in my last column entitled “Jonathan’s Hostage Negotiator Puts Him
in a Tight Corner” (3 September 2014), I argued that Australian hostage
negotiator Dr. Stephen Davis did Nigeria a favour by daring to call by
name two persons (whether or not the evidence against one seems
sketchy) alleged to be sponsors of Boko Haram, and by pointing to an
unnamed person purported to be the evil sect’s banker ensconced in
our Central Bank.
A premise of my argument was that Davis played his generally
acknowledged role of negotiator for the release of the over 200 Chibok
girls kidnapped by Boko Haram 154 days ago on behalf of the federal
government. But Davis, it emerges, was a freelancer. It is unclear to
me if Davis, a man of the cloth, intended to mislead the world or was
merely unable to resist a bit of self-inflation once faced with television
cameras, but no matter. It seems clear, nonetheless, that Davis has
had an informal but close relationship with the federal government
dating back to his role as a hostage negotiator in the Niger Delta when
General Obasanjo was president. My argument does not depend on Davis' true status. His prime
suspect, the untouchable former governor of Borno State, Alhaji Ali
Modu Sheriff, remains, despite his staunch denials and the presidential
protection he currently enjoys, under the darkest cloud of suspicion.
In any case, I did allow enough room for doubt up to the possibility
that Davis could be a “rabble rouser,” insisting only that President
Jonathan put personal interest and petty party politics aside to move
decisively against anyone regarding whom a prima facie case of aiding
and abetting the terrorist group threatening to destroy Nigeria can be
established. By the evidence that has filtered into the public domain, a
prima facie case against Sheriff can be made. This is what gives Femi
Falana the confidence to beg Sheriff to sue him for defamation. And to
threaten to seek an order of mandamus to compel Jonathan, through
his Attorney-General, to act or, failing to act, allow him to initiate
proceedings, thereby separating fact from fiction to vindicate or
convict Sheriff.
But far from invoking the law, Jonathan contrived to be seen with
Sheriff holding bilateral talks with the president of another country,
General Idriss Déby of Chad! Without any foreknowledge on the
president’s part, we are told, Sheriff appeared at the airport in
N’Djamena to welcome his president to another country and to later on
share his jolly company in the same room with the host.
How well this speaks of our protocol and intelligence services that
they do not vet the list of persons who would be in close contact with
our president, especially in a foreign land! We know that to this
government, everyone who is not a member or cheerleader of the
shameless political hucksters called Transformation Ambassadors of
Nigeria — yes, those who say Jonathan is a co-equal of Ghandi,
Mandela and Martin Luther King — and Bring Back Jonathan 2015 is an
enemy.
You know, the likes of those who were bribed with pure water, a luxury
not to be found in Otuoke, to protest their further pauperisation
through the withdrawal of a corruption subsidy, deceptively named fuel
subsidy, in January 2012. Or who believe that no president can fight a
war against corruption if he doesn’t give a damn about personal
example through the public declaration of his assets. Or that it
smacks of moral bankruptcy to pardon a convicted former governor
when the wound of his thievery is still open and bleeding. But with
friends like Sheriff and Déby, it is clear why those I have just
described must be enemies.
But watch out, my president! First, it would seem you are your own
worst enemy for always acting contrary to your best interest by
scorning the general good. Second, those you call your friends are,
really, your mortal enemies. See how your latest bosom friend, Sheriff,
connived — since you had no knowledge of it — with your brother
president in Chad to embarrass you! Perhaps you are not
embarrassed? That would be yours and Nigeria’s great pity.
Why Davis still has you in a tight corner and Boko Haram, so far, is
winning the war against Nigeria. Sir, you must do better than tell us
that Sheriff did not travel with you to N’Djamena. The point is that you
did not protest his presence, shockingly failing to see the moral
implication of having him within arm’s length at this very time. If you
will not have Sheriff prosecuted, you are obliged at the very least to
tell him to go and clear his name. And that until then you would not
be seen in his company.
For the trouble, sir, is that as with Sheriff, so with many a minister,
governor or close associate who has been accused of serious wrong-
wrongdoing, even of crime. Thus, one might say that with you integrity
comes with a bad reputation.
That your best political friends are precisely those under suspicion,
the more foreboding the cumulus cloud of suspicion the better.
