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Tag: corruption

  • The judiciary and corruption

    The judiciary and corruption

    Buhari’s concern about the courts is apt

    President Muhammadu Buhari’s concern that the judiciary is key to a successful prosecution of the war on corruption is apt. According to the president, “on the fight against corruption vis-à-vis the judiciary, Nigerians will be right to say that is my main headache for now”. The president made this observation during a town hall meeting with Nigerians in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, according to his special adviser on media and publicity, Mr Femi Adesina. We agree with the president that getting the judiciary to cooperate with the executive on this matter should be a major concern to him.

    Indeed, without the judiciary buying into the vision of the president in the fight against corruption, not much will be achieved, after all while the executive is entrusted with investigating and charging corruption cases to court, the determination of the cases is entirely in the hands of the judges. So, the president was right in expressing optimism that with the support of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, he hoped to continue improving the criminal justice process in the country. We are however surprised that some commentators have interpreted the president’s statement to mean that he was bullying the judiciary from the pulpit.

    If it were so, then the president would be off-the-mark. But, considering the performance of the judiciary in recent years, it is right to ask that arm of government to clean up its constituency. The accusation of corruption and inefficiency which the president’s admonition may also imply is not even unfounded, as some members of that very important arm of government had openly accused their colleagues of corruption. The issue of inefficiency in our courts is also backed by facts, as cases have dragged in the courts for years, in some instances, for decades. So, a call for transformation of the judiciary and the weeding out of corrupt judges is in the country’s best interest.

    To achieve the desired change in our judiciary, the National Judicial Council (NJC) must rise up to its constitutional responsibility. The 1999 constitution, as amended in its Third Schedule, paragraph 21(b) provides that “the National Judicial Council shall have power to – recommend to the President the removal from office of the judicial officers specified in sub-paragraph (a) of this paragraph, and to exercise disciplinary control over such officers.” The body in sub-paragraph (d) also granted similar powers of recommendation to the Governors of states, for judicial officers named in sub-paragraph (c); thereby granting the body extensive disciplinary control over all judges of the states and federal high courts, Sharia Court of Appeal, Customary Court of Appeal, Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.

    In the past, the NJC had exercised these powers to recommend the compulsory retirement of some judges found corrupt or inefficient. But the Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami, has rightly raised the notch further, as corrupt judges will now not only be retired, but prosecuted for any criminal conduct. According to the minister, represented by his senior special assistant (white collar crimes) Abiodun Akiomo, at a presentation by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Projects (SERAP), “corrupt Judges will go to jail as the government of President Muhammadu Buhari will actively promote and ensure that corrupt judges are prosecuted and their illegally acquired assets are returned to the state”.

    This threat, if carried out, would be a marked difference from the old practice of merely retiring corrupt judges, which was the subject of the report by SERAP, tagged, “Go home and sin no more: corrupt judges escaping justice in Nigeria.” For us, once a judge is found culpable by the NJC and has been retired based on its recommendation, it is important that such a judge is brought to a trial, if the grounds for his retirement border on criminal conduct, particularly corrupt enrichment. Not long ago, a judge whose allegation of misconduct was about to be determined by the NJC quickly sent in his retirement notice, and ended up as a first class traditional ruler.

    Interestingly also, some judges who were found culpable for corrupt conducts and were retired based on the recommendation of the NJC, turned around to sue the NJC, challenging their retirement. While judges who have been unfairly treated should approach the courts for redress, those who were retired for corrupt enrichment, among other vices, and are challenging it, should have their files forwarded to relevant prosecution agencies, for further action. Of course, it is also important to reiterate that while a corrupt judge constitutes a danger to the society, a successful prosecution of a case starts from an efficient investigation and a virile prosecution, which is not in a judge’s hand.

    Without impinging on the constitutional rights and privileges of a judge in the exercise of his/her duties, all stakeholders should do what is needed, to gift our country an efficient judiciary.

