na fraud. How in the world do you want me to believe that all these people are clean.

OBJ is surrounded by some ''good'' people. I bet he did that as a kind of smokescreen to cover the many evil he's into. Y'know, our 'leaders' keep on using different tricks to fool us commoners daily. So, I think his grandplan is to parade all these so called good folks and make people believe that's he's into something good for this country. But, reading thru Alheri's entry on her sister' activities in the finance ministry, methink that we've got to take a closer look at all those debt relief and other shit Mrs Okonjo is into.

FYI, a lot of fake drugs are still in circulation. At a stage, I thought it's even the good ones they are destroying so that they can sell the fake ones. Akunyili meant well for our people. God help her in the midst of all these wolves. And I hope she's really clean, wining and dining with evil people.


Kola, no mind my outbursts at times. These stories get on my nerves sometimes and I feel like....gosh! Whew!

Alheri, could you please tell us more on the activities of that rotund woman called Okonjo-Iweala? Y'know, all this while, I've been a bit skeptical about her ministry. She could be a front for OBJ. All these her laudable achievements, men, I'm a pessimist when it comes to this our country, Nigeria.

I don't believe any good can come out of anything evil. As long as OBJ is on that Aso seat, all the folks with him over there (including saints and sinners alike) are evil. Evil begets evil. Simple.

My people, we have to be wary of all these people who are winning international awards here and there. You may not fully agree with me, but, as for me, I do not believe in them

Well, as for me, I'm NOT corrupt. You may be, but I'm NOT! And because I'm not, I will join the league of those clean people in this country to chase out all the rotten tomatoes in power in our country.

And if the worst comes to the worst and this country is broken up, my people in the Niger Delta will keep their own. We will chase out all those carrying our money with trucks and trailers in Abuja from our lands.

I have said it before now, and I will repeat it anywhere, that OBJ is the most corrupt president in the world.

If u are so good at working out what Delta produced and contributed to the National Purse, then, I expect you to be able to work out what Ogun State has contributed too, my friend. Seems to me that you are a PE (Petroleum Engineer).

Please work it out. All you need do is to go to the state's Finance Ministry. At least I know of Agbara industrial area. And I hear it's booming with business activities now. So, something must be coming from Ogun too, abi?

You can leave out the Niger Delta states of Bayelsa, Rivers and Akwa-ibom.

So, please tell me what has the other components of our lopsided Federation contributed to the common purse? Abi na to just dey go Abuja to go share the national cake una sabi do? That Cake go soon choke una for throat, if una no leave am. E don even start sef. Pipelines don dey blow!

We're watching and waiting.

Yep! Thank you very much for the correction. I actually meant 5 trillion naira from the inception of the civilian administration to date. That is 1999 - 2005. At least, that's what the Former Commissioner of Finance, Delta State, Dr. David Edevbie said. And that's a good enough source.

So, what did the other components of the country - including Ogun State, contribute to the national purse?

@Akolawole, you are right, at least the third term thing is purported.

And often times when OBJ's on air, I don't understand him. No be say I no dey speak pidgin english o, in fact Warri is generally regarded as the headquarters of pidgin english in Nigeria, but OBJ's pidgin english na from Ota Farms, where only the chikens there understand him. In that regard, you are right.

I generally don't listen to him until his statements have been interpreted by the local dailies - and that's after rigorous QA/QC to be sure that's what statement he actually made.

All I know is what the constitution expects of him. It is true that anything can happen in this country of ours. But OBJ must respect what the constitution says.

After serving for two terms, a serving president must go back home. OBJ once said his ''chickens are missing him'' at his Otta Farms and he wants to go and take care of them. He should go back to them. They will gladly welcome him back. It's only a dishonest and corrupt man that will not stand by his words. Let him abide by the constitution. That is all I have to say.

e fit be say the 'grass' na 'elephant grass' .

We have to really take a look at the type of grass in question. Y'know, there's are some type of grass wey be say them fit kill person when you cut am with matchette....kind of forbidden grass. Maybe na dat kind of grass wey dem go cut. Na im make wey the money take plenty like that.

Em, that na my own view on this matter!

Marwa wants to be President in 2007 by all means. He's not ''seen to be loyal to OBJ'' Hence, the NEED for EFCC to chase him a while to see if he'll repent and follow the bandwagon of third-term bidders. Chikena!

