State pardon and Nigeria’s fight against corruption

It is disheartening to know that we had a great opportunity for the country to regain its lost glory when we had a change of government in 2015 with unwavering hope that the administration would set an agenda for national rebirth and put the economy on reset. Seven years down the line, the administration has underperformed in fighting corruption, improving the economy, education, and health.

While speaking at the Royal Institute of Internal Affairs, Chatham House, London, on Thursday, February 26, 2015, Buhari affirmed his stand on corruption. According to him, “there will be no confusion as to where I stand. Corruption will have no place and the corrupt will not be appointed into my administration.” Stressing the important of disallowing corruption from thriving in the country while speaking at the South-South presidential rally in 2015 at the Liberation stadium, Port Harcourt, he also said: “If we don’t kill corruption, this corruption will kill us. If you make a mistake of voting the PDP, I assure you, you will regret it and I want you to be serious about your country. If we miss this opportunity we will be worst for it. God forbid!” Nigerians expected that the president would be relentless in the fight against the nation’s treasury looters – no matter how highly placed and connected they might be. This is not so. And yet, the fight against all forms of corruption – grand, political, and administrative – in all sectors must be won, against all odds, for the survival of the country.

When the news broke that the National Council of State presided over by President Buhari endorsed the pardon of Joshua Dariye, Jolly Nyame and 157 other convicts, it became obvious that this administrations has only been paying lip-service to the fight against corruption. The decision of the Council of State came at wrong time and it seems the council forgot that corruption in the country has retarded the growth of Nigeria today.  It is obvious that this government did not weigh the implications of the state pardon before the pronouncement as such interferences only encourage political thieves and other public servants to embezzle public funds and go unpunished.

In any ideal society, the essence of punishing people for committing crimes is to make restitution, deter other people from engaging in such activities, amongst others. Corruption in Nigeria has become so cancerous which makes the electorate believe the current administration would fight and eradicate corruption. Unfortunately, this administration’s anti-corruption campaign has not fared any better than its predecessors because of lack of political will.

Granting such pardon has really tarnished Buhari’s credibility and his stand on corruption is in doubt. Crimes are vices that should not be tolerated by any government and it shows that this administration is sabotaging its anti-corruption fight with state pardon granted to convicted ex-governors. Whatever reason for this misdemeanor, history will not be kind to this administration and its leaders for condoning corruption.

It is still fresh in the minds of Nigerians when Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed dismissed Transparency International which rated Nigeria very low in its corruption rating in the 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index. Lai had said that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration would not take the rating seriously. The recent pardon sparked outrage against the administration with human rights lawyer, Femi Falana and other concerned Nigerians asking Buhari to pardon all thieves in prison.

Let Mr. President recall nine years ago how ex-President Jonathan was under same hammer over a similar pardon granted to Diepriye Alamieyeseigha. Back then, Nasir El-Rufai had said it typified the height of insensitivity of Jonathan’s government to the feelings of Nigerians about the war against corruption. Nigerians then accused Jonathan of damaging Nigeria’s image over pardon.  “Nobody said you should eradicate corruption, but don’t go around pardoning convicted people that have been convicted by regular courts for corruption and then you say you are fighting corruption. You are sending the wrong signal not only to those engaging in corruption but to young people who see that there is reward in being corrupt. That is what Jonathan is doing,” El-Rufai had said.

In my view Jonathan re-integrated a person who had finished his jail term back to the society while the Buhari administration pardoned those who were still serving jail terms.

Those who are close to the President and who care about his presidency should tell him that Nigerians are disappointed. This is not the best time in the country’s history; I don›t know if the President is bothered about how history will judge him when he vacates office next year. It seems he does not care about that and even those around him are in same boat. Sadly, his media handlers and image makers would hurl all kinds of invectives on whoever points the presidency in the right direction. It has become a normal practice for them to disparage and impugn anybody who runs contrary to their principal. They must be guided by high-level moral values and ethics. Yes, they need to defend their principal but they should do so only on the basis of truth and honesty, while employing circumspection and empathy. Ours is to tell the truth to power as Nigeria is greater than any government in power. Nigeria must never remain a limping giant.

• Dukawa sent in this piece from Kano