Wanted: Innocence Project for Misdeameant

I remember distinctly my "Damascus road" experience. Not because there was a "shining light" from heaven on my path but because of a rude shock and awakening I had. It was Christmas time and I had gone along with other members from my church to feed and provide warm clothing for the homeless at Catholic Charities’ homeless shelter in Spokane, Washington. As we walked into the entrance to the dining hall, a notice board on the wall caught my eye. As I drew closer, my mouth went ajar. The piece of paper glued to the board contained the list of the homeless folks who died in my city that year. Out of the dozen people on the list, I had represented four or five of them in one form or another.

When I inquired the cause of death for one of them, an individual I believed I got out of jail on numerous occasions by pre-trial motion victory, outright victory at trial, or sometimes with credit for time served guilty plea, I broke down and wept when they told me that he died of complications from frost bite and a cancerous liver exacerbated by Korsakoff alcohol-induced dementia. The saddest part for me is that I knew about his serious health concerns months before his death, as he usually brought to me the paperwork from his numerous emergency room visits. It was on one of those papers I learned more about Korsakoff syndrome, but I didn’t do anything about it. I told him to go see a doctor. His response then was that when he needed to see a doctor he’d go to the ER as he has no primary care physician. His ER papers clearly stated that Korsakoff syndrome is a chronic memory disorder caused by a severe deficiency of thiamine (vitamin B-1) and that Korsakoff syndrome is most commonly caused by alcohol misuse, but certain other conditions also can cause the syndrome. 

Unlike now, there was no Affordable Care Act, and he had no health insurance. He only visited the hospital emergency room when he was seriously sick. Numerous times he would tell me he wanted to attend alcohol treatment, but he couldn't afford it; and no insurance covered an addiction recovery program at that time. So I fought tooth and nail to make sure no treatment conditions were imposed on his probation. When the court did, despite my several protestations,and he came back on probation, I reminded the court he could not afford to pay for it, so I got the least punitive sanctions, 30 days credit for time served instead of the maximum 90 days for asimple misdemeanor.

To be continued

Wanted: Innocence Project for Misdemeanor Offenders

Wanted: Innocence Project for Misdemeanor Offenders

The success of the Innocence Project in exonerating people on death row and those serving life sentences is well-known. Prison wardens often say they fill more requests for stationery by prisoners to write to the Innocence Project than any other commissary request. The reputation of the project is well-earned. From the moment the project won the first DNAexoneration in 1989, the organization has spread its gospel to 37 other states where 215 African Americans, 105 Caucasians, 25 Latinos, and two Asian Americans have regained their freedom. My call in this piece is a demand for similar freedom for those serving life sentences in our county and municipal jails in increments of thirty days or ninety days at a time.

I am a public defender that takes special pride in winning cases at trial. I love trials! Did I say I love trials? I meant the ones I win! It's why I went to law school. I enjoy crushing my opponent, even when I get bruises (losses) here and there. I assume it's due to the fact that my clients did not tell me the whole truth or the jurors were biased. It is never my fault. Call it hubris, ego, or chutzpah, I am guilty as charged. When I go to trial I wear the white hat. I am the only one with that hat. I fight for freedom for my client. It's war to me. I know my client’s freedom totally depends on me. I am the only thing standing between them and the governmental machinery set in motion when the 911 call is made or when the officer informs my client he cannot leave the scene of the incident.

This is where I was six years ago, after 15 years of misdemeanor criminal practice. I had won some, and lost some; I was literally having the time of my life. Yes, I don't get paid much and I have a huge caseload, but at least I thought of myself as the last frontier for freedom for the masses and the hoi polloi from “the pernicious government prosecutors who are all out to persecute, but not prosecute, my clients.”

To be continued

Just Asking Series: Did Jonathan Had the Mo Ibrahim Prize in mind when he handed over voluntarily?

Here is one in my "Just Asking Series": Did Goodluck Ebele Jonathan had the Mo Ibrahim Prize in mind as a retirement prize when he handed over power?
I am just asking but it seems his aide are so taken aback that he didn't get the prize.
They shouldn't because the loot they took out of Nigeria should suffice for them...just saying

The Smoking Gun for that Fantastically Corrupt Tag is in Local Govt Fraudulent Judgment

When Britain’s prime minister, David Cameron, was overheard telling Queen Elizabeth II that Afghanistan and Nigeria were “fantastically corrupt countries, “and possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world,” the outraged by many Nigerian was deafening. The only person that was not surprised by the allegation was Nigeria’s own president, Muhammadu Buhari, who said he is not asking for apology from Cameron but a return of looted asset. Thanks to an exclusive investigative report by Saharareporters we now know why Buhari countermanded his press officer in admitting the allegation.