It seems you do not understand us. Let our Governors steal everything that comes to our state - if that's really true, I'm yet to see it in Warri, because Ibori has done very well here in Delta State even though some folks say he's stealing the state's money. We like it that way than to allow a clique in foreign lands to come here and pauperise us the more.

Leave our governors alone. The bad ones among them will be punished by our people when the time comes, besides, it's better that they stole now and still remember home in the end. A lot of our brothers will still benefit from their loot, or who else do you think they will want to help with it?

Let the Federal Government account for the remaining 87% - since 1958. How much has the components states in the country contributed to the national purse since 1958? Delta State alone contributed some 5 trillion naira to the Federal coffers in 2004! How much did Ogun State contribute? Abeg, make una go siddon!

Seun, abeg, just chill jo! How many Niger Delta children wey Federal Authorities don kill in the Delta since 1958, when crude oil was discovered in commercial quantities in Oloibiri, in present day Bayelsa state? Not even children only, the blood of Ken Saro Wiwa, Adaka Boro etc etc are crying for justice. Even the land use act decree of 1978 is still in force not because the law was meant to protect the interest of everyone, but to perpetuate the milking of the Niger Delta lands.

This justice demands that everyone should concentrate on their Godgiven resources (Cocoa, Groundnut Pyramids, Onions, Hides and skin, rubber, palm produce, tomato, tin, coal, limestone, gold, etc etc, which the almighty God in his infinite wisdom has bestowed on this country) and harness them for the good of all rather than waiting for crude oil money from the delta to be shared by a large chunk of those who do not even know what the colour of crude oil is at Abuja. Abuja is what it is today because crude oil money was pumped, and is still being pumped there to maintain it. Pump all that money into Warri, Yenagoa, PortHarcourt, Uyo, and Calabar economy and see the U turn in our fortunes.

All these your 'concern' for dead kids smacks of crocodile tears for all I care. You are even weeping more than the bereaved! Na wa o!

Those of us who have managed to survive the onslaught on our lands by successive administration of this failed country called Nigeria will not stop until justice is done and 'is seen' to be done.

I will not vote.

I just dream of the day when the Delta people will not need anybody - FG & US military or any other body, to fashion out what's good for them.

All these entries talking about how to help develop the Niger Delta people make me sick. It sounds as if the Niger Delta people are morons, and do not know what's good for them. But we all know that this is far from the truth.

I'd rather deal with a 'thieving Niger Delta Brothers' who, when Nemesis eventually catches up with them will remember home - like Alams did by going to Amassoma, rather than some outsiders, who will eventually use the proceeds of their loots to benefit their generations yet unborn!

The devil you know, and live with, is better than some strange angels in far away lands.

Otokx, Conscience,
I greet una. There's nothing like starting from somewhere in fighting corruption. It's either you are against corruption, and you are seen to be doing just that, or you are for it. There's nothing like sitting on the fence and eating from both sides. OBJ is sitting on the fence. I have said it time and again on this forum that OBJ is a corrupt man.

He has dined with the devil, his hands are soiled with blood. The bloods of the Opposition. What with the lives of the slain AGF - Chief Bola Ige. Where are the culprits fingered in the murder case of the man? Sen. Iyiola Omisore was elected while he was in prison. Former PDP Deputy Chairman South South, Dikibo was slain by gunmen, his killers are yet to be unmasked. What type of corruption fighter will admit the likes of Chris Uba as party member - sorry, chieftain, even when the guy confessed that he rigged the election in Anambra in 2003?

All these Balogun and Afolabi talks do not move me an inch. Those guys fell out of favour with OBJ. When the going was good for years and the boys were delivering as promise, EFCC did not go after them. We all know how brutal OBJ can be with anybody who crossed his paths.

Is it not strange that Tony Blair did not reply OBJ's letter on Alams escape. Maybe, he replied OBJ, in private, why did he (OBJ) not release it to the public for all to read? I bet it was not palatable.

Otokx, Conscience, those who tell the truth hardly get any support in this world. The truth is bitter, but we must tell it as it is. More grease to your elbow.

So, what's the difference btw blowing up oil pipelines in the Delta in order to make a 'statement' and killing lawmakers and causing chaos in Ibadan thereby making another ''statement''. To me folks, this shows that ALL IS NOT WELL WITH THIS COUNTRY.

Movie?......u haven't seen any movie yet. Just wait for 2006. There's a lot of action-packed, highly charged, thrilling serial movies coming up! This one's just the tip of the iceberg.... U ain't seen nuttin yet! Wow!

