FOR the purpose of this article, two sermons catch my attention. Firstly, there is the Sermon On The Mount during which Christ gave mankind the Beatitudes. He declared, on the occasion, to his audience that: The poor would inherit the kingdom of God; mourners would be comforted; the meek would inherit the earth; and righteous people would achieve fulfillment.
Also, Christ propounded at this sermon that the merciful would be rewarded with abundant divine grace. He said that the pure in heart shall see God. In addition, he stated that peacemakers would be called children of God while those who are persecuted because of their divine righteousness would triumph over their adversaries.
Christ’s sermon on the mount was not empty talk-talk rhetorics. He meant every word of the sermon. Till date, all he said have continuously been fulfilled with divine rigour consistency and validity. But this cannot be said of our Sermon On Futajallon Hill in Nigeria to uphold the best practices of democracy, public accountability, good governance, transparency, patriotism and nationalism.
David Ugolor’s As Case Study
David Ugolor is the executive director of an NGO called ANEEJ. He was arrested unjustly on July 27, 2012 by the police for allegedly conspiring to murder his own bosom friend Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde on May 4, 2012. DIG Peter Gana of the Force Headquarters, Abuja who was specially assigned the responsibility of finding the killers of Oyerinde – the late Principal Private Secretary of Comrade Governor Oshiomhole of Edo State – decided to become a persecutor of David Ugolor unfortunately.
Obviously, DIG Peter Gana wasn’t working alone. Certain powerful Nigerian elites were aiding and abetting his narcissistic actions out of distaste for David Ugolor’s bold pronouncements on Nigeria’s failing public institutions, misgovernance, our cancerous transparency as well as porous accountability in the country. And, so, for 41 areary long days and nights David Ugolor was held by the police for a crime he didn’t commit in the worst inhuman condition imaginable in Benin and Abuja police cells.
Finally, reprieve came for him. On May 6, 2013 a court of competent jurisdiction discharged and acquitted him of having a hand in the murder of Oyerinde. Later in the same 2013, he won a judgement suit of N5m against the police and the attorney-general of the federation. A case of illegal and unconstitutional deprivation of his fundamental human rights was successfully argued in court by his brilliant lawyer Barrister Olayi-wola Afolabi.
Unfortunately, till date the police is yet to pay the N5m judgement debt to David Ugolor. This prompted his lawyer to an appeal court to compel the police to pay up the debt incurred about 20 months ago.
How you are!! Indeed, the police as an institution is your great friend and helper as they always sermonize from their Futajallon Hill. Yes, the police upholds the rule of law in Nigeria. In case, you want further proof of this truism come over to Edo State. Here, the police picked up Mr. Chibuike Edeh in Benin on March 13, 2015 for allegedly stealing N48,000 belonging to a guest of the hotel where he worked as a cleaner. But on the next day, the suspect was found dead in the morgue of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin with a tag marked unknown placed on him. Meanwhile, he hadn’t been granted bail. Investigations, meanwhile were still going on.
Ooops!! Can’t you see why you should agree with me that the police sermon upholding the rule of law and fighting crime is true?
INEC and Electoral Fraudsters
Also, INEC always warns that it has zero tolerance for electoral fraud. Good talk. However, INEC only talks the talk on electoral malfeasance not walk the talk. In 2011, for instance, about 800,070 persons were arrested for breaching its electoral rules but so far, only a meager 200 of them have been tried, convicted and sentenced.
Who is to blame for this oddity? It is difficult to say. To start with, INEC apparently should not be held responsible for the shoddy prosecution of electoral fraudsters after duely identifying and reporting them to the police. Secondly, it is not the duty of the police to try these offenders. Its mandate is to charge them to our congested courts where trial in most cases is stalled, miscarried and deconstructed by corrupt judges.
To avoid this scenario, the Mohammed Uwais panel called for the establishment of a specialized Electoral Offences Tribunal in Nigeria. But the federal government dithered on this advice. Nobody knows why it took this posture. Even then, one must not easily forget that a sizeable population of Nigerians don’t buy into the panel’s recommendation that Nigeria should set up a separate court to try electoral offenders. This is because afterall nothing works in our country as a result of our system failure that has serially crippled the efficiency and effectiveness of the ICPC, EFCC and the Industrial Arbitration Court. So, of what use will an Electoral Offences Tribunal be, therefore, if its anthropological siblings are malfunctioning?
Now, enter January 5, 2015. INEC invited all political parties to Abuja where they signed its code of conduct in a funeral blaze of cinematographic Klieghghts amidst hand pumping, back slapping and bear hugs. This code stipulates these no-go areas for political parties during its elections in 2015. Don’t use government properties and resources during campaigns. Separate politics and campaigns from governance. No inflammatory, inciting statements. Avoid bringing dangerous weapons to campaign venues.
End of sermon by INEC. Nothing much came out of the agreement entered into by the political parties with INEC. Abi I lie? No!!
Search For Peaceful Elections
The Federal Government warned in 2011 during the presidential election of that year that it would deal mercilessly with anyone disturbing the peace. Of course, Nigerians with discernment knew this was another of its sermons on futajallon hill. See, 943 persons were slaughtered like Sallah rams while properties worth N40.6 billions were damaged by irate rioters – in a post – 2011 election violence unprecedented in our history.
Once again, the police reneged on their responsibility to maintain law and order. Expectedly, they were physically on set only to dramatize their visible, passive presence rather than act as a pro-active and deterrent security agency. Similarly, despite all the peace accords signed by political parties in early 2015 decent Nigerians watched in horror as violence ruled the country. For instance, Nigeria Human Rights Commission report showed that 56 persons were killed during the campaigns for the 2015 general elections. Also, on March 28, 2015 when the president/national assembly elections were held Nigeria witnessed several pockets of hard violence. One of them occurred in Obagie Newosa Community in Edo State where Egie Osayande (36) was dubbed and stabbed to death by three hoodlums at Ward 1, Unit 11 in broad-day light.
Final Word
Nigeria today is largely a market talk shop of puerile sermonizers. Nearly everyone of us talks about our challenges but do nothing or little to address them. Hence, we are in a barbar’s wheel chair – all motion, no movement. Apparently, we seem to be waiting for the day a python will chew its food before we take practical, diligent steps to match our words with action instead of just sermonizing. What a pity!!! Well, my hope is that with Buhari’s coming we will now be able to walk the talk of our sermon of Futajallon Hill.