SIMON KOLAWOLE: Immunity is Obviously Not the Problem

Simon Kolawole Live!: By Simon Kolawole, Email: simon.kolawole@thisdaylive.com

Was I surprised? No, I wasn’t. I always suspected that Major Hamza al-Mustapha would one day walk free over the assassination of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola. Lawyers would talk about proving a case beyond reasonable doubt; activists would say it is better to free a thousand guilty men than hang an innocent man; and al-Mustapha’s friends would talk about how unfair and inhuman it was to have put the former henchman of General Sani Abacha on trial for 14 years. I have even heard people claim that al-Mustapha, assuming if he did order the killing of Kudirat, was only acting as a state agent and should never be made to bear individual responsibility for it.

The High Court sitting in Lagos had, based on its evaluation of the evidence before it, condemned al-Mustapha to death. The Court of Appeal, based on its own evaluation of the same evidence, set him free. The acquittal of al-Mustapha and Alhaji Lateef Shofolahan now brings to an end the trials of those suspected to have carried out or attempted to carry out politically motivated murders under Abacha: his son, Mohammed, Ishaya Bamaiyi, James Danbaba and Rabo Lawal. One by one, they were all set free by the courts. We wasted enormous resources and time prosecuting these cases. Yet it was always clear that none would face justice at the end of the day.

Al-Mustapha was given a hero’s welcome in Kano State. They said he was only being persecuted by the Nigerian state. The crowd that received him was unbelievable. A lavish party was held in 2002 when Mohammed Abacha was released by the courts. He too stood trial for the death of Kudirat and the attempted assassination of Mr. Alex Ibru, the Publisher of the Guardian who died two years ago. Mohammed would probably have been elected governor of Kano State if the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) had fielded him in the 2011 governorship election.

The Lagos State government, which prosecuted the al-Mustapha case, has threatened to head for the Supreme Court, but I can bet my laptop on it that the apex court will return a not-guilty verdict. Why was I not surprised at the turn of events? Let me answer that question with another question: who has ever been convicted for assassination in Nigeria? Al-Mustapha was not going to be the first, let’s be honest. I don’t know if al-Mustapha was guilty or not, but I am saying categorically that even if he was guilty, he would never face the music. In Nigeria, only the small fries face justice.

We need to look inwards and begin to ask ourselves the hard questions. Why do the big guys get away with crimes? Just recently, some condemned men were executed in Edo State for armed robbery and murder. We eagerly bring down the hammer on the lowly criminals. If you hear that someone has been convicted for murder or robbery or embezzlement, it must be a commoner. That is the way our system is configured. The big people who commit crimes that are ten times worse are always pampered. Google the news on the trial of high-profile suspects in Nigeria and most of the stories are on how a court has ordered EFCC to release the passport of an accused so he can travel abroad for medical treatment. The lowly suspects who are sick can die and rot away in detention.

Have you noticed that not one former governor is in jail for corruption in Nigeria? Not one. Not one former president or head of state. Not one former council chairman. Not one former minister. Not one former commissioner. No one former permanent secretary. Not one former Senator or House member. You think this is a co-incidence? You think it is a co-incidence that a phone thief is jailed while someone who has stolen billions of naira is given national honours? You think it is a co-incidence that high-profile persons always avoid conviction? Those who have the strong connections always find a way round the system. The message is clear: thou shall not steal or kill, except thou art well-connected.

Talking about crime and punishment, I have since come to the conclusion that those of us who have been canvassing that the president, vice-president, governors and deputy governors should be stripped of their constitutional immunity are just wasting our time. We don’t know what we are saying. When the anti-graft war was gathering momentum under President Olusegun Obasanjo, I wrote week in, week out that the immunity clause should be removed from the constitution so that no governor would hide under it to loot his people dry or commit murder. For whatever reason, I failed to throw the Nigerian factor into the equation.

The immunity issue has come up again as we seek another review of the constitution, and I want to implore the campaigners to go look for another job. Certainly, the immunity clause is not the stumbling block to our progress. In the first place, members of the National Assembly have no immunity and I am not aware that any of them has been jailed for corruption or murder, despite all the cases in court. A dozen former governors, without any strand of immunity, were put on trial in 2007. None of them has been jailed since then. Some are even making laws for Nigeria as distinguished Senators today. And we keep asking why Nigeria is like this!

Even if the immunity clause were removed, no governor or president would still go to jail for corruption or murder. I can bet my Blackberry on that. Those who don’t have immunity are not facing justice, much less those who have. But why? Is it the prosecution that is not diligent? Is it the defence lawyers that are exceptionally brilliant? Is it the judiciary that is star-struck, incompetent or compromised? Or is it just an unwritten, unsigned understanding that only the lowly should face justice in Nigeria? There is an elite conspiracy, isn’t it? They shoot and loot and walk away triumphantly.

We seem to have two sets of laws and two justice systems. One for the poor, the other for the powerful. A common man will be sentenced to death for murder; the big man will walk away free, to the embrace of an exuberant, ululating crowd. By the way, I am not saying for sure that al-Mustapha ordered the killing of Kudirat. I don’t know. I can only suspect. But I am saying: so what if he was the one? Who has ever paid for political killings in Nigeria?