By Tony John
In this interview, Dr. Farah Dagogo, a former member of the House of Representatives and governorship aspirant in Rivers State, recounted events that led to his arrest and subsequent detention for 63 days on the orders of then Governor Nyesom Wike.
Farah Dagogo, who is a staunch ally of former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, acknowledges the roles members of his Legal team, Ijaw National Congress, Media, diaspora bodies and others played while the saga lasted. In this interview, he spoke on various issues.
Many people were shocked to see that you still supported and voted all PDP’s candidates in the 2023 general elections, especially that of the Rivers State governorship election, where you were supposed to be a participant, but not only schemed out, but incarcerated and prevented from taking part in the primaries. Why did you do that?
I am a committed and true party man. I have been able to represent my people at both the state and National Assembly and the vehicle that conveyed me to that height was the PDP. I chose to remember the good times at my most pained time when I know that the PDP National Leadership took sides and failed to act on my unjust disenfranchisement when the party clearly has the powers to right the wrongs that were done to me. If I had turned against my party as that then, a whole lot will see the merit of my reasons. Still, I did not allow that unwarranted unjust action done to me becloud me and get in the way. I did my part and did it justly. That is what a good party man, a good sportsman would exhibit, especially when things are not going your way, always remember the good times.
You spent 63 days as a National Assembly member in detention before you were granted bail and another two years of legal wrangling before you were discharged and acquitted. What were the lessons learnt and using your ordeal as a case study, how does it help our democratic governance in the area of Rule of Law?
There should be consequences for abuse of power as clearly experienced in my case and others also in the public domain or otherwise. I consider it another sober reflections on our democratic journey thus far. As a way of moving further, I am tempted to pose the following questions: Have we realized the true tenets of democracy? Is there any meaningful difference between what we currently practise and anarchism? Why are the revolutionary pressures and feeling of dissatisfaction everywhere?
Let me state unequivocally that democracy as practiced today in Nigeria still has a long path to efficiency. The key dividends of democracy, namely liberty, rule of law, virile electoral process, sovereignty of the people, independence of the Judiciary, majority rule, minority rights, constitutional limits on government, freedom of association and expression, social, economic, and political pluralism, and values of tolerance, pragmatism, cooperation, and compromise are very much ineffective in our polity and are subverted.
Our country’s first President and sage, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe prophetically warned about this, when he said: ‘ Without respect for the rule of law permeating our political life, Nigeria would degenerate into a dictatorship with its twin relatives of tyranny and despotism’. Is that not relatable to our Nigeria of today?
Even, American former President, Barrack Obama, posited that Africa has strong individuals in place of institutions. It is true with Nigeria, because we seem to have individuals, especially state governors, that are stronger than the institutions of the state. To get out of this dungeon, we must restructure and strengthen the institutions. The over-bearing dictatorship of government power must be halted.
Would you be exploring further legal options considering how you were arrested and denied participation at the governorship primaries? And also, do you nurse any grievances towards all those you believed plotted against you and got you arrested?
I am a Christian, a very good representation at that. I believe everything in life is fated, bound to be. I strive to learn from the outcomes and keep it to heart. According to Confucius in his now popular quote : “Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.” Is that really necessary? Would it make our state grow and prosper? I regret nothing, because I believe that was how God has destined it. As the great Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “we must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose hope. Only in this way shall we live without the fatigue of bitterness and drain of resentment.”
Let me reiterate what was already scripted in our Bible, Ephesians 4:31-32; “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you”. With all this in mind, let me for the umpteenth time say that I have forgiven all transgressions and injustice against me and moved on.
Yes, there are judicial options very open to me. Violation and abuse of my fundamental human rights, unlawful arrest, malicious and criminal prosecution, unlawful and unjustified detention and many more. There are decided cases to that effect that I know which could aid it if I chose that path.
For instance, in the case of Ozide & Ors. Vs Ewuzie & Ors. (2015) LPELR – 24482 CA, the court held that: “The law is trite, that damages in compensation, legally and naturally follow every act of violation of a citizen’s fundamental right.” See Section 35 (6) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended OSIL Ltd Vs Balogun & Ors. (2013) ALL FWLR (pt.677) 653.
