Mr

Mr. President, It’s Time To Bring Slok Home

Attorney Aloy Ejimakor

Washington DC

Before I came into motherland Nigeria late in the week before last, I had a busy schedule of sorts back in Washington DC. Busy in more sense than one. It was supposed to be a mild social schedule of going from one Nigerian community event to the other to enjoy some good wine and old-world comradeship with fellow Nigerians from across North America, with some coming from as far as Halifax in the far reaches of Canada. Well, from coming together to socialize, a plurality of Nigerians that descended on Washington waxed true to type by taking the opportunity to quickly founding an ad-hoc body that soon began to do some serious appraisals of the state of the Nigerian Federation, and they so aptly named it ‘One Nigerian Diaspora, One Nigeria’ or ONDON, for short. Amongst the ranks were elements from the crème de la crème of the Nigerian Diaspora – from members of the Organization of Nigerian Lawyers in Diaspora, to Executives of the mother Union – the Organization of Nigerians in Diaspora, Nigerian Professionals in North America, and so forth – mostly middle-of-the-roaders who wouldn’t be caught dead consorting with any ideological or ethnic partisans.

So, it came to pass that the many ordinary Nigerian social gatherings slated to occur in Washington DC inside the last months of 2007 soon graduated from the usual social banter and a good dose of Nigerian music and cuisine to something of a national patriotic chest-beating that included President Yar’Adua and Chairman Iwu’s crucial visits to the US in the same period. Washington DC was thus so hyped up with the Nigerian flavor that Usman Baraya, the acting Nigerian Ambassador to the US called it the season of Nigeria and Nigerians in the US. That so much captured it all.

President Yar’Adua (tentative, diplomatic and credible) was the first to come to town. After him, enter Professor Maurice Iwu (self-assured, patriotic, and primed to inform). For their different missions, both Yar’Adua and Iwu had largely successful outings with Americans and the Nigerian Diaspora to varying degrees. President Yar’Adua charmed George Bush and the White house with his rule of law mantra, commitment to electoral reforms and a diplomatic sleight of hand on Africom. On Africom, Bush was befuddled, and those that didn’t know Yar’Adua well failed to appreciate the deft manner he handled Africom - with no clear pointer to where Nigeria actually stood. On his part, Chairman Iwu made a compelling case for the integrity of Nigeria’s electoral process with his release of the 2007 general elections report, aided by intellectual and patient engagement of his most unreasonable critics. His moral conviction and love of Nigeria was touching.

But one thing (or more) was missing. Not with Iwu’s fine presentations – because the man won hearts and minds and took the wind out of the sail of his critics. It was instead with President Yar’Adua that Nigerians in Diaspora harbored some regret that they did not have enough opportunity or proximity to ask him to address some urgent national business – and that is to say: the business and commercial interests of certain Nigerians significantly hurt by some Obasanjo-era executive decisions that much of the Nigerian Diaspora understood to have been politically motivated. Discussed alongside this issue is the logic advanced by many that Obasanjo’s legacy (or even some peace and quiet in retirement) will continue to suffer unless President Yar’Adua urgently and clearly addresses some of the major questionable decisions carried over from the previous administration. What is more is that such decisions, while they persist, are seen to be a double whammy of sorts in the sense that they constitute both a drag on bringing some closure to Obasanjo – so he can have peace, and the moral burden such policy hangovers impose on a Yar’Adua that is supposed to be winning Nigerians to his side.

From the many such decisions, the two that became constant refrains and stood out like sore thumbs are the ones that had to do with revocation of Slok’s license and credible reports that Obasanjo also revoked up to four oil blocks hithertofore owned by Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, former governor of Abia State. Judging by the professional caliber, ideological and geographical spread of my fellow Nigerian Diaspora who gathered to discuss these issues among the many other national issues of the day that were also within gun sight, I surmised that something good will definitely come out of this. There was this general agreement that Orji Kalu was specially marked out and dealt an unfair hand. Throughout the discussions that spanned for hours on end, I noticed this palpable feeling that the opinions rendered were mainly propelled by a common human instinct to see immediate and total justice to a man (Orji) who has suffered so much just for making bold to speak his mind. One gentleman from up Northern Nigeria by name of Haruna captured it well when he just blurted out: ‘Guys, it’s time to bring Slok home and restore Orji’s oil blocks’. And another jolly good fella hazarded: ‘or pay him some compensation for every buck he lost’. It was admirable.

