By Zik Gbemre

It is heartwarming and reassuring to note that the current ‘political climate and atmosphere’ of the Nigerian entity is gradually but steadily undergoing a ‘transformation’ of some sort; with evidence that the observed ‘changes’are signs that the future will be brighter for all and sundry. For a long time Nigerians have not witnessed the sort of arrests and prosecution of high-profile public office holders, like we are witnessing at the moment under the President Muhammadu Buhari administration. In fact, since his emergence as the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the now President Muhammadu Buhari did not hide his disdain for corruption – which has been the bane of Nigeria’s growth and development for as long as we can remember. A practice that has permeated the entire gamut of the society, and today seems to be synonymous with an average Nigerian. During the electioneering campaign, President Buhari had always expressed his determination and readiness to tackle corruption headlong if elected president of the country.

And just recently, President Muhammadu Buhari, sent his first two executive bills to the Senate, seeking to prohibit money laundering and criminal activities in the country. The bills are:”The Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Bill, 2016″ and “The Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Bill, 2016.” Buhari, in a letter to the Senate and addressed to the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, said he was introducing the bills for formal consideration and enactment into law by the legislature. In the letter read by Saraki, during plenary, Buhari informed that the first bill provides for the repeal of Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2011 as amended in 2012. He explained that the bill would “make comprehensive provisions to prohibit the laundering of criminal activities, expand the scope of money laundering, and provide protection for employees of various institutions, bodies and professions who may discover money laundering”. On the second bill, President Buhari said it “seeks to facilitate the provision and obtaining by Nigeria of international assistance in criminal matters.” These, he stressed, include the provision and obtaining of evidence and things, and the making of arrangements for persons to give evidence or assist in criminal investigations. He further stated that the bill seeks “the recovery, forfeiture or confiscation of property in respect of offences, the restraining of dealings in property or the freezing of assets that may be recovered, forfeited or confiscated in respect of offences.”

It is indisputable that Buhari’s perceived anti-corruption posture contributed immensely to his victory in the poll. And since President Buhari assumed office, it has become obvious that a “new Sherif is now in town”. In fact, President Buharin has succeeded in instilling some measure of discipline, accountability, fears, uncertainties, paradigm shift in leadership approach, and gradual changes within the public sector, which have also pervaded the land. At the moment, many people, especially the alleged looters of the nation’s treasury during the immediate past administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan are rattled by Buhari’s revelations, and moves to ensure the probe of the looting spree that characterized that government. And every day, the revelations of the sort of financial atrocities and high-handed corruption practices committed against the Nigerian State, especially by those of the immediate past Jonathan government have left Nigerians speechless and dumbfounded.

While Nigerians are still trying to come to terms with the mind-boggling scandal of the $2.1 Billion Arms Deal Scam that is currently rocking every aspect of the nation’s security authorities integrity, the situation was even made worse when it was recently reported thaat in just eight (8) years, a hefty theft by public officials allegedly depleted the nation’s treasury by about N1.3 trillion. The money was said to have been stolen between 2006 and 2013 by 55 Nigerians. And out of the amount, N146.84 billion was allegedly stolen by 15 former State Governors, N7 billion by four former Ministers, while N14 billion was stolen by 12 former public servants both at the Federal and State levels. Also, N524 billion was allegedly stolen by eight people in the banking industry while 11 businessmen allegedly stole N653billion. These disclosures were recently made by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed. He said that the stolen funds, using the World Bank’s rates and costs could have provided 635.18kilometres of roads, built 20,062 units of two-bedroom houses, 36 ultra modern hospitals, 183 schools and educated 3,974 children from primary to tertiary levels at N25.24 million per child.

