By Sir Stanley Achonu 08106073623
Looking at the symbol of justice, one can quickly decipher the true meaning of Rule of Law. Many symbol of justice are always blind folded. When drawing a logical analysis of the justice symbol, one will not be wrong by stating that justice, which is the end product of the law, is blind to class status of man. In other words, social class, political class, religious class, elite class and all other classifications of mankind do not exist in true justice. Simply put, everyone is equal before the law. Justitia’s blindfold signifies objectivity in the delivery of justice with no preference to status, class, race, religion etc. The wonderful thing about rule of law is that we all want to be treated with fairness, honesty, and justice when we get ill treated in our personal conducts and conflict resolution. I am yet to see the politician in Nigeria and Imo state that will sit and fold their arms while being ill treated without seeking for justice. The crystal truth is that whenever anyone is ill treated in the society they always will find a means of seeking justice. The fundamentals of justice are weaved into the meaning of rule of law.
Rule of law in its simplest definition is that the law rules. History has shown us that Rule of law was a common practice in pre-colonial political setting of Igbo land which includes Imo state. I am putting Imo state on the radar because in one of the verses of Imo anthem, it sings, ‘Rule of law, rule of law in our time, rule of law, this is our prayer.’ What a wonderful rendition of lyrics for us to prick our conscience. The real deal, my fellow Imolites will remain the real situation free of deceit, rule of law does not come by singing; it comes by simple practice of sincere and transparent governance. In a society where a few converge under the umbrella of elected and appointed government officials and rule the law, yet, we sing and pray that rule of law should come. When those at the top make rule of law a priority, the effect will build good rapport and trust between the government and masses.
Nigerian general election is drawing nearer and nearer and political posters, flex banners, souvenirs and messages will soon be bombarding our homes and streets. Some of the heartless politicians and dressing up and warming up to feed a bunch of lies, once more, to the masses with no consideration to the hopeless conditions of the masses. Same lies Imolites have held onto for long number of years and waited patiently for better days which have eluded us and only who knows when we shall see what it looks like. Most of these mean politicians have no other motive than looting our public treasury. They know they can only loot to reckless abandon by killing our justice system which shall hunt them and so they have done but how can folks who violate laws be the makers and custodians of law? They have tied the hands of justice with bribery, dishonesty, manipulation, power and intimidation. It has become abnormal to do normal things and the only answer you get when you probe is the concept of Nigerian Factor.
I sit and wonder every time what Nigeria and my lovely Imo state would have been if there is no ‘Nigerian Factor’ debilitating our social, political and economical universe of discourse. Perhaps, we would have a frame of reference that gives hope to our hopeless situations of high unemployment rate. Perchance, we will have a sound educational system built on qualitative transcription of pragmatic and purposeful objectives. Conceivably, we would have an assessable healthcare system that is able to cater to the populace with a sound confidence in the quality it offers. Maybe the common man will be able to seek redress on injustice through the ambits of law and rule of law without the law becoming a mirage to his despondency. Maybe the judicial system will have reputable sons and daughters who will stand tall and cut off the grips of corruption in our system. It is not late to start mending fences and changing our ways to promote and sustain a positive culture of letting the law rule in our nation and state.
It has been fifty-three years since independence of our nation and thirty-seven years since the creation of Imo state and our social, economic and political triangle has remained in vague definition and practice of sanity and standard of impunity. It is more than enough time for our economic and socio-political threshold of consciousness to trigger genuine and attainable means of advancement in our decorum. The tenacity of Imolites has, indeed and in need of a better way forward, created a complicated mistrust on the government by the citizens for the simple reason of no fruitful services from the government. Good governance which will serve the masses, as well as restore their lost confidence in the government can be attained through the posture of the law as supreme. This is a no brainer. When Imolites see that their elected and appointed politicians and not becoming overnight millionaires through stealing from public treasury, they will have more confidence in the things and ways of governance and give more support to government propositions and programs.