Those unfortunate folks, I heard, were warned about the impending doom, but refused to flee. So, they paid dearly for refusing to flee with their lives.

There are some ''dirty'' Niger Deltans in our midst in the Delta. One by one, they and their collaborators, in the SouthWest and the North will reap the wirlwind after sowing the wind. And the folks in the West and North, and even in the East, I bet it's high time they left this siddon look and wait for oil money to share at Abuja, and start looking at Cocoa, rubber, Kolanut, groundnut pyramids and hides and skin to export for foreign exchange. A word is enough for the wise.

Should Asari Dokubo die today, let it be known to all that there are several Asari's in the Delta. And they are ready to die for a just cause.

Make una no vex o. I don come again (Warri boy!).

Em, I like reading newspapers a lot, and when I stumbled across this Alams matter again, I say make I post am for my people to read.

Please do not read if you don't like long postings. And don't fire missiles at me this time, but to Prof Ben Nwabueze.

Eddie, abeg, take some minutes out of your busy schedule and read this write up. Maybe u go change ur mind. Don't get me wrong o, Alams na thief. Dem don catch am. He dey Lagos dey dance to the music wey him pay for.


Alamieyeseigha's removal: Coup against Constitution, Rule of Law
By chairman of The Patriots, foremost Constitutional lawyer, Prof. Ben Nwabueze

THE resolution adopted at a meeting of the House of Assembly on Tuesday November 29, 2005, requesting the state Chief Judge to appoint a seven-man panel under Section 188(5) of the constitution to investigate the allegation of gross misconduct contained in the impeachment notice, was passed by 15 members out of the membership of 24, which is one member less than the two-thirds majority of ALL the members required for the purpose by section 188(4). The meeting also purported irregularly to suspend the members who refused to join in passing the resolution. For this meeting, the 15 members who passed the resolution were brought to Yenogoa, the state capital, from Abuja where they were being quartered and taken back there after the meeting, for which reason they were referred to as "hostage" members, as indeed they were. They were certainly not free agents but were acting as directed by the Federal Government and the EFCC.

Fifthly, the power to appoint a seven-man panel to investigate the allegations of gross misconduct is, for good reason, entrusted to the state chief judge because he represents the third arm of government that is supposed to be independent of both the Executive and Legislative arms, and because he is an agent of the law enjoined by his oath of office to uphold the law impartially and faithfully without fear or favour.

In going ahead to appoint the investigating panel under section 188(5), notwithstanding the unconstitutional interference by the Federal Government and the EFCC in the impeachment process, it is obvious that the Chief Judge, Justice Emmanuel Igoniwari, acted not as a free agent, but under fear and irresistible pressure. As he, himself complained in a report in The Punch of Tuesday December 6, 2005:

"I was under unbelievable pressures from all corners. It was like a tsunami... Requests turned to threats and this was compounded by wicked or evil rumours. Some of the rumours and requests were even to the effect that a list of panel members would be drawn up for me to sign and the list would be taken away from me. Further that I might be whisked away and forced to sign a list, if continued to say no to offers or requests."

From a letter dated 2 December by Alamieyeseigha protesting the inclusion of four persons in the membership of the panel and similar protest by one of his supporters, it may be inferred that the Chief Judge might not entirely have resisted the pressures and threats.

Sixthly, of the many allegations of gross misconduct levelled against Governor Alamieyeseigha, only two, namely, jumping bail and failure to inform the House Assembly of his arrest and pending trial for money laundering in London, were considered and reported on by the investigating panel because, being notorious, self-evident and uncontroverted facts, they required no proof. These two alleged misconducts were not in the original list of allegations contained in the impeachment notice served on the Governor, and were only subsequently added. The other allegations were left for consideration in a future report because they require exhaustive investigation that is "bound to take a lot of time, resources an effort."

The panel was quite unsparing in the language used in its report to describe the gross nature and grave consequences of the misconduct of jumping bail, for which it so roundly and brutally condemned Alamieyeseigha, but it said nothing at all, not even one word, about the all-important question whether, as specifically stipulated in Section 188(2) of the Constitution, the act and omission in question amount to gross misconduct by Alamieyeseigha "in the performance of the functions of his office" as Governor of Bayelsa State. The failure by the panel to address this question could not have been other than that it was deliberately intended to avoid the conclusion that the two alleged misconducts did not constitute an impeachable offence in terms of Section 188(2) of the Constitution.

