|
Balogun Deserves Longer Term of Imprisonment than Six Months By Paulinus Okache Onah The recent verdict of six months imprisonment passed by the Nigerian judiciary on Tafa Balogun'"s case is more ridiculous than funny. If the judiciary is not willing to give him the punishment he deserves for the gravity of the crimes he committed it should better revoke that verdict passed on him. It casts doubt to my mind if the judiciary is not sabotaging the efforts of the executive arm of government in getting rid of corruption within high- ranking officials in our country. It is most disheartening that Balogun whose appointment as the inspector- General of police was viewed by Nigerians as a welcome development based on his years of experience and his seemingly clean records on the job later became a hope dashed to every Nigerian. He came on board with the image of a messiah and the strenght of an eagle with lofty promises to sanitize the police force not knowing to the masses that his major goal was to build financial empire for himself. No sooner had he mounted that position than he started profiteering on his subjects. he became corrupt in the manner that none of his predecessor has ever been.He deliberately cornered his subjects ''s salaries for several months in such a bad manner that some of his members are yet to recover from the trauma they went through as a result of not meeting their financial obligations. A lot of them had their children withdrawn from school and those who could not withstand the stress gave up the ghost. Amidst all these pains he inflicted on his subjects, he had the gut to display his ill- acquired money by purchasing houses in almost all states of the federation apart from the huge amount of money he deposited in various banks in the country. All the strategies he claimed to have in combating crime and to tackle corruption within the police force were completely ignored. He later found himself among the comity of most corrupt citizens of Nigeria. Iam very sure that Balogun expected a worse punishment than that which is why immediately he came out from the court he was shamelessly saying that '' i will rise again,'' ''' I will rise again.'' . He has that confidence that he would rise again because he knows that immediately he is out of that place he would use part of his stolen wealth to sponsor irresponsible politicians and when they finally win, they will recommend him for national award and decorate him with chieftaincy regalia and start calling him "' order of the Niger,'' '' Order of everything''. At that time a clear case of theft shall be turned to Administrative blunders. That is characteristic of Nigerian situation. It is indeed very pathetic for situation to continue this way. The implication is that they is no head way. It means that any body who finds himself in position of authority can decide to cart away the entire resources with a view to spend a few months in prison in as much as the resources can sustain his family for life wether they work or not. Infact if what Balogun has done in Nigerian is done in America where i currently live and other advanced countries of the world he would be seriously dealt with. Giving somebody who committed such atrocity in our land only six months imprisonment simply because he pleaded guilty is a child's play.That ruling does not portray any act of seriousness. How could he have pleaded non- guilty when they are so many evidences against him. In conclusion, iam of the opinion that radical issues should be confronted with radical measures.serious matters deserves to be handled with seriousness .Other subsequent ruling against criminal cases should take into consideration the gravity of the offence and mete out punishment accordingly.
Paulinus Okache Onah
|