Kano

Kano: A Confluence Of Justice And Injustice!

Arch. Mohammed Ibrahim Khalil

With the sanctity of its pen, the Appeal court, in a unanimous judgment, not surprisingly though, on Wednesday, January 8, 2009, stroke out the appeal filed before it by the PDP Gubernatorial candidate in the 2007 general elections and upheld the election of Governor Ibrahim Shekarau. The allure about this judgment lies not only in the fact that it put to rest the protracted litigation for the soul of Kano, so to say, between the two contestants but also in that there is nothing anybody can do to change it. To this extent, one must congratulate Malam Ibrahim Shekarau for the victory recorded, the vanquished for a keen contest all through and the judiciary for the courage to deliver such a just judgment in what many perceived as a highly polarized case.

Coincidently, the judgment was delivered not long after His Excellency has presented the most ambitious budget proposal ever in the state to the state House of Assembly. With all the shenanigans, distractions, frustrations and other uncertainties that the legal dispute entailed now over, it would therefore not be out of place to expect Governor Shekarau to reposition the administration for good governance in line with the aspirations of the people. In this sense, the state House of Assembly, for instance, must be allowed time to clinically do justice to the budget proposal, particularly in view of the dwindling revenue. Similarly, one would wish His Excellency, as the father of all, including the defeated PDP candidate and his supporters, to reach out to anybody who could sincerely help in the consolidation of the people’s confidence in the government.

However, beyond the euphoria that the Governor Shekarau victory and the triumph of justice at the Court of Appeal generates, the renewed expectations of the people and indeed the avowed commitment of the government to improve on the welfare of the people as widely reported, it must not be lost that the public jury is certainly out about the synergy between the celebrations and practical commitment to justice on the part of the administration in Kano. Like the conscientious jury, not a few people are painfully puzzled and innocently embarrassed that an administration that is awarded justice denies justice awarded by the same temple of justice. Here, one is talking about Malam Bashir Abba Shariff and a judgment, delivered by a High Court since July 2003, that ordered for his unconditional reinstatement back into the service but the now Appeal court judgment celebrating government has refused to comply with!

Justice, particularly to those who subscribe, profess and adhere to the Islamic religion, is the conscience of the society so much that its dispensation is more of an article of faith than an exigency. It is within this context that, in a manner of speaking, Kano was literally in Kaduna last week in the pursuit of justice at the Court of Appeal and when subsequently delivered it was accepted as such. While the court decision that upheld the election stabilized the government in Kano to a very large extent, it must be admitted that it also consoled and left the opposition with no alternative than to put all that had taken place during and after the election behind it.

More than anything else, the emphatic Appeal court verdict therefore presents to Governor Shekarau the unique opportunity for sober reflection and self-reproaching to particularly be resolute in defense of justice no matter who is involved and for whatever reason it was denied, if ever, in the first place. To the charging of many, the refusal by the government to respect and comply with a High Court judgment that ordered the reinstatement of Malam Bashir Abba Shariff back into the service not only smacks of high handedness, disdain for the rule of law, justice and equity but also depicts the worst injustice one could ever imagine on the part of the administration Malam Shekarau leads. It would also remain the heaviest moral burden on the shoulders of the principal officers of the administration, particularly those directly responsible, the weight of which would better be felt after leaving office.

In the Holy Qur’an, The Almighty Allah exhorts the believers to “…..stand firm for justice and bear true witness for the sake of Allah, even though it be against yourselves, your parents or your relatives. It does not matter whether the party is rich or poor – Allah is well wisher of both. So let not your selfish desires swerve you from justice. If you distort your testimony or decline to give it, then you should remember that Allah is fully aware of your actions (Q4: 135)”.