Only at the cost of doing great violence to language can it be said that Chief Alamieyeseigha was performing the functions of the office of Governor when he jumped bail or when he failed to inform the House of his arrest and pending trial for money laundering in London, gross as the misconduct on these two grounds might be. In any case, he was on leave of absence from office at the time, a fact on which the Speaker of the House was insistent when he said that the person recognised by the House as responsible for performing the functions of the office of Governor at the material time was, not Alamieyeseigha, but his Deputy whom the House had earlier appointed as acting Governor in the absence of Alamieyeseigha away on leave. It would be a manifest contradiction both to maintain that Alamieyeseigha was absent from duty on leave and at the same time that he was performing the functions of the office of Governor while on leave and while his Deputy was acting in the same office.

It is not without reason that only acts or omissions committed by the President or State Governor in the performance of the functions of his office are made the only impeachable offences by the Constitution. Otherwise the door would have been left so wide open for all sorts of allegations of gross misconduct, like rape or acts done before he assumed the office, to be trumped up against him but which have no connection whatsoever with the performance of the functions of his office.

Last but perhaps more decisive than the six illegalities listed above, the removal of Governor Alamieyeseigha in accordance with the rigorous and laborious process prescribed by Section 188 of the Constitution was dogged by yet another legal barrier more immediately calculated to frustrate and defeat the avowed determination of President Obasanjo to send him back to London from whence he had escaped to return to Nigeria. Two such barriers had suddenly but not unexpectedly sprung up.

The suspended members of the Bayelsa House of Assembly had, on Friday December 2, 2005, filed a suit in the State High Court against their 15 colleagues who earlier adopted the resolution requesting the Chief Judge to appoint an investigating panel. Joining the Chief Judge as co-defendant, they prayed the court, among other reliefs, for an injunction restraining the Chief Jude "whether by himself, agents, privies and servants from giving effect to any request from the 1st - 15th November 2005 or any other day whatsoever to appoint any investigative panel to investigate the governor of Bayelsa State." On the same day another suit was filed in the Supreme Court by the Attorney-General of Bayelsa State against the Attorney-General of the Federation claiming, among other reliefs, an order of injunction "restraining President Obasanjo and agencies of the Federal Government from any attempt to forcibly remove or induce the removal of Governor Alamieyeseigha from office" and from "further unlawful and unconstitutional interference in the administration of the state."

The effect of the filing of a suit seeking an injunction to restrain a defendant from doing certain acts is that his hands become as effectively tied as if an order of injunction has actually been made, provided he has notice of the suit. The position of the law upon this point is stated as follows by Obaseki JSC in Military Governor of Lagos State v. Ojukwu & Anor. (1986) NSSC (pt 1) 304 at pages 312 - 313, relying on a passage in the judgment of the U.S. Supreme Court in Edward Jones v. Securities and Exchange Commission 298 U.S. 1, at page 33.

"The rule is well settled both by the courts of England and of this country that where a suit is brought to enjoin certain activities, for example, the erection of a building or other structures, of which suit the defendant has notice the hands of the defendant are effectively tied pending a hearing and determination even though no restraining order or preliminary injunction be issued... He acts at his peril and subject to the power of the court to restore the status wholly irrespective of the merits as they may be ultimately decided" (emphasis supplied).

In Daniel v. Ferguson (1891) 2 Ch 27, one of the English decisions cited by the U.S. Supreme Court, a suit was brought to restrain the defendant from building so as to darken the plaintiff's lights. After receiving notice of a motion for temporary injunction and before the motion was heard, the defendant put a large number of men to work on the building, running a wall up to a height of about 39 feet from the ground in anticipation of the order of the court. The court of Appeal (England) ordered the wall to be pulled down. Kay L.J. said at page 30:

"Whether he turns out at the trial to be right or wrong, a building which he has erected under such circumstances ought to be at once pulled down, on the ground that the erection of it is an attempt to anticipate the order of the court. To vary the order under appeal would hold out an encouragement to other people to hurry on their buildings in the hope that when they were once up the court might decline to order them to be pulled down. I think that this wall ought to be pulled down now without regard to what the result of the trial may be."

