When
I challenged Chief E.K. Clark's assertion that there was ''nothing
wrong with placing soldiers on the streets of Lagos'' last January during
the oil subsidy crisis at a conference of the Political Summit Group
in Lagos I knew that I was heading for trouble. I was given the
floor to speak just a few minutes after the former Minister of Information
and elderstatesman had stirred the audience with his
words and to say that he was infuriated by not only what I said but
also the thunderous applause that I received for daring to say it would be
an understatement. The old man screamed at me at the top of his voice from
his chair even as I had the floor and spoke and he accused me of all
manner of unspeakable things there and then simply for daring to
disagree with him to his face.
Naturally I continued with my speech and acted as if he
wasn't even there but I knew that he would take his time and eventually
hit back at me and claim his pound of flesh. Yet even with that
expectation nothing prepared me for the virulence and sheer ferociousness
of his counter-attack. And that counter-attack was
launched during a public lecture on August 1st 2012, when the
elderstatesman, during the course of his lecture, passionately proclaimed
that I was holding myself out as a ''moral icon'' after ''embezzling
funds'' that were entrusted to me when I was Minister of Aviation that were
meant to be used to ''stop planes from crashing and to reform the aviation
sector''. This was on live television and it was being watched by millions
of Nigerians from all over the world.
Chief Clark added many to his hit list that day from
former Heads of States, former Presidents and Vice Presidents,
former Governors and Federal Ministers and so many more. If he
was not accusing the northern leaders and governors of being behind Boko Haram
and claiming that the problem began under President Obasanjo's
watch, he was daring Generals Babangida and Buhari to come clean and
condemn Boko Haram or stand the risk of being counted amongst those that were
behind it. He also had very harsh words for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Vice
President Atiku Abubakar, the northern Governors, the Governors
Forum, Senator Joshua Dariye, Pastor Tunde Bakare, former Governors
Alameyeseighya, Peter Odili, Orji Kalu, former Minister of Aviation
Professor Babalola Borisade and so many others. This was quite a show and
the elderstatesman was very much in his element. He was having a wonderful time
kicking all his enemies in the pants without exercising any sense of
restraint or decency. It was just slander all the way. There has
probably never been a greater public display of defamation of character
and the impugnment of the integrity of former public office holders
that were not there to say a word in their own defence in the history of Nigeria.
Chief Clark pronounced everyone that had ever been accused of a crime guilty of
that crime on that day. That is anyone that is not part of the
present administration and that is not part of the Jonathan cabal,
which our elderstatesman merrily presides over.
It was quite a show with more than enough razzle-dazzle,
sensationalism and wondrous allegations to go around. I was a little
surprised that my former colleague in the Obasanjo
government Professor Jerry Gana was left out of the list of those that
were being lampooned until I saw him grinning like a Cheshire
cat and clapping so eagerly and with such enthusiasm as our
elderstatesman was spitting fire and defaming those that he once worked with
and worked for.
Such loyalty. And of course the erstwhile gathering
loved Clark's performance and cheered him on passionately even
though the organisers of the event went to the podium as he spoke and advised
him to stop mentioning names and saying such things about people that
were deemed innocent until proven guilty and that were not there to defend
themselves. Yet Chief Clark, in his characteristically brazen manner, brushed
their concerns aside and boldly proclaimed that he would continue his
epistle regardless of all because he was ''already in the waiting room
before leaving this life'' and he didn't care about the consequences
of what he was saying. It was all very exciting and dramatic
but, needless to say, his assertions were
mostly completely false.
Though I have little doubt that the man hates me
with the biblical ''perfect hatred'' I still found it extraordinary
that someone of his sheer standing, magnitude and gravitas would seek to
pronounce guilt on me on a matter in which he clearly knows nothing about. It
is a sad testimony to his excitable nature and his penchant for
making unsustainable and irascible assertions that he should, on this
occasion, have turned himself into a prosecutor, a judge and a jury in a matter
that is before a duly constituted court of law. Let it be on record that not
only did I not embezzle any public funds but also that I was cleared of doing
so by the Senate Aviation Committee who conducted a public hearing into the
whole matter in 2008. Even the EFCC, after initially charging me in July
of that same year, dropped those charges one month later for want of evidence.
Contrary to Clark's assertions, I was the one that actually
investigated and exposed the embezzlement of 6.5 billion naira from the 19.5
billion Aviation Intervention Fund, which had taken place just before I became
Minister in 2006. I was the whistleblower in that matter, I was the one
that wrote to President Obasanjo and reported it and it was after I did so that
he referred it to the security agencies for further investigation. Yet after we
left office and in a manner that is so typical of Nigeria when it
comes to such matters, I was punished for doing so and I was
later accused of committing the very crime that I
had exposed. Is that not absurd? In their zeal to effect the orders
of the late President Umaru Yar'adua and to ''get me at all costs'' the
Farida Waziri-led EFCC, without any prior investigation into the matter,
detained me for 10 days in their custody and proceeded to charge me
in an Abuja magistrate's court for the supposed misappropriation of
the said 6.5 billion naira. Yet one month later, after realising the futility
of their cause and after establishing all the relevant facts, they
withdrew those charges against me and instead prosecuted my
predecessor in office for that same offence at the Abuja Federal High
Court.
