Yar'Adua & Corruption: Another Shehu Shagari In The Making??
By Franklin Otorofani
I should,
perhaps, commence this piece by digging into my archives
to ferret some relevant materials to share with readers
relating to the subject matter of this article.
In addressing the subject matter of this article,
therefore, I could do no more than present a few
excerpts from a previous article that are germane to the
issues addressed here. In reacting to the reported
outburst of the Honorable AG of the Federation against
the EFCC I wrote thus:
“However, in order for it (EFCC) to be effective and avoid
charges of partisanship it must be made largely independent and
semi-autonomous with only oversight powers by the AG as the Chief Law
Officer of the Federation by virtue of the constitution. I am not advocating
complete autonomy for the EFCC because the constitution vests all Federal
prosecutions in the AG of the Federation and the powers of the EFCC are
therefore subject to the over-aching powers of the AG and that's why EFCC
must remain under the general superintendence of the AG of the Federation by
virtue of the constitution as ministerial delegatee of the exclusive
prosecutory powers of the AG.
But what was that talk by the new AG about reining in EFCC? I
didn't get that, did you? Looks like somebody was flying a kite and he
should be well advised not to provoke Nigerians baying for the blood of the
gubernatorial blood suckers in return. The AG had better read the mood of
Nigerians correctly otherwise he would be history himself, in no time. Any
government in Nigeria that treats the war on corruption with kid gloves
would be digging its own grave with its own hands.
As I had pointed out in a previous piece, Nigerians like the sharks at sea,
have seen blood and they are asking for more blood so far as corruption is
concerned. The war started by Obasanjo must be won, or at least continued
unabated with more vigor by President Yar'Adua within legal and
constitutional limits until victory is won. But legalism and
constitutionalism are no excuses for slowing down the onslaught against
corrupt public officials past and present. And the formation of so-called
National Unity Government has absolutely nothing to do with the war on
corruption.
Therefore indicted ex-governors, like Orji Kalu, storming Aso Rock
immediately after their release on bail ostensibly to discuss National Unity
Government coupled with the troubling babbling of the AG sends wrong signals
to the public about the direction of the war on corruption under the
Yar'Adua Administration. At the very least it puts to question the Yar'Adua
government's sincerity of purpose, for, how could he be dinning and winning
in Aso Rock with the very people he is supposed to be prosecuting? It just
doesn't add up no matter how Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, his presidential
spokesman, tries to spin it. Nigerians are no fools. We are watching
developments in Nigeria with eagle eyes as they unfold.---Excerpts
taken from an article published by Franklin Otorofani
How prophetic! The AG
is stewing in his own oil under fire of public opinion!
Reason: Since that article was published the AG of the
Federation Mr. Michael Aondoakaa, has upped the ante and
done everything in his powers to confirm the fears of
Nigerians, including yours truly, that the Yar’Adua
government is playing with fire by witling down the
powers of the EFCC and tying its hands behind its back
in the performance of its statutory duties in the name
of oversight.
In specific terms the AG was reported to have sought for
and obtained presidential approval to vet all cases
before the EFCC before they are investigated and
prosecuted; in effect, bringing the EFCC under the
Direct Control of the AG as part of the Ministry of
Justice.
This is clearly not the intendment of the law
establishing the EFCC as a separate and distinct
anti-graft agency vested with the powers to investigate
and prosecute persons who run foul of economic and
financial crimes as stipulated in its enabling laws. The
AG of the Federation therefore has no powers to meddle
in the investigation and prosecution of specific cases
before the agency as demanded by the AG. The powers of
the AG over the agency as stipulated in the constitution
are general in nature and not specific. For the
avoidance of doubt the EFCC and ICPC are not statutory
appendages of the Federal Ministry of Justice. Therefore
meddling or seeking to meddle in the investigation and
prosecution of specific cases by the AG is tantamount to
obstruction of justice. Not even the AG of the
Federation, nor the President himself, has the right to
obstruct justice just because he is the AG, or President
as the case may be.
Our overzealous AG, who apparently, is now out to
protect his former corrupt client/governors, should be
told in black and white and in unmistakeable terms, that
he is not above the laws of the land and he could be
held liable to charges of the obstruction of justice at
the end of his tenure by another administration if
Yar'Adua would not do it. It's about time we established
minimum standards official conduct in public service and
people should not be allowed to use public office to
further personal interests as the AG has clearly
demonstrated, and illegally so.