  • War against corruption is Nigeria’s last hope, says lawyer

    War against corruption is Nigeria’s last hope, says lawyer

    A Nigerian-born England-based lawyer and security expert, Vincent Ike Oligbo, has said President Muhammadu Buhari’s war against corruption remains crucial to the development and survival of Nigeria.

    “Corruption and financial criminality has destroyed the African continent, especially Nigeria. A country rich in oil reserves and resources still garpples poverty and severe infrastructural decay, a country with virtually no electricity supply, dangerous and horrible roads, where individuals serve as their own local, state and federal government by providing their own water supply through bore holes, provides their own electricity through generators, and rehabilitate their own roads in most cases, yet, tax payers money is being stolen by heartless politicians and political appointees who see political offices as a means to enrich themselves and their cronies, thereby crippling the country financially.”

    “President Buhari’s war against corruption is the last hope Nigeria seems to have to save it from total collapse and any one found guilty must be brought to justice with asset confiscation and long prison sentences with no option of fine,” Oligbo said.

    He advised Nigerians to desist from indulging in corrupt practices and urged public office holders to serve with integrity and selflessness and work for the country’s growth and development.

  • No going back on anti-graft war – Osinbajo

    No going back on anti-graft war – Osinbajo

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday said that pressure from some Nigerian elites to slow down the ongoing fight against graft would not deter the Buhari presidency from ridding the country of the problem of corruption.

    He made the remark during a meeting with a delegation from the Moslem Congress of Nigeria at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    Osinbajo, in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, noted that the government has been getting regular messages from some Nigerian elites urging it to cool down on the war.

    He said: “It is a very strange morality that some of those people have, very complicated but cutting across all tribes and religious differences.”

    He however observed that the masses of the Nigerian people encouragingly have a clearer understanding of right and wrong.

    “The masses don’t have that problem,” he said.

    According to him, a new tribe of Nigerians who would not compromise their values but would maintain a sense of right and wrong is now emerging.

    “The man on the street is very clear, so whatever some of these elites say, we shall keep our focus on the masses who voted for us,” the Vice President declared.

    He said it is simply unacceptable that in the last 16 years there is not a single federal government completed road project, not to talk of rail.

    Noting that the reason for their failure was corruption, he said that the cost of projects was often inflated as people entrusted with public trust struggle to enrich themselves at the expense of the people.

    He said it was the same inordinate desire for enrichment that explains why money meant to procure arms was being distributed among persons at a time when the territorial integrity of the nation was being attacked.

    “The insurgency has gone on for 6 years because government could not adequately equip the military,” he said

    But the Vice President assured Nigerians that President Muhammadu Buhari and himself would not relent.

    He said the president and himself have no other agenda but “the progress of this country.”

    Continuing, he said: “Mr. President and I are extremely focussed on what we need to do. We will focus on critical things, infrastructure and social investments.”

    Speaking earlier, the leader of the delegation from the Moslem Congress of Nigeria, Imam Abdulahi Shuaib conveyed the support of the organization to the government’s programmes including anti-corruption, and expressed readiness to offer assistance.

    According to him, “we are thankful that our candidates of choice in the election emerged.”

    He said the choice of the President and Vice President were made by God Himself during last year’s presidential election.

    The Vice President also received delegations from the Nigeria Society of Engineers, NSE and the Facility for Oil Sector Transparency Reform, FOSTER, a group composed of NGOs involved in different issues in the Niger Delta areas.

    At his courtesy meeting with the NSE, Prof Osinbajo praised the engineers and highlighted the importance of the profession in national development.

    “There is no question at all that engineers are central to the development of the society,” he noted.

    The NSE delegation was led by its President, Engineer Otis Anyaeji.

    Speaking while receiving FOSTER, the Vice President restated the government’s commitment to the development of the Niger Delta.

    He also commended the group for coming together to develop a common framework to support the process of development in the area.

