It’s a miracle Nigeria still exists 50 years after independence-Justice Belgore

What do you think of Nigeria 50 years after independence? Nigeria in the last 50 years has several fortunate circumstances as well as unfortunate circumstances. For those under 50, are more inclined to the unfortunate circumstances without taking their minds to the fortunate sides. The most fortunate sides are that the country, despite the unfortunate […]

What do you think of Nigeria 50 years after independence?

Nigeria in the last 50 years has several fortunate circumstances as well as unfortunate circumstances. For those under 50, are more inclined to the unfortunate circumstances without taking their minds to the fortunate sides. The most fortunate sides are that the country, despite the unfortunate incidences still remains one. We make a lot of noise and our detractors outside the country make a lot of noise that Nigeria will not be there but we shall be there. Those of us they call optimists, I don’t think we are wrong. At my age, I am 73 and by January, I will be 74 God willing. I have seen it all. I knew some of the early political parties; I mean the ones with nationwide followership.   
The country’s first unfortunate incident happened in the wee hours of January 15, 1966; when some group of army officers, people not above the rank of Major, sprang up and started killing. They didn’t have to kill to stage that coup. They came; they killed the prime minister, they killed the premier of the West; they killed the premier of the North. They also killed the minister of finance. The president of the country was out of the country on health reasons I was made to understand.
But if they had stopped at that, we would say it was symbolic they were killing politicians.  Some senior military officers were killed; probably they wanted to kill all those above the rank of colonel up. They killed the Brigade Commander, Maimalari, in Lagos, they killed Colonel Oneide; they killed Brigadier Ademulegun, Colonel Kur Muhammed, Colonel Largema, among others.
But even though some of these colonels were in Ikoyi hotel in Lagos, they were carefully chosen.  Because there were some other people of that rank who were around but they were not touched. Shamelessly, they dragged the bodies of these people with blood dripping from the second floor and took them to the army mess and dropped them under the sun and they were drinking their beer as if to say they have done something good for the country.
Tafawa Balewa, apart from the mud house he built when he was a teacher, he had no house in Bauchi. The one he tried to build in Kaduna, he donated it to Jama’atul Nasril Islam (JNI). Ahmadu Bello’s house was in Sokoto. Even at that time, it was not the best house in town. He had no bank account because he was collecting his salary and sharing it. These were the people dubbed corrupt.
Okotie Eboh was a businessman. He was best known as Festus Edah. I think it was in 1959 that he changed his name to Festus Okotie-Eboh. A very flamboyant man, a good speaker and manager of our money; up to now, nobody came up to say he stole a penny. That was what happened that day. It was a very red- letter day for Nigeria.
Unfortunately, what we heard was that the junior officers agreed nationwide to do it, but some   developed cold feet at the last minute and the whole thing looked to be sectional. On July 29, there was a counter coup. I believe, but on the hindsight, they set up General Aguiyi-Ironsi to take over on 17 January, 1966. But the way it happened, the council of ministers was cajoled. This was because they were ready to appoint one of them to act as prime minister.  They were still debating; the president was out of the country, the man acting as the president, the then senate president, Nwafor Orizu, seemed to be dragging his feet and Ironsi was there threatening that if he was not given the power, anything could happen.  So, they asked him to take over pending when there would be stability and presumably to conduct an election.
It was not quite three months after and again quite against his speech that no major changes would happen without consulting the people; how he would contact the people, he never spelt out. But he came out with a Decree No 34, abolishing the regions and re-introducing unitary government in Nigeria. That is to say, Nigeria was made up of groups of provinces: the 13 provinces in the North; the three or four in the West; four in the East and the civil service was unified.
