Paul Nwosu
“If we don’t kill corruption,
corruption will kill us.”
– President Muhammadu Buhari
When the President made this remark to signpost one of the thrusts of his major agenda in office, he probably didn’t envisage that corruption would assume such a progressively brazen and humongous proportion as we have today under his watch.
With the reputation of a no-nonsense military head of state, he must have confidently felt that he could capitalise on the two anti-corruption agencies set up by President Olusegun Obasanjo to deal a decisive blow to the hydra-headed monster. But, like the horrible nightmare, which Christians would reject, cast out and bind, corruption has embarrassingly festered to the very threshold of power like a gangrenous sore.
So far, it seems that corruption has defied every attempt by this administration to “kill” it. As a matter of fact, it appears to be waxing stronger by the day, and, if nothing is genuinely done to cage the ogre, Mr. President’s prophesy would be tantamount to a fait accompli, and the requiem could as well commence.
Events of the last few months undoubtedly dealt a dizzying blow to the war against corruption. The frenzied manner in which the cases popped up to public attention and appear to be gradually calming down, perhaps due to alternative facts that are beginning to surface, may eventually affirm the position of cynics that these cases are like the Shakespearian “tales told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” As if the Presidency is aware of this public scepticism, it recently announced that the presidential panel had 45 days to submit its report on the investigation of Ibrahim Magu, the former acting chairman of the EFCC.
When Magu was pulled in by the DSS to enable the presidential panel ask him a few questions pertaining to suspected impropriety in the course of his job, the media hollered in excitement that the hunter had swapped position with his quarry, the rat had eventually tampered with the dry fish entrusted in his care. The Fourth Estate of the Realm was abuzz with all manner of suppositions, largely encouraged by government’s muteness for the 10 days that Magu was held for interrogation.
The initial subtle pronouncement on the matter seemed tactical to avoid aggravating the embarrassing situation. Recall that Magu’s appointment from the outset drew flak of repeated rejections from the Senate and subsequent accusations of selective witch-hunting by the EFCC. These notwithstanding, the President kept him on the job. Even when the DSS repeatedly raised the red flag on the man’s conduct, the Presidency looked the other way. Meanwhile, all of these were happening at a time when Nigeria, in spite of her grandstanding on anti-corruption, was ranked 144th among the 180 countries listed on the Transparency International corruption index.
The brouhaha associated with Magu’s 10-day sojourn at the presidential panel makes the relative calm that trailed his release, until recently, rather ominous. Tongues were beginning to wag that it could be one of those theatricals orchestrated to relieve the populace of the anxiety associated with COVID-19, as well as reinforce governments’ tough stance on corruption. Already, Buba Galadima, the fiery chieftain of the PDP, prophesied in an interview with Saturday Sun of July 18, that “nothing will come out of Magu’s case,” describing the whole saga as an entertainment and part of the “propaganda to create the impression that this administration is fighting corruption.”
Interestingly, Magu, who has since been replaced along with his management team, finally found his voice. He recently told the media that he “stepped on powerful toes” in the course of his daunting assignment. Should this be the case, then the fight against corruption is doomed because there are too many fat toes on the path to contend with. If his successor wishes to keep his job, he must necessarily avoid the mined pathway entirely. This can only portend a corruption-ridden country in perpetuity, which only prayers and some form of divine intervention can resolve.
Just as the hullabaloo around the EFCC’s former acting chairman began to quieten down, the nation woke up to another chapter of sleazy drama by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). The typical tragicomic genre, from what I call “Dellywood” started out as one of those viral social media video clips you hardly pay attention to, more so, with an unfamiliar face you could hardly pin against any major news issue before now. But when you hear subjects like NDDC, unexecuted billions of naira contracts and the minister of Niger Delta’s name being dropped animatedly by an obviously agitated lady, you want to pause and take a closer look at the video. Joi Nunieh, the aggrieved former acting managing director of NDDC, in the video, levelled a chain of allegations against the minister of Niger Delta, Chief Godswill Akpabio. At some point, her accusations tilted towards sexual harassment. Her accusations became progressively weightier by the day while she threatened to spit more venom. Unable to muzzle her into silence, the accused resorted to a mafia approach in dealing with the unbending, vociferous lady. On the morning she would testify before the lawmakers in Abuja, her house was besieged at 4am by a team of policemen without warrant. The nation was shocked that somebody would go to such a length to muffle his accuser. It took the personal and physical intervention of Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State to rescue her from what looked like an imminent abduction.
