The Log in Our Eyes, by Hassan Gimba

“The trade of governing has always been monopolised by the most ignorant and the most rascally individuals of mankind.” — Thomas Paine (1737-1809).

Last week, we examined how certain leaders tend to overlook their inadequacies while scrutinising the failings of others. We likened them to individuals whose cerebral configurations had been exchanged with those of donkeys upon their ascension to leadership. Consequently, one may never succeed in restoring their cognitive faculties, no matter how fervently one endeavours to reboot their senses.

One such leader endeavoured to persuade his audience that Nyesom Wike’s appointment as a minister in an opposition party government was not an aberration, citing the precedent of 1999 when President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed several All Peoples Party (APP) chieftains to his cabinet.

In 1999, Obasanjo’s actions were predicated on the belief that politics should not manifest as a winner-takes-all scenario. Such a political ethos, whereby the defeated are entirely excluded while the victors reap all benefits, is a principal catalyst for political upheavals, particularly as no single party holds a monopoly on the most capable or patriotic intellects.

Thus, he formally invited the APP to nominate representatives for his cabinet, a hardly novel gesture. Two decades prior, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, as President of Nigeria under the National Party of Nigeria, extended a similar invitation to the other four political parties. At that time, the political landscape was composed of five parties: the NPN (which triumphed at the federal level), Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), Chief Nnamdi Azikiwe’s Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP), Alhaji Ibrahim Waziri’s Great Nigeria Peoples Party (GNPP), and Alhaji Aminu Kano’s Peoples Redemption Party (PRP).

The pertinent question is, was the PDP officially asked to nominate any members into the current federal government, or did the President pick those who worked to help him snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in their states? This is why Wike is the only publicly known PDP member in the government.

It is either ignorance or sheer malice for an individual, particularly a governor, to excuse such an anomaly on the grounds that “Obasanjo” acted similarly without acknowledging the differing contexts surrounding each occurrence. Indeed, one can hardly wonder why Nigeria finds itself in its current predicament, with individuals at the helm who exhibit a disconcerting lack of political history or awareness of contemporary affairs.

This type of leadership, characterised by scatterbrained figures devoid of comprehension regarding Nigeria’s historical trajectory and indifferent to its future direction, has severely undermined the integrity of our nation through the degradation of its institutions.

Consequently, these leaders routinely subvert the Constitution and enlist like-minded, morally bankrupt lawyers and judges in their endeavours to obliterate the nation’s moral compass. The Independent National Electoral Commission and security agencies, too, become complicit instruments in their hands.

I propose that our foremost course of action should be to uphold the Constitution as long as it remains in force, for it ought to serve as our grundnorm as a nation. To realise this aim, it may be prudent to incorporate a special module on morality and patriotism into our law school curriculum.

There exist instances where the principle of “innocent until proven guilty” should not apply, and lawyers would do well to disavow such notions, irrespective of the financial allure of a brief.

A struggling, average citizen who transforms into a multi-billionaire and establishes vast businesses after a few years as a minister, ought not to be permitted to deceive the nation with claims of that “innocence,” as we have frequently witnessed.

The framers of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria dreamed of a morally upright nation with leaders guided by the fear of God and their consciences. This is why they always ended with “So help me, God.”

When they said that a legislator who defects, for example, loses his seat, the issue of court pronouncements over such was not even envisioned because the framers thought they were addressing people who would come to office with integrity, conscience and the fear of God.

However, it is so sad to see party men who owe their ascendancy in politics to their party turn round and stab the party, not in the back as people of old with shame used to do, but in the chest looking eyeball to eyeball with the victim (in this case party). These days, we see people who have placed their inordinate ambitions and interests above those of the nation and its people. These people turn a blind eye to truth and decorum, glamorising undemocratic and progressive acts detrimental to democracy.

But the way we are behaving in this country, one day, a person will just be sleeping at home without participating in any electoral process but will go to the court and be declared the winner. And INEC will produce the result to back that up and the courts will affirm it with some clever verdict.

