Dear Professor Aluko,
I crave thine indulgence. I mean no harm. Please indulge me
I'm writing this, conscious that according to Chinua Achebe, "Among the Igbo the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten."Hopefully, not only among the Igbo. Indeed , if not the essence , the Book of Proverbs should be a very resourceful adjunct to the art of conversation as there is much wisdom and morality to be found therein...
First of all, many thanks for so nicely putting some people in their place about the mens rea, especially those who erroneously believe or believed that they know or knew and can swear on their holy book that they were privy to what Kemi Adeosun was thinking every step of the way, knew when and where and what she thought - have full knowledge of her own private premeditations and intentions. They wouldn't have a leg stand on or survive cross-examination if I was Sister Kemi's defence attorney. The law is in my blood. My mother's father was a lawyer.
The miscreants remind me of another song, Master Song which begins,
"I believe that you heard your master sing
When I was sick in bed.
I suppose that he told you everything
That I keep locked away in my head."
Indeed, just as you say, "She has gone down alone, quietly", leaving the rabble to babble and to haggle, still wagging their somewheres and complaining.
It's the same moral to this Zen story of two monks and a woman
It was really painful to read that there are those who we are to assume are of sound mind and in good health, who nevertheless say that "Kemi Adeosun actually acted recklessly"
Please, when are the high and mighty, especially the holier-than-thou critics going to give their patriotic, honest, able and honourable Sister Kemi Adeosu a break ? Or do they merely want to break her – just as Jesus
"But he himself was broken,
long before the sky would open
forsaken, almost human,
he sank beneath your wisdom like a stone" ( Suzanne)
One explanation is that in the den of iniquity, the den of thieves (any such den in Nigeria or elsewhere) just as the fool believes himself to be wise, so too the thief believes that everyone else in sight is either a thief, a highway robber, a bandit, a forger of certificates or a looter .In some cases even the judiciary and the police think in the same way and in some extreme cases even politicians, senators, legislators as in
"You got gangsters in power and lawbreakers making rules" ( When You Gonna Wake Up?)
As you very well know, some of the pastors confirm themselves and the laity with the belief that apart from Jesus,
( a) "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
(b) "There is none righteous, not even one"
Apparently, that does confer some kind of equality among the rest of us, so that no one should go around believing that he or she is better than the two thieves who were nailed on their crosses, on either side of Jesus. That Jesus himself will return to mother earth " as a thief in the night" is an unfortunate simile if it stimulates the potential thief's imagination to follow footsteps that lead in the wrong direction...
That's the only explanation that's credible as the course of action they now retrospectively believe or advise would have been best for Nigeria's former Minister of finance to have taken upon returning home in Nigeria at the ripe old age of thirty four ( 34) years - not as a youth but as an "old youth" or as "big youth" by which time some born-again Nigerian women are already grandmothers, a little late in the day to be presenting themselves at the NYSC headquarters to procure for themselves a certificate of exemption from having to do any one-year mandatory national youth service in an area other than that of their birth/ schooling / normal residence.
Even living in a perpetual atmosphere of elders in my case overwhelmingly Saro's Yoruba elders and the veneration that's demanded by them, it was only when we did a thorough reading of Joseph Conrad's "Youth " and "Gaspar Ruiz " in the third form with an Englishman, a Mr. Chapman ( M.A. Cantab) that the concept of youth presented itself to yours truly....
There may be among us, those who enquire , at what point – which age - when did Jesus graduate from being a child to assuming adult responsibilities for his religious duties - probably at the age of twelve years (12) by which time he was allegedly disputing and teaching some of his elders in the Temple....
"But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st, Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade, When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st." ( Sonnet18) - somebody else...
