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Tag: looters

  • On Atiku’s dodgy amnesty plan for looters

    Almost all indices of human growth show that in Africa, the quality of life is in serious decline. Over 60 years after independence, Africa and Africans still cut a sorry sight on the world stage. With the ruling elite displaying a gargantuan appetite, corruption gnaws at the resources of state with a precision of a combine harvester chewing up both human and natural resources.

    In West Africa, Nigeria’s compelling demographic and natural resource endowments make her easily the continent’s leader and a force around which Africa must progress or regress in the 21st Century. It was to construct a solid foundation for transformative change, going forward, that Nigerians, in 2015, broke with the past and elected Muhammadu Buhari, the stern, ascetic ex-General to lead the charge.

    Although President Buhari of the All Progressives Congress, APC, assumed power at an extremely difficult period in the nation’s history, amidst global geo-political turbulence to boot, the sheer weight of his integrity, patriotism, focus and genuine sincerity has undeniably, positively impacted the narrative.

    It’s against the foregoing backdrop that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s peculiar submission concerning the critical anti-corruption war could best be examined. In what could pass for a sneak preview of the quirky governance blueprint he would unfold if elected president in about a week’s time, the presidential candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, recently proclaimed his administration will grant amnesty to looters. For good measure, he claimed such a method would be more productive in recovering looted funds.

    Perhaps not unexpectedly, both the messenger and the message have provoked considerable outrage across the nation. Not without good reason. Here, the dodgy haze that willy-nilly has come to define Atiku’s trajectory in public service was clearly inescapably mirrored in the Adamawa-born politician’s calculations.

    In simple language amnesty means an official pardon granted to persons who have been convicted of political offences. According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, ‘amnesty’ is an act of “pardoning (someone) officially,often before a trial or conviction”.

    In effect, what the main opposition candidateAtiku has told Nigerians without batting an eyelid is that he won’t waste time prosecuting the corrupt and looters of the nation’s commonwealth as long as they return their loot. This means that once the princely loot is returned and counted, corrupt persons can walk the land free andpossibly sing joyous songs with no charges bordering on theft, hung on them.

    In analyzing Atiku’s submission, it is important to clarify here that amnesty as used by the PDP Presidential candidate is conceptually different from ‘Plea Bargain’deployed in litigation. Plea Bargain is a negotiation agreement between a prosecutor and a defendant, with the defendant permitted to plead guilty to a reduced charge.

    The world over, the best form of deterrence against corruption or theft, is prosecution. This also implies some time in prison. If citizens know that there is no punishment for a crime besides some token restitution, they will simply keep committing the crime.

    What kind of signal will a president be sending to his constituency if he assures them they won’t be sternly prosecuted if caught in corrupt acts including stealing of public funds? This will only popularize criminal behavior which no serious, progressive nation on earth tolerates. There could simply be no better way to degrade and ground society than that.

    Even some pretty simple posers should put a lie to Atiku’s dodgy amnesty-to-looters governance template. How does the authority determine what is returned? Who accounts for returned monies? What happens to suspects who are only able to return a fraction of what they stole? Will the smaller, petty thieves languishing in shabby prison cells across Nigeria, also be entitled to Alhaji Atiku’s amnesty or will this be another case of one rule for the elite criminals and another for the smaller thieves with no nexus to boast of?

    It’s also worth noting here that this message is coming from a messenger who promised to enrich his friends if he assumes power. This same messenger’s ‘reputation’ resonates with a laundry list ofcorruption allegations.

    Clearly, Atiku’s ‘amnesty-for-looters’ anticipatory policy template is a dangerous, slippery slope to further institutionalization of corruption in the country and rubbishing Nigeria, nay Africa’s transformation. The emerging consensus amongst Nigerians is that this footing will represent a destiny-killing option.

    Significantly, Alhaji Atiku has laboured with a self-inflicted reputation for corrupt enrichment since he served as the Comptroller General of Customs in the ‘70s. His ritual response to explain away this moral quandary remains that he has never been indicted. This cuts little ice with discerning Nigerians and considerably diminishes his stature as a potential leader Africa can trust.

    Even if President Buhari is often accused ofwaging a selective anti-corruption war,especially by his strident opponents, the national consensus is that his stern public stance on wanton theft of government funds has undeniably sent shivers down the spines of once untouchable elite criminals. That’s the way to go, instead of a dodgy amnesty programme to thieves. Corruption is a plague that has crippled Nigeria and must be so recognized and totally extirpated.

    According to former UN Ambassador Richard Holbrook, “Freedom is the Century’s most powerful idea, but the struggle is far from over.” Modern discourse over the nature of evil is still an infectious subject. The debate goes back to Socrates who argued that anyone who was acquainted with good could not intentionally choose evil instead. As it were, actions and inactions by many of Nigeria’s previous leaders apparently confound modern ideas about good and evil. They saw it as no less than matters of taste, reflections of social class and power and status. This is clearly what President Muhammadu Buhari has been thrown up by providence to correct and consequently re-launch Nigeria on a path to greatness.

    The Atiku’s of this world have no role here. Nigerians stand at a critical moment in their history, a time when they must choose their future. As all generations face complex, interconnected challenges, Nigerians have a historic opportunity to support the change that has gained root, in the electoral choice they make in a about a week’s time. This is a moment in time when something big, something transformative – already happening – can continue.

    • Chukwuma, a public issues analyst, writes from Abuja.

  • Magu: Looters now stash funds in Seychelles, South Africa, Niger, Ghana

    The Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, yesterday said looters now stash illicit funds in Ghana, Egypt, Cameroon, South Africa, Niger Republic, Morocco and other African countries.

    He said the preferred destinations for looters had traditionally been the United Kingdom, United States, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Seychelles, but they are now expanding fast to African countries.

    Magu made the disclosure at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)  between EFCC and its Nigerien counterpart, the High Authority Against Corruption and Relating Crimes( HALCIA), in Niamey.

    He said: “From available intelligence and our investigations, it has been revealed that looters from Nigeria now go to Ghana, Egypt, Cameroon, South Africa, Equatorial Guinea, Niger Republic, Morocco, Seychelles and so on, to stash their loots.

    “This has led to sharp increase in the number of Nigerians buying properties in African countries.

    “Nigerians even go to the extent of changing their names and acquiring the destination countries’ international passports in collusion with corrupt public officers in their countries of residence in order to hide their identities and evade detection,” he said, adding that, “the fight of the EFCC against looters’ safe havens is total.”

    The EFCC boss further disclosed that his visit to Niger was part of his ongoing tour at mobilising international effortsto deny looters safe haven abroad.

    He said: “We have already visited Ghana and Cameroun, today we are in Niger Republic and we will continue to reach out to other preferred looters destinations in Africa and beyond. Interestingly, the efforts of the Nigerian Government to trace, recover and return assets stolen from Nigeria coupled with our increased advocacy to discourage safe havens have begun to yield results.

    “It is my conviction that our collaborative efforts will go a long way in eliminating safe havens. In fact, this is in tandem with renewed global commitment by countries to shut their doors to stolen funds.

