The Nation Newspaper

Tag: corruption

  • Arms scam: Absence of Dasuki’s lawyer stalls proceedings

    Arms scam: Absence of Dasuki’s lawyer stalls proceedings

    Proceedings were stalled Thursday in the N13.5billion arms scam involving a former National Security Adviser (NSA), Mohammed Sambo Dasuki and five others before a High court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Maitama, Abuja.

    Dasuki is being tried with a former Director of Finance and Administration, Office of the National Security Adviser, Shuaibu Salisu, a former General Manager, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Aminu Babakusa and two  companies – Acacia Holdings Limited and Reliance Referral Hospital Limited  – on a 19-count charge  bordering on money laundering and criminal breach of trust.

    At the mention of the case Thursday, prosecution lawyer, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), told the court that lawyer to Dasuki, Ahmed Raji (SAN) was absent and had written him, seeking the adjournment of proceedings to Friday.

    Jacobs said: ‘‘Counsel to the first defendant wrote a letter to me, saying that he won’t attend today’s proceedings on the grounds that he will be appearing before an election petition tribunal in Lokoja, Kogi State.”

    Jacobs told the court why Dasuki was equally absent in court.

    He said ‘‘when I inquired about the first defendant, I was told he is not in the custody of the EFCC (Economic and Financial Crimes Commission). On further enquiry, I was told that he is with the Department of State Services (DSS). We have, however, made moves to ensure that he is produced in court this morning. My Lord, they are bringing him to court this morning.’’

    Responding, lawyers to the other defendants in the case insisted that Dasuki must be produced before further proceedings could be conducted in the case. The lawyers, including Solomon Umoh (SAN) were of the view that since it was a criminal trial, the presence of all the defendants was necessary.

    Trial judge, Justice Hussein Baba-Yusuf later suspended proceedings for about an hour to enable the prosecution fetch Dasuki.

    When Dasuki was later brought in around 11.00am by DSS operatives, Jacobs urged the court to adjourn to the next day in view of the request of the ex-NSA.

    Justice Baba-Yusuf later adjourned to today when the other defence lawyers did not object to Jacobs’ request.

     

  • Provost fights corruption

    The Provost, College of Education, Ikere Ekiti, Dr. Mojisola Oyarekua, has said her administration would not tolerate corruption.

    She spoke at the inauguration of the college’s Anti-Corruption Unit, which she said would ensure probity, accountability and transparency among workers and students.

    Dr. Oyarekua, said last Thursday that the unit was one of the policy thrusts of her administration, which started about a month ago.

    To this end, she said the Procurement Unit had been fortified to ensure due process in the purchase of materials and that the college gets value for money on purchases.

    She urged workers and students who have complaints about fraudulent practices, underhand dealings, alteration of results, sexual harassment and related matters to forward same to the unit, which would investigate them.

    “You can send your complaints; we will look at the case on its own merit and any one worth investigating will be investigated and any one that lacks merit will be discarded.

    “There is no way I won’t step on toes. One cannot be embezzling money or engaging in alteration of results or harassing students sexually without being challenged,” she said.

    Reacting to plans by the Federal Government to employ 500,000 teachers, the Provost advised President Muhammadu Buhari to place premium on quality rather than just tackling unemployment.

    “Developing the education sector is beyond mere providing employment; but there should be academic quality because no education can grow beyond the qualities of teachers.

    “There should be incentives for teachers, facilities must be provided, schools must be refurbished, and environment must be made conducive for both teachers and students,” she said.

    Mrs Oyarekua revealed that the college is strengthening its entrepreneurial and vocational education programmes in such a way that each student would be exposed to one skill per session, including farming.

    “We are looking at how to increase the qualities of NCE graduates in this college.  That is why we are exposing our students to one vocation per session, so that they will have options after graduation.

    “We are not comfortable with how they are discriminating against the NCE graduates in the labour market,” he said.

     

  • U.S.: Nigerians frustrated by corruption, extremism

    U.S.: Nigerians frustrated by corruption, extremism

    NIgerians are frustrated by corruption and extremism, the United States (U.S.) said yesterday.

    U.S. Special Representative for Religion and Global Affairs Shaun Casey spoke with reporters at the U.S. Consulate in Lagos.

    He spoke about an initiative at the instance of the Secretary of State John Kerry to train staff of the U.S. Mission across the world on building relationship with global religious organisations and leaders.

    Casey said the U.S. government would create inter-religious conversations where different religious denominations and groups could collaborate to fight corruption and social injustice.

