Necessity and Excesses of Administrative Action, Evidentiary Adjudication and Executive Control of Bureaucracy in Constitutional Democracy

According to the New York Times, what may be the most controversial fraction of a second in television history, the momentary baring of the singer Janet Jackson’s breast during the halftime show of the 2004 Super Bowl, is heading back once again to the Third Circuit Court of Appeal (Stout, 2009, ¶ 1). The Supreme Court set aside an earlier ruling by the Third Circuit that had overturned a $550,000 fine imposed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on CBS for the “wardrobe malfunction,” as the fateful moment has been described.
The Supreme Court remanded the case back to the Court of Appeal to answer one solitary question: “that while the FCC may not have violated administrative procedures in justifying its actions, are the FCC's indecency rules so vague and enforced in such a haphazard manner that they chill free speech or are otherwise unconstitutional?” (Oxenford, 2009, ¶ 1).

It is against this backdrop that I found the required reading not only informative but exploratory as well. The incessant difficulty in keeping the balance between “underregulation and overregulation” is often the bane of administrative decision making as well as its challenge and vibrancy. (Rosenbloom, 2003, p. 9)

The explosive growth of the United States federal government and its agencies after the Second World War led to what many scholars often described as the “Administrative State” (Rosenbloom, 2003, p. 11) or “Administrative Presidency” (Cann, 2006, p. 36). Administrative Law grew out of the attempt by the legislature, executive, and the judiciary branches to prevent the modern administrative state from trampling upon citizens right.
It is instructive to note however that bureaucracies are themselves a creation of necessity. It is impossible in modern society for the few elected officials to perform all the roles of government. Even if we elect as many of them as we can, elected officials may not have the technical “know-how” required to administer these agencies. As Cann (2006) pointed out all modern presidents often complain that their worst problem was not the Soviets, not the oppposition party, but rather, the very bureacracy meant to help them govern. (Cann, 2006, p. 23)

Even though presidents are most often powerless in establishing most agencies of government, they often found an indirect way to control the activities of these agencies. The executive branch of government exerts numerous controls over both nominally “independent” administrative agencies, and those squarely within the executive. These controls run the gamut from the power of appointment, reorganization, termination, to supervision of an agency’s rule making authority as well as use of Attorney General Opinion rendered in specific instances. (Fox, 1992, p. 45).

It has been argued that presidential power is untramelled with regards to foreign affairs. (Cann, 2006, p. 25). Presidencies also exercise controls over bureaucracy through the concept of “impoundment” (Cann, 2006, p.26); “executive privilege”, and when congress expressly delegated power to the presidency to reorganize agencies. (Cann, 2006, p.26)
Another tool of presidential control of agencies is staff removal. Cann (2006) found that the Constitution is silent on president’s power to remove those he or she has appointed. (Cann, 2006, p. 29) This lacuna may be the reason why recent congressional investigations focused on whether the Department of Justice and the Bush White House wrongfully dismissed eight assistant US attorneys for political purposes hit a brick wall in Washington, DC (Johnson, 2008, ¶ 5).

As we found in the CBS’s case, most agency decisions often impinge on constitutional rights of citizens and corporations. This is one of the reasons why congress enacted the Administrative Procedures Act: To ensure that administrative decisions are not just fair but manifestly seen to be fair. For instance, FCC is an independent agency of the United States government, created, directed and empowered by Congressional Statute (47 U.S.C. § 151 and 47 U.S.C. § 154). The Third Circuit in its ruling stated that the standard of review of agency decisions is governed by the Administrative Procedure Act, (APA) 5 U.S.C. § 706 and thus found FCC to have violated the APA. CBS Corp., et al. v. FCC (2008).

The primary criticism of agency adjudication policy making is that it is mostly done “ex-post facto” i.e after the deeds had been done. The court struck down the FCC's Jackson decision in large part because it concluded that, while the FCC had announced a new policy regarding fleeting “expletives” in another case, for more than 3 decades, it never extended that ruling to fleeting “images” CBS Corp., et al. v. FCC (2008).

In the CBS case, it is apparent that evidentiary adjudication is not a participatory problem-solving exercise. A CBS apology was rejected in place of a hefty fine. There was also not an opportunity for congress to exercise its oversight functions whilst the case was pending at the commission. There are however plethora of advantages to evidentiary adjudication; it is flexible, it provides agencies’ staff and directors with unique opportunities to resolve their policy differences and arrive at compromises often in an incremental fashion. For instance, in a notable confrontation over the FCC's local telephone competition rules, then Chairman Michael Powell was outflanked by Republican Kevin Martin, who formed a majority with the FCC's two Democratic commissioners (Werbach, 2003, ¶ 6).

