Introduction
Last week, we commenced our treatise on the above topic. Let me reiterate here, for the avoidance of doubt, as I stated when news of Ibrahim Magu’s arrest first broke out, that Magu must be accorded fair hearing by the Nigerian people in accordance with the laws of the land. He should not be accorded media trial as he himself did serially with his EFCC instrumentality. He deserves respect for the dignity of his human person, notwithstanding that he denied many Nigerians the same. If he is eventually indicted by the presidential panel and arraigned, such trial must be based on internationally accepted best practices of fair hearing in the public, by a court of law or tribunal established in such a way as to secure its independence and impartiality. That is what I have repeatedly drummed to Magu and his EFCC operatives. But they never desired a change.
Magu’s earlier rejection by the Senate
Magu has been acting as chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for over five years. On two occasions, the Senate refused to confirm him, based on clear reports of damning allegations of corruption against him by the government’s secret police, the Department of State Services (DSS). Magu’s compromised supporters and publicists, obviously eating from his table, and those afraid of public denigration and humiliation in the so called “anti-corruption war” hailed and ‘ranka dede-d’ him. They wantonly abused the Senate. They spat on the faces of people who held plurality of voices because they dared to call for Magu’s sack or, after his double rejection by the Senate, at least, his voluntary resignation. Such paid grovellers, bootlickers and historical revisionists always claimed, in a popular acclamation, that “corruption is fighting back.” Which corruption war? Is it the one that has made the Transparency International (TI) rate Nigeria as the fourth most corrupt country in West Africa, and as the 146th out of 180 countries, in the TI Transperency Index in 2019? Nigeria also scored only 26 out of 100 points in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) in 2019!
This motley crowd was never interested in the truism or otherwise of these available cold facts. It was simply enough that their cold-blooded god and power-inebriated bacchanalian deity, who had used the EFCC to terrorise everyone to submission, must be appeased on the altar of some obsequious, servile and sycophantic coven. Everyone spoke only in whispers, at best in soliloquies or monologues. Nigerians became “walking corpses” or the “living dead” (as Ayi-Kwei Armah put it in his epic novel, “The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born”). The fear of Magu for everyone, was the beginning of wisdom. Not quite everyone, really. But nearly everyone. I, for one, refused to be so brow-beaten or intimidated by such blatant primordial display of asinine raw power.
I fought on. I criticised. I critiqued. I challenged Magu and his many acts of impunity several times in courts across Nigeria. I won virtually all the cases. By the grace of God. I called for a change of the way and manner the ‘anti-corruption war’ was being selectively and opaquely fought. I wrote a public letter in 2017, to the then acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), at a time his boss, President Muhammadu Buhari, was sick on a hospital bed in London, on 31st May, 2017. (See: https://opinion.premiumtimesng.com/2020/07/08/ibrahim-magu-the-ephemerality-of-unbridled-power-by-mike-ozekhome/).
Magu’s present situation is a tragic reminder of the urgent need for temporary power-wielders to act with moderation, modesty, circumspection and humility. The once roaring emperor is now being turned into the cringing vassal. The mighty iroko tree in the forest that mocked lesser plants is suddenly being diminished into a mere dwarf shrub. How the cookies crumble!
I was also to challenge Magu publicly, face-to-face, on at least three occasions. One of these was at a ceremony at the Federal High Court in Abuja in December 2017. Another was at a capacity-building workshop organised by the EFCC at its training Academy in Karu, Abuja, in August, 2017, to which he had graciously and personally invited me. He, however, refused to change his ugly ways. It was clear to me and discerning Nigerians that power had gotten into his bald head. Power is an aphrodisiac, an intoxicating liquor. It bemuses. It gives one the delusional ‘Dutch courage’. It forces reason to vacate its seat.
So, for over five years, Magu continued to work as the acting chairman of the EFCC, in spite of the clear provisions of section 2(3) of the EFCC (Establishment) Act, 2004, which provides that the Senate must first confirm him before he could continue in office after his appointment by President Muhammad Buhari. “Expert constitutional lawyers and analysts”, were recruited, and they argued that Magu could stay in office till Kingdom come, whether or not the Senate confirmed his appointment. The Senate, the EFCC Act and even the Constitution, could go to hell for all that they cared. Afterall, Magu was irreplaceable and was doing an incredibly marvelous job of ‘fighting corruption’. (See: https://opinion.premiumtimesng.com/2020/07/08/ibrahim-magu-the-ephemerality-of-unbridled-power-by-mike-ozekhome/).
As I argued again and again, like a broken record, the ‘anti-corruption war’ was never a regenerative and ethics-defining risorgimento war. It was purely a score-settling agenda against rights activists, the opposition, public critics, plural voices and dissenters. The breeze has since finally blown and the smelly backside of the fowl has been exposed. The following days and weeks will open up new vistas, the Pandora boxes and closed cupboards of decaying skeletons.
This shows the transience and ephemerality of rule of the thumb, raw might and strength, as against due process and rule of law. This is the vanity and vaingloriousness of the illusion and delusion of the grandeur of power and influence. Fellow countrymen, please let us not accord Magu the same shameless media trial, public convention, lynching and execution of people, who were nothing but mere suspects (and thus presumed innocent); as he did to others with éclat and in a swashbuckling manner. Let us presume Magu innocent until he has been subjected to the due process of law, through a free and fair public trial, NOT A MEDIA TRIAL.