    He said: “Given its diversity, we want Nigeria to become a just society. We sense real frustration with the level of corruption in the country. From the people in the streets and senior religious leaders, there is deep dissatisfaction about corruption and extremism. That is what we want to work with. When you observe unity among diverse religious groups that are saying, ‘we want to repel extremism’, this is where my office wants to work.”

    The envoy said the initiative included helping Kerry to build capacity within the State Department on how to engage religious actors and assess dynamics of religions, and to establish a point of contact with external religious groups and non-governmental organisations working for social justice.

    Casey said Nigeria held a strategic position in global religious ranking, noting that the aim of the initiative was to reform local groups with extremist tendencies, engage religious leaders in tackling corruption and promoting peace.

    He said: “We believe, using the context of conflict resolution, religious leaders and communities can be a source of peace and reconciliation. Corruption is another area we believe religious communities can come with a unique voice to hold private individual and government officials accountable by calling for transparency and ethical behaviour. It is our belief that we can deal with corruption by going through religious groups as a source of inter-partnership.”

    He added that the initiative would enable the U.S. government seek partnership with international interest organisations and global faith groups in promoting the understanding of policy implications at the recent climate change meeting in Paris, France.

    Casey said the aim was to engage people in rural communities on mitigation and adaptation to climate change.

     

  • SGF: corruption is Buhari’s govt greatest problem

    SGF: corruption is Buhari’s govt greatest problem

    Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Babachir David Lawal has said “corruption” is the main opposition that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration faces today and not any political party.

    He made the remark while receiving a delegation of a Coalition of Progressive Parties, led by Mr. Ibrahim Yusuf Bashir of the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM).

    According to him, the unusual opposition has enormous resources to launch a propaganda war.

    But he assured the delegation that the government would prevail.

    Lawal said the war would be won also “because the people and God are behind the Buhari administration”.

    Lawal, in a statement by his Director of Press, Bolaji Adebiyi, said the Federal Government was focused on good governance.

    He reiterated his support for Ebonyi State for its impressive development, despite being in the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    Bashir said Buhari “is a honest and just leader who will ensure Nigerians enjoy the change he promised”.

    He congratulated the administration for the efforts  in fighting corruption.

    Bashir pledged the support of parties in the coalition, stressing that their position was driven by patriotism.

    He said emphasis must be placed on the administration’s ethical revolution so that Nigerians could own the change agenda.

     

  • Who is afraid of the cost of change? 1

    Who is afraid of the cost of change? 1

    Failure on the part of ministers to declare their assets is already being construed by citizens as attempts on their part to hide something.

    President Buhari may be doing his utmost to fight corruption and re-engineer governance in a way to make corruption unattractive to the thieves of state among us. What is not clear is to what extent he, his co-rulers in the legislature and judiciary, and the citizenry at large are ready to cope with the inevitable cost of change. The focus of today’s piece is to draw the attention of the president and his ruling party to many lapses in the organisation and governance of the state that require immediate change, to prevent the war on corruption becoming ‘a drum that breaks in the middle of the dance it has started.’

    The president needs to re-read the history of corruption in the polity and the various manifestations of policies designed to give undue advantage to the few with access to power in the country. When the military came to power for the first time in 1966, it accused the Balewa government of corruption and pledged to citizens that the military government would rid political and bureaucratic corruption in the country. The promise was never fulfilled, especially since easy flow of petrodollars under the various military governments between 1966 and 1999 and the civilian governments of 1979 and 1983. The more revenue came from petroleum, the more corruption festered until it reached its apogee in between 1999 and 2015. It was a sign of relief to the citizens when Buhari came out under the auspices of the All Progressives Congress to promise that he would give all his energy to fight and kill corruption in order to prevent corruption from killing the country.

    Corruption as abuse of power for material gain at the expense of the citizenry takes various forms in our country, with some forms seeming legitimate on the surface while in reality they are   designed to give to political office holders and top public officers undue advantage, all on the excuse that there was enough revenue from petroleum to pamper and indulge the few Nigerians that are lucky enough to have access to political or bureaucratic power. For example, the salaries and allowances given to political officer holders—at both the executive and legislative levels—are outlandish, and those receiving these perquisites are aware of the fact that they are getting more than they deserve in an economy that is in every sense of the word undeveloped or underdeveloped, lacking every basic element of modern life; electricity, transportation infrastructure, proper health and education provision, housing provision for citizens, etc.

