Monday Discourse
Judging from the standoff between the executive and legislature over corruption allegations against the Secretary to the Federal Government, Babachir David Lawal and the acting Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, the anti-corruption crusade of the Muhammadu Buhari-led government is fast becoming a tool for settling political scores, Shola Oyeyipo writes
That corruption is the major problem confronting Nigeria and drawing the country backward is no news. It was why President Muhammadu Buhari said “If we do not kill corruption, corruption will kill us”. It is also a fact that unlike at any time in the history of Nigeria, the current administration is doing so much in fighting the endemic scourge of corruption.
However, the observation is that politicians from across the political parties have cleverly hijacked the anti-corruption campaign, turning it into a tool for political antagonism since the current Nigerian leader made fighting corruption a major campaign issue and is expected to do away with corrupt persons.
Within the ruling party, first casualty of the trend was former Lagos State governor and National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Tinubu, who some painted as corrupt and wanting too much, just to severe his relationship with President Buhari.
The Senate President Bukola Saraki became the second pawn on the chess board of politics of the anti-corruption crusade. Immediately after he assumed the number three citizen position against the wish of his party, he became a subject of national corruption debate.
The Senate President has since been a regular visitor at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) over allegations bothering on false asset declaration, but not only did Saraki maintain that his trial was politically motivated, he got a very solid backing of his colleagues in the upper chamber of the National Assembly.
In what would further point to the political undertone to the Saraki trial the resolve of the lawmakers to get back at the presidency, the Senate last year, took over the powers to appoint staff of Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and the tribunal from the presidency by amending the CCT amendment bill 2016.
So, as the tussle continues, it must be expected that the Senate will not only look deeply into the activities of the executive, it is not likely to overlook any error connected to corruption and that will be with the view to expose it.
To further prove that issues pertaining to corruption perception are of serious importance in character assassination in the APC, in the recent vituperative verbal exchange between the Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, both men referred to themselves as corrupt.
Some analysts have variously advised the PDP to rebrand the party to be able to win future elections because several opposition figures have be victim of the fight against corruption – many arrested and detained. The party now wears the toga of corruption with its consequences.
The likes of former PDP spokesperson, Chief Olisa Metuh who was implicated in the $2.1 billion arms contract as the EFCC traced N1.4 billion to the account of a company allegedly linked to him; former Director-General, Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Emeka Mba who was arrested by the anti-graft agency over an alleged N15 billion fraud and an ally of former president, Goodluck Jonathan and chairman of Atlantic Energy Drilling Concepts Nigeria Limited, Chief Jide Omokore whose company was said to be one of those that got multibillion dollar worth of public assets without due process by the Jonathan government in 2011, was arrested and released the next day after giving his statement are some of the opposition members that were linked to corruption and grilled.
Former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode; former presidential spokesperson, Reuben Abati; the former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikor and, former Minister of Interior, Abba Moro; former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Bala Mohammed all have tales to tell about their experiences in the hand of the operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) when they were arrested.
The Babachir\Magu Saga
To the Senate, the forces using corruption allegation to intimidate Saraki are within the executive. So, to them, it is not just a judicial matter. There is politics to it as far as they are concerned.
Therefore, if the anti-corruption weapon becomes a tool available to some people in the body polity, all that it is required is that all players must master how to apply it. And the guiding principle is the equitable maxim that he who comes into equity must come with clean hands, it is obvious that the Senate is prepared to show the presidency that there are bad eggs within them too.
Either guilty or not, the latest pawns are the duo of the acting chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Magu and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Babachir David Lawal, who are being accused of corruption by the Senate in what could be called payback time.
The issues of the duo have remained burning national debate, not just because the two men are high profile appointees of the federal government but also because of the attitude of the executive in dealing with allegations against them – vis-a-vis how government handled opposition figures involved in corruption related issues.
In Lawal’s case, he was alleged to have breached the law in the handling contracts awarded by Presidential Initiative for the North East (PINE), particularly by awarding contract to a company, Rholavision Engineering Ltd., which the SGF is believed to have connections with.
The Senate called for lawal’s immediate suspension and prosecution following an interim report of Senator Sanni Shehu-led ad-hoc committee set up to look into the humanitarian crisis in the North-east.