    “I also want to call for conscious measures to sanitize and strengthen the legal framework so as to make it difficult for looters to transfer illicit funds to Niger Republic for investment or whatever purpose.”

    Magu called on the global community to redouble its efforts towards strengthening the mechanisms for dismantling safe havens for proceeds of corruption.

    He also called on the international community to ensure the return of stolen funds and assets to their countries of origin.

    According to a statement by the Acting Head of Media and Publicity of EFCC, Tony Orilade, the MoU will strengthen the collaborative efforts between the EFCC and its Nigerien counterpart.

    Section seven of the MoU captures how the parties will exchange information, including those which are necessary to achieve its objectives.

    According to the section, “The parties will exchange information in accordance with this Memorandum of Understanding in conformity to the relevant laws of Niger and Nigeria relating to the protection of privacy and confidentiality.”

    To help the Commission take its fight against corruption to Nigerians looters who have found safe haven in Niger Republic, Magu made a five-point appeal to the President of Niger Republic, which are as follows:

    (i) Identifying huge cash in the financial system owned by Nigerians to enable us find out if they are looted funds/proceeds of crime.

    (ii) Identifying the numerous properties owned by Nigerians including the details of the owners in order to enable the Commission ascertain if such Nigerians acquired the properties from looted funds/proceeds of crime

    (iii) Stopping moves by persons who plan to move funds at this period through the usual medium to destabilize the political stage in Nigeria.

    (iv) Increased clamp down on Nigerians who are involved in cyber-crime and handing over their details to us for further necessary action.

    (v) Assisting the EFCC in the arrest of persons on the wanted list of the Commission who absconded to Niger Republic due to the free movement granted to citizens of the ECOWAS states.

    The EFCC boss praised President Muhammadu Buhari for his support to the Commission, noting that “Nigeria is ready and willing to partner with international agencies and individual countries on bilateral basis to confront crimes and corruption.”

    While meeting with the parliamentarians, at the Assemblee Nationale, Magu told the second Vice President, Mohamadou, that, there was the need to rework existing legislations in Niger to help strengthen anti-corruption fight in the country.

    He also noted the need for the country to domesticate the United Nation’s Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) in order to make its meaning and impact bear on the lives of the country’s citizens.

    While decorating the Nigerian Ambassador to Niger Republic, Ambassador Haliru and all the embassy staff with the EFCC lapel, Magu urged them to acknowledge the anti-corruption fight as a collective one.

    “Whether you are at home in Nigeria or in the Diaspora, you need to make your contribution. Add your voice to the crusade against corruption. The fight is real. Don’t also forget that corruption is fighting back, but together, we shall win,” he said.

    Ambassador Haliru, in turn, praised the EFCC boss for his zeal and passion for the job. “We are hearing and seeing all your achievements in the fight against corruption. We are praying to God Almighty to give you good health and long life to confront the corrupt”.

    For the President of HALCIA, Abdourmane Gousmane, there is no better time than now for stronger collaboration between Nigeria and Niger Republic in the fight against corruption.

    “We are ready and willing to partner with Nigeria. Nigeria has the experience and the human capacity and with President Muhammadu Buhari, who is a renowned anti-corruption icon, we have no choice than to leverage on Nigeria for capacity building in taming the corruption monster,” Gousmane said.

    One of the side attractions of the visit was Gousmane’s presentation of a horse as a special gift to Magu.

  • Looters devising new tactics to escape arrest, says Magu

    ECONOMIC and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Acting Chairman Ibrahim Magu said yesterday that those, who plundered the nation’s commonwealth have devised new tactics of escaping arrest.

    According to him, the anti-graft agency has discovered that some bank officials have been colluding with politicians to engage in illicit financial flow.

    Magu, who spoke in a solidarity message to the 12th Delegate Conference of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), said the more the commission moved to address corruption, the more those involved in corruption devised new strategies.

    According to him, EFCC’s collaboration with foreign partners was yielding positive results.

    He said with the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the commission has been able to trace several assets illegally kept in the Arab nation.

    The MoU, he explained, was in addition to several other strategies the agency deployed in carrying out its mandate of ridding Nigeria of corruption.

    Magu, who was represented by a director Dr. Aminu Gusau, said: “In our various investigations, we have unearthed the collusion of bank officials and those of non-designated financial institutions, with corrupt politicians in the country, which have brought about an increase in the instances of illicit financial flows into and out of Nigeria.

    “We have realised that the more we spread our tentacles far and wide, even beyond the shores of Nigeria, to catch and bring to book those who have corruptly enriched themselves from the commonwealth, the more we are discovering, the more the corrupt-minded folks evolve new techniques.

    “The NLC has been a longstanding partner of the EFCC, particularly under the leadership of Comrade Ayuba Wabba. The NLC has partnered with the EFCC at various events, anti-corruption walk, among other interactive forum, strategically designed by the EFCC, to strengthen our partnership with critical stakeholders, like the NLC, in the fight against corruption.

    “These collaborations with Labour and other civil society groups, are hinged on the realisation that the EFCC cannot single-handedly confront the monster that corruption has become in our society.

    “It is a fact of life, that a single finger cannot lift the load off the ground; such effort requires the use of all the fingers of the two hands, to achieve such an action.

    “Invariably, one major purpose why I am here is to further goad the NLC to unite with the EFCC in the fight against corruption. The task of fighting corruption is a collective responsibility that has been given to each and every one of us. I have said it severally, and I want to state again that we at the EFCC do not claim or pose to have the monopoly of knowledge or the knowhow in this national assignment of fighting corruption.

    “However, with your support and the goodwill of all Nigerians, our painstaking and broad-based approach will definitely yield results. Only recently, I was in Ghana as part of this concerted effort of beaming our high-tension searchlight beyond the borders of Nigeria. What we discovered is no doubt staggering and mind-boggling.

    “Corrupt politicians have widened the circles of their corrupt activities by investing them in other African countries, so that in the long run, they sell them and deploy ways of repatriating them to Nigeria, even in the buildup to the election.

    “But, by and by, we are also stepping up our game to combat and nip in the bud, new tactics being deployed to fraudulently divert and misappropriate funds meant for the welfare and good of all Nigerians. We have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Economic and Organised Crime Office in Ghana, the Ghana Financial Intelligence Centre and the Ghana Police Service to ensure that we keep track of such illicit inflow and outflow of suspicious funds.

    “Our MoU with the UAE is also very much in effect as we have been able to trace several assets illegally kept there. This is in addition to several other strategies that we have deployed in carrying out our mandate of ridding Nigeria of corruption. We remain unrelenting, undaunted and unbowed.

    “We have also engaged with operators of financial institutions, as well as non-financial institutions.

    “Only last week in Lagos, l was at the general meeting of the Association of Chief Conduct and Compliance Officers of Banks in Nigeria.

    “In our various investigations, we have unearthed the collusion of bank officials and those of non-designated financial institutions, with corrupt politicians in the country, which have brought about an increase in the instances of illicit financial flows into and out of Nigeria.

