Category: Tunji Adegboyega

Chief Stanley Okeke’s suit urging a federal high court to compel President Goodluck Jonathan to stop fuel subsidy payment immediately reminds one of the June 12 suit filed by the Association for Better Nigeria (ABN), financed by maverick politician, Arthur Nzeribe. The suit sought the cancellation of the June 12, 1993 election. The association alleged in the suit that the primaries were riddled with corruption. Then, a few hours to the election, the court ruled that the presidential election should not commence. But the National Electoral Commission (NEC) led by Prof Humphrey Nwosu, went ahead with the election on June 12, 1993, relying on the ouster clause in the transition decree that had barred the courts from inquiring into any aspect of the electoral process.

The question on the lips of many Nigerians then was what exactly did Nzeribe and his ABN want to achieve by that suit? This became the more pertinent as Nzeribe denied receiving any money from the then self-styled president, General Ibrahim Babangida, to scuttle the transition programme that General Babangida designed with booby traps. Nigerians had earnestly looked forward to the day they would bid military rule good bye and were happy when things were going as planned concerning the election, in spite of all the landmines, until Nzeribe sprang a surprise via his suit. The rest is history.

The question now is: how does fuel subsidy payment by the government constitute a problem to Chief Okeke, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, or anyone for that matter? He is not a government official. Those who are strongly against fuel subsidy are the government people who want more money, many of them for their private pockets. If there is anything called fuel subsidy, it is because the government wants it so. It bears restating that Nigeria, a major exporter of crude oil, has no business importing fuel. And, if the government cannot put in place a system that ensures we refine enough petrol within; that is its business. I would have thought that if any patriotic Nigerian is going to have any issue to sue the government over, it should be to compel it to fight corruption and ensure that we stop this curse of a butcher eating bones.

But the PDP chief is rather asking the court to determine the following questions:

*Whether in view of the official corruption and abuse of office inherent in the fuel subsidy regime as evidenced by the on-going trial of certain individuals in the Federal High Court, Lagos, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is validly competent to order the removal and or abolish the fuel subsidy scheme;

*Whether consequent upon the perennial fuel shortages and the attendant long queues on our roads, it would be proper and lawful for the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to completely remove and abolish the fuel subsidy regime;

*Whether having regards to the near infrastructural collapse in our country, it would be proper to re-channel funds meant for fuel subsidy scheme into the building of infrastructural facilities, and;

*Whether the 2nd and 3rd defendants, being appointees of the President, by not ensuring a corrupt- free subsidy regime have not failed in their principal duty to Nigerians. He did not even stop there; he also wants President Goodluck Jonathan to return to the federation account “such money earlier appropriated and or approved for the payment of fuel subsidy.”

What Chief Okeke has done is to tell Nigerians that his party, the PDP, is incapable of leading the country; that it cannot fight corruption. Of course, he would have said nothing new because we all know that the PDP is corruption’s bedmate. If people have ripped off the country through subsidy fraud, what is the duty of the government? At any rate, haven’t many Nigerians said that the government is a major beneficiary of the subsidy fraud, giving that the amount usually paid as subsidy suddenly tripled in a crucial election year (2011)?

I have said it before that we would never be able to rest the subsidy ghost because of the various interests involved. We haven’t seen anything yet. But you can trust our president; as the usual ‘see no evil, hear no evil person that he is, does not know anything about this suit. The same way he does not know anything about his reported posters flooding Abuja. The only problem is that not even all the angels in heaven swearing that this is true can convince Nigerians that it is so.

We have come a long way with leaders in this country that we can always guess where they are going even if, like the late General Sani Abacha, they are not saying anything; we know they have said everything. What I am saying is that they are predictable and this is so because even if they do not find the same people playing the same diabolical role under different administrations, those they are recruiting have lost the capacity for creativity. It is always from the kind of ABN suit to the campaign posters that the person being promoted knows next-to-nothing about but would not complain because the people pasting them are exercising their rights; only to start showing concerns after realising the political implications. Suppose the posters had been anti-Jonathan, would those pasting them too be allowed to exercise such rights? I guess the anti-Jonathan posters too are likely to be in the offing now that those who are earnestly asking for Jonathan are having a field day exercising their right. Forget the reported manhunt for the promoters. We will never know them.