Adjudication is also preferred as a means of making decisions that is often required by constitutional procedural due process. It affords opportunities for decision makers to “feel the pain” of those affected by their actions, so they could apply equity and compassion in reaching their decision. President Barrack Obama’s primary criterion for appointment of Supreme Court justices is empathy (Ruggeri, 2009 ¶ 2).

As Rosenbloom (2003) argued, the Supreme Court requires a maximum and minimal standards protection before individuals or corporations can be deprived of a benefit by administrative action when procedural due process applies. The case of Goldberg v Kelly (1970) and Goss v Lopez (1975) outlined a fundamental fairness doctrine that is often fact specific.

Adjudicatory orders are often enforced by civil sanctions such as cease and desist orders, forfeitures, product seizures, recalls, revocations suspensions of licenses and financial penalties. However, Congress must expressly delegate authority to impose punitive sanction to agencies in an enabling statute. Congress enacted the Alternative Dispute Resolution Act (1990, Suppl. 1996), in part as response to increased lawsuit against administrators in their personal capacity. There is indeed a dire need for Congress and the Executive arm of government to take another look at APA with a view to advancing its overall objective and reinventing our government for the challenges of modern time.

References

Administrative Dispute Resolution Act 5 U.S.C. § 571 (1990 & Supp. 1996).
Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. § 706 (1946).
Cann, Steven J. (2006). Administrative Law, (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
CBS Corp., et al. v. FCC, 535 F.3d 167 (Third Cir. 2008).
Fox, William F., Jr. (1992). Understanding Administrative Law, (2nd ed.). New York: Matthew Bender
Goldberg v. Kelly, 397 U.S. 254 (1970).
Goss v. Lopez, 419 U.S. 565 (1975).
Johnson, Carrie. (2008, September 29). No Grand Jury for Gonzales: Report to call for continued probe of U.S. attorneys’ firings [Electronic Version]. The Washington Post, Retrieved January 19, 2010, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/28/AR2008092801057.html

Oxenford, David. (2009, May 16). Janet Jackson Case Sent Back to Court of Appeals - Could There Be An Even Greater Impact on Broadcast Regulation? Broadcast Law Blog. Retrieved January 19, 2010, from http://www.broadcastlawblog.com/tags/fcc-indecency-fines/

Rosenbloom, David H. (2003). Administrative Law for Public Managers, Boulder, Co: Westview Press.
Ruggeri, Amanda. (2009, May 26). Obama Choice of Sotomayor is a Political Balancing Act: Sotomayor could prove to be a tricky target for Republicans [Electronic Version].U.S News & World Report. Retrieved January 19, 2010 from http://www.usnews.com/mobile/articles_mobile/obamas-choice-of-sotomayor-is-a-political-balancing-act/index.html

Stout, David. (2009, May 4). Lower Court Told to Revisit Ruling in Super Bowl Show [Electronic Version]. The New York Times. Retrieved January 19, 2010 from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/05/business/media/05fcc.html?_r=1

Werbach, Kevin. (2003, February 19). The Real Michael Powell: The FCC chairman is Al Gore in Republican clothing. MSN Slate Online Magazine. Retrieved January 19, 2010 from http://slate.msn.com/id/2078879/

Democracy made in Nigeria: Government vide Email and Facsimile by an incommunicado and Sick President

“The President can exercise his powers through the vice-president and
ministers while on his sick bed and that is what he has been doing. For example,
the Chief Justice of Nigeria wrote a letter to the President and copied me that
he would be retiring on December 31, that the President of the Court of Appeal
has just retired and that their replacements have not been screened by the
Senate. I sent the letter to the Principal Secretary to the President who
transmitted same to the President who approved it and sent it back to me.”

- Nigeria Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mr. Michael
Aondoakaa (SAN)

If the above quote beggars believe, be comforted that you are not alone. I bet many observers of Nigeria stunted political growth could not have imagined the latest meme from Aso rock. For the first time we have a sick president, who is purportedly ruling Nigeria vide email and facsimile from a hospital bed in Saudi Arabia. For weeks, President Umaru Yar'Adua has been hospitalized at King Faisal Intensive Care and Research Centre, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for what staffers say is a serious heart condition. With no clear successor, Nigeria is roiled by uncertainty and many of Nigeria prominent citizens have called for his resignation.

