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The arrest of Chief Mike Adenuga came as a rude shock to not a few
perspective Nigerians. The commando style in which his house was invaded
and the valuable property recklessly destroyed as well as menacing
manner he was abducted shows very clearly that respect for the
fundamental human rights of people and the dignity of people as human
beings are presently on leave in Nigeria. Nigeria is fast becoming an
organized police state, a banana republic where jungle justice is the
order of the day. What makes the whole development very worrisome,
disturbing and saddening is the fact that, we are supposed to be in a
democratic environment where the rule of law, constitutionalism and
democratic ethos ought to be the guiding principles, however, it is
horrendous to note that, politics in Nigeria since 1999 has been over
militarized because of the high number of ex-military officers who have
not purge themselves of the-obey-before-complain command structure of
the military. This has rubbed-off negatively on Nigeria’s democratic
efforts so far. It is to this end that people now see the EFCC as a
willing tool in the hands of the powers that be at the corridors of
power to even up with their political enemies to settle political scores
because of political vendetta. And, those in power seem to have
forgotten that political power and indeed positions of authority are
transient and ephemeral, and no matter how long those in power today
will be, one day they will be called upon to give an account of their
stewardship, while in office. What those in power today should know is
that, they are actually holding such positions in trust on behalf of the
people; hence, they should always discharge their duties and
responsibilities with the fear of God and service to humanity. Again the
question must be asked, as to why this government is running from pillar
to post in search of what is not lost? Why the lemon-squeezing and
faulting-finding of credible Nigerians by the government just to
discredit them?
It in this regards that Afenifere has pointedly remarked that, “the
commando-like abduction of the Globalcom chairman, Chief Mike Adenuga by
operatives of the EFCC, assisted by over 70 mobile policemen has
confirmed the assertion that the EFCC has become the thuggery arm of the
PDP. This lawless and primitive mode of dealing with Chief Adenuga
confirms the suspicion that his abduction may not be unconnected with
his not joining the Transcorp gang to promote the failed elongation
project. It is sad that a president who has been junketing around the
world in the last seven years to woo foreign investors could now be
wittingly destroying the confidence in Nigeria’s business climate. If
the government had genuine case against Adenuga, the civilized approach
should be followed in bringing him to book. But there is no doubt that
this crude assault on Chief Adenuga has removed substantially from the
credibility of the present administration if it has any left. There is
no man who is above the law and that every offender must be prosecuted.
What we see in Chief Adenuga’s saga is a war of vendetta…it is tragic
for Mallam Nuhu Ribadu who started out well as anti-corruption czar that
he is, now ending it like a political thug let loose on opponents. Yet,
this same commission is insisting on not having any evidence to probe
the scandalous bribery allegation over the failed tenure elongation
project despite the fact that some legislators claim openly that they
were offered bribes”. Adenuga had been under intense pressure to team up
with other members of the Transcorp group with a view to make the
$750million available as stipulated by the BPE rules. Again, the
Globalcom consortium may have emerged as the preferred bidder for
Transcorp, an indication that should Transcorp fail to pay for NITEL the
onus would be on the BPE to transfer its ownership to Globalcom group,
for which those in power are not comfortable.
This is certainly not how to fight corruption or even follow the due
process, those in authority should be tolerant and accommodating, there
is no way the EFCC would have invited Chief Adenuga that he would not
have turned up, going by his standing in the society, why arrest him
like a common criminal? If the EFCC is not a tool in the hands of the
president why has it not arrested anybody over the money that changed
hands during the third term agenda? There have been a lot of furores
about the Transcorp deal as well as the third term agenda. For one, the
establishment of Transcorp without following the due process and the
dubious manner they are acquiring public assets have call to serious
question the integrity, credibility, sincerity and transparency of the
present administration, and if they don’t correct these anomalies,
because they are in power today, very soon some other governments will
correct these illegalities, that is why the house committees on
privatization and commercialization, capital market and communications
are set to look into the entire Transcorp deal and the acquisition of
NITEL, also it will be a great error of judgment for government to
persecute anybody for not participating in the infamous political
agenda. This is an issue that will traumatize those who support it for
the rest of their life. But, why will anybody want to rubbish Adenuga?
This is a man that has helped in no small measure to assist in
employment generation, poverty eradication, wealth creation and
all-round development of the Nigerian state, through the many companies
he has worked hard to set-up, is this how to reward him for investing so
much in Nigeria? Even when Adenuga made attempts to see the president
after his release, he was snubbed in a very rude manner after waiting
for over six hours. This definitely is not how to run a country,
governance requires a lot of tact, diplomacy, maturity, perspicacity and
humility, it is not about area- boy mentality or bolekaja
attitude to governance or how else does one describe a situation where
new powers to arrest and search suspects without warrants will be given
to EFCC. Under the proposed laws, EFCC officers will be able to arrest
and search suspected drug dealers and exam cheats without seeking
permission from the courts. If now the EFCC is behaving as a law unto
itself, what will it do with limitless powers? Again, it is important to
note that, it is not only Chief Adenuga that has suffered the terrible
fate also Otunba Fasawe was suggested to a harrowing ordeal in spite of
all he did for Obasanjo and his family while he was in prison.
The new method adopted now by EFCC is reminiscent of what happened in
the dark days of military, where people where arrested arbitrarily, now
people are detained in secret detention camps just like the Ita-Oko
which Obasanjo himself set-up. No matter what anybody does they should
be detained in police cells and it should not be more than 24 hours
before they are taken to court. Also, in a Gestapo operation EFCC
officials invaded a bank in search of evidence to nail the vice
president at all cost. This is really an abnormal thing to do, and more
importantly, this is a violation of the sacredness of the office of the
vice president as well as the violation of his inherent fundamental
human rights as enshrined in the constitution. The vice president is not
someone that uses people and dumps them. That is why he has a lot of
people around him. Again, the way and manner Ribadu speaks is very
uncouth and totally unacceptable, how can he label all the governors and
past rulers as rogues? If indeed they did anything or stole any money
why is their names not published? It seems that Ribadu has come to the
realization that his fate is tied to that of Obasanjo, hence they would
swim and sink together. But instead of harassing governors and innocent
businessmen, why can’t he beam his searchlight on the NNPC where there
is unprecedented large scale fraud, in fact, NNPC has become a cesspool
of corruption and fraud, not only do they steal crude oil and engage in
bunkering, they launder the money they get in the process. So, why is
Ribadu chasing shadows? However, EFCC ought to establish itself beyond
the image of Ribadu, so that it can outlive him, because as it is now
Ribadu is EFCC and EFCC is Ribadu, this the personalization of law
enforcement and this should not be so. In the final analysis it is
important to know that, the arrest of Adenuga was as a result of his
failure to support the illegal third term project, as well as his
closeness to the vice president and this is too bad for Nigeria’s
democracy.
By
ide Ayobolu,
No 19, Gongola Street,
Garki 2, Abuja-Nigeria.
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