THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 17, 2012
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EDITORIAL/OPINION Comments
EDITORIAL FROM OTHER LAND
Triumph of truth •President Jonathan should immediately restore vindicated Justice Salami
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N a complete reversal of its decision to suspend the President of the Court of Appeal (PCA), Justice Isa Ayo Salami, in August 2011, the National Judicial Council (NJC) last week directed that he should be reinstated. The council has notified President Goodluck Jonathan to that effect. The decision is an unambiguous personal triumph for the beleaguered PCA, as well as a decisive victory for the rule of law and efficacy of due process. Salami had been embroiled in a highstakes scandal that reached the highest levels of the nation’s judiciary. He had courageously exposed alleged attempts of a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu, to get him to influence the outcome of an electoral tribunal judgment in Sokoto State. His refusal to play along had led to his forced promotion to the Supreme Court of Ni-
‘There can be no excuse for any pretence at deliberation since the NJC’s decision to reinstate Salami was clearly unambiguous. The president cannot now be contemplating long-winded procedures that he refused to consider when the shoe was on the other foot. Not only does it offend notions of natural justice to Salami as the injured party, it also jeopardises the president’s default status as an impartial figure standing above judicial fray’
geria, a Greek gift that he had naturally refused, given its suspicious provenance and the fact that, as PCA, he was, in any case, of equal rank with a Supreme Court judge. His forthrightness was met with an inexplicable suspension by an NJC panel of enquiry that had clearly declined to consider all the evidence before it and had suspended him in defiance of a court order instructing it to stay action on the matter. While it lasted, the suspension saga showed the Nigerian judiciary at its disgraceful worst. There was an outgoing chief justice whose personal integrity was in doubt, an NJC that seemed to be more interested in preserving the status quo than in getting to the root of the matter, and a Presidency which appeared to be determined to protect its own partisan interests rather than those of the nation. As is typical of most things Nigerian, however, the NJC’s decision to reinstate Justice Salami has raised more questions than answers. Perhaps the most pressing of these is the seeming reluctance of President Goodluck Jonathan to act with the speed that he demonstrated when he confirmed the NJC’s decision to suspend Salami. According to reports, the President is studying the report in order to be properly appraised of the options open to him. He is said to be wondering, for instance, whether Salami’s restoration should be made via the Presidency or the Senate. This action, if true, would be laughable if the situation were not so serious. There can be no excuse for any pretence at deliberation since the NJC’s decision to re-
instate Salami was clearly unambiguous. The president cannot now be contemplating long-winded procedures that he refused to consider when the shoe was on the other foot. Not only does it offend notions of natural justice to Salami as the injured party, it also jeopardises the president’s default status as an impartial figure standing above judicial fray. That could have grave implications for public perceptions of the Presidency. As the executive part of the country’s three arms of government, it must assiduously avoid any actions which could create the perception that it is attempting to interfere with the operations of any of the other arms. The NJC’s decision also raises the question of what is to be done about the issues that gave rise to the suspension saga in the first place. Justice Salami had made serious allegations against the then Chief Justice of Nigeria. In an attempt to resolve the matter, the NJC had ordered him to apologise. He refused, insisting on the truth of his allegations, and was suspended by the council as a result. If the NJC has now seen it fit to ask that the president reinstate him, it follows that his initial accusations must have had some merit. It is vital that all attempts to sweep the matter under the carpet be strongly resisted, because the implications for clean elections and a durable electoral litigation process are too dire to be contemplated. The innocent have been exonerated; it is now time to identify and punish the guilty.
