As the All Progressives Congress-led
Federal Government fights corruption, it continues to appear that all someone
facing corruption charges has to do is join the party, if he is in the
opposition, GBENRO ADEOYE writes
President Muhammadu Buhari never
made a secret of his wish to fight corruption right from the electioneering
period in the run-up to the 2015 presidential election. But he did not give the
impression at the time that the fight would largely be waged against members of
the opposition parties, especially the Peoples Democratic Party.
Since Buhari’s inauguration as
President, he has launched an anti-graft campaign that has remarkably
reawakened the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Independent
Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, the Code of Conduct
Bureau and the Department of State Services.
Under the Buhari-led administration,
many allegations have been made by the government and its agencies, but the
efforts have been seen to be most active in the media.
However, it has to be said that some
arrests have been made, with that of the former National Security Adviser to
ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), standing above the
rest.
Dasuki had allegedly misappropriated
$2.1bn meant for the purchase of military arms and diverted the funds to other
purposes they were not earmarked for.
In the period that President Buhari
started his anti-corruption campaign, some notable politicians, lawyers, and
businessmen have also been questioned by anti-graft agencies over corruption
allegations. But largely, government’s sincerity in the fight has been put
under the public microscope and some analysts believe it has failed some
critical tests.
Some analysts have said that the
Buhari-led government has made it appear that the APC is an assembly of saints
and that a politician who defects to the party will become a new being and have
his past sins forgiven.
A strong argument by some of the
critics of the government’s anti-corruption fight has been that, all along, it
has been a one-sided war, which has been more about personal vendetta and
clampdown on the opposition and former President Goodluck Jonathan’s allies
than a genuine effort to combat bribery, fraud, graft, indiscipline and so on.
One of such critical voices belonged
to a foreigner, a United States activist and international human rights
consultant, Jeffrey Smith, who said in June that President Buhari’s
anti-corruption war, had made it appear like members of his party, the All
Progressives Congress, are clean.
Smith noted that such
anti-corruption fight could spell trouble for Nigeria’s political stability.
“Of principal concern here is that
the Buhari government’s anti-corruption campaign has been almost entirely
one-sided, seeming to focus overwhelmingly on his predecessor’s allies, namely
members of the Peoples Democratic Party,” he had said.
“An overview of the actions thus far
taken by the EFCC, the law enforcement agency tasked with investigating
financial crime in Nigeria, bears this out. Since January of this year, the
EFCC has either arraigned or arrested 124 individuals, including prominent
government officials who have been implicated in a range of financial crimes.
“Of these documented cases, only
four per cent involve individuals affiliated with Buhari’s APC. What’s more,
this discrepancy seems to only be getting worse. Taking stock of the past two
months, only one of 34 known EFCC cases has involved a member of the APC:
AbdurRahman Abba Jimeta, the chief of staff to one of Nigeria’s state
governors.
“It is foolish to suggest that
corruption and related financial malfeasance are relegated to a single
political party or group of individuals in Nigeria. That the country routinely
ranks in the top 10 in the world in terms of cumulative illicit financial
outflow signals a more pervasive problem.
“What is more, the one-sided affair
currently being conducted by the Buhari government may ultimately plant the
seeds for both social and political conflict,” Smith had explained.
In the same vein, a lawyer and
political analyst, Tunde Esan, described the current anti-corruption fight of
the APC-led government as a ruse, adding that it had always been about power
and not about “fighting corruption and recovering money.”
“In Nigeria, we are into politics
for politics’ sake and not for the purpose of development.
“Politicians recognise that, so what
they do is to figure out which party is in power, knowing that if they join
that party, all their sins will be forgiven,” he said.
For instance, the recent arrest of
some judges by the DSS following allegations of corruption has also presented a
fresh litmus test for Buhari’s anti-corruption war. The judges were accused of
selling judgments to bidders, but two of them were quick to make their own
allegations in separate letters to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Mahmud
Mohammed, in which they indicted the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi
Amaechi; Minister of Science and Technology, Ogbonnaya Onu; and a former Akwa
Ibom State governorship candidate (now Managing Director, Oil and Gas Free Zone
Authority), Umana Okon Umana.
The trio was accused of attempting
to sway court decisions in favour of the APC in Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi, Abia
and Ekiti states.
Strangely, even though, the
Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption has called on the National
Judicial Council to suspend judges facing allegations of corruption, it has yet
to take a similar stand on the three APC chieftains, who all occupy positions
in government.
A lawyer and political analyst, Mr.
Liborous Oshoma, said it would be unfair to call for the suspension of the
affected judges and ignore their allegations against the APC chieftains.
“While investigating the judges, we
cannot close our eyes to the allegations made by the judges,” he said.
“If the Presidency can ask the
judges to be suspended, is it not also proper for the ministers accused of
attempting to bribe judges to also step aside pending a holistic investigation
into all the matters involving the judiciary and the executive?
“Amaechi’s name was mentioned by two
judges, while Onu’s name was mentioned by one of them. At this stage, let the
law take its course and let the respective agencies do a thorough job by
looking into the matter and investigating everybody whose name has been
mentioned as involved in corruption.”
