Try Dasuki In Open Court Now!

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Enough is enough. It is time to end this charade. It is time to get real. It is either this corruption battle is fought and conscientiously too or it is abandoned in its totality. But Nigerians cannot afford to abandon it, even if President Mohammadu Buhari wants to as he seems to be planning. It is why Nigerians have to put a stop to being played any longer. Nigerians should demand justice. And demand it now. It is evident that if Nigerians continue to keep quiet, the former National Security Adviser (NSA), retired Colonel Sambo Dasuki would never get tried. And Nigerians would never get justice. This is unacceptable. And it should not be accepted.

Nigerians are currently being subjected to the tyranny of secrecy by the Buhari led administration in this war against corruption. Nigerians are being subjected to unprecedented obfuscation. A lot of dirty acts are being swept under the carpet. At this point, no one could even say for sure if the war on corruption is still on course. This is why Nigerians must speak out now. Not tomorrow, or next week or next month or next year. Nigerians must speak up now because as our own WS, Professor Wole Soyinka once posited, “The man dies in him who keeps silent in the face of tyranny.”

This is important since President Buhari has failed on every front. The economy is in doldrums. Boko Haram is growing stronger. There is no security. Inflation is poofing through the roof. Naira is down the drains. There is crying and gnashing of teeth across the land as a result of increased poverty and want in the land. The only positive thing that this administration has going for it is this war against corruption. Take it out and this Buhari’s government is vacuous and empty. Yet, this war against corruption, Buhari is about to mess it up again just as he did with others with his chronic incompetence and dishonesty. This is why Dasuki must be tried in the open court.

It is very obvious that the time table and the schedule of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) are not working for the rest of Nigerians. Patience is fast paling into pause. Nigerians want justice and this is the time to get it. Nigerians are not content about media trials any more. No one could be sent to jail just by mere trial in the media. Those who could go to jail are only those convicted in courts. But how can you get anyone convicted if you refuse to bring them to courts? Dasuki must be tried in the open court.

Don’t get me wrong. The media has been a big part of blowing the dirty secrets open. The media, especially the social media have done their best not to be bought or be made part of the dirty system. But Nigerians are insisting that those that have been arrested be brought to court for trials. Nigerians want them to disclose openly why they decided to be so treacherous against the country and its peoples. Nigerians want to know why they have no conscience by sending their fellow compatriots to battles without appropriate equipment. Dasuki must be tried in the open court.

The major scandal that the Buhari administration has blown open since coming to office is the one involving Dasuki. The tentacles of this corruption are so wide and many have confessed their parts either directly or indirectly in this shameful episode. Dasuki has since been in detention for God knows how long. But this is not serving the course of justice. It is not serving the course of fairness to ordinary Nigerians. Dasuki must be tried in the open court.

It is time the EFCC brings out Dasuki out of secret detention. It is time he is brought to the courts. It is time we make him speak in the open. Nigerians don’t want secret trials. They don’t want this to be swept under the carpet. Nigerians want to know all those who are involved. Nigerians don’t want anyone or any group to be protected. It is the only way justice could be served. It is the only way Nigerians would believe that the war on corruption still mean anything. Dasuki must be tried in the open court.

From the explosive disclosures by Dr. Junaid Mohammed, it is evidently clear that Buhari and his advisers are trying to protect some “sacred cows.” It is evident that the war on corruption is seemingly becoming a vendetta. It further underscores the insincerity, corruption, nepotism, tribalism and the dishonesty of Buhari as a person and as a leader. It is evident that Nigerians are not being told the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. And the truth is exactly what Nigerians want. It is too late now to have secondary considerations. The only consideration that matters to Nigerians is the truth about how it all went down. Dasuki must be tried in the open court.

The web of corruption seemed to be a very wide one that implicates some of the close associates of President Buhari. General Abdulrahman Dambazau obviously is one of them. The arms scandal that Dasuki is the pivot seems to go beyond what Nigerians have been fathoming. This seems to be the reason why the EFCC has been asking for “secret trials” for Dasuki. It is to protect President Buhari and his errand boys. Dasuki must be tried in the open court.

You can not accuse someone of a million crimes in the media and not be able to bring him to court on a single charge, at least! Dasuki has been detained for so long. This is not justice for Dasuki no matter how much we hate him or dislike him. But it is not justice for Nigerians either. Dasuki’s continued detention does not tell Nigerians any new thing. Is the EFCC trying to ensure that he walks away without any trial? Why is the EFCC resisting the need to bring Dasuki to court? What is the EFCC trying to hide? Please, what? Dasuki must be tried in the open court.

This writer believes that Buhari is eminently corrupt and dishonest. He is so incompetent. With the help of Bola Tinubu and other collaborators, Buhari sold dummy to Nigeria faking some integrity. He promised to fight corruption. And he is trying to fail on it too as he has failed on the economy and others. But Nigerians have to stand up and give Buharia helping hand. Nigerians have to give Buhari a helping hand on this fight against corruption by insisting that he does it the right way. Dasuki must be tried in the open court.

And the right way is to try everyone already accused and or arrested in the open court. Let them be prosecuted under the subsisting laws. Let them defend themselves if they can, given the overwhelming evidence in the public space as well as in the coffers of the EFCC. Let Nigerians know that the accused are not being persecuted but that they deserved to be prosecuted for their crimes against the country and the people. The accused needs to know this too. Dasuki must be tried in the open court.

Dasuki is the most hated person in Nigeria today. He is disliked by millions. But this does not make him guilty until he is tried in an open competent court of law. It is injustice to continue to detain him. We all must fight to defend his rights because in doing so we are defending our rights. Tomorrow it could be Buhari or any other person who have to face charges and we must guarantee equal protection to all. We must defend each Nigerian with equal fervor. More so, what Nigerians want is justice and we could never get this unless he is prosecuted in the open court. Dasuki must be prosecuted in the open court.

Let Nigerians have the opportunity to see the judiciary in open action. Let us see if the corrupt judges would be able to show their faces. Let us see if they would grant frivolous injunctions or delay trials unnecessarily. Let us see if they would connive to deny justice to Nigerians. Let us see if they would be susceptible to corrupt influence and not allow justice to be done. The only way for Nigerians to find out is to prosecute all the accused in the open court. Dasuki must be tried in the open court.

The EFCC should stop giving press conferences if it has no intention of trying anyone. It should stop telling us who is “guilty” without trials. The EFCC should bring those who have cases to answer to the open courts. Or is the EFCC also compromised? Is the EFCC totally bereft of any integrity? Is the EFCC so cowardly? Is the EFCC so incompetent? Is the EFCC playing Nigerians? How come there has not been any single successful prosecution since all this has started? How come? What is really going on? Dasuki must be tried in the open court.

Nigerians have Dasuki in their sight. They are not going to let him go scot free unless he is tried; and in the open court. No secret trial. This is a democracy, no matter how imperfect. Now Nigerians know about General Minimah. They know about Mamman Daura. They know about Buratai. They know about Dambazau. They know about Ihejirika. They are waiting for justice. Dasuki mut be tried in the open court.

This is an important matter. It is an important matter because soldiers were sent to die in a war without being appropriately equipped. Those soldiers had wives. They had children. They had parents. They had brothers and sisters. Same goes with all those Nigerians who became victims of Boko Haram. Their families deserve justice. Nigerians deserve justice. And they want it NOW!

In the glare of all, Dasuki must be tried in the open court! Transparency is the only key to unlock the door of integrity.

“In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility – I welcome it.”

- John F. Kennedy, in his Inaugural Address January 20, 1961

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Articles by Remi Oyeyemi