Depending on the facts of each case, the appropriate order which the court may make in order to restore the status quo between the parties may be an order to pull down a building an order declaring the defendant's act in question null and void or an order restraining the continuation or repetition of such offending act. The decision of Egbue J. in Isiadinso & Others v Igwe Osita Agwuna III & Another, Suit No. A/98/92 is a case in which the last two remedies were applied. After being served with notice of a motion to restrain them from holding a meeting scheduled for a specified date to consider the revised Constitution of Enugwu Ukwu Town, the defendants went ahead and held the meeting as scheduled, at which the Revised Constitution of Enugwu Ukwu Town was considered.

The Court, after positing to itself the question, "what then is the court to do in the circumstance of this application? Proceeding to make an order (I) declaring null and void the meeting held by the defendants on the scheduled date insofar as it considered or in any way dealt with the Revised Constitution of Enugwu Ukwu Town (ii) restraining the defendants, their servants agents and privies from holding any meeting to consider or in any manner deal with the Revised Constitution of Enugwu Ukwu Town. In the words of the Learned Judge:

"The action of the defendants is calculated to lower the authority of this court and to interfere with the course of justice... The cases show that where a party with notice or even knowledge of the motion hurried and concluded the act sought to be retrained by an injunction, the court does not accept the act as a fait accompli. The court has always redressed the balance as between the parties at page 10 of the cyclostyled judgment (emphasis supplied).

Thus the report of the investigating panel and the removal of Alamieyeseigha, based on the report, with knowledge of the pendency of the two suits are null and void under the principle of law laid down in these decided authorities.

To anticipate the legal consequences arising from the filing of the two suits, the members of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly were again brought, under heavy police and military escort, from their temporary base in Abuja to Yenagoa. With the House surrounded by soldiers armed to the teeth, it sat, approved the panel's report and adopted a resolution removing Alamieyeseigha from office as Governor of Bayelsa State. This had to be done because it would have been an intolerable affront to the President to have allowed the law to override his will and power.

Conclusion

The plain, undeniable truth is that Governor Alamieyeseigha was removed from office, not by the members of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly in accordance with the process provided by the constitution but by President Obasanjo, backed by the police and military forces under his control, and using the members of the House as mere tools or agents. That is a federal system the Federal Government should unconstitutionally arrogate to itself power to suspend the Governor of a State from office, as it did in Plateau State in May 2004, or to remove him completely, as happened in Bayelsa State in December 2005, is a subversion of federalism and a coup against the constitution.

It is sad that the true character of these events as a subversion of and a coup against the Constitution is being concealed from the Nigerian people by dressing them up in the garb of a "war' against corruption, which is a highly emotive cause intensely popular among the population. The Nigerian pubic sees every corrupt official as a criminal undeserving of the protection of the Constitution and the laws. But a people incapable of rising above this kind of depraved mob sentiment is not ripe for constitutional democracy. We must not let our understandable abhorrence of corruption overbear our faith in constitutional democracy and the Rule of Law as the most acceptable system for the government of human society. It is more regrettable that lawyers subscribe to this mob sentiment.

Finally, the war against corruption is a noble cause, which should be supported wholeheartedly and energetically by all Nigerians, but it should be fought according to, not in subversion of the rule embodied in the supreme law of the country.

Eddie, u are smart. It's OK o o o. Make una do for Bayelsa as una want am. I think Uncle sege would not have dared to send troops to Yenagoa without the consent of the Ijaw folks.

So, now I know why things are like this with Alams. I pity him. How can one win by fighting against his own people? Only a fool dare do that.

Goodluck Eddie.


Sounds like Goodluck Jonathan, ur new Guvnor.

Jakumo,
I would have just, kind of posted the link to that site for anyone to read the full gist. Apology to those who don't like reading long postings. But I guess Guardian news won't allow people to post their link. I'll try next time.

So, to make life easy for you, this is what the Guardian Editorial on Alams said, for short:

All of Alami's offences were impeachable enough, UNTIL the FG decided to ''take the laws into their hands and muddled up everything''

I hope that's OK by you.

Sounds like throwing away the baby with the bathwater to me.

My people, this is today's Guardian's Editorial on Alams. To me It's a 'balanced' view enough. What do you think?



Impeachment and arrest of Alamieyeseigha

THERE ought not to be misgivings about the impeachment of Chief Diepreye Solomon Peter Alamieyeseigha. But the process leading to that action gives cause for grave concern. Immediately he was removed, Alamieyeseigha was handcuffed, detained temporarily at the Police Headquarters, in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, and later flown to Abuja, for further detention and, possibly, extradition to the United Kingdom. Prior to his impeachment on Friday, December 9, 2005, Alamieyeseigha was the elected Governor of Bayelsa State.

