2015: ALAMS BROUGHT IN TO COUNTER AMAECHI

. How double-pardon blunder occurred in the Presidency

. Yar’adua, Adisa families deny making requests for pardon

President Goodluck Jonathan granted his former boss, Chief Deprieye Alamieyeseigha, state pardon in desperate attempt to gain advantage over his political opponents in the Niger Delta. But the mess that followed the decision is becoming difficult to clear. 

One week after the Council of State approved state pardon to Chief Deprieye Alamieyeseigha, the Governor-General of Ijaw nation and former Governor of Bayelsa State, tongues are still wagging at the Presidency. While Dr Doyin Okupe, a Senior Special Assistant to President Jonathan on Public Affairs and Dr Reuben Abati, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity variously justify the pardon to a man convicted for raping Bayelsa State to the tune of billions of naira, Aso Rock is in disquiet over the historical blunder in the blind move to remove the toga of ex-convict from President Jonathan’s former boss. 

An allegation that the Chief of Staff to the President, Chief Mike Aiyebeni Ogiadomhe, must have included the names of some prominent northern and southern ex-convicts on the list hurriedly presented to the Council of State, in a desperate move to sell the State Pardon for Chief Alamieyeseigha. The blunder is in the fact that Jonathan included the names of those who had been granted state pardon on July 14, 1998 by the General Abdulsalami Abubakar’s regime on the list of seven ex-convicts who were pardoned last Tuesday. 
Apart from Alamieyeseigha, the president also  granted the state pardon to a former Chief of General Staff, General Oladipo Diya; former Chief of Staff, Supreme Military Council, Major-General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua; Major Bello Magaji; Mohammed Lima Biu; former Managing Director of the Bank of the North (now Unity Bank Plc), Alhaji Shettima Bulama; Major-General Abdulkareem Adisa and Major Segun Fadipe.
In order to argue away the blunder at the Presidency, Dr Abati attempted yesterday to distinguish between “clemency” and “pardon.” While some of the ex-convicts were granted State pardon in 1998, others, including General Oladipo Diya, who has been granted pardon now, actually enjoyed clemency in the 1999 Presidential Prerogative of mercy. In spite of the say-nothing argument, the late Shehu Yar’adua was actually granted State pardon. Why was his name on the list presented to the Council of State last week?
Malam Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, a former Permanent Secretary described what happened as embarrassing. According to him, “It is obvious that something had gone wrong, either with the public service entirely or with a presidency that does not even want to wait until it is advised by public officers who would say, it is okay to grant pardon to these people. 
Something somewhere went wrong and it is tragic for the nation. It is also embarrassing for the government. Above all, what this tells you is that there is fundamental problem in how the public service is being run today.”
Findings by Sunday Trust showed that there were indications that the process of granting the pardon did not follow the ‘due process.’ It was last Monday that the supposed Bayelsa Traditional Rulers Council submitted a request for its former governor to be granted state pardon. It was on that same Monday that the agenda for the Council of State meeting was sent out to members of the respected body. The meeting was to hold in about 24 hours after the traditional council submitted its request. That meant it was by miracle that the process for granting state pardon was completed. 
What is that process?  First, those who want to be granted pardon shall apply to government for it. Secondly, the request would be sent to a committee headed by the Attorney-General of the Federation to look at the requests. 
Thirdly, that committee would meet, deliberate on it and make recommendations to the President. After going through it, the President would take it to the Council of State for deliberation and approval, before the pardon is granted. Our reporter severally called the Attorney-General of the Federation Mohammed Adoke (SAN) to find out if this process was followed, but he didn’t pick his calls. A text message was sent and delivered to his mobile phone, but he didn’t respond to it. However, it is doubtful if this process was completed before the Council of State met to ratify the list last Tuesday.
Since the odd decision last Tuesday, noises from the Presidency have been so loud that some of valid questions raised above are being shut out. Dr Abati, arguing from the books, made copious reference to Section 175 of the Nigerian Constitution which gave President Jonathan the powers to grant pardon at his pleasure. The section in Sub-section (1) says “The President may - 
(a) Grant any person concerned with or convicted of any offence created by an Act of the National Assembly a pardon, either free or subject to lawful conditions; 
(b) Grant to any person a respite, either for an indefinite or for a specified period, of the execution of any punishment imposed on that person for such an offence; 
(c) Substitute a less severe form of punishment for any punishment imposed on that person for such an offence; or
(d) Remit the whole or any part of any punishment imposed on that person for such an offence or of any penalty or forfeiture otherwise due to the State on account of such an offence.
Sub-Section (2) The powers of the President under subsection (1) of this section shall be exercised by him after consultation with the Council of State. 
Sub-Section (3) The President, acting in accordance with the advice of the Council of State, may exercise his powers under subsection (1) of this section in relation to persons concerned with offences against the army, naval or air-force law or convicted or sentenced by a court-martial.”
On his part, Dr Okupe has harped on the economic benefits of granting state pardon to Alamieyeseigha. And he found succor in the hackneyed reference to the flow of oil in the Niger Delta which has made it possible for Nigeria to export 2.4 million barrels of crude oil per day from the region. In addition, he has been imposing an argument that former American President Bill Clinton had granted his brother, Marc Rich, who had been charged for cheating the US to the tune of $50 million in 1983. He further made allusion to previous state pardon granted to other Nigerians accused of committing offences against the State. But it is apparent that the significance pardon granted the former governor of Bayelsa State is smoother than rhetoric.

