Nigeria: Trial By Ordeal?
Elizabeth Ohene
Ring-side seats for 10 naira and then lesser charges till 50 kobo for standing room only and if one had engaged the services of one of those public relations firms who had handled the electioneering campaign for the political parties, to do the promotion, the crowds would have been more than anything seen in Nigeria before.
"The show of the century" anybody who is anybody will pay to see the corrupt politicians try to prove that they deserve 21 years in jail and not life imprisonment… Oh what a golden opportunity lost, but it is too late to dwell on all the possibilities, the day is here.
The NSO are having a difficult enough time keeping the site of the trials secret from prying eyes and there are all these rumours that these miserable politicians have arranged for their supporters to come and demonstrate at the trials to disturb the peace.
But that surely cannot be true? Which supporters - the only support they have lies among those who benefited from the four years of looting this country and such people are grateful enough that their roles have not been discovered... and they have provided most of the evidence against those on trial so one need not worry. All the same it is better to hold these trials in secret, and not in the open.
These press people are so tiresome, can you imagine what will happen when they start writing their reports? "Today at the Tribunal" - "Ex-Governor claims I have only one house", "I financed my farm with a loan from the bank" the mood of the public can so very readily be changed by such reports, but that is a risk one will have to take.
What is more, the press boys themselves know that the people will not be satisfied unless we make an example of the corrupt people, so one can count on their good sense. It is the foreign media we have to worry about, if we refuse them entry into the trials, they will say the tribunals are kangaroo courts, and if we let them in they will still be sending back reports suggesting the tribunals are not fair.
The only way round it is to have the opening session open to the media and then go into camera for the sake of national security and then allow the media in again for the verdict and sentencing... Anyway, we shall see what happens, these things are best played by ear. Thank God we did not indicate in the decree whether the proceedings of the tribunal should be in the open or in secret…
Then there has been that tiresome business with the Nigerian Bar Association demanding that judges be made the head of the tribunals, why, we might just as well have sent the corrupt politicians to the ordinary courts in that case! Anyway, we have to put our foot down sometimes, after all we are in charge now and this is a military regime and don't you forget it.
It was almost like the haggling that went on about the order of the elections during the last general elections - when FEDECO intervened with the formula which many people felt, helped the NPN to win - presidential elections first, then gubernatorial, then federal legislature and then the state assemblies - the roller-coaster effect.
So should we bring our star people first, how to determine the star quality, should it be according to the posts held in the previous administration or according to how corrupt?
If we should go according to official protocol, it will have to be the President, pardon me, Shagari first and then the Vice President and then the Governors, then Federal Ministers/ legislators and then state office holders and then the party hacks and business men.
But again there are these politically sensitive personalities, and the other problem of who goes before which tribunal do we send federal office holders before the Lagos tribunal and then spread the others around?
Supposing it turns out that the tribunal sitting in Jos finds the first two people that appear before it not guilty, wouldn't people start saying, if only my uncle had appeared in Jos instead of Lagos, he would have been found innocent oh well, better leave that problem to the tribunal members, if some of them want to get the reputation of being soft on corrupt politicians, that is their problem.
What about this argument about adopting different yardsticks for non NPN politicians? If you go and allow an ex-UPN governor to explain certain contracts in an unorthodox manner and he is successful, how could you refuse an NPN-governor from using the same pleading?
Possibly one really should have made the order according to 'corruption-protocol" - that is sure to guarantee continued public interest. The first ten people to appear must be millionaires...
A murmur went up in the crowd, "T tell you, it is him," no it cannot be you mean that old man is Governor? You are joking.
"Look, my friend told me that prison has not been good to him at all, and you know he used to dye his hair. now that he has not had access to any dye, that is why his hair is all white and don't forget, if you have had to undergo all-night interrogations for two months, you will be grey also!"
The television lights are in place the news cameramen are fussing, re-adjusting their lenses and jostling for position, the tribunal panel members are trying to adopt that famous bored disinterest expression that judges have, to indicate their impartiality, but you can tell they are as excited as a young child's first day in boarding school! The first day is all important, get it right and the rest will be easy, get it wrong and you are in trouble for the rest of your school life.
"March in the accused .." the Chairman of the panel thundered, suddenly everything falls deadly silent and then as though in a trance, "left, ...right, left right" at first one could only see the soldiers and their guns and then, there he was in the midst of six heavily armed soldiers looking pitifully small and defenceless, strange how people look smaller once out of power, even then his appearance was shocking and even the hard nosed press people were temporarily taken aback and forgot their cameras and gaped at this bearded apparition coming towards them, there was clapping which suddenly galvanised the some tentative whole gathering and the cameras started rolling and clicking and then some others in the crowd attempted booing but that too died down quickly like the clapping that had preceded it.
There followed a strange interchange which puzzled everybody - what should he be called - the accused? or the prisoner? or ex-governor or ex Excellency? One of the panel members suddenly said: 'let's get on with it, the man has a name!' The press people scribbled furiously and they marked the speaker as the "no-nonsense" member of the panel.
