Standup9ja: As President Buhari returns to fight corruption
It is, indeed, not surprising that the just released report
on corruption by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), and the United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), was damning on key national
institutions.
The return of President Muhammadu Buhari to the country
after his medical vacation in the United Kingdom appears to be renewing hope in
the land. The ecstatic crowd that turned out to welcome their president in
Abuja clearly signifies that the people have indeed missed the president they
elected just over two years ago. Yes, while the President was away, his dutiful
Vice President who acted for him really played the part.
Yet, in spite of Professor Yemi Osinbajo best performance,
fissiparous wind blowing all across country had put the nation on the edge. It
was just a matter of time for something to give. And it is not only divisive
tendencies that threatened the survival of the country while the President was
away; the army and network of the corrupt seemed to have been emboldened by the
absence of President Buhari.
It is, indeed, not surprising that the just released report
on corruption by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), and the United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), was damning on key national
institutions.
The NBS Report on corruption in collaboration with the UNODC
detailing how corruption was festering in the past one year is quite depressing
enough. It is sadly so because one area even the adversaries to the Buhari
government easily concede to its seriousness is the fight against corruption.
And the President sent out signals early enough that he was going to throw
everything in the fight by appointing an incorruptible and uncompromising
person to spearhead the war at the EFCC.
Therefore, the choice of Ibrahim Magu as the chairman of the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has clearly turned out to be
one of the best appointments of Mr. President thus far. At least one can safely
state that now with the benefit of hindsight.
Despite the troubles and the many distractions from those,
together with their collaborators in the government, who have fleeced this
country and stolen its wealth, Ibrahim Magu has remained steadfast and appears
to be among the few appointees of President Buhari who understand and share his
passion and commitment to fighting corruption.
The results that have come with Magu’s bravery and
fastidious work, especially in the area of the recovery of stolen public funds
are indeed salutary. While the President was around, EFCC recovered N102.91
billion, 8.30 million dollars, GBP 29,155, 117,004 Canadian dollars as proceeds
of crime between January and December 2016. Other monies recovered during the
period were 806.50 Dirham, 5,000 Francs and 2,000 Rupees.
This is apart from the humongous $9.8 million recovered from
the house allegedly belonging to the former Group Managing Director (GMD) of
NNPC, Andrew Yakubu, in Kaduna, which a court has ordered its forfeiture. Add
to these, the N1.25 billion recovered from a public servant recently.
Furthermore, Justice Muslim Sulaiman Hassan of the Federal High Court sitting
in Ikoyi, Lagos, ordered the final forfeiture of the various sums of money -
N23, 446, 300,000, N9, 080,000,000 and $5m (totaling over N34bn) - linked to a
former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Allison-Madueke, to the Federal
Government of Nigeria, following an application by the EFCC.
And just about the time President Buhari was preparing to
leave for his medical vacation, a humongous sum of $43.4 million, £27,800, and
N23.2 million - totaling about N13 billion was bravely recovered at an Ikoyi
flat in Lagos. That money, more than enough to overthrow an elected government,
has since been forfeited to the Federal Government.
Even while the President was away, Ibrahim Magu and his team
ably supported by the Acting President and the Presidential Committee on
Anti-corruption (PACAC), sustained the fight admirably in the manner the
President would have been proud of. Another property in Banana Island,
allegedly belonging to the former petroleum minister, Diezeani Allison Madueke,
worth about $37.5 million has been finally forfeited to the Federal Government.
And surprisingly, Magu tells us that what they have recovered so far is nothing
but a tip of the iceberg.
If one considers that the EFCC are still on the trail of
other funds traced to the former petroleum minister and her partners, some of
whom are at large, and the fact that the $1.1 million Malabu Oil scam are still
on Magu’s plate, then there’s no reason to doubt the anti-corruption czar.
Although, it is easier to remember a few setbacks in the courts, in the past
six months, EFCC has secured over 140 convictions.
Yet, what is baffling is how Ibrahim Magu has achieved all these
within a short period of time in the face of what is clearly an orchestrated
design to derail the efforts of President Buhari in the fight against
corruption. Twice Magu had his name sent to the Senate for confirmation and
twice senators rejected him. Intriguingly, the Directorate of State Services
(DSS), an agency that reports to the President provided the ammunition with
which the Senate opened fire on Magu.
The same DSS led what, with hindsight, has now become a
mid-night misadventure in the houses of Supreme Court judges which may be
telling on court judgments on EFCC matters. The same Senate that in rejecting
Magu twice, literally disgraced the President is dominated by the APC, the
President’s party. Yet, the All Progressives Congress has not owned the
President’s Anti-corruption fight and neither has it intervened in the Magu
matter with the Senate with its members in the majority. At best, the party has
remained aloof as if to say, “The President is on his own on this fight against
corruption.”
As the President settles in again to his office, Nigerians
expect him to ignore all the sinister suggestions by the enemies of his
government to ditch the single individual whose work and institution are
projecting a positive image for him at home and abroad. Party people, National
Assembly leaders and members, and even some of the staff and advisers in
President Buhari’s cabinet may come in wrapping their selfish interests with
“national interest” asking that the ‘recalcitrant’ Magu be dropped as EFCC Chairman.
It is important that the President sees through their
pretense for what they are. Magu has become the nemesis of those who have sworn
that Buhari’s war against corruption must fail and they want him out at any
cost. It might interest the President to know that despite the negative report
of the NBS and UNODC on corruption in Nigeria in the past one year, the bodies
were emphatic that the EFCC under Magu remains the most effective state
institution in the country.
This is the time to strengthen the EFCC for higher
performance by giving Magu all the presidential support he rightly deserves.
Ezendiaru wrote this piece from Asaba, Delta State.
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