    “It, therefore, became pertinent to call them to order and charge them to see themselves as partners in the fight for the common good of all Nigerians.

    “On our part, we are keenly monitoring the movement of cash in the system, and are awake to our responsibility of ensuring that provisions of the Electoral Act, 2010 are strictly adhered to, especially as it relates to election funding, and the now worrisome incidents of vote-buying.

    “Indeed: we need a new Nigeria. The dream of ensuring a national re-birth and development of the Nigerian economy and the country’s image in the international community is not a day’s affair; we have a collective responsibility in uniting against corruption; with unity of purpose, we shall attain in our lifetime, the future that we desire for the generation yet unborn.”

  • Looters will not go unpunished, Osinbajo

    Nigeria’s Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, has declared that looters of the country’s treasury would not go unpunished. Speaking to a mammoth crowd at a rally in Ward 8 Ikpoba-okha local government area of Edo state, he said the All Progressives Congress (APC) under President Mohammadu Buhari has achieved a lot since 2015.

    Osinbajo urged the people to vote for the APC and all its candidates so that the country can continue to move forward. He said there was need to sustain progress being recorded in Edo State and the country at large.

    Osinbajo noted that the Next Level agenda was about the careful and wise allocation of the nation’s resources to secure a better future for Nigerians. He stated that Edo people’s votes for APC would allow for the sustenance of effective allocation of the nations’ resources. He explained that the ruling APC government at the federal level has been able to do more with less resources due to the high premium the government places on accountability and probity. “Corruption is one of the reasons our country is backward. Buhari is not corrupt and he will not allow anybody to steal our money,” the VP said.

    Osinbajo, who listed creation of more jobs, improved power supply and other infrastructure as well as credit intervention as some of the things that the APC intends to do through its Next Level agenda, assured that the federal government is increasing the number of N-Power beneficiaries from 500,000 to one million and added that the Entrepreneur Bank will make money available for youths interested in business.

    He informed the people that the federal government was in support of Edo State government’s plan to establish its own independent power plant to support the state’s economic development. Governor Godwin Obaseki, who expressed appreciation to APC supporters in Ikboba-Okha, said he was counting on them to ensure victory for the party in the 2019 elections. “Ikpoba-Okha has about 260,000 voters, so I am counting on you to deliver all our candidates in the elections,” the governor said.

  • Atiku under fire for promising amnesty for looters

    •APC urges Nigerians to block looters’ return to power
    •Campaign council accuses PDP candidates of bare-faced lies

    THE All Progressives Congress (APC) said yesterday that the plan by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to grant amnesty to those who looted the nation’s commonwealth has vindicated its stance that the PDP candidate is only interested in returning the country to the era where sharing of national wealth was the order of the day.

    The APC Presidential Campaign Council also attacked Atiku and his running mate, Peter Obi, for engaging in what it described as bare-faced lies and dishonest claims when they appeared on a national television programme, “The Candidate” on Wednesday night.

    The ruling party said the PDP candidate did not hide his intention to give a red carpet to those people who “wickedly teamed up” with the PDP to ruin the country, adding that Nigerians must rise up to resist such move to return Nigerian to Egypt.

    Its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, who spoke at a news conference in Abuja, said the promise to grant amnesty to looters meant he was not interested in the fight against corruption, but planning to put the destiny of millions of Nigerians in the hand of the same people that worked so hard to impoverish them.

    Issa-Onilu said it was clear that Atiku’s presidential bid was not to serve the country, but the interest of his friends and foreign concerns and interests.

    He added that he was only interested in selling off national assets the way he did when he was National Council on Privatisation Chairman.

    The APC Spokesman said: “In the aftermath of Wednesday night’s televised town hall meeting, ‘The Candidates’, attended by the PDP presidential candidate Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and his running mate, Mr. Peter Obi, a redefinition of their presidential campaign slogan, “Let’s loot Nigeria again” is now trending heavily in the social media.

    “Going by Atiku and Obi’s shocking confession that their administration will grant amnesty to looters, we are equally shocked and hereby align with the wide-section of Nigerians who are now abundantly clear of their intentions, if elected and now see the collective need to stop them.

    “The insistence of Alhaji Atiku and PDP to take us through this dangerous route, where the nation’s economic policies and programmes are driven mainly by the interests of leaders, their local friends, and foreign partners constitute a present danger every well-meaning Nigerian must rise against. The choices before Nigerians cannot be more clearer.”

    Also, the APC Presidential Campaign Council spokesman Festus Keyamo, in a statement in Abuja, said simple fact checks revealed that several claims by the PDP candidate and his running mate were nothing but a tissue of lies.

    Keyamo said Nigerians should take note of Atiku’s definition of corruption as “the use of your privileged position to either enrich yourself or enrich your relatives or even your friends”.

    He added: “When this is juxtaposed with his earlier statement in Lagos, that he will enrich his friends, if he becomes President, we can safely conclude that he will be fully in the business of corruption, if he becomes President.

    “Atiku/Obi made it clear to Nigerians that conflict of interests as a public servant should be the norm as, during their tenures, they found absolutely nothing wrong then and today, with investing public funds in enterprises they own or their families own. For instance, Kadaria ran Peter Obi into a ditch when she asked him if his family was not enriched as a result of using public funds for his family business ‘NEXT’.

    “Their claim on experience in running anything public or private cannot stand any act of scrutiny. The presidential candidate, who is easily a  major contributor to our huge unemployment problem today as a result of his corrupt privatisation programme, counts this failure as a huge experience and wants to repeat same if elected.

    “Their proposed  Agriculture Programme which they claim to have put together to lift majority of the people out of poverty is a version of what is already being implemented by the present government under the Anchors Borrowers Programme and the Government Enterprises and Empowerment Programmes.

    “After watching Atiku/Obi on that programme, it has become clear to all Nigerians that our public institutions and commonwealth would be in grave danger if left in the hands of these dodgy and questionable characters who have no morals and no scruples about using and misusing public funds for private gains.”

    Keyamo listed some of the lies he claimed were told by the PDP candidate and his running mate during the broadcast programme.

     

     

  • Looters ‘shun Dubai for Morocco, Jo’burg, Ghana’

    •Convictions up from 158 to 246

    THOSE who plundered the wealth of the country have found safer havens in Morocco, Johannesburg and Ghana, where they are investing their loot in properties, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Acting Chairman Ibrahim Magu said in Lagos yesterday.

    According to him, looters have shifted base from Dubai, The United Arab Emirates (UAE).

    Magu said Dubai, hitherto, an attractive investment destination for looters, had lost its appeal following better anti-corruption cooperation between Nigeria, the UAE and several western countries.

    He said  looters got more desperate to sell off their properties in Dubai, but afraid that the EFCC “will get to know it.”

    Magu spoke at a media parley at the commission’s Lagos Office.

    He said the Federal Government was mounting pressure on United Kingdom (UK) to extradite former Petroleum Minister Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, so that she can face trial following the country’s failure to prosecute her over three years after it began investigating her for corruption.