We can just imagine how funds meant for the development of the Nigerian populace were grossly diverted/misappropriated in just eight years by some selected few in government circles and the so called custodians of the nation’s resources with reckless abandon and impunity. In fact, many of us are still wondering, if someone was actually in charge of this country during the immediate past Jonathan administration when most of this sleaze was going on.It is an established fact that pervasive corruption wrapped-up in impunity, in and around government circles and every facet of the economy, can be regarded as the bane of Nigeria’s development, especially in the last two decades. It is the reason why Nigeria, despite its enormous wealth in terms of human and natural resources, is still being overwhelmed with ‘increasing problems’ of poverty, unemployment, disease, lack of basic amenities and infrastructure etc. The issues of corruption and bad leadership have kept Nigeria in its present deplorable status. A status where all the factors you can think of that makes a democratic nation relevant in global affairs, are either missing completely, mumbled-up, underdeveloped or characterized by dysfunctional attributes that the whole system is not working in the favour of the general populace but only in the favour of some selected privileged few in government circles and elite class.

it is time we brought into perspective what corruption has done to our nation, our people and our international image, how corruption stifles economic growth, hinders the fight against poverty, leads to decay in infrastructure and reduces educational standards, lowers life expectancy, stunts the fight against maternal and infant mortality and impacts negatively on the general livelihood of the citizens. The situation is dire and the time to act is now.

As noted by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed: This is the money (i.e N1.3 trillion), that a few people, just 55, allegedly stole  in  eight years. And instead of a national outrage, all we hear are these nonsensical statements that the government is fighting only the opposition, or that the government is engaging in a vendetta. Irrespective of your political, religious or tribal leanings, and not minding whether you belong to the APC, PDP, SDP or Labour Party, if you have stolen public funds, you must not go scot-free. You must return the funds to the treasury and face prosecution. Nigerians must know that they cannot get the best even from the very best government if the scourge of corruption is not tackled decisively.

Everyone and every arm of government must rise up to be counted in this epic war, and defeat is not an option if our country is to survive. As President Muhammadu Buhari likes to say, if we do not kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria. There is no better way to say it.“Everyone and every arm of government must be involved in the fight against corruption, which is one of the cardinal programmes of the Buhari  administration. Irrespective of what anyone may say, President Buhari is leading this fight by example and right from the front. His unparalleled integrity, his uncommon love of country and his undiluted dedication to service all put him in good stead to wage this war, and we must all support him and own the war in order to ensure its success. This is not Buhari’s war. This is not APC’s war. This is Nigeria’s war.”

While we totally welcome the Federal Government’s resolve to fight corruption in high places and recover every penny looted by the immediate past administration, however, there are certain factors and major concerns that the Presidency needs to take note of, and pay close attention to; if they really want to make significant level of success with this anti-graft war.

The first point of call is for the Buhari administration to be very ‘transparently open’ to the Nigerian people with his fight against corruption and loot recovery. The caption phrases of the ‘fights against corruption’ and ‘recovery of stolen loot’ are words too familiar with the Nigerian people. We have heard it times without number from past governments. But the problem has always been that at the end of the day, Nigerians are not usually told what happens to all the so called recovered loot of the past governments. We have had several cases where recovered stolen funds by past governments were never ‘accounted’ by the government of the day. The infamous former military dictator and Head of State, late Sani Abacha and his ‘humongous loot’, plus that of his family members; which were recovered by the past two former Presidents (especially the Olusegun Obasanjo era), are still mysteries to many today. Nigerians are still not aware of what exactly happened to all the said Abacha loot that were recovered, neither are we aware of what the past governments used them for. Are the said recovered funds still there? Or the monies have gone with the wind? It is in this light that we urge the Buhari government to be more transparent with Nigerians in his loot recovery. To this end, President Buhari should go beyond recovering looted funds by telling Nigerians what exactly it intends to use the recovered monies for. In fact, the Buhari government should ‘tag every recovered loot’ to a specific project or programme it wants to use the funds to execute in the interest of Nigerians. And it should be made public to Nigerians. This is so that Nigerians will hold the Government more accountable, especially if they fail to account for what they used the recovered loots to do. Also, the monies recovered from a particular geographical entity should be used by the government to develop that particular zone. For example, if the monies are recovered from the North Central, it should be used to execute projects and programmes for the people in the North Central. If the monies are from the South-South, the same should be done also. And if the monies recovered are from a particular sector, such monies should be ploughed back into that same sector to develop it further. And of cause, the same thing should be applied at the State levels to State Governors who have mindlessly looted their States to a bleeding point. Every kobo recovered from State Governors should be repatriated back to such States for their development.