This subsidy removal suit, to me, seems the voice of Jacob but the hand of Esau; just like the ABN suit. It is a suit President Jonathan would be dreaming to have won because he seemed to have hinged the success of his administration on fuel subsidy removal. But, pray, what is the business of a chieftain of any political party, to complain about fuel subsidy? How does a clear policy matter become a subject of litigation? How does that affect his life? And, how is that an issue to warrant going to court to ask that subsidy be stopped by the government? Chief Okeke has named two people that, in his view, did not handle the issue of fuel subsidy well. These are the finance minister and coordinating minister of the economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and petroleum minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke. If Chief Okeke feels so strongly, why can he not, as a PDP chieftain, sue the government to drop the ministers and prosecute them? If fuel subsidy is corruption-ridden, is that not what should be fought? Why should that be a burden Nigerians must carry?

It is baffling that Chief Okeke is not taking the government to court over a N14billion mansion for the vice president; it is surprising that he has all these years not deemed it fit to sue the government over the jumbo allowances we have been paying our National Assembly members, which some have estimated in the region of N1.3 trillion annually, and for less than 500 people? There are over 1,000 and one things that the Federal Government can be sued for, other than fuel subsidy, and that would make more sense. Even in spite of the massive fraud in the subsidy regime, it cost us only about N800billion last year. That is not much for 150 million Nigerians to enjoy. I wonder then why Chief Okeke is behaving like an outsider who is weeping louder than the bereaved in this matter. What is his own?

No doubt, it merits the gold

Two things are common when a year is about to end: the first is the New Year resolution/s that many people make and the second, which is customary, especially with the media, is the ‘Man of the Year’ concept. For instance, TIME magazine has just chosen President Barack Obama as its ‘Man of the Year’ for 2012. While the propriety or otherwise of the choice is still being debated, the fact is that the magazine has made its preference public; people are bound to agree or disagree with it. The same way some people might disagree with my choice of ‘subsidy fraud’ as ‘Man of the Year’. Again, that is my choice and I am perfectly entitled to it. There is no democracy about this. And if there is, it is in the freedom of everyone else to also freely choose theirs.

I guess this is the first time in over two decades of my maintaining columns that I would be choosing a ‘Man of the Year’. Obviously, my decision was informed by the reality that subsidy fraud has simply refused to disappear from the front-burner of national discourse in the country since January when it became a burning national issue. Of course Nigerians had been talking about fuel subsidy since the military years. We have also had subsidy protests since then; but none compared with the reaction of Nigerians to the issue last January, when sustained riots made the government to reduce, rather than completely remove, the so-called subsidy it claims to be paying on petrol.

No doubt the country occupies a conspicuous position among the most corrupt nations; so, one could have asked, ‘why not write on corruption generally’? But corruption has now become a nebulous concept in Nigeria. ‘Corruption the Great’ has now begotten children, grand-children, great-children, etc. in Nigeria and one does not even know what its genealogy looks like here anymore. It is such a serious matter that even elementary school pupils can write volumes on. And, if ever Mother Corruption dies in the country, and there is such a bitter struggle to succeed it (because there are so many competent offspring to take its place), subsidy fraud will surely be a frontrunner.

What I am saying in effect is that it is better to be specific when talking about corruption in Nigeria. Which brand or leg of it are you talking about? Is it pension fraud? Is it corruption by way of inflation of contracts, etc? Hence, I decided to narrow today’s write-up to the fuel subsidy fraud and I hope it is eminently qualified to be so acclaimed. We started the outgoing year with fuel subsidy riots and up till now, we are yet to get out of it. Yes, the riots appear over, whether temporarily or permanently, we do not know yet because we do not know what other surprise the government might want to spring on subsidy. As a matter of fact, subsidy fraud seems to be acquiring a life of its own, and is also giving birth to all kinds of offspring, including acrimonies, court cases, unending probe panels, etc.

A few weeks ago, the Federal Government asked the National Assembly to appropriate another N161.6billion to enable it meet up with the expected subsidy claims for the year. The government had estimated about N888.1billion for this but just realised that the amount would not be enough. Already, both houses have consented, meaning that by year-end, we must have spent about N1.3trilion on fuel subsidy since no one returns any ‘change’ to government in the country.