    Magu said: “We are working with other law enforcement agencies seriously. I attended an INTERPOL meeting in Dubai, I was there for five days and there were interactions.”

    To him, since technology has made it easier to investigate financial crimes, the UK’s three-year investigation of Diezani is unacceptable.

    Magu said: “…in this era of digital banking, there is no aspect of financial crimes you will say the matter will go on for three and a half years, for three and a half years! One case!

    “So, I told my colleagues in the NCA (National Crime Agency) and CPS, Crown Prosecution Service (in the United Kingdom) that ‘No, it doesn’t make sense; if you cannot do it, give us, because we have gone to London and back, even America.

    Read also: Looters’ list: Court refuses to jail Lai Mohammed

    “The Americans, Nigerians and the United Kingdom; we met in London, we met in Washington, we met here several times, so we have done a lot of things you cannot even imagine.

    “This Diezani case is everywhere. Any law enforcement agency that comes to Nigeria; even last time, the people investigating the Malabu case, they came, they just finished last Saturday and returned to their country. We had exchange of information.

    “So, the case has become very notorious, it has touched everywhere. You cannot investigate a matter endlessly; there are a lot of expectations; that’s why we said ‘give us if you cannot take action. Give us, we can take action.’ We are still insisting.

    “I met Nigerians in the Diaspora and I begged them to put pressure on the authorities to help us extradite Diezani and repatriate whatever loot has been recovered.”

    The EFCC boss said it was also on the case of “so many other politically exposed persons who are even in Ghana. For instance, Johannesburg; and even Morocco has become a haven.

    “A lot of them are now buying properties in Morocco and we are monitoring them. They have stopped buying the ones in Dubai. They are busy hiding it, to sell the ones in Dubai.

    “If you sell one property in Dubai, we will get it. I’m telling you. All countries of the world are no longer tolerating this nonsense. The world has realised that loot and proceeds of corruption dent their economy.”

    Magu vowed to, in collaboration with foreign anti-graft agencies, block inflows and outflows of illicit funds ahead of the 2019 polls.

    He said” “So, we work together and it is getting very difficult for you to move money in and out of Nigeria throughout the electioneering period; so difficult, absolutely impossible.”

    According to him, the EFCC is apolitical and would not take sides during the 2019 polls. He urged Nigerians to resist vote buying and pledged to prosecute money launderers.

    Magu said: “Let me state upfront that we are apolitical at the EFCC. However, the concern of EFCC is with those who seek to use the political space for money laundering. We would enforce the provisions of the anti-money laundering law to the letter, no matter whose ox is gored.

    “Some vested interests are already attacking us for our stand on the side of the law.  Let us remind them that the law is no respecter of persons.”

    As another evidence of its impartiality, Magu hinted that the commission would move against an unnamed high ranking member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the coming days.

    He said the EFCC was investigating a petition against former Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomole before he became All Progressives Congress (APC) Chairman.

    The EFCC chief vowed to prosecute any lawbreaker, whether in the APC or the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    Magu patted the commission on the back for its “tremendous” convictions.

    He said: “I recall that at the last interactive session, I announced that the Commission had recorded 158 convictions, including the cases of two former governors who were jailed 14 years each and a senior lawyer who bagged a year jail term.

    “But as I speak with you, the number has increased tremendously. As at November 30, 2018, the figure has jumped to 246. So, I make bold to say that the Commission is winning the war against corruption.

    “In terms of assets recovery/forfeiture, the Commission has secured quite a number of temporary or permanent forfeiture of properties and various sums of monies unlawfully acquired by persons of questionable character.”

    He vowed to carry out a nationwide sweep against internet fraudsters from next month.

    Magu said: “More than ever before, we are giving Internet fraudsters sleepless nights; also, shady night club owners who harbour “yahoo-yahoo boys” now see the Commission as a pain in their necks.

    “So also we have begun to send red alert to car dealers to check their books or be ready to face the wrath of the law.”

  • Looters did not cover tracks well, says President

    President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday bemoaned the looting of the treasury by past administrations, saying the stealing was too much.

    The looters, he said, were so inept that they did not cover their tracks well.

    The President spoke in London while receiving the Buhari Diaspora Support Organisation  led by Mr. Charles Sylvester.

    Buhari also met with All Progressives Congress (APC) stalwart Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the Abuja House in London yesterday. Details of their meeting were not disclosed.

    The President said his administration would justify the people’s trust in it, but lamented that it was impossible to “identify and recover all the loot.”

    A statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity Femi Adesina said the failure of some past administrations put the country where it is today.

    The statement reads: “I am happy that people like you are here, on your own, defending the country. You have shown courage and sacrifice. I assure you that your confidence in us won’t be abused, we will do our best to justify it.”

    “The failure of some of the leadership we had in the past led to our not being able to capitalise on resources to improve the lot of the people”.

    Wicked people, the President said, plundered the country, “and kept Nigerians poor”. He added that looking at the condition in which his administration met the country, without savings and the economy badly vandalised, “we have not done too badly.”

    The damage done to the economy in the years of plunder, he said, was massive, adding that the government was doing its best to recover some of the loot.

    The President said: “If they had used 50 per cent of the money we made, when oil prices went as high as $143  per barrel, and stabilised at $100  with production at 2.1 million barrels per day for many years, Nigerians would have minded their businesses.

    “You could almost grow food on our roads, as they were abandoned. The stealing was so much, and they were so inept that they could not even cover the stealing properly. I wonder how all those things could have happened to our country.”

    He hailed the group for identifying with the country, “when you could have stayed here, and be comfortable.”

    Sylvester said the group was happy with the President’s achievements so far.

    He said: “You met a difficult situation, but you have overcome most of them. We are happy with the agriculture revolution, the ease of doing business, the anti-corruption war, the employment of youths through the N-Power programme, and the blockage of leakages in the public sector through the Treasury Single Account (TSA).

    “We are proud of the speed with which you recovered the abducted Dapchi schoolgirls. It shows you as a worthy General. We are happy that you have declared for 2019. Majority of Nigerians are happy, but agents of corruption and darkness are unhappy.

    “The same God, who healed you when you were ill, will grant you victory in the 2019 elections. You are a General who does not fear combat, either with Generals or non-Generals. We declare our love and support for you. You are fixing the faulty foundations of our country and second term is when you will build the enduring structure.”

  • Of raving looters and wailing plunderers

    In the past few weeks of our continuous interrogation of Nigeria’s warped sociopolitical development, the discourse has shifted to the arena of graft in which most of the dramatis personae that contributed to the many failures that dot our landscape fret muscles over who was a bigger thief within the plundering band of Nigeria’s thieving elite. It is, indeed, ludicrous that while those who pilfer what we call ‘chicken change” in the local parlance here sometimes commit suicide to escape public odium in saner climes, Nigeria’s privileged pillagers of our national treasury are out there on the pages of our newspapers, audaciously beating their chests, celebrating the clinical dexterity with which the multi-level heist and other manipulations were carried out. Unlike in the past where the kleptomaniacs had a modicum of decency to hide their loot away from the prying eyes of a deprived populace, these modern-day looters flaunt theirs ever so impudently  – daring us to go take a dive in the Lagos lagoon if we can’t stomach their despicable profligacy. It is that pitiably laughable.

