SATURDAY BREAKFAST with TONY OKOROJi
I am a rule of law person. I verily believe that if we are ever going to have a country worth its name for our children, our judges must sit up and be bold. They have to take the lead. We have come to the point where it is either the courts or the cutlass.
You know that in our clime, people generally view anyone who goes to court as a troublemaker or a pest? I do go to court but I am not a trouble maker and certainly not a pest. In fact, I am a man who loves peace. That is why I go to court.
How can there be peace when there are too many troublemakers in the world? Too many liars, 419ers, hijackers, kidnappers, armed and pen robbers, and many who think that the world was created just for them and them alone. In case you don’t know, the world is filled with many people walking around with only a body but no soul. They will kill you for nothing or take everything that belongs to everyone. They believe that they have a right to oppress everyone, and God does not exist except for them. How can there be peace without justice?
This past week, I was twice at the Federal High Court in Lagos. In one court, I repeatedly listened to cases of Nigerians owing dizzying billions of Naira which they can never pay back in their lifetime and the lifetimes of their grandchildren. Lawyers to the Assets Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) and judges are having a harrowing time dealing with the endless games of the purveyors of the ubiquitous non-performing loans in our financial institutions which are dragging our economy down-down-down. You suddenly realize that much of the beautiful mansions in Banana Island and fancy cars on Lagos roads have been acquired not by hard work but by borrowed money that was never intended to be re-paid. How can our country make progress like this?
In another court, I witnessed at first hand, the ongoing huge national scam in which banks use every pretext to freeze their customer’s accounts, hold on to their customers’ funds at no interest, sometimes for lengthy periods, other times, in perpetuity, without any court order. It has become a national epidemic and scandal. Sadly, billions of Naira in innocent customers’ funds have been so wickedly appropriated by banks in Nigeria. While their senior officials live like kings and princes, their customers face liquidation or die in penury. This is a scam of the worst kind. Time was when if any of us wanted to say that something is safe and secure, we said, “It is like money in the bank”. Sadly, not anymore.
It is my honest belief that anyone in a position of leadership in the country should spare some time and go to court, sit down, and listen. In court, you are properly educated about real problems that real people are going through.
As a people, we love the word, ‘peace’. Our false understanding of peace is that you do not question falsehood, injustice, impunity, corruption or lawlessness. If you must question them, just shout in the newspapers, on TV or on Facebook, where your questioning has little or no effect.
I prefer to go to court, take the time, provide the evidence, get a court judgment and enforce it and set a precedent. I do not do it because I am cantankerous or quarrelsome. I do it because it is the most peaceful and civilized way to ensure that the weak does not dissolve under the pressure of the wicked. If there were no courts, what would be the alternative? We would have no choice but to resort to machetes, cutlasses and short guns, to settle our disputes.
In my several years serving people in the creative industry, I have met good people. I have also met all kinds of crazy and wicked creatures. There are those who are totally consumed by their love of money and of themselves. Their only measure of success is how much anyone has packed at the expense of others. To them, money is God.
I know a guy who begins to tremble and shake at the sight of any significant amount of cash. Believe me, this guy was not born poor yet money has become his God. When my guy sights money, he becomes an animal. You may not believe it but my guy is convinced that once you see any measure of money, you have a duty to appropriate it regardless of who owns it. To him, any money that comes within your sight is yours and whatever you do to grab it is ok.
When such people accuse me of “infractions”, I understand them. They believe wrongly that everybody is a thief. In their minds, how can he be in control of such significant amount of money and spend it to build an edifice like COSON House in Lagos for the good of others when he has not built any for himself? When they hear that COSON is distributing millions of Naira, they sneer. In their minds infected by the crazy love of money, they cannot imagine how someone can distribute such money to others when he can appropriate all of it to himself. To them, the selflessness of Mother Theresa is a fable. The sacrifice of Martin Luther King is stupid. The 27 years that Nelson Mandela spent in prison is nonsense. After all, how much money did any of that bring? To these people, if you do not worship money, you are either a fraud or a fool.
About five years ago, I was told that COSON would die because we decided to go to court and test the issues that had arisen. Some people wanted the usual Nigerian quick fix. They made so much noise on Facebook and proclaimed as facts things that have neither rhyme nor reason. As we argued, some were frightened. They wanted everyone to quickly gather in a pepper soup joint over some bottles of beer. While drunk, we will sweep the issues under the carpet, take some photographs and proclaim that everything is ok. Six months later, reality would haunt everyone again as the same issues come back with a vengeance. The good news is that while we have paid a price, COSON is not dead!
Believe me, there can never be true peace without justice. It is either the courts or the cutlass.
See you next week.