Yes. Not long ago, Tony Okocha, a former chief of staff to Rotimi Amaechi, former governor of Rivers State, confessed in an interview with Channels Television that he, on several occasions, wrote election results in his office, handed it over to INEC and that result was announced as valid. And the security agencies have not grabbed him for confessing to a crime!

To get it right, we, especially those in authority, must remove the log from our eyes and strive to make the Constitution our guiding principle.

Hassan Gimba, anipr, is the publisher and editor-in-chief of Neptune Prime.

The Log in Your Eye, by Hassan Gimba

There is a phrase that has gained widespread currency across the world: “Physician, heal thyself.”

Not many know it is a biblical proverb and a direct quote from Jesus (AS). He said, “You will surely say to me this proverb, ‘Physician, heal yourself’: do here in your country what we have heard was done in Capernaum.”

This phrase is similar to another quote from Jesus in Matthew 7:3-5: “Why do you see the speck in your neighbour’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbour, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbour’s eye.”

Unfortunately, instead of adhering to these timeless exhortations by Jesus (AS), those who are supposedly his acclaimed adherents feel they are too important to heed such urgings and the laws of their lands because they are The Chosen, God’s Favourites!

They consider themselves “different”—people with specially created souls—while viewing the rest of us as “goyim”; people without souls, fabricated to serve them. While they make the law and its custodians bow and tremble before them, we are held spellbound in front of those custodians who trade justice to the powerful and the highest bidder while trampling over us, hewers of wood and drawers of water, the wretched of the earth.

This is why some individuals, who can at best be described as “accidental” leaders, forget that they are where they are courtesy of God, who grants such positions to whom He wishes—not because they are any better than the next person.

With their heads in the clouds, their brains supplanted with those of donkeys, and therefore insensate to citizens’ sufferings, some of these leaders keep braying their right to ride roughshod over the laws but cry foul when they find themselves on the receiving end.

About two weeks ago, I had cause to call out a governor – who, but for Atiku Abubakar, would have been defeated by a political Amazonian – for accusing some people in the ruling All Peoples Congress (APC) of “bastardising” democracy. In contrast, he is shamelessly in cahoots with those blinded by the love of filthy lucre and inordinate ambition to destroy the party that made them what they are.

As if that drama was not enough, the minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) last week regaled us with tales that the Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara was not obeying court orders and, therefore, peace would continue to elude the state.

He declared: “I was a governor; I have always obeyed the rule of law. You heard the governor say that our state is turning into a state of anarchy where people do not obey the rule of law.

“You must obey the judgement of the court. You must not take the law into your hands. The moment you don’t obey court judgement, you are inviting anarchy; you are inviting violence,” Wike said on national television. But has Wike always obeyed the lawful orders of the court—especially in a country where living above the law is the true mark of a big man?

For the record, Wike was one of the best governors at obeying court orders in the breach, and now, as minister, he is behaving true to type.

In 2018, Governor Wike disobeyed the court’s judgement to pay teachers their salaries immediately. In February 2016, he stopped the salaries of almost 300 primary and secondary school teachers working in the demonstration schools of Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, and Ken Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, leading to litigation and protests.

The National Industrial Court of Nigeria, on June 26, 2018, granted the reliefs sought by the teachers, holding that the teachers’ employment was valid. It ruled that the stoppage of the payment of their salaries by the state government was unlawful and awarded the cost of ₦2 million to the claimants, to be paid within 30 days.

The government of Wike appealed the industrial court judgement at the Court of Appeal, which struck it out in October 2020. One year later (making it five years), the Rivers State government had not obeyed the court judgement.

Or is it about choosing which court to obey? In August 2016, Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja Division, issued an interlocutory order postponing the People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) convention until September 7. However, Wike did not like it and obtained another judgment from a Port Harcourt High Court, allowing the convention to proceed.

In May 2024, a claimant in an Abuja High Court case asked that the minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, and the director of the Federal Capital Development Authority, Mukhtar Galadima, be imprisoned for disobeying court orders.

