Shameful Advocate of Nigeria (S.A.N)?

by Eze Eluchie

The unprofessional antics and clownishness of some characters who parade themselves as representing the ideal of the Legal Profession in Nigeria, is daily bringing our profession to disrepute and public ridicule. Without doubt, the integrity and rationale of the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) has long been challenged and questioned by many in the profession, and Nigerians generally, who have experienced conduct unbecoming of gentlemen from some characters who have had that title bestowed upon them.

From instances of persons who subscribe to the rank of SAN struggling, and descending into shouting bouts amongst themselves, in open court, before a sitting Judge, in a desperate bid to claim ‘ownership’ of particularly Client; to others who hide behind the aprons of Nurses and health facilities, feigning ill-health, in order to avoid due processes of the law and arrests; from some who disingenuously institute actions in jurisdictions where, even the ordinary folks and commonsense know jurisdictions do not lie, with the knowledge that they will get desired ‘judicial pronouncements’ ; to some who are currently enmeshed, as defendants, in criminal and corruption trials; it is clear to all that the time has come when the need for the award of the title of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, as a mark of distinction and expertise in the law profession, must be rethought.

Any doubt of the foregoing fact is certainly erased by the recent most unfortunate and desperate conduct of a particularly loquacious character that thrives in and is a product of hyped media, who recently joined the rank of SAN, Mr. Femi Falana, over the ‘status’ of the wife of one of Nigeria’s State Governors, Sullivan Chime of Enugu State.

Without ever apparently seeking access to the lady in question (presuming any man ever had the right of access to the wife of another man), in his usual boisterous manner, rushed to the press, through his usual rag-tag online media outlet, to announce the commencement of legal action to secure ‘release’ from ‘forced detention’ and a petition to the Inspector General of Police to ‘set her free without delay’, on behalf of a ‘client’ who not only had never briefed nor met with him. As a most unfortunate fallout of this indiscretion, Governor Chime has had to go public with the personal/very private medical situation of his spouse, a revelation which no doubt need not have been of concern to or consumption for the public.

The opportunism and rascality displayed in the despicable interloper acts concerning the private affairs of the first family of Enugu State is utterly reprehensible. Those familiar with the role played by this present character in frustrating efforts by the late legal sage, Gani Fawehinmi in ensuring a former Lagos State Governor was brought to justice for forgery, would appreciate a clear trend at feigned populism and pedestrian tricks.

In any sane clime, the level of impudence displayed by some professionals masquerading as ‘senior members of the bar’ in Nigeria would have been curtailed by stiff disciplinary actions. 

Would necessary actions be taken? Considering the penchant of the victim of the present episode of champarty (Governor Chime) to avoid unwarranted publicity, it is most likely the victim would not be willing to take further necessary steps. The Bar must however strive to restore its integrity and image and bring similar posturing and scandalization of the profession to an immediate halt.

Without doubt, there are thousands of legal practitioners, some of whom are of the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), who are a source of evergreen pride to the legal profession in Nigeria. The stench and odium being caused by the actions of some, particularly those who take cover under the title of SAN, now increasingly make the ordinary folks wonder if indeed the real meaning of the SAN title is 'Shameful Advocate of Nigeria'. And we know this cannot, and should not, be.

It is high time we discontinued with this ‘chieftaincy title’ in the legal profession, and allow true intellect and professional expertise to flourish.

Picture: law

Is Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index (TI-CPI) flawed?

by Eze Eluchie

One form of art which has successfully, over the years, masqueraded itself as a science, is the analysis of societal and economic data.  Without doubt, the collection and collation of such data, when done in a methodological manner, tritely qualifies to be titled as science. The magic and artistry however comes into play in the interpretation and use to which scientifically sourced data is put.