I was a magistrate based then in Zaria; suddenly a Chief Registrar was brought outside the North to become a Chief Registrar in Zaria. So, many people where either transferred outside their regions, or simply retired. This led to a lot of disaffection. There were riots all over the North they called various names. It was a very unfortunate situation. There was turmoil. My registrar, staff and even my messenger were from other parts of the country and I had to protect them. I put them inside my bedroom and I was sleeping in my sitting room so that no harm could touch them.  I arranged for them to travel to their regions when things settled a bit by special flight from Zaria, called Aerodrome. It was a very bad day.
And our detractors outside the country were saying that there were killings all over the country: Northerners were being killed in Aba, Onitsha, Calabar, Port Harcourt and Enugu; which was not the case then. Of course, what they were expecting was retaliation which happened then in Kaduna, Zaria, Gusau, Funtua and Kano. There was turmoil all over the country. And it was the view of our detractors that the country would no longer exist. But the Almighty has always been kind to us.
In July 1966, there was a counter coup.  Unfortunately, Ironsi was killed. The then Governor of the West, Fajuyi was also killed. That was what brought Yakubu Gowon to power. And of course, the security situation was bad and there was a threat from the military Governor of the East, Ojukwu, that since Ironsi had been killed, Eastern Nigeria will break. A threat which he put into action in 1967, where he declared an independent republic called Biafra which subsequently led to the civil war. The war ended in 1970 with Gowon’s wise statement that there was no victor, no vanquished. The country again remained together.       
When you look at these things, the military regimes that came, particularly the Murtala regime promised that it will hand over power to civilians. If Gowon had fulfilled his promise to hand over in 1972, probably the country would have been wonderful. But with some people around, he couldn’t but Gowon is a very fine gentleman. But sometimes, people surround themselves with some people who prevent other people from giving them advice. I think that was what happened to Gowon. Gowon said it was not realistic to handover in 1972 but he never gave a date. He created a crisis of confidence.
So, Gowon got toppled in 1975. Murtala was not to live long. By January 1976, some officers, some people said were led by Dimka, others said led by others, ambushed Murtala in Ikoyi. This was because he refused to leave his house at No 6 Second Avenue, Ikoyi. He said he was not to live in Doddan Barracks but he walked there every morning and he was killed on the way.  The coup was aborted.
Then Obasanjo came in and promised to hand over. The promise was fully fulfilled in 1979. And Shehu Shagari came in. By December 31, 1983, Shagari was toppled by military men. That regime headed by Buhari was there and it was also toppled. Then, IBB came in; he was there for eight years. He conducted an elections ascertained to be fair, free and transparent. An accountant, who became a big businessman, MKO Abiola, was supposed to be the one elected. But the results were never announced. Maybe history will tell us who really annulled it. IBB claimed that he would assume responsibility of the annulment because he was the head of the regime that annulled the elections. The military met and IBB stepped out and Chief Ernest Shonekan came in as interim head. Abacha later took over. In the process of perpetuating himself in power, theAlmighty said his time was off and he left.
Abdulsalami Abubakar, who was never a minister or governor, was the most senior army officer; so he took over.  He conducted an election which brought Obasanjo for the second time to power. Some people said it was a military conspiracy but he discarded the title of General and assumed Chief Obasanjo. He had two terms and attempted to amend the constitution to get a third term. But the National Assembly said no and defended our constitution.

