Posted by By Clifford Ndujihe on
NOBEL Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka has hailed the Supreme Court judgment affirming Dr. Chris Nwabueze Ngige as the Governor of Anambra State.
NOBEL Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka has hailed the Supreme Court judgment affirming Dr. Chris Nwabueze Ngige as the Governor of Anambra State.
In an interview with The Guardian at the weekend, Soyinka, who adopted a wait-and-see attitude on the impeachment move against the President by the House of Representatives, said the apex court ruling was a vindication that the Federal Government has been acting outside the law.
To the international community, Soyinka said that the government's role in the Anambra saga was deplorable and a disgrace to the nation. "For me, the judgment is a vindication of what we have been saying that this regime has been acting outside the law and this is one of it. I made a statement after Chief Audu Ogbeh's letter to the President on the Anambra matter for which he was forced to resign. What he said was correct. As I am speaking to you now, there is a Radio station in the United States (U.S.), which devotes a programme (Courtyard) on the Anambra matter. It is a public debate programme.
"The point Ogbeh made," he continued, "was patriotic. With this verdict what we have been saying all along has been vindicated just as it is illegal for the Obasanjo's government to continue to withhold Lagos State local councils' funds. He continues to flout the law on that."
The literary giant expressed the hope that the government would learn from the verdict and desist from acting above the law.
"We wait to see what will happen from here. We hope the Federal Government will learn from this decision and not continue to flout the law," he stated.
On the impeachment plot, Soyinka said he was going to wait for a few days before making his views known because "I want to make sure that the people (lawmakers) are not jiving as usual."
Pressed further and asked whether or not the allegations of the legislators were frivolous, Soyinka said any organisation or group of individuals has the right to seek redress whenever it feels its rights have been trespassed.
Recalling the U.S. lawmakers' impeachment proceedings against former President Bill Clinton, which was based on moral grounds, he said clearly, the Nigerian legislators feel they were at issue in their impeachment crusade.
In his estimation, the lawmakers have a duty to challenge any action by an elected leader, especially where the leader to act above the law and bring him within the law.
But, Dr. Ime Umanah, who contested against Governor Victor Attah of Akwa Ibom State in the 2003 governorship election with his petition still at the tribunal to claim the seat, opposed the impeachment move against the President.
He urged the legislators to stop the exercise and assist President Olusegun Obasanjo in his anti-graft war. Umanah said the citizenry should not forget the kind of system that used to operate, from the local to the state and Federal Government, before the advent of the regime's anti-corruption war.
His words: "At the local council level, the chairmen, with their treasurers and works officers would take the councils' allocations to hidden locations to share among themselves and cover their tracks with all kinds of documents. It is on record that President Obasanjo is doing everything to tackle corruption with the assistance of institutions like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) with many corrupt functionaries in the executive and legislature being brought to book. What the system needs is this kind of action and discipline at all stages of our national life.
"The National Assembly should concentrate on assisting the President in this crusade. They should also dissipate energy on expunging Section 308 (immunity clause) that makes it possible for 74 Nigerians - the President, his deputy, 36 governors and their deputies to do whatever they like with impunity. If the Section 308 is expunged, the leaders will be more careful and the money meant for the people will eventually get to them," he said.