Kunle Rasheed Adegoke is a managing partner M.A. Banire and Associates- Legal Practitioners, Notary Public and Capital Market Solicitors. In this interview with FOLUSO OGUNMODEDE, he speaks on rampaging killer herdsmen, corruption, justice system, Osun governorship election among others
Despite $4.9billion recovered by the EFCC in the corruption war, tens of corruption cases are still stuck in court. Do you think the government is winning the war?
I believe the government is winning the war. Several battles are normally fought in a war before it is lost or won and that is why there are many legal battles for the government to fight before it would ultimately win the war. The system inherited by the present administration was a complete endorsement of corruption by the previous governments in which lunatic accumulation of wealth by government officials was the order of the day for the purpose of self-aggrandizement in satanic splendour.
Several government officials only secured political appointments and elections for the purpose of lining their pockets with huge amounts of money from public coffers. I am sure the government has not unearthed 50% of corruption cases perpetrated under the previous administration of Goodluck Jonathan.
This is a democratic dispensation and it is compulsory that loot recovery and prosecution of corruption cases must be done through the courts and not by executive might. That is one reason there are many corruption cases in court.
Another reason is that the prosecutorial competence of the prosecution must also be considered. There are many corruption cases in court which ought to be prosecuted through the services of competent lawyers many of whom are ready to assist in the fight against corruption. The services of such lawyers have not really been enlisted.
Equally, as held recently by the court, EFCC cannot prosecute all the corruption cases most especially those cases involving State and Local Governments which ought to be prosecuted through anti-corruption agencies that the States ought to have created or through the States’ Ministries of Justice as such are outside the powers of a national agency like EFCC. It is only unfortunate that many State governments are also enmeshed in corrupt practices making it a chimerical hope that they would engage in any meaningful war against corruption.
How would you rate the judiciary in the war against corruption in view of the fact that some judicial officers are facing corruption charges?
The judiciary is the third arm of government constitutionally responsible for interpretation of the law. It is the last hope of the common man and the clearinghouse for the determination of rights and obligations of both the government and the citizens. See Section 6 of the 1999 Constitution.
I will commend the judiciary for its role in the fight against corruption notwithstanding the fact that some judicial officers are enmeshed in corrupt practices and are being prosecuted for corruption-related charges.
It is unfortunate but it is a reflection of our society already saturated by the insatiable gusto for unjust enrichment.
A great number of convictions that the EFCC claimed to have secured recently is a testimony that the judiciary is playing a great role in the fight against corruption. But any judge found to have engaged in corrupt practices should not be allowed to escape just as some were shown the way recently.
The sanitization of the entire system should also begin with the judiciary as the common man must not lose hope in the judicial system. The result would be anarchy and self-help. A corrupt judicial officer is worse than an armed robber unwittingly granted licence to bear arms. He is a ballistic missile on the loose without any form of control.
What is your opinion on EFCC’s leadership which still remains unsolved especially the refusal by the National Assembly to confirm Ibrahim Magu?
I believe the executive needs to reconsider its adamancy on this issue. The system cannot be allowed to grind to a halt simply because of a muscle-flexing competition between the executive and the legislature. It is within the powers of the Senate to screen any nominee of the executive for certain offices under the Constitution. The Senate may approve or reject.
It behooves the Presidency to nominate another person to replace Magu. He cannot be the only saint with the muscle to fight corruption in Nigeria. What if Magu dies, which I pray God forbid? Are we saying no other person can do the job? It is certain that the Senate through its obduracy has created the impression that Magu is a thorn in their flesh. At the same time, the Presidency should not create the impression that we are stuck to Magu’s anti-corruption dexterity which quality no other soul possesses in Nigeria. We cannot continue this blinking competition as the system suffers.
There is brouhaha over reordered sequence of elections by the National Assembly. Now, INEC has said no going back on its elections time-table. What is your view?
