On the Monday, July 6, 2009 piece, published in the Daily Trust Mukhtar, not minding that he has been engaging in an issue before the court and so risked contempt, further mixed up issues.
Said he: “It is my view that the Yobe governorship election case was quite different from that of Rivers State and that Senator Usman Albishir and his battery of advisers, not the judiciary, are to blame for the delay.”
Well, like Mukhtar posited that ‘that is my view’, it is pertinent that he is told that ‘my view’, ‘his view’, ‘her view’, ‘their views’ is NOT and will NEVER be the view of the law.
We leave the law to decide whether Rotimi Amaechi’s case and Albishir’s are two different cases. But I am aware that the substitution of Amaechi with Celestine Omehia, for no other reason than for the funny reason that Amaechi had “K-leg” as put by Obasanjo, so did Edwin Ume-Ezeoke, Kumo and Ribadu (again), truncate Albishir’s candidacy for having ‘K-leg’ also, I guess. So there lies the first similarity.
It might interest Mukhtar to know that the so- called indictment upon which the EFCC,ANPP and the INEC gave Amaechi and Albishir ‘k-leg’ has been rendered a nullity, as in the ruling of the Supreme Court, the EFCC lacks the powers to indict anyone.
In any case, let’s revisit the case of Albishir’s alleged indictment for the general understanding of the public once and for all. Today, Unity Bank formerly Bank of the North has been dragged to court over what clearly was alleged forgery on the bank as meted on it by Albishir. If Mukhtar claims not to know, I am letting him know that Albishir was a victim of high-power play, whose story would be told in detail someday.
It may interest this writer, wherever he hibernates that as at the time the EFCC ‘unleashed its dragon,’ Albishir’s account with Bank of the North was in credit of 429,150.93 (as at closing date of 30/5/2003). What transpired was conspiracy unprecedented as a company account was made to bear Albishir’s name and N14m debit indicated on it. When it was obvious that a serious blunder had been committed, Albishir’s name was deliberately transmuted in place of one of his companies which had an airline leasing agreement with Bank of the North until the federal government banned the use of all BAC III type aircrafts which grounded its operations.
Regardless of the Supreme Court ruling which has since sent “indictment” packing from the ignoble role it played in the polity as orchestrated by Ribadu, Albishir has charged Unity Bank to court, bent on unmasking how this account bore his name. Who is the actual owner of account No 40035703 where the so-called N14m debit emanated? Who put the debit tag there? And even if it is true, since when has bank loans fully secured become a source of indictment? Who on his own deemed it fit to bring to disrepute a major player in the nation’s economy to the level of using a “foreign account” and establish Albishir as its owner?
Another very laughable issue raised by the writer which to me sounds more of a self-indictment was when he said “the Maiduguri court had declined jurisdiction and referred Albishir back to the ANPP to sort himself out.” What funny expression.
As if confused, Mukhtar goes further to “indict” the ANPP which he sought to protect, saying the ANPP primaries that declared Albishir winner was, as he puts it, a charade. And the question is at what point did it become a charade? Before the ANPP in its flesh and blood forwarded Albishir’s candidacy and stamped his candidature? Was it before INEC screened and cleared him? Or after gimmicks set in, and horse-trading preceded the covert petition by… you know who, took place? I pray the ANPP gets to the Supreme Court and tells the learned Justices that part of the reason for substituting Albishir was because the primaries it conducted in Yobe prior to the 2007 election was a charade. What applause it would draw from the Judges!
In this rejoinder, I have been cautious not to mention or bring in the case of Albishir at the Supreme Court since it is subjudice unlike care-free Mukhtar. Why Yobeans are patient is that Insha Allah, the courts will one day, just one day, put this issue to rest and somehow we shall then review all our arguments and say to our ourselves whether or not we made sense in our arguments, or we neglected the basic tenets of this case-unlawful substitution without cogent and verifiable reason and embarked on media deceit, flattery, and propaganda.
Gashua wrote in from B320 Dabo Aliyu Estate, Damaturu