    On a serious note, I personally see no sense in the ‘list of looters’ recently released by the Federal Government to justify why the opposition Peoples Democratic Party should not be allowed to hoodwink Nigerians into voting its candidates back into power in 2019. The reason for this is simple: the All Progressives Congress-led government is yet to show us that it is not a significant, active participant in the deceit called governance in Nigeria. Come to think of it, we are in the 21st century and politicians here still employ outdated propaganda to con a docile population to buy into their treachery. If that tactical blunder culminated in the untimely exit of the President Goodluck Jonathan government in 2015, what gives the APC the assurances that this silly prank would not spell doom for it in 2019 with the shambolic and glaringly partisan way it has been fighting endemic corruption since inception?

    You ask: what was the government hoping to achieve by bandying an updated list of treasury looters containing selected names of recalcitrant members of the opposition party? Was it just to name and shame, with the aim of silencing them? That’s utter balderdash if you ask me. And that is where the APC is getting it all wrong. No serious-minded government wins the battle against corruption on the political ideology of ‘my graft cases are significantly lower than yours.’ In less than three years in office, the APC has shown that its members are not immune to the alluring temptations of corrosive corruption. It is not a jab below the belt but the irritating truth! And the least of all these graft-related cases is that of the dropped Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Babachir Lawal. I’m sure discerning minds would have known by now that the word ‘recalcitrant’ was used with utmost caution. Truth be told, the way the APC cleanses every defector to the broom side with the perfume of innocence confounds sane minds. It is not my responsibility to start pointing accusing fingers or listing some popular names that have quietly become pampered saints immediately they publicly defect to the ruling party. Even the brains behind the Guinness Book of World Records would marvel at the alacrity with which the pending graft cases against such persons have been consigned to the dustbin of history.

    Come to think of it, what could be responsible for the clear omission of the names of Nigeria’s past presidents from the list as updated? We must be lucky that our leaders, especially former presidents and Commander-In-Chiefs who are still living, are rarely linked to cases of humongous graft except the ones we peddle in beer parlours and burukutu joints. By the way, were the compilers of the list unaware of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s frustrating outburst the other day that a particular big man watched with glee as he superintended over the withdrawal and frittering of N100bn and $295m ‘in one single transaction” by officials of his party to procure electoral victory in the 2015 election? Did they know that the wife of this same man is presently battling to lay her hands on the millions of dollars allegedly linked to her in various banks and suspected to be stolen from the national treasury? Of course, they couldn’t have forgotten that some former governors who are currently engaged in the business of making laws for our collective good are facing various graft cases at the courts. How come the names of these persons were missing on the list including that of a leading man of law in the Red Chamber who allegedly doctored his Asset Declaration Form with the Code of Conduct Bureau? Why did they opt to buffet us with the names of petty thieves when the real cabal that has shred this nation to pieces is probably waiting for another kill as 2019 approaches?

    Unfortunately, the PDP is hitting the APC right where it hurts by asking it to remove the huge log in its eyes before talking about the specks in others. They are saying that, as plunderers of the national wealth part of which, they alleged, was used to herald the APC to power, they are at liberty to wail at the raving looters who only had the good fortune of crossing to the other side at the right time.

    Now, see how shamelessness has become a national virtue where common criminals flaunt their hollow triumphalism with psychedelic panache. No matter how you want to rationalise it, nothing justifies the tragic comedies on display by both parties unless, of course, both are taking all of us for a rude, whimsical ride. Where one had expected the ruling government to look itself in the mirror and hammer some home truth into its clogging brain, it is sickening that it has chosen to dance naked in the market square with the PDP, a party whose laughable public show of remorse is offered on the altar of deceit. Or how else can one justify the acceptance of blind looting even if most of the cases at the courts are moving at an annoyingly slow pace?

    The irony in all this is that those (the people) who should ask the tough questions are becoming part of the problem. Some said they would like to see a complete “liberalisation of the corruption sector” so that everyone can benefit—that the crumbs can trickle down after the big men had taken theirs in lump sum. They forget easily that that is how we got to this crazy bend where greed rules. It is this kind of thinking that gives the present actors at the federal, state and local government levels to steal us blind and even justify it. When we begin to mete out the right punishment to the killers of our dreams and abhor venerating them with all manners of chieftaincy titles; when we start insisting on them living within their constitutionally approved emoluments accruable to them after rendering quality service; when we stop playing the ostrich as our collective patrimony is being raided by a privileged few; and when we begin to take the ruling government to task about pursuing justice with blindfolded eyes, that is when all the nonsense of toying with our intelligence will stop. How long would we continue to wink in the dark and living with the deceit that things will get better without taking the right measures?

    This ambience of rationalising the plundering of a nation’s wealth on the altar of “our looters are more humane than yours” is a sure recipe for failure. It is one thing to preach change and it is another to be a witness to a change that breeds a medley of motionlessness—a movement without motion. Sadly, this is not how nations progress. It is only a compass towards sure retrogression and further underdevelopment of a consistently and deliberately over-plundered and underdeveloped nation. But do the charlatans on both sides of the divide understand this inglorious attribute of a failed governance process? Do they see the shame that others see in us as we display our ignorance to the outside world in an anti- corruption fight that in itself is corruption-laden? Do they?

  • Much ado about looters list

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) called for it, but when the list came out, the party protested. Why is the looters list generating so much heat? When can a person from whom money and property were recovered be called a looter? ADEBISI ONANUGA asked lawyers

    WITHIN a week, the Federal Government released two looters lists, and almost set the country on fire. The People Democratic Party (PDP) and its top echelon protested, claiming that the lists were released to ridicule them. The first list, released on March 30, by Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed contains names of six persons who allegedly looted the treasury under former President Goodluck Jonathan.

    On the list are top politicians, who allegedly collected various sums of money from the former National Security Adviser, Col Sambo Dasuki (rtd), and are on trial for corruption-related offences.

    Among them is PDP Chairman Uche Secondus, who was alleged to have, on February 19, 2015, taken N200 million; a former PDP Financial Secretary,  who on October 24, 2014, allegedly took N600 million; PDP’s former National Publicity Secretary  Olisa Metuh, on trial for allegedly collecting N1.4bilion; Chairman of DAAR Communications Dr. Raymond Dokpesi, on trial for allegedly taking N2.1 billion; former Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to President Jonathan Dudafa Waripamo-Owei, on trial over alleged N830 million kept in accounts of four various companies and former President Jonathan’s cousin Robert Azibaola, who a Federal High Court on March 29, ruled that he has a case to answer for allegedly collecting $40 million.