The stage then shifted to the House of Representatives committee room, where the hearing on the alleged expenditure of N81.5 billion by NDDC was billed to hold. It was as if the cast was prepped for a reality show, given the varying levels of performance that they put up in the committee room.
Before the grand finale though, the acting managing director of NDDC, Professor Kemebradikumo Pondei, had asked the House committee chairman, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, to step down because he was part of the problem the committee wished to solve, but the chairman was headstrong. This prompted Pondei and his team to walk out on the committee in defiance. You cannot be a judge in a matter you’re an accessory to, they seemed to be telling the chairman. In spite of the initial braggadocio to arrest Pondei, wise counsel prevailed because the chairman eventually did the right thing by excusing himself from continuing as the chair of the committee.
The plot actually reached a double-barrel climax when Akpabio and Pondei took their seats at the resumed session of the House Committee. An apparently incoherent Pondei passed out as he was being grilled by the committee, while Akpabio dropped an unexpected bomb. In response to Honorable Boma Goodhead’s question on the benefits of NDDC to the National Assembly, Akpabio answered, “we have records to show that most of the contracts in NDDC were given out to members of the National Assembly… the two chairmen can explain to you.”
Akpabio’s response further angered the honorable lady who stubbornly shrugged off her colleagues entreaties of, “Issokay! issokay!” When it was obvious she won’t be pacified, the moderator of the panel directed that her microphone be switched off. She actually carried on like somebody who had been skimmed out of an arrangement by her colleagues and was out to unearth the truth.
That brief exchange in full glare of the cameras was quite telling for discerning minds. The lady’s question was ill packaged just as it was overtly suggestive of a veiled expectation of the National Assembly from NDDC. It seemed as if there used to be some benefits from NDDC to the National Assembly in the past, which was discontinued. And her respondent, in an attempt to be honest, told her that most of the NDDC contracts were given to members of the National Assembly. If she was in doubt, she could find out from the two NDDC committee chairmen in the National Assembly, the minister insisted.
The leadership of the National Assembly took umbrage at the effrontery of the minister to point the accusing finger at their honourable and most distinguished ladies and gentlemen. He was given an ultimatum to name the beneficiaries of the contracts, and he swiftly obliged them. Some of those he named have been fuming with righteous indignation, making the usual threat of going to court to defend their “hard-earned reputation,” while others have simply issued standard denials through their media aides. As Nigerians try to digest the events of the past few weeks, more corruption allegations against people in the corridors of power continue to adorn the spaces and airtimes of our media.
The truth is that we’ve been through this road repeatedly and we know it will ultimately terminate nowhere. It’s like a vicious circle you follow expectantly only to find yourself where you started. And the tomfoolery starts all over again.
President Buhari has everything going for him to reasonably checkmate this antidevelopment virus that is threatening to “kill” the nation, as he predicted. He is advanced in age and serving his second and final term of office. At his age, he should not be looking to please mortals any more but his Maker.
He should be more interested in leaving a remarkable legacy that would hallmark his battle cry (of war against corruption) all through his public service career, even from when he was a young military head of state. He should draw courage from the fact that he is in his second term of office and he is not constitutionally eligible to grovel to people for votes. This should make him take historic steps towards corruption. Steps that may not please the high and mighty but would ultimately be in the overall interest of the country.
The fact that Akpabio is still in office while an investigation of this magnitude is ongoing is not helpful. Not when there is precedence where Magu, the former EFCC boss, was yanked out of office even when he had not been formally indicted of any crime. What is good for the goose should be good for the gander.
Corruption is endemic in this country and any result-oriented fight against it must be unorthodox and unconventional. For, as we can see, routine procedures have proved not to be responsive to the therapy. And in order to achieve some measurable result, the President may necessarily have to go on a collision course against the other two arms of government who have variously become bastions of corruption and escape windows for those that have been caught with oily fingers.
The situation also calls for a divine invocation, since Nigerians are essentially religious. The Catholic Church already has a deeply inspired “Prayer Against Bribery and Corruption,” which I suggest should be translated into every Nigerian language, including Arabic. If government fails us, God won’t.
•Sir Paul Nwosu wrote from Atani, Ogbaru LGA, Anambra State