BEYOND PARDON FOR ALAMIEYESEIGHA
In a tweet which reacted to remarks by a columnist with ThisDay, Simon Kolawole, that the pardon for Alamieyeseigha had 2015 strategy connotation, Dr Abati rebuffed his friend. He argued in his tweet thus: “This administration does not want to get involved in the distraction called 2015.” In another, Dr Abati said, “The pardon can’t be reduced to the absurd level of emotionalism.” A third tweet which justifies the inclusion on the names of Oladipo Diya, Abdukareem Adisa, and Major A. A. Fadipe on the list of those granted pardon says: “pardon restores the corporal rights which clemency doesn’t (stating the case of General Diya). When he later appeared on Sunrise programme of Channels Television, Dr Abati re-emphasised this position that elevates pardon above clemency. 
He told the discussants that state pardon “restores corporal rights. What do I mean by corporal rights? It simply means that that person has been reintegrated into society.”  By implication, Chief Alamieyeseigha can participate actively in the political activities ahead of 2015 with more vigor and confidence. And this is the point in granting the former governor state pardon. 
But Chief Fred Agbaje, a Lagos-based constitutional lawyer, though in disagreement with Dr Abati’s distinction between clemency and pardon, said the game in granting Alams pardon was in pursuit of 2015. According to him, “Whether clemency or pardon it is the same thing. They both emanated from Section 175 of the Constitution with the president/head of state playing active roles with the Council of State. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan granted Alemeisiegha pardon because of political consideration and 2015 election. Period!”
For instance, when in 1998 General Obasanjo was granted state pardon, he was cleansed for the race for the presidency, which he won in 1999. Also, when the late Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu was granted state pardon by the Shagari administration, he joined the political fray and even contested for the presidency in 2003. Also, General Abdulkareem Adisa, who was granted clemency, participated actively in the activities of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) until his death in a London hospital in 2005. On his part, General Oladipo Diya, who was also granted clemency has remained in the cold, rarely raising up his head above social functions and church activities, he is actively engaged in legal practice in the South-West. 
President Jonathan stands to benefit immensely from the stature and capacity of his former boss to stabilize the chequered support for his 2015 ambition in the Niger Delta region. A Niger Delta political analyst told Sunday Trust last night that, “Alams is the onlypolitician from the Niger Delta that has the clout to unify the region behind President Jonathan. Chief Edwin Clark, Elder Peter Godsday Orubebe, and Chief Mike Aiyebeni Ogiadomhe, and the militants have no followers. They’re just opportunists. And, you may not know, the battle between Governor Rotimi Amaechi and the president over 2015 is real.  The only person who can break the ranks of Governor Amaechi and mobilize support for Jonathan is Chief Alams. So by granting him state pardon, the president is reviving his own political machinery ahead of the battle of 2015.” 
Incidentally, a cross-section of Niger Delta political activists have declared their support for what Jonathan has done. For instance, Chief Sara Anabs Igba, a prominent Ijaw leader told Sunday Trust in an interview that, “Alamieyeigha, as far as I am concerned is a very prominent son of Niger Delta. 
He is the Governor General of Ijaw Nation. He is a stabilizing force towards the peace we are enjoying now in the region. When he was governor, he did everything possible to ensure there was peace in Niger Delta. Any time there is a problem, he intervenes and whenever he speaks the youths and those making trouble listened to him. Even out of office, he still plays roles in restoring peace in Niger Delta. 
The role he played during the amnesty programme cannot be wished away. There is now an increase in the volume of crude oil production in Niger Delta. This is because the youths have laid down their arms and Alams is one of those that restored peace in our land. So the pardon granted him by Federal Government is a right step in the right direction.”