    It is no use for anyone to pretend that citizens are not getting worried about the miraculous power of the status quo to remain intact even after eight months after the inauguration of a change regime. Instructively, President Buhari and Vice President Osinbajo have declared their assets as required by the country’s laws. But there is no evidence that President Buhari’s ministers have declared their assets months after their appointment. The president in his recent Media Chat confirmed that he expects his ministers to do the right thing and does not believe that he has to drag them to do this. Without doubt, the buck stops on the desk of the president in this regard. He has to read the riot act to his ministers, if this becomes necessary to make them do what he and his vice president had already done, to assure citizens that the ministers are not above the law of the land. Citizens are already grumbling about what they see as nonchalance on the part of the ministers. It is not good for consolidation of electoral democracy for people with political appointments to discountenance such an important law. Failure on the part of ministers to declare their assets is already being construed by citizens as attempts on their part to hide something.

    With respect to the salaries and allowances (including the so-called constituency allowance that turned lawmakers into executive officers), there is nothing in the character of presidential system all over the world that justifies what Nigerian lawmakers earn and the amount of public funds available to them to spend. This column raised this issue recently in the essays titled ‘Pork Barrel Politics.’ Those responsible for writing the constitution that gave enormous powers to the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) could only have done this on account of the huge revenue flowing into the country from petroleum. There is no better time than now to revisit the policy of indulgence of lawmakers and ministers with regards to salaries and allowances, as well as the policy on severance benefits to citizens who opted for political office. Severance packages should not apply to individuals who work in any capacity for less than eight years for members of the executive and the legislative branches of government. It will be a matter of serious controversy if tax payers have to pay such humongous salaries and allowances to political office holders in the lean years thrown up by a huge slump in the price of petroleum and the new danger that may come to Nigeria’s share of the gas market from the United States becoming a major gas exporter.

    It is one thing to recognize the negative impact of corruption on the polity and the economy as President Buhari has done very well. It is another thing to come to terms with a political culture that promotes social and economic injustice, and thus creates a conducive atmosphere for corruption on the part of those unduly favoured. There is so much haemorrhage in a system that expends so much of the commonwealth on just a few of its citizens at the expense of the majority. For example, why are former lawmakers given police protection long after they have ceased to be in office? Even many ministers who served in military governments and in the Obasanjo regime are still moving around with police orderlies while there are no police officers to protect citizens. Former lawmakers still ride vehicles without registration numbers or some with House or Senate registration plate numbers, just as there are former state commissioners and local government chairmen with police orderlies. Citizens are already wondering why those who had served the governments that had brought Nigeria to its present low level of development over the years are being given undue protection at the expense of the citizenry. Citizens are already expressing surprise in both traditional and social media about a policy that continues to pamper former office holders. Some citizens are even asking why such people would need special protection, if they have not done anything criminal.

    A system created at a time that military and civilian rulers thought that money was not a problem for Nigeria should be given serious review now that the era of manna from the bowels of the earth is fast disappearing. For example, what message are policies of indulging top political and bureaucratic officers sending to citizens when they provide severance packages that include free cars, generators, diesel, and houses for former governors and deputy governors after they leave office while millions of citizens still in service do not have any housing or transportation benefits? A system that promotes the kind of inequality that is evident between those privileged to be in high political positions and the millions at the bottom cannot but nurture corruption among men and women who have been made to see the wealth of the country as belonging primarily to them.

    The philosophy and praxis of our change regime cannot avoid taking a close look at the culture of governments in Nigeria in the age of plenty. The outcry against lawmakers’ decision to spend billions of naira on cars and the seeming slowness on the part of RMAFC to review the salary/allowance package adopted in the days of oil boom show lack of enthusiasm on the part of political officers to come to terms with the reality on the ground in an era that petroleum no longer brings huge inflows of dollars. President Buhari’s observation at his recent media chat that it is only citizens and the judiciary that can check any excesses on the part of all the branches of government is remarkable. As this column plans to discuss next week, citizens need to be encouraged to invoke their sovereignty on all matters by the executive’s unmistakable preparedness to be more forthcoming with information.

  • The politics of corruption, credibility and diplomacy

    The  mood in  Nigeria at present is for government to nail  all  those who have received any amount from  the $2.1bn arms deal in which  funds  meant for arms have been diverted for other purposes other  than the purchase  of arms, even as the Armed Forces  faced the Boko  Haram bloody  insurgency which  had dented the battle readiness of our military immensely. That  mood can  be compared without apology to the mood  and  frenzy   at the Arena in  the Ancient Roman Empire when Christians, gladiators  and  unfortunate enemies  of the state, were thrown into arena  to be killed  by lions and wild  animals just as gladiators fought to death  after declaring,  hands raised   to  Caesar  and   to the blood thirsty, and roaring audience – Hail  Caesar!   We  who  are about to die salute you!.

