By Ogunjimi James Taiwo
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Diepreye Alamieyeseigha
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"This has got to be
the worst use of the benign prerogative by the executive branch since Pilate
pardoned Barabbas." - Kingsley Obalola William Ewetuya
Like every sane Nigerian
who heard the bizarre news that Diepreye Alamieyeseigha had had his own breath
of 'fresh air' from Mr President, sad does not even do justice to my feelings;
enraged is more like it. It lends credence to the general conception and
knowledge that corruption and misuse of office is what characterise this
government.
Few issues have irked
Nigerians as much as this issue of 'Presidential pardon'. Presidential pardon?
Who pardoned him? The countless number of people who had their money stolen by
this man? The hundreds of children who would not have had to drop out of school
had this man not stolen their money? The relatives of those who lost their
lives because of lack of a good health plan due to the fact that this same man
used more than six years to build a general hospital? The relatives of those who
lost their lives on the death traps called roads, because instead of
constructing good roads, he chose to spend 10 billion naira on government
house? Who pardoned him?
It is the ultimate shame
of a nation when the leaders can not give a tenable reason for their actions
save for the fact that 'he is my benefactor'. So, the entire citizenry must be
made to 'pardon' a man who dares not venture into the UK for fear of getting
re-arrested and subjected to the same fate as his 'thief-in-arms', James Ibori?
Nothing short of government-induced amnesia can make Nigerians forget or even
forgive a man who jumped bail in the UK and had to disguise as a woman to
escape prosecution.
In a 'normal' society,
both the President and the Council of state members that approved the
recommendation will be fighting to hold on to their jobs. How on earth can
presidential pardon be granted to a man when his crimes are still fresh in our
memories?
Has Presidential pardon become as cheap as national honours? People
like Bode George and Tafa Balogun can keep hope alive that their pardon is en
route too.
We must speak up against
these cases of obvious abuse of office. Things must not continue this way; we
just must not allow it. Presidential pardon? Seriously? We either speak up now
or watch in horror as criminal after criminal gets pardoned.
Ogunjimi James Taiwo is Coordinator,
Committee for The Defence of Human Rights, Olabisi Onabanjo University Unit,
Ago-iwoye, Ogun State. Nigeria.
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