As if they don't know that which even Mr. Ignoramus knows from experience , that you arrive at the NYSC headquarters or indeed any ministerial headquarters in Nigeria or even the bank - that you have to "do do something reasonable" such as to "drop" a suitable amount of money as a tip " shake hand " /"handshake" – the first deposit - just to get past the office messenger - and of course if you are "from overseas", the tip has to be augmented - made proportionately bigger – commensurate with what they believe should be your financial status ( your bag full of gold) – although if you were to invoke some connection or connections to power such as the Chief Justice, Governor, ex.-Governor, Commissioner of Police, Senator E, Speaker of the House M , the local chief of staff ,.i.e. the chief clerk could salute you and start taking care of your business without any unnecessary delay and the taking care of your business could naturally include but not be limited to issuing you with a back-dated Certificate of any sort that you require, duly attested and signed, even your own death certificate for your wife to collect the insurance money.
There are people who do not invoke those kinds of connections. Obviously Mrs Adeosun is one such. I wouldn't invoke any connections either. The best connection of course is with the Almighty...
I have my own reservations about some of the reasons for exemptions – for instance in the Sierra Leone of my day, those awarded a "national scholarship" which I was fortunate to clinch ( the top A level results in the country in any given year ) were automatically exempted from being" bonded" to serve the Sierra Leone government after the completion of their studies. The exemption of course had nothing to do with age and my reservation is that it somehow created a two-tire system and a dangerous sense of elitism leaving one to wonder how someone in good conscience should be exempted from serving his country just because at some time he happened to be a faithful bookworm? The rationale was that such excelling students would go posthaste into further studies and not waste time doing any kind of " national service"; in my case for example, if I had not been granted a "national Scholarship" I would have been bonded to be trained to serve in the nation's diplomatic corps on completion of my studies.
There are many who say that the NYSC has to be reformed, though in my opinion the advantages far outweigh any idea of scrapping the system altogether. I talked to one such person yesterday and his lamentation is merely that the National Service only applies to graduates . I think that he would much prefer that it should be or should have been extended to certificated school leavers or something of the sort. Some years ago I recommended Nigeria's NYSC programme to the Saro people in a serious piece of persuasion and they seem to have adopted it - maybe, by the finger of the Almighty and nothing that was said. The NYSC's social mobilization certainly contributes to diminishing the kind of tribalism that persists through ignorance of the other. One of my best friends in Rivers state was Bello a youth corper from what was then Gongola and AbuBakar from Kaduna - two places I have still not visited although I am still anxious to go to Saminaka , strongly recommended by two Swedish visitors ( two nineteen year old Swedish ladies who visited me in Nigeria , who still swear that Kaduna would the right place for me in Nigeria.
Some music:
Fitzroy Williams - Leave [T.D.M. Production]
On Saturday, 22 September 2018 04:41:16 UTC+2, Bolaji Aluko wrote:
Layman Ogedi Ohajekwe:She has gone down alone, quietly, leaving me and you to haggle.Lobatan!Bolaji Aluko
On Friday, September 21, 2018, Ogedi Ohajekwe <ged...@gmail.com> wrote:My layman's opinion.When Kemi Adeosun at 34 years old applied for and obtained the Nigeria passport, she activated her Nigerian citizenship.She wanted gainful employment or business in Nigeria, so she inquired about the NYSC and arrived at the conclusion that she at least needed an exemption letter, if not the full one year service.She applied for an exemption letter, and that must have been based on certain parameter/s.The exemption application must have been delayed or denied.Unless more information is obtained from the NYSC regarding what happened, further discussion about it is guess work. Even the former finance minister at best, essentially says that she did not know.What we do know is that a forged exemption letter was presented and has been used since she first presented the letter till June this year.All the arguments on when she became a Nigerian citizen should not be material to the issue of forgery and resignation.Even if she was 40 years old on graduation and for some unknown reason could not obtained a legitimate exemption letter and instead uses a forged letter, it is still forgery!If one knowingly or unknowingly is in possession of a fake N1000.00 bill and went to spend it at the Nigerian Central Bank and gets caught. Who is at fault?-the printer of the bill, all the intermediaries or the the one who possesses the bill?That person is in trouble and should quickly point out the intermediaries and the printer if the person knows. Or after 'due consideration' go down alone, quietly.Dear Prof,It is sad that Kemi Adeoshun actually acted recklessly. She should have presented herself at the NYSC office and save herself all the embarrassment.Second, by virtue of Nigeria's constitution, Kemi upon birth automatically acquires Nigerian citizenship through parentage just as she acquired British citizenship jus soleil.So she could not have been Greek for all anyone cared.The men's rea here that meets with actus rea for a crime to exist lies in that definition of recklessness, confirmed by R v. Olugboji. Point is, by employing agents to do that which she is supposed to do in person, suggests that she cannot careless the consequence of such an action, she just want to obtain the certificate.I like Ms Adeoshun but 'am afraid.......Sent from my iPhoneKennedy.
