Posted by By Reuben Abati on
The brutalisation of former Inspector Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun, by policemen and officials of EFCC at an Abuja High Court on Wednesday, has done incalculable damage to the Balogun case, and dealt an irreparable blow to President Obasanjo's anti-corruption campaign.
The brutalisation of former Inspector Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun, by policemen and officials of EFCC at an Abuja High Court on Wednesday, has done incalculable damage to the Balogun case, and dealt an irreparable blow to President Obasanjo's anti-corruption campaign.
It is a shameful unmasking of the accusatory and vindictive nature of the justice administration system in Nigeria. Before now, there have been protestations in the pro-Tafa Balogun camp that the man is being deliberately disgraced, a case of an isolated scapegoat, taken out of a company of thieves, to be rough-handled and humiliated, simply because he betrayed a sacred code - the content and nature of which nobody fully knows.
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But the prosecution of his case so far, and the murderous manner in which Balogun was treated by the police on Wednesday, strengthens this suspicion that what is at stake in this case, is not just corruption (even if there are strong grounds for this), but a grand conspiracy. Tafa Balogun himself alluded to this when upon his return to court, he told the trial judge: "You can now see the manifestation of personal vendetta. I am not safe in the hands of these people".
Tafa, a lawyer, was making a simple point of legal interest: namely that an accused person should not be treated in a prejudicial manner; he is, at every stage, entitled to fair hearing which includes the due recognition of his rights as a person, and respect for court processes, in the sense that every accused person is to be adjudged innocent until proven guilty. In other words, an accused person must feel safe before the law. In the Balogun case, the EFCC, or rather the state, would seem to have mismanaged their case in such a manner that the accused is now comfortably the accuser. It no longer matters how this case ends; the police by behaving true to type, have damaged the justice administration process. This should not be surprising, for this is precisely the problem with the justice system in Nigeria.
What are the facts of the case? Tafa Balogun, who was until earlier this year, Nigeria's Inspector-General of Police, on the surface of it, a very important and strategic public office, was accused of corrupt self-enrichment, and kicked out of office. The President, whose government Tafa Balogun had served with near-reckless enthusiasm even went as far as disowning him. Government presented Tafa Balogun to the public as a scandalous face of corruption, with the EFCC releasing sordid details about money that the former policeman allegedly stole.
The public was outraged, not because the people were surprised that a policeman was being accused of dishonesty, but because of the size and scope of what he supposedly did and for certain persons, because Balogun didn't appear to be clever enough. Despite public outcry and concern however, Tafa Balogun's guilt/innocence needed to be established in a court of law. This is essential because even when an accused person may have lost public sympathy until a court of law pronounces his guilt, he is, in the eyes of the law, an innocent man, the seeming politicisation of his case and trial notwithstanding.
And so, Tafa Balogun has been appearing in court, with the EFCC, as his accuser. This, obviously, is a high profile case, in which both government and the people are naturally interested. What has now happened, the twist in the tale, is the betrayal of a bias, by the prosecutors. On Wednesday, the trial judge in an Abuja High Court had given a ruling which was misinterpreted by the police to mean that Tafa Balogun should be re-arrested. The attempt by Balogun's counsel to explain that this was not so, was violently rebuffed. Dr. Tunji Abayomi was rough-handled with his lawyer's robe turned into a weapon of attack as they dragged him and pushed him off.
In the presence of the media, EFCC officials then bundled Tafa Balogun into a waiting Peugeot 504 Station Wagon, and tried to take him away forcefully. He ended up falling out of the moving vehicle. This was shown on television with the former Inspector-General of Police, prostrate on the floor, with his two legs under the vehicle. When the vehicle moved, the tyres ran over his feet. Meanwhile, his lawyer, rushed to the trial judge in Chamber, and there was an order that the accussed person should be brought back to court. To this, one EFCC official was said to have declaimed: "which court?" Subsequently, Balogun was taken away. "Ah! Ah! Ah!, you want to kill me, you want to kill me", he screamed. Phone calls were made, presumably to the powers-that-be, and Tafa Balogun was returned to court about thirty minutes later limping, half-alive. Back in the dock, Balogun made a moving speech, about how he was being persecuted, his relations began to weep, and suddenly, he slumped. He was later taken to a hospital.
