If you go by the anti-corruption mantra, which the present administration keeps echoing to vulnerable ears since its first tenure in 2015, one would have thought that by now corruption would have been a thing of the past.
But the reverse seems the case as the multi-headed monster thrives even more in spite of the so-called fight against it. It is ironic, though, that more public funds have been stolen now than when the corruption war was not in full gear some years ago.
Yet, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the anti-graft agency, prides itself of many milestones, including prosecutions, recoveries of funds and properties, among other feats, which many argue are mere grandstanding.
However, it is more worrisome that the legislature, which ordinarily should be for people who are aboveboard, is now being seen as an abode of people of questionable character. This questions the legitimacy of the mandate of the legislators and even the Senate and House of Representatives.
Of course, no sane constituency will vote in a corrupt leader, it is obvious the elections were rigged, votes bought and the people remain poorer after the vote-buying.
Sadly, about 10 percent of the senators in the newly inaugurated 9th National Assembly are facing corruption probes; some are already being prosecuted, while many are trying to repay without disclosure.
The intrigue is that the EFCC, which is the corruption watchdog, seemed to be eating soft bone while the corrupt people sneaked into the Senate. As well, the DSS, which screens would-be public office holders before assuming any office, cleared them despite the many files they have on them.
Though the EFCC keeps prompting the alleged senators that they still have cases to answer, in a sane society such people do not get anywhere near public offices, as such cases are dealt with and concluded usually in favour of the state and not for those warming seats in the Senate and looking for committees to head and steal more from the public purse.
In February, an online newspaper,PREMIUM TIMES, listed about eleven names (11) of elected senators with corruption allegations and cases hanging over their necks. Today, they are making laws for Nigeria!
The list include Orji Uzor Kalu, a former governor of Abia State; Gabriel Suswan, a former governor of Benue State; Chimaroke Nnamani, a former governor of Enugu State; Ifeanyi Ubah, Peter Nwaoboshi, Abba Moro, a former minister of labour and productivity; Stella Oduah, a former minister of aviation; Ike Ekweremadu, Danjuma Goje, a former governor of Gombe State, Abdullahi Adamu, a former governor of Nasarawa State; Aliyu Wamakko, a former governor of Sokoto, and Dino Melaye.
Many observers consider as shocking that Orji Uzor Kalu, a former governor of Abia State, is not only in the Senate, but also holding a prominent post there. The EFCC has been prosecuting Kalu for allegedly stealing N7.7 billion Abia funds while in office. He is being prosecuted alongside his former commissioner for finance, Ude Udeogo, and a company, Slok Nigeria Ltd, said to be owned by him.
Kalu’s original trial started just after he left office in 2007. In October 2016, EFCC renewed its prosecution and preferred 34 count charges against Kalu. But he and Udeogo pleaded not guilty to the charges and were granted bail.
The EFCC ultimately reactivated Kalu’s case in 2017, filing amended graft charges of up to N7.7 billion against him. In November 2018, Kalu traveled out of the country without the permission of the court and the EFCC and returned to Nigeria to contest and win a senatorial election. Yet the case is still on.
Also, if you recall the fraud over a botched recruitment drive, which led to a stampede that left 20 people dead in 2014, Abba Moro, former minister of Interior under ex-president, Goodluck Jonathan, should not have been close to public office again.
But despite being arraigned by the EFCC at the Federal High Court for his role in an alleged $2.5 million fraud, involving missing application fees, (though he pleaded not guilty), Moro is representing Benue South Senatorial district in the upper chambers.
The case of Danjuma Goje, former governor of Gombe State, is revealing. The EFCC alleged that Goje conspired with four officers of his administration to defraud the state of N25 billion via illegal acts, contrary to, and punishable under sections 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19 of the Money Laundering (Prohibition Act) 2011, as amended. Goje, who is currently facing a fraud charge filed against him by the EFCC at the Federal High Court in Gombe, on May 29, 2019, was inaugurated to represent Gombe Central Senatorial District for the third time. He is now chairman of the Senate Committee on Marine Transport.
Recall that many Nigerians had in June expressed displeasure over the withdrawal of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from the prosecution Goje and the taking over of the case by the office of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice.
On Friday, June 7, the EFCC announced its withdrawal from the case against the Gombe senator, which fueled suspicion that the lawmaker was subjected to be a deal to coerce him to drop his ambition of running for the position of the President of the Senate against Ahmed Lawan, who was the preferred choice of the Presidency and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The EFCC through its spokesman Tony Orilade, confirmed on Sunday, June 9, that it had withdrawn itself from the fraud case against Goje, stressing that the Attorney General has taken over the case because he has the constitutional powers to do so.
The question is, why couldn’t the EFCC, the courts and his senatorial district stop him all these while from contesting, and not to talk of wining an election?
Recall also that in 2010, Abdullahi Adamu, a former governor of Nasarawa State, was arrested by the EFCC for allegedly misappropriating N15 billion alongside 18 others. He was subsequently arraigned on a 149-count charge of fraud to the tune of N15 billion alongside his co-accused.
Though the case is yet to be concluded, Adamu is in the Senate representing the Nasarawa West senatorial district.
Moreover, the most shocking and mockery of the fight against corruption is the recent naming of Aliyu Wammako, former governor of Sokoto State, as the vice-chairman of the Senate Committee on Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes.
Sadly, Wammako, who is representing Sokoto-North in the National Assembly, is under probe by the EFCC for alleged misappropriation of N15 billion.
But going by his new role, Wammako and other members of the committee will be expected to carry out oversight functions on the EFCC, which means the EFCC will have to rest his case at least for now, or he could lead his committee to move for actions against the commission.
Displeased with Wammako’s appointment in the Senate, Malachy Odeh, a senior lecturer at a private university in Lagos, who also is a public analyst, said it was morally wrong because Wammako, alongside other senators who have pending corruption cases, are likely going to frustrate the anti-corruption campaign because the hammer is waiting to fall on them any time.
“What an irony, the hunted has now become the hunter in the same jungle. He would have vengeance in mind starting with the probe of EFCC activities and expenditures”, he said.
Odeh insisted that the EFCC, the high courts and other related parties in the corruption case, should expedite action to end the cases within a short time to ensure timely prosecution of the culprits, deter others from fraud, save the name of the EFCC and the mockery corruption fight has become.
A source at the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, who pleaded anonymity, said that Wammako’s new role signals danger as the fight against corruption is being punctured by the development.
“All that Wammako needs is support from other senators, House of Representatives members, ministers, and other public office holders with corruption charges to whittle down the power of the EFCC. It could be by amending some laws and that is it”, he said.
But the concern of Ogabi Emeh, a criminologist and lawyer, is that there is no mention of the cases of some ex-governors who were being prosecuted by the EFCC but had their cases dropped, just because they joined the ruling party.
“The fact that the ruling party claims to uphold integrity and the fight against corruption means that it should not harbor people already charged to court for fraud. It should deny them election tickets to make others sit-up”, he decried.
The criminologist insisted that more governors will steal from their state coffers and will also use the stolen fund to buy tickets to the Senate as the National Assembly has become a retirement home for ex-governors and people running from prosecutions.
In the same vein, Odeh thinks that the younger generation is learning and getting stronger in their resolve to make money “by all means” as corruption thrives and corrupt leaders suppress and rub the stolen funds in their faces.
Obinna Emelike
