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Where the Law is No Respecter of Persons By Anthony Akinola It could not have happened in Nigeria! I mean a former minister and prominent member of a political party in a current coalition government could not have been sent to jail for merely lying. But it did happen in Great Britain. Mr Chris Huhne, a former Energy and Climate Change Secretary and his estranged wife, Vicky Pryce, were each sentenced to eight months imprisonment for “perverting the course of justice”! The facts of the case would have made a Nigerian, accustomed to the culture of impunity in the land, wonder why the British justice system was making such a “fuss” about a rather “inconsequential”offence! For it was for lying about a traffic offence – something we encounter with monotonous regularity in our land – that glittering careers have come crashing down. However, the law is the law in Great Britain. The offence committed by Chris Huhne and Vicky Pryce may have been 10 years ago but the full weight of the law still caught up with them. Their speeding offence would merely have resulted in a points deduction and a driving ban for six months. The reason they are now inmates is because they lied and denied their offence and swapped liability in order to protect their careers. This extract from Mr Justice Sweeney’s judgment sums up the story: “Vicky Pryce and Chris Huhne in the spring of 2003 you had been married for nearly 20 years. You had between you five children. You each had a stellar career. But you also had a problem. For the fourth time in just over a year you, Chris Huhne, had been caught speeding. You were, at that time, involved in a contest to gain the Liberal Democrat nomination for the Eastleigh constituency and I have no doubt that both of you were concerned that the loss of your licence might damage your image. You were both concerned as to the inconvenience to you, Vicky Pryce, in particular, of taking on all the driving duties. Thus it was that acting together out of the combination of a shared ambition as to the further success of Chris Huhne’s political career and the desire not to suffer inconvenience, you decided not to tell the truth but instead to pervert the course of justice. No doubt you thought you would get away with it for some eight years. At some point you, Chris Huhne, began an affair. In November 2010, motivated by an implacable desire for revenge and with little consideration for the position of your wider family you, Vicky Pryce, decided to set out on the dual objective of ruining Chris Huhne while protecting your own position. Once charged you, Vicky Pryce, pursued your false defence of marital coercion. Finally, you have both been brought to justice for your joint offence. Any element of tragedy is your own fault …” Call it the price of vengeance, there should be a limit to which a former partner would want to avenge the breakdown of a relationship, oblivious to the feelings of children. Many can be selfish when they are angry and Vicky Pryce is one example of a woman who sought vengeance without consideration for her own children. Had she pondered what she had set out to do, she would have known its implications – she would not have been a prisoner today for perverting the course of justice. The lesson here cannot be overstated. Another lesson demands a new approach to the upbringing of children. Ours is a nation of pathetic liars. Somewhere else, someone could explain that the reason he or she was absent from work was because they had too much to drink the previous night. The typical Nigerian must conjure up a lie. It could be that their father or mother, who had died 10 or 20 years ago, was admitted to hospital! I know of someone whose family resides in the southern part of our country but would opportunistically blame his plights on the Boko Haram insurgency! We are not helped by our so-called leaders: they lie about their dates of birth, certificate and even agreements they have reached among themselves! Their lies which we should have collectively challenged and condemned are accomodated or endorsed on grounds of ethnic, religious or partisan solidarity. Lie telling is the norm in our society. The“Big Man” in Nigeria can commit murder in the full glare of the television and still get away with it!! |