The Travails of Timipre Sylva
Mabota Alata
It is clear to discerning observers that the current ding-dong tussle between former governor of Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva, and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is nothing but the work of hatchet men wielding old tricks that failed in the past. Not much of a surprise though, because in Nigeria hatchet men are never more active than in politics where opportunities abound in high degrees and large scopes not witnessed in other fields or in other societies.
But it is in an irony of sorts, as it were, that even when he is out of office, when Sylva would be deemed to be harmless, he is still perceived to be powerful and needing to be checked. He must therefore be tamed and pummelled into silence and oblivion by all means and by a degradation of the judicial system. When people resort to raising arms to fight a person who is supposed to be down and out they are inadvertently telling you that the person isn’t down after all. He is the cat with nine lives! It does not die.
And so even after a landmark dismissal of the so-called 42-count criminal charge against Sylva at the Abuja division of the Federal High Court, EFCC went ahead to institute 50 ‘fresh’ charges before the same court. News reports had indicated that “the court terminated further hearing on the criminal action.”
This ruling itself came nine days after the Federal Government, through the office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), withdrew another six-count charge that was preferred against Sylva before Justice Evoh Chukwu of the same High Court. The honourable Judge said he had no other option than to strike out the charge since a valid order (fiat) for the discontinuance of the trial, which was duly issued from the Attorney General of Federation’s office, was tendered before him.
Many believe that the EFCC operatives should have quietly retired to their offices and settled for other tasks in their anti-graft campaign rather than push for the jugular of Sylva so they don’t give the impression they are politically persecuting the man, at a critical time he is returning to the limelight to offer invaluable service to the fatherland.
A group, Bayelsa Democratic Front (BDF), is already sounding the alarm. It is describing the EFCC onslaught as “commissioned persecution”, disguised as a corruption trial. BDF declared in a statement: “EFCC’s strange decision to restart the case at the very court that dismissed it…smacks of dangerous desperation, which tries to rubbish the country’s anti-corruption effort.”
An organisation with a wider outlook, Open Democracy Network, Nigeria, has also waded into the affair. It expressed sadness over the move by EFCC to press ‘new’ fraud charges against Sylva based on a case that had been dismissed by the court.
The group put up this well-articulated document: “This strange 50-count charge against Sylva constitutes an even greater abuse of court processes and from every indication it will suffer same fate as other frivolous ones. Why? Even a fresh lawyer knows that once a case has been dismissed, the only option open to the loser is to go on appeal. It cannot return to the same court or a court of coordinate jurisdiction…Sylva left office since January 2012, why is it difficult for EFCC to prove anything against him in court?”
Now it is going to be as difficult as it was in 2009, if not more so. That year those who wanted to paint Sylva in contemptuous colours claimed that he was wasting the tax-payers money on needless foreign trips. They said as governor he travelled to Europe, America, Asia, etc., to save stolen money. By their calculation, Sylva embarked on 32 such trips in 18 months, which worked out to about two trips a month. But checks later proved that the governor undertook far less overseas journeys. They were travels to attract foreign investors and strike deals for the industrial and manpower development of Bayelsa. When the critics failed in their schemes, they came out with accusations that Sylva’s administration was “corrupt, wasteful, ineffective and above all lacking a broad base with the people and leaders (elders) in the state.” But before the ink with which they wrote their charges was dry, non-partisan analysts fired back. They said the graft charge lacked punch by referring the assailants to the Bayelsa Expenditure and Income Transparency Initiative (BEITI), which was set up by Sylva. It was the first of its type by any state government to institute a regime of checks and balances, prudent spending, openness and transparency in public spending.
Far back then, one knew where Timipre Sylva stood when the issue had to do with accountability, with the application of public funds and resources as well as with corruption. These are still questions of the day that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari plans to work on as tools to bring about change in society.
One is led to suspect sabotage and subversion of the national interest if in the case of an anti-graft campaign court processes are suborned and innocent personalities poised to serve their nation are persecuted for sheer political reasons. The judiciary is advised to resist pressure to be used to blackmail and hound Timipre Sylva to pursue personal and parochial interests. It is immoral and unconstitutional.
These are dirty tricks which amount to a more insidious level of corruption.
–– Dr. Alata is a Governance and Development expert based in Abuja. She can be reached on: mabotaalata@ yahoo.com