He was arrested by the Metropolitan Police in London, on September 15, 2005, for money-laundering offences, detained and subsequently charged to court. He was later released on bail on conditions requiring him to stay back in London sine dine. Quite unaccountably, he jumped bail, and miraculously found his way to Yenagoa, his state capital, on November 21, 2005, becoming a fugitive from justice.

We had, in the recent past, done an editorial on the subject of Alamieyeseigha's unseemly escape from justice and the avoidable odium and ridicule he had incurred on his person and office. The thrust of this editorial, therefore, is on the style, legality and constitutionality of his impeachment. Section 188 of the 1999 Constitution, delineates the procedure (trial process) for the removal of an elected governor or deputy governor from office. The trial process as provided in the said section 188 has built-in mechanics for ensuring fair hearing and the principles of natural justice, including the doctrine of audi alteram parten (hear the other side). Natural justice, the Supreme Court once ruled in the case of Ariori v AG (Oyo State), "demands that a party must be heard before the case against him is determined. Even God gave Adam an oral hearing despite the evidence supplied by his act of covering his unclothedness..."

To ensure fair hearing and natural justice, the Constitution provides that, in the trial of a governor , a panel appointed by the Chief Judge of the State shall have three months (90 days) within which to make its findings and to report same to the House of Assembly. In the Alamieyeseigha case, the seven-man Panel, headed by Barrister David Serena Dokubo Spiff, was appointed on Tuesday, December 6, 2005.

It came up with a report, dated December 8, 2005, and tagged "Allegations without Evidence of Proof" which, according to its author (the seven-man panel), "are those allegations the facts supporting which are so self-evident that they do not require any proof (read 'defence'), and those allegations proof of which must require varying degrees of fact finding".

In the opinion of the seven-man panel, the two allegations against Governor Alamieyeseigha - the charge of money laundering levelled against him by the London Metropolitan Police and his escape from justice - were too self-evident to require his defence. But the Constitution provides that "the holder of an office whose conduct is being investigated under this section shall have the right to defend himself in person or be represented before the panel by a legal practitioner of his own choice". Quite clearly, to hold that some allegations were too self-evident to require proof, evidence or defence, represents a serious infraction of that constitutional provision, which contemplates the provisions of section 36 of the Constitution, requiring that every person who is charged with a criminal offence shall be "given adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his defence", and to "defend himself in person or by legal practitioners of his own choice".

The David Serena Dokubo-Spiff-led panel further stated that "owing to non-availability of funds (the Federal Government had illegally and unconstitutionally frozen the Bayelsa State Federal Account), commonsense, therefore, dictates that we commence with those allegations in category 1, before addressing allegations in category II, stating allegations for which proof is unnecessary". The seven-man panel had hardly finished the first part of the report conveying its opinion on allegations which required no proof, evidence or defence, when , in less than 72 hours of its appointment, the House of Assembly, in circumstances that were less than honorable, pronounced Governor Alamieyeseigha impeached.

To facilitate Alamieyeseigha's impeachment, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had played a role that can hardly be reconciled to the powers bestowed on it by the instrument establishing it. It was widely reported that there was unwholesome arm-twisting, torture and inducement by the EFCC to the Bayelsa State lawmakers. On its own part, the Federal Government evidently and literally browbeat the Bayelsa lawmakers into doing what they should have done properly and with facility, under law, without prompting.

The Bayelsa State radio and television stations were closed down, contrary to sections 22 and 39 of the constitution, guaranteeing freedom of expression, including freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference; the State's Federation Account was frozen, contrary to section 165 of the Constitution; hundreds of armed soldiers and police were deployed to everywhere in the State; armoured tanks and sub-machine guns were positioned at the State House of Assembly and at the State High Court.

Two armoured tanks were placed directly opposite the Government House, where Governor Alamieyeseigha's office was located; armed soldiers positioned armoured tanks along the road leading to Amassoma, the Governor's hometown, etc. The question arises as to whether Nigeria is still a federation, or is now a unitary state and an autocracy.

The deployment by the President of the armed forces to Bayelsa State was clearly a contravention of the provisions of section 217 of the Constitution, which make such deployment subject to an act of the National Assembly. And consider that the deployment of the armed forces and police was made at a time when there was no insurrection to suppress!