Saying it as it is, the lamentations and torrents of reservations going round in Kano, more especially within the civil service, is that Malam Bashir Abba Shariff is only a victim of a lynch mob within the administration that is all out to unleash it’s insatiable and intransigence quest for perpetual injury on real and imaginary threats to their selfish interests. Thus, by this understanding, the Kano state Governor is in no way associated with this crass lawlessness, as even the skeptics contend that he might not be aware of the case. Whatever the case may be, it is rather hard to exonerate His Excellency since, in this circumstance, the buck stops at his desk.

Speaking to people in position of power and authority, the second Caliph, Umar bn Khattab (RA) said “Verily justice is an important obligation to God and man. You have been charged with this responsibility. Discharge the responsibility so that you may win the approbation of God and the goodwill of the people. Treat the people equally in your presence, in your company and in your decisions so that the weak despair not of justice and the high-placed have no hope of your favor. The onus of proof lies on the plaintiff. He who denies must do so on oath. Compromise is permissible, provided it does not turn the unlawful into lawful and the lawful into unlawful. Let nothing prevent you from changing your previous decision if after consideration you feel that the previous decision was incorrect”.

In the first place, the fact that the High court’s decision that voided the dismissals of Bashir Abba Shariff (and Abdulmumini Yelwa), like that of the Court of Appeal in respect to the Gubernatorial election in Kano, is sacrosanct, the refusal by the government to accordingly comply with the judgment amounts to court contempt at the most unexpected place. This much is said by the Civil Service Commission in a letter KSC/736/39 dated 16^th February 2004, that “Any action to be taken by the Commission contrary to the Court’s ruling will be regarded as contempt of Court” and therefore reinstated the two officers adding that its “decision became absolutely imperative as the Commission has not any other alternative other than to comply with the Court’s ruling on the case”. Secondly by, somewhere along the line, reinstating only Abdulmumini Yelwa, with whom Bashir Abba Shariff was dismissed on the same allegation and ordered to be reinstated by the same judgment, the government has, regrettably, elevated selective justice and double standard to instruments of state policy.

In a Report dated 4^th April, 2007, and submitted thereabout on this case, the State Public Complaint and Anti-Corruption Agency recommended that, “the Office of the Head of Civil Service should as a matter fact reinstate the officer back into service as ordered by (the) Court and all issues relating to his salary and other entitlements be addressed and paid to him accordingly with effect from the date the court reinstated him i.e. 16^th April 1999.” Like the Civil Service Commission in 2004, the Directorate further warned that “any action short of complying with the terms of the judgment is contempt of court” and concluded that “the office of the Head of Service should avoid the embarrassment of any court proceeding that may be initiated against it by the petitioner”.

Similarly, speaking on the same case, in a letter PE.1/CRD/219/08/1/53 dated 12^th May, 2008, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice reminded the administration in Kano that the Federal Government “wants to see the rule of law entrenched and Mr. President has declared at several fora that Court judgments must be obeyed by all, without regard to who is involved, so that Nigeria can truly be said to be a democracy. It is in this regard that I ask that your Government comply with Court’s judgment”. The letter concluded that “Mr. Bashir Abba Shariff should be reinstated to his job and paid all monies due to him just as Abdulmumini Yelwa was reinstated”.

If the famous “Ten Points Retreat Resolution” adopted at inception by the present administration is anything to go by, allowing this case to degenerate to this extent is most regrettable and unfortunate, to say the least. All the same, in line with the justice trajectory vouchsafed to us divinely and by the pious Sayyadina Umar (RA), as reported above, among others, it is certainly not a big deal for the government to heed to the admonitions and wise counsels offered by the authorities to right the wrong, in line with what Sayyadina Ali (RA) said “He who seeks to do justice with men, let him desire for them what he desires for himself. Contentment is the asset which is never exhausted. Governments are a trial for men. He who fights against the truth, the truth will defeat him. Truth is bitter, but its result is sweet”.