What made Orji’s case extremely compelling above the many others like it was the sad fact that the man may have irretrievably lost his controlling investments in Hallmark bank, and the Southgate, where he was said to also have substantial interests. The general feeling amongst the many Diasporans gathered preponderated so much in favor of making Orji Kalu whole again - to the extent that some people even toyed with the quaint idea of encouraging Orji to explore legal means of seeking recompense from the Nigerian government for all he may have lost from the summary expulsion of Slok from Nigeria’s skies, unlawful revocation of his oil blocks, and the unfair forcible closures of Hallmark and Southgate. This postulate assumes that a political solution will remain unlikely in the foreseeable future.

A few lawyers even suggested that action may properly lie in US courts because the unique investment structure of Slok, for instance may sustain a colorable claim of minimum contacts with the United States which is all that is required for an aggressive and activist US federal court to assert long-arm personal jurisdiction over foreign sovereigns when it comes to commercial activities. But those who know Orji well maintained that he is too patriotic to attempt anything that might make Nigeria vulnerable to some foreign court and the certain diplomatic embarrassment that follows. This is not discounting the plain fact that precedents are known to exist in every democracy touting adherence to the precepts of rule of law where someone in Orji’s position had proceeded to court and easily prevailed on an action for real and exemplary damages. Yet the feeling amongst the Nigerian Diaspora gathered was that Orji is smart and statesmanlike enough to look to President Yar’Adua’s well known goodwill for the final redress that must someday soon come to Slok and other investments interests of his that were similarly imperiled by executive fiat. It is seen to be an easy political decision for President Yar’Adua because of two reasons: one – no due process was present in the time-line of the decision that led to Slok’s fall and the oil blocks to boot, in addition to the high political content and drama that pervaded them all; and two – by credible accounts, these are amongst some of the few decisions that Obasanjo is said to be now regretting. And that Orji himself is not known to have pressured Yar’Adua in this wise even made his case much more compelling and his mien as admirable as ever.

Other national issues that dominated discussions throughout the two-day symposium included the place of Professor Maurice Iwu in the present scheme of reforming Nigeria’s electoral systems and institutions. On this point, the feeling was rife that Maurice Iwu deserves national gratitude for surmounting monumental hurdles to deliver on an election that was so crucial to advancing Nigerian democracy to the next level. And considering his evident mastery of the traditional difficulties that had burdened Nigeria’s past elections, participants resolved to encourage President Yar’Adua to consider Professor Iwu an indispensable part of the nation’s current efforts at electoral reforms that make sense. Ancillary to this was the hope that Alhaji Atiku and General Buhari would, in the nearest future, see the ultimate wisdom in having their cases withdrawn from the tribunal so that Nigeria will be free from the drag that comes with protracted legal challenge of presidential poll results. Parallels were drawn from the United States and India where politicians have understood that such prolonged challenge to results of national elections, howsoever justified, ultimately brings some incalculable harm to a nation’s standing in the comity of nations. But most importantly, while applauding the Nigerian judiciary for its independence, everyone present hoped that the election tribunals hearing petitions across the country will not turn copy-cat by frivolously nullifying elections that should ordinarily stand; and that the Presidential Election Tribunal particularly will muster the requisite judicial temperament to see beyond mere legalisms and understand that nullifying a presidential election in a nation as volatile as Nigeria is no child’s play and therefore should never arise unless on a strict proof of some egregious misconduct that cannot be ignored in any circumstance. There is no evidence of such a thing yet.

Back to Orji Kalu, Slok, and oil blocks, it was the final opinion of the Nigerian Diaspora gathered that The Gambia where Slok holds sway is not known by any credible accounts to be below par in her air safety regulations, and given the exemplary performance of Slok in West Africa’s airspace industry, Nigeria stands to benefit from calling the airline back home. The benefits are legion – running the gamut from reducing the nation’s unemployment rates to adding value to the private investment portfolio of Nigeria’s aviation industry. But more to the auxiliary point of this essay, the Nigerian Diaspora feels very strongly that Obasanjo should care more about his legacy by summoning his famous courage to finally go to President Yar’Adua and encourage him to reverse some of hard-nosed decisions he seemed to have taken in too much haste, undoubtedly as a consequence of his understandable attempt to protect his political turf.

Aloy Ejimakor is of Law Group, Washington DC alloylaw@yahoo.com