The Law as a tool of societal protection.

by Eze Eluchie

The primary function of the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation, in addition to prosecution of offenders is the protection of the general population from the antics of unscrupulous private and public entities.

In furtherance of this noble role, the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation in several sane climes has penalized several corporate conglomerates, public agencies and  individuals who have in one way or the other tried to abuse, cheat, undermine, defraud, under-change or in any way short-change the public or State interests.

The Office of the Attorney General of the United States of America has just announced (19th March 2014), an agreement under which Toyota Motors will pay the people and Government of the United States the sum of over U.S. $ 1,2 Billion for wrongs committed by Toyota in amongst other infractions, failing to expeditiously  recall defective Toyota vehicles, some of which caused the death of American citizens.

The same Office of the Attorney General of the United States of America in collaboration with the Offices of Attorney General of several component States of the American federation, had under the Masters Settlement Agreement (MSA)  forced Cigarette manufacturers (Multinational Tobacco Conglomerates) to pay an astonishing U.S. $ 25 Billion over some years, for the damages caused by cigarette products to the peoples of the United States.

Across sub-Saharan Africa, all the national, regional and State Governments have enshrined in their structure an ‘Office of the Attorney General’, which on paper are charged with similar functions as their counterparts  in the US and across member States of the European Union. Unfortunately however, that is where the comparison expires.

Corporate bodies across sub-Saharan Africa commit and get away with all manners of crimes and at times partake in the ultimate crime (murder), as was the case with the killing of environmental activists in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Rather than act to protect the interests of the domestic population and State, our Attorney Generals often times exert their intellect (or whatever is left of it), to re-write, obviate and truncate the intendments of domestic statutes to ensure that those who trample on the local populations, not only get away with their crimes, but also make financial benefits therefrom.

When will the various corporate giants which thrive on corruption, bribery and brazen theft across sub-Saharan Africa be made to account for their wrongs by the public office charged with that responsibility?

When will our laws begin to serve as a tool for development and not an avenue for continued degradation of the hapless populations in sub-Saharan Africa?

When will vehicle/product recalls and other actions taken against corporate entities at their countries of origin be replicated in sub-Saharan African States?

When will the various Office of the Attorney General in sub-Saharan Africa assume the responsibilities for which they are created?

Picture: The Law 

Cold War II, officially on?

by Eze Eluchie

I usually tend to proffer answers to questions or project perspectives from a sub-Saharan viewpoint in my Blogposts – the fluidity of the evolving Ukrainian situation makes it imperative to ask quite a lot of questions, The answers to these questions will serve to found subsequent perspectives on the rather interesting (to the observer from afar, certainly not to those living in the front-lines in Ukraine) developments in Ukraine and the volatile Black Sea region.

Some of the intriguing questions include:

1.      Could any discerning observer have predicted the robust reaction by the Russian Federation to the unfolding crisis in Ukraine?

2.      If yes, should stop-gap measures not have been thought out in advance to ameliorate the reactions now evolving?

3.      Did Russia’s offer of Billions of Dollars in economic aid to the ousted Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovich a few weeks ago not serve as sufficient indication to all concerned o f the extent to which the Russian Federation was willing to go to protect its historical cultural, economic and political ties to Ukraine?

4.      Did the aggressive support given to the opposition to Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovich by the European Union and its member States, inclusive of the leaked private conversations where the US Ambassador to Ukraine was discussing preferred outcomes of the Ukrainian ‘revolution’, serve as sufficient impetus to raise Russian fears as to the purport and direction of the Ukrainian opposition?

5.      Was there a bit too much haste in ‘recognizing’ the ‘opposition’ as the defacto government in Ukraine – long before the said ‘opposition’ had actually formed anything akin to a Government?

6.      In the light of the February 21^st agreement brokered between the Ukrainian opposition and the President Viktor Yanukovich administration by a group of European Union Foreign Ministers with the tacit approval of the Office of the Secretary General of the United Nations, was the forced removal and sack from office of President Viktor Yanukovich legitimate under International Laws?

With the entry of Russia’s Armed Forces into Ukraine, Cold War II, which has been brewing for years since the collapse of the Soviet Union, is officially on. The Russian Army is clearly not in Ukraine to see the sights.

What implications for us in sub-Saharan Africa, and Nigeria in particular, we will have to deal with our domestic situation by ourselves, the best ways we deem fit. There will be far greater things of concern to the United States and its allies in the short-term than which terror group is blowing up school buildings across West African States or which East African country is passing laws to protect its social values.

Let’s be ready, we are living in quite interesting times.

Picture: Flags of Russia and the United States of America

A financier-of-terror as Central Bank Governor?

by Eze Eluchie

As more facts emerge on the character who once held sway over the Central Bank of Nigeria gets revealed, one begins to wonder what manner of vetting and security clearances our security agencies particularly the State Security Service (SSS) and the office of the National Security Adviser actually dish out.

The fact that now suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lanido Sanusi studied extremist Islamic ideology at the African International University in Khartoum, Sudan at the same time as al-Qaida leader, Osama bin Laden lived in Sudan has been common knowledge. Questions that have not been clarified include if the two met and whether the former was a financier of the latter activities.

Facts which have recently emerged that Mr. Sanusi was detained for over 2 years at the Federal Prisons, Sokoto, on account of being one of the financiers and instigators of very violent Islamist riots in Kano, during which a Christian, Goideon Akaluka was beheaded and his head paraded in the streets of Kano for allegedly desecrating the Quoran is quite disturbing.

Some of those who had been indicted for instigating, financing and involvement in the said Kano religious riots alongside Mr. Sanusi had been executed for their actions - Sanusi's life had merely been saved on account of the fact that he was a member of the family which rules over the Kano Emirate council (his father, Emir Sanusi had been deposed by the former Premier of Northern Nigeria, the revered Sardauna of Sokoto).

When one considers how this Sanusi character championed extremist Islamist views during his tenure as Central Bank Governor, doled out cash to spurious Islamist organizations, and generally used the office and resources of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria to create disquiet in the Nigerian polity and advance extremist policies and activities, one begins to wonder, yes we had an extremist as Central Bank Governor, but did we also have a terrorist as our Chief Banker?

Does shaving off beards and replacing long gowns with corporate suits alter the personality of an extremist?

Are the increasing attacks on civilian targets by terrorists in Nigeria's Northeast zone, inclusive of the kidnap of over 20 female students to serve as sex-slaves and the dastardly murder of over 50 pupils at the Federal Government College, Bunu Yadi, Yobe State, part of a chain reaction to the suspension of Mr. Sanusi?

President Goodluck Jonathan had stated soon after the Independence Day Bombing on 1st October 2010 that the Nigerian government was infested and populated by terrorists elements and sympathizers of terrorists, are there many or any more of such characters in the Government?

Why would a government continue to harbor such characters in its membership?

How in heavens name (or hells for that matter), did the facts emerging on Mr. Sanusi escape the various security vetting through which anyone nominated to hold such a sensitive office? 

The need for an urgent restructuring and renegotiating the Nigerian contraption gets more clearer by the day.

http://ezeluchie.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-central-unbanker-of-millennium-ii.html

http://ezeluchie.blogspot.com/2012/12/central-unbanker-of-millennium.html

Picture: Suspended Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.