Still, in another legal notice, the defendants were put on alert that they must provide reasons why an order of attachment should not be issued for “an order for committal to prison of the 3rd and 4th defendants/contemnors, represented by Nyesom Wike and Mukhtar Galadima, for having disobeyed the order of this court made on the 18th day of October 2023 enjoining and restraining them from tampering with the rest of this matter pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.”

The matter was an offshoot of demolition activities in Abuja.

Yet, in October 2023, despite a court ruling, Wike ordered the demolition of a multi-billion-naira property next to Gbajabiamila’s residence. The property, owned by Shrodder Nigeria Limited, is located in the Cadastral Zone of Maitama District.

Just a month later, the National Industrial Court in Abuja began contempt proceedings against Minister Wike and others over the alleged disregard of a series of court orders. The court had affirmed Faruk Abubakar as managing director and chief executive officer of Abuja Markets Management Limited (AMML), while the minister refused to accept him.

In Form 48 marked NICN/ABJ/62/2023 and filed on November 3, entitled: “Notice of Consequences of Disobedience to Order of Court,” the application read: “Take notice that unless you (the defendants) obey the orders and directions contained in the judgement of a court on July 20 and the order of this Honourable Court made on July 26, you will be guilty of contempt of court and will be liable to be committed to prison.”

To be continued.

Hassan Gimba, anipr, is the publisher and editor-in-chief of Neptune Prime.

From time to time, we try to give way to our readers to make their voices heard through their input. Well, it has been quite a while since we did that. We will start serialising such inputs.

Nigeria and Presidential Democracy: Any Better Alternative?

I enjoyed reading this. I wish it didn’t end. Sannu da kokari, Sir. I hope and pray that everyone who reads this, including our lawmakers and other segments that make up the government, brood over this.

We are a people whose identity is being lost every day, while the new one we have borrowed is yet to be understood not to imagine working for us. As a result, as you rightly pointed out, we are neither here nor there. Sad.

Much as I believe in a united Nigeria, I fear aligning with others who see the marriage between the Northern and Southern parts of this country as one of inconvenience. Marriage, like any other relationship, works out well only where the parties involved sincerely understand, accommodate, honour and respect one another, and agree not to undermine the other. This is not the case with us.

I fear adding that, except for the Southwest, other regions have continued to be further divided by varying interests, most of which are ethnic and religious in nature. We must find a way out, and that way out should preferably be homegrown. More ink to your golden pen, sir.

Yahaya Abdulrahman

Wow! My brother Dr. Gimba, sir, we appreciate you very much for the superb and quality journalism. You are making impacts continuously. Thank you for your everlasting support for the citizens and for advocating for a great Nigeria.
Dr Umar Baba Blisco

Very interesting and well-written. We’re following with keen interest. More ink to your pen, sir.

Yusuf Lawan

Not simple research, wonderful and so interesting.

Keen Fahad

May Allah bless you with all the happiness this world has to offer. Keep tears away from your eyes and grant you the highest level of Jannatul Firdaus.

Highly educative piece. It means Nigeria has experimented with many forms of democracy in different fashions, including the “hybrid regime”. Perhaps trying the Switzerland type of direct democracy where citizens are at the pinnacle of power could offer the best of options for Nigeria. Alternatively, a system that could accommodate our peculiarities should be developed, not necessarily copying from the Western world that has no consideration for diversities. Just my opinion, sir. Allah ya kara maka basira.

Abubakar Habib Ndagi

This is deep, sir. All the questions you raised and probably more need to be answered. On my part, I believe that continuing this way will only aggravate our problems. So, we have to look deeply inward. While awaiting the continuation of this rich piece, and soonest, I pray Allah continues to bless your pen, so it continues to pen down informative, educative and problem-solving articles such as the one I just read.

Yahaya Abdulrahman

Your doggedness on contemporary issues in our land is unmatched. The articles are current no matter the duration. Bless you, Editor!