As part of being transparent, Nigerians would also like to know where these loots were recovered from; when they are recovered; how they were recovered and especially whose account these loots recovered are from. Nigerians would like to know those who have looted the nations treasury to adequately label them for who they really are, especially after now. The identity of those who have deprived the general populace of benefitting from the wealth of the nation should be made public regardless of who or what is involved. This should not be kept secret, even if the said suspects should ‘quietly return’ stolen funds in their possession, they should be exposed for Nigerians to know them; especially those 55 persons that allegedly stole N1.3 trillion in just eight years. In the last few months, there have been unconfirmed reports that some of the aides of former President Jonathan have on their own returned some looted funds to Buhari’s government to avoid being prosecuted. The government has not officially confirmed or denied the reports. Some inkling from government circle closer to such confirmation or denial was a recent statement by President Buhari that his government is compiling the list of the alleged looters, which will soon be released for onward prosecution.

Although, the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, had recently noted that those people who stole the money know themselves, and that if you go to our courts, you will find their names, and that they are not just compiling new names, however, we believe there is need for thegovernment to disclose the looters’ names or publish them. The truth is that the people of this country want to know the Governors, Ministers, Public Servants, and Businessmen/women, etc, that stole from the nation’s treasury. They should publish their names and ensure there is no cover up. The talk is becoming too much. Our ears are already full. It is enough. If they know the office of those that stole this money, then they should also know their names. If they publish that these number of persons stole this money, then at least they agree that the money was not used for its intended purpose. So on that count, the name of these 55 persons should be published, and how much they stole each. Even the 2.1 billion dollars Arms scam, has already been proven as a crime of misused funds. The money was allocated for weapons for the Nigerian Army to fight insurgency; instead it was used for other self-centered purposes. So those that misused it are already guilty of misappropriation of funds and should be dealt with the full weight of the law. As part of efforts to be more transparent in this regard, there is a need for the Federal Government to set up a Transparent and Controlled Account, which would be used to deposit all the recovered looted funds. An account that every Nigerian can clearly see how much is going in, and how much is going out by who and for what purposes.

Our second concern with this administration’s resolve to fight corruption is the question of what will eventually happen to those who have (allegedly) looted the nation’s treasury, especially when it has proven beyond any reasonable doubt that they have looted the nation’s treasury? Will they merely be given a slap on the wrist or allowed to go scot -free having returned looted funds like we have seen in past government’s fight against corruption? Or will they be allowed to go scot-free through legal technicalities and prolong/delayed court proceedings that are eventually swept under the carpet? And to what extent will the Buhari government go in this fight against corruption, especially when it comes to dealing with/prosecuting those close to the government either through party affiliation, associations or sheer loyalty?

It is rather unfortunate that despite the high level of corruption evident in government circles across the federation and the regular cry out by past Federal Governments and anti-graft agencies regarding their pose to fight corruption headlong in the country, Nigerians are yet to witness an appropriate prosecution and adequate prison sentencing of ex-government and serving government officials or top government functionaries, particularly former State Governors and their cronies. It is either they are given just a few months to remain in custody while their corruption cases are dilly-dallied, after which they are allowed to go scot-free, to go and continue enjoying their ill-go then wealth, or their trials are delayed, outrageously struck out and swept under the carpet. This has made many to have lost faith and trust on the anti-graft agencies and the Nigerian Judiciary.

Agreed that since May 29, 2015, when the Buhari government assumed office fully, it is as if everything in Nigeria has been given a ‘serious push’ to start working. Perhaps Buhari might not have physically changed or done anything different, but the knowledge of his kind of person being at the helm of affairs in Nigeria, has practically made every government institution, including the anti-graft agencies, to suddenly sit up and start getting serious with their work. This was not the case during the Jonathan era. Although, all these suspected corrupt persons the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) are picking up; if after the anti-graft agency has just picked them up and they are being bailed and nothing happens after that, then they are just wasting their time. If the anti-graft agency do not record any success story of putting anybody in jail, Nigerians are (will not be) convinced that this administration is serious in fighting corruption.