But why would the AG go so far as to tie the hands of
the EFCC in carrying out its duties? The answer lies in
the last paragraph of the above quote: President Musa
Yar’Adua is currently under intense pressure to dump the
war on corruption and other policies initiated by his
predecessor, President Olusegun Obasanjo. This now
appears to be Yar'Adua's driving force rather than
advancing those policies as he had repeated pledged
before the world. What a betrayal!
His bunch of ill-advisers think that, that would make
him popular with Nigerians because they naively and
ignorantly think that Nigerians hate anything associated
with the former President. Thus, President Yar’Adua now
appears to be listening to busy bodies who have been
urging him to dump the policies and programs of
President Obasanjo despite assurances to the contrary
for which I had written to commend him previously.
(Please see my article accessible through this link):
http://www.nigerian-newspaper.com/presidential-policy-assurances.htm
He is listening to ill-advisers clamoring and urging him
to distance himself from any and everything Obasanjo.
And, rather naively, President Yar’Adua thinks that just
because some corrupt Nigerian politicians in the bad
books of EFCC and their acolytes were giving EFCC bad
press, alleging that EFCC is a tool for political witch
hunt, clipping the wings of Ribadu and the EFCC would be
popular with Nigerians, and Nigerians would hail him.
He couldn’t be more wrong! He picked on the wrong
policy. Had he reversed the increase in gas price
Nigerians might have hailed him out of ignorance. But he
picked on Ribadu and the EFCC, Nigerians' favorite boy
and darling agency. The swift but overwhelmingly
negative reactions of Nigerians to the ill-advised
directive of the AG shows just how naïve and gravely
mistaken President Yar’Adua and his rookie AG are!
Someone needs to tell Yar'Adua that contrary to the
views of his bunch of ill-advisers Nigerians do not hate
the policies and programs of former President Obasanjo,
they only have issues with his style of governance! Is
that clear to you guys out there presidential dumbheads?
Thus EFCC is the darling of Nigerians just as NAFDAC and
the GSM revolutions are. Nigerians love those policies
because they are a huge success and everyone associates
with success. Even Na'Abba, former Speaker of the House
of Representatives, who is a known Obasanjo antagonist,
was claiming authorship of Obasanjo's policies because
of the success achieved in their implementation. Or,
else why would Obasanjo's sworn enemy like Na'Abba claim
success of a failed policies if the the policies had
failed. By tinkling with Obasanjo's policies in an
attempt to curry cheap popularity of Nigerians is the
gravest mistake President Musa Yar'Adua has committed
because his bunch of ill-advisers have misread the
position of Nigerians in relation to former President
Obasanjo policies.
With that singular ill-advised and ill-fated directive,
both Yar’Adua and his AG have done incalculable damage
to their public image nationally and internationally.
The directive had nothing to do with constitutionalism
and legalism but an unabashed attempt to shield corrupt
ex-governors who had bankrolled his presidential
campaign from prosecution. And the AG who had personally
benefitted from corruption by representing some of these
corrupt governors in court had his work cut out and was
only too eager to protect them. There was thus a meeting
of minds between President Yar'Adua and his AG hence the
rushed presidential approval to clip the wings of EFCC.
With Nigerians screaming, foul! Yar'Adua has boxed
himself into a corner and messed up his image. It’s too
early to garner such bad press for government that has
legitimacy crisis in its hands in a futile attempt to
run away from the legacies of OBJ. Nigerians are already
missing OBJ, at least in the area of the “War On
Corruption,” going by their reactions as distilled from
the newspapers, particularly THISDAY.
Therefore, I want to put it bluntly to President Musa
Yar’Adua and his bunch of ill-advisers: There is no
running away from OBJ legacies because they what are
required to get us out the woods. It's the long hard
road we must travel, just like the Israelites to get to
the promised land. Any short cut to please loafers and
mischief makers will spell doom for the Yar'Adua
administration.
Yar'Adua: You’re stuck with those policies, for good or
for evil! Why? Because you, erstwhile presidential
candidate Musa Yar’Adua, was sponsored, ran, and won on
those policies on the platform of PDP, which adopted
those policies as its. Therefore, you are duty and honor
bound to pursue those policies as you, yourself, have
publicly declared times without number, without let or
hindrance.