You seem to miss the point. Was an exemption certificate necessary for Kemi Adeosun when she was no longer a youth when she returned after her studies abroad? I just read the link to the Act.
What do you mean she could arrange to do her service when she was no longer eligible to do any service in view of her age by the time she returned to Nigeria?
How can you be so categorical that SHE forged the certificate herself? Provide the proof for your claim!
Because she did not want to provide names of associates in order not to compromise their career or government is that by itself an admission of guilt? ( You have been described as a barrister) I know that government officials DO work through associates in view of their heavy schedules.
You said the NYSC authorities ought to be commended for not following through with Mrs Adeosuns request which they received ( on the premise they did not issue her certificate). How so?
OAA.
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
-------- Original message --------From: 'Kennedy Emetulu' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com >Date: 19/09/2018 07:41 (GMT+00:00)Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - On the Resignation of Kemi Adeosunas Finance Minister
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Professor Aluko,
Thank you for your latest response. I didn't spend anytime "crafting" my five questions to you because they're just the natural questions that came to mind after reading your earlier response to me. Answering them would have helped the cause of understanding in this debate. But, I respect the fact that you have chosen to move on, even if in doing so, you've left me with an article by my brother, Tope Popoola. As you know, I've dispassionately addressed some of the issues he's raised in my response to you.
Professor Aluko, for many Nigerians, Diaspora and home-based, serving Nigeria is a labour of love. We know we have many issues, but we must not confuse things. We cannot always be wheeling out our well-known social problems as a fit-all response in defence of persons who've made evidently poor judgment in public service. This whole canonisation of Kemi Adeosun is not in the interest of propriety. Sure, there is room for sympathy, but none for sentiments in analysing the issues involved.
Mr Popoola's many troubles with the Nigerian culture of fakery is everyday stuff, but his problem with the NYSC is a unique one and certainly not comparable to Adeosun's. It does not reflect well on the NYSC that a citizen after service has no Discharge Certificate, but we thank God that they at least gave him a letter of attestation which serves the same purpose as a Discharge Cerificate. Of course, this isn't in any way a defence of the NYSC's handling of his issue, it's just a fact that we need to recognise when attempting a comparison with Adeosun's situation.
Let me now use this opportunity to respond to some of the questions raised by Mr Popoola. I hope my intervention will help us understand the issues better.
"1. If indeed, Kemi applied for an exemption as confirmed by NYSC, how long does it take for NYSC to give a response, positive or negative to such a request? If she hadn't, I would have been worried. But she did! Kemi served as Commissioner for Finance in Ogun State for FOUR years and another THREE as Minister at the Federal level and yet, no official response to her request! I can identify with that. NYSC NEVER replied any of my enquiries on the whereabouts of my Discharge Certificate almost forty years ago till today!"
Mr Popoola's experience with the NYSC is different from Kemi Adeosun's. Mr Popoola actually served and even though he was not given a Discharge Certificate, he got a letter of attestation that serves the same purpose. Kemi Adeodun's letter is not relevant because that is not the way prospective Corps members and persons qualified for exemption are mobilized. What Kemi ought to have done was present her credentials to the NYSC and report for mobilization. The NYSC system would therefrom determine her status and give her a Certificate of Exemption once it is determined from the information provided that she is qualified for exemption.
