RETIRED President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Mustapha Akanbi has described Nigeria as a declining nation, warning of the dire consequences of over-heating the polity ahead of 2015 general elections. 

   Akanbi, in an exclusive chat with The Guardian yesterday in Ilorin, said Nigeria, like many other African nations, has failed  the  founding fathers in the areas of building an egalitarian nation, noting that “the noise on 2015”, should be replaced with leadership zeal that would take the nation and its despondent people out of the woods.

  Besides, the octogenarian former justice while canvassing prompt arrest and prosecution of persons linked with the recent bombing of a court premises in Rivers State, wondered how any court of law could be bombed. But he warned that such cowardly act would not deter any upright judge from engaging in dutiful administration of justice.

  “Rather than heating up the political terrain of our country, patriotism, nationalism and love of one’s country should be uppermost in the mind of any statesman or Nigerian. More so for people of my age, one can only wish the best for one’s country so that it can be said that we have been able to bequeath to our generation and generation yet unborn, a legacy of peace, harmony and a great country,” he said.

  Akanbi, the pioneer Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) who opined that “everything about the nation is in shambles”, added: “Our economy is in a bad shape. Our educational development is not good enough. We have not been able to take care of the basic needs of the society. We are not able to provide shelter for the poor masses. We have not been able to make this country the pride of the black race or give the necessary leadership, which will instill confidence in the youths of this country.

   “We started well as a nation but today, we are on the decline. I said this because I am very close to the grassroots. If you know what is happening in our universities today, you will be amazed by what the professors are saying. Many Nigerians with degrees are not worthy being called degree holders. 

  “Some of the applicants can’t even write correct application letters. A professor friend recently told me that people always find their way into making their children pass. There is no available fund to conduct research in order to train the students well.”

   Akanbi, while reminiscing on the dark days of former ruler, the late Gen. Sani Abacha who described Nigerian public hospitals as “mere consulting clinics”, believes the nation’s hospitals are worse off now due to the dearth of  state-of-the-art facilities.

  For him, the development could not be divorced from alleged egocentric tendencies of persons seeking political offices in Nigeria who rather than developing the infrastructural needs of the nation, engage in mundane things.

    “How do you describe a situation where a man leaves his constituency a poor man, but by the time he ends his tenure, he comes out with riches. To some of us who are old, we are beginning to wonder where we stand. At independence, we believed that Nigeria would be the haven of the black race. When Ghana got her independence in 1967, some of us Nigerians were worried over what would happen to Nigeria.

  “We thought then that Nigeria would seize the leadership and set worthy examples for the black race. Unfortunately, the problem of leadership continues to be a problem for the entire continent. We have allowed greed, avarice, tribalism, ethnicity and religious bigotry to rule the waves with the result that we are disunited and therefore not making any meaningful progress,” Akanbi bemoaned.  

  The highly revered retired jurist averred that it was not necessary that the nation’s Presidency be ceded to any geo-political zone come the year 2015. He noted that what should be paramount should be the emergence of a selfless leader “who will be prepared to lay down his life for the nation,” toward making the nation the land of peace, progress and development. 

  He added: “The present political game the politicians are playing is not what matters, but the emergence of a leader that can make the difference for my children because we are going away. 

   “The environment must be such that leaders must be dedicated and committed to the cause of a common man. All these wranglings and hullabaloo will carry us nowhere. We need to have a new orientation, a new value to have the fear of God in giving services to the people.”

  While condemning the recent bombing of a court premises in Port Harcourt, Akanbi called for thorough investigations into the incident. He said the incident was a dangerous precedence in the waves of violence that have in recent times threatened the country’s existence. 

  He said the development, unlike the previous ones in the country, especially the gruesome murder of former Minister for Justice, Chief Bola Ige, should not be swept under the carpet.

  He told The Guardian yesterday in Ilorin: “Expectedly, anything that affects the court will weigh heavily in my mind, having been a judge. 

  “What I don’t know is that have we gone so bad as a nation that we now want to destroy the judicial system, which is one of the things that binds us together as a nation.

   “What actually was the aim of the perpetrators of the crime? Is it to frighten the judge or to settle scores? Government should do everything possible to bring to book those responsible because we have too many cases of unresolved crimes in the country.” 

    Akanbi went on : “I had always been worried from the day Ige was assassinated and till date, nobody has done anything positive to bring the culprits to the book. If we continue to sweep this kind of a thing under the carpet, generations yet unborn will blame us.” 

   On the constitution of the committee on national conference, Akanbi, who expressed fears over the fact that its members might no be able to conclude their assignment before the 2015 general elections, canvassed that the conference be included in the manifestos of any of the interested political parties towards its implementation after the polls.

  “The election is next year. When you start this conference now, how long will it take them to end it? It may as well spread through the campaign period. Then, how will it help us? Will it not be too expensive for the government, which is looking now for money to conduct elections to simultaneously bankroll the National Conference? 

  “The polity is over-heated already and we should therefore not do things that will aggravate it. What is paramount is the provision of social amenities for the people. Let any political party so interested in the Conference put it in its manifesto.   

  “Many interested people could even as a result of this vote for the party. Maybe it is even time for us to throw the much needed challenge to our politicians to make common their manifestos so that we make our choice on time, of the party to vote to power. 

“Let the people decide for themselves whether or not they want the conference.”