I have never met Kayode Are, but I would love to. And I really mean it. We have respectable mutual friends who have a very high and healthy regard for him. They speak of his professionalism, maturity and integrity. When we started Leadership Confidential, he was one of the very few we decided to be sending complimentary copies to; and, before we started the weekly publication, I wrote him an official letter informing him of our desire to go weekly. Even though I cannot independently confirm it, I was also told that it was he who admonished some devious PDP apparatchiks against tampering with the results of the elections in Kano and Lagos states in 2003. He warned of the dire consequences if they attempted to rig the elections.

Towards the end of 2004, on one of my trips to the United Kingdom to attend a conference, I was accosted by an overzealous SSS operative at the Abuja airport who seized all the copies of Leadership Confidential I had in my travelling bag. This operative, who apparently had never heard the name Leadership Confidential, thought he had made a huge breakthrough in intercepting seditious materials (especially because he had never seen a publication that calls itself “Confidential”). He impatiently ordered me to “escort” him to a nearby room where he promptly seized the publications. He asked me some incoherent questions before eventually allowing me to travel that day. On my return four days later, I met the confiscated copies on my desk in the office (the exact number) together with a letter signed by a very senior official of the SSS apologising for the action of the overzealous operative. The official who wrote the letter concluded by saying that, “the Director-General extends his regards and compliments”. I believed every word in the letter as it confirmed all the things I had heard about the DG as a suave professional who knows his onions.

That was why my first reaction to the Gestapo-like invasion of the premises of Leadership in Abuja last week was one of surprise until I was told it was not the national headquarters of the SSS that was involved. It was the FCT command, I was told. I was still a little surprised, nonetheless.

I had been away on my annual leave for about a month in the United States with a few days in the harsh weather of London. The first call I received after alighting the Lufthansa aircraft at about 5pm in Abuja that day (Tuesday, January 9) was that the SSS had “sealed off” the Leadership  premises and arrested our general manager, Abraham Nda-Isaiah, and the editor of the daily title, Bashir Akko. When I enquired what their brief was, I was told that they came to arrest Danladi Ndayebo, the news editor of the weekly newspapers, over a lead story the previous Saturday in which it was insinuated that Gov. Peter Odili and his boss Olusegun Obasanjo own Arik Air. And since they did not know what Danladi looked like, even though he was standing right there before them, they asked the GM to produce him. The GM refused to do any such thing in spite of the fact that there were about 10 of them. In the end, they picked up the GM himself and the editor. They kept them for about 10 hours and released them at about 10pm that same day, with a caveat that Danladi must be produced the following day.

When I got the call, my first reaction was to place a call to the SSS director-general, but I was told he had nothing to do with it. As I said earlier, it was the FCT command. In fact, I later found out that he was not even aware of it.

If any write-up in any newspaper insinuates that Obasanjo has interests in Arik Air, what is wrong with that? This is especially as it is well known that Arik has a relationship with Gov. Peter Odili. Who doesn’t know that the relationship between the president and Odili is far more than the paltry Arik Air? And besides, hasn’t the president himself owned up to being a substantial shareholder of Transcorp, several months after we first broke the story? What is Arik airline compared to Transcorp? The Nigerian president who has become an expert in blind trust investments could invest in Arik if he desires -- and I wouldn’t know whether that is a misdemeanour or not -- but it is certainly a matter of public interest. The only problem will be if public funds are involved or if, in any way, he has abused his office. We, for instance, have no problem with Transcorp as an organisation and I am glad we have had the opportunity to make that clear in a meeting  with their top executives in our office. In fact, we, like the promoters of the organisation, believe it is a smart idea. But we have a problem where the president of the nation and several of his ministers and principal officers are shareholders in a company that buys several of our national assets at concessionary prices. That is definitely an abuse of office, if not outright fraud.

