EKWEREMADU: End Of The Road? -By Muyiwa Adetiba

He was for eight years, the fifth most powerful Nigerian. He was for twenty years, a member of the upper crust, that elite and elitist Chamber called The Senate. During those priviledged years, he made laws for the good of the country and for the convenience of his elite class. He wined and dined with the powerful; not only in Nigeria, but all over the world – an alleged photograph of him and King Charles recently went viral in the social media.

He was one of those in the country who could solve even the most intractable problems with a simple phone call. For him, everything – well almost – was available and affordable. He had visas to and a vista of the world. He had what everyone would desire – power, wealth, connections, a loving family and above all, freedom. Last week, he lost control of it all when the prison door was slammed shut with him inside its unfriendly walls.

Dr Ike Ekweremadu, a lawyer, a lawmaker and a law teacher fell foul of the British law when he was found guilty of violating the Modern Slavery Act. For that, his rights and priviledges are suspended for the next nine years; his very freedom at the mercy of the British State. This man who was once the fifth highest ranking Nigerian will now sleep and dine with the lowest of the low- commoners and convicts.It will be extremely tough for him to take. How indeed are the mighty fallen.

This first victim of the new British law is indeed a high profile one perhaps to send a message to the world about human trafficking and organ harvesting. Senator Ike Ekweremadu would forever be a convict and he is likely to be deported after serving his termor gets a reprieve; his properties and wealth in Britain notwithstanding. This is not what I would wish for anyone least of all one who has scaled such a high professional and political height.

I have people who say it served him right because people ‘like him’ are used to manipulating the law.  There are people who say that had this happened in Nigeria, he would not have needed to as much as hold his breath or break his stride. His high profile SAN lawyers would have done whatever job was needed to be done on his behalf. Or that if anybody was going to jail, it would be the victim who ‘refused to cooperate’ and not him. They are probably right and Nigeria needs to enact laws that work for everyone and not just the rich if it wants to curb the impunity in the system.

As it is, laws in Nigeria hardly affect those who can afford a retinue of high profile lawyers. But the other side of the story is that most of us will do almost anything within our means to save the life of their child. No responsible parent would want any of their childrento die before them. Worse, no parent would watch a child become a vegetable before their eyes. So the Ekweremadus probably did what an average parent who is desperate to save an ailing child would have done. We should not lose sight of that fact, especially if it is in a country where laws can and are usually bent.

But we should also not lose sight of the fact that Senator Ekweremadu is not an average parent and UK is not a country where anything goes. More so because he is not only a lawyer, he is a law professor. So ignorance of the law or its updates would not be an excuse in his case. He is also a high-profile individual who should have been circumspect in his dealings in a foreign country. That said, I feel sorry for him. I feel sorry that at just over 60, an illustrious political career is ending this way. It just goes to show it is never over until the final curtain. May we all end well.

There are lessons to be learnt from the travails of our former Deputy Senate President. One of them is for all of us who look up to the West for the solution to our problems. We believe, for example, that we cannot be cured of even a common migraine until we travel ‘abroad’. Or that our investments are not safe until they are kept ‘abroad’. Many do not feel they have arrived until they have a London address. We have had a President who travelled abroad for different medical reasons throughout his eight-year stint. He sees no embarrassment in it and no irony either. The President-elect is also following this inglorious footprint. He goes abroad for his medicals. He goes abroad even to rest. That is not the way to go. It is not the way of patriotic leadership.

We want to start having pride in Nigerian institutions and hospitality. We want an end to medical tourism as a country. It should start with the people who have the power to stop it. The current Vice President showed the way when he decided to have a medical procedure done in Nigeria with Nigerian doctors. It is a worthy precedent which has not since been replicated by any other political leader in the country. Instead, we hear of in-coming and out-going political leaders flying abroad for medicals. Everybody who can afford it wants to be treated abroad even if the doctors are not as proficient as some of the ones in Nigeria.

Kidney transplants for example, are done in Nigeria. Ekweremadu might not be in prison today if the procedure for his daughter had been slated for Nigeria. He would not be in prison today if in his twenty years of power and influence, he had pushed for good hospitals along with others. The medical personnel are there at home and in the diaspora. All they need are the enabling facilities.

The incoming Executive and Legislature can help in addressing the medical tourism in the country by investing in and patronizing our hospitals. It does a lot to the psyche of the citizens if the President, the Governors and the Legislators also use the facilities they have set up on behalf of the people. Nigeria can yet be a great country if we, especially our elected and appointed leaders learnt to put our eggs in the Nigerian basket. That includes health, education and jobs. It is time to stop looking up to the West as our solution; our haven.