And I might add this too: Stop listening to idle side
talks and govern, Mr. President. There is no time for
unnessary distractions.
In the name of all that is honorable and decent,
therefore, President Musa Yar’Adua cannot now be seen to
be approbating and reprobating at the same time by
chipping away block by block the core of Obasanjo’s
legacies in anti-corruption in the name of
constitutionalism and legalism. The law establishing the
EFCC cannot be more clear as to its powers. Nowhere in
the law is the AG vested with the powers to vet
particular cases before they are investigated and
prosecuted by the EFCC as if it’s a department of the
Ministry of Justice. Therefore the AG cannot rely on his
general powers as Chief Law Officer of the Federation,
to override the specific provisions of the EFCC Act to
protect his looter ex-clients. His is patently in
violation of the EFCC law!
The AG has, however, reportedly overruled himself by
reversing the directive after Ribadu’s meeting with the
President! This is nothing but evidence of gross
incompetence for a whole AG of the Federatioin to act
before acquainting himself with the law establishing the
EFCC! He leaped before he looked and fell into a legal
ditch and thereby damaging the fragile image and
reputation of this administration, unnecessarily.
For that reason alone and without more, I am prepared as
most Nigerians have done, to call for the immediate
resignation and/or removal of the rookie AG of the
Federation, Mr. Michael Aondoakaa, or whatever his name
is, for not only embarrassing the President but the
entire nation by his illegal and hasty directive. It’s
rather too early to display such gross incompetence in
the performance of his duties.
But it's not a surprise given the fact that he is
reported to have defended Atiku, Akume and Audu in cases
bordering on corruption. That such a character who had
been winning and dinning with corrupt elements was made
the AG of the Federation in the first place, tells much
about those President Yar'Adua has chosen to surround
himself with and that speaks to the core of this piece.
It must be observed in passing that the quality of
Yar'Adua's cabinet, as represented by the AG, seems
questionable given the star studded cabinet of his
predecessor.
But I am not prepared to hang the blame on the AG alone.
Much as the AG shares the blame for deliberately
misleading the President and the nation, the matter goes
beyond the AG himself to the character of the person of
Yar’Adua himself. Not much is known about Yar’Adua the
man before and after the elections. And not much is
known about him even now, and he seems to be an enigma,
unlike his predecessor with known pedigrees.
What manner of man is Yar’Adua? What are his real
convictions and how steadfast does he hold to his
convictions? These are the real questions to be asked
and answered in the light of the flip flopping by
President Yar’Adua over policy issues as witnessed by
his hasty reversal of some of Obasanjo's policies
including but not limited to this EFCC episode. This are
the issues that the press should have filled us in with
before the elections.
Now, the man is showing and steadily revealing himself
to us and the picture that is emerging is not dissimilar
to that of another president from the North in another
democratic epoch, which the same OBJ midwifed. And here
comparison with former President Shehu Shagari seem
apposite and appropriate. Uncanny co-incidence? Is
history repeating itself or this is just a flash in the
pan?
Now you might want to consider the following:
Both Presidents Musa Yar’Adua and Shehu
Shagari were school teachers who rose to the
highest office in the land and both are from
the North/West too.
Both are shy and taciturn with dour
demeanor. Both were dark horses who emerged
as their respective parties’ presidential
candidates, Shagari for the NPN and Yar’Adua
for the PDP.
Both were reluctant candidates who never
dreamt of smelling the Presidency but were
drafted to run by their powerful sponsors.
Both personalities were seen to be
incorruptible and decent and generally above
board in dealing with our National Passbook,
yet managed to surround themselves with
corrupt characters! And for that reason
unable to deal with corrupt elements in
their government, the single most damning
cause of the demise of the Shagari
government!
Both are soft spoken, tender-hearted, it
would seem, and reclusive. They can’t hurt a
fly, we are told, yet surrounded themselves
with wolves!
|
Now, these could be positive or negative attributes
depending on how they are deployed in the field of
governance by their bearers. However, the similarities
are just too uncanny and too uncomfortable to lose sight
of. No one would have had any cause for these
comparisons but for the dangerous and troubling turn of
events in Yar’Adua’s handling of the anti-corruption
crusade bequeathed to him by President Obasanjo.