The truth is that, in the Nigerian Judiciary, an emergency should be declared because what is going on there is not normal. If this government really wants to fight corruption, the gateway to that battle is the judiciary because the President cannot fight corruption. When we talk about fighting corruption, we are talking about the Office of the Attorney General and the various levels of  the Law Courts and the statutory law enforcement agencies like the ICPC and EFCC. Unfortunately, some of these institutions need to given the adequate attention if really want them to function as they should. For instance, if you go to the offices of some of these agencies, you will discover that we are not serious about fighting corruption. As noted by Lagos Lawyer, Ebun Adegborun, “In the EFCC office in Lagos, for instance, there are no tables; no electricity; the operatives I have met several times using their personal stationeries, personal computers to conduct investigations. You may want to find out why high-profile cases collapse in court. Manpower is not enough.   There is no method of research to properly investigate a corruption case. Let me tell you what they do:   When you get a Yahoo-Yahoo (Advance Fee Fraudster) person, an ordinary person who has no money, you beat him up, hang him, get confessional statement from him; and the next day he is in court; he has been so intimidated and battered and he has no lawyer.   In a week’s time, the case is done away with and you get a conviction.”

And for the high-profile cases, Adegboruwa explained thus: “when you get a public figure who has resources, he goes there with, maybe, two SANs. So, when he sits with you, he folds his hands, waits for you to bring all the evidence you have. You try to force him to write something, he refuses. So, you carry your half-baked corruption charge against him to court and lawyers pick it and begin to tear it to shreds. Then, in another one week, you come with another amended charge and, the following week, you come again, from 101 counts, you reduce it to 50 and then   you reduce it to 10 and eventually the case is struck out.   Remember Timi Sylva and Fani-Kayode’s cases. The problem really is not EFCC’s; look at the budget and find out how much was earmarked for the agency. After the EFCC may have finished – even if it had done a thorough job – you will still take your case to court. Go to courts in Lagos today, electricity is not there.  The average number of cases before a Judge in a day is about 50.   There is no way a human being can conduct a serious trial of 15 cases in a day.”

Without a doubt, the war against corruption in Nigeria cannot be won or record great successes if the Nigerian Judiciary through its Judges and the Law Courts, does not give their full support, response and backing. In fact, the whole fight against graft, especially in high places will be fruitless and useless if the Judiciary (Federal Courts) does not live up to its statutory obligations. It is this public loss of faith and trust on the Nigerian Judiciary (Federal Courts) that we are sincerely praying to be restored in the present Government under President Muhammadu Buhari. The cross of the matter is that the Nigerian Judiciary has over time, made itself as an ‘unreliable’ legal umpire that the citizenry cannot depend on when it comes deciding cases brought before them. The way and manner sensitive court cases (on corruption and electoral fraud) especially high-profile cases, are decided makes one to greatly question the integrity of the Nigerian Judges in Law Courts.

One of the reasons why it is difficult to adequately fight corruption in Nigeria is that our system of justice, even at the best of time, is protracted, it is delayed. We have a system that has not been able to deliver justice, even in civil matters, not to talk of complex fraud cases. The issues of granting inappropriate court injunctions to restrain or prevent anti-graft agencies like the EFCC and ICPC, from prosecuting/arresting corrupt public or private officials, have adversely affected the fight against corruption. Also, the issue of prolonged and delayed adjudication of appropriate justice concerning corruption cases has made Nigerians and indeed, the international community to lose faith in the country’s judicial system’s ability and capacity to adequately fight corruption.

The Minister of Information and Culture also hinted on this issue when he explained that, “critical to the success of the war against corruption is the Judiciary. Unless this very important arm of government fully joins in waging this war and does not consider it business as usual, the pending cases of corruption will just drag on until they outlast this administration. I am not saying this lightly at all. A situation in which a single court issued five orders all in favour of those being prosecuted for corruption in 2015 alone calls for concern. In one case, the court granted an ex-parte order staying all actions in connection with any allegation of corruption or other wrong doing which has been the subject of investigation by the EFCC and the House of Representatives. The same court declared unconstitutional the arrest of two applicants, despite exhibit of the criminal charge pending against the applicants, and ordered the de-freezing of the applicants’ account, even after the court had been informed of the existence of a subsisting freezing order by the High Court in Lagos on the account. The same court ordered the EFCC to de-freeze the accounts of people implicated in the laundering of 4.5 billion Naira and perpetually restrained the EFCC from investigating them, after they were invited for an interview by the commission. The same court stopped the investigation and arrest of an accused, and ordered the release of 2.2 million dollars seized from him. And, finally, the court ordered that the accused implicated in the laundering of over 1 billion dollars should not be harassed or intimidated and his seized international passport be released. You can judge for yourselves whether these orders help or hinder the fight against corruption.”

