Nigeria: We must make the case at the Supreme Court

A transcript is required

There would be continuous commentary and analysis of the judgement offered by the Federal Electoral Petitions Tribunal yesterday regarding the validity of the election of President Umaru Yar’Adua.

However, I do not think we can objectively comment on these matters till we are provided with the transcript of the judgement which was read for well over 3 hours.

Now, the needs for justice as we are sentimentally inclined to have desired might not have been served, but the one for due process and its legal requirements have been served.

A case must be made

I am concerned that the judgement came out as unanimous, but that simply implies that the case and evidence presented by the plaintiffs did not convincingly satisfy the judges beyond reasonable doubt – which meant they could not find in favour of the plaintiffs.

I also worry that the executive inadvertently tried to influence or interfere with the proceedings by plucking the chairman of the tribunal out for the post of Associate Justice in the Supreme Court of Nigeria – that really should have waited till all proceedings in which the judge might have been found to have a professional duty and honourable cause had been completed.

Law of evidence not weight of sentiment

In all, it appears the evidence gathered for presentation has to attain a higher standard of quality to admissibly influence judgement in favour of the plaintiffs, they do have their work cut out.

We also have to note that justice in and of itself cannot exist in a vacuum; it needs to operate in the context of the society in which the laws that govern that process thrives.

If the election of the president had been annulled, the order of precedence which is in complete disarray at the moment with the annulment of the election of the senator who also happened to be the Senate President would have had us going to the 38-year old Speaker of the House – the 4^th in line.

It would have meant all houses of legislature losing their leadership as the executive goes into meltdown and the Speaker tries to steady the ship of the our great nation for possibly 90 days.

Not with this INEC

Conducting another election under the auspices of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which still has Professor Maurice Iwu as chairman would have been untenable.

We still have no confidence in the ability and competence of that organisation to run free and fair elections, they cannot now suddenly have gained the competence to perform, rather they might just have perfected how to cover up the loopholes the tribunal proceedings might have exposed.

The plaintiffs do have a solid case and have another opportunity make that case better at the highest court of the land and to seek justice with a judgement in its finality because inadvertently, the tribunal might have shied away from the culpability of plunging the country into chaos.

Prove the case convincingly

I would hope the President would move speedily to overhaul and revamp INEC with more trustworthy and competent leadership and when this case does get to the Supreme Court, one would expect the newly appointed Associate Justice to recuse himself from participating in a case that is reviewing his earlier opinions.

I would say, things are working, so far, so good, those whooping for joy now might soon be in a different state of mind.

If we believe that the elections in April 2007 were flawed, rigged, rotten and falsified, we need to gather unimpeachable and incontrovertible evidence, then present such with excellence before the learned judges – the dry-run at the tribunal should be lesson enough for all concerned - the judges need to be convinced.

Advance! Nigeria! Advance!

My Kunta Kinte to my roots

30 years after Roots

Yesterday evening I caught the tail end of a programme that at least had enough subject matter covered for me to get a good idea of what was going on.

Chicken George was being interviewed about the epic television series that first showed 30 years ago – Alex Haley’s Roots: The Saga of an American Family.

I remember when I watched the episodes in Nigeria in the late 70’s, it is doubtful any of us watching understood to any extent the story unfolding before our eyes about an untouched Africa, a discovered Africa, a pillaged Africa, the snatched Africans and the Africa adrift of its roots.

Now, there are all sorts of controversy about Alex Haley’s Roots, but I would not rake over those matters, rather I would say that somewhere between fiction and faction, it was a true story but not necessarily one particular experience.

Whilst those who were snatched or traded as slaves with the culpability of their people may not be able to trace their exact roots back to Africa because they were forced to adopt the names of their slave masters, the story of Kunta Kinte in retaining his name at all costs provided the tenuous and probably contrived link through which Alex Haley was able to trace his lineage back to his supposed ancestors in Gambia.

Traditional names matter

This is one area where Africans need to be very conscious, names do matter and the quality of names given almost always helps in tracing lineage especially in Africa where very little is written down, but the repositories of memory in our elders tell us where our journeys began and these hopefully help us chart our courses forward.

For instance, my parents have formal English (Christian) names as their first names and then Yoruba names, however, I know that my mother has another name that does not appear on any papers – All I had to do was mention that name and automatically the elders in my village knew who I was, when I was born, the affirmative words recited as an indication of who I am (Oríkì) and many more things not too obvious to the unskilled.

Oríkì is definitely more than just praise-singing, of what I can remember of mine or one of my siblings, it talks of character, ability, power & wealth, it puts you on a high pedestal to survey your entire, if we lived by the contents of the Oríkì, we cannot but be overcomers.

[My grandmother also had a Judeo-Christian name and it is my view that the preachers of those times termed our names heretical so offered new names that they could pronounce – I was however, baptised in 1975 with my Yoruba name which was given me by my paternal grandfather who happened to be a Muslim.]

For as long as there are elders in my village and hopefully traditions, folklore, history and events are passed down, my mother’s special name is my Kunta Kinte - the road back to my roots.

The way back home

In the case of Alex Haley’s Roots, what he did was not so much to expose the abominable man’s inhumanity to man done with hypocritical Christian piety, but to show his fellow Africa-Americans and the Diaspora borne of slavery that there is a way home, a way to their roots, roots that we in Africa are jettisoning for a modernity that has no bearing on who we really are than consumers of alien customs and trend victims.

It leaves one utterly speechless that Dr. Watson of the “white genetically smarter than black” fame was instrumental in discovering DNA, and this is now part of an activity called The African-American DNA Roots Project where DNA is the Kunta Kinte calling card that links African Americans to particular West African tribes.

Quincy Jones, Chris Tucker, Oprah Winfrey and T.D. Jakes amongst others have had their roots traced back to Africa; the videos below show those episodes of African-American Lives. I remember the BBC showcased a number of genealogical shows called Who Do You Think You Are?, everyone who went through that experience came out with a greater sense of self, belonging, confidence and esteem.

A person with a history, a heritage and understanding of their ancestry and where they have come from will never be patronised, belittled or left despised in depression – this is the lesson of Roots, to those in centuries old Diaspora and contemporary Africa – our Roots are what will make us people of achievement ready to take on the world and its challenges.

Dr. Watson’s discovery might yet be the saving grace of Africa as we offer incontrovertible proof that as men we are equal to anyone anywhere and any challenge wherever. It starts with a name for identity and then blood for where you are from.

Links to Youtube videos of African-American Lives courtesy of Youtube user Peppa800 appear below, I have been unable to ensure the properly embedded videos appear on this page.

African-American Lives 1 of 6

African-American Lives 2 of 6

African-American Lives 3 of 6

African-American Lives 4 of 6

African-American Lives 5 of 6

African-American Lives 6 of 6