The committee stated in the report among other things that it discovered that all contracts from PINE were awarded under the principle of emergency situation as stipulated in Section 43 (i) and (ii) but with absolute disregard to Sub-section (iii) and (iv) of the same Section 43 of the Public Procurement Act, 2007 which states that: “(iii) All procurements made under emergencies shall be handled with explanation but along principles of accountability, due consideration being given to the gravity of each emergency.
Other issues raised were that the contracts awarded by PINE have no direct bearing/impact to the lives of the displaced persons. For instance, they alleged that in the payment of over N223m for the removal of invasive plant species, Komadugu in Yobe water channels that PINE took undue advantage of the provision of emergency situation contract award in the Public Procurement Act 2007 to over inflate contracts and that contracts were awarded to companies belonging to top government officials’ cronies.
The report also indicated that a bag of beans of 50kg and a four liter of palm oil were given to 30 people for 15 days. The IDPs that interacted with the committee said it was grossly inadequate.
In Magu’s case, his albatross is a damning report of the Department of State Services (DSS), in a memorandum signed by Folashade Bello and addressed to the Clerk to the Senate, where he purportedly failed their integrity test.
Some of the allegations against Magu were that he is occupying a rented apartment of N40 million at N20 million per annum and that the apartment was not paid for by the EFCC but by one Umar Mohammed, a retired Air Commodore, who the service considers as a questionable businessman.
“For the furnishing of the residence, Mohammed enlisted the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) to award a contract to Africa Energy, a company owned by him, to lavishly furnish the residence at the cost of N43 million,” it stated.
Other allegations against him were that he lives expensively at direct contradiction of the directive of President Buhari. One instance cited was on June 24, 2016, when he flew Emirate Airlines first class to Saudi Arabia to perform lesser hajj at the cost of N2.9m. It was also stated that Magu goes on private trips in a private carrier, Easyjet, owned by Mohammed and that in one of such trips, the EFCC boss visited Maiduguri with Mohammed and the Managing Director of a bank, who was being investigated by the anti-graft body in connection with funds purportedly stolen by former Petroleum Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke.
According to the DSS, in 2008, Magu was redeployed to the police after days of detention and was later suspended from the force because a search at his residence during the Farida Waziri era revealed that he had some sensitive EFCC documents at home.
It was during the Ibrahim Lamorde tenure as EFCC chairman in 2011 that he returned Magu to the EFCC before he later took over from him. It is on these notes that the Senate has refused to confirm Magu as the substantive chairman of EFCC.
FG’s Stand
Despite the hues generated by the matter, President Buhari’s immediate reaction as contained in a letter to the Senate was that the lawmakers were not fair to the SGF by seeking for his sack, that Babachir was not invited by the committee chaired by Senator Sani and that only three persons out of the nine members of the committee signed the interim report that indicted him.
Not only did Sani maintain that seven persons signed the report and not three, he also insisted that the SGF was duly invited and that he sent a representative. The Kaduna APC lawmaker took a swipe at the APC-led federal government anti-corruption crusade when he said: “When it comes to fighting corruption in the National Assembly, the Judiciary and in the larger Nigerian sectors, the president uses insecticide, but when it comes to fighting corruption within the presidency, they use deodorants”.
In the case of Magu, the federal government is not bought over by the allegations against him. The two arms of government are at dagger drawn on the matter. Magu has continued to act as EFCC chairman while government is resolved to re-present the name of the anti-corruption czar to the Senate.
Now there is growing perception among members of the opposition PDP, National Assembly members and the larger society that this administration has made a habit of covering up for members of its cabinet.
Recall that the federal government cleared the Chief of Army Staff, General Tukur Buratai and the president’s Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari over allegations of corruption. While government is prosecuting Dasuki with interim report, it has said it could not rely on interim report in the case of the SGF. These and other instances are clear indications that something is amiss in the much talked about anti-corruption crusade or at least the government all the allegations as politically motivated.
The PDP Kicks
Members of the opposition PDP also feel very strongly about some of these issues. The party’s spokesperson, Mr. Dayo Adeyeye, when reacting to President Buhari’s letter to the Senate absolving Lawal and Magu of any wrongdoings, said the government as assumed the position of judicial clearing house where no member of the ruling APC or friend of the party is ever found guilty of corruption.
According to the PDP, it is now clear that the president’s anti-corruption war has ended and that the war was merely targeted at the opposition alone.