Here is
the chronology of missteps so far:
First it
was the lull in pursuing ex-governors
already marked down by the EFCC for
prosecution. For weeks EFCC was virtually
demobilized by the government in pursuing
fleeing governors who should have been
rounded up immediately after they lost their
gubernatorial immunity. And here was an EFCC
that was rearing to go after them in
presidential chains! No thanks Yar’Adua and
his rookie AG, and here, I might throw in
Babagana Kingibe, the Chief of Staff, as
well. There was hue and cry from Nigerians
of all walks of life demanding action by the
EFCC before all the thieving governors
escaped from the country and go into exile
till the end of the Yar’Adua administration,
before Yar’Adua grudgingly obliged the EFCC
to go after a couple of them leaving out
majority of the ex-governors.
And here comes plea bargains galore! Many of
those ex-governors were merely invited to
EFCC Headquarters to cut deals with the
government. Sickening quid pro quo deals
were cut with the gubernatorial thieves by
the EFCC |
Now, how many common criminals languishing in our
terrible jails were allowed to cut plea bargain deals
with the government? Does Nigerian now have one criminal
justice system for all her citizens or one for the rich
and another for the poor? And by the way, why the
bastardization of the plea bargain?
Plea bargains is not about refunding stolen monies but
about bargaining for a conviction for a lesser offence
rather than the one the accused would ordinarily be
charged with but for the plea bargain, and not walking
away from justice altogether by refunding a portion of
the loot. The Yar’Adua government has thoroughly messed
up the war on corruption with the plea bargains and
Nigerians have rightly lost confidence in his ability to
prosecute the war as vigorously as his predecessor, OBJ,
did. And that explains the huge public outcry against
the ill-fated directive of his AG.
And now,
the ill-advised directive his rookie AG gave
to vet all EFCC investigation and
prosecution; in effect, taking over EFCC and
merging it with the Ministry of Justice that
has not succeeded in prosecuting a single
corrupt case in all of its existence! It’s
like merging FRSC with the Nigerian Police (NPF)
and your guess is as good as mine. In fact
we all saw what happened when Obasanjo did
the merger before it was reversed. The FRSC
lost its image from which it has not
recovered even after it was de-merged from
the corrupt NPF.
Revising a hastily announced policy decision
no sooner it was announced under the weight
of public displeasure, thus showing the
government as one not in control of its
policies but one in total disarray, and
therefore making Nigerians to feel nostalgic
about the Obasanjo era where decisiveness
and single-mindedness was the order of the
day. |
Is Yar’Adua a spineless President who cannot stiff it up
to bad advisers? His attempt to accommodate the defeated
opposition elements by cutting deals with the
treacherous factions of the AC and ANPP would seem to
suggest that. But cutting deals with gubernatorial
rouges to shield them from prosecution while pretending
to be fighting the war on corruption as vigorously as
before, is one deal too many, and that throws up our
fledging President as infirm, tottering, and therefore
prone to manipulation and intimidation by corrupt
elements, well just like former President Shehu Shagari!
And that haunting question again:
Yar’Adua & Corruption: Another Shagari in the making??
Yar'Adua has since answered this question by his
actions: Yes, Nigerians; another Shehu Shagari is in the
making. And sooner or later the rest will be history.
Is that what we voted for? Is that what we hoped for?
Another Shehu Shagari in Aso Rock? I pity poor Olusegun
Adeniyi, presidential spokesperson struggling to defend
an AG and a government that has been caught pants down
with patently illegal orders. This is declaring the
honeymoon over with Yar'Adua and we are taking the
gloves off unless he changes course, and quickly too.
Some of had been overlooking Yar'Adua apparent tinkering
with Obasanjo's policies in the recent past just as he
was about to do to the EFCC and that has to stop now. No
more flip flopping. Implement those policies now or get
out of Aso Rock, for that is what got you there in the
first place, otherwise you would be teaching chemistry
in ABU, and declaring strikes with ASSU, or perhaps,
facing EFCC by now, like other ex-governors.
What a disappointment this early!
OBJ, Nigerians are missing you already.
Franklin Otorofani signing off…
Franklin Otorofani is a Nigerian Attorney based in US
contact: mudiagaone@yahoo.com