Another cited example was the case of Jim-Jaja Vs C.O.P. Rivers State (2013) 22 WRN 39 at 56, the Supreme Court held: “A community reading of Sections 35 (6) and 46 (2) of the Constitution (supra) will give effect to the principle of Ubi Jus ibi remedium. By Sections 35 and 46 of the Constitution, fundamental rights matter are placed on a higher pedestal than ordinary civil matters, in which a claim for damages resulting from a proven injury has to be made specifically and proved. Once the appellant proved violation of his fundamental right by the Respondents, damages, in form of compensation and even apology, should have followed.”
Those are options I could have pursued but, like I said, I have forgiven all transgressions against me. My name has been cleared, I never committed what I was accused of. If I chose to continue pursuing it, it is the state that would suffer for it and by extension the people. I will definitely get a favourable judgement for compensation but at whose detriment? The people, of course. The country and the states are bleeding as it were. I do not wish to add more burden.
The court has now exonerated you of all criminal charges. This is after the then Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, declared you wanted on April 27, 2022, over allegations of sponsoring cultists and thugs to disrupt the PDP’s Screening Exercise for members of both National and State Assemblies and later had you arrested the following day, April 28, 2022, at the venue of the PDP’s governorship Screening Exercise. We understood you were vying for the PDP’s governorship ticket. What actually transpired and your reaction to being a free man?
Before I answer this particular question, let me crave your indulgence to start from my freedom and all those who stood up and fought for a just cause, when they could have simply looked the other way. This battle, and struggle for my freedom, was fought and borne by a whole lot of people. It is then trite to first acknowledge and salute, once more, efforts and supports put in by these people while the whole saga lasted. My depth of appreciation extends to the head of my legal team and other members of the revered legal profession, from the South-South and South – East to Lagos State, Abuja and those in the diaspora, who not only gave quantitative advice, but were upright and fought for a just cause.
I want to also profusely and profoundly and with all sense of utmost humility, thank the galaxy of men and women, old and young, Civil Society Organisations, the noble bearers of the Fourth Estate of the Realm, student bodies, members of the medical practitioners, my esteemed colleagues then at the National Assembly, friends, associates, followers, people of my constituents, veracious minds of the New Media, the Ijaw National Congress (INC), the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), the Diaspora Bodies, prominent sons and daughters of the Niger Delta region, astute politicians, international bodies, various socio-political groups, the clergies, my staff and and so many more that stood up for this truth and fairness that this court has finally given us. The list is simply endless and inexhaustible. My apologies for any omissions.
You see and to be put succinctly, these acts of valour by these groups of persons and bodies are in conformity with the spirit and ideas of one of the greatest of all French writers Voltaire, the pseudonym used by Francois Marie Arouet, who vigorously as far back as the 17th Century propagated the need to safeguard innocent persons from the claws of tyrannical leaders, who are averse to contrary opinions, especially those that are at variance with their self-serving pursuits. That gave birth to the now evergreen Voltaire’s quote: “It is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one.”
Now to what transpired. I really would have preferred not to talk about it because all that happened is now in the past. However, for the sake of posterity, it wouldn’t be fair to allow a one-side of the story to run. Yes, a whole lot of persons have spoken in my defence when I was in incarceration, so from the horse’s mouth, let me amplify it. I was arrested and incarcerated on barefaced lies. The fact remains, there was no disruption of any kind before, during and after the said PDP National and State Assemblies screening exercise. That exercise commenced from the 27th of April till the wee hours of April 28th. The whole exercise was peaceful.
Journalists were there. Your colleagues covered the screening exercise. Was there actually any disruption? Why was there this unholy silence from the mainstream media? No single picture or video of the supposed violence that was somehow linked to me in this jet age of mass media! How did I even become the point of discussion?
I was never there on the aforementioned day. I wasn’t contesting for any legislative positions. So, how did I get entangled and roped into a non-existent disruption? I was a governorship aspirant! I was contesting for the governorship position and was arrested at the venue of the governorship primaries. It was all pre-planned to take me out of circulation because I had done my homework and was sure of victory. They were all trumped-up charges. That was why those people, who connived and went that far, in their vain bid to reinforce their lies on my orchestrated incarceration debased even the sanctum of the Lord, including their well documented, blasphemous and heretical talk. Yet, when the onus was upon them, they were unable to prove their case in court.
