WHETHER by design or coincidence, the federal government has given the impression it is persecuting both Governor Samuel Ortom and his state, Benue. When the state groaned under the onslaught of rampaging and murderous herdsmen, it was difficult selling the idea that it was orchestrated by a complicit government. The government was negligent, even conniving, but it could hardly be accused of orchestrating murder against its own people. But moments, not even months, after a hesitant and generally beleaguered Mr Ortom defected from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the federal government let loose upon him the genius of apocalypse. First at the gates, like the Barbarians attacking Rome, were the police who gave protection to some eight rebel lawmakers in their futile and fanatical attempt to usurp the authority of the legislative majority and impeach the governor. However, not only were the usurpation and impeachment efforts resisted, they were demolished.
Second, and more perniciously, APC officials began an onslaught of verbal abuse and intimidation on the governor and his person. Beginning with the party’s chairman, the irrepressible and sometimes flighty Adams Oshiomhole, party leaders did not spare any effort in hurling withering insults at Mr Ortom. He is described as treacherous, incompetent, variable, and insatiable and pugnacious. Mr Oshiomhole was particularly unsparing, dismissing the governor as good riddance to bad rubbish. Few defended the governor. He in fact does not seem as if he has any friend left in Nigeria. Apart from Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, and a few whispers from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to which Mr Ortom migrated, no one else of substance defended the governor without sounding like a disgruntled anti-Buhari politician and critic.
Then, finally, weighed in the ponderous and immoderate Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the anti-graft agency that is increasingly confusing its role as an independent arbiter and national cleanser with the odoriferous role of a partisan fixer and enforcer. The agency fired the first shot shortly after the governor defected by launching an investigation against him for alleged economic crimes. And it did it with fanfare. The timing was so suspicious that Prof Soyinka in disgust queried what manner of democracy the country was operating. “Suddenly,” said the eminent professor in a letter to the besieged governor, “we see the beginning of a heavy-handed campaign, reprisal and unruly circles over your political decision. This goes beyond any immediately-affected state, and alert us all to the threat against uncommon democratic definition and the basic right of free choice of political powers towards its attainment. I can only urge you to remain resilient, unbowed and undeterred… Due to the crisis in the country, someone defected and then the EFCC started chasing him. Does that look like a coincidence or what?”
Indifferent to national queries over its partisan actions, the EFCC then ramped up its assault on Benue by freezing the state’s accounts, thereby raising the ire of many Nigerians and Benue indigenes who concluded that the EFCC action was nothing short of persecution. Though it later unfroze the state’s accounts, it has substituted that unpopular measure with a new set of invidious actions designed to paralyse the state. Benue State government officials, wailed the governor’s spokesman, were routinely invited to Abuja to be interrogated, thus effectively reducing the state to a hostile department of the federal government. Unitary rule could not be more vile. Now, the anti-graft agency is asking for the minutes of the state’s security meetings, and it is defending that clearly indefensible position on the grounds that it has the law on its side. There is, however, no doubt that the EFCC has been both impolitic in its statements and indiscrete in its actions. It has managed in the process to be numbered among state institutions undermining democracy.
Both the ruling party and the EFCC must exercise restraint in their actions and statements, particularly against the opposition. The APC will not always be in power, regardless of its best efforts. If it does not join hands with other democrats to institute a liberal democracy which the entire country will repose confidence in, it will one day be hoisted with its own petard. Likewise, the EFCC must recognise that its chairmen have the obligation to guard the independence of the agency and protect its founding principles so that its future can be guaranteed. The EFCC has done very little so far to give confidence that it has not become a willing and savage tool in the hands of the ruling party. This is unfortunate.