“It is quite disturbing that the president cleared his SGF of wrongdoing despite the weighty evidence of the ‘grass-cutting abilities’ uncovered by the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, implicating Babachir of complicity in the award of contract relating to the IDPs camp in Borno State amounting to over N200million”, the party noted.
The party lamented that Buratai, accused of owning properties in Dubai beyond his income; Minister of Interior, General Abdulrahaman Dambazzau (rtd) allegedly owning properties worth over N1.5billion in the United States; Jafaru Isa, who PDP said allegedly received millions of naira from the purported arms deal, but was allowed to go about freely because he is a friend to the president and the president’s Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, who according to PDP has several allegations of corruption hanging around his neck.
Some Pertinent Questions
As the debates over these issues are sustained in the public domain, some questions are also being asked government.
First is, since the best form of evidence is documented evidence, are there no documented facts to show the true situation of things in the SGF’s case? There registration document at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) could be used to establish Babachir’s involvement in Rholavision Engineering Ltd. Also, the processes followed for the award of the contract can be established at the procurement office. So, why should the president wait for the senate? The presidency can therefore conduct its investigation and put the matter to rest by informing Nigerians on the true position of things.
Saying that the allegations against the SGF are contained in an interim report, are we sacrificing the weighty allegations already made on the altar of technicalities?
What should be the focus of any sincere discussion on the matter should be: Was contract awarded? Was due process followed? If the SGF resigned from the benefiting company, where did he transfer his share? He is he still a signatory in the company? Is it true that the company was registered as and ICT company, and is Senator Sani is a frivolous character to fabricate lies against the SGF? These are some of the many questions begging for answers.
What the People Say
The general reaction of Nigerians to the discussion reflects a people dissatisfied with the anti-corruption war vis-à-vis the issues of Babachir, Magu and others perceived to have been covered by the government.
A supporter of President Buhari during the election, Associate Professor of Journalism and Emerging Media at Kennesaw State University, Prof. Farooq Kperogi, reacting to what he tagged as “the president’s astonishingly bald-faced lies in defense of SGF”, said: “In his letter to the Senate ‘clearing’ Babachir David Lawal of multi-million naira ‘grass cutting’ corruption scandal, the president said the senate didn’t invite Lawal to defend himself. Lie. He was invited via a letter, which the permanent secretary attached to his office acknowledged, and via at least three newspaper adverts. But he spurned the invitation and sent a representative.
“For me, a man who knowingly and intentionally lies has no integrity. What is worse, a man who defends the blatant corruption of his close aides while pretending to be fighting corruption involving his political opponents has no integrity.
“In Buhari’s Nigeria, there are two judicial standards: the president’s opponents are always guilty until proven innocent while the president’s corrupt associates are always, always innocent until ‘cleared’ by the president who now doubles as the Clearer-in-Chief of “Executhief” corruption. Some way to fight corruption!”
A scholar and international affairs analyst, Mr. Femi Aribisala, jocularly referring to President Buhari’s defence of his men, said: “Sani Abacha is not a thief. Ibrahim Magu is not a thief. Babachir Lawal is not a thief. Muhammadu Buhari! The founder, Mind of Christ Christian Center, Pastor Reno Omokri, in his reaction, stated that: “A fool is anyone who believes that President Buhari who cleared Babachir and Amaechi is anti-corrupt while Goodluck Jonathan who sacked Oduah and Nnaji is corrupt!
Kano based advocate of good governance, Mrs. Aisha Yesufu is of the opinion that it is “Either Babachir looted on behalf of PMB or President Buhari has looted more and Babachir has evidence or PMB is going senile”. While to a Biochemist and anti-corruption crusader, Mr. Ogundana Michael, “How Buhari handled the case of Babachir and Magu just signaled the end to his vague anti-corruption noise. He should just stop the pretence! The same way we’ve been asking for proper evidence-based prosecution and following due process for Dasuki, let us not relent on Babachir too!”
Master-Certified Leadership Coach and international speaker, Juliet Kego stated that “Those who claimed Jonathan was sponsoring terrorism didn’t say anything about allegations against Babachir. Truth has no allegiance. It illuminates! We live in a world of zero responsibilities and consequences; if not Babachir Lawal would have resigned or asked to resign while being investigated. We await the report of attorney general on Babachir Lawal and all fingered in IDP funds diversion. It is a huge litmus test for corruption fight”.