The National Assembly has no business determining the sequence of elections. By Item 15 of the Third Schedule to the Constitution made pursuant to Section 153 thereof, it is the exclusive preserve of INEC to organize, undertake and supervise all elections to the offices of President, Vice-President, the Governor and Deputy Governor of a State, and to the membership of the National Assembly and States’ Houses of Assembly. While the National Assembly has the power to confer additional functions on INEC pursuant to Item 15(i) of the Third Schedule, that does not extend to interfering in the manner of carrying out the constitutional responsibility of INEC.
The electoral body, as its name suggests, is supposed to be “independent national electoral commission”. Such undue interference in sequence of elections by the National Assembly does not portray the lawmakers as being conscious of the ambit of their constitutional powers. They ought to be wise men who should know the limits of their strength and not just strong men who do not know the limits of their wisdom. The interference is ultra vires.
What are your thoughts on the orgy of killings going on in Benue that even after the military launched operation Ayem A Kpatuma, another round of 60 lives were terminated in Benue State by the killer herdsmen?
It is a sad commentary on the poor values we place on human lives in this country. It is unfortunate. Such hecatombs going on in Benue and several other parts of Nigeria only portray us as less than human. It is completely unpardonable and condemnable. It does not portray the military as being sincere in its undertakings in the troubled region. These killers are human beings with identities.
They are not ghosts. We have not heard of serious cases of arrests and prosecutions save for a few incidents recently reported.
I believe nothing allows any group to bear arms while others are denied.
The Fulani herdsmen who bear arms with reckless abandon cannot continue to enjoy such licence while their victims are not so allowed to bear arms. I want to believe that there is more to it than mere protection of cattle. There have equally been allegations of killings of Fulani people by non-Fulani marauders. I strongly condemn such criminal activity whosoever perpetrates it as that cannot constitute a valid excuse for our failings in providing security to the people.
Is cattle colony panacea for the herdsmen’s killings?
I believe in ranching. A ranch is an area of land with facilities and structures set up for grazing livestock such as cattle. The idea of cattle colony as an aggregate of several ranches to be created in every State for cattle businessmen at the expense of landowners who are not cattle owners cannot solve the problem.
Land is an asset that people would kill for in order to protect their interests. If any government wants to create a cattle colony, it must do so in a place where the cattle owners are also landowners. I understand that 16 States of Adamawa, Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara, Kebbi, Nasarawa, Plateau, Bauchi, Gombe, Borno, Jigawa, Yobe, Niger, Kogi and Kwara have voluntered 5000 hectares of land each for cattle colonies. I am happy they have done so more so when these are natural areas from which the herdsmen originated.
To expect southern states, whose crops have been turned to free food for the rampaging cattle, to surrender their lands might be difficult if not impossible. I think the federal government should manage what it has got from the 16 northern States.
I also encourage the Southern State governments to consider livestock farming as an investment in respect of which they can do ranching. It is an aspect of farming out of which huge revenue could be generated to take care of the economic needs of the people. That is one agricultural aspect we are going to take seriously when I become governor in Osun, God willing, in November, 2018.
Posters of K-RAD for governor now flood Osun state. Why do you want to abandon the court for the number One seat?
I am driven by the consuming passion to serve and improve the lives of my people. I have served my party to a large extent through my legal expertise and I consider that at this juncture it is time to give back to the people generally. It is imperative to use my knowledge, energy and resources to positively contribute to the society under a system that can guarantee better living conditions for the people; improve their economic existence, guarantee social welfare, provide future assurance via qualitative education, sound health and security of lives and property. It is incumbent on me, having taken so much educationally from the State, to ensure that I use my training to ensure a just and egalitarian system in my State where no one shall be denied his dues. I can only do all these as the chief driver of the system. That is why I have offered myself to the people.
Under which platform would you want to achieve this ambition?
It is under the All Progressives Congress (APC), the only party in which I am a registered member and have served to the best of my ability and in which I have absolute confidence that the interests of the people can best be protected.
With mixed reactions dogging the APC ruling government in the State from unpaid salaries to misplaced priorities and others, what is your selling programme?
