At the beginning of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led All Progressives Congress administration, Nigerians were told to expect dividends of democracy from three distinct areas – fight against corruption, improvement in the economy, and security of lives and property.
“The fight against corruption assumed a very dedicated slant in the beginning, but went wrong, along the line, without the principal officials in the Buhari government noting the slide”
As important as these three areas – which formed a three-point agenda for the Federal Government – were, the promise to fight corruption to a standstill by the President was taken more seriously by many Nigerians, who relied on the President’s widely acclaimed integrity to form an opinion.
Not a few government officials, past and present, at the time, returned what could be traced to them, rightly or mistakenly, as loot, even before the end of the first 100 days of the administration in 2015.
The fight against corruption assumed a very dedicated slant in the beginning, but went wrong, along the line, without the principal officials in the Buhari government noting the slide.
We do not want to assume that a government, which rode into power, basically on account of perceived corrupt tendencies of a previous administration could allow business as usual in government up to the point of the country regressing in major corruption indices.
Many observers almost believed that the Transparency International, which rated Nigeria the fourth most corrupt country in West Africa, based on the 2019 corruption perception index, had an axe to grind with the Buhari-led government.
Despite its avowed commitment to the fight against corruption, Nigeria was ranked 146, out of 180 countries, in the latest rating, which the Federal Government kicked against.
Before the former President Goodluck Jonathan administration left power, the indices were poor, but a bit better than the indices Nigerians are confronted with currently.
In 2015, the TI ranked the nation 136 out of 168 countries, the same ranking Nigeria got in the previous year.
Careless talks on the part of key government officials also put a dent on whatever was left of Nigerians’ belief in the anti-corruption crusade, especially with utterances like “sins” being forgiven once a politician, adjudged to be corrupt, crossed to the ruling party, credited mainly to the immediate past National Chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole.
Away from the foundation, and happenings in the previous four years, it has always been a sad thing for Nigeria, and a dent on the image of citizens abroad, to read about trillions of naira being looted from the national purse without concrete actions taken to recover them, or make the pepetrators face penalties that can deter others from robbing the nation dry in the future.
Though some stories of looting appeared too bizarre to be believed, it was a welcome idea that the Buhari government seemed to be going all out to correct the anomalies, even when some critics said the crusade appeared one-sided, when majority of the top Peoples Democratic Party leaders were persistently on the hot seat of investigation.
This was not, however, unusual to fair-minded Nigerians, considering the fact that the last administration before May 29, 2015, was a PDP administration, and the fact that its leaders must account for what transpired under their watch. The only snag was what appeared as some kind of protection for former PDP stalwarts who decamped to the ruling party.
In the first four years of the APC rule, when former Senate President Bukola Saraki was in charge of the 8th National Assembly, the insistence on that Assembly not to confirm Ibrahim Magu as the substantive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission was greeted with criticisms in many quarters.
This was mainly because a number of corruption allegations had been tied around the necks of the former Senate President and a few other principal actors, including Senator Dino Melaye.
Despite a damning letter, reportedly written by the Department of State Services, detailing reasons Magu must not be confirmed, the situation was seen as a scenario of corruption fighting back, though it was strange that two security agencies, whose heads had been appointed by the same President, could attack each other, that way, in public.
That occurrence also cast a doubt on the grip the President had on his appointees, and by extension, the nation at large.
The arrest of Magu, some weeks ago, and his detention for over one week, however, carves a big hole in the Federal Government’s much celebrated fight against corruption.
For a government official at the forefront of the fight to be accused of multi-million dollar corruption, and diversion of recovered loot, by an Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice in the same administration, is a peculiar case that portrays the current administration in a very bad light.
There are also counter-allegations against the AGF, Malami Abubakar, which should be cleared, responsibly, in the interest of Nigeria’s image and to halt any further dent on the current administration’s commitment to fighting corruption.
Apart from the investigation of the activities of the EFCC under Magu by the Justice Ayo Salami-led Presidential Panel, probe panels must be instituted to painstakingly assess the allegations of corruption against the AGF and other senior government officials, whose names have been linked to ongoing investigations in whatever form.
The results of such investigations will be taken in good faith by all concerned. Not acting, however, would send the wrong signal to well-meaning Nigerians and the international community.
This will also further send Nigeria lower in world corruption rankings.
We also urge the President to leave no stone unturned in ensuring that the anti-corruption crusade is not hijacked by a few powerful interests, only to settle personal scores.