Curiously, Nigeria primarily law officer, Mr. Michael Aondoakaa, came out with the above shocker and then went further to enthused as follows: “The powers of the President are not exercised territorially. Yar’Adua can exercise his powers anywhere in the world, on the plane, at the meeting of the United Nations or even on his sick bed, as long as he is not incapacitated by the sickness.” While this statement may be an accurate restatement of the letters of the laws, at least as it relates to the exercise of the powers of president of Nigeria, this is not the applicable, given the current scenario.

We know for a fact, that when the president of Nigeria travels to the United Nations, or anywhere outside the shores of Nigeria it is for a short duration of time certain and we not only see him exercise the powers of presidency when he represents Nigeria, he manifestly do so vide public appearances when he meets with other head of state and sign binding treaties on behalf of Nigeria. Most of these events are well covered by the press, local and international and Nigerian of all hue could clearly see the president in action.

It is also interesting that Mr. Aondoakaa, clearly left open the answer to the questions most Nigerian wants the presidency to answer and that is: Is the president of Nigeria “incapacitated by the sickness” he is suffering from? How can Nigerian confirm the bare assertions of the president aide that the president is ail and hearty without any proof whatsoever in the form of doctor’s report and photographs of the president working from his hospital bed.

Nigeria’s current constitution mirrored in large part, the Constitution of the United States of America, and the two constitutions required that the president by a letter addressed to the National Assembly is required to inform the senate president of his intent to proceed on vacation, at which point the vice president shall act on behalf of the president.

What we have going on now in Aso rock is an amorphous arrangement where the president’s physical and health condition is only known to his private secretary and retinue of “hangers on.” The latter in turn tells the country that the president is healthy and that he is exercising his presidential powers on a sick bed in far away Saudi Arabia.

How can anyone prove to Nigerians that the letter transmitted to the president at Saudi Arabia was read by him? How are we sure that the subsequent response by the “president” was not the work of some private secretary at the hospital? How can anyone confirm that the president was of a sound mind when he responded to the said letter, given the very serious ailment the president suffers from?

In an open and transparent democracy the president health or indeed any other government official are never shrouded in secrecy. Everything is done in the open. We know for a fact that this is not the first time the president had had to visit the Emergency Room of Hospital. During the presidential election campaign, I recalled vividly, the efforts by the staff of the then presidential candidate, and now president Yar’Adua to reach the media with the information that he is alive. I know a colleague who was even allowed to place calls directly to Yar’adua at his hospital bed and who talked directly with the president to clear up the issue of his health. It was clear then that they needed the people’s vote to at least claim some legitimacy with the electoral perfidy they later performed on the Nigeria people. And now that they are in Aso rock the Nigerian people do not deserve to know who is ruling them? This to me is the message being sent by the ruling People’s Democratic party to Nigerians of all hue.

To demonstrate the stupidity of the current state of events, even militants in the oil-rich Niger Delta, whom Yar'Adua brought into peace talks only weeks ago, now worry they have no "good faith partner" to negotiate an end to attacks that have cut into Nigeria's oil-dependent economy. The president health is of a great concern to all Nigerians and should not be micro-managed by “leeches and sycophants” who are hell bent on using a “comatose” president to further their destructive agenda on Nigeria.

Already the rumor mill is bustling with tall tales of the shenanigans going on in the corridors of power. Some of which may or may not be grounded in reality, but as long as the president health remains an issue available only to an exclusive preserve of PDP top echelons, Nigerians should not keep quiet. We should continue to ask for answers and demand that the “junta” in government follows the rule of law and the constitution no matter how abase their conduct may be.

OF PDP, POLITICAL THUGS AND BRIGANDAGE GOVERNMENT

"Violence is taboo, for not only does it produce answers to please, but it lowers the standard of information." -Col. Robin Stephens on Churchill government refusal to torture German war prisoners

Nigerians are under siege by their own government. Millions of Nigerians are political prisoners in their own country. The “political jackals” ruling Nigeria have turned the whole country into a mass “concentration camp.” Their word is law and the rule of law meant nothing. Elections count for nothing! Accountability means how much they can steal from the coffers of government while the generality of the masses groan and grope in darkness. And now, a new twist by the new fangled “PDP-o-crazy,” it is called political “thuggerism”.

In the dying days of the second republic, one of the vaunted policies of the ruling elites then, particularly with Shagari’s National Party of Nigeria, is the use of thugs by politicians as entourage and cavalcade of motorcades filled with motor parks tout carrying cudgels, machetes and guns. The politicians of the second republic knew then that they are not governing the people by consent of the majority. It is as if they have reached a point when they realized the charade they called democracy no longer stands any credibility, albeit with their stolen mandate. They knew they lacked every modicum of legitimacy so they have to force the people to respect their power.

