Judiciary fries Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo may have stirred the hornets’ nest and appears to be receiving stings., Balarabe Musa, a former Kaduna State governor; Olisa Agbokoba, a former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) president, and Fred Agbaje, Human Rights lawyer, have all lampooned the former president over his recent violation of court orders restraining him from publishing his three-parts autobiography ‘My Watch’.

Recall that a libel suit was slammed against him (Obasanjo) over a letter he wrote to President Goodluck Jona-than, accusing a chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Buruji Kashamu, of being a fugitive wanted in the United States.

Kashamu had got to a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, to restrain Obasanjo from publishing the book, which he (Kashamu) feared contains the alleged libellous statements.

Obasanjo, in his response to the orders, had said that he had given the book to his editors and to the publisher and that as far as he was concerned, the job was done. And that he had written the book and printed before the court injunction, adding that in a normal judiciary, the judge should have been sanctioned.

Justice Valentine Ashi of the Federal High Court in a ruling, gave the Abeokuta farmer 21 days (from the day of service of the court’s orders on him) to explain why he should not be punished for contempt for going ahead to publish the book despite the ex-parte interim order made by the court on December 5th and a pending libel suit involving him (Obasanjo); with The latest judgement restraining him from further publishing, printing or offering for sale, the book, which content touches on the subject matter before the court.

Justice Ashi had on December 5, 2014 granted ex-parte interim orders, restraining Obasanjo from proceeding with plans to publish the book or have it published for him, and fixed December 10 of the same year as the return date.

Despite the court’s interim orders, the former president made public presentation of the book Tuesday 9, 2014 in Lagos, arguing that the book had been published before the court was misled into making the orders.

Ruling, Justice Ashi held that it was wrong for Obasanjo to have proceeded to publish the book despite the fact that a libel suit, which subject matter formed part of the content of the book, was still pending before the court and that the orders he made on December 5th was still pending; and held that it was immaterial that the book was published before the interim orders were made.

“The fact that the book was published in November is irrelevant. As long as the substantive suit is not yet determined, no party is entitled to publish or comment on material facts that are yet to be decided on by the court.

“I hold the defendant, not only in contempt of the court, but to show cause why he should not be punished for contempt and ordered to undo what he has wrongly done,” the judge had said.

But Balarabe Musa, who also is the current chairman, Conference of Nigerian Political Party (CNPP), told BD SUNDAY that Obasanjo’s action was very unfortunate for an elder statesman who should be leading by example to fragrantly flout court orders under whichever disguise, and expressed fears that the action may have further dented the nation’s image before the international community.

“Obasanjo is not above the law and he must not be seen to be saying so as an elder statesman. He still could have chosen legal door to resolve the issue in order not to portray himself as someone who is above the law. This is a slap on the judiciary. What lessons are young Nigerians going to learn from this latest action of a leader who has ruled Nigeria both as a military head of state and as civilian president? My concern is that Obasanjo would get way with such behaviour like others including government itself,” Musa said.

Former NBA president, Olisa Agbakoba, told BD SUNDAY that the comments of the former president on the judiciary shows his stand on the judiciary and that it was even more grievous for the comments to be coming from a senior citizen who had been privileged to be president of Nigeria twice over.

According to Agbakoba, who described the action as “disgusting”, the impression the former president has given by his action was that he was not only above the law, but untouchable, and that the court injunction was also “useless” as far as the name ‘Obasanjo’ was concerned in Nigeria.    

“His comments and behaviour are not honourable to some of us who are still at the bar. For a senior citizen to give an impression that the judiciary does not matter is a serious offence. I was also ashamed that people attended; senior Nigerians who should know better the consequences of the action were there sitting with him. That shows what this country is all about. That is why this country call Nigeria is such a porous country. It is a big shame,” Agbakoba said.

Reacting on part of the content contained in the controversial autobiography- where he said: “If in the past corruption was in the corridors of power, it would seem now to be in the sitting room, dining room and bedroom of power,” the former NBA president said such comments portray him (Obasanjo) as a “hypocrite” that should not be taking serious.