Saharareporters month long report on two decidedly fraudulent court judgments out of Justice AFA Ademola, Abuja Federal High courtroom is nothing more than a smoking gun for that fantastically corrupt tag. And it tarred whatever credibility Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Mohammed Adoke may have had. The scheme was fantastically concocted and fantastically orchestrated to divert the sum of $1.6 billion meant for the 774 local government council to private account, some of whom are senior advocates of Nigeria.

This perfidious scheme is further proof of widespread malfeasance of the Goodwill Ebele Jonathan’s misrule and further tarred his regime whatever goodwill he might have obtained through successful transition. Some have argued that we may never have known that such corruption existed in GEJ government if he did not hand over government peacefully but my retort to that is simple: why give him credit for something he is constitutionally mandated to do. What sort of mindset makes us turn a guy that presided over the massive theft of our national treasury to an hero just because he decided to honor the will of Nigerian electorates in a free and fair election he lost?

What still baffles me is the stone cold silence of the Nigerian Bar Association to the graft of his members indicted by the report. Not only did Adoke by passed the Federal Executive Council through his own personal fiat, Okonjo-Iweala actually authorized the payment of consultants who were never parties to the suit, while the local government who should have been beneficiaries were left holding an empty bag with zero dime! The compromise and filthy stench written all over this greed reaches to high heavens.

The last question is why did the local government never appeal the suit? Did they even know about the action? Are they complicit? Did the loot go round in “Ghana must go” bags typical of such misdeeds? All of these questions we will find out if the Buhari’s government muster the will to pursue this investigation. As for us in diaspora, it is time we challenge all the institutions abroad celebrating the empty achievements of Okonjo-Iweala, while ignoring her graft and complicity.

This fraudulent scheme should never be buried, many local governments in Nigeria could not pay their staff salaries, and many could not pick up garbage anymore. We need to form alliance with civil society to hire honest attorneys who will take this up on behalf of the citizens of our country. We should mobilize to force Nigeria Bar Association and the Legal Practitioner Privileges Committee to account for the misdeeds of its members. There has to be accountability, at the minimum, Justice Ademola must be disrobed and the legal practitioners who obtained payment fraudulently should be debarred and prosecuted. Otherwise we will remain a fantastically corrupt nation.

David Cameron Calls Nigeria Corrupt, and Its President Agrees

LONDON — It was a bracingly honest assessment, but the timing could not have been more embarrassing: Britain’s prime minister, David Cameron, was overheard telling Queen Elizabeth II that Afghanistan and Nigeria were “fantastically corrupt countries,” and “possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world.”

He made the comments at a Buckingham Palace party on Tuesday, in advance of a summit meeting in Britain on the topic of corruption, and they created considerable awkwardness. (It was coincidentally the same party at which the queen was overheard complaining about rude behavior by Chinese officials during a state visit in October.)

President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria said through a spokesman that he was “deeply shocked and embarrassed” by Mr. Cameron’s remarks — but he did not rebut them.

Asked if Nigeria was “fantastically corrupt,” Mr. Buhari responded: “Yes.”

Mr. Buhari, who has devoted himself to rooting out graft in Africa’s largest economy, added, “I am not going to demand any apology from anybody.”

He then turned the tables, in a sense, on the British, asking for their help in securing the “return of assets” that were taken out of Nigeria by corrupt officials and business people and are now held in British banks.

Nigeria was ranked 136th, and Afghanistan 166th, out of 167 countries in Transparency International’s most recent Corruption Perceptions Index.

Mr. Buhari’s anticorruption campaign in Nigeria escalated last fall with the arrests of Diezani Alison-Madueke, a former oil minister, and Olajide Omokore, the chairman of a Nigerian oil company. A former defense minister, Bello Haliru Mohammed, was charged in January with corruption.

Plummeting oil prices have set off an economic unraveling in Nigeria, one of the world’s top oil producers, and the collective anger of a fed-up nation has poured out.

Afghanistan, a poor and war-racked country, has its own problems. It generates 90 percent of the world’s heroin, and the government and insurgents have battled each other for the profits from the drug trade amid recent Taliban advances and out-of-control corruption.

Mr. Cameron — whose main political worry is a vote scheduled for June 23 on whether Britain will remain in the European Union — tried to smooth over the gaffe on Wednesday. Without backtracking, he said Afghanistan and Nigeria had taken “remarkable steps forward” to counter corruption, and praised their leaders for “battling hard” to address the problem.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/12/world/europe/david-cameron-calls-nigeria-corrupt-and-its-president-agrees.html

When Corruption Inc. Fights Back

"When you fight corruption, it fights back"- Nuhu Ribadu

The ominous title of John Campbell blogpost at the American Council of Foreign Relations website on January 20, 2016 was apt "Corruption fights back in Nigeria". At the time, some Nigerians commented  glibly that the write up is too simplistic and that Buhari's fight against corruption is selectively targeted at the opposition party. Fast forward four months later, even the blind could see that any attempt to fight corruption in Nigeria must contend with a virulent fight back by Nigeria Corruption Industrial complex, also known as Nigeria Corruption Inc (NCI).