Chief Clark claimed that I ''embezzled the money'' that
I was given ''to use to stop the plane crashes'' yet the truth is that not only
did I not embezzle one kobo but also that not one plane crash took place
under my watch. This is despite the fact that 5 crashes had taken place the
year before I became Minister. The fact of the matter is
that by God's grace my team and I put an end to those crashes and saved
lives. It was as a consequence of our hard work, our prayers, our dedication
to duty and the solid reforms that we put in place that those crashes
stopped and did not occur again for at least one year after we left office. Yet
without knowing these facts, Chief Clark got up in a public forum on live
television and not only made the most scurrilous, slanderous and
outrageous allegations against me but he also pronounced me guilty of a crime
that I did not commit.
Is it a surprise that we are in such a mess in
this nation when an elderstatesman behaves in this indecorous way. It
is common knowledge that he is the Godfather-In-Chief of this
administration but the question is whether he is making more friends or enemies
for his son, President Goodluck Jonathan, when he behaves in this way and
when he throws all caution to the wind and pontificates about issues that
he knows nothing about? Perhaps I should point out the fact that the
charges that were preferred against me by the EFCC in a Lagos High Court
in December 2008, 6 months after the first set of charges had been
withdrawn, had nothing to do with the 19.5 billion naira Aviation
Intervention Fund. It was obvious from the outset that all those charges
were malicious and politically-motivated yet for the last four years I have
kept my cool, honoured the conditions of my bail and avoided discussing the
issue publically for obvious reasons.
I have resisted and fought those charges vigorously
for all those years and the likes of Chief E.K Clark and all the
others that have sworn to see my end can be rest assured that I would
continue to do so as long as I have breath in me. In God's time
and in God's way He will vindicate me. It is however most unfair for Chief
Clark to pronounce me guilty in this matter and to label me as a criminal
when a court of law has not done so. This is especially so when our
constitution confers on me the presumption of innocence unless and until I am
proven guilty.
On a final note let me end this write-up with a word about
political persecution and the usage of politically motivated charges
to intimidate those that are perceived by the government of the day as
being vocal and dangerous enemies that must be silenced at all costs. This is
nothing new. And regardless of it's success or otherwise it changes nothing
when it comes to God's purpose. When God's hand is on a man for leadership or
greatness you can lock him up in the deepest and darkest dungeon
below the sea and throw the keys away but when the time is right God
will spring him out again in order for him to fulfill destiny.
The problem with people like Chief Clark and those that do
not understand the power of God and the pull of destiny is that they
refuse to learn from history. Let me give you some examples. Three of
the greatest leaders that Nigeria ever had, namely Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Sir
Ahmadu Bello and President Olusegun Obasanjo all suffered persecution at one
point or the other in their lives and every single one of them was
convicted by a court of law and spent some time in jail. Awolowo
was wrongly accused of treasonable felony and spent three years in
jail, Obasanjo was wrongly accused of plotting a coup and spent three
years in jail and Ahmadu Bello was wrongly accused of stealing public
funds and spent some time in jail. All three of them were targeted by the
powers that were at that time who thought that they had successfully silenced
and discredited them forever by jailing them. Yet when the time was right
circumstances suddenly changed and God's purpose spoke for all three of
them. Awolowo was brought out of jail to become the de facto Prime
Minister of Nigeria, Obasanjo was brought out of jail to become the
President of our country and Bello went on appeal, won his case
(Chief Bode Thomas of ''Thomas, Williams and Kayode'' the first
indigenous law firm in Nigeria who was the law partner of my
late father Chief Remi Fani-Kayode and Chief Rotimi Williams represented
him in court) was acquitted and freed and later went on to join
politics and become the greatest leader that northern Nigeria has ever known.
Destiny and the power of God spoke for all three of them and delivered them
from the hands of their tormentors.
Equally relevant is the bitter end and unspeakable
sorrows that engulfed and ended up consuming those that persecuted them
and that orchestrated their incarceration and terrible ordeals. As a
matter of fact in at least two of those cases those that
orchestrated the persecution and unjust incarceration of these great
men were murdered in cold blood shortly before the release,
pardon and vindication of their victims.
My point is simple and clear- regardless of what the powers
that be decide to subject us lesser mortals to, God alone rules
in the affairs of men and determines the destiny of nations. Even though
some that stalk the corridors of power today believe that they have the power
over life, liberty and death and that they control everything, in reality
they control and they have nothing. This is because the God of Heaven
alone controls all that is.
Any man that has been so intoxicated
by power or by his access to the President to the
extent that he is ready to play God at every given point in time ought to
be pitied for his naivety rather than be the object of our anger. Chief E.K.
Clark, the all-powerful former Minister of Information,
the great leader and elder of the Ijaw nation and the political and
spiritual father of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, in my view,
ought to be viewed in such a light.
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1 comment:
Criminals, thief, ole.
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