    The group, which said it adopted a common framework in order to avoid duplication, was led by Mr. Richard Oshowole.

  • Minister defends Buhari’s approach against corruption

    Minister defends Buhari’s approach against corruption

    The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Pastor Usani Uguru Usani has defended the approach adopted by the present administration to fight corruption in the country, saying that the anti-corruption war was not aimed at witch-haunting anybody.

    He urged Nigerians to key into the anti-corruption war as a way of retrieving what had been stolen from them, saying free education was possible for all Nigerians of school-age except for the level of corruption and impunity in the country.

    The Minister made the remarks Tuesday while granting audience to the Executive Members of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), led by its National President, Chief Musa Shehu Isiwele.

    The Minister said the Federal Government was ready to enter into strategic partnership with members of the association to ensure the safety of lives and properties in the Niger/Delta region and the north-east of the country.

    Pastor Usani said: “the federal government will like to interface with your association especially in troubled areas in the north-east and Niger Delta. Members of your association have access to information and we will want your members to give information that can help ensure peace and security of the people.”

    In his remarks, the president of the association said RTEAN had over the years embarked on projects targeted at creating job for 45,000 Nigerians. According to him, the association currently has 4,000 mass transit vehicles in its fleet.

    “For the purpose of enhancing service delivery and encouraging safety and security of Nigerians in the transport sub-sector of the economy, we are also embarking on the building of modern motor parks with modern facilities in addition to the construction of 1,000 units of houses in the 36 states of the federation including FCT, Abuja,” Chief Isiwele said.

  • ‘I’ll fight corruption like Buhari’

    ‘I’ll fight corruption like Buhari’

    Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mallam Muhammad Bello has vowed to follow President Muhammadu Buhari’s footsteps in tackling corruption and ensure that government is alive to its responsibilities.

    He also said all ongoing and abandoned projects will be completed.

    Government, Bello said will not embark on huge new projects that do not have any meaningful multiplier effect.

    Bello who gave the assurances when he briefed journalists on his administration’s policy trust also vowed to deliver a secured environment adding that Abuja Master Plan must be followed.

    He said the acute problem of traffic congestion faced by commuters in many locations will receive immediate attention through expedited completion and opening of more feeder roads.

    His words: “As I set out my responsibilities in the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), I shall be guided by President Muhammadu Buhari’s vision of delivering a secure environment, zero tolerance to corruption and ensuring that government is alive to its responsibilities.

    “In the face of the myriad needs demanding for scarce resources and the numerous uncompleted and abandoned projects, which if completed, will have immediate positive impact on the city and its inhabitants, we do not intend to embark on huge new projects that do not have any meaningful multiplier effect. Our priority in the short run, therefore, will be the completion of ongoing projects as may be appropriately reviewed.

    “Project of immediate attention will include Satellite towns in which we will target the development of affordable mass housing schemes and infrastructure in partnership with private sector to address the acute shortage of housing of low income earners. This will have the multiplier effect of reinvigorating the economy and creating employment opportunities in the Satellite towns.

    “The law that sets up Abuja is 40 years and after the law, a master plan was established for the city with the provision of being reviewed periodically.

    “What this administration is going to handle is the issue of flagrant abuse of the master plan. Obviously this will not be acceptable but of course readjusting and being flexible on the pan in line with current demographic realities will always be done.”

     

  • Buhari’s foreign trips not jamboree, says Presidency

    Buhari’s foreign trips not jamboree, says Presidency

    The Presidency on Monday declared that President Muhammadu Buhari’s foreign trips are not jamboree but for the good of the country.

    The Senior Special Assistant to the President on media and publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, disclosed this to State House correspondents in Abuja.

    According to him, the need to block all safe havens for looted funds from Nigeria was at the heart of the President on his trips outside the country.

    Buhari’s trips abroad, he said, have succeeded in making his administration secure agreements and understanding with various countries on recovery and repatriation of stolen funds.