Fuel subsidy has come with all sorts of things, from allegations of a certain company that is allegedly not registered but got N2.7billion from subsidy funds without supplying a litre of fuel. We were inundated with government’s worries emanating from stern warning on the alleged company, but where is the matter today? There is the ‘if you Ubah me, I Maduka you’ issue now before some courts at home and abroad. Fuel subsidy has also brought out the ingenuity in a private citizen usurping the role, as it were, of the security agencies by way of ‘sting operation’. The bee actually stung as the lawmaker involved finally stepped down from the exalted office of chairman of the committee involved. We have also been treated to free video allegedly showing who was offering, or who was taking bribe, or both.

These are not all: we have also seen the subsidy fraud producing allegations and counter-allegations of bribery and what have you. The same subsidy mess has produced even further mess by way of people on subsidy probe panel getting plum appointments into government’s opaque oil firm, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). While one became a member of the board of directors, the other became director of finance! Yet, we are being told daily of government’s sincerity about getting to the root of the subsidy scam. Tell me; in which civilised clime could such a thing have been possible? Indeed, we have seen a lot in the last 11 months on subsidy fraud, but the supervising minister has remained on her seat like the Rock of Gibraltar, unmovable and unshaken, leading to speculations that she is not an ordinary woman, but one with nine lives.

The way things are, Nigeria’s subsidy regime has remained a jigsaw puzzle. That partly explains why it has refused to leave the centre-stage of public discourse. But one thing that flows from all the probes into the subsidy fraud is the fact that Nigeria has been ripped off. From the parliamentary probe into subsidy, to the Aig-Imoukhuede’s, down to the Ribadu panel, it was clear that Nigeria has been swindled through and through, with subsidy as conduit. The reports may be different in terms of what they alleged had been stolen, but they confirm widespread fears that some fuel marketers got paid for fuel they never imported, or that was sold abroad. One parliamentary probe said about $6.8 billion must have been lost to subsidy fraud over three years. Of course it is a racket involving even government officials and agencies because the importers could not have done the deals all alone; as they say, it takes two to tango.

The fact that not much is happening by way of punishing the culprits, particularly those in government, has naturally led to fears that part of the stolen subsidy money was spent on last year’s elections. The implication, if this is true (it is yet to be convincingly explained otherwise, though), is that any attempt to retrieve our money might be another wild goose chase. We may never be able to get to the bottom of the matter, at least not in the lifetime of the Jonathan presidency. We will be lucky if we get an insignificant fraction of it back. Are you still asking why?

INEC boss is seeking powers we can’t afford

Attahiru Jega, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), obviously stepped on some powerful toes when last week he asked for more powers for the commission, as well as canvassed for Nigerians in the Diaspora who are of age to vote in future elections. The INEC boss wants Sections 76(2) and 116(2) of the Constitution to be further amended to allow for only two periods in a year within which the commission can conduct elections to fill vacancies so as to engender certainty in the electoral timetable. Jega also advocated the establishment of electoral offences tribunal “to guarantee timely prosecution of electoral offenders,” as well as the disqualification of anybody convicted for electoral fraud from participating in electoral process for 10 years.

According to Jega, “The National Population Commission is, however, given additional independence in its operations in Section 158(2). This should be the same with INEC. The independence of INEC should be constitutionally guaranteed in all its operations and in its management and control of the electoral process, as was the case in Decree (now Act) 17 of 1998 which first established the Commission before the 1999 Constitution.”

Jega made the demands in a proposal he sent to the National Assembly, seeking amendments to the country’s constitution. In making these demands, the INEC boss would appear to have forgotten where we are coming from and, secondly, it would appear that it is yet Uhuru in INEC simply because he is the one in charge now.

Although both INEC and the National Population Commission (NPC) are important, they do not perform exactly the same functions. INEC’s independence in its operations; may be yes. But I cannot understand what Prof Jega means by independence “…in its management and control of the electoral process”. If that includes the power to disqualify candidates, I say an emphatic ‘NO’. It is true that the political parties have largely not been honest in their primaries, to some extent, they have had to pay the price at the polls for not following the due process in selecting their flag bearers. Apart from this, it is dangerous to put such powers in the hands of one man. What Jega is looking for is what we are trying to retrieve from the President who is constitutionally empowered to appoint the INEC boss, subject only to ratification by the National Assembly. No single person should be given such ‘powers of life and death’ in our kind of milieu.