This is, all things considered, a bad situation and a terrible advertisement for Nigeria. President Obasanjo is said to have been shocked by the news of the development. He ought to be. Even the prosecuting counsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs was so contrite, he became apologetic, as he explained that the police were not doing his bidding. It is a pity, however, that the trial judge did not seize the opportunity to berate the EFCC for embarrassing the court and to charge the architects of that show of shame for contempt.
When the judge ordered that the accused persons should not be taken away, he was overruled! The judge has a duty to protect not just the accused, but the temple of justice and ensure that gangsters in or out of uniform do not desecrate that scared space. Anyone who comes to a court of law must be able to do so in full confidence that no one - be they judge or counsel, court clerk or interpreter, spectator or worker, policeman or investigator, will not harass or humiliate him or her in any way or place him at the mercy of any consideration other than the law and the wisdom of the court.
Since the incident occurred, I have heard the cynical view expressed that what is at play is nemesis or karma for Mr. Tafa Balogun. Under him, it is alleged, or that generally, at all times, the police is a brutal institution without any regard for human beings, and their rights. We may be alarmed it is said, because Tafa Balogun was shown on television, but the reality is that anyone who encounters the Nigerian justice system, as an accused person, cannot always be sure of justice. The police represent a terribly weak link in the administration of justice. They brutalise people. They have turned police cells into courtrooms. They have no regard for the Constitution. So, when they treat their former boss ruthlessly, what they advertise is the extent of the criminality of the police as an institution. Well, I do not accept this rear-guard argument as justification for the violation of Tafa Balogun's person and rights.
But there is perhaps a basic lesson here about life: nobody knows tomorrow. Here was the same Tafa Balogun who, only a few months ago, no policemen could insult now being assaulted by the same policemen who used to fear him. Two : human beings are unreliable - don't ever be at their mercy. People respect you only when you wield power over them, or they can perceive that you have power; if you seem powerless, they would treat you shabbily. But lessons apart, the present Inspector-General of Police and the entire police force, as well as the leadership of the EFCC should feel disturbed: the humiliation of Tafa Balogun says a lot more about the police than about Balogun himself. Can Sunday Ehindero, as Inspector-General of Police, in good conscience, now or in the future, defend this open disgrace of his former boss, by officers under his command? Can Nuhu Ribadu also do the same, without being accused of vendetta?
Beyond these personal details, we must return to the point made earlier about the administration of justice. In more developed jurisdictions, the justice process is reformatory: the underpinning philosophy is to protect society by ensuring justice and raising the individual person: even criminals are given the opportunity for redemption. Accused persons, convicts, or anyone at all who walks through the portals of justice is treated with dignity.
The advantage of this connection between dignity and justice is that public confidence in the integrity of the justice system is assured; and the rule of law is further consolidated. In Nigeria, unfortunately, the justice system is adversarial. Once a man is accused of anything including adultery(!), he is as good as dead, the moment he encounters the murderous Nigeria Police. And yet, the rights to the dignity of the human person and fair hearing are two principal items in Chapter Four of the Nigerian Constitution (1999) in Sections 34 and 36 accordingly. The former indeed encapsulates everything. Justice can only be seen to have been done when the accused is given every opportunity to defend himself in an atmosphere that is free of bias, and indignities.
What happens often, is that the police have constituted themselves into a court of last resort. Hitler-like executions are carried out in police stations, and when police officers are reminded of due process, they are wont to say: "Which Court?" A police force that persecutes everyone, including judges, has no place in a democratic system. When police officers desecrate the court of law, and spurn judges, in the full view of witnesses, they are in fact making dangerous statements about the country's political system.
Whatever Tafa Balogun may have done, he does not deserve to be dragged on the floor, kicked and humiliated. It is the responsibility of the court to determine his guilt or innocence, not the police. Those who want Tafa Balogun punished may have in fact ruined their own case. Following what happened on Wednesday, the former Inspector-General may have escaped the long arms of the law, due to serendipity, and default occasioned by the incompetence of the state. I am therefore not surprised that Tunji Abayomi, the defendant's counsel, has been milking the incident to the fullest. His argument may not survive, but it is sensible: his client, he is insisting, can no longer be guaranteed either a fair trial, or a fair hearing. If this stands, what is required, in the long run, is a review of the country's administration of justice system.