    He said that top security officials in the country would, in the next one week, travel to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to further actualize an agreement on recovery and repatriation of stolen funds.

    He said “You also see gradually the strategic efforts to go after the stolen funds abroad. The UAE is very important to the country.

    “Don’t be surprised that in the coming week or two, you will see high level security officials leaving Nigeria for the UAE to begin to give expression to our wish to enjoy this new cooperation between the two countries with a view to recovering stolen assets.

    “There are numerous agreements we have also signed with them. Drugs, human trafficking and assets that have been stolen abroad. So, the President wants to make it difficult for people, even when they steal from Nigeria, there would probably be no hiding place for stolen assets,” he added.

  • Minister advocates coalition against corruption

    Minister advocates coalition against corruption

    Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed has urged Nigerians to form a coalition to galvanise the anti-corruption war.

    ‘’This is not Buhari’s war. This is not APC’s war. This is a war for Nigerians, and we must join hands in waging the war,’’ the minister said, while delivering the Distinguished Guest Lecture of the Faculty of Arts, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, on Friday.

    He said once the people were determined to battle corruption, they are assured of victory, adding: ‘’No power has ever been great enough to defeat a people who are determined to win. Let us form what I call citizens’ coalition against corruption by speaking up against the crime, refusing to glorify or support looters, irrespective of how much dirty cash they dangle before us and refusing to be divided along religious or ethnic lines.

    ‘’If we don’t speak out, the corrupt cartel may misconstrue our silence for acquiscence and continue to loot our commonwealth’’.

    Mohammed also appealed to the media, which he said, is critical to the anti-corruption battle, to continue to keep the people informed and sensitised to the evil of corruption.

    He said despite the invasion of the media space by hack writers and pseudo-analysts, ‘’I must say that the media have availed themselves creditably. I implore them not to rest on their oars.’’

    The minister urged opinion leaders, traditional and religious leaders, civil society, professional groups and others to make their voices heard in the fight, which he said had received the support and acknowledgement from the United States and global organisations, such as the World Bank.

    Alhaji Mohammed assured that on the part of government, there is no stopping this fight.

    ‘’Those who doubt the resolve of this administration to wage this battle will learn a tough lesson, a lesson of their lives. Failure is not an option in this fight,’’ he said, and announced the plan by the ministry to embark on a ‘road show’ on the anti-corruption sensitisation effort.

    ‘’We intend to hold town hall meetings across the country to enable us speak directly to the people, especially at the grassroots,’’ the minister said.

    He drew a link between corruption and under-development and noted that corruption has under-developed Nigeria and condemned the citizens into perpetual poverty

    To buttress his assertion, the minister listed cases of corruption, including the N1.9 billion Special Intervention Ebola Fund scandal; the Police Equipment Fund scandal in which about N774 million was diverted; the Dasukigate that has revealed that 21 individuals benefited from N54 billion; the Pension scam, in which top government officials looted about N273.9 billion from 2005 to 2011 and the Fuel Subsidy scam, in which Nigeria spent N2.587 trillion on fuel subsidy in 2011, 900 per cent more than the N245 billion appropriated.

    Mohammed said in order for the sensitisation against corruption to be successful, it will focus on the cost of corruption.

    ‘’This is because when people know that the epileptic power supply in the country, even after billions of Naira have been pumped into the sector, is a direct consequence of corruption, they will better understand the threat that corruption poses. When Nigerians realise that the frequent loss of lives on our roads is because someone has looted the funds meant to rehabilitate the roads, they will understand better.

    ‘’Perhaps the most recent instance here is the Dasukigate, in which $2.1 billion meant to  fight Boko Haram was diverted to other uses,’’ he said.

    The minister visited the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Bamitale Omole, who said the institution is proud of the achievements of the minister, a distinguished alumnus.

    ‘’The university admires you and is proud of you. Your achievements have shown you as a worthy GREAT IFE alumnus,’’ he said.