    The barrage of attacks by some of the alleged treasury looters and the PDP had hardly settled when Mohammed, on April 1, released another 23 names. On this list are ex-ministers, ex-governors, senators, former party leaders and campaign chiefs.

    They include:

    • Dasuki: based on EFCC investigations and findings alone (this is beside the ongoing $2.1billion military equipment scandal), a total of N126 billion, over $1.5 billion and 5.5 million British Pounds was embezzled through his office and allegedly shared to persons and companies without any formal contract awards.
    • Former Petroleum Resources Minister Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke: who in just one of the cases the EFCC is investigating involving her, about N23 billion is alleged to have been embezzled. She is also alleged to be involved in the Strategic Alliance Contracts of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), where the firms of Jide Omokore and Kola Aluko allegedly got oil blocks, but never paid government taxes and royalty involving about $3 billion. It was said that government is considering the duo’s trial.
    • Lt.-Gen. Kenneth Minimah (rtd): N13.9 billion. N4.8 billion recovered by EFCC in cash and property
    • Lt.-Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika: N4.5 billion. N29 million recovered by the EFCC so far.
    • Alex Badeh, former Chief of Defence Staff: N8 billion. EFCC has recovered almost N4 billion in cash and property.
    • Abdullahi Dikko Inde: former Comptroller-General of Nigerian Customs Service: N40 billion, and N1.1 billion recovered in cash and choice properties.
    • Air Marshal Adesola Amosun: N21.4 billion. N2.8 billion recovered in cash. 28 properties and three vehicles also recovered.
    • Senator Bala Mohammed, former Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister: N5 billion. Interim forfeiture order on some property secured.
    • Senator Stella Oduah: N9.8 billion. Interim forfeiture order on some property secured.
    • Former Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu: N1.6 billion.
    • Senator Jonah Jang, former Plateau State Governor: N12.5 billion.
    • Bashir Yuguda, former Minister of State for Finance: N1.5 billion. $829,800 recovered.

    1• Senator Peter Nwaboshi: N1.5 billion.

    • .Aliyu Usman: Former NSA Dasuki’s aide: N512 million.
    • Ahmad Idris: Former NSA Dasuki’s PA: N1.5 billion.
    • Rasheed Ladoja: Former Oyo Governor: N500 million.
    • Tom Ikimi: N300 million
    • Femi Fani-Kayode: N866 million
    • . Hassan Tukur, former PPS to President Goodluck: $1.7 million
    • Nenadi Usman: N1.5 billion
    • Benedicta Iroha: N1.7 billion
    • Aliyu Usman Jawaz: Close ally of former NSA: N882 million
    • Godknows Igali: Over N7 billion

    Mohammed said the list earlier released was just “a tip of the iceberg” of how Nigeria was looted blind under the PDP’s watch”, adding that the Federal Government has a large number of alleged looters on its list.

    According to him, the list is based on verifiable facts, including the amount involved, the date the amount in question was collected and from where it was taken. He said many of the cases were in court and the records were available and that some of the people on the list were seeking plea bargain.

     

    Critics kick

    The list was received with outrage by some, while a few others approved of it.

    Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) urged the government to “immediately withdraw the clumsy, arbitrary and selective looters’ list’’, released last week, as the list seemed to serve a political objective or carry out political agenda.

    Its Executive Director, Adetokunbo Mumuni, said: “This kind of action can only diminish the government’s ability to fight corruption, frustrate its oft-expressed goal of a transparent governance, allow suspected perpetrators—whether from the All Progressives Congress (APC) or the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) – to escape justice, and ultimately, deny victims of corruption justice and effective remedies.

    “The authorities should withdraw the looters’list and come up with a comprehensive list as ordered by Justice Hadiza Shagari last year. Allowing the published looters’ list to stand will undermine the credibility of the government’s claim to fighting corruption, and signal to Nigerians that it is not serious to satisfactorily address the allegations of grand corruption under the former government of President Goodluck Jonathan and involving those close to this government.

    “If Buhari is truly interested in vindicating the rule of law and the proper administration of justice, his government will do well to genuinely obey Justice Shagari’s judgment ordering the authorities to ‘tell Nigerians the full names of all suspected looters of the public treasury past and present.’ Few things would go farther in fostering and nurturing our system of constitutionalism, democracy, and the rule of law.”

    A spokesperson for former President Goodluck Jonathan, Reno Omokri, criticised the government for failing to include names of members of the APC accused of or being tried for corruption.

    In a statement, he said: “The real looters list that Buhari and Lai Mohammed do not want you to know about.

    Omokri released names 10 members of the APC who he said were alleged to have collectively looted over $2 billion and should have been added to the government’s list.

    According to him, they include:

    “Rotimi Amaechi: Indicted by the Justice George Omeregi-led Rivers State Judicial Commission of Inquiry for looting N97 billion along with co- indictees, including a former army general.

    “Saminu Turaki: Alleged to have looted N36 billion. First charged before Justice Sabi’u Yahuza of the Federal High Court in Dutse, Jigawa State. Currently facing trial before Justice Nnamdi Dimgba at the FCT High Court.

    “Timipre Sylva: A well-known financier and supporter of the APC administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. Alleged to have looted N19.7 billion and was facing trial before Justice A. Y. Mohammed of the Federal High Court, Abuja. However, two days after President Buhari was sworn in, the new APC government withdrew the charges preferred against Sylva on June 1, 2015 and on October 3, 2018, the EFCC returned to Sylva, 48 houses seized from him during former President Jonathan administration in 2013 to him.

    “Murtala Nyako: Alleged to have looted N29 billion. Currently facing trial before Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja

    “Senator Danjuma Goje: Alleged to have looted N25 billion. On trial at the Federal High Court in Jos, Plateau State.

    Senator Abdullahi Adamu: Alleged to have looted N15 billion with the help of 18 co-accused. Charged on March 3, 2010. The case is pending in court.

    “Orji Kalu: Alleged to have looted N3.2 billion. Facing trial before Justice Mohammed Idris of the Federal High Court in Lagos.

    “Kayode Fayemi: Indicted by the Ekiti Judicial Commission of Inquiry headed by former Ekiti State Chief Judge and the Oluyin of Iyin-Ekiti, Ademola Ajakaiye, of sundry financial malfeasance totaling over N2 billion.

    “Senator Joshua Dariye: Alleged to have looted N 1.2 billion. On trial before Justice Adebukola Banjoko at an FCT High Court.

    “Babachir Lawal: former Secretary to the Government of the Federation. Allegedly gave a N200 million contract to his own company from monies meant to look after Internally Displaced Persons. Has been sacked after protest by the opposition and civil society. Has still not been charged. Was allowed to be replaced by his own cousin”.

    He contended that by the omission of these names, the Federal Government has vindicated Transparency International (TI) corruption perception index that Nigeria is more corrupt under Buhari than at any other time since TI started keeping records.

    Also reacting to the disclosure by the Information Minister, the PDP dismissed the list as an extension of the Federal Government’s media trial. The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement, said the list issued by Mohammed showed that the APC and the Presidency had no proof of corruption against the PDP.

