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Ngige is not safe
By Reuben Abati
IN or out of power, Governor Chris Ngige of Anambra state is a marked man. Sooner or later, one way or the other, his enemies will get him and extract their pound of flesh. The Inspector-General of Police, respecting a court order, has restored Ngige's full complement of security aides which had been withdrawn on account of another court order which robbed the Governor of his status, and part of his entitlements. But can the police still save Ngige? We shall return to this question later, but it is worth remarking that the return of Ngige's police security is remarkable. The Inspector-General of Police has taken a purely legalistic position in the matter. Being a lawyer, he has chosen to follow only the Courts, with an obvious accent on the need for public institutions to respect the judiciary and the rule of law.
What cannot be overlooked nonetheless, is the untidy role that has been played by the judiciary in the Ngige case. Justice Stanley Nnaji who had given the ruling that led to the removal of the Governor's security aides, has since moved out of the noble profession, but not before his conduct brought the judiciary to ridicule. Justice Nnaji practically abandoned the case before him, and proceeded to offer judgement on a matter that was not before the court! This kind of conduct lowers the judiciary in the estimation of all right-thinking persons.
When the judiciary conducts itself as if it were a rubber stamp, or an extension of a political party, the cause of justice is subverted, the rule of law is imperilled, the role of the judiciary as impartial arbiter is inverted, and the propensity towards criminal conduct in society is inadvertently encouraged. The ruling of the Appeal Court in Enugu, has corrected the wrong committed by Justice Stanley Nnaji, but a relevant question is: why did it take so long? Could the matter not have been determined expeditiously? The failure to do this strengthens the pervasive assumption that the judiciary has become a tool in the hands of politicians, to be manipulated at will. Judges are supposed to be men of honour, beyond reproach. When the impression is created that the law courts are capable of speaking with both sides of the mouth, with equal potency, the ordinary man is likely to lose confidence in the justice administration process. In the past five years, the Nigerian judiciary has been subjected to many tests, dealing with its capacity as a bastion of the people's democracy, and on many occasions, it has failed. How sad.
Now that a court order has taken Ngige from having "limited security" which was granted after November 10, to "full security"; is he now free? Would the hoodlums who are after him suspend their aggression? In July 2003, armed policemen abducted him from office, under the leadership of one Raphael Ige, who first said he was "acting on orders from above", and later changed his story, only for him to be kicked out of the Police Force eventually. Ige died shortly afterwards, without the privilege of telling the truth about what exactly happened. On November 10, this year, those who had tried to abduct Ngige, and who had given him a year of respite returned in full force, and sacked the entire state, destroying public property in the process. Four days ago, they ambushed his convoy, and opened fire on him.
The Governor had to assume a crouching position in his bullet-proof Jeep. Two days later, the battle was taken to the Governor's lodge, sections of which were bombed. These criminals at work in Anambra state are not ghosts; they move about in the open, with undisguised contempt for law enforcement agencies. Their Godfather has been identified as one young man called Chris Uba, who has also been mischievously re-named Chris Ubasanjo on account of his closeness to President Obasanjo, and his open declaration that he is "untouchable". So far, there is no indication that Ngige's assailants would sheathe their swords. They are after him, in characteristic Mafia-style, treating him like a rat on death-row, subjecting him to psychological torture, before the contract on his head is delivered.
The matter is beyond the police. Even if a battalion of soldiers is dispatched to Awka to protect Ngige (would President Obasanjo even give such an order?), his powerful enemies would find other means of getting to him. They seem to have worked out an elaborate strategy with different approaches. They are determined to teach Ngige a lesson about honesty and the code of honour among thieves. The Police Commissioner in Anambra State, Felix Ogbaudu, and the police in general, have been targets of public condemnation since the Anambra crisis worsened. Between November 10 and 12, the police in Anambra State watched as hoodlums took control of the state. They became spectators. Felix Ogbaudu, who has been doing too much talking, instead of doing his job, says he has no regrets. He is also on record as having said that there was no attack on the Governor's convoy, or any attempt to assassinate him, this week. Ogbaudu was at the scene of the shooting, so was Senator Iyabo Anisulowo, and other Senators who had gone to Anambra state to assess the damage caused by the Anambra hoodlums.