This is exactly where we are now, with our hard won democracy. We lost, they won! And now, they will not stop at the subjugation and subversion of democracy, they want to show us they are lords. Lords over our lives with a maniacal thirst and hunger for violence the worst of the Khmer Rouge goons will envy. Pick up any newspapers in Nigeria and you are bound to found a news report about an attack on Nigerian civilian masses that happens to cross paths with PDP politician’s motorcade and thugs.

In Ekiti, we read recently about how the governor of Ekiti state, his wife, “hangers on” and thugs personally arrested some journalist and bloggers monitoring the state during election and subjected them to slaps, violence and humiliation for daring to challenge their hold on power. And now, we read about the savage attack on the chairman of DHL, Otunba Ade Raheem Kolawole by the thug installed by PDP as chairman of Ilesa-West Local Government Council Area of Osun State. This by the way, is not the first time Mr. Fadipe had wantonly attacked the citizens, he sworn to defend and protect. And incase anyone thinks Fadipe is acting alone, just take a look at this excerpts from a news paper in Osun State, the “Osun Defender” on where Mr. Fadipe got his marching orders from:

“According to investigation conducted by OSUN DEFENDER on the alleged atrocities
by Fadipe during the week, the embattled politician was gallivanting around in
violence because he thought that Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola was enjoying his
hostility against his people. Premising his action on the defence of the
embattled governor who suffered a political defeat in Ijesaland during the last
year’s controversial governorship election in the state, Fadipe believed that
the state helmsman, and his deputy who hails from Ijesaland would always shield
him even in the face of raw violence against his people. Meanwhile, records of
bloody political violence in Ilesa have been traced to Fadipe; but managed to
sail through from the long arm of the law, because of the suspected authority
backing. Thinking that he had secured a license for the monopoly of violence,
the rattled politician then constituted himself into a jungle-law, visiting
unguarded anger on the career officers and council workers at any slight
disagreement.”

The message from PDP here is simple, “if you vote for us, we don’t care, we will win anyway. If you don’t vote for us, we will still win and then come after you with our thugs; we will installed that thug as your local government chairman or governor and then use them to unleash terror on your community.” Is this the democracy my friends and colleagues died for at Great Ife? Is this what we bargained for when we fought against military misrule?
The tale of bloodsheds and brigandage by PDP abounds all over Nigeria, from Anambra intra-party bloody duels to the war of cousins in Niger state, the fratricidal conflicts in Sokoto and of course, the upcoming presidential elections “tsunami”. It is evident that our dear country is in serious dire straits.
What with the economy at it’s lowest ebb since the days of SAP and austerity measures, an absentee presidency, a government runs by corrupt ex-governors and their retained counsel, who by the way, happens to be the attorney general of the federation, the ship of state of Nigeria is indeed heading for dangerous waters!
This is why I called on all well meaning, Nigerians at home and abroad to take one final stand for democracy during this upcoming presidential election. Yes, there will be violence, and yes the election will not count as the enemies of Nigeria enjoy the status quo! We can still make the difference by joining the pro-democracy forces within and outside Nigeria. If you are a Nigerian abroad, write a letter to your congressman and let him or her know that one out of every 4 black people is a Nigerian and if the next election is again allowed to be stolen by marauder in PDP, we may have a crisis of monumental proportion that will eclipse west and central Africa. The refugee crisis that may follow another Nigerian civil war will surely bankrupt the entire world economies. The whole world needs to act now, to forestall another Nigerian internecine civil war!
They need to insist on a transparent electoral commission whose chairman is nominated by the Chief Justice of the Federation. An Electoral commission with representatives from pro-democracy groups and other interest groups in Nigeria is imperative. The United States and other democratic country need to make it known to Aso rock that violence as a form of governing is antithetical to democracy. They need to insist that free and fair elections are prerequisite to democracy. The war on the Nigerian people by PDP must stop now!

Ibori’s “Smoking Gun” Against Ribadu: Pathetic, Sickening and Laughable

“Patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings” –Samuel Johnson

Sometimes you wonder if the so called Nigerian leaders ever think before they open their mouth. We learnt recently from the indicted former governor of Delta State, James Ibori that the erstwhile EFCC boss, Nuhu Ribadu approached him on a plot to unseat a certain “sick Yar’Adua” through the use of INEC! I mean INEC! The same INEC hand picked by PDP stalwart to do their bidding? Yes, indeed if it sounds incredulous, you are not dreaming, this is Ibori’s damning evidence against Ribadu.

