FEATURE ARTICLE

Saturday, April 20, 2019
[email protected]
Arizona, USA
MORAL LESSON FROM ONNOGHEN'S INGLORIOUS EXIT FROM THE BODY OF BENCHERS!

"If Nigeria does not kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria" �President Muhammadu Buhari

"When the rotten head of a fish is dismembered from its body, it will be fit and edible for human consumption" �Rephrased Yoruba adage.

he die is cast! It is heartwarming to have finally seen a deterrent of corruption at one of the echelon arms of government in Nigeria. Walter Onnoghen was a former Chief Justice of the Nigerian federation. He was a member of the Body of Benchers. The Body of Benchers is responsible for the formal call to the Bar of persons seeking to become legal practitioners in Nigeria. The Chief Justice of the federation sits as the head in this judicial amalgam. Nothing less is expected from the Chief Custodian of law in Nigeria.

It is a big deal to see the conviction of a corrupt Chief Justice who was the custodian of the Nigerian judicial system. It is a new beginning in our quest to see an egalitarian society. All other prospective corrupt politicians and judicial officers in Nigeria should brace or run away from becoming guinea pigs of corruption.

Onnoghen's conviction is an example of the impending serious business of Buhari's administration. He must fulfill the mission we have been yearning for. Corruption breeds hate, resentment, greed, opportunism, grandstanding, poverty, squalor, the exodus of citizens to other countries for greener pastures, insurgency, religious and political terrorism.

Buhari's administration is our last defining moment to getting it right. Buhari has a romanticized date with history. Buhari's administration handling of looters of nation's treasury is sacrosanct to the legacy of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Meanwhile, there must not be sacred cow henceforth in the dispensation of justice in Nigeria. Corruption is a menace to the growth and development of Nigeria. Corruption is malfeasance that has impeded the sense of imagination of Nigerians for obvious possibilities. The generality of people's psychology is epidemic and warped. People don't think straight anymore. People are numbed to the idiosyncrasies of corruption. Corruption is fashionable in Nigeria. It is a systemic problem and disruptor of our nation's progress.

When the rotten head of a fish is dismembered from its body, it will be fit and edible for human consumption. Nigerian judiciary seems to be morphing out of its sorry state. Nigerian Judiciary seems to be rewriting her corrupt history to serve as the arbiter and dispenser of justice. The second arm of government (Judiciary) is a vehicle of justice and the last resort for the common man for seeking redress for his grievances. The punditry of hypocrisy in the Nigerian judicial system is being dismantled before our very eyes. All responsible Nigerians must support the current winnable war on corruption in Nigeria. This is our last collective chance of getting it right.

Onnoghen is one of the partakers and judicial purloiners of our common wealth. He deserves the criminal reward for his shameful conduct in the Nigeria legal jurisprudence. He is a big shame to the law profession and the body of the benchers!

Even, with the burden of proof on the part of the Onnoghen's legal defense, and no matter the judgment of the court on Onnoghen's judicial aberration, the children of corruption will definitely come willfully against the judgment on the former corrupt Chief Justice of the Federation. The enablers of corruption will pontificate forcefully to come in defense of their corrupt judicial and political father! It is in their political DNA.

The age-long moral decadence in Nigeria has been a direct result of the country's dysfunctional judiciary and marred democratic institutions. Nigerian value system is debased. Values are principles, standards or qualities by which we live our lives; our values shape the person we become, and our actions to our neighbors and humanity reflect those values.

Providence loves Nigeria to have brought President Muhammed Buhari to halt Nigerian political and judicial insanity. Under Buhari's administration, the law seems to be an ass, and a judicial arbiter and remonstration for good governance. We are once again believing in our prosecutorial judgment and judicial efforts to sanitize our system in Nigeria. Let the law be an ass in Nigeria to clean the Augean of mess in our miasma political and judicial system. No one should be above the law.

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