In her case, she is not qualified for exemption because she finished her degree programme at 22. So, what she ought to have done once she decided to come home was arrange for her NYSC service time, after reporting for orientation, to be served with her company while she was in the private sector. Instead, what she did was ignore it because she saw no need for it at the time. But once she knew she was going to be appointed a Commissioner, which would require a public presentation of her credentials, she chose the ill-advised route of presenting a forged Certificate of Exemption. She was able to get away with it twice when she presented it because she had people covering up for her in the system. It's only come to light now because Premium Times made it their duty to expose her. She was forced to resign because of public outcry.
"2. Could a staff of NYSC have scammed Kemi, taking advantage of her naivety, to produce and present the forged certificate to her, purporting it to be the response of the NYSC to her request, a possible reason why she did not bother to pursue the matter further with NYSC?"
No. In this very case, the NYSC authorities ought to be commended because they rebuffed pressures to cover up for her. I know this as a matter of fact because I have followed the matter closely. No NYSC staff was mentioned or implicated in any way. The forged Certificate of Exemption did not come from the NYSC, so the question of any NYSC staff scamming her does not arise. Kemi Adeosun in her letter of resignation said some associates gave her guidance and advice, but she never mentioned the names of these associates neither did she say they procured the forged Certificate of Exemption for her. The only name mentioned is Kemi Adeosun's. If indeed anyone helped her to forge the Certificate of Exemption or helped procure it, she should mention these persons. She cannot just say she was misled by associates she trusted without mentioning their names or the role they played in the saga. It's not difficult to see why we cannot believe her just like that.
"3. Did Kemi, not having lived or operated in Nigeria before she was headhunted by Governor Ibikunle Amosun, have a way of knowing what an authentic exemption certificate looks like for her to discern that the one she got was fake? I have lived in Nigeria all my life, used several cars, renewed several driver's licenses over a 36-year period, yet, I was scammed by officials of the relevant agencies!"
Kemi knows the Certificate of Exemption in her possession is fake. She procured a fake Certificate of Exemption to clinch the Commissionership and later the ministerial appointment and she did so because those who should be vetting the documents were protecting her. The only reason the rest of us have come to know about it now after years of cover-up is because Premium Times exposed her.
"4. Was it out of place for Kemi to have relied on the certificate she was given, especially when there was no subsequent communication from NYSC granting or refusing her exemption?"
Certificate given by who? As I explained, the NYSC does not mobilize prospective Corps members or those eligible for exemption through letters. She was not given any Exemption Certificate by the NYSC. Unlike, Mr Popoola who actually served and who in the account of his victimhood with fake service providers showed that he would go to any length to get the right thing, Mrs Adeosun did not even visit the NYSC at all. I mean, what does that say? She did not even tell us that anyone procured this forged Certificate of Exemption for her. It's obvious she forged it herself and had hoped to get away with it. She did for sometime because with big political lords as godfathers, she was 'protected'. But excellent investigative journalism from Premium Times exposed her. Mr Popoola was a victim throughout his ordeals, but Mrs Adeosun was not a victim. She was a perpetrator who got away with it for years as Commissioner in Ogun State and Minister of the Federal Republic with everything that comes with that. She has profited immensely from her criminality.
Below is a link to an interview with Anthony Ani, a former Director of Mobilization at the National Youth Service Corps(NYSC) explaining how mobilization is done and how Certificates of Exemption are procured. Also below is a link to the NYSC Act. People should read and understand that what Mrs Adeosun is talking is pure bullshit. I mean, it's obvious that she knew she had to do the one year NYSC programme when she came to the country. But she didn't do it while working in the private sector because while there, she didn't have to submit anything for public scrutiny. But as soon as it became clear she was going to be a Commissioner in Ogun State, she procured a forged one.
https://www.thecable.ng/dont-
apply-exemption-certificate- says-ex-nysc-director
http://lawnigeria.com/
LawsoftheFederation/NATIONAL- YOUTH-SERVICE-CORPS-ACT.html
"5. Is the NYSC not complicit in the entire process? If you ask me, I think that the NYSC is the real culprit here! That body has a case to answer!"
