By Chido Onumah &Godwin Onyeacholem
Slowly but
steadily, the ultra conservative wing of Nigeria’s largely self-absorbed and
callous elite is spoiling for a fight. And it’s all about the renewed war
against corruption which has induced in this group an emotion that can only be
described as culture shock. As a result,the unconstructive and clearly combative
reaction to a developmentthat ordinarily should be applauded and encouraged by
anyone who means well forthis country is no less unexpected.
Now that it
appears that the war against corruption is getting some traction, unlike in the
pastwhen only minions were arraigned and convicted and the big crooks got a let
off or at best a slap on the wrist if summoned at all, the game has changed
dramatically in the last couple of months. The powerful and the mighty who are
the major looters of the commonwealthare not just being invited; they are
getting the grill of their lives and their big toesare beginning to feel the
pain of a new clamp down from an inspired EFCCled by a reputed no-nonsense cop,
Ibrahim Magu.
Magu’s new
leadership zeal istelling in its redefinition of the mode of operation which
hastriggered a heightenedmomentum for change in a way that has never been seenat
thenation’s prime anti-graft agency. On a daily basis, the hitherto ‘untouchables’
are now being poked with the hard questions in EFCC interrogation rooms; the
so-called ‘sacred cows’ are being prepared for onward transfer to what would
turn out to be their slaughter slab for the ultimate rite of humiliation. And more
than ever, the prospect of a good number of the politically exposed looters and
fraudsters and their collaborators ending up in jail soon enough seems very
bright. This is heart-warmingin a country which until now has been a terribly
misgoverned space.
Yes, the
class of elite to which we referred above alsowants change, but this is not the
type of change they are prepared to accommodate. A change that upsets the applecart(pardon
the cliché) in such a decisive manner as to not only dismantle all forms of
corrupt practices, but also seek out their perpetrators, name them and shame
them by ensuring they end up in prison is certainly not what they want towelcome
with open arms.
Therefore,
members of that group are not folding their arms to let the EFCC roll over
them. They are well-heeled, thanks to their fraudulent escapades. So, they are
fighting back both stealthily and furiously, enlisting the services of all
individuals and groups that can help them scuttle the fight against corruption.
To that extent, they have gone as far as recruitingan equally retrograde
faction of the bar, pliant members of the bench, a mercenary arm of civil
society, gold-digging religious leaders, a tractable media that is also
notorious for hatchet jobs and, above all, an unreceptive and docile public.
And it is
easy to identify them. For example, they are manifested in a Chief Judgewho
recently warned magistrates to stopapproving requests from EFCC to detain
suspects for interrogation. Curiously, this judge did not cite any known law to
back his directive. They can be seen in very senior lawyers who collect dubious
briefs to defend persons known to have looted public funds, manipulate the
court process on their behalf and scream rule of law.
They are
revealed in a well-known Pentecostal pastor who urged government to focus on
other areas of development instead of fighting corruption, which he claims constitutes
only 20% of the country’s problems. They are exposed in phony civil society
groups who go about accusing government of violating the rights of persons
currently being tried for corrupt practices. You will find them in a
nonagenarian who has repeatedly blasted President Buhari and scoffed at his
anti-corruption war; and among members of the public who have joined the
looters and their supporters to pronounce that the more than $2billion arms
scam is an invented story aimed at dealing with members of the opposition party
and, therefore, isa ‘distraction.’
These are
the kind of people the EFCC must contend with. One forecasts that in their
desperation they will go all the way to rubbish the institution and its
leadership. Don’t be shocked if suddenly a report surfaces in the media dubbed
‘Exclusive,’ brashly claiming to have unearthed a massive scandal involving
Magu, the EFCC boss.The purpose will be to destabilise and make him lose focus.But
he must remain resolute, for having come this far in this war,there will be no
plausible excuse to reverse the gains.
The
anti-graft campaign can only be meaningful if the real thieves in the society,
the big men who have ensured that our soldiers don’t have guns to fight
insurgency, hospitals lack equipment, children can’t go to school, electricity
supply is epileptic, petrol queues continue, basic infrastructure is
non-existent,aremade to pay for their criminal acts by being marched to jail
one by one. And that will just be the beginning of the change that this
government talks about, and one of the many that Nigerians expect.
Let there
be no doubt. We believe in and are committed to the rule of law. But the rule
of law can’t be a basis to let loose on society men and women whose transgressions
are no less thanarmed robbery, murder, terrorism and allied crimes that more
often than not are not bailable offences.
Then there
is the issue of selective prosecution, which has beenthe battle cry of every
scoundrel who has found himself in the corridors of power, a comfortable alibi for
many certified criminals to avoid facing justice. Our response is, let anybody
who is accused answer “his father’s name.”People who have been accusedof
corruption should be proud to clear their name and “put the government to shame”
if they have nothing to hide.
Finally, we
think the government and the EFCC should expand the war against corruption. The
mandate of the Commission, for example, gives it power to look beyond the mindless
looting by the political class and their collaborators to other equally
sinister criminals, including influential civil servants, who have made a
killing in the name of public service. They own all the choice property –most
of them lying fallow because Nigerians who are not corrupt can’t afford the
rent – in Abuja and other parts of the country which has become a veritable
avenue for money laundering.
(Chido Onumah can be reach onconumah@hotmail.com; Follow him on Twitter @conumah; Godwin
Onyeacholemcan be reached on gonyeacholem@gmail.com)
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please restrict your comment to the subject matter.