Kwankwaso: Why Are Supreme Court Justices Not Outraged?

By Comfort Obi

Will the retired Justice of the Supreme Court, The Honourable Justice Musa Muhammad Dattijo, stand up for recognition.

Justice Dattijo deserves a standing ovation for defending his integrity. He has lived to his reputation while still in service. He was, by all accounts, a no-nonsense Judge. Blunt. Disciplined. Incorruptible.

I first picked interest in him when he retired from the Supreme Court in 2023. His valedictory speech was unputdownable. It was “da bomb”. He pulled no punches, spared neither the Judiciary nor the Executive.

Since his retirement, he has held his fire in check. He has been quiet. Just enjoying his retirement from the stressful, energy sapping, and often thankless job.

Nigerian Judges go down in history as the most insulted, the most  disrespected.

I know quite a couple of them – serving and retired. Respectable. Polished. Deep. Incorruptible. Brilliant.

While I served on the Police Service Commission as a Federal Commissioner, for 10 unprecedented years, I had the privilege of working with three of them – retired Supreme Court Justices, as Commissioner-colleagues at different times. They came across as some of the best even when compared with their colleagues in other climes. I learnt quite a lot from them, and at a point, toyed with the idea of going back to school to read law. But adult education “come no too shack me” again. I could be a spectacle, the joke of young people. Watching some of them in my house  “performing magic” with all kinds of appliances, I suddenly feel too old, illiterate, uneducated and lost – no matter how much I try to cover up.

But in Nigeria, who cares about incorruptible Judicial Officers. They dump all of them in one basket and abuse them silly. Any riff-raff could  wake up from a drunken slumber to insult them, to abuse them, and call them names. Thieves. Corrupt. And often without proof.

I always wonder why they fail to defend themselves in the face of the many false allegations leveled against them. I took it up one day with the Supreme Court Justices I worked closely with. They explained. I failed to understand. I have a different temperament. So,  even if I had agreed with them, it is difficult to understand why, even after retirement, they keep quiet in the face of brazen lies against them from, especially, politicians.

Politicians  praise them to high heaven when they rule in their favor, but scream “tainted ruling, bought judgment” when they lose.

Yet, they keep quiet, no defence.

But enters the Honourable Justice Dattijo. He has just been dragged out from  retirement by Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso.

You, of course, know the irrepressible Kwankwaso. Two-term former Governor of Kano State. Former Defence Minister. Former Presidential Candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP. Founder of the Kwankwasiyya Movement. Former political godfather of a Governor. And now, an estranged political godfather to a serving Governor. Too many “formers”! But no matter. In Nigeria, you must recognize most people as “former this and former that”, else, they take offence.

But it  is Kwankwaso’s last recognition as estranged political godfather of a serving Governor that dragged Justice Dattijo out.

Here is how.

It began when the relationship between Kwankwaso and his political godson, Governor Abba Yusuf, began to go sour. Both politicians have not made public why they   fell out. But from the grapevine, the story is that Yusuf  was just a Governor in name; that everything revolved around Kwankwaso; and that the Governor had to look for a way to remove himself from bondage. That hurt, for reasons.

In 2023, Kwankwaso fought the political battle of his life to snatch victory for Governor Yusuf. Yusuf defeated the candidate fielded by then incumbent APC Governor, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje. That defeat was a life saver for Kwankwaso who had suffered all kinds of humiliation in the hands of his former subordinate, Ganduje. Defeating Ganduje’s candidate gave Kwankwaso a political life line. It woke him up from a political graveyard.

The two men were very close political allies. During Kwankwaso’s second coming as a Governor, he picked Ganduje as his Deputy Governor. Before then, he was  Kwankwaso’s Special Assistant, (or was it Adviser) when he was the Minister of Defence.Then, from being Deputy Governor, he succeeded Kwankwaso as Kano State Governor.

Opinion was divided as to how he succeeded Kwankwaso. In Nigeria, Governors never allow their Deputies to succeed them in office. Some people said Kwankwaso was forced to hand over to Ganduje; that he worked against Ganduje. And that’s how come I, unknowingly, almost, courted Kwankwaso’s trouble.