    Dean of the Faculty of Arts Prof. Gbemisola Adeoti said the Distinguished Lecture Series was designed by the faculty ‘’as an avenue to fulfil one of its obligations as a knowledge-generating institution and as an avenue to raise funds for the faculty’’.

  • Monarch, group hail Buhari’s war against corruption

    Monarch, group hail Buhari’s war against corruption

    The Asa-Ooni Adimula of Ora-Igbominaland in Ifedayo Local Government Area of Osun State, Oba Joshua Tinuoye Atolagbe, has urged Nigerians to support President Mohammadu Buhari?’s anti-graft war and fight against insurgency. Describing corruption and terrorism as hydra-headed monsters threatening to consume the nation, the newly installed monarch said it was important that everyone join the crusade and war against these two enemies of the country.

    The monarch spoke with journalists at a press briefing heralding his official coronation, presentation of Staff of Office and Instrument of appointment by the Osun State governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola. According to him, for the sake of humanity and development, corruption and terrorism must be totally uprooted. He attributed the myriads of challenges facing the country to corruption, noting that the menace has eaten deep into the fabric of the nation.

    He said: “We must begin to fight corruption seriously and with utmost sincerely. If corruption is totally eradicated, Nigeria will be the best place to be in the world. With my wide experiences over the years across the world, I have realised that Nigeria remains the only country in the world where everything works in our favour but are being hampered by greed, selfishness, misappropriation and bad governance.”

    The royal father commended President  Buhari for his people-oriented policies and programmes.

    “It is regrettable that at this period of economic hardship, our nation could still be facing challenges like this. If our economy has been properly managed for the past sixty years when Nigeria discovered oil, our country would have been in prosperity now but quite unfortunate the nation has been gruesomely inflicted by the greedy leaders whose insatiable appetite to wealth accumulation could not be measured.

    Similarly, the National President of Muhammadu Buhari Transformation of Nigeria (MBTN), Dr. Samson Bilesanmi, yesterday lauded the federal government anti-corruption crusade. He spoke in Akure, the Ondo State capital, at the swearing-in ceremony of the national and state officers of the group.

    Bilesanmi noted that the effort would assist in tackling the menace of corruption in the country and re-shape its economy. He said MBTN was founded as a political structure of President Muhammadu Buhari to propagate his vision in all the nooks and crannies of the country. The group leader, who came to Ondo state with other officers, said MBTN is saddled with the responsibility of spreading information on activities of President Buhari across the country.

     

  • Bafarawa’s hypocritical antidote against corruption

    If the Muhammadu Buhari Presidency is to be taken seriously about its determination to engage corruption in a do-or-die warfare, then it would have to do more than the weekly assessments tendered by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed. This point becomes more poignant as prominent Nigerians have started speaking up on how the hydra-headed monster has stunted growth and development for ages. It is a miracle of some sorts that a callously raped Nigeria still manages to wobble along; holding on to the hope that things could have been worse than they are presently. Ironically, the solution to the problem might just be found within the rank and file of the privileged few who had, at one time or the other, been fingered in humongous corruption cases. I must confess that Nigerians as well as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission owe these characters some kind of appreciation not just because they have offered to make public their profound knowledge of the effects of corrosive corruption, but for also suggesting what they perceive to be workable solutions in the drive to tame the menace.

    Though the EFCC has continued to tighten the noose around the necks of some suspected treasury-looters that allegedly thronged the office of the former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd.) to draw billions of naira without any contractual agreement, it has not stopped quite a number of these persons from offering unsolicited advice. Among these persons, none has spent quality time in ‘dissecting’ this problem than the former governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa. In an interview conducted by my good friend, Ikenna Emewu and published in the Daily SUN of Monday, January 25 this year, Bafarawa spoke at length on the topic and found time to offer advice on the right path to building an incorruptible Nigeria of his dream. What amuses, one must confess, is not Bafarawa’s declarative statement that 90 per cent of Nigerians are corrupt. That could just be the painful reality. It’s just that corruption comes in many shades and forms. Yet, one’s curiosity was triggered by how Bafarawa struggled to turn a serious matter into a circus show where he positions himself as a hero among the villains that stole the country blind.