    That  type  of mood  is inherent in the picture  painted in the minds of US citizens  and indeed the rest  of Europe over the acceptance of refugees fleeing wars in the Middle East which  Donald  Trump, American  Conservative Party leading presidential contender compared to  the ancient  Greek story  of the Trojan war  while defending his call  for a ban on Muslims entering the US  which  he called a security issue rather than a religious  one.

     These  comparisons hobnob  into the topic of the day in several ways just as they are delicate and sensitive issues  mixing up religious sentiment and loyalties  with equally delicate and ponderous  matters  of security, credibility, leadership and integrity. Indeed these issues are issues that will not go away  for a long time in spite of the boldness and assurance of King Abdullah of Jordan  that  ISIS  can  be defeated decisively in a CNN  interview  this week –  and  the  sooner  we tax our  patience and tolerance in treating them decisively and  emphatically and stopping the carnage and killing by militant Islamic groups both locally  and internationally  the better for our individual and collective sanity and more  importantly the security  of our lives, property,  history  and peace  of mind.

    Quite  seriously  the arms diversion deal has brought shame and dishonor to the beneficiaries regardless of  their  reputations,  and  sense of responsibility.  In this regard it  is similar in terms of the opprobrium on their good name to the Name and Shame List  of  wealthy professionals  like doctors  and lawyers  in debt ridden  modern  Greece who  were exposed  as tax  defaulters and whose  taxes  would have helped Greece immensely  in fulfilling its obligations as a valid member of the Euro zone and a responsible  sovereign  citizen in the EU  capable  of honoring its debt obligations. The  Name  and  Shame  List when published  in Greece ruined the reputation and respect  of many hitherto  leaders of men and resources in that  nation. That  is where the comparison with  Nigeria’s  mood on punishing the converted arms deal however  stops,  and totally too.

    Whereas  in  Greece the names on the list of defaulters  was a proven one and the opprobrium well earned, the list of the beneficiaries of the diverted arms funds is made  up of those  who  have  not  been opportuned to defend themselves but  have  been consumed in brazen media trial  that has generated the killer mood for reparation, confiscation, jailing  or  even  outright  execution   of the arms diversion  payments. This  should  not  be so because our law presumes a person innocent until proven guilty  in court. This  is our legacy from the British Common law. It  is different from  the French and Francophone legal  system  inherited  from the   Code  Napoleon which  presumes  a suspect guilty until  the prosecuting magistrate decides otherwise  and this French judge  is both  the prosecutor  and  the judge. For  now  that is the legal  strategy we seem  to have adopted in  bringing the beneficiaries  of the arms diversion deal  to justice and it is bound to backfire in open court where the rule of law  should prevail. By now I expect the NBA, the  Chief  Justice   and  our   busy  and   immensely   wealthy   SANs   to highlight  the Achilles heel  of this strategy  which seem for now to  have turned the EFCC into the prosecutor and judge as in France or our neighboring Francophone  states when Nigeria has a different  legal pedigree as a Commonwealth  state where suspects are deemed  innocent until  proven otherwise in a court of law.

    To  me those  who  looted public  funds and have even returned them  as announced by the President  have not gone to sleep  over the matter or  are  folding their hands.  Indeed   they   have  started  to fight back and orchestration   of   poor, opaque  and  ineffectual prosecution seem  to be  their adopted  strategy  and  the government should watch its back and  review its  present strategy,  as  these looters have ample funds from  which they can derail the anti corruption campaign,  since what they have  returned  was    just a  tip  of  the ice berg and  they  have means  and connections  and even power  to discredit  the anti corruption campaign  which  is very  dear to all honest and right thinking Nigerians to change our government  and governance  priorities  for  good.