Yours sincerely was ignorant of the undercurrents. So, a few months after Ganduje was sworn into office, I was on my way to Abuja when I saw Kwankwaso at the Protocol Lounge of the Murtala Mohammed Airport, Lagos. Full of admiration  that he “picked” his Deputy, Ganduje, to succeed him, I greeted him very warmly, and heaped praises on him for picking his Deputy as his successor. I now forget if he was as warm as I was. I guess I was just carried away, coupled with the fact that a number of his Security Aides (Police) who recognized me as a Commissioner on the PSC, were busy paying me compliments. But as I walked back to my seat, one of his Police aides followed me, and whispered nervously: “Madam, ah, no mention that man (Governor Yusuf)  name to Oga again. Haa, they no good oooo.” I was, therefore,  not surprised when Ganduje started showing Kwankwaso real pepper, even  barring him, literally, from visiting Kano.

This man, Kwankwaso, was a former Governor, former Defence Minister, a serving Senator at the time, yet, his State Governor, who was his Deputy, before then, was  his Adviser, barred him, literally, from even visiting his Senatorial zone! The powers some Governors wield is obscenely incredible.

I understood how bad the situation was when one day, a group of Kwankwaso loyalists came to the PSC (at the time) to report  the State Commissioner of Police for allegedly being partisan. “Tell him to be careful and face his job”, they said.

On a visit to Kano, we took the case up,  but were shocked by the CP’s response. He appealed (begged, actually)  to us to let the situation remain. Meaning: Kwankwaso should, in the name of God, keep off the State. “Why?”, we chorused.  He nervously explained that there could be a bloodbath. And he was doing everything to avoid that. Tactically, we let go.

You can then imagine how relieved and thankful to Allah Kwankwaso was when his Candidate, Yusuf, swept away everything Ganduje in 2023. In 2026, to Kwankwaso’s shock, Governor Yusuf simply handed back Kano to Kwankwaso’s adversaries, along with a cane to flog him silly.

I would give an arm to know if Kwankwaso managed to sleep  for even an hour the day Governor Yusuf defected to the APC. What I can confirm is that he went berserk. He declared the day as “The World’s betrayal day”. No wonder he was afflicted by  the diareah of the mouth. He talked and talked and talked.

Some defections actually can hurt more than the others. One of such is the defection of former Delta State Governor, and PDP’s Vice Presidential candidate in 2023 Dr Ifeanyi Okowa. One of the main reasons for which the PDP is in a deep coma today is Okowa. If Atiku had picked then Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, who desperately wanted to be his running mate, instead of Okowa, PDP would still have been very alive now. Okowa knew the role his candidacy played, and yet, he “dishonorably” dumbed the Party. The PDP did not drag him. But in  Kwankwaso’s case, he suddenly forgot that in Nigeria, most politicians are “food is ready politicians.” And Kwankwaso is not innocent when it comes to defection. He defected from PDP to APC, from APC back to PDP, and from PDP to NNPC. And, he betrayed  President Goodluck Jonathan who encouraged him to go back and contest for the Governorship of Kano State after he was defeated in his second term bid. He won, on that second trial, but that did not stop him from betraying Jonathan. He defected to the APC and was one of those who saw to it that Jonathan lost in 2015.

Jonathan endured without lamentations. But Kwankwaso couldn’t endure Yusuf’s defection. He has cursed and cursed. Lamented and lamented until his mouth ran over. His tongue and mouth crossed the red line. And, in one reckless moment, he said what nobody of his status, and in his right senses would say.

Kwankwaso looked all of us in the eyes and told us, publicly, that  to make Yusuf  Governor of Kano State in 2019, he took the then candidate to the homes of all Supreme Court Justices. Cases which involve Governorship and Presidential election results end up at the Supreme Court. So, in simple elementary language, what Kwankwaso meant was that he took Yusuf to the homes of the Supreme Court Justices to ask them to influence the outcome of the case before them; that he went to corrupt the Justices. By so doing, and by shamelessly making it public,  Kwankwaso has shamed Nigeria before the civilised world. He has told the world that it is as easy as ABC to visit Justices of  Nigeria’s highest Court and corrupt them, and so, influence the outcome of any case before them.