    Where one had expected him to speak on his latest travails as one out of the 88 persons listed as beneficiaries of billions of naira doled out by Dasuki for non-existent contracts, Bafarawa was busy reminiscing about how he ran the affairs of governance in Sokoto State between 1999 and 2007. Where he was expected to debunk official rumours that his company got paid N4.8bn for packaging spiritual matters on behalf of former President Goodluck Jonathan, the serial presidential aspirant was waxing lyrical about how the dwindling fortunes in oil revenue has generally affected governance in most states to the point that President Buhari had to intervene with a bailout. Where he should have seized the opportunity to justify the humongous payment he got for nebulous ‘prayers’, Mr. Bafarawa was more at home castigating the late President Umaru Yar’Adua and even Jonathan for not doing much in the fight against corruption. For a two-page interview, it must be said that Bafarawa was long on hollow sermons and abysmally short on the tangibles.

    Listen to him on why corruption thrives in Nigeria: “Today, corruption has become a general thing as you can see that 90 per cent of Nigerians are corrupt, because when you go to the grassroots level, corruption starts from there. The electorate will demand money before voting a candidate, no matter how good such is or the ideology she has. All that the voter wants is how much the candidate is ready to give. Then he who is going for the election will first look for money, whether he borrowed from the bank or his godfather will sponsor him is immaterial. That is the beginning of corruption, from the grassroots to the local government level, state level to national level. The electorate are corrupt; the politicians are either corrupt or forced to be corrupt because when they get to the office they are elected for, their first concern is how to pay the money back. They cannot get this money without the collaboration of the civil servants, because governors do not write the memo or raise the voucher. The civil servants will collaborate in bringing out the money and then you can see how corruption spreads all over”.

    So, what then is the antidote to stopping this madness that bleeds the nation’s treasury? I may be wrong but I didn’t read any from Bafarawa in that long-winding interface with the reporter. Apart from his clarion call on the citizens to rally round Buhari in his seeming lone fight against the powerful forces that continue to milk us dry while offering sickening reasons like the ones tendered above, Bafarawa brought nothing to the solution desk. If one were to go by the prognosis of this self-styled professional politician, there would not be any need to query why mind-boggling malfeasance has become the order of the day, even in sacred places like the judiciary and the legislature. We may as well give Chief Olusegun Obasanjo a knock on his bald head for daring to write the National Assembly to open its books for audit in the last 16 years. Didn’t Obasanjo know that these lawmakers invested huge sums of money on electioneering campaigns and are therefore justified to see the allocation of extra-budgetary funds to themselves as one of the ways to recoup such investment? Okay, maybe it’s an electoral offence to induce the electorate. Were there not cases of Ghana-Must-Go being sent to the National Assembly during the Obasanjo era? But who really cares as long as the end justifies the means? In fact, if we can all live by this principle of electoral planting and reaping, there would be no need for a Dasukigate or any other gates. What is so difficult to understand in a simple analogy which suggests these politicians were being ‘forced’ to be corrupt by circumstances beyond their control? In any case, how do we expect them to pay back loans to the banks if they refuse to fiddle with the treasuries? And let no one ask Bafarawa what could have ‘forced’ the dark-goggled Gen. Sani Abacha to steal with such gusto that, some 20 years after his demise, Nigeria is still recovering billions of dollars looted by him. Well, we can always blame that on unknown forces and the gripping fear of poverty. What else could explain the endless looting ad infinitum in which recovered loot is looted and re-looted by different sets of VIPs?