The allegation, which is a red herring in itself, is not worth responding to, but like everything in Nigeria if you don’t you are damned. If I were Ribadu, I will simply put out a short sentence asking Ibori to simply appear in London and stop taking cover under an entrenched corrupt attorney general in Nigeria. If you have nothing to fear, face a real prosecution in London and not the contrived “make believe” currently orchestrated by your retained counsel in Federal Ministry of Justice and the “comatose” EFCC.

Here is the good thing about the allegation; it gives us a window of opportunity to the workings of Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s illegitimate government in Aso rock. I have often wondered why Yar’Adua buys into everything Ibori sells. I know the latter funded his campaign for presidency, but that should not make him a lap dog of Ibori. Well it’s clearer now. We know nothing scares Nigerian rulers, be it Abacha, IBB or Obasanjo like a plot to unseat them. Even if the allegations are contrived by a self seeking corrupt security chief or ex-governor as it is in this case. Nigerian insecure rulers will buy into it and hound the accused to the gates of hell.

We saw that playbook with Abacha and Al-Mustapha contrived plot against Diya and others. We saw that with Obasanjo’s allegations against Atiku. All you need to finish your enemies in Nigeria is to accuse them of trying to overthrow an illegitimate and totally insecure marauder in power at Aso rock. All hell will then break loose, the insecurities of the rulers in Aso rock is so real that they will stoop at anything to fight whoever challenges them. In fact they don’t care if the nation burns, as we witnessed through Abacha or if they upended the democracy that brought them to power as Obasanjo did with Nigeria hard won democracy. They see treason in everyone and everything. They are so insecure because they know they have no legitimacy.

There is however a more substantive part of Ibori’s ranting that needed to be addressed by Ribadu: the allegations that the latter requested funds for a certain EFCC football club and communicated with Ibori and a certain “businessman” who are being investigated by his organization. Ibori asserted that he had documentary evidence and should be made to produce them. One can only hope they are not the same “forged documentary” evidence he used to absolve himself of theft conviction at Abuja High Court. Ribadu should also be allowed to defend himself. It is clearly a conflict of interest if these allegations were true. But how do we know what the truths were. Ibori destroyed his own cause when he engaged in jejune allegations. We know he (Ibori) can get away with anything in Nigeria, since he currently controls the rein of justice through his hired gun in the Federal Ministry of Justice. We know he can’t lose with Michael Aondoakaa in charge, after all the latter hold his position due largely to Ibori.

It is interesting to read Ibori include our justice system in his nefarious plot. No one sane person will accuse Nigeria judiciary of the same corruption evident with our political class particularly in PDP. We know that our judiciary can be better managed by prompt and dedicated trial track, but the system works. It has a way of “weeding out” bad eggs, something we can’t say of PDP. In fact you get rewarded with higher post if you stole your way into an elective post in Nigeria, just ask Bode George, et al. The judiciary on the other hand swiftly dealt with purveyors of bad justice. Where are the Bassey Ikpemes and Ibrahim Auta of yesterday? Long gone with their name in infamy!

What Ibori confuses is that the judiciary does not commence criminal proceedings in Nigeria. The Federal Ministry of Justice does and who is in charge of the Federal Ministry of Justice? And as we learnt recently, Michael Aondoakaa’s law firm still have retainership from corrupt ex-governors, he is currently tasked with prosecuting.

Now, if Michael Aondoakaa’s Ministry of Justice, neglected to bring all the evidence against corrupt ex-governors before the court, you can’t blame the judiciary. In fact, we learnt recently that it took pressure from online bloggers before he reluctantly agreed to give fiat to EFCC to start prosecuting corrupt ex-governors. Here is where Ibori find comfort, he knows he can win in Nigeria and may spend the rest of his life in jail if he appears in London. The allegation that his wife and concubines whom he funneled stolen money through in London are behind bars is just an “argumentum ad misericodiam”- a mere appeal to pity. If you don’t want your third wife arrest and indicted, then don’t try and use her to launder stolen money for you. Period!

He also makes a ludicrous reference to Ribadu using Britain’s “colonial” justice system to prosecute him. First of all, I don’t think Ribadu has such powers. Secondly the Metropolitan Police department is not the same as Nigeria Police Force where personality and “who you know” determines who get prosecuted. With respect to the “colonial” connection: Is it now you realize Britain is our former colonial master? Why didn’t you check that fact when you are busy transfer Delta State statutory allocation to your British bank account? The last time I checked it was not Ribadu who kept millions of dollars in these “colonial banks” in Britain.
We know that Ibori may get away with the crimes he committed against the people of Delta state for a while, but the long arm of justice will eventually catch up with him one day, and that day will be for the people. As we say in Nigeria, “one day for the thief and another for the owner!”