    “The Buhari-led Federal Government has manifested its frenzy by going after matters that are in court and in which none of the persons have been convicted, thus betraying their wickedness and desperation to mislead the public, the court and divert attention from the heavy looting involving their members.

    But former Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu said in Minna that he did not loot the treasury during his eight-year tenure. He threatened to challenge the allegation in court.

    He also said nobody had confronted him with any document that he received N1.6 billion from Dasuki, describing the development as an orchestrated plot to tarnish his image.

    Secondus, reacting to the inclusion of his name in the list gave the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, 48 hours to withdraw his statement against him or face litigation.

    Secondus, who on Saturday spoke through his spokesperson, Mr. Ike Abonyi, made the demand in a letter to the minister by his lawyer, Mr.  Emeka Etiaba (SAN). The minister had alleged that the party chairman collected N200million from the Office of the National Security Adviser in 2015.

    In his letter reference number EESE&C/1/31/03/18 dated March 31, and addressed to the minister, Secondus demanded a retraction, apology as well as payment of N1.5bn as damages.

    The letter noted that if Mohammed failed to meet the demands within 48 hours, “we shall within 72 hours from today, proceed to a court of competent jurisdiction to ventilate our client’s right under the law and shall further seek the protection of the court against you.”

    Metuh also alleged that there was a plan by the Federal Government to convict him for corruption.

    Metuh, who is on trial before a Federal High Court in Abuja for alleged corruption, in a statement titled: ‘My reply to the media trial’ on Saturday, said, “By this publication, the Federal Government has breached our constitution by seeking to burden me with two criminal trials on the same charge, one before Justice Okon Abang and the other before the media.

    “The major crux of the prosecutions argument is that I ought to have known that the money was part of an alleged and yet-to-be proven unlawful activity of Col Sambo Dasuki(retd.), a former NSA to President Jonathan.

    “In view of the weakness of the case against me, the APC-led Federal Government resorted to all kinds of dirty tactics to dehumanise and intimidate me.’’

    Analysts, however, viewed the development as not healthy not just for the government, but also the country.  Some said it was simply contemptuous to name those who were still in court fighting to extricate themselves from the charges preferred against them by the various anti-corruption agencies. They said the lists were capable of prejudicing the trials in court. Others said the government did no wrong, particularly naming those from whom huge sums of money and properties have been recovered.

    But how can “naming and shaming” of looters, particularly those with iron-clad evidence, be done within the confines of the law? Is it fair to brand somebody a looter without waiting for the courts to say so? Does this amount to jungle justice and mob mentality? Could the receivers have known that the cash came from questionable sources?

     

    Lawyers react

    Some lawyers agreed while others disagreed with the government on the release of the lists.

    They include Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Professor Itse Sagay (SAN) Keyamo (SAN), Yusuf Ali (SAN), Sylva Ogwemoh (SAN), Sebastine Tar Hon (SAN), Babatunde Fashanu (SAN) and Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Vice President, Monday Ubani.”

    Sagay, in his reaction to the list said there was nothing wrong with it.

    He recalled that a court had ordered the government to publish the names of those who have looted the nation’s resources, emphasizing that the disclosure was in accordance with the court’s directive and to address the issue of public interest.

    Sagay said he would not be surprised if more names of alleged looters surfaced. He said: “there is a very large number of these people who presided over the looting of the assets of this country.”

    On those condemning the list, he said, “It’s a free society, the government has provided its own list. Those who are complaining must surely know the persons who are omitted from the list. So, let them bring out their own list and let them correct the list which is incomplete.”

    The PACAC chairman was however confident that the judges handling corruption cases cannot be influenced by the views of other people as they have the knowledge to make their own opinion on the facts of the case before them.

    He admitted however that government might not have mentioned the names of some individuals due to ‘strategic’ reasons, adding that such reasons would unravel themselves in the course of time.

    Keyamo said: “If you have the facts at your disposal that somebody is a thief, and you know your facts are unassailable, you can go ahead and name the person as a thief. The person does not need to be convicted before you, based on the facts, can name the person as a thief. But this is so long as you have your unassailable facts that you can present at the appropriate time to defend yourself if you are sued for defamation.”

    He said the government may also  charge those on the list who are not under trial.

    Nevertheless, Keyamo urged the aggrieved persons to sue, saying: “It is left to the person to go to court. Going to court is not a threat to anyone. It is a welcome development. A welcome development because it is even in court that the Federal Government will have the opportunity to lay bare the facts.

    According to Ali, the release of names, either by the government or by the opposition, amounts to media trial because the matters are before courts constituted in Nigeria.

    “It is as if the government has taken the law into their own hands. I don’t think it is right because the matter is already before the court. The average Nigerian does not understand that making an allegation is different from proving an allegation. To an average Nigerian, the government cannot be wrong. So the average Nigerian, their thinking is that once the government makes something public, even when one has not been found guilty by the courts, the tendency is to start thinking that, even if the matter is striked out by the court, and the person is not found guilty, the tendency is to start having insinuations that, ‘oh, the judiciary has been compromised’, that that is why they let him off. That is the danger of naming somebody who has not been convicted of an offence. That is why I called it media trial,” he said.

    Ali lamented that the whole thing is becoming a ridicule because the government mentioned some people who are in the opposition as looters, the other party also came out with a list of people in the ruling party also named as looters.

    “It is sad that a very serious matter is being trivialised this way because they are pronouncing people guilty even before they are tried by the court. Now they are also passing judgment when the court has not passed judgment. They have already been found guilty.

    “I don’t think it is right to call anybody a looter because these are allegations. It doesn’t matter what it is. If the court does not find you guilty of the names you have been called, then what happens? For me, it is like sabotaging the rule of law. All the things that happened showed clearly that I can’t support this kind of behavior by anybody. I am trained as a lawyer to respect other people’s right and nothing can justify calling somebody a looter when the person has not been found so by a court of competent jurisdiction,” he argued.

    Ogwemoh argued that under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999(as amended) there is a presumption of innocence until otherwise guilt is established.

    “It is, therefore, wrong in all ramifications to refer to defendants in pending criminal charges before the court as looters when their guilt has not been established in a court of law. Disclosing the names of the defendants in the news media and calling them looters, in my opinion, is wrong in law. Of course, if the cases have been fully tried in court and guilty verdict is entered against any defendant, the judgment becomes a public document and anyone is free to publicly discuss the judgment and not before.

    “When you use the phrase “stolen money and property”being recovered, it raises the presumption that guilt has already been established. Where money and property have been recovered and a charge is still pending in court, you cannot call the defendants to charge looters until guilt has been established because the charge has to be proved by evidence, which the law says must be beyond reasonable doubt. It is after the due process of trial has been followed and conviction secured that the “name and shame” can be done.”

