THE ANTI-GRAFT WAR AND THE RULE OF LAW
Are we ever going to stop having this heated
conversation about the "conflict" between the rule of
law and the war against corruption? Fighting
corruption in a country like Nigeria, where we are not
used to doing things the proper way, is never going
to be a tea party. It does not matter on whose side
you are — whether you are the one fighting
corruption or you are the one facing corruption
charges — there is always going to be extensive
argument over what is the right and what is the
wrong way of doing things. The biggest danger, I
sense, is that we may end up arguing over processes
and procedures at the expense of the progress of the
anti-graft war.
That we have to kill corruption before corruption kills
us is not debatable. I have not met a single Nigerian
who says looting is good. All I keep hearing is that
corruption is bad. Even those who are looting us
blind agree that corruption is not good. So we can go
to sleep over that. What has been giving us sleepless
nights is whether or not corruption is being fought in
the right and proper way. There is always this talk
about impunity in the process. People are openly
complaining about selective justice and witch-hunt. I
am beginning to think we are going back to those
days when the substance of the anti-corruption war
was overshadowed by the style of it.
Two things have happened in recent times that are of
significance to my argument today. Recently, the
Nigeria Customs Service closed down the warehouse
of Olam Nigeria Limited for owing N3.5 billion in
duties on imported rice. I do not have all the facts,
but I am aware that there is a court order restraining
Customs from locking up the warehouse. Let's say
Customs is trying to impress President Muhammadu
Buhari by acting "tough" in order to paint the picture
that it is helping the new government crack down on
an alleged bad behaviour, but blatantly disobeying a
court order will do Buhari no good. In this case, the
critics of the anti-graft war are further empowered.
The second development was the visit of the National
Peace Committee to Buhari last week after which
statements were made appearing to suggest that
Buhari is not going about the anti-graft war the right
way. Bishop Matthew Kukah, who played a major role
in setting up the committee to prevent post-election
violence, said after the meeting: "I don't think any
Nigerian is in favour of corruption or is against the
president's commitment to ensuring that we turn a
new leaf. I think what we are concerned about is
process. It is no longer a military regime and under
our existing laws everybody is innocent until proven
guilty."
I do not claim to understand what Kukah had in
mind, but I want to guess that it had to do with the
search conducted on the residences of Col. Sambo
Dasuki (rtd), former national security adviser. The
initial reports were that DSS operatives "invaded" or
"raided" Dasuki's residences in Sokoto and Abuja,
and occupied them for hours. However, when the
dust had settled, we realised that the DSS actually
had a search warrant, so their action was neither an
invasion nor a raid; it was a perfectly legal search.
You could not fault them on that. However, by
breaking through the roof of his father's house in
Sokoto, the DSS seemed to have taken things a few
metres higher.
Let's compare and contrast. In the Olam case, the
Customs acted in spite of a court order. You would
call that impunity, even if the ultimate goal was to
recover unpaid duties (which, from what I have read,
was not deliberate on Olam's part but was caused by
a retrospective allocation of rice import quotas by
the ministry of agriculture in December 2014). You
can smell a whiff of over-zealousness all over that
one. In the Dasuki case, however, the DSS acted with
a court order. The devil in the detail is that the secret
police also acted overzealously, leaving itself at the
mercy of those who are eager to discredit the anti-
corruption campaign. That is the crux of the matter.
Many Nigerians are angry with Kukah and members
of the committee over what is now perceived as an
attempt to shield corrupt people from prosecution.
In fact, the committee — made up of eminent
Nigerians such as Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar,
former head of state, Alhaji Sa'ad Abubakar, sultan of
Sokoto, and The Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, prelate of
the Anglican Church — is now being derided as
"Corruption Amnesty Committee". They are seen as
trying to make a case for former President Goodluck
Jonathan. The rumour is that Jonathan only conceded
the 2015 election on the condition that he would not
be probed. The committee, it is said, is trying to
enforce this "agreement".
Expectedly, Nigerians are very angry with the
committee. The immediate message I can glean from
the reactions is that Nigerians do not want to hear
anything that will remotely suggest that anyone is
trying to shield anybody from prosecution over
corrupt practices. There is no sane Nigerian who
wouldn't be bothered about all these billions being
reported missing every hour. So I can understand the
anger and the vituperations. The entrance of Buhari
into power is, in my opinion, a rare opportunity for
us to confront the corruption monster headlong and
set a new direction for national development. If we
miss this chance, it will be a complete disaster.
That is why we have to listen to Kukah specifically on
the aspect relating to due process. I say this because
I am afraid that the entire anti-graft crusade can be
derailed by overzealous government agencies. It will
open the entire campaign to distractions and, in
some cases, justifiable knocks. The war against
corruption will only get widespread support and co-
operation if government agencies do not leave
loopholes for Buhari's critics to exploit in order to
discredit him. Justice must be seen to be done
without fear or favour. Corruption is defined by law.
Prosecution is also defined by law. Law enforcement
officers cannot be breaking the law to enforce the
law.
Not too long ago, many of us agreed that Nuhu
Ribadu was doing a very good job as EFCC chairman.
For once, I saw the fear of God in public officers,
especially the almighty governors. They were
beginning to sit up, knowing well that somebody was
on their case. But the overzealousness in impeaching
Chief Joshua Dariye as governor of Plateau State, in
addition to several other reckless incidents, made
such a mess of EFCC that some of us who were
solidly behind Ribadu could no longer, in good
conscience, defend his actions. By the time President
Umaru Musa Yar'Adua moved to deal with Ribadu in
2007, opinion was already sharply divided. Nigeria
was the loser.
If I were Buhari, I would take note of Kukah's
comments on due process and ignore the bit about
probe not being part of governance. I would resolve
to vigorously fight corruption with all my energy
within the laws of the land — so that my critics will
find it hard to build a case of impunity and witch-hunt
against me. Naturally, there will always be claims of
witch-hunt, no matter how careful you are. Nobody
will ever say "I am being punished because I am truly
a thief". But you can make it harder for your critics by
dragging the net wide, by not sparing anyone no
matter their party affiliation and no matter their
involvement in your campaign.
I repeat: if Buhari does not clean up the system
decisively, we are done for. I don't know when we are
ever going to get this kind of chance again. We need
to renew faith in leadership. This will bring about the
needed confidence in the system. This will earn us
respect and make the world want to do business with
us. We need a new Nigeria. Every Nigerian must
know that there is crime and there is punishment.
The misuse and abuse of our resources has stunted
our growth and this must be stopped by every means
legal and proper. Clearly, Nigeria cannot survive
another round of looting. We have been bleeding
profusely. We must contain graft lest we bleed to death.
-#thepanaceareports
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