Let me not sound like the doomsday prophet that sees negativity in everything about our social, economic and political system. We have come a long way in our telecommunication, achieved a mile stone and it must be commended. We can proudly boast of an effective telecommunication system, though, it needs a little bit of tune-up; it is serving the masses as needed. I picked the telecommunication industry to buttress the point that the masses will, unarguably, embrace any program that will improve their standard of living. Besides the provision of effective means of communication, the private telecommunication companies have provided source of income for so many Nigerians who engage in the business of selling cards and products of these companies. Same could be said about the television entertainment companies. Why is the energy and power sector dragging its feet in the provision of sustainable power supply in the country and Imo state? Obviously, the answer is hidden in another case of the ugly and dreadful, Nigerian Factor. This energy issue presents a classic example of people’s mistrust on government programs as evidenced by the allegation that some people pay power company officials to hold power to increase the need for generators. To what degree this allegation is true, I do not know. However, I know that some people, reportedly, have vandalized power cables and installations and with the Nigerian Factor’s product of, ‘Long Leg,’ they go unpunished.
Lawlessness or absence of rule of law is like malignant cancer which has crippled our socio-political and economical system. The speed of these cancerous metastases to the operational system of Nigeria has been faster than speed itself with no meaningful therapy to slow down the speed. Corruption has attained an unimaginable level and has become the order of the day. Poverty rate in Nigeria and the cosmetic poverty alleviation programs are nothing to write home about. Our standard of education has deteriorated to the point of urgent salvage. There are no learning aids and equipment in our schools, no apparatus and learning tools in our laboratories. Our teachers and lecturers have shifted position from role models to low models. Sexual harassment and ‘sorting’ of lecturers to excel in examination and strikes have weakened our educational system. Our political system is now all about sharing a few bags of rice, motorcycle, tricycle (kekenapep) and money to a selected few or party loyalists in the name of EMPOWERMENT.
Watching situation of things in our nation and state makes any reasonable human weep for our predicament. We started wrongly, we continued wrongly, we stayed in the wrong path, even when changes came, we changed for the wrong reasons and championed the wrong causes. There is no better time than now to chart a new and realistic cause and my clarion call is to everyone. An old Russian proverb says, ‘the fish starts stinking from the head.’ Our political leaders please show some degree of respect to the political process of our state. I cannot stop talking about incompetent politicians and believe it or not, they know themselves. In case they do not have a yardstick for competency assessment, I will gladly give them the tool.
When all you think about is how to impose yourself or your cohort on the masses without judiciously following the due process, you are an incompetent politician. When you know you have no vision of making our state a better place and thinks politics is an avenue of overnight personal enrichment through stealing public money, you are an incompetent politician. When you give no thought to programs, manifesto and measurable plans of advancing this state and stay consumed with thoughts of how to rig an election, intimidate people with thugs and make an election a ‘do or die’ affair, you remain incompetent. When you do not have any plan to render selfless service to the state and when you do not, without any reservation, relegate you personal interest to the secondary and make the state interest your primary interest, you are classified as incompetent in politics.
Fellow Nigerians and Imolites, I am sure we are still eating the rice we got from the politicians in 2011 when we voted them to power. I am also sure that we have solved a great deal of our financial problem with money the politicians used to buy our votes. I am sure we are glad another election is coming up and another opportunity is coming for us to collect rice and money for ourselves and save the remaining for our children. These are wrong ways we have followed. The principle of voting for money is a negative impact on democracy. I am glad we have figured out our mistakes incompetent leaders. We can still make things right since we have identified the true cause of our mishap. We must make the right decisions, justify our conscience and exclude money influence as we press our inked thumbs on those ballot papers to choose our next set of leaders. When we do it right, I am of the opinion that the good things of democracy, the rule of law, good roads, quality education, stable power supply and all other things that have eluded us will gradually come in place. We just have to vote right.
The real dividends of democracy are in provision of security and resources for the populace and promotion of equitable distribution of available resources. That is empowerment and enablement which will prepare the masses for the complex challenges of today’s world. How possible is it to empower our society by giving motorcycles and rice to few party loyalists? I will continue to call Imolites to guard their votes like their lives. The vote is power when used in the right way and we must use it rightly this time to make effective changes. No more mistakes. We are keeping tab with political developments and whatever be the case, we must say blatant ‘NO’ to those politicians who have failed to practice within the bounds of rule of law. Our law is supreme and must be respected by all. The law must rule and not ruled. God bless Nigeria, God bless Imo State and God bless Imolites.