INEC’s intention to make Nigerians in the Diaspora vote, thereby participating actively in the decision-making concerning the country’s leadership at all levels is good, at least in principle. This is the practice in many countries. But whether we are ripe for that is a different question entirely. Having credible election within is still a big problem, in spite of the relatively free and fair elections we have had in some places in recent times. Right here at home, we had the names of Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, Michael Jackson and Bill Clinton in our voter register a few years ago.. Obama’s name never featured in Kenya’s electoral register, but it appeared in our voter register here! What all these tell us is that it’s not yet celebration time; we still need to perfect many aspects of our electoral process before seeking more powers for INEC.

As a matter of fact, INEC itself is calling for the setting up of Electoral Offences Commission to facilitate trial of electoral offenders. A major challenge we have is that many of the cases still last longer than necessary now that we do not have Nigerians in Diaspora voting. Where will we have the logistics to deal with the challenges to be posed if they are now allowed to vote? We may be surprised that the figures that would be turned in for them might outstrip the total number of Nigerians in whatever countries they are resident. Or, haven’t we had situations at home where the number of voters is more than the total number of registered voters in some polling booths and areas? This is a major challenge that the Jega-led INEC has not considered.

It does not make sense to grant Jega’s requests simply because he is Jega. No. We need to build institutions and not rely on people’s integrity, the way we seem to have done in recent times. One Maurice Iwu once led INEC and we all remember what he did. It was because of his discredited role in the commission that President Goodluck Jonathan searched for Jega and the find was applauded across the country because of what we all saw as Jega’s antecedents. But while we should resist another INEC boss in the mould of Iwu, we should never delude ourselves that we would never have a president who might want to impose such character on us as INEC boss again. You can imagine Iwu having the powers that Jega now wants for the INEC. It would tantamount to when a slave becomes king. No one, particularly those whose faces he or those who appointed him do not like would be spared.

Already, INEC has been empowered by the 2010 Electoral Act (as amended) to deregister political parties which fail to win at least a seat in a state assembly. And 28 political parties have had to die, with their de-registration by the commission, on Thursday. Also, the commission now has its funding included in the first line charge. This implies some level of financial autonomy that the commission needs in order to free it from the apron strings of the executive arm of government. Even this is yet to fully materialise with the reported withholding of the commission’s funds by the Federal Ministry of Finance. We need to perfect some of these freedoms or powers before asking for more. If we grant all of Jega’s requests, even the electoral offences commission that he wants established would be jobless.

So, Prof Jega should stop being Oliver Twist. He cannot get all he wants for the simple reason that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. We all love independence or freedom. But, where ‘A’s’ freedom ends, ‘B’s’ begins. Prof Jega can ask for all the independence in the world, it is our duty to set the limit. Even Iwu would have loved to have full autonomy; but with hindsight, we know where that would have led us if we had allowed him. Even the little power that we gave him, he abused. No responsible mother would put hot soup on her child’s palm (for him) to lick simply because that child sees the mother does same and begins to cry for a piece of the action. So, let Jega tread softly.

Cosmas Maduka we know, but who is this Ifeanyi Ubah? This is the question on the lips of many

Something told me when in September last year, Ifeanyi Ubah, Managing Director of Capital Oil and Gas Industries Ltd. marked his 40th birthday with the kind of fanfare that is rare here, despite the loss of sanity when ostentatious lifestyle is involved in our land of plenty and want combined. But what it was I could not put my finger to. It was sickening to see newspapers sell their cover pages for the adverts placed to mark the occasion. The questions on the lips of many then, including those of us in the media were: who is this Ifeanyi Ubah? Where is he coming from? They are the kind of questions you ask when you see strange things in a not-too-strange land. Indeed, it was as if the birthday was celebrated to bring Ubah into limelight. It was only after that that we hear he imports about one-third of the petroleum products we use in the country. We know there is a lot of stench coming from that sector, which appears no one that matters want cleared anytime soon.

Anyway, that is just by the way. Since nothing broke, one had to put the matter behind and move ahead with some other things. Ours is a land of plenty in terms of news, particularly the negative hue, which break with stunning rapidity; so, the question of a drought for columnists and editors does not arise. Moreover, what is my own, even if someone painted the country red or spent as if money was going out of fashion to mark his birthday? Why do I have to wait for something to break about just one man in the midst of other items begging for attention? At any rate, Ubah is not a public official. Above all, it is generally acknowledged that a drunkard is not necessarily a spend-thrift; he is after all spending his money.