In the hands of the masters of the art, social and economic data can virtually be transformed into whatsoever the entity paying the bill wants the data transformed into. Crafty Statisticians will usually ask their bosses: 'what do you want us to make of this data'? Developments in the areas of presentation skills, audio-visual equipments and technologies and information dissemination protocols have conveniently placed entire humanity at the behest of this art form. Listening to smart statisticians describe dire social and economic situations in superlative lexicon, one may feel an urge to throw caution to the winds in wild ecstasy, only to be brought back to reality when you depart the venues of such presentations and are faced with palpable lack and rot in the surrounding society and population.

States routinely rely on analysis of data on social and economic issues to formulate national policies on such diverse matters as international investments, bilateral trade and even military strategies; at the individual level, our everyday decisions and actions have been, consciously or otherwise, infiltrated and teleguided by 'expert' opinions preferred by these analysts.

One group of internationally renowned socio-economic data analysts who have for long excited my intellect is the group which has a quite grandiose name: Transparency International (TI). TI has for over a decade established itself as an international authority on corruption and transparency in governance issues and with its immense outreach across the globe, facilitated by the presence of diverse affiliate organizations in several countries, amassed access to empirical social and economic data on different climes.

As stated earlier, the data collection is, in most cases, scientific. It will take some discernment to appreciate the inherent artistry:

TI's flagship contribution to international discourse is its annual Corruption Perception Index (CPI). Often times, the ‘P’ ('perception') is conveniently omitted in the mindset of users of the index, thus creating the impression that the said CPI is ordinarily viewed as the worlds Corruption Index (CI) - revealing the standing of countries in a global corruption hierarchy. TI's CPI has attained the level of a global reference point and is often cited by the United Nations and its agencies, regional multinational institutions (AU, ASEAN, EU, OAS and so on), domestic State authorities, opposition elements and civil society organizations variously to buttress the level of corruption in the States which fare poorly in the index.

Are the countries which rank poorly in TI's CPI really the most corrupt in the world? Or could the reverse the case?

Corruption is always a two-way traffic. There is usually the giver and taker (in the case of bribes); the deprived and the depository/recipient (in the case of expropriated loot); the victim and the thief and several other permutations which captures the harm posed by corrupt practices.

The armada of data collected by TI towards arriving at its CPI is simply overwhelming. The countries which rank poorly in the CPI are usually the victim-States of corrupt practices, the territories whose rulers loot with unrivaled frenzy, the States where bribery and corruption seem to be woven into the societal fabric and where the citizenry live, breath and die under the pangs of corrupt practices. But are these countries really the most corrupt or do they simply suffer most from corruption and corrupt practices? Are the States which fare well in TI's CPI merely insulated from the pangs of corruption by virtue of the fact that they only serve as beneficiaries of the corruption and corrupt practices of other countries?

Are there other facts which could be inferred from the data available to TI? A closer look at TI's social and economic data base will divulge interesting revelations usually not announced by the CPI annual reports. Where do proceeds of corruptly sourced funds disappear into? Which States or territories benefit most from global corrupt practices? Does benefitting from corruption/corrupt practices not make a State corrupt? Would the ranking of countries in TI's CPI be reversed or revolutionized if the quantum of loot each State receives is factored into the compilation and evaluation process? Would States/territories like Switzerland, Luxemburg, Cayman Islands, The Isles of Man and other havens for global loot suddenly have a reversal of positions with States/territories like Afghanistan, Haiti, Nigeria and several others, mostly belonging to the Low and Middle Income Country category, whose rulers endlessly cart out entire budgets to foreign bank vaults?

TI's CPI, it must be emphatically stated, has done quite a lot to bring awareness of corruption to the global arena. Global abhorrence for and efforts at tackling corruption will no doubt be enhanced if a real corruption index was extrapolated from the mountain of data available to TI and the several other entities interested in tackling corruption and not merely the 'perception' being disseminated. Tackling the corruption cancer requires efforts of both the victims and the beneficiaries; both the givers and takers; both the deprived and depositories of loot.