    Again  it is in that light that one should  look  at the unbelievable spectacle and announcement by  the Senate  President this week  that the wrong copy of the budget speech was what was  sent to the Senate to work on in fulfilling its legislative obligations to  Nigerians. The Senate President  went on to say that its Senate  Committee on Ethics  discovered that that the Presidential  Special  Adviser,  a  distinguished senator in his own  right made the mistake and the senate will not discuss the budget until  the alleged anomaly  is rectified. Definitely I smell a rat here and a rather  rotten,  dead one too. I   also  smell  a whiff  of  vendetta and  retaliation against  the presidency and the president himself over the forgery of election  rules in the senate when the administration  assumed  office.  Definitely in the senate it is payback  time or time for negotiations to resolve the senate  leadership election forgery, this time at  the toll gate of retribution,  veiled in dutiful  and  diligent pursuance  of the constitutional legislative duty of the senate as an arm of government. I  am  sure that that is the ultimate goal of this Senatorial  arm  twisting of the Executive in  this unbelievable saga  and complaint  of a false version of the Budget  from   the Presidency.  But  then Nigerians are watching  and waiting.

    Similarly Donald Trump’s  comparison of the influx  of migrants to  Europe as  similar  to  the Trojan  War   cannot  be dismissed lightly and  events in Germany and Turkey this  week   should  bother  our  attention  and conclusions.  In  Cologne in Germany migrants were  said  to  have been involved in rape and robberies in the new  year.  This  has put some  pressure on German Chancellor Angela Merkel  who is an angel  of mercy  on the migrant issue  and  has taken steps to  firm up  German laws  to effect swift deportation  for miscreant  or lawless  migrants to  Germany. Similarly a suicide  bomber blew up and killed several people in Istanbul,  putting pressure on Turkish  President  Yeccip  Erdogan’s pro  migrant  policy which has made  Turkey  a safe   destination for  migrants fleeing Syria and  heading for Europe. ISIS  has  claimed responsibility  for the bomb attack  which will hurt Turkey’s  blooming  tourism  industry  which   has  been  under pressure recently  because of  Russian  boycott of it over the shooting down of a Russian plane by Turkey sometime ago.

    If  you  remember that the  Trojan  Horse   story  was about  a wooden horse  left  at  the gate of the city of  Troy   by the  Greeks   in their   war  with  Troy  then  you  see  a  pattern  of  danger.  Unfortunately   for  Troy  the horse  was  filled with   Greek  soldiers  who wreaked havoc on Troy in the night and won the war.  Definitely  Donald  Trumps historical analogy  is not  nonsense  but  a call  for closer security  and scrutiny of  all migrants  entering not only US  but any  nation fighting ISIS and  Boko  Haram just  as the US  and Nigeria  are  doing at present

    Again  long live the Federal  Republic  of  Nigeria.

  • Corruption, the way out

    SIR: Corruption is married to boundless ambition. In short, corruption is defined holistically as an act against societal norm or value or government policies or in contrast with human positive conscience.

    My candid advice in curbing corruption, at least, to the basic minimum is to adopt Soft Wise Approach (SWA) to reach out to the rich and wealthy people, former leaders and principal office holders past and present, in public and private sectors, to voluntary salvage this country out of the struggling financial quagmire it has remained in. I am of the opinion that with this kind of wise and Godly appeal to the kind minds of our people, some positive responses would be received from them than applying avage blows that will leave everybody including the government with bruises.

    Nobody can tell the resultant consequences of the poor citizens under the envisaged savage bruises of the perceived corrupt men and women in Nigeria. It must be recalled that Nigeria ignorantly plunged itself  into the deep waters of oceanic doom during oil doom in 70s and since then the country has been swimming uncomfortably inside deep waters of debt till date.

    Followed by this wise bail out approach, is the legislative approach to cut down salaries of president, governors, legislators, ministers and appointees in political offices permanently, to considerable levels.

    The idea that bi-cameral legislative houses should be pruned to uni-cameral house and be made to operate on part-time basis, should be left for now to fertilize for obvious reasons.

    Other areas of expedient national touch is the urgent need to put in place price control mechanism to check exorbitant prices of goods and services as was in the past. Also the question of non-indigene in payment of tertiary school fees should be cancelled forthwith throughout the federation. Who is non-indigene on the surface earth?

    Finally corruption is multi-headed and is better curbed by our application of positive orientation of our minds in words and actions that promote peace and harmony all Nigerians.

     

    • Prophet Segun Akintoye,

    Akure, Ondo State.

  • CAN, Bible Society back Buhari’s fight against corruption 

    CAN, Bible Society back Buhari’s fight against corruption 

    Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Bible Society of Nigeria (BSN) in Kaduna have thrown their weight behind President Muhammadu Buhari on his anti-corruption war, saying Buhari is the messiah that Nigeria needs to succeed as a nation.

    The two Christian umbrella bodies stated this at the closing of their annual one week of prayers for unity of the church and the country, entitled, “Universal Week of Prayers”.