How do you assess the current democratic dispensation in the country?

Nigeria suffered eight years from 1999 to 2007 without having a vision. Before independence, we had visions: five-year development plan that would last almost 40 years. The eight five-year development plans were stopped by the military. Despite that, the military built this Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory; which was not there before them. They also built the Lagos –Ibadan dual carriage way. The second port in Lagos was built by the military. The port in Port Harcourt was built by the military. Many new airports in Port Harcourt, Calabar, Enugu, Ilorin, new Kaduna airport and extension of Kano airport, Abuja airport, Sokoto airport and Yola airport –all of them were built as a result of military intervention.
At the same time, the military killed what united Nigeria more than anything-the railway. Many places you now call Sabon Gari were products of the railway. Not that people were working in the railway but they were serving those people working in the railway. The railway was systematically killed. That was the greatest disaster of the military. There was nothing to replace it. And some towns grew out of railway- Minna, Kafanchan, Aba all grew with the railway. If they were there before they were just little villages.
Our problem is what the Almighty has made us. There are three areas of the world- Brazil, Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria; where the Almighty has endowed with a lot of good things. It includes large population, limitless resources some of which were not even yet discovered; very intelligent people, good soil, and good climate. If these countries are allowed to be stable, they will be the three most important countries on earth.  The greatest blessing to a black person on earth is Nigeria.
Nigeria is the largest black nation with 150 million people which can increase to 200 million in no time because there is no birth control. From Chad Basin, across the country to Lagos, you have very intelligent and hardworking people, plenty of water and good soil. There is hardly a state in Nigeria that has not got hardcore of granite which is a lot of money.  We have marble, uranium, columbite, iron-ore, name it. We don’t have to import anything if we are stable having milk and butter to feed the whole continent. That includes beef, mutton, chicken and so on.
But our detractors who are outside are aware of all this things. They are doing everything to disintegrate us. They said Nigeria will not pass 2008. The year has come and gone and we are still there.   They said Nigeria will no longer exist by 2015 and I assure you that we shall be there stronger. This is because this country can never disintegrate in peace, it will be bloodshed. They have been trying it.
You see, they would look for a minority ethnic group in one of the states; whereas even in that state, that ethnic group is a minority too. They looked for them and got them to start attacking people. I have multiple nephews and cousins who thought they would settle there in Jos.  But just one day, they woke up killing people. Even within the same state, because there are different ethnic groups they were attacking.
But what did we hear in the international media? They said christians went to kill lot of muslims! It was the news in their radio, television and so on. Now they are saying that the Fulani have come back and they are killing the people who are not Fulani. What they wanted to achieve when they started their propaganda that christians were killing muslims, the idea was that in Kano, and other heavily populated Muslim areas like Maiduguri, Ilorin, Gusau, Zaria, Birnin Kebbi, Bida and even in some parts of the west such as Ogbomosho, Ibadan, Oyo, Oshogbo, there would be attack on christians. But they may not be the little ethnic group that started the problems. Igbos, Gbagis, Ijaw, Nupe, Yoruba, Edo, Calabar, Efik would be killed. The next step would be retaliation by these people.        
While we are doing these, the so-called super powers are equally busy in some parts of the world killing women and children. How these places become security risks to their countries, we don’t know up till today. They would then come and occupy the Niger Delta under the guise of protecting their investments. By then also, some war lords must have emerged and they would be sending weapons to the hinterland and we would be killing each other in the next 30 to 35 years. That was how they wanted to destabilise the country. Luckily, we still have some very patriotic Nigerians who came together under the banner of Eminent Persons Forum. We moved round the country, consulted the traditional rulers and finally, we got it right. Our detractors were very disappointed.

A recent survey revealed that your constituency, the judiciary, is one of the country’s most corrupt institutions. What is really happening? 

