Ogun, Daniel and FOIB

Vanguard, Friday, December 01, 2006, Personal View, Mobolaji Sanusi

“Freedom rings where opinion clash”-----Adlai Stevenson

THE last few days have charged the atmosphere in Ogun state. Dipo Dina, an Action Congress (AC) governorship aspirant, through revelations in his Dipo Dina Movement advertorial, has put the  Gbenga Daniel administration on its toes. The last two of the paid advertorials in a national newspaper had been particularly striking because of their definite accusation, picaresque presentation and near unassailable facts.

Because of their stinging effect and scandalous reverberations, the government wrote a protest letter to the police, on the basis of which 12 staff of the Accountant General’s office have since been in police custody. Dipo Dina was invited by the police in Eleweran and was also detained.

The Senior Civil Servants Association of Nigeria, Ogun State branch protested the continued detention of its members for a bailable offence that has not been proven against them. One of them, according to Seyi Adebanjo, the association’s scribe, is ill and in hospital while another could not write his ICAN exams because the police would not grant them bail.

The police infringed  section 35(4) and (5) of 1999   Constitution by not arraigning the arrested civil servants before a court of law within 48 hours judging that Eleweran Police Head quarters, where they were held, is not more than 40 kilometre radius to the courts in Isabo. One hopes they are not dabbling into  politics by taking sides with the governor.

The government of the state had declared 702 vouchers missing but it might be difficult to prove that those documents were leaked to Dipo Dina by civil servants when political appointees who are close to the administration but somehow disenchanted with Daniel’s leadership style might be behind the leakages.

For now, one can leave this in the realm of conjecture. What is more pertinent now are the issues raised by Dipo Dina Movement in those publications and the documentary evidence provided. One thing is the authenticity of allegations raised, another  is whether the documents were illegally procured. I know as a lawyer and a student of law that illegally procured evidence is admissible in court.

The allegations contained in those advertorials are too damning  for us to allow ourselves to be detracted by cries of losses of vouchers by the state government. Who knows whether originals of the documents are still in government’s custody or have been deliberately destroyed?

With the overwhelming media propaganda of the Daniel’s administration, it  might be difficult not only for indigenes, but outsiders to fault the “celebrated achievement” of this administration. Dina, though an aspirant, bailed us out by putting flesh on Daniel’s touted “achievements”. Before now, a lawyer, Aladejobi, published a petition containing allegations of facts against the governor. The defence by the governor's solicitor was watery.

Till now, neither ICPC, EFCC, the Police nor  SSS has come out with their reports based on findings from the allegations from either Dina or Aladejobi publications. Even the state legislature has completely gone to sleep under the speakership of Hon. Titi Oseni.

We are approaching a season of election and the reverie of electioneering is around the corner. Things like what Dina and Aladejobi are doing or had done should be encouraged.
The central  PDP administration claims to be fighting graft but the events going on in  Ogun State have not shown  positive signs in this regard. This brings to fore the significance of the Freedom of Information Bill that is awaiting presidential assent after having been passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate since November 15. The Bill, when assented to in less than 15 days time from now, will usher in a new regime of unfettered access to information and  documents.

Some of the  objectives of the bill are: The provision, as of right, free and uninhibited access to public information or records kept by  government, public institutions and private organisations carrying  out public functions for citizens and non-citizens of the country; to increase the availability of public records and information to citizens of the country so that they can participate more effectively in the administration of laws and the formulation of public policies; to ensure that public officers disclose public records or information, in the public interest, without authorisation and to protect these officers from adverse consequences emanating from such disclosure among others.

What is happening in Ogun state under Gbenga Daniel where civil servants are detained upon suspicion that they leaked government documents and an aspirant held for publishing same would in less than 15 days be a jester’s act. Someone in the highest position must be jittery of the clamour for accountability, probity and transparency in the governance of President Olusegun Obasanjo’s state. Daniel as governor of the state can be held accountable only if he answers the public on some of the  allegations against him not by getting civil servants or members of the opposition arrested to either whip up sentiments, intimidate or outrightly divert the eyes and minds of the people away from the real issue at stake. With the passage and expected assent or veto of the FOIB, the days of people like Daniel not only in Ogun but other States and the centre are numbered.

It is imperative to ask Gov. Daniel among several questions why he is accusing Dina of voucher theft after so many advertorials from his camp? Were the 702 vouchers stolen at once or in batches? Why is Gov. Daniel just discovering the loss now when the time to challenge his incumbency draws nearer? Is it a ploy to prepare the ground for an alibi whenever the need arises for Gov. Daniel to be called to question on his financial administration of the state? The hapless detained civil servants and Dina should be made to regain their freedom while the real politicking for 2007 elections throttles on.