It should have been noted that, whereas the court judgment and the decision of the civil service commission that, “in line with the cardinal principle of equity, justice, and fairness of the present administration, the Commission had accordingly stood by and complied with the court’s order and therefore reinstated the two former officers in their employment and rank prior to their dismissal from service in 1999” explicitly stated in it’s letter KSC/736/42 dated 11^th March 2004, by constitutional and legal encumbrances, cannot be altered, the defiance to comply with the judgment by the government, being an absurdity, does not enjoy that immunity. After all, reinstatement of dismissed officers is not anything new. It is on record that, to the credit of the present administration, many officers dismissed by the previous administrations were recalled back either by administrative fiat or at the instance of court judgments, as in the case of Abdulmumini Yelwa. In both cases, the high heavens did not fall and the officers concerned are still in active service, contributing their quota in the development of the state. What is new, an innovation of sort, however, is the defiance, for the first time in the history of Kano, to recall Malam Bashir Abba Shariff, inspite of a court order.

A companion of our Prophet Muhammad, Umayr bin Sad Al-Ansari (RA) said “O people! Islam is a mighty fortress and a sturdy gate. The fortress of Islam is justice and its gate is truth. If you destroy the fortress and demolish the gate you would undermine the defenses of this religion. Islam will remain strong so long as the Sultan or central authority is strong. The strength of the Sultan neither comes from flogging with the whip nor killing with the sword but from ruling with justice and holding fast to truth”.

The preponderance of impunity and excessive use of power in this case portends more danger than ordinarily associated with. Apart from the perpetual injury it afflicts on the society, it exposed every public officer in the service of Kano state to unlimited insecurity and erodes public confidence from state institutions that are legally commissioned to regulate the conduct and affairs of the people in a bid to ensure better society. Similarly, the apparent preferred stance of the government would obviously send wrong signals to our teaming youth about the virtue in respecting court judgments and make the people`s renewed enthusiasm hopelessly barren.

Moreover, the government defiance has also unnecessarily put into questions the credibility and refutation of some of its best functionaries, who must find it rather difficult to reconcile their conscience with some of its actions. For instance, as a private legal practitioner, who personally handled the case for Bashir Abba Shariff and Abdulmumini Yelwa from inception to conclusion before the High Court, Malam Aliyu Umar, now the present Attorney-General in the state, few days shy to his appointment, in one of his letters to the government, dated 21^st July, 2003, described it`s action as “unfair, unjust and inequitable”. Strangely, all through these five years, the Chief Law Officer has his voice and got his pen dried while the persecution of his erstwhile client continues, the rule of law further assaulted and the constitution serially breached.

Also recalled is the Press Conference by the former Commissioner for Information on 14^th February, 2006. In an attempt to espouse the rule of law credentials of the administration at the said conference, the former Commissioner, among other things, told the world “that during the former regime, a court in Kano ordered the State Government to reinstate public servants it dismissed which order was not complied with. But upon assumption of office, this government examined the judgment and complied with there and then”. The fact is that the former Commissioner was either economical with the truth, for want of a better way to say it, or misled to have made that statement since the said examination and subsequent compliance was selective, applied to Abdulmumini Yelwa only. Why the erroneous statement when it was not expedient?

So unless the administration in Kano returns to the trajectory set forth by the Holy Qur’an and the most pious people that Islam could ever have as well as to Constitutionality, the eloquent massages made while celebrating the New Islamic Year (1430 AH) and the victory recorded at Court of Appeal in respect to the Gubernatorial election that substantially dwelled on justice and it’s dispensation, as on other occasions, would be mere sophistry and reduce Kano, the pace setter, to a confluence of justice and injustice. If that were to be, those who sacrificed all that they valued most and died to see Kano attain what it has attained, would certainly turn in their graves. However with Malam Ibrahim Shekarau at the helms and the epitome of justice, His Royal Highness, the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero around, kano must not be so reduced even as, for now, the cap fits.

Arch. Mohammed Ibrahim Khalil (khalilunit@yahoo.com)