Making me wonder if Sheriff, like Mr Ayodele Fayose and Senator
Iyiola Omisore, will not emerge as your party’s governorship candidate
in Borno State before long. A moral black hole threatens your
government and my worry is that you don’t give a damn about that
either.
omoliho@gmail.com
in a Tight Corner” (3 September 2014), I argued that Australian hostage
negotiator Dr. Stephen Davis did Nigeria a favour by daring to call by
name two persons (whether or not the evidence against one seems
sketchy) alleged to be sponsors of Boko Haram, and by pointing to an
unnamed person purported to be the evil sect’s banker ensconced in
our Central Bank.
A premise of my argument was that Davis played his generally
acknowledged role of negotiator for the release of the over 200 Chibok
girls kidnapped by Boko Haram 154 days ago on behalf of the federal
government. But Davis, it emerges, was a freelancer. It is unclear to
me if Davis, a man of the cloth, intended to mislead the world or was
merely unable to resist a bit of self-inflation once faced with television
cameras, but no matter. It seems clear, nonetheless, that Davis has
had an informal but close relationship with the federal government
dating back to his role as a hostage negotiator in the Niger Delta when
General Obasanjo was president. My argument does not depend on Davis' true status. His prime
suspect, the untouchable former governor of Borno State, Alhaji Ali
Modu Sheriff, remains, despite his staunch denials and the presidential
protection he currently enjoys, under the darkest cloud of suspicion.
In any case, I did allow enough room for doubt up to the possibility
that Davis could be a “rabble rouser,” insisting only that President
Jonathan put personal interest and petty party politics aside to move
decisively against anyone regarding whom a prima facie case of aiding
and abetting the terrorist group threatening to destroy Nigeria can be
established. By the evidence that has filtered into the public domain, a
prima facie case against Sheriff can be made. This is what gives Femi
Falana the confidence to beg Sheriff to sue him for defamation. And to
threaten to seek an order of mandamus to compel Jonathan, through
his Attorney-General, to act or, failing to act, allow him to initiate
proceedings, thereby separating fact from fiction to vindicate or
convict Sheriff.
But far from invoking the law, Jonathan contrived to be seen with
Sheriff holding bilateral talks with the president of another country,
General Idriss Déby of Chad! Without any foreknowledge on the
president’s part, we are told, Sheriff appeared at the airport in
N’Djamena to welcome his president to another country and to later on
share his jolly company in the same room with the host.
How well this speaks of our protocol and intelligence services that
they do not vet the list of persons who would be in close contact with
our president, especially in a foreign land! We know that to this
government, everyone who is not a member or cheerleader of the
shameless political hucksters called Transformation Ambassadors of
Nigeria — yes, those who say Jonathan is a co-equal of Ghandi,
Mandela and Martin Luther King — and Bring Back Jonathan 2015 is an
enemy.
You know, the likes of those who were bribed with pure water, a luxury
not to be found in Otuoke, to protest their further pauperisation
through the withdrawal of a corruption subsidy, deceptively named fuel
subsidy, in January 2012. Or who believe that no president can fight a
war against corruption if he doesn’t give a damn about personal
example through the public declaration of his assets. Or that it
smacks of moral bankruptcy to pardon a convicted former governor
when the wound of his thievery is still open and bleeding. But with
friends like Sheriff and Déby, it is clear why those I have just
described must be enemies.
But watch out, my president! First, it would seem you are your own
worst enemy for always acting contrary to your best interest by
scorning the general good. Second, those you call your friends are,
really, your mortal enemies. See how your latest bosom friend, Sheriff,
connived — since you had no knowledge of it — with your brother
president in Chad to embarrass you! Perhaps you are not
embarrassed? That would be yours and Nigeria’s great pity.
Why Davis still has you in a tight corner and Boko Haram, so far, is
winning the war against Nigeria. Sir, you must do better than tell us
that Sheriff did not travel with you to N’Djamena. The point is that you
did not protest his presence, shockingly failing to see the moral
implication of having him within arm’s length at this very time. If you
will not have Sheriff prosecuted, you are obliged at the very least to
tell him to go and clear his name. And that until then you would not
be seen in his company.
For the trouble, sir, is that as with Sheriff, so with many a minister,
governor or close associate who has been accused of serious wrong-
wrongdoing, even of crime. Thus, one might say that with you integrity
comes with a bad reputation.
That your best political friends are precisely those under suspicion,
the more foreboding the cumulus cloud of suspicion the better.
Making me wonder if Sheriff, like Mr Ayodele Fayose and Senator
Iyiola Omisore, will not emerge as your party’s governorship candidate
in Borno State before long. A moral black hole threatens your
government and my worry is that you don’t give a damn about that
either.
omoliho@gmail.com
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