In Nigeria, the endemic corruption in our body politic is not only deliberate and purposeful but deadly when it fights back. It is a corporation with huge arsenals in its armory and a "for profit" enterprise (I meant parasite). The hydra headed monster has several phalanges it can call up in its fight back. For instance, when cornered NCI could always rely on the retinue of Senior Advocate of Nigeria some of whom are permanently on its pay roll. If that fails, they could notch it up a bit, by summoning their Rolodex of retired, tainted but powerful justices also known as "legal luminaries". These are justices who retired as civil servants but today owns oil blocs and billions of dollars stashed away in Seychelles Islands.

How are they deployed? Check out the communique issued recently by some "legal giants" who met at a center in Lagos to pilloried the Supreme Court decision on Saraki's CCT trial. These "legal giants" and "leading legal luminaries" to quote Vanguard newspaper, wants CCT tribunal chairman, Danladi Umar, to resign to ensure fairness in the matter. Their conclusion is neither grounded in law or facts, in actual fact, one could argue that they stood facts on its head when they claim that Umar is facing threat of prosecution. Danladi Umar, like every Nigerian who dare to fight corruption had a petition filed against him (by the way, this is another modus operandi of NCI, when cornered they cried "tu quoqe"- what about you!). The petition was first investigated by the Goodwill Jonathan administration and summarily dismissed. It was again refilled recently and dully investigated and dismissed by EFCC. There is no doubt that our "legal luminaries" care less about fairness or the constitution but rather to do the bidding of those who strut them out to defend the indefensible.

There is however more arsenals in the armory of NCI, if legal luminaries could not do it, they can always turn to law makers, who can be called upon to abandon their duties at the National Assembly and march in lockstep to any tribunal for solidarity during trial of any member of NCI shareholders. It doesn't matter if the nation's task or budget is delayed, corruption fight back is more important than law making for NCI. They don't care!

Perhaps, the most perfidious of NCI shenanigans in their corruption fights back gimmick is the "rent a crowd" scheme. Like the youth earnestly ask for Abacha crowd of yore, NCI can always round up hungry masses who for a fee can be made to carry placards proclaiming the innocence of any accused corrupt officials. They will of course follow up with "journalist for hire" who will help write sponsored slanted stories in major newspapers.

When you look at all of their gimmicky moves, one could pessimistically concludes that there is no hope for Nigeria, but I beg to disagree. In fact, their desperation is a sign of their end. Gone are the days when a slanted story in Lagos/Ibadan/Kaduna/Enugu press will bury reform efforts in Nigeria. Now, they have to contend with hundreds of bloggers and the indefatigable Saharareporters. Folks who will risk life and limb to get out the stories of corruption online before the muezzin call in Nigeria. The real heroes however are those judges, who like Ceasar's wife remains above board and refuse to compromise at the danger of losing their promotion, like the judge who dismissed Obanikoro's lawsuits against Punch and saharareporters. Others are those brave protesters in Abuja who refuse to look at every news stories from Nigeria from an ethnic prism. Therein lies our hope.

Sent from my iPa

Boko Haram Falls Victim to a Food Crisis It Created

"Ti ounje ba ti ku ro ni inu ise, ise bu se." - Yoruba adage (literally translated as "when you divorce hunger from lack,you reduced poverty")

When I read the above caption news story on the New York Times website, I went through several emotions, at first I was nonplussed and then I was elated which quickly turned into a sad sobbing state. The truth of the matter is that the entire story will ordinarily sound comical until you think of the human cost of the dastardly acts of Boko Haram and the harm done by these callous fundamentalist.

Without much ado, below is the story culled from New York Times 3/6/2016:

MORA, Cameroon — At first, the attack had all the hallmarks of a typical Boko Haram assault. Armed fighters stormed a town on the border with Nigeria, shooting every man they saw. But this time, instead of burning homes and abductinghostages, the fighters gathered cows, goats and any kind of food they could round up, then fled with it all. Boko Haram the Islamist extremist group terrorizing this part of the world, is on the hunt — for food.
After rampaging across the region for years, forcing more than two million people to flee their homes and farms, Boko Haram appears to be falling victim to a major food crisis of its own creation. Farmers have fled, leaving behind fallow fields. Herdsmen have rerouted cattle drives to avoid the violence. Throughout the region, entire villages have emptied, leaving a string of ghost towns with few people for Boko Haram to dominate — and little for the group to plunder. 
“They need food. They need to eat,” Midjiyawa Bakari, the governor of the Far North region of Cameroon, said of Boko Haram. “They’re stealing everything.”
Across parts of northeastern Nigeria and border regions like the Far North, trade has come to a halt and tens of thousands of people are on the brink of famine, United Nations officials say. Markets have shut down because vendors have nothing to sell, and even if they did, many buyers have been scared off by the suicide bombers Boko Haram sends into crowds."
To read more go to http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/05/world/africa/boko-haram-food-crisis.html