Arrest Jonathan now! As Balarabe, Falana, other Nigerians divided on whether ex-president Jonathan would be arrested

Revelations emanating from the on-going probe and trial of the former National Security Adviser, NSA, Col Sambo Dasuki, retd, over the arms purchase scandal have pitted Nigerians against each other on the fate of former President Goodluck Jonathan who allegedly gave most of the approvals.
Dasuki had told the court that he secured approval from the former pres-ident for the “arms purchase.” Their views ranged from the legal to the moral standpoints with some of them invoking the canons of “vicarious liability,” and “reckless immorality,” as strong ingredients in the trial of the ex- president. Former governor of old Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, former governor of Anambra State, Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife, Former minister of transport and aviation in the late Gen Sani Abacha’s military regime, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, and leading human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, SAN shared their views with Sunday Sun. Others who spoke also included Col Tony Nyiam, retd , and a lawyer and former member of the Federal House of Representatives , Uche Onyeagocha.
While Balarabe Musa said the former president “should pay for his sins” in office, he however, canvassed that the probes and trials should be extended to 1966 and all rulers “including Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.” His view slightly aligned with that of Nyiam who said that “ if you want to try Jonathan, you have to try Babangida, Obasanjo and other past leaders. It is not about Jonathan, it is a system they put in place to swing things and enrich themselves.” But Ezeife, Falana, Babatope, and Onyea¬gocha are strictly opposed to any form of trial of Jonathan, with Ezeife raising the alarm on the dangerous dimension the government was going in a desperate bid to diminish Jonathan.
Balarabe blamed Jona¬than for allegedly engaging in corrupt practices through the approvals he gave which culminated in the bazaar. “He is not more important than anyone. The hen has come home to roost. He should pay for his sins in office, if any. All the military rulers from 1966, all the presidents including Obasanjo should be probed and tried in court. If any one of them is found guilty, he should go to prison.” Putting Jonathan squarely in the ring, he said, “He must have given the approvals. The NSA has no executive powers to spend money at will.”
Ezeife differed in his appre¬ciation of the approvals said to have been given by Jonathan to Dasuki.. “It depends on the nature of the approvals given. Some approvals are just mere formality because they are con¬stitutional. The NSA spends the security vote of the president. It is approved already in the books. Jonathan is not going to prison. The extent they have gone is very dangerous,” he deposed.
For Babatope, he expressed reservations that party orga¬nization is now being mixed up with arms purchase. He recalled that in 1983, the same Buhari arrested some ex-gov¬ernors he sacked during his military coup for enriching the parties. “Buhari himself got some governors to finance his election into office this year. We have to be careful. I will talk when the ground is fair. Buhari has expressed the wish to fight corruption and should not be distracted with irrelevancies,” he advised. He concluded rhetorically, this way:” Jonathan, to go to jail? Over what?.
Falana washed Jonathan’s hands off the malfeasance. He asked, “was Jonathan in touch with the staff of Dasuki? Can you approve billions of naira without a written document? If the president gave approval that arms should be purchased, is that an excuse to breach due process? How can a World Bank expert tell you to release $338m without appropriation? Meanwhile, the president went to the National Assembly for approval to get $1billion loan to fight Boko Haram. The urgency in the entire process is called “self- induced urgen¬cy” in law, because the law says that every kobo must be appropriated. So far, this claim of approval from Jonathan, was it obtained orally? Let them produce the written approvals. Don’t forget that Jonathan’s wife, Dame patience repeatedly warned that she wouldn’t want the husband to go to prison after leaving office.” The fiery lawyer gave kudos to the on-going probes, observing happily that all those who have been linked with the criminal diversion of funds have not denied their involve¬ments, but are only pleading that they did not know that the funds were stolen. He said he is not excited at the prospects of “conviction at all cost.” He, however, expressed the wish that the accused will “have a fair day in court.” Stressing the need for a quick and fair dispensation of justice in the matter, Falana said: “Under our law, based on available evidence, I am convinced that justice will be done at the end of the day. I am concerned about the soldiers that were con¬victed, those that died in the battle against Boko Haram, and I believe for proper atonement, this must reach a logical conclusion. There is no way you can start from 1960, when the situation about corruption became critical. It will be difficult to handle. The date, which they started is okay.”
Nyiam, who sounded very philo¬sophical, described the whole episode as “misuse of security adviser and security votes, stating that the prac¬tice predated Jonathan. He explained further: “NSA (National Security Ad¬viser) as the name implies is simply an adviser to the president. It is not an executive position. This practice started many years ago during the Babangida time. It has been on, but got intensified during the Obasanjo days.
“The office has become a spe¬cial purpose vehicle for carrying out nefarious deals. The only NSA who lived above board was Gen Sarki Mukhtar who served under the late Yar’Adua. He was an ex- military police and lawyer. Right from time, it has been a conduit for all sorts of things. In the US, the office is usually handled by an academic, an expert. And they don’t spend their time dealing with arms purchase. It was created by cor¬rupt presidents before Jonathan. The office has no accounting system as in the ministries. Bu¬hari is simply exposing an open secret of what has been done in the past.”
He continues: “What is com¬ing out is misuse of security votes by chief executives at all levels. The office has been completely misused. It is a systemic thing. He should be let off. Rather the root cause should be tackled. If you want to try Jonathan, you have to try Obasanjo, Babangida, Shagari, Abdulsalami Abubakar and oth¬ers. It is not about Jonathan; it is a system they put in place to swing things and enrich them¬selves. Okonjo – Iweala was guided by the fact that security votes are not accounted for, and because of the emergency she loaned money to the NSA.”
Onyeagocha bemoaned the fact that people are fond of heaping blames on those who have fallen out of power. He absolved Jonathan of any blame, saying “he did not ap¬prove anything. “ Expatiating, Onyeagocha said, “he was not a desperate dictator. So many people took advantage of him.”