Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Cleansing our rot

by Eze Eluchie

When we neglect to do the needful, we should not get upset if others who have more respect for their populations do what we should have done.

We neglected to serve justice to a notorious felon who stupendously bought his way to high political office, only for the British to go after the crook and slam him behind bars, where he rightly belonged; Today, after years of manipulating the Nigerian (in)justice system, an ex-Governor of one of Nigeria’s 36 States, James Onanefe Ibori is cooling his ass off in a British jail!

There are so many others in the mould of the above mentioned felon who continue to pollute our environment with their presence.

We are now prevaricating over the avoidable death of over 115 people of several nationalities in the collapse of a multi-storey complex which in the first instance ought not to have been erected, we should therefore not raise as much as a whimper when those involved, in any way whatsoever, have international warrants against them executed, and such people brought to justice in foreign jurisdictions.

If ever our system was under the illusion that clearing the site of the collapsed 6-storey building at the premises of the ‘Synagogue Church of All Nations’ in Lagos of its debris will sweep away the crime that was evidently committed at that site, we should have a rethink. Continuing efforts by the owners of the collapsed structure at insulting the intelligence of the discerning public by ludicrous claims of some ‘unidentified flying object’ circulating above the structure prior to its collapse, will only serve to elicit the interest of authorities external to our domestic rulership in the matter and internationalize the desire and ability to dispense justice.

Further harrowing details that officials of the Church which owns the collapsed building physically prevented first responders and official/public rescue services from entering the premises for over 48 hours after the tragedy occurred and that the proprietor of the Synagogue Church offered journalists covering the collapse some incentives to ensure ‘fair report’ of the incident, will only serve to heighten the need for justice.

Our flawed structure, composition and institutions continue to serve to consign us to where we are whilst the rest of the world keep on advancing. Restructuring and renegotiation of the Nigerian state may perhaps yet afford us an opportunity of taking our rightful place in the comity of nations.




Picture: Lagos State Government officials at site of collapsed Synagogue church building.


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