1. Introduction
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, I feel highly honoured to be invited to give the 2018 Convocation Lecture of this great institution. I thank the Chancellor, the Chairman and Members of Council and Senate for this high privilege
Chapter 26.
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and
Chapter 27.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
2. Animal Culture
(i) Animals live to eat. In other words, their primary devotion and objective in life is to eat, sleep and eat. They are permanently in search
Another characteristic of the lower animals is that they are fully engaged in the practice of
some members of the same species
Regarding looting attributed to Ex-Governors, Ex-Ministers, Ex-Legislators,
Another characteristic of animals, particularly male lions, is that when they want to join an existing pride of lions,
What of the popular saying, “monkey dey work, baboon dey shop”. In the animal kingdom, if a cheetah or leopard makes a kill, before it can settle down to feed, lions or hyenas
Those who work in luxurious air-conditioned Chambers collect, wardrobe allowance, utility allowance, furniture allowance, Newspaper allowance, housing allowance, entertainment allowance,
The ordinary worker is lucky to have his basic salary. If this is not monkey dey work and baboon dey chop, I don’t know what it can be.
I can go on and on with illustrations of the theme of this paper,
3. The Judiciary is more Equal
On 23rd June 2017, the Court of Appeal gave a Judgment in the case of Justice Ngajiwa v. F.R.N. The Appellant was a former Judge in the High Court of Kano State, who was charged by the EFCC
This argument was rejected at the High Court level, but shockingly upheld by the Court of Appeal. The practical effect
The gravity of this Ruling on the fight against corruption cannot be overstated. Without the willingness and commitment of the Judiciary to the anti-corruption struggle, it will fail ab initio, i.e., from the very beginning. It will not take off at all.
So the Law enforcement, Security and Anti-Corruption Agencies by this logic should not arrest and prosecute the following sample of professionals until they are first tried and punished by their professional associations,
(ii) This will also apply to Lawyers who must first be tried and punished by the NBA before they can be arrested and charged for any criminal offence against their
(iii) So too are the Engineers, the Accountants, the Architects, the Quantity Surveyors, the Land Surveyors, Estate Agents, provided they have associations which have
(iv). If we must go constitutional, the police have a commission for their promotion, discipline and so on (see Section 153 and Schedule 3 M of the 1999 Constitution). If we are to adopt the Court of Appeal’s argument about implied immunity, all policemen
There will be absolute chaos in the country if this attitude prevails. This clearly takes us to George Orwell’s
Let me make it quite clear. There is no provision of any law or the Constitution that provides immunity for Judges against criminal and civil actions. Only the President
This Judgment is therefore a self-preservation measure meant to protect Judges from past, present and future
4. The Nigerian Elite and Total Lack of Values.
When I see the manner the tiny Nigerian Elite of less than 1% of our population is treating the already down trodden masses of our Country in order to enjoy an
We have to ask ourselves what the problem really is. We are definitely overwhelmed by an epidemic of Kleptomania. But do we also have a
As I am never tired of pointing out, the end of the 1st Republic was followed by a
This catalogue of misfortunes is compounded by a complete loss of values, heedless cult of money worship and obsessive love of acquisition. Our current elite have no values, no honour, no vision, no integrity and no compassion for the suffering of the masses
5. Conclusion and Recommendations
It is obvious that things cannot remain like this for much longer or there will be cataclysm. It is clear to me that given the proclivities of the privileged elite, Nigeria is not yet ready for the operation of a liberal
(b) abandonment of duties for which enormous remunerations have been self- awarded.
We cannot have a situation in which the legislature in a fit of petulance rejects every bill, refuses to confirm every executive nomination,
Also we cannot have a situation in which those who sit in judgment over others for the
We cannot tolerate a situation in which 30 or 60 Senior Advocates of Nigeria, accompany a colleague under trial, to the Court in order to intimidate the trial Judge. That is gross misconduct and indiscipline on the part of
So what do we do? I propose that the Executive which is the real driver of governance, apply strength, power and discipline in operating our democratic dispensation. Lee Kuan Yew did this in Singapore and rescued that Country from poverty, misery,
In my online search about Lee Kuan Yew, the following achievements were attributed to him.
Furthermore, it was stated that:
“As Singapore's Prime Minister from 1959 to 1990, Lee presided over many of Singapore's advancements. Singapore's Gross National Product per capita rose from $1,240 in 1959
“On the other hand, many Singaporeans have criticized Lee as authoritarian and as intolerant of dissent,
Another example in our very backyard in East Africa, is Ruwanda, a country that was brought down to a comatose state by genocide and crimes against humanity
Of Kagame, it has been universally acknowledged as follows:
“Rwanda's economy has grown rapidly under Kagame's presidency, with per-capita gross domestic product (purchasing power parity) estimated at $1,592 in 2013, compared with $567 in 2000. Annual growth between
Finally, those who have studied Kagame’s transformational contribution to Rwanda’s growth have made
“Most observers describe Kagame's personality as one of seriousness and intelligence. Richard Grant, writing in London's Daily Telegraph, described Kagame as radiating "a quality of intense seriousness that is both impressive and intimidating".
I request the audience to please note the following, the write-up just quoted refers to Kagame’s
It is widely accepted that Park Chung-hee was authoritarian. But he made up for this by his miraculous upliftment of Korea from
“Park has been ranked by the public as the greatest South Korean president but he remains a controversial figure in modern South Korean political discourse and among the Korean populace in general.
To confirm his incredible achievements, the following has also been stated about him:
“Park is credited with playing a pivotal role in the development of South Korea's tiger economy by shifting its focus to export-oriented industrialization.
“A sign of the growth of the South Korean economy was that in 1969 there were 200,000 television sets in operation in South Korea and by 1979, there were
It is time Nigerians engaged in deep reflection about how to get out of this chaotic state of affairs
“Designed by alien occupiers and