Everything Cries out for Leadership in Nigeria

"One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency."-Arnold Glasgow

The dearth of leadership in every facet of the Nigerian life is approaching an epidemic proportion. It is like an entrenched cancerous growth, the more you sliced it, the more gangeranous it gets. The saddest truth is Nigerian of all hue knows what ails their country, but like the proverbial elephant in the room, no one is talking about it; or rather those that should talk are benefitting from the status quo, so they stay mum.

The truth is even if more people talk about the rudderlessness of our nation, what are we going to do about it? Nothing! We are currently being held hostage by a government we had no hand in electing or selecting. The People's Democratic Party (Nigeria's nemesis party) consist of men who like their forbears of the 1980s, do not need our legitimacy before they rule us. We are a nation in bondage, tormented by impostors in Abuja who had only their self interest as guiding principle.

This week, I took out my pen and did a checklist on every sector of the Nigerian life, to see the type of leadership we have in place, and I must tell you, it is quite embarrassing. On the economy, we have the head of our stock exchange deeply involved in the Transcorp mess. And by her own account she had no idea how the corporation she ran as the CEO wasted over 2 billion investor's fund. Not too long ago, the doctors in our teaching hospital went on strike; they were quickly followed by University professors and academic staff of Nigerian university. Our attorney general spend his time defending corrupt ex-governors, than he does standing up for the constitution. Our press, the singular light we had during the dark days of Shagari's misrule is currently comatose. Journalist are 3 pence per diem and they will sing your praise if the price is right.

Our judiciary which had always stand up for the masses are so overburdened with backlog of cases that an electoral petition against a sitting governor recently took 4 years before a final decision removing the "election rigger" was handed down by the Supreme court.

One area of the Nigerian life that had always been a beacon of hope and light is the Nigerian national team-the Super Eagle of Nigeria. Sadly, the leadership here too is wanting. We have all but lost world cup slot to Tunisia due largely to lack of visionary planning by competent leaders; even though we spend large amount of money on presidensitial task force on world cup qualifier. We have a football federation tasked with managing soccer in Nigeria, supervised by the ministry of sports, with the House and Senate oversight in tow; and our president thought it fit again to assemble a money wasting task force whose only contribution is to junket abroad on national dimes. And yet we still can't qualify for the mundial in South Africa! Sadly, no one is asking any questions, it is just business as usual in Abuja.

As long as money is changing hands nothing gets done. The ship of state in Nigeria is tottering on the verge of collapse and our Nero fiddles whilst Abuja burns. Afterall, who will tell "oga teacher" that he just lost his father. Election, that tested mode of accountability for politicians the world over, means nothing to current politicians stalking our lands. Like one of them campaigned recently in Ekiti, "if you vote or not, PDP will still win."

It was the Late Chief Ganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi who in his letter of rejection of Yar'adua's Greek gift reminded us of the sorry state of Nigeria in these immortal words:

Furthermore, since the President came to power on May 29, 2007, the masses of
our country have been groaning in unprecedented poverty as a result of lack of
direction, The directionlessness of the Federal Government has been
characterised by the following, amongst others: collapsed infrastructure, total
paralysis of the health sector at all levels, constant nationwide power failure
and the attendant negative effects on all sectors of the economy; pervasive
unemployment, thereby generating increased armed robbery cutting across all ages
of our people; debilitating homelessness, retrogressive educational programmes
and policies, which have made no Nigerian university to be ranked within the
first 500 universities in the world, and no effort is being made by the regime
to improve on the humiliating situation.Put simply, the Federal Government is a
total failure, worsened by lack of direction and leadership

We are indeed a nation in perpetual turmoil, bereft of visionary leaders, so join me in my prayer for leadership for our dear country:

GOD, give us men!
A time like this demands
Strong minds, great hearts,
true faith and ready hands;
Men whom the lust of office does not kill;
Men whom the spoils of office can not buy;
Men who possess opinions and a will;
Men who have honor;
men who will not lie;
Men who can stand before a demagogue
And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking!
Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog
In public duty, and in private thinking;
For while the rabble, with their thumb-worn creeds,
Their large professions and their little deeds,
Mingle in selfish strife, lo! Freedom weeps,
Wrong rules the land and waiting Justice sleeps.
-Josiah Gilbert Holland

The Perfidious Hollowness in Dele Momodu’s “Shame on Us” Africa Tour

“Flatterers are the worst kind of traitors, for they will strengthen thy imperfections, encourage thee in all evils, correct thee in nothing, but so shadow and paint thy follies and vices as thou shalt never, by their will, discover good from evil, or vice from virtue. - Sir Walter Raleigh
There is something pernicious in a columnist who devotes himself in blaming the people of Nigeria for the folly foisted on the polity by the same leaders he devotes his entire career praising and adulating. That columnist happened by the way to be This Day’s gypsy writer: Dele Momodu, a self confessed purveyor of junk journalism, someone whose claim to fame is etched in flattery of celebrities; from Shina Peters to M.KO. Abiola; from Dora Akunyili to Terry Wayas of this world.

