Our romance with impunity incorporated

JUNE 17, 2013 BY EZE ONYEKPERE LEAVE A COMMENT

Eze Onyekpere
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The State has the basic duty of protecting lives and property and maintaining law and order. This is the minimum condition for members of society to carry out their legitimate duties and businesses in any sector of the economy. In this context, the legitimate expectation is for sanctions and rewards; sanctions for violating the laws and rewards for exceptionally good conduct. The State as a minimum is expected to investigate violations of rights and legal provisions, prosecute offenders, mete sanctions and punishment after conviction, provide reparations for victims of violations of rights and to extend guarantees of non repetition of violations to victims and the entire society. It also has an obligation to ensure that victims and relatives of victims of violations know the whole truth of the circumstances leading to the violations. Impunity therefore arises when the above duties of the State are neglected.

When current events in the country are examined from the impunity prism, it will be clear that Nigeria is gradually sliding into a state that supports impunity. The basic understanding is that impunity reinforces impunity and creates a virtual circle of actions and inactions and leaves one with the impression that there is no law and if the law still exists, some members of society are above the law. Let me start with the recent killing of security agents including policemen, State Security Service and civil defence operatives by the Ombatse cult in Nasarawa State. So many weeks after the event, a reasonable person would expect that suspects would have been arrested and their prosecution would be in full gear. All available information points in the direction that nothing is happening and nothing, sadly, will happen. The leader of the suspects even had the effrontery to grant press interviews to state irritating and provocative facts justifying the murder.

If the authority of the State is so brazenly challenged through the murder of its security operatives and the message getting out to the public is that you can murder agents of the State, on their lawful and legitimate assignment without prosecution and sanctions, then we are sending a clear invitation to anarchy and disorder. And if this can happen to security agents, then the fate of ordinary Nigerians is better left to the imagination.  No amount of double-speak will assuage Nigerians other than seeing the offenders in chains and letting the law take its full course. Pray, are the lives of the murdered security agents dispensable?

From the public finance management angle, we have witnessed a plethora of violations that has matured into grave impunity situations. The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, told Nigerians that over N100bn had been saved from the identification of “ghost” workers. But the government is not considering prosecution of the persons who perpetuated the fraud despite the fact that they are well-known. Just last week, the media reported that the accounts of some Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government had been frozen for their failure to remit over N58bn to the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation. Pray, when did the freezing of accounts of the MDAs become the requisite punishment anticipated by law for those caught in the act of defrauding the treasury? From the strict legal angle, offences revealed include the conspiracy and the act of stealing by whatever name used to describe it in the Criminal and Penal Codes and the laws establishing the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission.  As usual, no one is going to be prosecuted.

The key suspect in the police pension scam is still at large. No one is sure whether he is in Nigeria or has left the country. The police claimed they could not find him to arrest and a court used technicalities to quash the warrant of arrest issued against him by the Senate. Now, beyond the technicalities of the law, whose interest is served by the disappearance of this chief suspect of such a heinous crime against the state? And for the police whose pension money has been mismanaged, there is no outrage and feeling of loss. The Senate appeared like the proverbial outsider weeping more than the bereaved. It is clear that some persons high up in the governmental ladder are shielding the suspect. Of course, the message to the Nigerian society is clear: You can steal and mismanage resources and get away with such if you have access to men and women in the corridors of power.

In electoral matters, technical provisions of the law have been used to defeat the ends of justice. When there was no time limitation for adjudication of election petitions, some judges threw caution to the wind and saw it as an opportunity writ large to endlessly delay petitions until the tenure being challenged was about to expire. As soon as a time limit was placed by law, it became a good excuse for respondents to waste the time until the 180 days expired and courts gleefully threw their hands into the air claiming that they had no jurisdiction to continue to entertain the petition. This sends another powerful message. You can rig and use delays and technicalities to get into power- the people’s votes do not count! These messages are all in violation of the basic legal principle that where there is a right, there should be a remedy- ubi jus ibi remedium.

According to Wikipedia, the amended Set of Principles for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights Through Action to Combat Impunity, submitted to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights on February 8, 2005, defines impunity as: “The impossibility, de jure or de facto, of bringing the perpetrators of violations to account – whether in criminal, civil, administrative or disciplinary proceedings – since they are not subject to any inquiry that might lead to their being accused, arrested, tried and, if found guilty, sentenced to appropriate penalties, and to making reparations to their victims.” The First Principle of that same document states that: “Impunity arises from a failure by States to meet their obligations to investigate violations; to take appropriate measures in respect of the perpetrators, particularly in the area of justice, by ensuring that those suspected of criminal responsibility are prosecuted, tried and duly punished; to provide victims with effective remedies and to ensure that they receive reparation for the injuries suffered; to ensure the inalienable right to know the truth about violations; and to take other necessary steps to prevent a recurrence of violations.”

It is in the interest of all including the government and the citizenry that the challenge of impunity is properly addressed. Power is so transient and life’s circumstances change without warning to those who will be affected. Those who think that they are benefiting from the current system may find themselves at the receiving end of impunity in a matter of months or years. Reducing impunity to a minimum is therefore a task and challenge that needs all hands on deck. It will facilitate sound public finance management, the rule of law, electoral reforms and deepen civic responsibility, ethics and patriotism.