Well, it is unfortunate. I would tell you one thing: there is no any reason why we should bring people outside the state to come and conduct election tribunals. If a judge is corrupt and you bring him from Calabar, from Borno, from Jos and take him to Kano, Bida and Adamawa, if he is corrupt, he is corrupt. Two, the judiciary has expanded unnecessarily. The Federal High Courts and Court of Appeals were not what was imagined at the beginning. To the extent that in some places, those judges they don’t like and believed were troublesome, were sent to the Court of Appeal.  Some were sent to the Federal High Court; to the extent that these places were expanded unnecessarily. And when you are expanding,   you are reducing standards.
When I joined the Court of Appeal, I was so happy and I was a chief judge. Some people were complaining that I was disgracing them because chief judges were going to the Supreme Court. I told them that I was not in a hurry and then I asked who told them that I wanted to go to the Supreme Court. If I would get there, I would get there. I was not in a hurry.
I was the first Nigerian chief judge of Plateau State. In March, 1977, I was appointed against my wish because I wanted to go to the Court of Appeal that was started there. My name featured among the justices of the Court of Appeal but the military government then, I was away to Mecca in November 1976 when this thing was announced, but they said they were not going to release me because they were going to appoint me as their chief judge. I said well, I would try it for two to three years and if the Court of Appeal feels I was a material to go there, then fine. But if it said no; then, I would leave the judiciary and find something to do outside the judiciary. It may be within the law.
So, by 1979, I was on a visit on an election call in Owerri when someone called me and said Alfa, what do you think of the Court of Appeal? I said it was fine. People said, how could the CJ of a state go to the Court of Appeal but I said what is wrong with that? In fact, some of the allowances I was receiving as a CJ I was not receiving at the Court of Appeal. But that didn’t worry me. It was the work that concerned me. I was posted to Enugu where I stayed for eight years, then to Benin, for one year. From Benin, I was appointed into the Supreme Court in 1986.
Now, the judiciary has been expanded unnecessarily to the extent that we are having conflicting judgements on the same facts and the same law. People linked this to corruption. But it could be due to ignorance. Some judges were caught during election panel in Akwa Ibom and one of them committed suicide. They were dismissed, one of them a lady from Plateau State. There was another who was not on that panel. He was in the Federal High Court. He was trying to influence those people who were dismissed and he was also dismissed.
Sometimes, people make noise. If someone loses, he believes that his opponent paid more. There are people who carry money around even when I was in the office. I used to tell them that the money that is mine is the one that I will keep in the bank. The money I will keep in the house and I would be afraid it would be stolen is not my money and I don’t need it. People regard money as the beginning and end of everything and that is why it gets them into trouble. You will die and leave money behind. If you do good, the Almighty will receive you well and if you do bad, well, the Almighty knows what to do with bad people.
One of my very good friends, Justice Kayode Eso, said there is corruption in the judiciary and some of the judges are coming out rich. I don’t have the facts of the matter, but I am hearing about it which means that there are some elements of truth about it. That is very unfortunate. That explains why it is wrong to take judges from Maiduguri, Kano and so on and take them to Abeokuta, Lagos and Enugu to be doing elections tribunal for one year, two years and so on.
In the First Republic, this didn’t exist. Election tribunal doesn’t mean that the tribunal judge must come from outside. Before independence and after independence, up to the time we staged a coup, whenever there was election, it was the judge in the constituency that handled the matter. Let us say there is constituency Kano Sabon Gari, it is the judge who is based there, he doesn’t need three other people to hear the petition. If there is dissatisfaction it will go on appeal. That is all. It will be quicker and transparent because they know the judge.
And if the judge knows this is my friend, relative or what have you, and then he recommends another judge to the Chief Justice of Nigeria to hear the case. The only thing is that the chief judge of the state will send the name of the resident judge to the Chief Justice of Nigeria to be appointed. If that is done, there would be no problem. There would be no petition lasting three years, four years.
We recommended this at the Presidential Advisory Council (PAC) but nothing has been done. We recommended it so that if the National Assembly amends the Electoral Act and it would be reflected in the constitution. It is certain that some judges are corrupt not only on election matters. This is because you will see some decisions and you keep wondering that is this a trained lawyer and he has become a judge and still giving these decisions.  It is true that some judges are lazy, I know that. They don’t work. Some of them, if they become chief judges they don’t sit; as if the administration is something spectacular. When I was the chief judge in Plateau, I sat. I received the same number of cases like my colleagues. But to say that you are chief judge and you don’t sit because the administrative work is too much is not acceptable. Why then do you accept the responsibility if it is too much? The primary duty is to be a judge.  I knew someone who was a judge and he was caught and sacked. I wonder now that he is among those making noise about corruption. Unfortunately, someone covered him and he was put in one committee and he is making a lot of noise.