Why some of us found it difficult to congratulate the learned Sen. Ita Enang on his appointment as the Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on National Assembly matters (Senate) was because to us it was just a sign of many unfortunate things to come. This is because it is difficult to discern how such an intelligent lawyer and law maker would survive amongst the crooks in this country that now go by the name All Progressives Congress (APC). And this fears of ours like Job's in the bible finally came upon us from the very moment the learned and erstwhile law maker resumed his duties. First it was the ministerial nomination list saga where he cajoled Nigerians to believe that the president had given the list to him in New York as it is traditionally the duty of his office to convey it to the National Assembly when indeed the president never trusted him enough to discharge such responsibility. But Our beloved senator is a man of wits and good con, so he passed. Then came the judgement of the Akwa Ibom State Governorship Electoral Tribunal sitting in Abuja where elections in 18 out of 31 local government areas in Akwa Ibom state were nullified. The distinguished senator surprisingly went on air to declare that Akwa Ibom state was without a Governor by virtue of that judgment! By such junk jurisprudence he stirred all sorts of confusion in the minds of the good people of Akwa Ibom state. Such a statement if made in some more volatile states is ordinarily capable of inciting unquenchable unrest and possibly sedition or treason attempts against the state. Telling a people that they do not have a governor when their government house is not vacant is not an affordable ruse. It is something people in some parts of this country would not take likely. It is a statement some volatile masses will take seriously with serious actions. It is more than enough clarion call for civil disobedience. After all, the last time a group of young political fanatics attacked a sitting governor in Akwa Ibom state was in 2011 and it was on some relatively far less inciting political notions.
As if that was not enough, by the time the Court of Appeal against extant precedent wisdom decided to order a re-run of the Akwa Ibom state governorship elections in all 31 local governments coupled with a subsequent nullification of the election of Elder. Aniekan Uko who was the speaker of the house our very ingenious senator went on air again to tell the public that the import and purport of the court's judgement was that Akwa Ibom state was without a legitimate governor and a substantive speaker therefore the chief judge should be sworn in as Governor in the absence of both forgetting that the court of appeal was not the final authority on the validity of election of state governors but Supreme Court meaning the governor still had the option of appeal to the Supreme Court to exercise. Interestingly, as a practicing lawyer, a judgement cannot be enforced on the day of judgement nor once a notice of appeal has been given. And in fact, mere oral statement of intention to test the judgment in appellate jurisdiction suffices to stay execution. In addition, there is a statutory three months window for appeal which only begins to run from the day the appellant receives notice of the decision he is complaining against. Every practicing legal practitioner and studious lawyer knows this. Perhaps the judicial authority of Aladegbami v Fasanmade (1988) 3 NWLR PT. 81, p. 129 would be helpful for those who are not so conversant with law and practice.
Unfortunately, these recent broadcasts by the learned presidential aide has not gone unnoticed. On the contrary, it has succeeded in brainwashing the gullible and confusing the less gullible such that some of us have had the burden of explaining to law students and unlearned citizens who approach us for further clarification that the Senator is merely venting jurisprudence of sentiments and not legal jurisprudence. Call it "Enang-prudence" if you like. But this is only for those who have the privilege of better counsel. The truth is, these statements by the former law maker are criminal incitements that should not be taken lightly. To tell a people that they do not have a Governor when a legitimate substantive Governor is on seat is to tell them or a section that cares to listen to unseat their Governor. It is seditious! It is treasonable! Patriots have been hanged in the past for lesser indiscretions let alone such maliciously and mischievously calculated seditious shenanigans!
But, since Akwa Ibom state is lead by a man whose genteel nature and orientation makes him think that taking certain decisive actions is coterminous with being desperate for power such attempted treasons seem to escape caution.
The problem with such situations is that they get worse. They breed more and continue to thrive until they hit their mark if they are not called to order. That is why the distinguished senator had the effrontery to go on air recently again to accuse the governor of initiating Akwa Ibom youths into cults in the name of empowerment programmes. And some ire youths have started picking on him through the social media. Only God knows what this could generate to if not properly managed. Such insinuations or suggestions should not come from a lawyer let alone one who has been a carrier law maker. This is a criminal defamation of the person and office of the governor and should not be condoned for any reason whatsoever. What a reasonable man would ask here is whether a man of straw would have gone free for saying such things against the state? Would any one walk freely in Nigeria for expressing such allegations against the president of Nigeria whom the distinguish senator works for?
Albeit, it cannot be over emphasized here that the senator works for a Federal Government that is presently violating the rights of a freedom advocate against court orders when the cause the young man is advocating for has long been recognized for consideration at the United Nations where Nigeria is a member. Does the senator not represent a Federal Government that is presently sponsoring a bill to truncate freedom of speech in this country all in the name of seeking to regulate criticisms of government while he makes it his new stock in trade to render contumelies against his own state government, disregarding constituted authority in his very own state and inciting the masses against same?
To call a spade a spade in modest terms, it is unfair what the learned emeritus legislator is doing to himself and his state in the name of politics. Not one single adumbrated position of the senator since he resumed league with his new gangs has been legally, jurisprudentially or morally sound. Meanwhile, it is impossible to forget that this is a man who has never really contested an election in his entire life in the real sense of "contest" because he is always being used to settle some political face offs or some powers from above have anointed him or zoning favors him there by earning the name "Udoh Nfoniso" meaning "Lucky Son." But what do we have today? With pomp and pageantry, he is talking from the other side of his mouth. Imagine what damage politics can do to a desperate man no matter how learned he may seem. Truly a misguided mind can achieve more damage with truth twisted than the devil can achieve with lies.
Thus, from the foregoing, without prejudice to distinguished Sen. Ita Enang, the Attorney General of Akwa Ibom State should arrest and charge the senator for making seditious statements against the government of Akwa Ibom state, inciting treasonable felony against the state of Akwa Ibom state and criminally defaming the person and office of the governor of the state. This is a passionate plea from a fellow minister in the temple of justice. Immunity of the president does not cover the president's man nor family.
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