President Muhammadu Buhari has raised the ante in the anti-corruption war since assuming power in 2015, leading to the arrest and prosecution of some high-profile Nigerians. However, recent developments seem to suggest that some of the president’s appointees are frustrating his efforts. SAMSON BENJAMIN and PAUL OKAH in the report take a look at some of these appointees.
President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2015 ran an anti-corruption campaign, riding on the president’s personal pedigree and Nigerians’ frustration as a result of poor governance and massive corruption by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led administration to defeat the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan and his PDP to assume power.
Consequently, he swept to power on a wave of optimism in 2015, becoming the first opposition candidate in Nigerian political history to defeat a sitting president. President Buhari, who promised Change 2015, now wants to take Nigeria to the Next Level in his second term and has vowed to double his efforts in the anti-corruption crusade.
The president’s avowals
The president speaking to journalists in Daura, his home town, in Katsina during the recent Eid el-Kabir holidays, said: “For this administration, fighting corruption is non-negotiable. It is a must. We must fight corruption frontally, because it is one of the reasons we got re-elected.
“We campaigned on three fundamental issues; security, reviving the economy, and fight against corruption. It’s the reason we got elected, and we can’t afford to let our people down. ”
However, the corruption allegations levelled against some of President Buhari’s appointees by anti-graft agencies suggest that these men have not yet bought into the president’s anti-corruption fight or have simply betrayed the trust which the president bestowed on them.
Some of these appointees are either currently facing trial in court or being investigated for corruption by anti-grafts agencies.
Okoi Obono-Obla
President Buhari recently suspended the chairman, Special Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property, Mr. Okoi Obono-Obla, “with immediate effect.”
In a letter dated Wednesday, August 14, 2019, and signed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, Obono-Obla was accused of “falsification of records and financial impropriety.”
A House of Representatives ad hoc panel had long alleged that Obono-Obla gained admission into the University of Jos to study Law with a forged ordinary level (WAEC) certificate.
The House panel had tendered that in the course of its primary assignment, it discovered that Obono-Obla may well have forged his way into the University of Jos.
Obono-Obla obtained a Law degree at the University of Jos and subsequently proceeded to the Nigerian Law School from where he was called to Bar.
The Punch newspapers reported that the federal government may ask the University of Jos to withdraw Obono-Obla’s Law degree while the Nigerian Law School may also be directed to bar him from practising as a lawyer.
Aside from the charge of falsification of academic records, Obono-Obla has also been accused of abuse of office, intimidation, financial impropriety, unauthorised malicious investigations and administrative misconduct, among others.
Winifred Oyo-Ita
Similarly, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is investigating the Head of Service (HoS), Winifred Oyo-Ita. She is being investigated by the anti-graft agency over alleged N3 billion contract scam.
Blueprint newspapers’ investigations revealed that she is also being investigated over alleged abuse of duty tour allowance, money laundering and theft of government funds.
Mrs. Oyo-Ita is said to have been granted an administrative bail and was hospitalised, but under the close watch of the anti-graft agency.
Meanwhile, the embattled HoS has tendered her resignation letter to the president following allegations of fraud against her by the EFCC.
Sources close to Mrs. Oyo-Ita said she submitted the letter to the president on Saturday when he returned from Daura where he had spent nine days as part of the Eid el-Kabir celebrations.
The sources further said she submitted the letter of retirement following pressure mounted on her by her family, friends, and associates to do so.
However, speaking on the development, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said the Presidency “is not aware of such resignation letter from the Head of Service.”
Meanwhile, Daily Trust reported that Oyo-Ita has been asked by the Presidency to put her early retirement plans on hold. “She was asked to remain in the office pending the completion of the investigation on her matter,” one of the sources said.
Oyo-Ita, who has been out of the public glare since the news of her N3 billion contract scandal broke, including the presidential retreat for ministers-designate held between Monday, August 18, and Tuesday, August 19, 2019, even when she was one of the resource persons, put up an appearance at the swearing in of new ministers on Wednesday, this week.
She was appointed as the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation in acting capacity in October 2015, and confirmed in January 2016 by President Buhari.
Babachir Lawal
The EFCC is also prosecuting a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, another appointee of the president, for alleged diversion of funds. Lawal was arraigned before a Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday, February 12, 2019, over his use of a company said to be owned by him to remove what he had described as “invasive grass” at the cost of over N272 million.
The EFCC pressed a 10-count charge against the former SGF bordering on alleged conspiracy and fraudulent acquisition of property. However, Lawal pleaded not guilty to the 10-count charges.
President Buhari had, on October 2017, suspended Lawal over the allegation. This was after a panel, headed by the vice-president, Yemi Osinbajo, had submitted its report after investigating the alleged fraud and indicting the former SGF.
Buhari’s integrity
Speaking with Blueprint Weekend, Professor Isa Hamisu, a member of the APC, accused some of President Buhari’s appointees of betraying the president.
He said, “It’s unfortunate that some people whom the president trusted with sensitive positions have betrayed him by not aligning with the integrity and anti-corruption posture of the president.
“In the run-up to the 2015 elections, Muhammadu Buhari, the then candidate of the All Progressives Congress, enjoyed enviable goodwill in most parts of the country and beyond.
“No doubt, many factors contributed to that goodwill, including his reported incorruptible persona, discipline and no-nonsense disposition to issues as a military man whose regime as the Head of State helped to instill orderliness in the polity.”