The NYSC has discharged itself creditably. They were not involved at any level and they have done well to rebuff the attempts to compromise them over this matter.
"6. Would Kemi, with her pedigree and her exposure, have deliberately committed a fraud over an exemption certificate? I doubt it. She never claimed that she served. Her claim was that she sought an exemption. NYSC confirmed that much".
Kemi knew what she was doing. She wanted the job of Commissioner and the only thing that could have stopped her was the lack of a Discharge Certificate or Certificate of Exemption. She forged the latter to clinch the job and later to also clinch the job of Minister of Finance. She could not have been a Commissioner or Minister without the Exemption Certificate. People should be worried that she was able to scam the nation for more than 7 years.
"7. Why the special focus on Kemi? Why did the story break just shortly after her tiff with the Senate as well as NNPC and its opaque operations? It reminds one very rudely of Lamido Sanusi's travails. He was hailed as the whiz kid of Nigerian banking until he started prying into NNPC issues! He was promptly pilloried and sacrificed. Ditto Nuhu Ribadu, czar of anti-corruption, poster boy of institutional probity, until he started trying to fish in 'sacred' waters! Coincidence? A Presidential aide, Okoi Obono-Obla has allegedly had his Secondary School Leaving Certificate repudiated by WAEC. He continues to be on the roll of Nigerian lawyers and a presidential Special Adviser. It has not generated the same hoopla as Kemi's case has. Yet, thankfully, none of Kemi's academic credentials is suspect".
First, this is a conspiracy theory. Kemi's situation is not comparable to Lamido Sanusi's or Ribadu's. She wasn't exactly a revolutionary figure within the government dreaded by any special interest. She was just there being a conformist, doing the biddings of her godfathers. We have heard reports that during her Senate hearings, there were persons who knew of the forged Certificate of Exemption and who blackmailed her to get confirmation. So, she has friends amongst them and was never at loggerheads with them. I mean, even if she was, it does not justify the fact that she actually used a forged Certificate of Exemption to get two top jobs in the public service. Nobody planted it on her; she procured it and she's used it to benefit herself at the expense of the nation.
People have not focused on her specially. The public have also been calling for the sack of Obono-Obla and Louis Edozien, but Kemi Adeosun is the most high-profile of the lot. To me, what is obvious is that the resignation became necessary, not only because of public outcry, but because it also played nicely into the hands of the hegemonists in the administration. Just imagine the outcome of it all. Zainab Ahmed, Nasir el-Rufai's sister who is the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning has now taken over the Finance ministry and Ogun State has lost its constitutional place in the federal cabinet. Who is the winner now if not the hegemonists?
"8. If indeed Kemi carried a British passport until the age of 34, would it then be right to technically refer to her as a Nigerian until that time when she chose dual citizenship by obtaining a Nigerian passport? Lawyers can help me out here. I want to be educated".
I have responded to this question in my first response to you. Earlier in the evening, I also responded to Feyi Fawehinmi in the link below. Please, note that apart from my initial response to Feyi, several other explanatory posts followed in the course of the discussion. The position is clear. Kemi has always been a Nigerian citizen since birth irrespective of when she chose to collect her passport.
https://www.facebook.com/
FeyiF/posts/10160842044400503? __tn__=-UC-R
"Until I have reason to be otherwise convinced, going by my experiences shared in the first and second parts of this write-up, I believe that Kemi Adeosun, like many other Nigerians, including possibly YOU reading this, was just a pawn in a chess game where the Grand Masters have learnt to prey on the intelligence of a people who hardly interrogate issues beyond hype and hoopla, even when they themselves are also mere pawns".
Kemi was no pawn. She's a failed Grandmaster. The truth isn't that complicated.
"It is Kemi today. She is the dog being called a bad name. Technically, she has just been hanged. Perhaps she is culpable and is stewing in her own juice. Maybe she was just a victim of her own "ajebutter" naivety. It may be YOU tomorrow. Did you say it cannot happen to you?"
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