    By the way, it is not surprising that Bafarawa washed himself clean of the allegations levelled against him by the EFCC. He would proceed to advise Buhari to urgently create public awareness against corruption so that the common man, who elects people into political office, can “see the dangers of corruption” Hian! What baloney. And what happens to the over N1.4 trillion said to have been stolen in just seven years, including the Dasuki bazaar? What happens to the billions of slush funds lying in bank vaults scattered across the world? That must be inconsequential as long as some persons have stolen enough to the point of not only tying the hands of justice to the stakes but also keeping it hanging in perpetuity. One thing is sure though: As long as the rich and mighty walk roughshod on the justice system while the common thief pays the ultimate price for stealing the neighbour’s goat, Nigeria will not stop wallowing in pain and looking for solutions in the wrong corner of the corruption ring.

  • Responsibility, corruption and terrorism

    Boko Haram was cheering enough but  for the fact  that it claimed they  were those who benefitted  from the Dasukigate   $2.1  bn arms diversion scandals  in the  ongoing   sordid  revelations. This  was not helped by the accompanying  news that Boko  Haram  has again killed, through suicide bombers in, of all places,  Chibok from where the over 200 missing school  girls  abducted by the same terrorist group  had gone  missing over a year ago to date. If  you add  that to another  revelation   by the  new  Methodist  Church  of Nigeria  Prelate  that  the last ruling party  brought money  in Ghana  must  go sacks to  get  the Church’s support  but the  Church  rejected the money because it loathed  corruption but  instead asked them  to go  and campaign, then you see the rudiments for today’s analysis taking   shape rather quickly.

    Naturally  it is necessary  to analyse the  logic of these statements as well  as their  pragmatism  and practicality.  It  is also  necessary  to examine  if they are true or are indulgences in crude mendacity. We  must  also try  to see if  they are just mere excuses or cover ups for real  and unforeseen actions or inactions.  In effect we have quite  a plateful of issues  to tinker with.

    First  of all to say the beneficiaries of the arms diversion revelations are the cause  of the Boko  Haram  menace  is an oversimplification of the matter and is sheer  fallacy. At best the  arms diversion culprits,  if  and when found guilty, can only be punished for escalation and prolongation of the insurgency and as such can be  found  guilty  of treasonable  felony or crime against humanity .Nevertheless   it  is necessary  to remind the Borno State Elders Forum  that  Boko  Haram started as  an  Islamic protest group that wanted to establish Sharia law in the North East  and Nigeria and was able  to recruit jobless youths roaming Maiduguri  and the various capitals of the 6 North East states carved out of the 15m  people said to be living in the North East then. Mismanagement  of government resources, coupled with the big lie of a huge population claimed for the area  to  get huge  federal government funding, as well  as poor leadership and misuse of security  and infrastructural  funds are indeed the root cause  of Boko  Haram  and the North  Elders Forum  cannot claim ignorance  of this or claim truly  that it has no hand in it. After all,  Elders Forum anywhere do not just emerge in a vacuum.  They  emerge or  evolve from the  leadership,   over  time,  of any society  especially  from the ruling class which includes the clergy  or  religious  leaders, the traditional leaders and politicians – and the Borno  State Elders Forum  cannot  be an exception. To  look  for scapegoats for the emergence of Boko  Haram outside  Maiduguri and the North East states  capitals is a bitter  diversion, equal  in magnitude and  irresponsibility  to  the ongoing cruel arms diversion revelations we have called Dasukigate. It  is illogical  and dishonest. It can not gel in any way   with  reason ,or   even serve as an excuse which  certainly was  its  initial  and  ultimate  objective.

