By Nkereuwem Udofia Akpan
I sometimes wonder if all the trouble of going to school and remaining law-abiding was a wise choice.
Using Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka and ex-warlord Tompolo as a reference point, would you really say my father was right when he forced me to pursue education and stay off bad company? Can I afford to donate N10 billion, despite having almost three decades of experience in legal practice, paying taxes, and generally remaining law-abiding?
He said school and education will bring prosperity, while crime and criminality will bring poverty and pain.
Just a few days ago, hundreds of criminals serving jail terms for drug peddling, fraud, murders, kidnapping, including those on death row, were pardoned by President Bola Tinubu
Would you think that crime and criminality are such a bad route after all in Nigeria?
Maryam Sanda has walked free from the brutal murder of her husband.
Farouk Lawan is preparing to contest elections as Governor of Kano State. Three former Governors who were sentenced to prison terms were also pardoned by the late President Buhari.
What exactly is the incentive for remaining law-abiding? Where is the deterrence factor that punishment and prison were meant to serve? How do you spend taxpayers’ money chasing after Yahoo boys and petty theft while drug barons, murderers, and looters roam free?
What message is Nigeria sending to the international community about the Rule of Law in Nigeria? Which investor will want to invest in a country where crime and criminality are celebrated?
You be the judge.
Chief Nkereuwem Udofia Akpan, Constitutional Lawyer, Public Affairs Analyst, Human Rights Activist writes from Abuja
The views expressed by contributors are strictly personal and not of Law & Society Magazine.