When the Hall finally quieted down the press people stopped their clicking, the chairman started his inaugural speech. "We shall be following procedures that meet all internationational requirements... should have declared assets. . . history in the making... world is watching… but won't be bogged down with legal mumbo-jumbo... work to do… clearing up mess... aegean stable left by you politicians ... onus of proof is on you to convince us that you acquired all your properties legally, if there is something you cannot explain satisfactorily, then it will be confiscated to the state and if the sum total of what you cannot explain is under 1 million naira, then you will serve 21 years in jail with hard labour, if it is more than a million naira, then the sentence will be life imprisonment with hard labour ... our society. ... rid of vermin... example to the youth... you can engage services of any lawyer of your choice...
Try as he did, the man could not concentrate on the speech, one part of his brain was telling him that he had better concentrate because his very life depended on what was being said, but his mind and eyes kept straying to that face in the crowd as he was first led into the room, when their eyes met, why had there been such a look of panic? shame? on his face, why did he avert his eyes so desperately?
That was his best friend, these past how many years, when he first entered the room he was hoping against hope that he would see him to reassure himself that these past four months have been a bad nightmare from which he will wake up, so why had his friend not wanted to look him in the eye, why had there not been a smile, surely these months in Kirikiri had not transformed him into such a monster, that is the dreadful thing about prison - you don't have a mirror so you don't really know how you look, he made a mental note never to scream at his wife which thought suddenly jolted him.
"Where the hell was the woman, where was his wife - surely she must be somewhere in the crowd, the mise able woman hasn't deserted me" - He scanned the crowd frantically and felt the panic slowly taking control of him, he must find his wife but
"Valued at 1.5 million naira bank loan of 0.8 million naira, where did the rest come from....”
Suddenly he realised that he was the centre of the animated whispering going on in the Hall. It obviously was being suggested that his house in his village was worth 1.5 million naira, but surely, the trial has not started yet... surely they would understand that a man must find his wife first and then what about the earlier statement that one could have a lawyer, anyway it is quite ridiculous to suggest that his house in the village was worth that much, where on earth would he have found that kind of money...
He scanned the crowd for one familiar face... but all he saw and heard were the same voices that once cried "all hail" now crying "crucify him".
He spoke to himself very sternly: you are on trial for your life, better concentrate, this is no time to think about wife and whatever will your old mother think if you should be publicly disgraced as a common thief, which is what is going to happen unless you start paying attention and very soon.
His papers, his damn papers, if only he had been a better organised person and had kept his papers properly, he would not be having such a difficult time now. He knew there was a perfectly legitimate explanation for that 10,000 naira in his account in the August of 1980 but how the devil can he explain it now and what is more, why don't they prove that it is stolen money, why should he have to prove that he earned it legally?
"Your clothes, let's deal with that right, his clothes, what is wrong with his clothes, he looked at himself with desperation, it is this not having mirror... and again it is that wife of his, the woman knew he was being brought to the Tribunal today, why did she not bring some presentable clothes… actually he had told the warder to ask his wife to bring some sober clothes, he had not wanted to appear defiant before the Tribunal and now he was in trouble with the Tribunal… then it dawned on him, it was not the clothes he was wearing, he was supposed to account for his clothes - their worth, he almost laughed out loud now this was getting ridiculous account for his clothes. He had spent 750,000 naira on clothes within the past four years? now, now gentlemen you've got to be joking but they were not... they were deadly serious and they had documents to prove it.
"According to the London Observer the Shagari outfits cost 2,500 dollars each and within the past four years we have determined that you have worn the 200 different ones and 20 different western-style suits and…” the Chairman's voice.
His courage almost left him at that point, his clothes . . . his clothes. and to think that he had never paid any attention to his looks . . . his clothes, he can just see the headlines in the newspapers the next morning, "Ex Gov. spent 0.75 million naira on clothes while nation starved" He wondered whether his shoes had been computed in the cost as well and that radio that his friend gave him, will he have to drag him into the entire sordid mess also . . . his clothes . . . and to think that they have not yet come to the import licence matter, let alone the contract...
The voice of the chairman of the panel penetrated into his consciousness once more.
"... those who are innocent have 66 nothing to fear, I will have one of our citizens demonstrate it to you in this cup is a potion of deadly poison, Lieutenant-Colonel will down it all into his stomach before all our eyes to demonstrate that if you are innocent, you will come out alive, after that, I will expect you to do the same to prove to us all that you are innocent . . .
It was not clear whether it was the Chairman whose nervous hands let go of the cup before the ex-governor had grasped it or if the man had dropped it out of nervousness but before the cup could be taken to the mouth, it fell, broke and the contents spilled. . .
Now everybody will have to wait. But then that was the first day.
Mercifully truth is stranger than fiction so the reality will be quite different.