According to Adegboruwa, “The Executive arm of government has hijacked the Judiciary. The Judicial workers have been fighting for the past five years to liberate the Judiciary because the Judiciary in almost all the states is in the hand of the Commissioner for Justice in terms of funding because he who pays the piper dictates the tune.   The Judiciary must go cap in hand to get its funds from the commissioner.   The same thing happens at the federal level. Most Judges in Lagos have an average of 20 judgments (outstanding) to deliver, over 30 rulings.   In every country, the Executive implements policies and it can seize people’s land by force or imprison people anyhow.   But when the Judiciary is effective, it curtails the excesses of the Executive.   Therefore, it is in the Executive’s interest to stifle the Judiciary by starving it of funds.” Still speaking on the need to adequately fund the Judiciary, Adegboruwa noted that: “To prosecute Chief Ibori, the UK government spent millions of Euros, sending investigators, combing virtually all over the world and, by the time the charge was presented, he had no choice, the evidence was overwhelming.   Can we do that in Nigeria?   How many lawyers do the EFCC have?   Only two prominent lawyers are helping EFCC prosecute its cases – Rotimi Jacobs and Festus Keyamo.   Any SAN you approach to handle an EFCC case would not agree.”

We believe the only thing that would justify the fact that an anti-graft agency is working, is when its corruption cases are seen to be pursued to their logical conclusions – which is, ensuring that corrupt suspects are properly prosecuted, beyond any reasonable doubt, with the full weight of the law. The EFCC cannot be said to be succeeding in this as an anti-graft agency. All that the EFCC is known for today, is to arrest persons suspected to be corrupt, without actually ensuring that such persons are properly prosecuted and convicted of their corrupt crimes.

It is disturbing to observe that most charges on corruption (especially the high-profile cases) initiated by the EFCC against suspected corrupt public officials are usually weak, watery and has a lot of loopholes to warrant such corruption cases to be thrown away/wave off by Nigerian Judges during trial. It is believed that the EFCC Prosecutors deliberately bring ‘faulty piled-up corruption charges’ (against high-profile public officials), that are susceptible to be dismissed in court. It is obvious that the EFCC Prosecutors collude with these suspected corrupt high-profile public officials to initiate ‘watery’ and ‘weak’ piled-up corruption charges which they know very well will be thrown off by the court. If we consider this question: Why are all thereported EFCC initiated corruption/fraud cases with their usually piled-up charges involving high-profile public officials, always dismissed by the various courts across the country?

These are very critical issues that seriously need to be addressed by the Federal Government and relevant authorities if we really want to make any significant success in the fight against corruption in high places. Why is it so hard for corruption and fraudulent election cases involving high profile officials and top elites, to be dealt with the full wrath of the law like we see in other developed countries? Why can’t the Nigerian Judiciary and past governments and the anti-graft agencies seriously frown at and abhor corruption practices both within it selves and in government circles like we see happening in other countries like USA and UK?

There are many instances of corruption cases that have exposed the flaws in our judicial system and legal practice. The one that still surprises many of us was the perpetual injunction restraining the EFCC from probing graft allegations its operatives leveled against the former governor of Rivers State, Peter Odili. This ‘ridiculous statuesque’ was allowed to remain under the past PDP Governments at the Federal level. It was only recently, obviously as a result of the renewed vigor in the fight against corruption under the present Buhari Government, that the EFCC is reported set to reopen the trial of high profile politicians whose corruption cases had either been delayed or put in abeyance as a result of court injunctions. Top on the list of those whose cases are to be reopened, is former Rivers State Governor, Dr. Peter Odili, who secured a perpetual injunction from a Federal judge barring the EFCC from investigating his eight-year tenure over alleged graft. Let us bear in mind that other former State Governors like Lucky Igbinedion of Edo State and James Ibori of Delta State, also had many corruption charges leveled against them by anti-graft agencies like Peter Odili. But these other governors were tried even though theirs were ‘failed trials’. For Odili, could it be said that ‘escape from justice’ was orchestrated by, and the handy work of his Chief Judge of a wife? Let us leave that for you to decide. However, we find it appalling that the Nigerian Law Courts, through Judges and Lawyers, seem to have made a career of perverting true justice using all manner of “legal technicalities” and jargons as excuse.

