Diepreye Alamieyeseigha:  Dancing Naked At The Market Square

By

Akinyemi Akinlabi

YEMAK01@AOL.COM

 

Sometimes in July 2000, I was introduced to a high ranking government official in Florida for a discussion on one of   his proposed investments in Africa and possibly Nigeria. Knowing my Nigerian identity, the first question he asked me was: Akin, are you a Chief, Prince or a Doctor? According to him, every Nigerian he had met has always had one of those titles. He told me he had met more than thirty Nigerians and I am the only one without a title. He later told me two instructive things about Nigerians he had met (1) That Nigerians are crazy for titles to boost their ago and (2) That an average Nigerian is a crook.  Akin, why should I trust you? Why should I think you are an honest person to deal with? I have been to Nigeria; I have been ripped off   by Princes, Chiefs, Senators, Governors and Ministers. How will you convince me that you are different from the Chiefs, Princes, Doctors, Senators and Governors I have met?   I was shocked and felt insulted with the questions he raised. The best I could tell him was to go with his investment if he would not trust me and rely on my words. As a proud Nigerian, I will not take an insult to my person not alone my country. We parted ways and he is presently doing a big business in South Africa. My country has lost millions of dollar in direct foreign investment. Who is to blame for his decision?

 

Many foreign investors and corporate bodies I have met have one or two bad stories to tell about Nigeria. This is why some of us are very happy with the quality of job (some people say it is selective) Nuhu Ribadu is doing at EFCC. There is no doubt that the quality of job is raising the international rating of Nigeria. In my open letter dated October 12th , 2005 (published on this website), I commended the EFCC’s job under Ribadu. Most especially the arrest and prosecution of Diepreye Alamieyeseigha. Until Friday the 18th of   November, 2005 we never new the arrest and incarceration of the Governor-General of Bayelsa (as he is called) will worsen the international reputation of our country and display a more worrisome picture of the rogues we have in Nigeria Government Houses what could be worse than the Chief Law Enforcement Officer of a state jumping bail and disguising as someone else? Only a crook of international standard will do this, forge traveling documents and beat security of two sovereign nations at the same time. Why should someone like this govern a State?  And why should he be protected by immunity or whatever? Is this the same person who has the constitutional responsibilities of approving death sentences on criminals? What will he do if a criminal on death role breaks jail and runs away in Bayelsa?

 

The Bayelsians did not help matters either. Newspapers reported that they trooped to the streets, Amassoma (his village) and the Bayelsa State Government House to welcome him back to government. Welcoming and jubilating at the arrival of Diepreye Alamieyeseigha (DSP) is like telling the whole world that we are all criminals, we support lawbreakers , we adore rogues and we want to be governed  by rogues. I see the jubilation and dancing as nothing better than naked dancing in the market square. The whole world has seen him as a thief and lawbreaker. The best he should do is to bury his head in shame or possibly commit suicide.  The daring reception DSP received on arrival was not different from the way Joshua Dariye was received in Plateau after he also jumped bail from London and if this trend is not checked, Tafa Balogun will be received the same way when he returns to Ila-Oragun in four months time. His return will be more laudable than the return of Bashorun MKO Abiola to Lagos (from London) during the dark days of Abacha misrule. With the heroic reception given to DSP, heroic solidarity for thieves and corrupt public officers has gone round at least four out of the six regions in Nigeria. At least we can talk of Joshua Dariye from North Central, Tafa Balogun and Late Afolabi from South West, Fabian Osuji and Wabara from East, and Diepreye Alamieyeseigha from South- South .Could it be right to say this is our culture?

 

Things like these hurt the sensibility and receptivity of normal Nigerians and give wrong signals to the international community. It is not part of our culture or ethics to steal and loot but these days it seems as if our leaders and even the custodians of culture hob knob and fraternize with looters. Or how do we explain the solidarity given to Tafa Balogun at the inception of his trial by at least three first class traditional rulers and ex Inspectors General of Police (IG) who were attending the hearings with him. Would these Obas and IGs commend their children if they steal money from their houses or will they present them awards for cheating in WAEC or JAMB exams? In Nigeria of today, do people still beat and reprimand their children when they steal? A time has come for a social reengineering in Nigeria. We should be made to see public funds as everybody’s fund and should be used for everybody and protected by everybody.

 

Nigerians have a good hope in the EFCC and the anti corruption program of this administration. The EFCC has been able to prosecute and get Tafa Balogun sentenced because there is no immunity protecting him. The immunity clause has incarcerated the police and the EFCC from prosecuting the governors. I strongly believe that if the drafters of 1999 constitution had a premonition that this is the way the immunity will be used by our governors, they would not have put it in the constitution. It is high time we reviewed this section of the constitution so that criminals in power could be appropriately brought to book. In order to facilitate this, my organization, the Florida based Nigerians For Ethical Society  will be sponsoring a private bill seeking the removal of immunity from the State Governors and their Deputies. Towards this, we would be collating names and signatures of 5,000 Nigerians for the project. If you wish to be part of it, please go to our website WWW.NFES.ORG  from Monday November 28, 2005  to sign in. The bill and the signatures collated will be delivered to the Nigeria Senate President, Senator Ken Nnamani and President Olusegun Obasanjo in January, 2006. Possibly, we would be able to make a change together.

 

It is my sincere hope that the Nigerian Senate will pass this as the first private bill in the tenure of this administration. Meanwhile, I have a Yoruba proverb for Diepreye Alamieyeseigha and his friends. Al”agisa to njo loru, Ile fee mo (It reminds the man in rags dancing at night that the day will soon break). He should remember that 2007 is just months away. The immunity will be over and the law will be waiting for him in Nigeria and Europe.

 

Akinyemi Akinlabi

Florida, USA