By Chuks Nwachuku
It is out in the open, now. APC admits in their reply to Obi’s petition that the Chicago USA court documents in which Bola Tinubu was made to forfeit the sum of $460k which was adjudged to be proceeds of trafficking in heroine are real and genuine. They have tried to explain it away that it was a civil forfeiture and it was the bank accounts through which he laundered the money that were sued and not himself personally. What is clear is that they have confirmed that Tinubu was adjudged to have trafficked in drugs. The court will decide whether their hair splitting makes a difference as to whether he stands disqualified in the manner in which the Constitution is worded or not. The fact remains that the money was seized because it was proceeds of the crime of pushing drugs. I am concerned with the morality of that.
My concern here is that many people that I felt should have been more concerned about their own honor have been willing to strip themselves of it in order to adorn the despicable character that Tinubu is with it. When I see the calibre of people who are willing to do this, including our own Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, I realize that it is further evidence of our low state of mental and cultural development. It has nothing to do with level of education or even IQ. We need to start telling ourselves the truth. In more mature societies, you would have seen a flood of resignations from the camp of Tinubu. No honorable person would want to be seen around him. Even his business associates would pull their transactions with him. He would be lucky if his wife did not divorce him.
How can we not but think of the poor Nigerians that we and other countries have executed over the years for this same offence. How could we not think of Bartholomew and his two other unfortunate colleagues who were executed for drug trafficking on the orders of the same Buhari, as military head of state, in 1985, by means of a law that was backdated to the time that the young lads committed the offence? It did not carry a sentence of death at that time. Despite international outcry that it was inhuman to backdate a law for the purpose of taking a life, Buhari stuck to his guns and made this nation to commit the sin of state murder. Today the same Buhari wants to hand power over to someone who is believed to be among the leaders of a Chicago drug ring.
How could we not think of the latest discovery of a factory load of cocaine somewhere in Ikorodu, Lagos? How could we not wonder why the matter was hushed up with announced destruction of the drugs without naming those behind the crime? How could we not think of the young men and women we have locked up over the years and thrown away the key for as little as a wrap of marijuana? How could we do this to others and reward Tinubu with the presidency with the title of “His Excellency”? How could we do that and hope to escape the judgment of God?
If you love yourself, you better withdraw from the Tinubu project. It is a project that is stained with blood that is crying for vengeance. The blood of Bernard Ogedengbe (29 years), Bartholomew Owoh (26 years) and Lawal Ojuolape (30) (cut down in their prime) who would have served their jail terms and tried their best to live their lives afterwards, is crying for vengeance. If you think that it is a coincidence that it is the same Buhari that wants to hand Nigeria over to a drug baron, then you do not know God. It is vengeance that is hovering over him. It is a spiritual set up. If he should make that mistake, the blood of this young men will pursue his generation forever. No sacrifice, no prayer can deliver him or them. That is the God principle.
It is for the same reason that you have to withdraw from the Tinubu project and pray that the nation also withdraws from it. Remember that we are all collectively guilty of the blood of these young men. The sin of the leader is the sin of the nation. We need to deliver ourselves from the danger of stepping into the zone of vengeance. I know you will scoff. That is probably because it has been determined that vengeance should fall on you. As for me and my house, we reject the drug baron. We reject the curse.
Chuks Nwachuku, a legal practitioner in Nigeria, can be reached at [email protected]