    Next,  the  attack on  Chibok  again brings  to the fore the fact  that Boko  Haram has changed strategy from frontal combat to guerrilla warfare and that is not new and we do not need to invent the wheel  to combat it. It was the strategy  used  by the communists in Latin America against dictatorial US sponsored military dictatorships. Its  main hero in legendary and myth  context was Che  Gueverra the Argentine hero of the  Cuban revolution who was more popular  than even Fidel  Castro the leader  of the revolution. But even  Che, who  was my hero in my undergraduate days when I had his poster in my room at Ife was  killed  by organized government forces in a jungle somewhere in Latin America  where  he was leading another insurgency  for the establishment of communism.

    But Che  and the revolutionary forces he led were popular with the masses  who  helped and even hid them from government forces. Boko  Haram  however is not popular because  it is killing both Christians  and Muslims and even though it is claiming to be a borderless  caliphate,  most if  not all Muslims all over the world  have denounced it. How  come  then that it is still capable of killing people in broad daylight as it successfully did in Chibok this week? The  answer is simple. They  have willing collaborators  in Chibok and any where they kill  people and get away with it or kill  themselves in the process. That is where communal policing and intelligence gathering should be stepped up in areas in or regions of the North  East  where they have been prolific of recent in their nefarious guerilla warfare. Community groups,   age groups  and institutions  should be asked to police and guide  their members because as in the case of bank  frauds where connivance and internal  collusion play  a major  role in the success  of such frauds, Boko  Haram  has members living in our communities  as  such  people do not live in a vacuum. They  are  full  blooded Nigerians and when and where young girls detonate bombs to kill themselves  and innocent  people, their parents or kinsfolk  should  be cornered for  explanations and  responsibility for their wards murderous activities. On    the present Chibok suicide  killings those  interviewed said they  had always reported that Boko  Haram  was in the vicinity  to the authorities but their warnings were ignored. Police  and security institutions  should, in house, find out from their  members why  such calls were ignored and blacklist  such  officers on security  matters. They  can   post them out of the area or sack  them with  no benefits if found  to have connived or colluded with suicide  bombers  or their  relations. Really  it is high time mosques, schools  and public  institutions  in the North East did a Boko  Haram  staff  audit of their members and employees  to find  out the wolves in sheep’s  clothing in their midst who  are definitely helping Boko  Haram  to  kill innocent people as they did in Chibok  –  just  to rub it  in that the Nigerian state has not   only failed  to  find the Chibok girls they  abducted a year ago but that they  have the  audacity  and impunity to strike  again  where thunder should really  not strike twice  in our beleaguered North  East.

    On  the statement  credited  to the Nigerian  Methodist  Prelate  one should  certainly commend the bold  action of the Methodist  Church in standing up against  corruption. This  again is because the religious  institutions in our midst have  been  beneficiaries of looted funds one way or another as those involved with Dasukigate are well  known Church and Mosque goers. Have these  institutions tried to find out the source of the donations by politicians and businessmen who fund  projects so lavishly  and   so generously  and who  are praised  to high heavens for  their  gifts  by highly  appreciative priests  and imams during sermons  and every  opportunity  to show gratitude  for such charity? I  attended a funeral  where the Bishop   at  the  pulpit asked  those who have take Dasuki’s  money to return it  and the audience roared in  approval. Yet  politicians serving and retired  public officials   formed a large part of that audience. If  that is not a clear case of a pot calling the kettle back then I wonder what it is.  The  law  says he who comes to equity must  come with  clean hands. Religious  institutions  should sanitise  the opulent gifts they get   from their  rich  members as they are a cool  front for money laundry, diversion of funds  and other vices. This  society  is on an anti-corruption  drive and  the religious  institutions must  accept responsibility for the source and application of the gifts they receive as well as the social  responsibility and accountability that go with them. They  must  be seen  to be transparent not only  before men but also God whose representatives they are according to the belief of their followers.  That  is a very urgent strategy  to be adopted by them not only to defeat Boko Haram in particular  and terrorism generally,  but to defeat  corruption by showing that like  Caesar’s  wife they  are above reproach  as the Methodist Prelate  so clearly  illustrated on the  rejected  Ghana Must  Go  money  sacks.