By O. Busayo Mfr
” You cannot say you are fighting your enemies by shooting yourself “- O.busayo mfr
Let me say it here without mincing words. With my current age, and with the age of General Muhammadu Buhari when he ruled this country as a head of state, I can boldly say that I am not too small to understand the nation’s polity. While I agree that no man is absolutely wrong and absolutely right, I also agree that there must be an area of convergence.
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The difference between law and morality is the place of sanction and social opprobrium. An action could be morally right but wrong legally while an action could be legally wrong but morally right. When you erred in law, you face sanction(s). When you breach moral principles, you face social opprobrium which is public condemnation. And law posits that you cannot be punished for an offence not commited.
This is a major reason why one of the definitions of law says that law is what the court says. And before a court would come out with her verdict, the principles of natural justice must have been observed.
Nemo judex in causa sua
Audi arterem partem
The first one posits that you cannot be a judge in your own cause while the second one is strictly interested in hearing the other side. This is imperative to fair hearing.
Thomas Hobbes’s state of nature is a state where life is nasty brutish and short. In a strict sense, it is a state of lawlessness, excessive impunity and a state of liberal anarchy. Law is a strong force that prevents a state from becoming a state of nature if the laws of the land are observed. Our behaviours are sometimes animalistic because there is animal in man. With the supremacy of the law, our emotions and attitude can be regulated.
Abduction of the supreme court judges base on an intelligence report is nothing but an unacceptable insult to the temple of justice. If our judges can be abducted, then justice can be abducted base on intelligence report. The way their houses were raided is criminal. It is more like an armed robbery attack. You cannot correct illegalities with illegalities. If truly the federal government is fighting corruption, why withdrawing corruption cases, why celebrating budget padding, N27Omillion bush clearing, jibrin’s suspension, plagiarism to mention but a few. Mr. President, Nigerians are too intelligent to be deceived. Stop attacking the judiciary. Let NJC do their job if truly these persons are corrupt.
It is an open secret that our president is not sincere with his fight against corruption. He is only mocking those who are waiting for him to fight corruption.
However, one cannot dismiss the fact that the temple of justice is no longer sacred owing to the bags of cowries that are exchanging hands at the bench. But we cannot because of this crown our president as the chief justice of the country. You cannot be the one to arrest and be the one to convict them. We have laws and let us respect our laws. Disrespecting the nation’s constitution and its contemplations is the beginning of corruption. We are tired of this pseudo fight against corruption, we are tired of these unnecessary attention seeking inactions , excessive impunity and executive lawlessness. We are forced to say that president Muhammadu Buhari should come out clean on all the recovered loot.We are tired of these unending deceits.
On the Nigerian Bar Association’s state of emergency, it is another form of intellectual hypocrisy. Where were they when Justice Ayobami Salami was bungled out of service unceremoniously? Now that the new anthem is sorrowful in their backyard…they now turn themselves to a mid day town crier.
