Exit Of An Icon: A Tribute To Chief Ezeogo Uma Nchege Nwoke

By Polycarp Onwubiko

Vanguard columnist, Only Fasan said that "Judges are the biggest bribe-takers in Nigeria: Wow! What a country? ", Thursday July 25, 2024.

Hear him:

 "IT is official! The judiciary is the most corrupt institution in Nigeria; judges are the biggest takers of bribes in this country. A few years ago, I wrote a piece titled “Lord, give Nigeria bold and incorruptible judges”, (Vanguard, April 25, 2019). When I said that Nigerian judges are fantastically corrupt, it seemed as if I was just making an assertion, as if I was just expressing an opinion as a columnist.

"But now, we have an official confirmation. According to a recent survey conducted and published by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, UNODC, Nigeria’s public officials received N721billion cash bribes in 2023, and judges topped the list of the recipients".

My Comment:

Why am I very passionate about the Supreme Court judgment on the so-called"Local Government Council autonomy"? I have made extensive research on Federalism and imperative of Restructuring the lopsided Federation so I have not been writing mere opinion but veritable fact gleaned from text books and newspapers where informed personages and teachers of political science had made contributions.

Federal Constitution the world over is made by selected representatives of ethnic nationalities who want to come together to form a country. That was what informed series of Constitutional Conferences both in Nigeria and London before Independence was given to Nigeria by the British colonial masters.

The Independence was backed with a realistic Federal Constitution called "1960 Independence Constitution" and when the country became a Republic , it was changed to "1963 Republican Constitution". Nigeria was registering quantum leap in socioeconomic growth and development with two Tiers of government: Federal Government and Regional Governments. Local Administration was operated by the Regional Governments and called "Development Administration Department DAD". There was only two levels of monthly Statutory Revenue Sharing Formula.

The country started to experience crises when the supposed "Northern Political Emirate Establishment" introduced rigging of population census and extended it to the general election which triggered crises and subsequent military coup d'etat that culminated to the Nigeria-Biafra war.

The question was: (1) why didn't the military jackboots return the 1963 Republican Constitution when it handed over power to the elected Civilian administration; why dumping it for a quixotic"Federal-Unitary contraption" referred to as the"1999 constitution "?

(2) Why should the military constitute "1976 Dasuki Local Government Reform Commission" and without consulting the southerners and implemented a THREE TIER levels of government with three levels of monthly Statutory Revenue Sharing Formula?

(3) What was the parameter in creating surplus local government councils in the North without doing same in the South? Why would additional 20 local government councils created in Kano while none was created in Lagos state by the military autocrats?

(4) Why did the "Fundamentally fraudulent and flawed Federal-Unitary contraption" (the 1999 constitution) made the Senate very impossible condition to approve creation of local government councils by the State Governors while the same constitution allowed them to create local government councils. Anambra, Enonyi, and Lagos states created additional local government councils because of the need but the Senate refused to approve them; this injustice led the Lagos state governor, Ahmed Bola Tinubu to sue the federal government to the supreme court and won yet the Senate maintained its stand. It is the same Tinubu as president that sued the State Governments to court over the supposed "local government council autonomy" and by Olu Fasan piece on the corruption in Nigeria, Nigerians would now know what transpired with respect to the infamous Supreme Court judgment on the so-called local government council autonomy. Shameful indeed; Nigeria has confirmed the cognomen of being "a laughingstock in the international community and a disgrace to the continent of Africa".

The underpinning of all this shenanigans about local government council autonomy has been the strident objection to the Restructuring of the lopsided Federation by the "Fulani Feudal Oligarchy and Northern Political Emirate Establishment" who saw the Centralized political contraption as a leeway to its dream Islamization agenda while using the Centralized security architecture to give the terrorists masquerading as herdsmen which they imported from the Sahel region of West Africa as foot soldiers for the Islamization agenda.

They roam about with AK 47 rifles and mindlessly slaughter indigenous people in the southern Kaduna, middle belt states down south while the supposed Nigerian security agents pretend that they are helpless watching the body language of Aso Villa landlord. Insecurity throughout the country has mestatized and growing worst day by day because the Fulani Feudal Oligarchy want it like that.

Decentralized security architecture which is the norm in countries that practice federal system of government even during the first republic in Nigeria, was rejected because state governments would use it to stop open grazing of cattle by the "Fourth most terrorists in the world" the Fulani herdsmen.

Ranches which is the norm in other countries including West Africa is rejected by the Oligarchy and present Tinubu by his body language is not prepared for the immediate Restructuring of the country with decentralized security architecture and two tiers and levels of government.