When the receiver-State declines to receive, declines to allow their banking facilities to serve as depositories for loot, large-scale corruption will become near extinct.

It can be done.

Picture: © Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index 2012

Living ostentatiously in a cemetery.

by Eze Eluchie

At a time when Nigeria's airspace ranks as one of the most dangerous in the world with high plane crash and fatality rates and our major airports lack basic air-conditioning, luggage and passenger handling facilities and in an era when our public universities have been on strike for over 4 months on account of poor funding of educational institutions, the news that the Minister for Aviation commandeered the purchase, at public expense, of 2 bullet proof luxury sedans at the cost of over 225 Million Naira (US $ 1.6 million) is not only sacrilegious, but bothers on criminality.

The matter is made more sordid by the fact that similar vehicles could be purchased at less than one-quarter of the amount paid.

If the sum deployed to the purchase of these vehicles had been deployed to ensure safer skies and conduct better audit on equipments operated in our airspace, surely, many lives which perished in the various plane crashes in Nigeria would have been saved.

The ease with which this and several other quasi-criminal procurement scaled through all the so-called procurement regulatory mechanisms at various strata of governance in Nigeria, gives a clear indication to the magnitude of fraud, robbery and impropriety going on in the name of governance in our polity.

Questions we should be asking ourselves include:

1. How many public office holders (inclusive of Ministers, State Commissioners Members of Boards of government agencies at the Federal and State level and civil servants)  have undertaken similar scandalously quasi-criminal purchases?

2. Of what import is the continued retention of the Office of Due Process at the federal level, and by whatsoever name similar agencies are referred to at the State levels, in our polity when such brazen criminality continues unchecked?

3. Do these public office holders who engage in these heinous crimes realize that, whether the vehicle is bullet proof, bomb proof or whatever proof, that they will still, at one point in time have to get out of that comfort zone and still be within the grab of their worst nightmares?

4. Do these rascal public officials who indulge in these perfidious acts realize that their greed and profligacy is directly contributes to high unemployment and high crime rates we witness in our polity?

5. Do these public officials realize the direct link between their criminality and youth militancy and terrorism?

6. Do these public officials who indulge in these large-scale looting of public funds really look at themselves in the mirror? What do they see?

Often times one is taken aback as to the level of criminality which flourishes in our climes. What for instance would one be doing with a million dollar vehicle in a country where equally corrupt practices has made the roads impassable for more than half of the year?

Of what use would such profligacy be when equally corrupt practices makes basic emergency personal and health care services impossible - no public ambulance, fire services or rapid police responses are available. 

Of what use is it to live ostentatiously in a cemetery?  

 How do you tell the youths to refrain from crime and corruption when the system rewards criminality and corrupt practices? In a lawless polity such as ours where no arrests or effective prosecutions will follow scandalous crimes, how can any meaningful progress be made?

In a recent media chat forum, President Goodluck Jonathan had sought to downplay the gigantean negative impact of corruption on the Nigerian contraption - in the event that Mr. President was under a delusion previously, I hope he is beginning to awake to the unfortunate realities.

I have always advocated that large-scale corruption, as a major precursor to most heinous crimes, ought to be treated as crimes against humanity - that assertion holds most true in Nigeria, where corruption has assumed a life of its own and now threatens not only the present but also the future of the contraption.

Again, most unfortunately for our contraption. the biased reportage of corruption-related stories by some elements of the Nigerian media tends to polarize the polity and present some segments of our population as though they are more susceptible to corrupt practices than the other - whilst in reality it is a general societal malady. Similar, and at times worse acts of corruption by others deemed 'favored' gets little or no attention from the same media outlets which are vociferous over the present matter. 

Sadly, our contraptions free fall continues.....

Picture: Some of the million-dollar vehicles allegedly purchased by the Aviation Ministry at a time when lack of basic facilities and unworthy equipments have rendered Nigeria's airspace a death-trap.