On December 6, 2017, a Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Ibrahim Buba, stepped into his court room in Ikoyi, Lagos. His court room was full to the brim. Justice Buba was scheduled to deliver a significant judgment in a matter that was important to the Nigerian creative industry.
Justice Buba did not deliver the judgment. A visibly angry Buba announced that the evening before, he had received a petition against him from a party in the case, obviously trying to intimidate him. He announced that ‘come rain, come sunshine’ he would deliver the judgment on December 14, 2017.
Lo and behold, on December 14, Justice Ibrahim Buba still did not deliver the judgment. He said that the case file had been taken from him to Abuja and he had no choice but to adjourn the matter till further notice!
The key question Justice Buba was scheduled to answer in his judgment was this: Under Nigerian law, was the syndicate, Musical Copyright Society Nigeria (MCSN) truly an approved collecting society and authorized to collect money on behalf of innocent Nigerian musicians? Somebody did not want that question answered, hence the muscling of Justice Ibrahim Buba.
You may wonder why this is important. The group MCSN, and six of MCSN’s officials were facing seven different criminal cases before different judges of the Federal High Court. Each of the cases was filed by the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), an agency of the Federal Government.
How did this bizarre tale take this crazy turn? Early in 2017, the immediate past Attorney-General of the Federation & Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, in a strange letter, directed the NCC to approve MCSN as a collecting society to collect copyright royalties for the Nigerian music industry. At the NCC, they were mystified by what Mr. Malami, a lawyer, was asking them to do. The NCC replied to Mr. Malami giving him several reasons why what he was asking the commission to do was dangerous and unlawful.
The NCC objections did not deter the AGF. In a strongly worded letter dated 22nd March 2017, Mr. Malami ordered the NCC, despite the strong protestations, not only to immediately license MCSN, but to withdraw every case filed by the commission against MCSN including the seven criminal cases at the Federal High Court before Justice Mojisola Olateregun Ishola, Justice Babatunde Kwewumi and Justice Abdulazeez Anka.
Any ‘baby lawyer’ will tell you that the AGF has the power to file a ‘Nolle Prosequi’ to stop any criminal case. In this situation, the AGF did not file a ‘Nolle’. He ordered the NCC to abruptly withdraw the cases, referring to the powers he said he had under Section 50 of the Copyright Act as it was, to give directives to the NCC. The only problem was that the law in Section 51 expressly vested the power to give directives to the NCC in “the minister charged with the responsibility for culture”. Lai Mohammed was the minister charged with responsibility for culture and not Abubakar Malami.
To protect their jobs, the staff of the NCC had to bend the rules to bow to the weird demands of Mr. Malami even though they knew very well that what they were doing was unlawful. Of course, they began to defend what they knew was wrong.
On learning about this strange development, I sought to see the AGF because I was sure that his directives would set the music industry on fire and greatly slow down the progress of our nation’s creative industry. I am very familiar with the Copyright Act; I served on the committee that drafted the Act as it was. I am familiar with the Copyright Commission; I was twice on the board of the commission. I know the Nigerian music industry from several directions having been an artiste, a producer, President of PMAN and Chairman of Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON).
I met with AGF Malami in his Abuja office on April 6, 2017. After our discussions during which I gave to him a copy of the law and other documents, Mr. Malami said that he did not quite understand the issues but had acted out of persistent pressure from his S.A. (Media), one Salihu Othman Isa. He also told me that he was alarmed at some point with the unending pressure of Isa and that he had asked Isa what his interest was in the matter. I believed Mr. Malami.
To cut a long story short, I asked the AGF what he was going to do about the matter since he had become better informed. He looked at me, eyeball to eyeball, and said, “give me seven days”. Seven days passed and nothing happened. Another seven days went by and I called the AGF and there was no answer. I sent him a text and there was no reply. I followed up with an e-mail which received no acknowledgement. It became clear to me that I had been sold a dummy. Mr. Malami all the time knew what he was doing!
At COSON of which I am chairman, we addressed a press conference on the issue. Thereafter, I was repeatedly sent very vile text messages by a very senior aide of Mr. Malami calling me names in gutter language. This was followed by mails threatening me with legal action.
When it became obvious that despite his promise, the AGF would never address the problem, we took the issues to the Federal High Court for a resolution. Justice Ibrahim Buba who was assigned the case was faced with intimidation so that he would not deliver judgment in the matter as he deemed fit.
I thought I would never see a day in my fatherland when the rule of law would be so violently and brazenly assaulted. The courts were supposed to be the last refuge of the common man. I was startled by the precedent being set: a judge being arm-twisted so that he does not deliver judgment in a case as he deemed fit. For me, it was crazy!
