Onnoghen et al, when honour is lacking
In haggling over who is right in the tragicomedy of the trial of Walter Onnoghen, honour is the missing link. Muhammed Adamu the new police chief has just served seven deputy police inspectors-general their retirement notices. They are the first batch of 17 expected to leave following Adamu’s appointment. By protocol, they should not be […]
In haggling over who is right in the tragicomedy of the trial of Walter Onnoghen, honour is the missing link. Muhammed Adamu the new police chief has just served seven deputy police inspectors-general their retirement notices. They are the first batch of 17 expected to leave following Adamu’s appointment. By protocol, they should not be saluting their subordinate who now presides over the affairs of the force. If you’re a student of good governance, you’ll argue that waiting to be pushed is an attribute of people without honour. However, if they are relatives, you’re forgiven for blaming Buhari for sending them into premature retirement.
Their incapacity to quit on their own volition is why the country is under global scrutiny today. Honourable people don’t wait to be pushed they read the handwriting on the wall and quit before they’re insulted with compulsory retirement. Now, that is not something Muhammadu Buhari comprehends having promised only one term. Who wants the boring life that turns people into letter writers or unsung heroes who show up only at Council of State meetings? Who doesn’t love it when the state picks the tab?
In other climes, when men are caught with their hands in the cookie jar, they do not wait to be called thief. They could blame the devil, witches and wizards, alcohol, or codeine syrup, but they leave with the tatters that is left of their honour. In Naija, such honour has no value in Wuse or any other market, who honour epp? So people hide behind selective amnesia, stay on and fight until the rags of honour they have becomes tatters.
Imagine a chief judge admitting that he ‘forgot’ to declare or amend his asset declaration papers?! It may not sound unfamiliar until you remember that Buhari swore he didn’t know about his initial arraignment! Buhari knows very little what he chooses not to know. So Onnoghen borrowed Buhari’s amnesia, claiming never to have heard the maxim – ignorantia juris non-excusat – ignorance of the law is not an excuse. They didn’t teach Latin maxims in the law school milord attended so don’t blame the guy.
When a chief executive, like the president shows proudly uses the binoculars of nepotism and contempt of persons who do not share his convictions, altruism becomes the casualty of his actions. He hasn’t denied rewarding two retired Supreme Court justices whose minority judgments tallied with his presidential aspiration with ambassadorial appointments. Indeed, he made allusions to that in a recent televised interview. However, it was satan, not Buhari that pushed Onnoghen to commit an actionable legal faux pas.
How do I know that? Well, the continued incarceration of Santa Dasuki in spite of court rulings is a vivid example. Dasuki played a role in the termination of Buhari’s coup. Buhari forgets anything Buhari wants to forget, but like the elephant, Buhari never forget those who work against his run of play. Its either incidence, coincidence or both that played with the devil and ‘remote control’ to work for the chief justice’s removal.
Learned people swear on the constitution and extant laws that the chief justice cannot be removed except on the advice of the judicial council and the approval of a majority vote in the sinnate. A little self-help or ‘remote control’ was needed to achieve the aim. The CCT made a Bassey Ikpeme midnight ruling to help Buhari appoint his right hand man per interim.
The general argument out there is not that Onnoghen is guilty. At the risk of being ruled sub judice on a matter in contest, Onnoghen by his own written admission is guilty in the court of common sense and perhaps in any court of law. The honorable thing would have been to resign. Such honour is not particularly valuable in our climes. It does not buy a sachet of Milo and Carnation.
If honour were to be a valuable commodity, the so-called acting CJN would have rejected attempts to swear him in. It was the honorable thing to do. Nobody ever gets killed in the villa for rejecting unlawful order. But our acting actor was in such a hurry to ingratiate himself to the man who selected him.
With each act of lawlessness by any arm, redemption hope dims for Naija. However, it is gladdening to see those responsible for our troubles (and their supporters) fighting each other. Grab popcorn and your favourite drink and let’s enjoy the series.