    Speaking to newsmen in an interview at the event held at Our Lady Catholic Church, Independence Way, Kaduna, Chairman of the Planning Committee of the annual prayers, Pastor Adeyemi Isaac said, the level of national resources carted away by few individuals was unacceptable, when majority of Nigerians are languishing in poverty.

    According to him, “We like the anti-corruption war the government is bringing forth, because it is from there a lot of things are being revealed, which we know nothing about. The amount of money we hear from the media that people have gone away with. It is really embarrassing, when poverty has eaten so deep into the country that, it remains only for us to be eating from the dustbin, like the late Umaru Dikko  said. But, you can see that many are getting close to the dustbin. We are only praying to God that this will not happen to us, in Jesus name.

    “Buhari is the Messiah for this country. God really sent him. You can even see the way he won the election. It is a miracle. That is why we will continue to pray for him to succeed. We believe whenever he will be leaving, whether one term or two terms, depending on God, whenever he will be leaving, we believe this country will not remain the same again. And whoever will take over from him will either carry on with his programmes or God will not let him be there.

    “Thank God, we are witnessing change in the country, the church too must  follow suit with this positive change. What are we talking about? The church must change from the past way of doing things to new way that is being united, no matter our denomination. We must pray together for the country and Kaduna State in particular.

    “Part of why we are here is for this prayer to lay a good foundation for this year. Throughout the year, we don’t want to experience any bad thing. And any bad thing that is coming, we pray to Almighty God to suppress it.

    “The issue of Boko Haram, we are praying to God to help us, not only to suppress it, but terminate them and remove them from the surface of the earth entirely. Because we have lost so many souls. So many souls have been lost for nothing, children, women, men, so many of them are displaced. Look at where they are. No matter what you give to them, they cannot be comforted like in their homes. Their homes have been destroyed, their farmlands destroyed,” he said.

    He blamed the security challenges like insurgency, pipelines vandalism, kidnapping and militancy in the country on poverty created by unemployment.

    He however expressed optimism that President Muhammadu Buhari will succeed in his plan to resuscitate comatose industries and create jobs for millions of Nigeria youths.

    Asked whether Buhari can still lead Nigeria at 78 by 2019. Pastor Isaac said “Even if Buhari contests for second term at 78, Buhari is just an entity, he has advisers and ministers around him, he will still perform, because he can delegate people who will stand by him in truth.”

  • ‘Why judiciary must join fight against corruption’

    ‘Why judiciary must join fight against corruption’

    Monday Ubani is the immediate past Ikeja Branch chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). In this interview with ADEBISI ONANUGA, he speaks on the war against corruption and other national issues

    The President said recently that he would soon disclose the names of those who returned stolen money. Do you think the matter should just end like that? What do you think he should do?

    I don’t think what the President is saying is that he would direct Central Bank to publish the names of those who have returned stolen money. He meant that he would forgo prosecution. I think that he was making a response to the demands of those who are asking that the names of those who have been alleged to refund stolen money to be published. So, he made a specific statement to that effect that he would ask the Central Bank to publish those names.  As for allowing them to go scotfree, I didn’t hear him say so. I think that those who have returned stolen  money, one way or the other, they have been indicted and must be made to face the wrath of the law. Allowing them to go  scotfree and then returning whatever they feel like returning out of what they have stolen, is like encouraging corruption. Because if we must put a stop to corruption, we must make corruption not to pay. We must make corruption as something not enjoyable, as something you would do and not go scotfree, we must make it something that if you eat it, you would not just vomit it, you would also pay for eating it. It is an infraction on the law. So, allowing them to go is not something I would encourage them the President to do. They must be made to face the music. It may well be that their punishment is mitigated. Maybe if they are to go for three years, they may go for six months or less than that which we called plea bargain in the system.

    To end this fight against corruption, what should be the expectation from the judiciary?

    The judiciary has a very great role to play. The judiciary must agree with the philosophy of the executive that we must fight corruption and nip corruption in the bud.  If we have a judiciary that cue into the philosophy of the executive, then we would see a judiciary that is up and doing in effective administration of justice particularly in high  profile cases. Because corruption is a bailable offence, we must fix a time line within which we must have corruption cases disposed off. The prosecution must be given evidence to present the evidences he has and the accused must be given opportunity to present his defence. So, you don’t allow all these technicalities to come into play. You don’t allow issues of stay of proceedings and interlocutory injunctions to come into play. You don’t allow interlocutory appeals anymore because the Administration of Criminal Justice 2015mhas outlawed all these processes that they were using to stall proceedings in criminal trials. So, what the judiciary should do now is to play the rule of the game by ensuring that there must be an end to criminal trials within a time so that if any one has appeal, if he doesn’t feel that he has gotten justice and then goes up to the Court of Appeal and then the Supreme Court, all these cases must be resolved within a time line so that there won’t be prolong trials like the ones we have of 2007 cases that are still lingering even at preliminary stages. So, the judiciary must cue into this particular struggle, cue into this struggle that we must fight corruption and then, the executive can achieve its purpose of fighting corruption in the country.