“Obasanjo is such a hypocrite. How can he be writing such a book? Obasanjo was part of those who started the corruption that is now everywhere in Nigeria. This man calls Obasanjo is terrible. The book is a total nonsense; it does not worth it. I personally would not waste my time reading such book. I don’t know what this guy wants! How can Obasanjo say that the third term agenda was the governors? Even if is true, what did he do at the time? We all know how he came about the third term agenda. Obasanjo should be ignored; he is not as powerful as people think he is. He is just seeking to manipulate PDP in order to be relevant in the new dispensation. Obasanjo is the one who puts us in this condition. It is Nigerians that should choose who would be Nigeria’s president, not Obasanjo. Obasanjo should carry himself as international statesman. He should be doing the kind of things Jimmy Carter and Tony Blair are doing. He should behave like the likes of Yakubu Gowon. Bill Clinton has a foundation that is trying to eradicate poverty. Jimmy Carter has Jimmy Carter Centre,” he said.

Fred Agbaje, human rights lawyer and activist, described the former president’s action as a “national embarrassment’ that must not be allowed to go free without prescribed punishment because he (Obasanjo) was not above the law of the land; saying that the larger percent of the content of the book is a “total deceit”.

“Obasanjo himself is a military Trojan horse that is ready to crush anybody that comes his way. Obasanjo claimed that the book was already in circulation before the order was made. If that is correct, shouldn’t that be the main reason he should have told his own lawyers ‘let us wait’? His action did not just ridicule the judiciary, but also the constitution”.

According to him, should the former president fail to respond to the 21 days ultimatum given to him by the Federal High Court to explain why he should not be punished for contempt, he said the judiciary should unite on the matter in order to halt future blatant disregard for judicial pronouncement.

Explaining further, he said the matter was content outside the court and thus, Justice Ashi will have to transfer the case to a neutral judge since he was the one bringing the case against the former Nigerian leader.

“Obasanjo should not be allowed to go scot free. In judicial interpretation, Justice Ashi would have still hear the case if it was contempt inside the court and sentence the defendant accordingly. But, under the current circumstance, Justice Ashi would have to transfer the case to a competent judge who can hear the matter. He would have issued warrant instead of the 21 days notice given to Obasabjo to explain himself but for this legal technicality. Since inception of this democracy, Obasanjo has been struggling to accept and adapt to democratic principles. He is a complete soldier in ‘agbada’. In the constitutional history of Nigeria, a Federal High Court judge was convicted for this same offence; why can’t the same judiciary use the same yardstick to measure Obasanjo?” he observed.

“No matter how high you are, you should be made to know that the law of the land is higher than you are,” he said. Meanwhile, Obasanjo, late Thursday appealed the order given by a Federal Capital Territory High Court judge, Justice Ashi, that security agents, including the police and men of the Department of State Service, to confiscate the controversial autobiography, noting that he was in no way “daring the court” as extensively reported in sections of the media, describing such publication as misleading.

Apparently prompted by the 21-day ultimatum given him within which he should explain why he should not be punished for flouting the court order, the former president explained that, among the 10 grounds of appeal, the counsel averred, among others that “the learned trial judge erred in law when he granted Interlocutory Orders of Injunction which inter alia restrained the defendant from the publication of his book “My Watch” or the content of the letter to the President which is the subject of the suit before the trial judge in the said book.

“There was un-contradicted affidavit evidence that the defendant’s book “My Watch” had been published and released to the public before the making of the Interlocutory Order.

“The Plaintiff never alluded to this fact in his affidavit before the court. It is settled in law that an injunction does not lie to restrain a completed act. His lordship failed and/or neglected to allude to the affidavit evidence before making the Interlocutory Order.

“The learned trial judge erred in law and exercised its discretion wrongfully in granting the Orders of Interlocutory Injunction subject of this appeal against the defendant restraining him from publishing his book “My Watch” or publishing his letter subject of the suit in the said book.”

NATHANIEL AKHIGBE