Between Senate and SGF

DAY after day, the National Assembly appears to be proving many anti-corruption crusaders right that it is not, and cannot be on the same page with President Muhammadu Buhari in the ongoing war against corruption in the country. There is near agreement by the vast majority of the ordinary people that corruption has permeated and infused every department of our life, and they fully support the determination by the present government to stamp it out completely.

But not many right-thinking people doubt that Buhari may not go far, the reason being that many of those who have milked our national treasury dry, and who ought to be in different jails by now, are the same people designing the framework for fighting corruption; they are the same people over-sighting the institutions that have been put in place to fight malpractice. And no one is surprised that at any time these anti-corruption institutions or person associated with these bodies cross their path or threaten their ill-gotten wealth, they will surely fight back. These same people had recently blackmailed virtually all the anti-corruption agencies: the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Commission (ICPC), the Nigeria Police Force, the Code of Conduct Tribunal and others—all because these institutions had attempted to question their unlawful wealth.

In this regard, the Senate committee report which was said to have indicted the SGF, Mr Babachir Lawal, deserves close scrutiny, not least because of the feeling that it may have been purposefully put together with the intention to bring him down. The Senator Shehu Sani-led Senate Committee, in its interim report submitted recently, had claimed that the SGF received a N233 million contract to clear invasive plant species (removal of weeds) in Yobe State through his company,  Rholavision Nigeria Limited. The Senate also claimed that he had remained a director of the company till September 2016, over a year after his appointment, in purported breach of Nigeria’s Code of Conduct for public officials as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution. The report also contains other unimaginable claims.

However, in quick but robust response to the purported indictment, the SGF honestly admitted setting up Rholavision in 1990 to carry out information and communications technology services; but denied any wrongdoing, telling journalists in Abuja that the Senate was only victimising him and trying to rubbish his personality for political reasons. Hear him: “Rholavision was formed by me in December 1990. Now, when I was appointed Secretary to the Government of the Federation, I resigned from that company on 18th August, 2015. I can see that in their report, they are talking about 2016. By the way, it is very instructive that when the committee was sitting, no effort was ever made to invite me to come and make a submission. It is therefore, surprising that they devoted a whole session to maligning me, claiming what is not true without even giving me the chance to come and put my own case before them.’’

However, immediately the report was released, spin-doctors invaded both the traditional and social media to mislead the naïve public over the faulty claims. And from the media bliss on the matter, it appears it is a deliberate and sustained effort on the part of the Senate media men, employing what experts on arguments usually refer to as ad populum, making an appeal to the prejudices of the people. True, in spite of the Senate’s findings, there are many claims in the report without sound evidence to back them. The promoters of the report have deliberately but wrongly assumed that their claim can be adequately defended without support if they continue to emphasize a belief or attitude that the naïve audience shares with them. And their fable over and over again, has always been that ‘“if President Muhammadu Buhari want to truly fight corruption he must then fire the SGF.’’

Like we all know, one common form of ad populum is an appeal to ‘“patriotism’’, which may allow arguers to overlook evidence that the audience needs for accurate assessment of the claim. The Senate Committee knows that its purported indictment of the SGF cannot stand if it passes through an unbiased anti-corruption agency. Many Nigerians, including President Buhari, believe that the report lacks credibility. That may have informed the decision by the President to ask the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation to take a second look at the issues raised by the Senate Committee in the report.

Fellow Nigerians, this kind of report is not enough for members of the Senate to convince the public that they are on the same page with Buhari in the fight against corruption. In fact, their achievement in convincing Nigerians cannot be separated from their credibility or their trustworthiness. On this report, it will be near impossible for the Senate to persuade Nigerians and the international community that the Senate Committee is truthful in the presentation of its evidence.

Sanni, a public policy analyst, writes from Abuja