Raymond Gukas

Scamming NGOs and the need for government intervention
Good observation about this NGO, but corruption in this country will not allow us to checkmate them properly. I pray the two NGOs you mentioned will be honest and brave to stand their ground in checking their activities properly and, secondly; I believe if Nigeria as a whole can address this corruption, all other things will fall in shape.
Sqd Ldr (retd) Hajara Kolo

Good evening, Mr. Gimba. I just read your article posted above. It is brutally honest. Thank you. However I will advise a different approach considering that the government is also given to bad behaviour. Donors should give conditions that grants should be distributed to sub-grantees using the same currency in which they receive the grant so that they don’t underpay the beneficiaries.
However, I salute your courage.
Mr Ajibola

Elite Brigandage and Tinubu’s Class Suicide
This is an interesting submission on the state of the nation. The issues discussed therein are the true situation of things in our dear country and if not for writers like (Dr.) Gimba, one hardly hears a discussion on vital aspects of our societal lives like these, especially those that require reflection and pondering. Time will tell if President Bola Tinubu will differ from his predecessors if the trial of some notable Nigerians is political or otherwise. May Allah reward you for the enlightenment. Thank you, sir.
Yusuf Nasidi

El-Rufai and the trek to posterity
This is a beautiful piece, worthy of a cable view. God bless you, sir, for this.
Begun Onibiyo

Honestly, El-Rufai is harvesting what he sowed, because of ego, he condemned the northern elders, and killed innocent Shiite members on several occasions, all in an attempt to twist Tinubu, after clinching power, thank God! Tinubu has taught him a lesson of betrayal and Gov Uba Sani, is doing the right thing by informing the masses of the state of the destroyed economy he inherited. You’ve said all in this commendable article, more grease to your elbow. Your assessment of El-Rufai and his son’s thoughts pointed out his true colour and the consequences of selfishness in choosing successors.
Malam Umar

One standard hospital per state
Very interesting. Sir, I don’t think our so-called leaders who are supposed to be addressed and called looters can do such in the country and the worst of it is the third ingredient (manpower) would not allow such investment to be for the public.
Bilyaminu Z Mamu

May Allah grant you complete healing, sir. I took my mum to Makkah Saudi German in December 2023. All you wrote about the hospital is exactly as it is. Just the way you are received alone will psychologically boost your healing mechanism and I feel they are affordable, too. We pray our government and wealthy Nigerians we have will invest in health care.

Hajiya Husseina Babaninna

This is a very common-sense suggestion that our leaders have ignored so far. Both Federal and state governments. I don’t know what they discuss at the Governors’ Forum meetings. Or at the Association of Local Government Chairmen’s meetings.
Ezekiel Oloriegbe

Yes, sir. We do. So unfortunate that the Governors have no time to care for the health of their citizens. They have nothing to lose. Their health issues have been taken care of. They can be taken to the best hospitals ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD. They always forget their relatives who are also ordinary citizens. So sad. The self-certainedness (I hope there is a word like this) of these so-called leaders.
Hajiya Rakiya Idi

Our Parlous Health System and the Yobe Example
Lagos is moving out of this rot gradually. Not there yet, but Lagos now attracts the best medical personnel and also enjoys good patronage because of world-class health facilities in areas of the state. Not cheap though!
Ade Adebola

It gladdens my heart to know that Yobe State has gone this far in terms of good healthcare delivery, especially at the Yobe State University Teaching Hospital. I pray this is sustained and expanded to other hospitals in the state. Governor Mai Mala Buni has indeed set the pace; other states have a less task in improving theirs as an example is already on the ground. Dr Hassan Gimba is an illustrious son of Yobe, who always derives pleasure from seeing the state moving forward. At every discussion one has with him, you will understand that he has the state at heart. This week’s column has further demonstrated that. In fairness to him, he is the only one I’ve read who cares to tell the world these facts about Yobe. May Allah continue to bless Yobe with people like you.
Yusuf Nasidi