Renown Lagos based lawyer, Festus Keyamo has alluded to international figures working behind the scenes to stop President Buhari from bringing his predecessor Goodluck Jonathan to book for corruption; especially as it pertains to the $2.1bn Dasuki arms procurement scandal.
“The issue of investigating and prosecuting Jonathan is a complex one; it is not a straightforward issue”, Keyamo said in an interview with Punch newspapers.
“On the face of it, since all of these people who are indicted, one way or the other, were working directly with the then President Jonathan, and they all took instructions from Jonathan, legally speaking, or like we say, ordinarily, he should be invited, questioned and, if possible, prosecuted. But it is not as straightforward as that. The reason why I say it is not straightforward is that in Jonathan’s case, there appears to be some kind of international understanding that he should not be ridiculed. The reason being that most African leaders in the past — I say ‘most’ because not all of them; some of them have successfully handed over in the past when they lost election. But most of them have developed the habit of clinging on to power even when they lose elections. Most African leaders manipulate the electoral process to suit themselves.
“And in return, there is some kind of behind-the-scene international understanding that such African leaders should be given their pride of place in history, so that it encourages others to toe the same line with honour when they lose elections. In Jonathan’s case, therefore, any attempt to humiliate him publicly will discourage other African leaders who lose elections to hand over because they will easily refer to his case. And this may lead their nations to unnecessary civil strike or war”.
Keyamo also said prosecuting Jonathan will stoke ethnic tensions.
“If you see the outcome of the last elections and even the outcome of public debate that is still going on, the country is still somehow bitterly divided along tribal lines. The results of the elections will show you what happened; that a complete section of the country was pushed against another section of the country. It was by sheer number that the other part of the country overpowered the South-South and South-East part of country Jonathan came from. Therefore, somehow, by some accident of history, Jonathan has come to represent a particular section of the country who were sympathetic to him during the elections and those sentiments are still there till now. Thus, (if there is) any attempt also to humiliate him and bring him to justice, people from that part of the country will not even look at the facts of the case; they will refuse to look at the evidence against him. They will conclude that because he was a president from the minority, that is why you had the guts to humiliate him. And it will not do well for the healing of the post-election wounds that were inflicted on some parts of this country.
“But in any case, they cannot bring him in through, for example, the mere allegations of (former National Security Adviser, Sambo) Dasuki that ‘my Oga gave me permission to pay money about.’ If there is no such written instruction and the evidence is not so straightforward, that is what I am saying. If the evidence is overwhelming, especially when corrupt enrichment is traced to certain parts of the world, where he has kept money belonging to the Nigerian people or the money is kept in his name, not in the name of some proxy, such overwhelming and clear evidence, we may have no choice but to call for his arrest and prosecution. But for now, if the evidence he is telling us is not straightforward, like his subordinates who are alleging this and that, I think we have to handle it very carefully”.
The lawyer also added that it has become evident that Jonathan wasn’t prepared to be President when he did.
“Let us be honest about Jonathan. (Former) President Jonathan — and I say this with all respect to him — was not prepared for all the challenges of the Office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He had powers thrust upon his shoulders by the accident of history and the cruel hand of fate. He was never ready. He did not plan for that office; he did not campaign for that office. It was the schism of (former President Olusegun) Obasanjo; the manipulation of the political process by Obasanjo for his selfish reasons that got us to that point where Jonathan became vice-president and later became president. So, in a way, we must be sympathetic to Jonathan because the only way to quickly destroy a person is to give them an assignment that is beyond their capacity.”
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