The fact that he did it to others does not mean it was right. Two wrongs can NEVER make a right (See: https://opinion.premiumtimesng.com/2020/07/08/ibrahim-magu-the-ephemerality-of-unbridled-power-by-mike-ozekhome/).
Recall that after the Senate’s two times rejection of Ibrahim Magu as the substantive Chairman of the EFCC, the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo and some acclaimed pro-Magu proponents had argued that the initial forwarding of Magu’s name for confirmation by the Senate was done in error, since according to them, section 171 of the 1999 Constitution, as altered, which overrides every other laws or enactment (including section 2 (3) EFCC Act), does not make provisions for confirmation of the appointment of the Executive Chairman of EFCC, by the Senate. It was fiercely canvassed, especially by members of the Presidential Anti-corruption Advisory Committee (PACAC), that notwithstanding the two times absolute rejection of Mr Ibrahim Magu, as EFCC Executive Chairman by the Senate, he could continue to stay in office in an “acting capacity”, ad infinitum. Magu had since remained the “Acting Executive Chairman” of the EFCC, acting in office without the mandatory statutory Senatorial approval. Now, rewind (See: https://www.newtelegraphng.com/osinbajos-request-senate-confirmation-death-blow-constitutional-revisionists/).
When the Senate refuses to conform an appointment, as it had done that of Magu, that ought to have ended Magu’s tenure. Heavens would not fall then. He had ceased to be in office in any capacity. “Acting” is not prescribed by, nor, envisaged by section 2(3) EFCC Act. “Acting” position is not forever. Can anyone contemplate the bizarre situation where the Senate rejects a Ministerial or Ambassadorial nominee, and the President retains them in office as “Acting Minister”, or “Acting Ambassador”? Infra dignitatem (See: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/04/s171-constitution-not-superior-s-23-efcc-act-ozekhome-san/).
In the USA, wherefrom we borrowed our presidentialism, the equivalent agency (the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), works silently behind the scenes, only seen, but never heard, except where it becomes absolutely necessary. But, here in Nigeria, the EFCC engages in grotesque media trial, highfalutin and shocking “discoveries” of orphaned monies, whose destinations after the media hype is never known. Where are all the alleged recoveries of vast sums, attached properties, etc, so far made by the EFCC kept and how much are they? Who is using them? When asked this question by the Senate during screening, Magu had told a shocked and bewildered nation he did not know! When asked if he was aware that some certificates of occupancy of properties earlier seized by the EFCC were found in the open market being auctioned, he expressed surprise and said he would investigate and get back to the Senate. When questioned about what answers he gave PMB that made the President clear him after the first rejection, he said he did not envisage taking the document containing these with him, as he did not know the questions. Good gracious! When asked if he was aware there was corruption within the EFCC itself, he agreed, but said they were addressing it. So, the question is, who will police the police? Which guard will guard the guard?
The anti-graft war has since been turned into a sham, a farce and huge joke, designed to enlist mob hysteria and “lynch-them” mentality. People are tried and convicted of corruption on the pages of newspapers, only to be exonerated by established courts of law, after a proper trial, under our accusatorial (not inquisitorial) Criminal Justice System; with the EFCC unable to prove its case. Mind bungling elephantine “ghost sums” had, since 2015, been “discovered” in pit latrines, toilets, septic tanks, malls, abandoned homes, airports, sewage systems; in the hands of housemaids, servants, house boys, inside pots of soup, etc. But, we do not know, nor have we been told where the monies are kept. Yet, Nigerians groan in hunger and remain destitute after the media cinema show. In this digital age, EFCC should know that these foreign currencies which always look mint when displayed, are serially numbered. Thus, tracking them to know when and how they arrived the country, by what means, through whom, etc, is not rocket science. The US Secret Service, Treasury Department and Central Bank can easily tell.
We appear fixated to “name and shame” and humiliate Nigerians with the paint brush of derision, odium, obloquy and denigration (See: https://www.newtelegraphng.com/efcc-humongous-money-discoveries-continuous-entertaining-circus-shows-part-1/).
In my said un-replied letter to Professor Osibanjo (then Acting President) on 31st May 2017, I had written as follows, amongst others:
Questions, questions, questions
Are the serial “discoveries” by EFCC of abandoned and orphaned monies in shops, airports, plazas, high brow apartments, forests, cemeteries, etc, not simply a case of Professor Peller’s abracadabra magic of “the more you look, the less you see”? Do these constitute grand attempts by government to cover up its own indicted officials, thus “fighting” their corruption with sweet smelling Sasarobia perfume, while fighting opposition, critical voices and other Nigerians’ alleged “corruption” with pesticides, herbicides and insecticides? Is this not a classical case of double standards, massive covers-up, and grand deception of Nigerians? Do we now have two sets of laws, one separate for members of the ruling party, and another for the opposition, critical voices and other Nigerians? Are Nigerians not already pained and humiliated enough with deaths, hunger, degradation, marginalization, disrespect, humiliation, poor infrastructures, poverty, penury, intimidation, haplessness and disillusionment, to have this constant circus foisted on them?”(See: https://www.newtelegraphng.com/efcc-humongous-money-discoveries-continuous-entertaining-circus-shows-part-2/).