In exonerating me of all charges, the Judge, Justice Chiwendu Nwogu, in his ruling said “Justice is not only for the state, it is also for the Defendant, whose freedom has been limited since the commencement of this suit on 9/5/2022.
What I see in the prosecution is complete loss of tempo to prosecute this case any longer. The dexterity on the part of the prosecution to prosecute this case is no longer there but gone, hence the resort to the applications for these numerous adjournments.”
That statement in the ruling further reinforces the clear belief held by me and other rational thinkers that, it was all politically induced. Remember, at a point during this trial, I was brought to court in an unconscious state, how come the ‘complete loss of tempo’ by the prosecutor when it now mattered most?
This is because when you attempt to build something on a faulty foundation, it is just akin to building something on nothing. When that foundation is faulty, no structure can endure. So rightly, I was discharged and acquitted for lack of diligent prosecution.
Was there any sort of help from the government of Siminalayi Fubara that aided your exoneration?
No! If you are asking if there was a political understanding, absolutely nothing of such. I never had any discussion with the governor nor his emissaries. The judgement was clear, because what they accused me of were lies, they couldn’t defend it in court. The case ran its course. But again, I think the most important thing is I have been fully cleared of all charges, that is what is paramount.
Before the PDP primaries of 2022, you had pledged, if elected governor, to work with the State Assembly in vacating the perpetual injunction on the State’s finances by welcoming anti-graft agencies to look at the state’s book. Would you say that is similar to Governor Fubara’s plan to investigate the tenure of the immediate past governor of the state and those of the 23 Local Government Chairmen whose tenure just elapsed?
What is good for our dear state is accountability for the people of the state to know how our commonwealth, our shared patrimony was managed by those saddled with those responsibilities. It requires a very strong political will. As Mao Tse-tung was quoted to have said in his manifesto written in July, 1919 : ‘heaven and earth are aroused, the traitors and the wicked are put to flight. Ha! We know it! We are awakened! The world is ours, the nation is ours, society is ours. If we do not speak, who will speak? If we do not act, who will act? If we do not rise up and fight, who will rise up and fight?”
The governor has to go beyond a panel of inquiry; he should implore the State Assembly to vacate the perpetual injunction on the investigation of the state’s finances so that anti-graft bodies like the EFCC, ICPC and others can have access to our books. Through this, the financial rascality of most of public office holders, who see the state funds as their own and spend it impiously without elements of frugality and budgetary discipline, would be stopped.
That blocking of financial leakages is a critical factor to savouring our state and put a stop to sinister dictatorship of one organ of government which almost makes the head of that institution a suzerain, and he or she willingly uses the commonwealth as a spoil to the detriment of other organs of government.
As a stakeholder in the State, what is your take on the political upheaval between the camps of Governor Sim Fubara and Nyesom Wike?
I think this should be a time to be circumspect. As politicians, is the well being of the people our major focus? The state has lost a lot and with the current political upheaval, the state is suffering more. I think if we meant well as politicians for the well-being and growth of our dear state, concerns should be more on how our state should grow and not be stifled by this unhelpful distractions. Election has come and gone, from the National to the states, we have people constitutionally and legally recognised manning those positions. We have no choice than to accept the consequences of the outcome of the last election. While we await another round of elections in 2027, it is incumbent to support the government of the day, both federal and state. So, in Rivers State, I will urge all those fanning these political embers of war to sheath their swords and rein in their supporters and followers, because whether we like it or not, Rivers State can only thrive in a peaceful atmosphere where investors would be confident of stepping in.
What is your next step politically and with your preferred candidate in the last presidential election, Atiku Abubakar, still nursing ambition of re-contesting. Will you still support him?
The next circle of elections is still far. At the appropriate time, I will make my intentions known. I am a committed and dedicated party man and my support for Atiku Abubakar has not withered. For now, let’s focus on governance and see how we can continue contributing our quota by constructively criticising those holding our mandate in trust. As it is now, it is crystal clear to all of us that the economy is biting hard. It will be very insensitive to be discussing 2027 with all the pains, sufferings and hunger in the country.