    To Fashanu, the release of the list was not well-thought out.  He argued that except for people who looted and returned the looted funds, the government has no right to publish the names of people who are merely accused of looting public funds or are still under investigation or are being tried in courts, but are yet to be convicted because they are presumed innocent until and unless convicted by a court of law after due process as guaranteed as a fundamental right in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    He said: “Naming those being tried in courts as looters is highly prejudicial to the cases because the government, who is the accuser and prosecutor in those cases, is prejudging the outcome of the cases by concluding that the accused are already guilty. This actually amounts to contempt of court and can be punished by the  courts involved, but, on a much higher scale, it amounts to the executive arm of government interfering or usurping the function of the judiciary invested by the constitution with the duty and power to try and adjudge people for criminal offences such as looting of public funds”.

    According to Fashanu, the only thing the government can do is to publicise the ongoing cases just for that purpose only without any prejudicial bent because “the fact that someone is being tried for such criminal offences, to my mind, is no shaming because he can be found to be innocent of the crime at the end of the day.

    “This underscores my belief that the publication was merely to score political points, otherwise, why are all so-called looters not including any member of the ruling party, APC, or are there no looters there? Well, the counter looters list by the PDP persons says otherwise,” he said.

    Hon pointed out that by Section 36(5) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, an accused person is presumed innocent until proved guilty. This is the adversarial system of justice practised in all common law jurisdictions, as opposed to the inquisitorial system practised in some jurisdictions, where it is the accused that must prove his innocence. In this, the prosecutor is the same Federal Government that is yet to secure conviction of the so called ‘looters’! Some of the alleged looters have not even been arraigned in court, not to talk of their being convicted. The conclusion that they are looters, therefore, cannot be correct and is most likely done for political expediency.

    “This inglorious step defies legal logic and is, even for those of the named persons who are facing criminal charges, defamatory. The Minister of Information, a lawyer, ought to know better and should have held himself back on this, no matter the alluring and extenuating circumstances in this case,”, he stated.

    Ubani explained that whether the step taken by Mohammed is legal, the question is: whether the disclosure is in response to a legal requirement or whether it is to satisfy a political desire? To the best of my knowledge, it was not in response to any legal requirement, but it was obviously to satisfy a political requirement as a result of a challenge thrown to the ruling party by the opposition party to mention names of those they claimed had looted Nigeria’s treasury.

    “My opinion, therefore, will be that as long as the disclosure was not made in accordance within  any known law or made to satisfy a legal requirement, it is clearly illegal, especially as those mentioned are undergoing trial and have not been convicted by the courts in the land,” he said.

    Ubani enunciated that the position of the law is that “anybody accused of any crime at any point in  time is “presumed innocent” until he or she is convicted by the court. This position applies even to those who are caught committing the said crime at the crime scene, and it also applies to those are alleged to have “returned” money. Those who confess to crime are taken to court to be appropriately tried  and convicted before they can be called “convicts”.

    “Even if they desire to enter into a plea bargain, the process is through the judiciary where the terms are properly executed and admitted as exhibit and judgement entered thereafter for record purposes. This procedural process are necessary in the criminal justice sector because of the stigma that attaches to those who are convicted by the court and so due and lawful process are expedient to avoid stigmatizing an innocent fellow.

    “As stated earlier, every accused person in the eyes of the law is presumed innocent, therefore disclosing the names of those who are undergoing trial as if they have been convicted is prejudicial and not a right step in the right direction”.

    Ubani advised that the criminal process be expedited so that the status of the accused persons can be known quickly to avoid making them look as convicts when they are not yet convicted by the court. “The courts must not be placed in an unnecessary difficulty in some of the cases presently before them, reason being that when these persons who are branded “looters” are discharged and acquitted after a thorough court trial where the ingredients of offence are not proved, the judiciary will be called names by the members of the public who have been  misled to belief that these accused persons  are already guilty through the disclosures”.

    The NBA Vice President said one could only name and shame those whom you had convicted or those who had entered into a plea bargain with the authorities, adding: “What the law requires the state to do in cases where crime has been committed, is to investigate, charge and arraign the suspects before a court of competent jurisdiction. You do not name and shame someone whom you have not investigated let alone convicted.

    “Chief Secondus, chairman of the opposition party, is a case in point. We have never heard about any investigation concerning his matter. The next thing we heard is that his name is among the names of the alleged looters. Has he ever been investigated by this government, let alone tried and convicted? However, his action for civil defamation may fail, if Mohammed, the minister can provide evidence to justify the inclusion, in other words “truth” is absolute defence in a case of defamation,” he noted.

    He added: “The government has put the fight against corruption on the front burner and that is commendable. But they must try as much as possible to follow due process, observe the laws of the land and sustain the political will to prosecute any person irrespective of political affiliation, religion or ethnicity who have one way or the other bled the treasury of our great country. It is an enormous responsibility, which every Nigerian expects this government to execute successfully since one of the primary reasons Nigerians voted massively for them was their promise to tackle corruption headlong before corruption kills Nigeria. We watch and wish them success.”

  • Saraki faults Lai Mohammed on tagging of Senators as looters

    Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki has expressed  concern over the release of names of senators tagged as looters by the Minister of Information and Culture, Mr. Lai Mohammed.

    Saraki who spoke in Jos, Plateau State on Saturday a at retreat on “Strengthening Executive-Legislature Relations” said it was wrong for an arm of government to call members of the other arm looters.

    “In a situation where a particular arm of government stands up and calls people from another arm of government thieves, looters and other names, how can we work together? How?

    “It is not possible. It is not realistic. If we collaborate, the country will be better for it,” Saraki stated.

    He also wondered how President Buhari could write the National Assembly to endorse N4.6 trillion capital market bond without first discussing the issue with the leadership of both chambers.

     “Imagine the Federal Government wants to raise a N4.6 trillion bond from the capital market. The leadership of the National Assembly first heard about it through a letter written by the President. This is what happens.

    “I needed to be here to speak on these issues. It is not just about today. Posterity will be here to judge us that what I am saying is true. If we do not change the way we behave, we will remain like this for many years to come.”

    Also on how heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) are allegedly frustrating the passage of the 2018 budget, the Senate President said that the executive arm should be held responsible.

     “If you want to strengthen democracy, the priority of everybody should be to strengthen the legislature. If you do not defend the legislature, there is no way our democracy will be strengthened because government is not built on individuals. It is built on institutions.

    “That is why in developed countries, governments can change, but it does not affect the stability of their democracy because their institutions are strong. We decided to run a presidential system of government. By its nature of checks and balances, there is bound to be frictions. The question now, how healthy is that friction?

    “If you take the 2018 budget for example, even before people had bothered to find out where the cause of the delay is coming from, people were already attacking and blaming the legislature.

    “When I led the leadership of both chambers of the National Assembly, with the Speaker of the House of Representatives to see Mr. President, he came to the meeting briefed as if the delay was that of the National Assembly. He was humble enough at the end of the discussion to render an apology.”

    On confirmation of nominees, Saraki said that the executive must realize that the legislature has the constitutional duty to confirm, while nomination lies with the executive.

    He said that no attempt must be made to weaken the legislature in the interest of sustenance of democracy in the country.