The Nigerian Tragedy: A State in a Decrepit State, By Douglas Ogbankwa

Growing up in the culturally rich city of Benin, I had high hopes, aspirations, and expectations of my country called Nigeria.

I had set up targets and timelines, but the tragedy called Nigeria rearranged my plans. It takes extreme courage and determination for you to make it to this country.

Nigeria: A country of tragic-comic reliefs and deep intrigues cum chicaneries, that makes James Hardly Chase, Sidney Sheldon, and Frederick Forsyth all look like amateurs in stringing fiction together. This is a country that is run by Novelists, who cook up stories and act them in different theatres like Aso Rock, the green and red hallowed chambers of the National Assembly and Force Headquarters.

Some of these stories are stranger than fiction. The Ministry of Health in a very audacious move unprecedented in the history of Nigeria attempted to move for the use of 82 Billion Naira to purchase mosquito nets. We choose to keep the mosquitoes as our pets, let them live. Just like snow is part of a western environment, mosquitoes are part of our environment. Corruption can not be worse than this, so I thought. Just like everything that is Nigerian, no one has been held accountable.

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A snake was said to have swallowed some millions at the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB)’s Office in Makurdi, though we hear the case is in Court, not much has been seen or heard about it.

While we were in Port Harcourt at the end of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) National Annual General Conference, some heavily armed men, also armed with a search warrant invaded the House of the 2nd most high ranking Judicial Officer in Nigeria – Justice Mary Peter-Odili of the Supreme Court on the 29th of October, 2021.

The widespread condemnation that trailed the charade also invited a possible disciplinary process against the Attorney General of the Federation – Abubakar Malami SAN.

In a comic twist, unheard of since 1st of January, 1914, when the amalgamation created Nigeria, the Police High Command in Abuja, suddenly came out with a story that does not sound plausible or likely. That the Policemen who carried out the raid are fake policemen. So, fake policemen can go to Court and get an authentic Search Warrant? So, what about the Magistrate? Is he also fake or a part of a syndicate? They have essentially put the Magistrate’s job on the line. He may well be the sacrifice, that is a major component of the Nigerian Game of Thrones.

The Presidency is building a small capacity hospital at Aso Rock – the Seat of Nigerian Government, whose budget is more than those of all the Teaching Hospitals in Nigeria combined. The Federal Government is building a railway line to Niger Republic, but there is no rail from Niger State to Edo State. In the tragedy called Nigeria, charity begins abroad.

The Judiciary is still under the clutches of the Governors and they run the same like a personal fiefdom. The Nigerian Bar Association, which I am part of at the leadership level has failed woefully in ensuring that Section 121(3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which provides that all monies standing to the credit of the Judiciary be paid directly to the Heads of Court be implemented. On this issue, I am a lone voice in the wilderness. Our Judiciary is desecrated daily, justice is held captive and we all sit by and watch as if everything is fine. This country is a bundle of contradictions, run by hypocrites who understand the psyche of the citizenry and feast on them.

Rosa Park the American Civil Rights Activist, when asked to stand up for a white man to sit down as was customary in racist American told him:
My Feet are tired. Truth be told, we are tired.

I have just one last word for the Nigerian ruling class and I situate same in the words of Abraham Lincoln the 12th President of the United States, who posited thus:

You can deceive some of the people some of the time, you can deceive all the people some of the time, but you can not deceive all the people, all the time.

▪︎About the Author:

Douglas Ogbankwa Esq., @ douglasogbankwa@gmail.com, a Benin Based Lawyer is the Convener of Vanguard for the Independence of the Judiciary and the President of the Benin Writers’ Society.