One can safely conclude that Dele Momodu had never found a government official he can’t flatter, because he never found a Nigerian government official he cannot patronize. The sad state of journalism in Nigeria is such that some of our journalism has turned patronage into a profitable enterprise. First they will take a deliberate jibe at a celebrity or political office holder, excoriating him/her for a well deserved non performance in office. Once you do that, pronto the particular politician will come running to you for favors. You then load your subsequent write up/column with the usual pejoratives praising their supposed “sagacity”, something you have suddenly discovered after you met with him/her.

Meanwhile, the people these so called government official are supposed to serve continue to suffer with little or nothing to show as democracy dividends. This indeed is where the likes of Dele Momodu hurt not only their credibility but the very institution of journalism that brought them into prominence. We all know that in journalism, to be persuasive, you must be believable; to be believable, you must be credible; to be credible, you must be truthful.

In his latest article in This Day, Momodu, consistent with his latest itinerary which allows him to junket around Africa on behalf of a corporate behemoth like Globalcom Network, get into a rhapsodic state of effusive praise for the host country president. What is not lost on us his readers is that we invariably know that this is usually a hollow attempt to launder the image of that president because it has recently approved GlobalCom business license.

Most salient readers knows that every time Mr. Momodu travels to any African nation two things will invariably follows: An effusive praise of that country leadership; be it Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and now Benin Republic, followed by an invective laden, crocodile tears about the sorry state of Nigeria. His latest installment follows his most recent trip to Benin where he found Benin to be an Eldora do where Nigerian are running in drove to due to the misrule of his friends in power.

The irony apparently is lost on him as he devoted three paragraphs in the same column to an effusive praise on President Umaru Musa Yar’adua; for settling a dispute between a member of his cabinet, and the Executive Director of National Communication Commission. He concluded that Yar’adua is a good man, because the latter reads newspaper.

My first retort is to yell, “Yes you are damn right he reads newspaper! I bet he reads your columns filled with flattery. After all, “the art of flatterers is to take advantage of the foibles of the great, to foster their errors, and never to give advice which may annoy.” When you keep blaming the customs man at Seme’s border whilst you excused the corruptions of ministers and ex-governors why will he not read the garbage you spew every week!”

The one thing that jumps out at me from his latest piece is the amount of "arguments" constructed on things like "I am beginning to think” , “it would probably”, “I should be able..” , “We were forced to think..”, “It was my conclusion”, “you probably...", "I bet you...", "I'm sure you...", and the like. Assumption is piled on supposition, mixed with profanity, and sprinkled with pejorative, in an endless series of virtuoso displays of muddled thinking. No serious attempt to think through the policy permutations that led to the status quo on both sides of the border. No serious effort made to excoriate the authorities involved in the misrule going on in Nigeria. No attempt to challenge the re-branding crusade of his patron, Ms. Akunyili.

It is as if Momodu’s tortured logic bestrides the gargantuan facts like a colossus. Why would any serious governmental official take such write up seriously? An exercise in flattery superimposed with a contorted attempt to blame the masses for the wrongs of their leaders. Like Samuel Johnson famous quote: “"Men who stand in the highest ranks of society seldom hear of their faults; if by any accident an opprobrious clamor reaches their ears, flattery is always at hand to pour in her opiates, to quiet conviction and obtund remorse."

One can safely opine that the “shame on us” tour of Momodu is better directed exclusively at the “us” exemplified by Momodu’s and his cohorts in power. It is self evident that the mischief of flattery by the likes of Momodu’s perpetuates the corruption going on in Nigeria; as Edmund Burke rightly pointed out “Flattery corrupts both the receiver and the giver; and adulation is not of more service to the people than to kings.”

Of PDP, Ekiti State Electoral Fraud and the Snub from Obama

"In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way." -- Franklin Delano Roosevelt

When we warned the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) that stealing elections has consequences they never listened, and now they know. The price for stolen electoral mandate in the 21st century world is rising and you either choose to live as a pariah in the committee of nations or respect the will of the people. Any tyrants, be it, Iran or Nigeria that will not allowed the will of the people to triumph in a free and fair election should prepare itself for world opprobrium. The days when dictators use the East, West divide to prolong the subjugation of their people, a la Mobutu Sese Seko, Haile Mengistu and Jonas Savimbi is over!