I demonstrated for days and carried placards in front of the Federal High Court in Lagos and insisted that the case file be brought back to Justice Buba. They became embarrassed. The case file in Suit No FHC/L/CS/1259/2017 was eventually brought back but by then so much water had passed under the bridge…
Thereafter, I was subjected to unbelievable torture and torment for having the boldness and audacity to insist on the rule of law in my country. I was subjected to unending defamatory statements. The Police, EFCC, DSS, NCC and NFIU were unleashed on me. One evening, I was abducted by five men bent on driving me to Benin City in the middle of the night and possibly wasting me on the way. The Almighty saved me. COSON bank accounts, my personal bank accounts and my private business accounts were all frozen even though no penny in any of the accounts can be traced to any unlawful activity. At some point, it was difficult for me to even buy food for my family.
I am not a rich man by any standard. The only house I own is one unfinished building in my village. Nigerian government officials had repeatedly told me how proud they were that everywhere in the world they went, the world of intellectual property hailed Nigeria for the incredible work COSON was doing for our country. You would expect that a patriotic government would be prompted to protect COSON. No! It became clear to me that there was a big attempt in high places using government machinery to crush COSON for personal gains. The clear objective of all the shenanigan was for a cabal to kill what was clearly good for the Nigerian nation and uphold an unsavory special purpose vehicle they would deploy to fleece major organizations operating in Nigeria of billions of Naira in the name of “music copyright royalties” which they would share among themselves with no accountability whatsoever to musicians in Nigeria in whose name the money is earned. An example is the billions of Naira they grabbed not long ago from Multichoice Nigeria and shared among themselves in a way nobody can explain. As I write, they have gone after Multichoice again, turning the Nigerian nation into a dangerous place where no true investor can survive.
During one of my meetings with Mr. Malami, he informed me that he was motivated by “national interest” and not necessarily the law. I became really scared and said to him that respect for the rule of law is fundamental to the national interest and that no “national interest” can be determined by one man. He was adamant and at that point, I knew that Nigeria was in big trouble and that with the mindset of the Chief Law Officer of the nation and his oversized power in the government, our country was lost. I have since been involved in about 50 cases in different courts in Nigeria in which I have fought the devils that want to destroy Nigeria and stunt the growth of this potentially great nation.
I recently watched a comprehensive interview on CNN given by Aliko Dangote telling his story to CNN’s Eleni Giokos. As a Nigerian I was very proud of the man’s articulate presentation, his doggedness, vision and unbridled patriotism. To destroy Aliko, they have termed him a “monopolist”. To neutralize me, I was also termed a monopolist. Despite what views you might have about Aliko, everywhere I go in Nigeria, I can see with my eyes the products of the incredible labour of this man. He is a great national asset.
I have experienced the Nigerian way and I know the energy that the cabals in the Nigerian leadership can employ in destroying anyone that promises to give Nigeria a chance to grow. It is with gloom that I have recently watched Aliko’s current palpable frustration with the Nigerian system. There are many who would be surprised that Dangote who was considered by many to be a special beneficiary of the wicked Nigerian system, would become a victim of the same system. The important lesson to learn here is that the wicked have no friends.
There are people in Nigeria who have humongous amounts of money but when you examine them, you cannot point to any tangible thing they have done to earn the money. These men might have laughed with Aliko Dangote these many years but they don’t like him. His immense success exposes their laziness. Aliko’s unbridled astuteness and patriotism exposes their self-centered nature. One of Nigeria’s biggest problems is that the bulk of the money fleeced from the people of Nigeria is not invested in Nigeria, at least to provide jobs for the millions of unemployed young Nigerians who unfortunately have been forced into yahoo-yahoo, kidnapping and other violent crimes. Nigerian money is scattered all over the world in funny bank accounts fueling the economies of other nations. Is it not funny that our celebrated new national monthly minimum wage can only buy a bag of rice? Please think of it: N1000, the biggest denomination of our national currency, can no longer buy one loaf of bread!
Oh, they want to knock Aliko Dangote down and knock him out. I am familiar with what is happening to Aliko. I am familiar with the abuse and misuse of the regulatory authorities of Nigerian government agencies to knock down and frustrate anyone targeted by the cabals operating around government.
What is happening to Aliko has happened to many industrious Nigerians who have been frustrated from existence and destroyed, especially from my part of the country.
I have long decided that I will not run away from Nigeria for anyone. I beg Aliko not to allow himself to be frustrated. I hope that at this stage of his life, he would have understood that injustice done to one is injustice done to all. He has a duty to dedicate his incredible energy and resources to making Nigeria a place where wickedness, as an instrument of leadership, is banished forever. I invite Aliko to join hands with others to make our nation a place where injustice to anyone is scorned. The days of “siddon look” are over. I invite Aliko Dangote, whom God has so richly blessed, to now work to give hope to the young generation of Nigerians, from the East, West, North and South of our nation, who are today hopeless and who desperately look up to us to do something for them even at the cost of our lives.
Once again, the important lesson to learn here is that the wicked have no friends.