The overt and covert assistance proffered by the Federal Government and its agencies to anti-Alamieyeseigha lawmakers of Bayelsa State was patently redolent of illegality and evil, being subversive of the letter and spirit of the 1999 Constitution.

There is hardly any doubt that the allegations levelled against Alamieyeseigha were weighty enough and would have earned him an impeachment, anyway, but the reckless and vulgar haste with which the impeachment trial was conducted leaves a sour taste in the mouth. Quite clearly, the casualties of that horrid impeachment exercise include due process, the rule of law and the concept of federalism.

@mingiix,

I'm sorry. I'm not Ijaw. I'm also sorry for the wrong use of words. I work with an oil producing company in Warri. I'm a Petroleum Engineer, member of the SPE, Worldwide.

There comes a time in a man's life that, except he's convinced otherwise, it's criminal for him to just accept news from any source and pass a verdict without taking a look at the total picture. Just like the Bible says, from the mouth of two or more winesses will the truth be established. It might interest you to know that I have never met Alams before in my life. Maybe at Kaiama, during our orientation, but not in person.

I have gone to Yenagoa several times this year, and I just marvel at the spate of developmental activities. Yenagoa could not compare with some of the towns in Delta state - like Ughelli and others before now. But a lot has been done to bring Yenagoa up to the standard befitting of a state capital. Maybe I'm myopic in my views, please enlighten me the more from London.

The future of Bayelsa belongs to you, Edward, and other Ijaw folks. And because you are not alone in the struggle for resource control, of which, Alams, through his able information commissioner, Oronto Douglas, championed at the recently concluded National Political Reform Conference in Abuja, we've got to pull our strengths together and get out of the doldrums we find ourselves in the Nigerian state. Peace.

@ former lecturer, Kenflavour,

I admire those who impart knowledge. If I had known this before now, I would have withdrawn my negative words. So, I want to apologise for responding so sarcastically. I'm now convinced that some folks serve in their state of origin. You should, at the least, be convinced by now that I am not a thief. It's OK.

And to every one:

Alams stole. He was caught and he's facing the music. Other thieves when caught, will face the music as well. I'm just repeating what I stated earlier on that I accept the verdict of the majority on this matter.

I think I should make myself very clear, for those of you who think I'm a front for Alams, and also those who cannot swallow what's the obvious in this case.

1) It has been established - although the matter is still in a court of law that Alams stole  - and because of that, all sorts of lies and 'jibiti' were added to make a truckload of sins for this man. He has asked for proof of evidence (through his lawyers) of all that he has allegedly stolen, but the FG attorney said they've dismissed the charges against him. The claimed the first attempt was an academic exercise! So, they want to come up with a second attempt.

And here's one Kenflavor telling the whole world how fraudulent Nigerians can be. As far as I know, and at the Kaiama Orientation ground where I did my NYSC orientation for three weeks, I did not meet any Ijaw man from Bayelsa state. True, I did not meet everyone at the camp to verify, but do I need to do that when, in my bunk alone, all the guys were from the middle-belt, SouthWest and Igbos! If there's any case like that, then it must be that of a woman (from Bayelsa) who for one reason like pregnancy, ill health and other such things was redeployed to serve in her state and possibly stay with her husband!

I have never heard of such treatment meted out to a guy in Nigeria - except of course through dubious means. I guess that's the style kenflavour's talking about. You know, meeting the officials at Abuja, and you know, paying them a lot of money so that one can be shipped from Taraba or Jigawa to PortHarcourt, or Warri - oil cities in the south so that they can follow in the footsteps of their elders who are now rogues in high places - milking the nation dry.

So, I put it to you, Kenflavor, that your likes are the people who are turning this country into a haven for rogues. Please tell me the states in question where those three friends of yours were posted (must be either Rivers, Delta or Lagos, right?)


2) Alams is in trouble. He has fallen out of favour with the powers that be. He that is down needs fear no fall - but should be afraid of falling objects! like shits from unreasonable people.


So, where do I stand?

* Lets stop accusing people without taking a 360 degree view of the isseus at hand - the Kettle (FG - OBJ and company) should stop calling the Pot black! Always look at the total picture before passing judgements.

*Let's come up with healthy discussions on discussions that affect our nation and be patriotic. We should not condone anything evil. There's no one without sin in this country. We've all sinned. We should pray for our nation, so that we can make a headway in future.

*It's Alams today, it can be anyone of us tomorrow. Let's bear that in mind.

Now, that said, I rest my case.