FIGHTING CORRUPTION IN NIGERIA

Corruption cannot be fought without institutional and attitudinal reforms as well as personal example, contends

The unravelings of the past seven years should jolt us to sombre reality, if for any reason we are still in the thrall of propagandised political chicanery. Any candidate who makes his election FDPSDLJQ DERXW ÀJKWLQJ FRUUXSWLRQ without antecedented commitment to this end and without a clear plan and strategy

LV WKRURXJKO\ O\LQJ )LJKWLQJ FRUUXSWLRQ takes grueling years of institutional and attitudinal reforms – beginning from the very top to the bottom. And it takes gravitas and the tearing down of the current system.

President Muhammadu Buhari came to SRZHU RQ D EURRP ÁLJKW WR FOHDQ XS WKH much-noised miasma of corruption in the Jonathan administration. Settling in, the Buhari government quickly applied itself to pseudo-reformist proselytising. The government caterwauled over how the Jonathan administration magicked the public treasury into exclusive pockets. The biggest news headline at the time was

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Sambo Dasuki, former national security

We exist in a Dickensian society. Those entrusted with securing citizens against public theft are themselves crooks in Messianic raiment. The watchdogs are themselves bloodhounds and vampires

DGYLVHU 16$ ZDV WKH ÀUVW FDVXDOW\ of the Buhari anti-corruption blitz. The government accused him of being the wheel from where corruption in the Jonathan administration gyrated. His R΀FH ZDV DFFXVHG RI GLYHUWLQJ ELOOLRQ earmarked for arms purchase.

The Buhari government incarcerated Dasuki illegally, denying him the right to defend himself in court. And days segued into months and months into years – they held him. It became clear that the administration’s war was not against corruption but against perceived adversaries. It also became obvious that the anti-corruption crusade was only to

H[FLWH 1LJHULDQV DQG WR GHÁHFW FLWL]HQV· interrogation from the government’s failings. The arms probe has now gone the way of others before it – to the netherworld of hypocrisy – where all probes go to die.

Also, as those accused of partaking in the communal sleaze under Jonathan were put in the dock, the Economic and )LQDQFLDO &ULPHV &RPPLVVLRQ XQGHU Ibrahim Magu, dispatched its utilities to securing conviction in the media instead of the court. The arraignment RI H[ SXEOLF R΀FHUV ZDV ZHOO QRLVHG WR whet the appetite of Nigerians who were hungry to see those who stole from them chalk up time and penitence in jail. But it ended there – just noise. Some of the H[ PLOLWDU\ R΀FHUV ZKRP WKH DQWL JUDIW agency charged for allegedly tucking into the $2.1 billion arms ‘scam’ are free men today, and even the so-called loot has been reportedly re-looted by the hirelings of the current government.

We exist in a Dickensian society. Those entrusted with securing citizens against public theft are themselves crooks in Messianic raiment. The watchdogs are themselves bloodhounds and vampires.

Where is Babachir Lawal? The case of the former secretary to the government of WKH IHGHUDWLRQ 6*) KDV EHHQ VSXWWHULQJ to asphyxiation in court. Lawal was accused of awarding contracts worth over N500 million to himself, but the former 6*) LV EDFN LQ WKH SROLWLFDO KLJKOLIH giving lectures on “good governance and corruption’’ and campaigning for SROLWLFLDQV VHHNLQJ HOHFWLYH R΀FH

In October 2021, the Pandora Papers Project led by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) published grubby details of sleaze LQYROYLQJ 1LJHULDQ SXEOLF R΀FHUV

Nigerians, both current and former SXEOLF R΀FHUV ZHUH QDPHG LJQRPLQLRXVO\ in reports revealing how the Nigerian elite evade tax, perjure, loot, and shore up questionable wealth in tax havens.

A public servant who was recently appointed as the head of a critical government agency by the Buhari administration was reported to have purchased a piece of property worth 475,000 pounds in London, UK, after he was appointed as an executive director at the agency in 2017. The asset is said to be his largest single investment in the UK SURSHUW\ PDUNHW 7KLV SXEOLF R΀FHU ZDV initially appointed in acting capacity, but President Buhari recently approved his appointment as substantive managing director of the agency – despite the revelations by the Pandora Papers.

7KH ()&& UHFHQWO\ DQQRXQFHG LW arrested Ahmed Idris, suspended accountant-general of the federation, over alleged misappropriation of N80 billion. Idris is alleged to have purchased a stretch of property in Abuja and Kano ZKLOH LQ R΀FH %XW WKH WUDMHFWRU\ RI WKLV case is clear. It will go the way of others EHIRUH LW ² WR WKH QHWKHUZRUOG RI R΀FLDO compromise and collusion.