This is an outrage. Yet, I see no outrage coming from the Judiciary; the National Judicial Council has said nothing; the Nigerian Bar Association has said nothing, and most important, the retired Supreme Court Justices who were in office in 2019 have said nothing; have not deemed Kwankwaso’s statement damaging enough  to challenge him.

Questions then:

Are they guilty? Is Kwankwaso right? Did they play host to him and then Candidate Yusuf? If so, what did they discuss with them? What promises did Kwankwaso make to them? What was in the bag for them?

But enters the Honourable Justice Dattijo to distance himself from the scandal. He spoke because he was a serving Justice of the Supreme Court in 2019. Others have been tight-lipped. He has denied ever playing host to Kwankwaso and Yusuf. He has challenged Kwankwaso to tell the world when and where he and Yusuf visited him. But, for emphasis, he said he was speaking for himself only, not for his brother-Justices.

“I speak only for myself. I was a serving Justice of the Supreme Court at the time and never held such a meeting with Kwankwaso or Governor Abba Yusuf. My intervention is not intended to defend or indict anyone else. It is simply to clarify that I was not part of any such engagement”, he said in a statement.

Questions are: why are other retired Justices not talking? Why have they not challenged Kwankwaso? Why are they allowing Kwankwaso to get away with this   terrible dent on their reputation?

A couple of years ago, a retiring Senator Muhammad Bulkachuwa,  openly, in the Senate Chambers, revealed how he abused his position as the husband of the then President of the Court of Appeal, the Honourable Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, to help his colleagues who had election cases at the Court of Appeal. After the initial “gra-gra”, nothing happened. He got away with the damning allegation. Till date, the Senator and his wife are sitting pretty, enjoying their retirement benefits and their “high profile status” in the society.

One can go on and on. We have seen a number of our leaders brazenly lie against others in the name of politics. In Edo State during one Governorship Election, a high profile national leader labeled a candidate a thief, a cultist, a murderer and more. He knew he was lying, but he said them all the same, and kept repeating them. A couple of years later, he swallowed his vomit, and said he was just playing politics. In more civilized climes, that would have been the end of his political career. But here, nothing happens. It is why, in the Entertainment industry, our actors and actresses make all kinds of damaging allegations in the social media against one another – witch, wizard, blood sucker, juju “patrioniser” who blocks the progress of others. And worse. All, without proof. It is the reason some “content creators get away with murder”. Nobody cares.

But back to Kwankwaso and his allegations against Supreme Court Justices who he said he met in their homes in 2019. He should come forward and say more. The  Supreme Court Justices who were in service in 2019 should speak up. They should challenge Kwankwaso for proof. The NBA, the NJC, should be interested. What Kwankwaso owes Nigeria is proof. He cannot drag the Justices of the Supreme Court in the mud with such a weighty allegation and behave as if nothing happened. He cannot make a laughing stock of Supreme Court Justices and behave as if it is nothing, as if it is the usual. All the Supreme Court Justices in 2019, still serving or retired should get together and challenge Kwankwaso. If  he had a slip of the tongue, he should clarify and publicly apologize. Otherwise, they should sue Kwankwaso for everything he has got, unless they have something to hide. The first step is to toe Justice Dattijo’s line.  Then, follow it up with a barrage of law suits.

To think that Kwankwaso, a man who has publicly admitted to visiting Justices of the highest Court in the land in order to influence the outcome of a case before them, is actually aspiring to be Nigeria’s President? Well, this is Nigeria. So, why not? This is the shame of a nation. No, it’s worse than that – if you ask me. Enough.

Obi is the Editor-in-Chief/CEO of The Source (Magazine), https://thesourceng.com.  Email: [email protected], [email protected]