BY BRIGHT JACOB
JACOB
Even though the President Bola Tinubu-triggered tsunami currently sweeping through the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission made Nigerians to breathe a sigh of relief because the “cleansing” process taking place in the two high profile institutions is long overdue, ordinary citizens, however, cannot wrap their heads around the reason why chairperson after chairperson of the nation’s anti-corruption agency, the EFCC, have continued to be “disgraced” out of office.
Last Wednesday, Tinubu suspended the Chairperson of the EFCC, Abdulrasheed Bawa, from office indefinitely, pending the conclusion of an investigation into his stewardship while in office.
According to a statement released by the Director of Information, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Willie Bassey, the suspension resulted from “weighty allegations of abuse of office levelled against him (Bawa).”
The embattled former EFCC boss was also invited by Nigeria’s secret police, the Department of State Services, for questioning and has since been cooling his heels with them.
Interestingly, Bawa’s predicament followed the suspension and arrest of erstwhile CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, who is also a guest of the DSS and currently helping them with their investigation.
Bawa’s grace to grass story makes it seem like a curse hovered over those who sat as chair of the anti-graft agency. None of the past chairpersons ever completed his or her tenure. They are usually jettisoned, thereby making Nigerians to sometimes question the sincerity of the government that kicked them out.
In addition, all the former Chairpersons of the EFCC faced similar accusations ranging from alleged selective prosecution of corrupt Nigerians, abuse of office, corruption, diverting recovered or seized loot to plain simply being accused of “going soft” on corrupt politicians.
“Even the appointment process…some of them didn’t even conform to the EFCC Act. For instance, as at the time Bawa was appointed, he was not qualified for the position by the Act. So, when you have all this lawlessness and impunity, what do you expect?”
And the trend is that such accusations are usually followed by the sack of the EFCC chairperson, courtesy of a President who newly comes to power and doesn’t “know” the chairperson, just like the new Pharaoh in the Bible who came to the throne but didn’t know Joseph. Thus, putting Joseph’s brethren, the Israelites, in bondage.
THE GENESIS
After the EFCC was established in 2003 by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Nuhu Ribadu became its pioneer chairperson. Because Ribadu had the full support of Obasanjo, he brought the anti-corruption fight to the doorsteps of political big guns and hitherto untouchable Nigerians who were seemingly above the law.
However, in 2007 when Obasanjo left office and the late Umaru Yar’Adua took over as President, Ribadu was accused of doing “too much” and had a running battle with then Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Michael Aondoakaa.
Ribadu was unceremoniously relieved of his duties in December 26, 2007, by then Inspector General of Police, Mike Okiro, who sent him to the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies to, according to Okiro, make Ribadu a better officer.
The onward procedure to the NIPSS, however, was allegedly precipitated and necessitated after Ribadu arrested and tried to prosecute an ally of Yar’Adua, James Ibori, a former Governor of Delta State.
According to analysts then, Ribadu probably bit more than he could chew.
Though Okiro also claimed that the removal was not an act that would constitute clogs in the wheel of the anti-corruption fight, Ribadu would counter that position years later, saying he was removed by the powers that be to pave way for the destruction of the EFCC and that corruption was fighting back.
It didn’t stop there, either. Before his graduation from NIPSS, Ribadu was prevented from being a part of the graduation ceremony. He was demoted and dismissed from the Police force by the Police Service Commission in 2008, though the court later reversed the decision, and reinstated him.
Rinadu was last week appointed President Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Security.
Farida Waziri took over from Ribadu in May 2008 as the top gun of the EFCC. She was appointed by Yar’Adua and her coming elicited admiration from Nigerians who were fascinated about the prospect of a woman leading the anti-corruption charge in the country.
Waziri’s fairy tail coming was, however, later clouded by allegations that she was sponsored by some past and allegedly corrupt Governors like Victor Attah of Akwa Ibom State and James Ibori of Delta State who were doing all they could to escape the EFCC dragnet.
Another low point for Waziri which didn’t help matters for her was the position of experts and some reputable international bodies who claimed that the EFCC under Waziri was all bark, but no bite.
In the estimation of the stakeholders, Waziri had refused to logically pursue the prosecution of some politicians her predecessor, Ribadu, initiated, and in most cases, where convictions were secured, the sentences given to politicians were more or less featherweight.
For this reason and more, the EFCC under Waziri was accused of being under the influence of politicians, and her sack in November 2011 by President Goodluck Jonathan who took the reins of power after the demise of Yar’Adua and who said that her removal was to revitalise the fight against corruption, was inevitable as the EFCC was said to have gone cold.
