Akanbi: Integrity Unblemished!
With his impeccable personality, the late chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission, Justice Mustapha Akanbi, left an indelible mark on Nigeria’s anti-corruption crusade and the legal jurisprudence,
The pioneer chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission (ICPC) and first Wakilin Ilorin, Justice Mustapha Akanbi, died in the early hours of Sunday at age 85. If the respected anti-corruption crusader could still hear, he would be hearing how highly Nigerians spoke of him at death. Practically everyone who matters in Nigeria has said something positive about the renowned anti-corruption Czar. President Muhammadu Buhari, Senate President Bukola Saraki, APC National Leader, Senator Bola Tinubu; Kwara State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed; Emir of Ilorin and Chairman, Kwara State Traditional Council, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari; and several other notable Nigerians had good memories to share about the Akanbi.
According to Buhari, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, Akanbi’s greatest asset in life was his enviable integrity and incorruptibility. Hence, he was optimistic that he would be remembered for his enormous contributions to entrenching credibility and respect to Nigeria’s judiciary.
“Being respected by the people for your honesty and patriotism is the best legacy a man can leave behind. In a country where corruption is perceived as fashionable, Akanbi stood out as a remarkable man who put personal integrity and selflessness before the desire for money outside his legitimate income,” Buhari said.
The president specifically eulogised the late justice for leaving the public service without blemishing his integrity.
Saraki, in a similar assessment of Akanbi’s time, through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Yusuoph Olaniyonu, said his memory would linger long because of his zeal to restore the principles of transparency and accountability in Nigeria through his anti-corruption fight.
“I am sad that Baba (Akanbi) has left us. He was fearless, courageous and spoke truth to power during his lifetime,” Saraki said, adding, “He was like a father to me. His death is a personal loss. Kwara State will miss him. Nigeria will miss him.”
Tinubu, in a statement from his media office, said Akanbi distinguished himself and gave his legal profession a good name and added that Nigeria had been “diminished” by Akanbi’s passing.
“Justice Akanbi was one of the few incorruptible judges the nation has ever produced. He epitomised all that is good about the judiciary,” Tinubu said.
The Emir of Ilorin and Chairman of Kwara State Traditional Council, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, did not think less of Akanbi. While he expressed sadness over his death, he described him as an incorruptible judicial officer in his condolence message signed by the National Secretary of Shehu Alimi Foundation for Peace and Development, Mallam Abdulazeez Arowona.
“We were together in the judiciary at different point in time up to the Court of Appeal. I can vouch for him anywhere, because he was such an indefatigable personality,” the Emir said.
Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State, where he hailed from, described Akanbi’s death as shocking and devastating.
Ahmed, in his condolence message by his Chief Press Secretary, Alhaji Abdulwahab Oba, said the state and indeed Nigeria lost a rare gem, philanthropist and revivalist.
“Justice Akanbi’s years in the bench as an incorruptible judge, his stint at ICPC, struggle for good governance and involvement in community services would remain indelible in the history of Nigeria,” Ahmed said, stressing that he was one of the eminent Kwarans honoured by the state last year for his contributions to national development during the 50th anniversary of the state.
Joining others to mourn Akanbi, former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, in a condolence message to Akanbi’s family on Sunday, said he opted to pick the late Akanbi as chairman of ICPC because of his honesty and integrity.
Obasanjo said, “I recall going through a most rigorous search for a new leadership that will take the ICPC to the enviable height I desired for the Commission. Of about ten people I sought advice from, seven pointed at Justice Mustapha Akanbi.
“His background and disposition were formidably humble, unassuming, and oozing with patent honesty and integrity. I lost no time in settling for him, even though it wasn’t an easy task to be able to convince or persuade him to accept the task. I had to use all power of persuasion at my disposal to move him to yield.
“With Justice Akanbi in charge of ICPC, I did not have to worry about how well. He was, of course, a hands-on manager. It is needless to say that for the first time in the history of Nigeria, the combined and complementary efforts of ICPC under him and EFCC under Nuhu Ribadu made Nigerians and non-Nigerians to know that corruption can be put in check and put to flight.”
Apart from Nigeria’s bigwigs, other Nigerians, who followed the late Akanbi’s antecedents as a jurist reckoned he was an iconic Nigerian judicial officer and that his death remains a big loss to the nation.
After spending his first 20 years in Ghana, where he obtained his primary and secondary school education, he studied law at the Institute of Administration, now Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and Legal Studies in the United Kingdom, Akanbi was called to the English Bar in 1963, and the Nigerian Bar in January 1964.
Though he started out as a teacher, he was an executive officer before he later secured scholarship by the Nigeria government to study Law in London. He joined the Ministry of Justice and became a Senior State Counsel in 1968 and in 1969 he set up a private practice in Kano. In 1974, he was appointed a judge of the Federal Revenue Court, and in January 1977, he was elevated to the Court of Appeal Bench. In 1992, he was made President of the Court of Appeal, a position he held until retiring voluntarily in 1999.
Subsequently, he was appointed Chairman of enquiry into embezzlement of funds and problems in the National Fertilizer Company Limited (NAFCON) at Onne, Port Harcourt in 1999 and later Obasanjo appointed him the pioneer Chairman of ICPC.
When as at 2004, ICPC was still unable to secure significant convictions, Akanbi publicly questioned why the government created the agency, appointed competent people to run it and yet frustrates its performance by not providing it with funds. He also expressed concern that certain existing laws prevented him from investigating corrupt practices dating before the creation of the ICPC.
As part of moves to prepare Nigeria to take on corruption, in March 2004, Akanbi implored Nigerian lawmakers to ratify the United Nations and the African Union Conventions Against Corruption, which helped significantly in the struggle against corruption and as at July 2005, the ICPC charged 85 people but got two corruption-related convictions.
On why they were unable to get more convictions, Akanbi suspected that some judges were paid off to toss out cases. Therefore, in September 2005, Akanbi said, “Corruption has been described as a cankerworm, a malaise that has afflicted our nation and done havoc to our corporate existence.”
He attributed the problem of corruption in Nigeria to lack of will by past military leaders to fight it, inconsistency in government policies, and reluctance by law enforcement agencies to arrest and prosecute “sacred cows.”
His tenure as ICPC chairman will however remain unforgettable, because of so many cases filed in court against the so-called highly-placed Nigerians.
Former Senate President, Mr. Adolphus Wabara, three senators and two Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN), a Commissioner in INEC and so many others, who were indicted for various corrupt practices will not forget Akanbi in a jiffy.
For those who worked closely with him, Justice Akanbi’s success at ICPC could also be attributed to his decision to ensure that those who worked with him at ICPC, either in the administrative or Legal Department, were also people with proven integrity, who would not compromise the philosophy and objectives of the body.
Owing to how he handled the ICPC job, he was offered a second term by Obasanjo, an offer he declined. But it is on record that he put his wealth of experience in motion to establish ICPC and set the necessary machinery to fight corruption in motion in Nigeria.
Despite the endemic nature of corruption in Nigeria, Akanbi passed as an impeccable anti-corruption fighter and contributed his own quota to the struggle against the scourge. He would be fondly remembered.