    Would you then support the establishment of special court to fight corruption cases so that such cases can be disposed off within a record time?

    I don’t have anything against it anymore. I used to be one of those opposing it. But in the light of what is happening now in the judicial system. Not only subscribing to issue of a special court, I am also subscribing to issue of a time line just like it is done in electoral process. So we give a time line within which trial at the lower court, at the Court of Appeal level and Supreme Court must hold so that we can begin to see a quick disposal of criminal cases the way we are seeing it in election cases. So, if there are issues of injustice in our system, we can also mitigate it by amending our laws in order to ensure that there is justice. But time is of essence in such quick disposal of cases particularly in criminal and corruption cases. We must understand what corruption has done to this nation, we must understand how it has destroyed the psyche of this country.

    We must understand that the road is not safe today because of corruption, that our education system has collapsed because of corruption, our health system is now in shambles because of corruption, there is high rate of unemployment  because of corruption, there is no energy because of corruption, that the airspace is not safe because of corruption. A lot of things have impeded our growth because of corruption. If we know what corruption has done to us and we have all agreed that we must fight it, then we must all begin to cue into the philosophy of nipping it in the bud by assisting the present government to fight it and stop it. We must then put up a structure that would ensure there is transparency in government, hard work, honesty and transparency in governance and then, begin to teach people, even from primary school, the issue of hard work, honesty and integrity even in government offices and other places.

    Against the background of the arms scandal, would you support the calls for freedom for the convicted soldiers by special martial courts?

    We have been saying it that those soldiers that were convicted by special martial courts on grounds that they abandoned the war front. We have been saying that those trials were not conducted in accordance with our laws, that they have reasons for what they did because they had no ammunitions to fight the war. You don’t go to war with hoe and matchets. You go to war with guns. If they had no guns, it would have been suicidal for them to engage in that war against the insurgence. Now that these facts are coming to reality, based upon even our insinuations, even based on  what we are saying, we are totally in agreement that they should not be imprisoned. They should be set free. They should be reabsorbed back into the Nigerian Army and then the spirit of those who are already there would ginger them in fighting the war. So I am totally advocating for amnesty for them because they had reasons to do what they did.

    How do you react to reports  that government would start removing subsidy as from next year?

    Government will be making a very grave mistakes if they don’t give us the fundamentals, if there are no disclosures on why they must remove subsidy, why there is no subsidy in the first place and why our refineries are not working, how much are refining? How much are we importing? How much are we using to supplement the quantity required for the functions of Nigerians. If we don’t have all these disclosures, removing subsidies would create some level of hardship on the people. It will also not be in the interest of the present government. The government must come out clear and tell us what they intend to do in the oil sector. The oil sector is still hazy, is still opaque, is not very clear, is not transparent. We need to know how much we are buying the refined oil, how much are we importing the  fuel, how much is the landing cost and all that. They need to give us all the statistics. They should tell us how much we are using to subsidize because if all these things are not disclosed, it then means that the government is as guilty as the previous government. This has been the reason why we are all up in arms against the government when they talk about removal of subsidy. What has happened to the refineries that were functioning when this government came in? What has happened to them that they are no longer functioning; and then what is government going to do with them? Are they going to privatise them? Is government going to allow them to be in limbo? What does government  intend to do about them? We must have the full disclosures. When we have the full disclosures, they can then go ahead to do whatever they want to do with them. If we continue the same way of not explaining to the people and we just come up with some harsh measure that do not in any way impact positively on the economic life of the people, then it is not too healthy for us and for this present government.

     

     

  • Saraki, corruption and future of Nigeria

    I have followed the political history of Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki since 2004 when as a young reporter I did a news story on a petition some Kwara elder statesmen, led by Elder Wole Oke, wrote against his government, alleging diversion of local government funds. Backed with ‘documentary evidence’ showing how these funds were allegedly being cornered, the story elicited prompt response from the Saraki government which sent down a team of commissioners to the headquarters of the newspaper where I then worked. We did their own side of the story. To be honest, the government’s response raised more questions than answers. Anyone who read both copies would instantly know something was fishy. Since then I have paid attention to the senator.

