Anti graft: Ozekhome queries EFCC on Sylva, others

CONSTITUTIONAL and human rights lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), at the weekend, took a cursory look at the anti-corruption project of President Muhammadu Buhari and gave a damning verdict.

In a long treatise entitled the A – Z and 24 “Do’s” and “Don’ts” of How to Fight Corruption,” he slammed the administration for an alleged one-sided campaign against corruption, derisively saying that those in the president’s political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) are like the biblical Army General Naaman who was cured of his leprosy by washing in River Jordan seven times.

According to him, “the clear message the Buhari administration is passing across to Nigerians and indeed, the entire world is quite simple.

“Once a person defects to the APC, and no matter how corrupt he or she might have been perceived while in public office, or however weighty the corruption allegations on his neck, he or she automatically transforms into a saint.

“One can describe it as political “born again”, wherein all his past sins of corruption in public office notwithstanding, he is forgiven by the APC-led administration.

“He is like Naaman, the leper who became cleansed of his leprosy after being dipped in River Jordan seven times.”

He then queried what appears like the obvious about certain chieftains of the ruling party, rhetorically asking why the alleged corruption cases against them are being treated differently from the way the cases against opposition leaders and critics of government are being handled.

“For the avoidance of doubt, it has been widely reported in the media that some key public figures in the Buhari administration have grave questions relating to corruption with regard to their stewardship as governors in their respective states, and their roles in their present positions. The petitions against them are before the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

“Notable among them are Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, former governor of Rivers State and current Minister of Transport and Aviation; Babatunde Fashola, immediate past governor of Lagos State and Minister of Works, Power and Housing, as well as the APC governorship candidate in Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva.

“Having left office, these former governors no longer enjoy immunity under the constitution.

“An anti-corruption campaign that is fair and balanced should not overlook these celebrated cases.

“Why, for instance, should the EFCC institute a corruption case against Senator Godswill Akpabio and not against Amaechi or Fashola? What of Babachir Lawal, the suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), and Tukur Burutai, the Chief of Army Staff against whom grave allegations have been made regarding corruption?”

He also raised accountability issue over the monies reportedly recovered by the EFCC.

According to him, “the EFCC has been serially reported to have said that all looted funds recovered by it are paid into the consolidated revenue account of the Federal Government. The acting chairman, Ibrahim Magu himself stated categorically, that the commission recovered more stolen funds in the last eight months than the last 12 years of its inception.

“There is no doubt that the commission has made some recoveries unlesss we all, including the President and the entire citizenry, are being fed with well-packaged sophistry.

“So, the question is not whether the commission has actually recovered some funds and properties, but exactly how much the commission has recovered has remained a mystery (which the commission, which prides itself and pursuing transparency and accountability), is bent on fostering.

“The exact properties, amount and sums recovered and in what currency and from whom, and where they are must be made public and not to a select few as if recovered fund has entered into the dark realm of mysticism,” he said.

Meanwhile, as long as the EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), continue to embrace a mode of operation that fancies media trial of people suspected to have corruptly enriched themselves, the anti-corruption crusade will remain ineffective.

This was the view of a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chief Niyi Akintola, in a lecture entitled “The Role of Law in the Political Challenges in Nigeria: Where We Were, Where We Are and Where We Are Going,” delivered at the Faculty of Law, Bowen University, Iwo, Osun State, on Thursday.

Akintola, who is a governorship aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State, urged the EFCC and ICPC to discontinue the practice of arresting suspects before investigation, or commencing trial before looking for evidence.

The lawyer said without a change of approach, the anti-corruption crusade would continue to be fraught with problems and be incapable of ridding the country of graft.

He stressed that “it is very painful to see a notorious corrupt fellow escaping justice due to case mismanagement.”

He tasked the Presidential Advisory Committee on Corruption to take a closer look at all the charges pending in court and drop or amend those that were beret of facts unable to sustain conviction.