Oshoma, who dismissed arguments from
some quarters that the allegations made by the judges were belated, said,
“There is no statute of limitation to criminality.”
“We know how desperate the APC was
to win the governorship elections in the South-South states, even the APC
Chairman (Chief John Odigie-Oyegun) said Delta, Rivers and Bayelsa states were
oil rich states that the party needed to win,” he added.
Also, according to analysts, the
APC-led government has established a disturbing trend that is moving towards
crucifying opposition members for corruption allegations and giving its party
members the kid-glove treatment for similar transgressions.
For instance, analysts argue that
shortly after a former Governor of Anambra State, Chief Jim Nwobodo, was identified
as one of those who allegedly benefitted from the arms deal scandal, later
known as #DasukiGate, he defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the APC
and the case went quiet.
Nwobodo had allegedly been paid
N500m from the money meant for the arms deal.
Oshoma added, “The day Olisa Metuh
(former PDP National Publicity Secretary), was accused of benefitting from the
arms deal funds, Nwobodo was also accused of collecting money from the same
funds. But not up to a month later, Nwobodo defected to the APC and his sins
were forgiven and nobody heard of his case again.”
Similarly, the former Governor of
Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva, was a chieftain in the PDP before his defection
to the APC in 2015.
The EFCC had in June 2015 filed 50
counts against Sylva, bordering on alleged corruption, but that did not stop
him from emerging as the APC’s candidate for the Bayelsa governorship election
in December of that year.
On November 26, less than a month to
the election, a Federal High Court in Abuja, dismissed all counts against Sylva
and six others, describing them as “frivolous and lacking in merit.’’
Sylva and others were accused of
defrauding Bayelsa State of N19.2bn and the offences were allegedly committed
between 2009 and 2012, when he was governor.
Recently, a report by The PUNCH said
Sylva had even retrieved 48 properties traced to him, which were seized by the
EFCC. But the former governor, in the statement by his Media Adviser, Mr.
Doifie Buokoribo, denied that Sylva owned 48 houses in Abuja or anywhere else
in the world, saying he “has only three houses in Abuja.”
Former Plateau State Governor and
Senator representing Plateau Central, Joshua Dariye, recently defected from the
PDP to the APC.
His defection was announced on the
floor of the Senate by its President, Bukola Saraki, but analysts said instead
of being welcomed by the APC into its fold, Dariye ought to have been asked to
vacate his seat in the Senate.
Dariye was impeached in November
2006 as Governor of Plateau State, but on April 27, 2007, the Supreme Court
ordered his reinstatement with immediate effect and he left office on May 29,
2007, when his term of office was concluded.
In 2004, during his time as
governor, he was allegedly arrested in London, England, with large sums of
money and the EFCC, in 2007, preferred 23 counts of money laundering involving
alleged diversion of about N1.126bn Plateau State Government’s ecological funds
against him.
But after about nine years of delay,
it was not until 2016 that Dariye’s trial commenced following a Supreme Court’s
judgment.
According to analysts, Dariye’s move
and political calculation could see him exonerated of any wrongdoing soon.
“Also, a former Governor of Kogi State, the
late Abubakar Audu, was facing EFCC charges before he was handed the
governorship ticket of the APC in the state,” Oshoma said.
“And if he were alive, he would have
won the election and today, he would have been a governor and enjoyed immunity.
“Sylva was facing EFCC charges from
the time he was in PDP and when he moved to the APC, he was handed the
governorship ticket of the party.
“So if you look at the APC, you
cannot really say it abhors corruption. It is a party that embraces people who
are allegedly corrupt with open arms.
“Dariye left office in 2007 and has
been facing one corruption charge or the other and we had expected that with a
government that said it was ready to fight corruption, the case would have come
to a logical conclusion. However, with the trend now and Dariye’s defection on
the floor of the Senate, it will be interesting to see how this will pan out
and if his case will also gradually die.
“Also from the look of things, with the statement
credited to the President on Dasuki’s case, it shows that there is more to it
than the fight against corruption. The offences for which he is being charged
under the Nigerian law are bailable and three courts have granted him bail
including the Court of the Economic Community of West African States, but the
President asked if people who stole the country’s money should be walking free.
“It means that no matter what the
court says, the President has already pronounced him guilty. Before the court of
public opinion, he has been condemned already and yet we say a man is presumed
innocent until proven guilty.”
According to Esan, “the motto of the
Nigerian politics is this: if you are going to be an opposition to us, we will
destroy you, but if you come to our side, that is one less local champion to
deal with.
“Also, people who defect do so for
two reasons: for self preservation and economic benefits. Most politicians don’t have jobs, so they
have to be with the party in power to survive.
“The government is more interested
in having the local champions on their side than in prosecuting them. The Code
of Conduct Tribunal’s case against a former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs,
Mr. Godsday Orubebe, has been swiftly handled and he has been convicted, but
Senate President Bukola Saraki, who is in the APC and also has a case with the
CCT, is reaching out to the President, so his prosecution is getting slower.”
PUNCH
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