OTHER QUESTIONS AFTER THE PARDON
President Jonathan may have scored a political goal with the pardon, but questions continue to trail his victory. First, why were the majority of former heads of state absent? For instance, General Ibrahim Babangida, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, and General Muhammadu Buhari did not attend the Council of State meeting. The only ones in attendance were the regular past leaders who answered Jonathan’s calls even at odd hours. 
They included General Yakubu Gowon, Chief Ernest Shonekan and Alhaji Shehu Shagari. Also, most state governors were absent, and only few former Chief Justices of Nigeria were there. Did the other politically-active former rulers keep away from the Council of State meeting because they didn’t want to be seen as endorsing what many have termed a selfish political project?
Secondly, did the families of those granted post-humous pardons make any request for it? 
The answer is “No.” For one, a younger brother of the late General Shehu Musa Yar’adua, Alhaji Abdulazeez Musa Yar’adua, told Sunday Trust in an interview that the family was embarrassed at the pardon, mainly because the late Yar’adua had, in 1998, been granted pardon. He told our reporter that the family did not ask the presidency to grant their brother any form of reprieve. “We wondered how the presidency allowed itself to be misguided by the officials handling the pardon issues. The presidency should have checked the record before the information went to the public; I am sure the record are there,” he added.
Also, in interviews with the families of the late Major-General Abdulkareem Adisa, our reporter gathered that the pardon was unexpected because they never asked for one. When Sunday Trust went to the residence of a former Managing Director of the Bank of the North (now Unity Bank Plc), Alhaji Shettima Bulama, for his comments on being granted amnesty, the man declined to comment. He did not show any excitement at being pardoned after being convicted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for committing fraud at the bank where he was Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
A former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Mr Nuhu Ribadu has described the state pardon granted to the former governor of Bayelsa State, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, as tragedy in the country’s history.
Ribadu, in a brief interview in Abuja, said the decision was ‘seriously’ shaking the very foundation of fighting corruption in Nigeria.
He said, “By regular court, not military tribunal, the DSP case was the first political office holder in the rank of a governor that was ever convicted. The Bulama case was the first Managing Director of a bank that was convicted. It’s very significant and it was the beginning and the foundation for a proper fight against corruption in our country. Now that the government will come, the President in particular will come and overturn that and give them pardon, it is seriously shaking the very foundation of fighting corruption in our country.
“It’s a very sad development and I’m very unhappy because I’m a Nigerian. I’m very concerned. I’m worried about our country. Corruption is destroying this country. Corruption will lead us to lose Nigeria as a country. Any step taken to reverse the direction of fighting corruption is a tragedy in our history today.
“I led those cases. I got the convictions. I know what it took us to achieve that. I know what it means to Nigeria. I know the international communities are seriously worried and concerned because they were also involved in these cases. I therefore feel extremely sad.
“There are also things that we have done. Personally I, as a Nigerian and as an individual, right now we are waiting for the President to implement the report of the Petroleum Revenue Committee, nothing has been done for six months. Now, it’s only for me to wake up and see this, even the case that we did in the past has been reversed. It’s very sad,” Ribadu said

Source: Daily Trust