    I have followed the developments around the many corruption allegations trailing Senator Saraki. To be sure, Saraki, like anyone else accused of crime, is innocent until proven guilty by a law court. This he has maintained at every opportunity. He pleaded not guilty to all the 13-count charge the Code of Conduct Bureau has preferred against him. Fine.

    But the conduct of the senator since the trial began suggests not just a guilty conscience but an individual habitually given to actions inimical to public probity and accountability.  Such conduct, if not checked, poses a serious danger to public morality. And given that he commands huge following among young generation of Nigerians, his penchant to always cry foul and shout political witchhunt each time he’s asked to account for his time in public office will send the signal to the young ones that they can always evade scrutiny with a shout of witchhunt, echoed by a well-oiled media and propaganda team.

    Sometimes in 2011, Senator Saraki claimed he once waived his immunity as a governor to be probed by the anti-graft bodies. Again, he has blown the whistle on alleged corruption in a few instances. He touts this among his feats as a senator. If Saraki is clean and honest as he wants the public to accept,  one would expect him to grab with jet-speed urgency any opportunity to clear his name. While it remains within his right to seek legal cover against injustice,  the circumstances surrounding his political career – added to his penchant to be seen as one of the best fellows around in politics – mean he should not rely on his privileged access to the best defence attorneys around to stall his trial. He can proceed to an appeal court if he feels the outcome of the trial is skewed against him. But his present journey around all the courts in the land gives the impression that he doesn’t want the trial to hold at all. Such conduct hardly suggests innocence.

    Beyond this, the senator appears to want to scandalise the CCT judge Danladi Umar. Seeing that the judge does not appear intimidated by bus-load of senators who neglected the duty of law-making to standing solidarity with Saraki at the court,  the senate led by the same Saraki has now gone ahead to begin a probe of Justice Danladi for allegedly accepting bribe from a suspect, among other allegations. As shameless, dangerous and objectionable this probe is, I’m shocked to note that Nigerians haven’t shown any outrage at this gangasterism!  Danladi may be guilty.  He may have abused his office. But a senate led by Saraki is morally unfit to investigate him – not at this time. The conduct of the senators since Saraki was docked has stripped them of the moral stamina to probe the same judge who is trying Saraki. It is strange and illogical, and should be rejected by all men of good conscience.

    And maybe the senator could well learn a few things from Justice Danladi Umar. Perhaps knowing that he cannot shout witchhunt as a defence in the allegations against him, he was at the House of Representatives on Thursday,  December 3, 2015 to clear his name. I understand he was there with CCT management team and documents to show his innocence. The public is following the case and will know if any party tries anything funny. Saraki should emulate Danladi by defending himself. He should tell the court, with proof, that all those allegations against him were made up,  that they were figment of his enemies’ imagination. If he is found to be innocent after a clear trial, this will help his political career.

    But what happens if every accused person alleges some form of witchhunt and hides under legal technicalities to evade trial, as the senator seems to be doing? The answer is simple: we will have confusion and chaos in the society.

    And the issues in Saraki’s trial are quite simple. It is like asking any other person: Did you make false assets declaration? Rather than face up to this basic question and defend himself, he retorted that ‘only three people can ask me that question and if you are less than three I will not answer.’ The pertinent question is would his answers have been different if he had been asked by 10 people? This, to my mind, is what Saraki’s objections amounted to by raising issues with whether or not three people should have sat at the CCT instead of two or that the court is not empowered to try criminal case or that it is an inferior court or that there was no substantive attorney general of the federation in place. Would his defence have been different if three people were sitting at CCT or if an AGF was in place?

    The  Supreme Court has appointed February 5 to rule in an appeal by Saraki seeking to stop his trial. Without prejudice to whatever the court will decide, the Saraki’s case is a challenge to all Nigerians to ask ourselves tough questions which include whether or not to accept the Saraki leadership model and its consequences.

    Some persons have asked why the government is not trying other governors for asset declaration issues. It is a fair question. Corruption trial should not be selective. But allegation of selectiveness is never a defence for a man already arraigned before a court. It is either he committed the offence or he did not. If he did commit the offence, he cannot be left off the hook because others in his shoes have not been arraigned. To be sure, Senator Saraki has been shouting witchhunt since 2012 each time he is to be arraigned for alleged corruption. For how long would he do that?