The president has given away the Abuja Hilton Hotel, NITEL and three choice oil blocks to this company in which he has a pecuniary interest. And as if that is not bad enough, the director-general of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Ndidi Okereke-Onyiuke, is the chairman of this company -- and they are currently in the market seeking funds from the public. There are some things that are only possible in Obasanjo’s Nigeria . In the past, our leaders at least respected us by covering their tracks when stealing our money and assets but, under Obasanjo, the stealing is done right under our noses and in the afternoon light. And someone thinks we should not talk? No, Nigeria is not yet a banana republic in spite of their best efforts.

If the state feels offended about any write-up, there is a civilised due process to follow in handling it. They should charge the reporter or newspaper to court where the reporter’s main defence will be the truth. Or is anyone afraid of the truth? In countries like South Africa , Ghana and even Mali here, you would never hear of the arrest of any journalist. That is why these countries are considered more politically sophisticated than we are. Which is a great pity indeed. Not long ago, the Obasanjo government arrested reporters of the Daily Independent and AIT for declaring that the president bought a “tokunbo” presidential jet at some ridiculously inflated amount. By the way, this is the same aircraft that developed some mechanical fault and almost crashed on its maiden voyage.

Why should it not concern us all that the president’s life could be in danger in a tokunbo aircraft? Or are some people so greedy that they have not thought about that? Even if Obasanjo has become very unpopular, nobody really wants him dead. At least we occasionally enjoy some of his jokes, and he is still able to make us laugh after messing up the entire polity. In any case, it is the sanctity of his office that we should all be interested in. We hear that someone was piqued when the newspaper and TV station stated the astronomical amount that was used to purchase the aircraft, in a swindle that has now become the mark of the Obasanjo government. Well, we still want to know how much was spent in purchasing the “tokunbo” aircraft. The fact that old aircraft have been crashing in Nigeria -- as if we don’t know what we are doing -- is egregiously embarrassing enough. To have the president’s plane crashing on account of old age will be the greatest opprobrium we do not wish to experience.

Sometimes I wonder whether some operatives of our security agencies know the difference between the national interest and Obasanjo’s interest. How does reporting that the president is a part owner of Arik Air constitute a threat to national security?

It was only at the weekend that the SSS, FCT command, released the editor-in-chief and the general editor of The Abuja Inquirer, another newspaper, from captivity. Their grudge was over a lead story in which the newspaper insinuated that the Obasanjo and Atiku feud could lead to a military coup. It is hard to understand the reasoning of those who continue to embarrass this same government by these arrests. Do they know the kind of negative image they continue to give a government that is already facing a credibility crisis in the international community? The New York Times, The Economist of London, Washington Post and the London-based Africa Confidential have declared categorically at different times that the untrammelled corruption in the country, collapse of NEPA and the refineries, the third term project and the bribes that went with it, the Niger Delta imbroglio, the spate of illegal impeachments and the flagrant disrespect of court verdicts by the executive arm could lead Nigeria back to the dark days of the military. Will our security agencies arrest the officials of these papers?

No newspaper in Nigeria will ever pray for the return of the military, because it is too early for Nigerian media practitioners to forget their experiences. When Nigerian journalists make such reports, it is usually with a grim sense of foreboding that the recklessness of our politicians could take us back to the dark days. And, indeed, if some irresponsible people in power do not stop driving roughshod on Nigeria with impunity, our worst fears could come to pass, no matter how many journalists are arrested. Don’t forget that it is under this dispensation that a sitting governor was kidnapped because he refused to sign away the state’s funds to his godfather.

Having said all that, it is important to know that the media and organisations like the SSS and EFCC can only be partners in progress. That is why even the most dilettante observer would have noticed that Leadership has continued to cover the activities of the SSS and the EFCC in the best positive light possible, except when we feel they are overstepping their bounds. But we also understand some of the official pressures the bosses of these agencies face from lawless public office holders who would want to take advantage of the system from time to time. But, no matter what happens, our mutual motivation should continue to be “For God and Country”.