Nine years after her sack, Waziri claimed in her book, “Farida Waziri: One Step Ahead,” that Jonathan removed her because she wanted to probe the monumental oil subsidy fraud taking place under Jonathan’s watch.
The former president, on his part, maintained his earlier stance, replying to Waziri her dismissal was “in the national interest.”
Enter Ibrahim Lamorde. He was Waziri’s deputy who was appointed by Jonathan and replaced his boss on November 23, 2011. On two occasions, Lamorde served as acting chairman of the EFCC. The first was in 2008 when Ribadu was sacked and Lamorde was called upon to fill the void.
And though he handed over to Waziri who became his boss, Lamorde was called upon a second time in 2011 after Waziri’s sack. This time around, he was confirmed as the substantive chairperson of the Commission in February 2012.
Most of the accusations against Lamorde centred around his alleged diverting of looted funds recovered by the EFCC from corrupt leaders worth a staggering N2.05 trillion.
Interestingly, after the new Buhari administration showed him the exit door before the end of his tenure in November 2015, the government’s spokesperson, Femi Adesina, said Lamorde wasn’t sacked but was only proceeding on terminal leave, a position keen observer equated to mean the government frowned at a second term for Lamorde.
Commentaries at the time, too, linked Lamorde’s dismissal to the whistle blowing activity of the CEO of Public Alert Security Systems, George Uboh, who made the damning allegations.
Uboh said Lamorde also diverted over N1 trillion recovered from the sale of confiscated properties belonging to corrupt persons.
Less than a month after his sack, the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, headed by Samuel Anyanwu (APC-Imo) began investigation Lamorde who called it a witch-hunt because he dared to investigate former Senate President, Bukola Saraki’s wife, Toyin Saraki, for graft while her husband was Governor in Kwara State.
Though the Senate in February 2016 mandated its Committee investigating the allegations to issue a warrant of arrest for him, Lamorde was never arrested by the Buhari government and even attended a course for senior police officers at NIPSS.
After Lamorde was bundled out of office, his former colleague who served with him under Ribadu as Head of Economic Governance Unit of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, was instated as the Head of the anti-graft agency.
However, Magu was reportedly not on good terms with Ribadu’s successor, Waziri, while she was in charge. And in 2008, this may have led to Magu’s many “woes” and redeployment to the regular Police.
Then, Magu’s home was searched and he was arrested for unlawfully keeping certain sensitive files of some politicians being investigated by the Commission. During the search, his laptop as well as sensitive files, was confiscated by men of the Commission and he was also detained with no pay for several months.
It was Lamorde who brought Magu back to the EFCC fold after he (Lamorde) became chairman following Waziri’s exit.
Thus, the DSS used their findings during the search of Magu’s house in a “security report” to the Senate in 2016, who then refused to confirm Magu as Chairman.
Nigeria’s former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, accused Magu of corruption, insubordination and abuse of office. And not long after, the former anti-corruption tsar was arrested and driven to the Presidential Villa and later appeared before the Justice Ayo Salami-led probe panel set up by the Buhari government to probe him.
Magu had also been linked with a prophet, Emmanuel Omale, who was said to have bought a house for Magu in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.
However, on October 4, 2022, a Federal High Court cleared Omale of any wrongdoings and awarded the sum of N540, 500,000 million to him against the bank which made an unsubstantiated report of a credit of N573, 228,040 million to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit.
After the court verdict, Magu asserted that he was removed as Head of the EFCC because corruption fought back and had the upper hand.
After Buhari sacked Magu, Mohammed Umar, a Deputy Commissioner of Police, took his place in acting capacity. He was, however, not confirmed by the Senate, and Abdulrasheed Bawa, the fresh-faced, in-house bred operative was confirmed on February 24, 2021 as Executive Chairperson, officially taking over from Magu.
Though Bawa’s ascension into anti-corruption spotlight was greeted with opposition by Civil Society Organisations who urged the Senate to reject his nomination because of allegations Bawa stole and sold petrol-bearing trucks seized from economic saboteurs, while he headed the Port Harcourt branch of the EFCC, he denied the allegation.
Bawa was also known to disobey court orders. A Federal High Court in Abuja even ordered his remand in prison custody for that in November 2022.
Therefore, optimism for the fight against corruption under Bawa and his acceptance as Nigeria’s anti-corruption tsar continued to erode through the years because of these multiple allegations of abuse of office, high-handedness, and disregard for court order and lately, an extravagant lifestyle unbefitting of a public office holder, levelled against him.
Thus, when Tinubu stepped into office, Bawa could not escape the guillotine, even if he had met the President after the former’s presidential inauguration.
In reaction to why yet another EFCC chairperson was axed, a former presidential candidate, Martin Onovo, said it was because the environment was “overwhelmingly dysfunctional”.