Ogbaudu's version of the incident is different from that of the visitors. In fact, Senator Anisulowo was so rattled that she asked that if the Anambra officials still had anything to say to her and other members of her delegation, they should come and meet them in Enugu. When she was asked to spend the night in Awka, she refused: "Me? No, no no, I am going to Enugu", she retorted. "With this thing happening here, I should stay? If you have anything to say to us, come and say it here now because I can't sleep in Awka...We have come and we have seen. Seeing is believing. Your Excellency, kindly send us the financial estimates" . Can anyone blame Mrs. Anisulowo? "She hopped into her jeep and ordered the driver to speed off". Other persons at the scene of the incident also confirmed that there was an attempt on Ngige's convoy.
The Punch quotes the Anambra Commissioner for Special Duties as saying, "See, see, they are shooting at the Governor's convoy. This is the kind of thing we have been talking about, you can see it for yourselves". The visitors truly saw things for themselves, but they couldn't wait. Anambra has become a state which everyone is avoiding, or running away from. Despite Ogbaudu's denial, bombs exploded later at the Governor's lodge. Is he also denying this? If Ogbaudu does not know what to say he should learn to remain silent and let him stop boasting that he cannot be removed as Police Commissioner. Of interest, however is his commentary on a possible solution to the Anambra crisis. He says: "I make bold to say that if you don't address the fundamental issues involved in this crisis, you can as well be bringing commissioner of police on daily basis here, we shall merely be dancing in circles".
What are these fundamental issues? Felix Ogbaudu should tell us. Could it be that he is unable to do his job because of the same fundamental issues? Is this what has turned him into a spectator? Would the same fundamental issues not render the restoration of Ngige's security apparatus ineffectual? Ogbaudu is not speaking as a policeman, but as a politician. Anambra suffers from too much politics on all fronts.
Bu as to the meaning of "the fundamental issues" in the Police Commissioner's declaration, we may find a clue in President Obasanjo's comment in the last edition of "The President Explains" - a radio and television programme - wherein he averred that the Anambra crisis is a "great, great case of morality which people do not look at". Really? What morality? The President did not explain what he meant by this, but clearly he ought to know that the crisis in Anambra state is one of criminality - organised treason against the state. When the President reduces the abduction of a Governor, the burning and looting of government property, the detonation of bombs in the Government lodge, the ambush of the Governor's convoy, to issues of morality, he is inadvertently endorsing the madness in that state. He also betrays his bias.
The issue of morality indeed was raised at the beginning of the crisis when "General" Chris Uba and his group accused Ngige of breaching an oath under which several agreements were reached before he was taken from nowhere, propped up, funded, and rigged into office as Governor of Anambra State. While in office, he is required to make returns to the Godfather who made him Governor. Surely, the entire contract is immoral and scandalous. It is immoral for anyone seeking to be Governor to do so in this manner. It is indecent to subvert democracy so brazenly, and reduce politics to the standards of Onitsha market traders. But more than a year after, it is improper for the President to speak of morality. He should be talking about the rule of law, and his responsibility in ensuring that the rule of law prevails in Anambra state. When he talks about morality, is he saying that if Ngige had honoured the contract with his sponsor(s), if he had shown due deference to their anti-people pact, there would have been no problem? Is he saying that Ngige is a stupid man who should go back, and make peace with his enemies by honouring their demands? Is he, by inference, also saying that Chris Uba is in order?
By now, Governor Ngige should know that he is on his own. Each time there is a blow-out in Anambra, he rushes to Abuja. It is either he is humouring the powers-that-be in Abuja, or he is also playing some silly games of his own. He was quoted for example as asking members of the Senate Committee on Local Government and State Administration to appeal to the Federal Government to "classify the losses (in Anambra) as natural disaster so that the needed help for reconstruction can come quickly". Ngige should stop whimpering; the losses in Anambra are man-made. And if the issue is truly one of "great morality", it means he is being given only one option. That option leads in the direction of defeat. This is why he cannot afford to be excited that he now has "full security". If he feels like jubilating, let him tarry awhile and seek from President Obasanjo, a "full explanation" of what he means by "great, great case of morality". If he is not ready to do this, then he should suspend the histrionics and his populism, and prepare to take the battle to his enemies. The first law of survival is self-preservation. The second law is that you must be prepared to fight if the need be. The third law requires you to have your own weapons.
The Anambra situation is now at that point of no retreat. If Ngige gets carried away with the popular support he is enjoying, and refuses to take his destiny in his hands, his enemies would achieve their objective. He would become a martyr. People will write a number of articles in the papers lamenting the miscarriage of democracy, they will scream and protest. But in a matter of days, something else will happen, and the media would move on to the next story. And Ngige will become another footnote to this "great, great morality" crisis called Nigerian democracy.
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