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EFCC, CORRUPTION AND THE DUE
PROCESS
By Jide Ayobolu,
jideayobolu@yahoo.co.uk
Oct 20, 2006
We all know that corruption is a very big
problem in the country, and that all hands must be on deck to frontally
confront the recurring menace, in fact, the present government has at
various times said, it will wage a relent war on the scourge that has
continued to underdevelop the polity in all its ramifications. However,
with the benefit of hindsight, it is very obvious that not only is the
government of the day merely playing lip service to the critical issue of
corruption in Nigeria, but the agencies set up to fight corruption, as
well as the personnel are more corrupt and rapacious than those they claim
are corrupt. In the true sense, those that are fighting corruption do not
only lack the moral right and legitimacy to fight corruption, they have
been compromised and therefore, they don’t know what corruption is. For
instance, when it became obvious that President Olusegun Obasanjo bought
about 600million shares in Transcorp and the denial they had offered in
the past could no longer hold, they argued that it was an error of
judgement or a conflict of interest and not a corruption issue, so, if
this is not corruption, what then is corruption.
This takes us to another very germane and
interesting issue in the fight against corruption, which is the fact that,
the fight against corruption since 1999 has been lopsided, vindictive,
selective, biased, one-sided and meretricious. That is why the campaign
against corruption has been counter- productive, instead of it abating, it
is festering controllably, and this is because when the president or those
close to him commit an act of corruption, it is usually glossed over,
because the agencies put in place to fight corruption in the country think
the president can do no wrong, in other words, the president is above the
law, therefore cannot be subjected to the due process or the rule of law.
But when it involves people that are opposed to the president politically
then, it is corruption and they must be summarily dealt to serve as
examples to others. The point here is that this double standard, these
warped treatments are in themselves acts of corruption, and if those who
claim to be fighting corruption cannot get over this basics, then they are
not fit and proper to do the job they have been given. For instance, what
has the EFCC done about the N84billion naira that is missing in NPA? What
has EFCC done about the N311billion that is missing in NNPC? What did EFCC
do about the N50million bribe that was given to pro-third term
legislators, during the tenure elongation debate in the National Assembly?
What did EFCC do to Senator Ibrahim Mantu, when he mismanaged N400million
in the failed hajj operations last year? Just to mention but a very few
instances of the selective procedure of the EFCC, which is also corruption
in the real sense.
Another very important issue when talking
about corruption in Nigeria, is the fact that EFCC is not an independent
agency of government, that could discharge its duties and responsibilities
without fear or favour, this is because it is the president that appoints
the chairman of EFCC, and since, the president has the power of hire and
fire, the topshot in EFCC cannot but be loyal to the president to remain
in office, in a similar development, it is also the president that
approves the funding for the agency, if they want to be too assertive or
discharge the functions independent of the president, the president can
cut them to size by starving them of funds. It is a well known fact today
that, before EFCC undertakes any task or even commences any investigation,
it must sought the official imprimatur of the president, also when
investigations are concluded, reports are submitted to the president for
perusal, the implication of this is that, EFCC cannot do anything outside
of what the president wants it to do, and this has been the bane of the
fight against corruption in Nigeria. There is so much deceit, lies and
manipulations in the anti-corruption debate. That is why those who claim
to the spearheading the anti-graft campaign are blacker than those the say
are black.
Furthermore, those campaigning against
corruption in the country think they are above the law, they think the law
is for every other Nigerian, but themselves. The EFCC is now behaving as
if it is the law courts, issuing out judgements, it was responsible for
the illegal removal of the governors of Bayelsa State, Oyo State and now
Ekiti State, and it is also responsible for on-going lawlessness in
Plateau State. We are in a democratic dispensation, and where the rule of
law and the constitution are supposed to guide the operations of
democracy, but the EFCC is misbehaving and taking laws into its hand,
thereby putting the burgeoning democracy in the country in jeopardy.
It is at this juncture that, it is important
to take into consideration the submission of the Alhaji Abubakar Rimi, the
former governor of old Kano State on the present state of the nation. He
raised an alarm over the looming danger in the country, with a warning
that Nigerians should rise up and resist the destructive tendencies of the
President Obasanjo administration before everyone becomes a victim. He
likened the president to a bull in a Chinese shop and expressed the fear
that the future of the country is no longer certain as long as the
president is allowed to continue to destroy the constitutional framework
of the nation. Speaking against the backdrop of the gale of impeachment
plots against governors across the country, Rimi said this induced by the
EFCC, signified a bad omen for the nation’s democracy, stressing that the
whole process was a design for the self-perpetuation agenda of president
Obasanjo. He described the president anti-graft war as hypocritical, he
asked, “how can they be fighting corruption when we know that the
presidency is the most corrupt institution in Nigeria today? Ribadu and
EFCC take away their face from there by getting too busy destroying lesser
evils when the big evil looming big”. He went on to explain in great
details that, he (Obasanjo) is not ready to go. He tried to stay longer
through a 40-man constitutional conference which failed him. He turned
around to organize third term in a fraudulent manner to get the
constitution to allow him continue in office. That also failed. Now, in
the name of fighting corruption, he is intimidating governors and other
elected representatives so that they will be scared of impeaching him. The
tragedy of his action or so-called anti-corruption crusade is that he is
using corruption to fight corruption.”
He pointed out that, “we can see all the
tactics. Now, he is delaying the release of census results to the last
minute. He is holding the local government elections to the last moment so
as to create chaos. When confusion is created and intense, there will not
be election, and that is why they have flown the ING kite ahead of time.
The only way out of the looming crisis in the country is for President
Obasanjo to vacate the presidential villa immediately. He should resign
and leave now, because he is doing a lot of damage to our psyche and
constitution. This is the best way to stop his brazen rape of democracy.
He shouldn’t even wait a day longer or even till 2007. The nation and
Nigerians are tired of his corrupt and evil regime”. He accused the
president of several shady business deals. “Everybody now knows the
president has a hand in many businesses and in the sale of government
properties. People know now that he has a hand in Transcorp, Virgin
Nigeria and Oando oil”.
Apart from this above assertion which
represents the views of majority of Nigerian people on the state of
affairs in the country presently. In the same token, the Action Congress
only recently said, president Obasanjo and his group have blatantly turned
Nigeria into a unitary constitutional state while the centre reserves the
right to remove elected leaders by reckless deployment of soldiers and
mobile policemen from the barracks. Never in our national life, not even
at the height of undiluted military dictatorship have we witnessed this
level of flagrant, callous and unbridled dictatorship. Nigeria today is a
private estate with one ruthless landlord who deals with his hapless
tenants as he pleases. The Obasanjo administration has virtually suspended
the Nigerian Constitution. He chooses which section of the constitution to
uphold and which to disobey”. The AC further stressed that, EFCC has
become an agency with powers to investigate, arrest, try, imprison,
overrule court orders and detain in prison for months without trail, all
in the name of fighting corruption. This is certainly not how to fight
corruption and follow the due process. It is indeed a negation of
everything that is good, noble and enduring; hence, it must be jettisoned
by all.
By Jide Ayobolu
No 19 Gongola Street
Garki2
Abuja-Nigeria.
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