By Seyi Odewale
Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Matthew Kukah, yesterday said Nigeria witnessed the worst phase of corruption during the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.
He said this while delivering a keynote speech at the 60th call to bar anniversary celebration of legal icon, Aare Afe Babalola, in Ado Ekiti.
Kukah, who joined other eminent Nigerians, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, former Commonwealth Secretary, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, among others to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Babalola’s call to bar, thanked the founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD) for providing platforms for many Nigerians who were once hopeless to realise their dreams.
Other dignitaries at the occasion include the Ooni of Ife, Adeyeye Ogunwusi; and human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), amongst others.
The cleric noted that corruption did not start under Buhari, but that his administration amplified it morally and financially.
He said, “We have seen the worst phase of corruption in Nigeria. Femi Falana, my friend here, will speak about that because he has published a series of articles talking about what happened under the Buhari administration.
“They were not the ones who caused corruption, but I think in the last administration, we saw the ugliest phase of corruption whether in moral terms, financial terms, and other terms.”
Kukah lamented that Nigeria is sharing its sovereignty which is guaranteed in the constitution with bandits and other terrorists.
The clergyman expressed worry that Nigerians is being held hostage by people who threaten the very existence of our democracy and country.
Kukah, who described the judiciary as a victim the same way every other institution in the country was suffering, added that many Nigerians have lost faith in the judiciary,
“Nigeria should not yet assume that it is a democracy but instead assume that it is matching towards democracy, which means rebuilding Nigeria “after the kind of mess the last administration has left the country,” he said.
Kukah, however, said it was time to rebuild the country, adding that Nigerians have put the “ugly past” behind them, following the outcome of the 2023 general elections.
*Federal lawmakers’ huge pay unconstitutional, immoral, says Obasanjo
Also, former President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday challenged the legality, morally and constitutionally of National Assembly lawmakers fixing their wages.
Obasanjo described the self-determination of those who should uphold the constitution, but in his view, are ‘the ones who undermine it’.
The former President, who was delivering a speech at the event, said salary allocation for elected officials was the responsibility of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).
Unfortunately, he said, the lawmakers fixed salaries for themselves.
Under Paragraph 32(a-e) of Part I to the Third Schedule of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the commission is saddled with determining the remuneration appropriate for political officeholders, including legislators, among other functions.
“The point in Nigeria which I have seen and which I can attest to is most of the people who are supposed to be operationalising or managing and seeing the constitution and democracy move forward, they are the ones who undermine the constitution,” Obasanjo said.
“All elected people, by our constitution, their emolument is supposed to be fixed by the revenue mobilisation commission, but our lawmakers set that aside and they make laws and put any emolument for themselves.
“Even if that is constitutional, it is not moral and, of course, it is neither constitutional nor moral,” he added.
Obasanjo also complained that so many other aspects of the Nigerian Constitution such as the Federal Character were “absolutely ignored”, saying that the Federal Character Commission barely carried out its function.
The former President said that when the constitution is “continually breached like that”, the country’s democracy becomes one where anything goes.
He commended Babalola for his contributions to the development of the country, saying that he had made things he met in life better than he met them.
“You have met this world at a point, you have met your community at a point, you have met your family at a point and what you have done is that what you have met, you have made it better than what you have found,” Obasanjo said.
*Afe Babalola clocks 60 at Bar, warns serving judges against taking part in election tribunal cases
Meanwhile, the celebrant, Babalola, said sitting judges should not preside over election petitions tribunals.
The nonagenarian Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) said judges who preside over election tribunals should be separate from regular court judges to avoid the halt of cases unrelated to elections.
He suggested that retired judges and respectable SANs should constitute tribunal judges.
The legal luminary, who spoke at an event in Ado-Ekiti to mark his 60th anniversary at the Bar, said the judiciary needs a total overhaul.
“Our judiciary today needs a total overhaul and you cannot do it without a new constitution,” he said. “I have about three cases myself in respect of matters arising from the university.”
“For the past four years, these cases have been on. We have some judges here, the headquarters won’t be able to sit for many months because they are handling what they call election petitions.
“Election petitions should not be handled by sitting judges, they should be decided only by the committee set up consisting of senior advocates and retired judges in that case regular courts would not close down,” Babalola stated.
With the conduct of the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections as well as the March 18 governorship and state assemblies’ polls, many aggrieved contestants filed petitions at tribunals sitting in Abuja and in states, challenging the declarations by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