Continuing, he said: “To complement these, even though he is largely known as a man of few words, he made it sufficiently clear during his campaigns that he would tackle insecurity, build the economy and fight corruption, noting that no one would be spared.
“Therefore, one could safely presume that one of the things that helped Buhari to win the election was his anticipated firm stance against corruption, strengthened by his history as an incorruptible, upright man, especially when corruption had been identified as the bane of the country’s needed growth.
“In his inaugural speech in 2015, he promised to tackle insecurity, pervasive corruption and economic challenges head on, noting that Nigerians would not regret that they had entrusted national responsibility to him.
“Also, while on a four-day official visit to the United States in July 2015, he said in an interview with CNN’ s Christiane Amanpour that he would not spare his party members in the fight against corruption . ‘I just have to; there is not going to be any party member or any personality that can escape justice. It is not the issue of party member. If you have stolen, no party member can escape justice.’
No sacred cows’
Similarly, the Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) applauded the federal government for the suspension Obono-Obla over allegations related to official misconduct and abuse of office.
In a statement signed by its chairman, Niyi Akinsiju, BMO recalled that the opposition PDP had persistently accused the President Buhari’s administration of shielding members of the governing APC from prosecution over corruption-related matters.
“We make bold to say that with the latest drastic action against a founding member of the ruling party and a top government official, Chief Obono-Obla, the Buhari administration has shown that it has no sacred cows in the fight against corruption, and its resolve to eradicate the scourge remains strong and unshakeable.
“We believe that this singular action, and the unfolding probe of the current Head of Service, Mrs. Winifred Ekanem Oyo-Ita, will lay to rest all doubts about the unfounded claims by the opposition that the Buhari administration was shielding its officials from prosecution. We also believe that the federal government’s decision to suspend him is in order as investigations will unravel any areas of misconduct on the part of Chief Obla,” the statement read in part.
BMO further stated that based on the federal government’s commitment to the rule of law, due process, and transparency, there was need to suspend Obla from office in order to preserve the integrity of the anti-corruption war and save it from being tainted with a bad image.
“We hope that the latest moves by the federal government should serve as a warning signal to all government officials that there will be no sacred cows in the fight against corruption as the Buhari administration remains committed to tackling the menace head-long as an aggressive problem requires a drastic solution.”
Expert’s views
In a reaction, a governance expert and board chairman of Amaka Chiwuike-Uba Foundation (ACUF), Dr Chiwuike Uba, told Blueprint Weekend that the fight against corruption by the President Buhari administration is not yet a success.
He said though the president may mean well by beaming the searchlight on his cabinet members, the fight can only yield the required result when it is anchored on equity, fair play, and rule of law.
Uba said the prosecution of Obono-Obla is an afterthought, as he had been severally indicted of corruption in the past without the Presidency acting.
“On Obono-Obla, as reported in the newspapers, has received a lot of petitions against him in the past, but nothing was done. It was also reported that he refused to respect the vice-president’s directives asking him to work according to the law that established his office and in line with his terms of engagement. The Presidency, as it were, never disciplined him for the insubordination.
“He alleges that he is being persecuted, because he refused to do the bidding of his masters. In a nutshell, while I am happy that the fight against corruption is no longer for the opposition, I am worried that it appears to be directed at those ‘who refused to fall in line.’ This fight can only yield the required result when it is anchored on equity, fair play and rule of law. We can do better than we are currently doing, as all are corrupt,” he said.
Anti-graft war not yet won…
Speaking with Blueprint Weekend, a legal practitioner and founder of Anti-Corruption Network in Nigeria (ANN), Barrister Sylvester Iyoha, urged President Buhari and his team to restrategise and review their anti-corruption approach because the crusade under the present administration is still far from achieving its goal.
He said: “By the time Buhari’s government is done with its battle against corruption, it would be judged , not really by how much the EFCC has recovered from looters, the implementation of the Treasury Single Account or the number of ghost workers expunged from the wage bill, but by the number of once untouchable looters jailed to serve as a deterrent; by a public service sector that is well-positioned to deliver services unencumbered by corrupt practices; and by having an in-built mechanism to bring culprits to book .
“Funding the anti-graft agencies effectively for them to have institutional capacity to deliver their statutory responsibilities is, therefore, critical. Some suspects have secured perpetual injunctions, which have restrained the EFCC from investigating or arresting them. Such perverse court orders need to be set aside; the African Union’s 2019 report, which fingered Nigeria as the biggest source of illicit financial outflows from Africa, is still a clear and present danger.
“Similar daunting challenges in other nations have compelled them to review their strategies. It is why the UK introduced the ‘Unexplained Wealth Orders’ law, which shifts the burden of proof on the accused, rather than the old order of an accused being presumed innocent until proved guilty. Under the law, it is obligatory for an owner of a property worth £50, 000 to satisfactorily explain the source, or forfeit it to the government. It was a magic bullet in Singapore’s anti – graft drive. Indonesia too is making progress with it,” he said.
Consequently, a re-tooled anti-corruption framework that is pragmatic, its operators not selective in choosing suspects for prosecution, is the only way to defeat corruption. Nigeria has no reason to be home to the largest number of the poorest globally. Ultimately, the country has to enact a law on unexplained wealth, similar to that of the UK, Singapore, Indonesia, etc, which significant progress is being made in the fight against corruption.
From the fore-going, it is clear that not all the president’s appointees are on the same page with him in the fight against corruption.