This was the situation until about a week ago when Dr. Cosmas Maduka, Managing Director, Coscharis Group of Companies opened up on a business transaction involving him and Ubah that has now gone awry. It is a long story, but a summary would suffice. There was a joint venture business agreement between Maduka and Capital Oil (Ifeanyi Ubah) for the importation and sale of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) under which Maduka was to provide the funding while Capital Oil would provide the logistics for the importation as well as handle the sale of the commodity (petrol), based on its expertise in the business.

“This agreement provided for an account to be opened into which Capital Oil would domicile proceeds of subsidy collected by way of Sovereign Debt Notes for the products imported, which together with proceeds of the sale of the products would be used to repay the bank’s credit facility,” Coscharis said. In all, 10 Letters of Credit were opened and fully negotiated, all backed by a $164million facility that Maduka secured from Access Bank, where Maduka is a non-executive director. According to Maduka’s account, there were no issues with the first six Letters of Credit. Problem began when products for the remaining four Letters of Credit did not arrive. What was at stake here is about 130,000 metric tonnes of petrol that Maduka claims is yet to be delivered. This has made the repayment of the facility scheduled to come from the sales proceeds impossible. And, what we are talking about in Naira and Kobo by way of exposure to Access Bank is about N21billion, with interests accruing. Although this figure is being contested by Ubah who said on a Channels Television interview that he could not tell the exact figures because the books were yet to be reconciled; the fact is that some money is hanging out there. Anyone who watched that interview carefully would be able to put two plus two together to get four.

But how could Maduka, despite his experience, exposure and all, have fallen into this kind of problem? The story of his life is one that would inspire anyone that is ready to work hard, that not even the sky is the limit. This is a man whose father died when he was barely four years old, and the responsibility of taking care of him and the other children left behind by their late father became that of his mother. If anyone had a humble beginning, Maduka is it; he at one time had to hawk bean cake ‘akara’ for his mother, he was at another an apprentice under an uncle selling motor spare parts, etc. Not for him the flambouyant lifestyle associated with the typical bragger who has only a few coins but thinks he has arrived. This is a man whose antecedents one could trace, from his humble beginnings to his stardom as a motor dealer of repute.

Obviously some of these other considerations get pushed to the back seat when business is the issue. Indeed, some who have found it difficult to believe what is now happening are insinuating all kinds of things, including the fetish, in the entire arrangement. If not, they insist, why would Maduka have ignored all the pieces of advice given him by those who should know, not to touch Ubah, not even with a long stick? “In spite of the numerous warnings against having anything to do with him, Maduka felt the urge to assist the young man because he felt no one could be as bad as he (Ubah) was being portrayed and after all, Ubah is his kinsman from Nnewi,” a statement from Coscharis said. There were other reasons: These included his (Ubah’s) alleged failure to remit sales proceeds to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) after selling petroleum products stored in his tank farm; alleged failure to remit sales proceeds to Mrs. Uju Ifejika, who had a through-put-arrangement with Ubah, after he had allegedly sold the petroleum product in his care; alleged refusal to settle his indebtedness to several banks; and his alleged exposure to Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), which has taken over his bank debts. No doubt, proper due diligence would have saved Maduka the embarrassment he is presently experiencing.

And this is where the lesson lies, not just for Maduka but for every other person out there who is motivated either by the desire to do business or the desire to be his or her brother’s keeper. It would be gladdening if Maduka could come out unscathed from this sad episode. But the N21billion must return into the coffers of Access Bank. This would appear his main concern and rightly so.

All said, this matter should not be treated as ‘two fighting’ because, as we used to say in those days in school, two cannot fight because two is a figure. It goes beyond treating it as a mere business transaction that went bad. In the first place, it has implications for the country’s anti-corruption war and, secondly, we should not give the impression that ours is a country where we have completely lost our sense of values. It is one case in which the anti-corruption bodies and the security agents must be interested in. Whether what is happening now is part of my fears about something breaking about Ubah is difficult to tell for now. But anyone who is familiar with the biblical story of the two women who fought over a child that King Solomon eventually resolved with wisdom would understand what is at stake here. Someone who has built a name over the years would not want that name rubbished just like that. As they say,” a good name is better than gold and silver.”