The current occupants of Aso rock in Nigeria don’t seem to get this message. President Umaru Musa Yar’adua encouraged by his co-traducers in PDP, conspired to steal the electoral victory, the Ekiti people won for themselves at the polls through “mago mago” electoral fraud and he expects the world to take him and his fraudulent government seriously? Nah! It is not going to happened. We are no longer in the 1970s or ‘80s, if you want legitimacy and respect from the international community, then have respect for the will of the people, a will that should be freely expressed vide the ballot box.

I often laugh when I hear the “misfit-minister” of information, Dora Akunyili, talks about her new money making scheme, i.e. the re-branding of Nigeria image. Here is the truth; nothing can re-brand our image better than having a free and fair election. What part of free and fair election don’t they get? Electoral disputes is bound to happen, but an open and brazen stealing of an electoral victory in the presence of foreign observers will neither get us a seat at G8 summit nor G400, (if they ever expand the field)!

Just this week, the senate published the names of debtors of failed banks. The lists read like a compilation of who is who in PDP. They are not just debtors, by the way, they were directors of some of these failed banks and they used their top perch atop the banks to give out loans to themselves. In a sane and democratic country, everyone on that list would have been arrested and locked up in jail awaiting trial or put on electronic home monitoring before trial like Bernie Madoff. In Nigeria, they are celebrated, in actual fact, one of them, who once had his daughter served as minister under former president Olusegun Obasanjo informed the press that he owed no dime. He made no explanation as to how the bank he founded and managed went under. Here is the problem these folks looked at themselves as being above the law, and they are. Why wouldn’t they? The senate that is probing them, are themselves mired in corruption saga every 3 months.

There is an internecine war going on in Niger Delta, no one in government in Abuja, have any clue on what to do to nip it in the bud. They have fumbled and wobbled through an obvious crisis that they knew going in. This is what happened when you win a kangaroo election. Which of you readers can recall any statement by President Umaru Musa Yar’adua before his election on how to address the Niger Delta? Zilch! What was his campaign position on the Nigerian power problem? None, because the election that brought him to power was not really an election but a selection by the ex-president Obasanjo. He picked whoever he fancied and anoints him to be president. There were no serious campaigns. No debates, in fact as a matter of principle no PDP presidential candidate has ever attended nationally televised debates organized by government owned NTA. It is beneath them to campaign for office. They have the power and they can do whatever they want. Who are we mortals to challenge their murderous stranglehold on power?

This is where we are in Nigeria; many countries in Africa are moving on to the 21st century. No thanks to Obasanjo, Yar’adua and the behemoth called PDP we are back in the Stone Age. Democracy in Nigeria is a big joke to the politicians, if it were not, they wouldn’t have laugh in our faces with that Ekiti election. The only folks who still take democracy serious in Nigeria, are the suffering Nigerian masses, who still troop out on Election Day to exercise their vote, even though they know, PDP will still play “hanky panky” with their ballot

Now, the PDP government wants President Obama to add fillip to their stolen mandates by visiting them in Abuja. It is not going to happen. When the Washington post correspondent asked a Nigerian official about the Obama snub, his retort is what snubs? He then made reference to the recent visit by the president of Russia as comparable to Obama’s visit to Ghana. What a dot! Maybe he thought the world is still stuck in the cold war era. That game is so ‘70s! Perhaps maybe they should made do with President Medvedev, their new found friend. More so, when you consider the fact that Yar’adua and Medvedev looks like marriage made in heaven. They are both childishly weak impostors. Imposed on their respective country by their predecessors, whose anti-democratic credentials is uncanny to say the least. They both have the enviable record of stealing elections, sending their goons to invade and close down independent press offices. They are both surrounded by corrupt oligarchs with stolen wealth. That is a marriage made in hell!

Even though it looks like they won a victory when they stole the Ekiti gubernatorial election, the war is not over yet. Every stolen mandate is a further nail in the coffin of the impostors in Abuja. They will fall like Abacha before them. They will rue the day they stole the mandate of the people. The Nigerian people may be patient, but they are not docile. They understand that their country is under subjugation by perverse, corrupt and mindless oligarchs whose directive principle is their belly; and whose obligatory service is first and foremost to their bank accounts. The hand of justice may be short now; it will soon grow to catch up with their perfidy! What else can we say, thank you Obama for ignoring Aso rock. You did not snub the Nigerian people. You snubbed their corrupt and apoplectic regime in Abuja!