House of cards •Court throws out Governor Yari of Zamfara State from his house of dubious ownership
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HAT do we put this down to? Was it dubiety, ignorance, impunity or the sheer rascality of the people of power? For whatever we may say, all these elements are complete in this dramatic tale of a governor and what is clearly his house of cards. The thrust of the story is that Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State has been thrown out of an Abuja residence he used to call his home. A high court in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, had declared, since June 11, 2010 that the Zamfara chief executive was occupying the house illegally. But having delayed (or refused) to quit after nearly two years, the court ordered his eviction from the house recently. Governor Yari was said to have rented the five-bedroom duplex in high-brow Asokoro area of Abuja in 2008 when he was a member of the House of Representatives. Two years later, he was said to have purchased it from a certain agent said to be on the run now. However, the bona fide owner, Sir Ernest Elochukwu, had gone to court to seek redress and this he got when the presiding judge signed an eviction order in 2010 sending Yari packing. The judge also ordered Yari to pay the sum of a little over N10 million representing profit from two years rent for the house. Having not complied with the order of the court, Yari was late April evicted and his personal belongings fifaed by the court. If Yari was not a governor and be-
fore then, a federal lawmaker, this matter would probably have been dismissed as one of such numerous property scams that are commonplace in big cities. If he was not an educated and prominent public servant, he may have been excused for perhaps acting out of ignorance. But this is clearly a case of conversion of property; besides, this transaction was consummated when Yari was in the House of Representatives. He had rented the property from the lawful owner and down the line he had sought to acquire the property in a most curious manner without recourse to the bona fide owner. As if taking the rightful owner through a tortuous court process was not enough, Yari would not obey a court order for nearly two years even when he evidently did not appeal the judgment. Not even the fact that he became the governor of a state swayed him to respect the courts of the land and act with decency and decorum. It seems he would rather face the odium of forceful eviction than act in a manner that is in tune with civility and his high office. In better ordered societies, Yari would not have lost only his so-called Abuja home, he would surely have his high position dangling on the line by now if he doesn’t get a jail sentence to boot. Yari had committed a criminal act by converting someone else’s property and in addition, he had displayed untrammeled impunity
and a scant regard for the court of the land and the rule of law. It is apparent that Yari is not in any mood to obey the law or respect the judgment passed by the court; but we must remind him that having immunity as a sitting governor does not make him above the law. We advise that the matter must be kept in view until he is out of office whereupon he would be arrested and committed to prison until he has obeyed the court to the letter. If this gives an inkling as to how Governor Yari runs Zamfara State, then we have nothing to add than to offer our prayers on behalf of the indigenes of the already vastly denuded land. Someone in such high office owes the society a duty to exhibit a more exemplary behaviour than we have witnessed.
‘If this gives an inkling as to how Governor Yari runs Zamfara State, then we have nothing to add than to offer our prayers on behalf of the indigenes of the already vastly denuded land. Someone in such high office owes the society a duty to exhibit a more exemplary behaviour than we have witnessed’
Europe needs Germany to lighten up
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T MAY ALREADY be too late to prevent Greece from defaulting on its debts and leaving the euro, Europe’s common
currency. But there still may be time to prevent Greece’s woes from dragging down the rest of Europe, and the world. For that to happen, though, Europe’s leaders must think clearly about the issues before them, especially the great “austerity vs. growth” debate. When European and, indeed, U.S. critics condemn austerity, what they usually have in mind is the combination of tax hikes, spending cuts and structural reforms that Germany and other surplus-earning countries in the northern half of the continent, as well as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), are imposing on the debtors in the south, in return for financial support. In their demand for growth, however, the critics fail to explain how to fund it. Countries such as Spain, Italy and Portugal have lost credibility in global bond markets — and competitiveness in the global market for goods and services. Under any reasonable scenario, even one in which Germany and the IMF relaxed deficit-reduction targets, these countries would still have to shed wasteful government programs, improve tax compliance and, most of all, make their labor markets more flexible. What deserves more attention is the threat to Europe from austerity in the surplus countries. Despite its super-competitiveness with respect to its neighbors, Germany (and, to a lesser extent, the Netherlands) continues to slash budget deficits and restrain wages. Between 2008 and 2011, Spain cut unit labor costs by 8.5 percent, compared with the rest of Europe. That’s great — until you consider that Germany also cut its labor costs by almost 2 percent, maintaining its wide lead over everyone else. If this keeps up, the debtors will never be able to boost exports, which is their least painful path to growth and solvency. Only in Germany, perhaps, could irresponsible policy take the form of self-denial. As economist Simon Tilford of the Center for European Reform puts it: “Any attempt to permanently lock-in [German] competitiveness gains will simply perpetuate the crisis.” Germany cannot demand sacrifice from its European partners without also conceding to them a share of the market and enabling increased German demand for imports. By the way, there’s some justice in this, since German banks loaned Spain et al. much of the money they spent on German products during the boom. Fortunately, there are signs that Berlin is waking up to these facts. The German government recently approved a 6.5 percent pay increase over two years for public-sector workers; Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble also backs higher wages for German private-sector workers in the current round of collective bargaining. Mr. Schaeuble specifically cited the need to “reduce imbalances in Europe.” Germans have even begun to debate the sensitive issue of allowing a modest degree of inflation in their country, which is the natural way to offset deflation in the southern reaches of the euro currency union. A more import-friendly stance will be resisted in Germany, by the country’s powerful export industries and by inflation-wary consumers. It is hardly a sufficient condition for European recovery. But it is a necessary one. For the good of Europe, the Germans are just going to have to grit their teeth and throw themselves a party. – Washington Post
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