One advice we would like to offer here is that anti-graft agencies should also desist from the habit of leveling excessively high Count Charges against suspects of corruption, especially the high-profile cases. There is no point the anti-graft agencies piling up voluminous Count Charges that are often ‘watery’ and will end up being dismissed, struck out or rendered inconsequential by a Law Court. The James Ibori case is a very good example of what we are saying here; where the EFCC handed Ibori 170 count charges of corruption and money laundry of millions of dollars against him. But despite the many count charges, they could not send him to prison. It took only Six count charges by the UKMetropolitan Police and a UK Courtto have finally prosecuted and sentenced Ibori for 13 years in prison after he had pleaded guilty of committing the same corruption crimes the EFCC could not prosecute him, and the Nigerian Judiciary acquitted him of. So, it is not enough to have piled up Count Charges against suspects of corruption but what is important is for Nigeria’s anti-graft agencies to have few Count Charges that will be very substantial to nail their suspects and get them convicted for their crimes.

To help the anti-graft agencies too, including the Nigerian Police in the fight against corruption and other crimes, there is need for the Government to adequately make regular Budget provisions for them. This is to enable them fund their ‘investigations’ in the areas of logistics, accommodation, transportation, etc, and ultimately drive their cases to logical conclusions without being influenced by those they are supposed to be investigating, or the practice where accused persons, complainants and suspects are seen to be the ones providing funds for their cases to be investigated. If Budget funds are not provided for their investigations as expected, the Officers and men of anti-graft agencies and the Police will end up carrying out ‘desk top investigations’ which will amount to nothing at the end of the day.

The Judiciary is often described as the temple of justice and constitutes a vital component of any nation, especially a democratic system, and fully protected by the principles of separation of power. The judiciary independence is deemed important to the rule of law and the liberty of the citizens. Therefore, the judiciary is a venerated republican institution of the modern state. While it is to be noted that the Nigeria society as a whole reeks of corrupt practices, it is worrisome when some key institutions of the nation such as the judiciary, the legendary last hope of the common man, is accused and seen to be also descending into the cesspool of corruption. It is noteworthy, though that an arm of that institution, the Bar, is relaxingly beaming the searchlight on its conduct. For sure, the NBA is in a better vantage position to spotlight the internal constraints and contradictions of the judiciary and its ancillaries; and therefore act as a whistle blower in this respect. Such a role is important in the prevailing war against corruption and electoral fraud.

Obviously, revamping and strengthening the institutions of the Judiciary and anti-graft agencies is imperative for a burgeoning democracy such as ours. On the side of the Judiciary, it is tempting to call on the Nigerian Judicial Commission (NJC) to live up to its responsibility by stepping in to sanitize the Judiciary. Sadly, that agency has of late come short on credibility and has been accused of impertinence and corruption, on account of verbal altercations between its immediate past two foremost officers. Therefore, there should be some other credible ways to go about the task of restoring integrity and credibility to the Nigerian Judiciary, hence, our call to the international community in past articles on fighting corruption in Nigeria. However, we need to start getting our ‘house’ in order for outsiders to assist us. In fact, a constitutional amendment is required for the re-composition of the NJC for it to be alive to its responsibility once again. And two, an ombudspanel of credible personalities is desirable, to dig into the rot in the judiciary.

But one thing is for sure, what the President needs from Nigerians is massive support and prayers. We however urge the President to take the issues we raised above seriously, if this administration really wants to record great success in its fight against corruption.

Zik Gbemre, JP.National CoordinatorNiger Delta Peace Coalition (NDPC)

No.28, Opi Street, Ugboroke Layout, Effurun-Warri,P.O. Box 2254, Warri, Delta State, Nigeria.

Tel:       +2348026428271              +2348052106013

Website: www.ndpc-zik.org.