The problem of salary failure is not peculiar to Osun. It affects nothing less than 27 States in Nigeria which also include PDP States. It is a product of both national and international recession that affected the system since the last regime of Goodluck Jonathan. That is not an excuse to justify the deficit. It is only to show that all governments affected by the unfortunate development need to work harder and I believe that much of it has been taken care of in Osun right now. That is a responsibility to which I believe I have the answer.
My selling point has been my well thought-out economic programme. I have a 4-point agenda–Rebuilding the economy; Ensuring qualitative education; Providing sound health system; and Delivering on infrastructural development.
With respect to the economy, I believe that there are low-hanging fruits we must immediately pluck.
We must address the economic issues with the ruggedness of a caterpillar. Our agricultural system must be revolutionized by conversion of our more than 330,000 unutilized hectares of arable lands to farm settlements with terrifying and terrific speed across the 9 federal constituencies in Osun. With abundant food production through extensification and intensification processes of mechanized farming coupled with an unrelenting driving spirit to derive maximum liquidity benefits from more than 63 tourists sites that we have in Osun, combined with a radical approach to industrialization, we shall succeed in generating more than 15 billion Naira a month over time.
This shall be in fulfillment of the 2018 budget of the current administration which stipulated a budget sum of N173.98 billion as its target. Divided over a period of 12 months contained in a year, that means, we must generate nothing less than N14,491,666,000.00 every month. It is a far-sighted budget which although may not be met in 2018, is a confirmation of my Roadmap of Prosperity for Osun published in August 2017.
What are your chances of flying the APC ticket in view of anointed candidate? Who is your godfather?
I don’t believe there is any anointed candidate. All players are going to be given a level playing ground. All the aspirants that have indicated interests in the governorship ticket of APC are members of the party and I believe I am the best among the equals; I am primus inter pares, by God’s divine design. Internal democracy is what we have been agitating for all these years and I am happy our leaders in APC have seen reason why all must be allowed to give their best. I believe in God as my godfather but I have many mentors and leaders in the party whose support and teachings have carried me this far since I started consultations in March 2017.
I believe with my impressive record within the party and my campaign roadmap which is most realistic and proffers most practical and practicable solutions to the challenges confronting our dear State, the progressive delegates of our party are going to vote for me come July 7, 2018. They know me as a conscious and conscientious advocate of the party who has sacrificed in no mean measures to ensure success for our party not only in Osun but in several parts of the Federation, the centre inclusive. What our people are concerned with is who will guarantee an “Assured Future” and they know they have found one in Kunle Rasheed Adegoke – K. Rad.
What reform agenda do you have for the judiciary in Osun if you eventually become the governor in November?
Once I am sworn in as governor come November 27, 2018 by God’s special grace for which I am most grateful to my creator, the first and most important thing that I will attend to in the judicial sector is independence of the judiciary in terms of full autonomy. A beggar judiciary, a judiciary that is always going cap-in-hand to beg for financial lifeline from the executive, is never an independent judiciary.
A judiciary that is not independent in the full sense of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as altered) is incapable of guaranteeing rule of law. That is the unfortunate situation the judiciary is in most of the States of Nigeria.
I will ensure that there is autonomy for the judiciary. I will ensure that there is greater synergy among the three arms of government and that the Ministry of Justice works to the best of its ability to assist in quick dispensation of justice. My Director of Public Prosecution must ensure quick delivery of DPP’s advice under the supervision of an Attorney-General that is uncompromising in standards. This will assist in ensuring that awaiting trial suspects whose number has perpetually over-populates our over-spilling prisons shall be reduced to the barest minimum.
There shall be no interference in judicial process by the executive and our judges shall be encouraged to do justice for the benefit of all in accordance with the Constitution they swore to protect and not in form of allegiance to the Governor or any other person.
Once the judiciary is well-funded in accordance with the Constitution, there shall be no justification for corruption on the Bench. Judicial officers shall be motivated to perform their duties without fear or favour. This is necessary to sustain economic development in the State as honest foreign investors do not patronize a country whose judicial process is chaotic or unpredictable. It is only fraudulent investors that are attracted to a State whose judicial process is susceptible to easy manipulation. We shall, therefore, ensure a judicial system capable of guarantee the sanctity of contract.
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