Onovo said it was not proper that an “extremely sensitive” position such as the head of the EFCC was under the control of the political leadership.
He also faulted the appointment process that led to the emergence of EFCC head honchos, saying most times, those nominated by the government were not qualified.
“The environment is dysfunctional and nobody, not even you or I, exist outside the environment. And because of the overwhelming dysfunctionality in the environment…that position is extremely sensitive and you will know that that position is under the control of the political leadership and the political leadership is very unpatriotic, incompetent and corrupt.
“Even the appointment process…some of them didn’t even conform to the EFCC Act. For instance, as at the time Bawa was appointed, he was not qualified for the position by the Act. So, when you have all this lawlessness and impunity, what do you expect?” Onovo asked.
Speaking further, Onovo who contested the 2015 general election on the platform of the National Conscience Party insisted that the crises in the polity exist today because of the dysfunctionality in the environment he highlighted.
“Have you even seen a wealthy man who is content with the money or possessions he has? This is exactly how some of the EFCC chairpersons end up and continue to take and take even more”
According to him, it was also what gave room for the Independent National Electoral Commission who conducted an election and then “announced and published a different thing on its INEC Results Viewing portal” to tell those who were agitated to go to court.
Onovo said corruption was endemic in Nigeria and bashed the media who he said hadn’t helped matters, either, as they too were under the influence of the same corrupt political leadership.
“The media that is supposed to hold the government accountable is also under the influence of the same corrupt political leadership. Then, how do you expect that an appointee of the corrupt political leadership will not be under their influence if the media is still under their influence.
“So, he who pays the piper dictates the tune. The political leadership oversees all public activity. The EFCC is a public Commission. It is under the political leadership and you cannot shield it from these abuses,” he said.
Onovo, however, said there was a simple solution to all the problems and recommended the late literary guru, Chinua Achebe’s work, “The trouble with Nigeria.” In his assessment, Onovo said the prolific writer stated that the trouble with Nigeria was squarely the failure of leadership.
Furthermore, he said there was no hope for the anti-corruption war in Nigeria under Tinubu and the APC, reminding Nigerians that when Buhari was in the saddle in 2015, he had declared then that the former president wasn’t fighting and that he (Onovo) had been vindicated today.
On his part, clergyman and social commentator, Emeka Onwuha, viewed the crises rocking the EFCC from the human angle perspective, saying that Bawa and co may have been influenced because of the humongous amount of recovered and seized funds within the purview of the head of the EFCC.
In Onwuha’s opinion, everyone in a position of authority where such looted funds was stashed or kept was bound to be tempted.
“I think it goes beyond just a dysfunctional environment. The truth is that these are humans heading the agency, and fortunately or unfortunately, they were in charge of mouthwatering cash in Dollar and Pound Sterling, recovered loot like cars, electronic gadgets, phones and what have you, which were seized from questionable Nigerians almost on a daily basis.
“You see, every time you see those items, chances are you will be tempted to touch one or two of them. It is even possible you could touch and not take anything away in the first instance.
“However, as you keep seeing those items … .in fact, if you are not careful, the images will form in your mind to the extent that you’d begin to see them while you’re driving, eating and even sleeping.
“And one day, you would say to yourself that it won’t do anyone any harm if you took just one of those items
“Unfortunately, the eyes are never satisfied. Or have you even seen a wealthy man who is content with the money or possession he has? This is exactly how some of the EFCC chairpersons end up and continue to take and take even more.
“At this point, they have lost touch of reality and begin to live in their own fantasy world where it would seem to them that nothing could ever go wrong,” Onwuha said.
Continuing, he added, “This is why I always advocate that an institution like the EFCC should not have only one man as the head. There should be two or even three heads, so that even if two have been compromised, Nigeria may be fortunate to have one among the three who wouldn’t sell out.
“Apart from this, I also think four years is such a long time for one individual to sit atop The EFCC. Doing what for four years? This is why I like banking institutions. Usually, they rarely allow you to continue in one responsibility for too long. Before you know it, they will shuffle their workforce and give you a new role. The system will not allow you to become too comfortable in your role,” he said.
Onwuha also said there was hope for the anti-corruption fight in Nigeria under Tinubu, stressing that he supports the former Lagos State governor.
However, unlike Buhari who he said was also praised when he assumed office, Onwuha pleaded with Tinubu to keep his own momentum going.
“For me, there’s hope. At least, let’s observe Tinubu more. He is the leader now, and if he is not corrupt in office, the effect of that will trickle to the whole body. Let’s support him and see how his Renewed Hope will fare,” Onwuha added.
