When A Leader Is Demystified In Power

By Okey Ndiribe

A recent attack on President Muhammadu Buhari’s convoy in Kano is a clear sign of rejection by the youths of the ancient city. Coming shortly after a similar incident in his home state of Katsina, it sends a signal of regional resentment against a leader who enjoyed a massive personality cult-following at the beginning of his  tenure eight years ago. 

These seeming acts of rebellion on the part of a once docile populace -which gave him over 12 million votes during the 2015 presidential election-appear to be a direct response to the President’s recent self-award of a pass mark to his administration. Buhari’s remark which was made in Bauchi had elicited a huge controversy among Nigerians. One had thought that was the end of the matter.

Nigeria: The Rich Walk Away With Stolen billions, The Poor Die For Stealing

 By Lillian Okenwa

When President Muhammadu Buhari granted a state pardon in April 2022 to Joshua Dariye and Jolly Nyame, former governors of Plateau and Taraba states who had been convicted for stealing N1.16 billion and N1.6 billion respectively from their state treasuries while they were in office between 1999 and 2007, rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to free all prisoners who have been jailed for stealing. Falana contended that by Section 17 of the 1999 Constitution, citizens were entitled to equal rights and opportunities in which case state pardon should be extended to all prisoners who are serving jail terms for stealing.

On January 28, 2013, an Abuja High Court aroused a battery of tasteless jokes when it sentenced John Yakubu Yusufu, standing trial on charges of stealing N32.8 billion in the Police Pension scam to two years imprisonment on each of three charges, and then offered him an option of N250, 000 fine on each count. The former Assistant Director in the Police Pension Office simply paid the N750, 000 fine and walked away. But the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) went on appeal.

Joshua Dariye And The Joys Of VIP Criminal

By Paul Onomuakpokpo

It is an uncommon case that negates the Kafkaesque leitmotif that the law is beholden to the privileged, especially in a third world country like Nigeria – a former state governor, Joshua Dariye, was jailed for corruption.

Reflective of his preoccupation with the bizarre conundra of the human condition, Franz Kafka’s “Before the law” confronts us with the huge impediments in the path of the less privileged to get the law on their side. In the rare cases where the law grants access to the poor, it is because its defences have been broken down by bribery or the real fury of the oppressed.

*Joshua Dariye

But in the case of Dariye, the law is not really out to assert its equality before the rich and the poor. As a member of the privileged class, Dariye has found a way to make the law serve him even though he is in prison. Before Dariye went to jail, he was a serving senator. Dariye was Plateau State governor from 1999 to 2007. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) prosecuted him for embezzling N1.162 billion within this period. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison. But after his appeal was decided, this sentence was reduced to 10 years. 

Fighting Criminality With Illegality Equals Injustice

By Owei Lakemfa

I have a soft spot for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, mainly because I was present at its birth. Nigeria had transited from  long years of unaccountable military regimes that made little distinction between the national purse and private pockets. So corruption was rampant when the civilian administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo  came into office in 1999. EFCC Following  local and international pressures, the administration sought to fight corruption with specialised agencies. To set these up, stakeholders were invited to  meetings which I attended as the representative of the  Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC.

However, the EFCC was a rascal  using uncomely methods like breaking down doors, finding suspects guilty by  media trials, disregarding court orders and making outlandish claims like stating before the Senate that 31 of the serving 36  governors were corrupt, but having little to show after the men left  office and no longer had immunity. Worse still, the body swarm comfortably in political waters; engineering the removal of political office holders including elected governors. The worst case, was using six Plateau State legislators it had captured, to impeach Governor Joshua Dariye  when the constitutional number required was a minimum sixteen. The EFCC began operating  like  a weather forecast  station issuing  intermittent statements about people arrested,  stages of investigation or even its intentions. It chairmen who ordinarily were public servants; in fact, serving police officers – except Mrs. Farida  Mzamber Waziri, a retired police officer – became Czars.

The agency has been severally accused of doing the bidding of whoever is in power and restricting its investigative prowess to those in opposition. While there is a lot of truth in this, personally, I think it is good for the country; if even a few looters are brought to book, that will send a strong message  that people will be held to account even after leaving public office. I must also admit that the EFCC has brought some bite into the anti-corruption war; we have witnessed governors, bank chief executives and even an Inspector General of Police prosecuted and convicted. But this is no excuse to fight criminality with illegality. I believe public agencies like the EFCC and Directorate of State Security,DSS, can be effective even if they employ  legal and civilised procedures.

This will be in line with the EFCC’s vision of being “An agency operating to best international standards…” Unfortunately, at 13, the EFCC has not shed its toga of rascality and know-it-all attitude. Nothing typifies this better  than its uncultured response to the inaugural speech by the President of the Nigeria Bar Association, NBA, Abubakar Balarabe Mahmoud. I had known Mahmoud in the early ‘80s as a quiet, soft-spoken  gentleman who tries to convince on the basis of logic rather than  be pedantic and flamboyant like some of his colleagues. He and  many  of us in our generation had admiration  for the late Alao Aka-Bashorun the principled NBA President who brought activism to the Bar. Aka-Bashorun believed that law must serve the people and that service to the citizenry is the basis of legitimacy  for any government.

I was not surprised that Mahmoud in his inaugural speech emphasised some of these themes such as  “A clean  judiciary that will deliver consistent and predictable outcomes” and “No to corruption, whether in the Executive, Legislative or Judicial branch of government”  He warned that  “for the legal profession in Nigerian, it can no longer be business as usual” and that “there cannot be rich lawyers in a poor country.”

His message that “the fight against corruption can only be achieved if we do so within the frame work of the rule of law and by strong institutions” did  not seem appealing to the EFCC, a body which he commended for its modest achievements. His suggestion that the EFCC be reformed by limiting it to an  investigative agency while  “the conduct of the prosecution must be by an independent highly resourced prosecution agency” infuriated the EFCC.   Rather than respond to Mahmoud’s arguments, the Agency resorted to insults.