Nyame’s conviction: Kudos, EFCC, but…

Members of the Alleluia Chorus are already chanting, glorifying and magnifying the name of President Muhammadu Buhari and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over the conviction of Jolly Nyame, who governed Taraba State from 1999 to 2007.

Nyame on Wednesday bagged a 14-year jail term without an option of fine after a high court sitting in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja found him guilty on 27 out of the 41-count charge of money laundering brought against him by the EFCC. He was arraigned by the anti-graft agency for allegedly looting public funds to the tune of N1.64 billion during his tenure as governor of Taraba State.

Specifically, the court sentenced Nyame to 14 years for criminal breach of trust, two years for misappropriation, seven years for gratification, and five years for obtaining valuable public properties without consideration. The court rejected Nyame’s plea for leniency and held that the sentence would run concurrently, even as it discharged the defendant on 14 counts of the charge.

“As a reverend, he must have been seen as an epitome of morality, piety and everything good. How will Reverend Nyame begin to explain to people of Taraba State his actions and inactions? How can he justify causing such a colossal loss to the state?” said Justice Adebukola Banjoko, who delivered the judgment.

“Citizens of Taraba had elected the defendant, a clergyman, on three separate occasions to govern them, which shows constant level of trust. The expectation must have been so high,” Banjoko said.

Though Nyame’s conviction is commendable, considering the EFCC’s notorious tardiness in prosecuting high profile corruption cases, it is really nothing to celebrate. Clearly, Nyame’s case is a one-off, the exception rather than the rule.

In June last year, BDSUNDAY reported that while the commission was quick to obtain convictions in minor fraud cases – such as those involving Usman Ahmed, Isiyaku Mohammed, Mohammed Badadi and Rilwan Abdullahi (possession of fake naira notes worth N583,000), Christopher Ngene (three-count charge of fraud to the tune of N200,000), Hannah Abraham (14 years imprisonment for obtaining money by false pretence), Obinna Nnamdi (two-year jail term for internet fraud), among others – serious cases involving politically-exposed persons tended to linger on end. To think that the Nyame case had dragged for 11 whole years! As I write, such high profile corruption and money laundering cases involving former Governors Danjuma Goje (Gombe), Joshua Dariye (Plateau), Orji Uzo Kalu (Abia), Saminu Turaki (Jigawa), Timipre Sylva (Bayelsa), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Alao Akala (Oyo), Rasheed Ladoja (Oyo), Gbenga Daniel (Ogun), Aliyu Akwe Doma (Nassarawa), Attahiru Bafarawa (Sokoto), and Abdullahi Adamu (Nassarawa) are still pending.

Prior to this time, not a few Nigerians had accused the President Muhammadu Buhari administration of being selective in its anti-corruption war.

Femi Aribisala, a scholar and international affairs expert, in an April 19, 2016 article on Premium Times entitled ‘Don’t Believe the Lie: There Is No War Against Corruption In Nigeria (2)’, accused Buhari of “fighting corruption with corruption”. He said corruption was not limited to stealing money, but also includes disregarding the rule of law under a democratic system, flouting judicial verdicts, trying politicians on the pages of newspapers instead of in law courts, unlawfully killing hundreds of Shiites in Kaduna, as well as detaining Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky and his wife for several months without trial.

“The APC does not even pretend to be anti-corruption. Both the corrupt and the clean are welcome with open arms into the party. No politician with corruption allegations hanging over his head is ever denied membership of the APC. As a matter of fact, the party is a safe harbour for corrupt politicians seeking protection from APC persecution,” Aribisala said.

“Apparently, if you are a member of the PDP, you are deemed by Buhari’s APC to be corrupt. But once you cross over to the APC, you automatically become squeaky clean,” he added.

Martin Onovo, presidential candidate of the National Conscience Party (NCP) in the 2015 elections, in a July 2017 interview, said the APC-led administration was not fighting the war on corruption with a sincerity of purpose, alleging that it engaged in “selective prosecution of those who are not in the party or who have served in the Jonathan administration”.

“The government of the day is not sincere about its fight against corruption because there are some APC chieftains who are allegedly corrupt or who have baggage but are in this government of President Buhari. The fashionable thing for any politician who is being investigated to do in order to be let off the hook is for such a person to defect to APC and his or her sins would be forgiven. There are so many examples but let me save myself the agony of mentioning names,” Onovo said.

“In a nutshell, APC is now safe haven for corrupt politicians who want to escape being prosecuted judging by its selective anti-corruption war,” he said.

But a day before Nyame’s conviction, Wilson Uwujaren, EFCC spokesperson, debunked the allegations that Buhari’s anti-corruption fight was one-sided, saying the EFCC goes through a process to determine whether a case can be prosecuted based on the strength of the available evidence.

He reiterated that belonging to a political party does not mean corrupt individuals are immune from prosecution, pointing out that the immunity applies to only the four categories of officials provided by the constitution.

Speaking on Channels Forum, a Channels Television programme where opinion leaders and policymakers discuss and find solutions to Nigeria’s problems, on Tuesday, Uwujaren cited the case of Orji Uzor Kalu, former governor of Abia State, saying the former governor’s defection to APC has not stopped the alleged corruption case involving him.

Kalu, who defected from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC in November 2016, is being prosecuted on charges of fraud running into billions of naira allegedly perpetrated by him when he served as governor of Abia State.

Uwujaren said the alleged corruption case against the Kalu was ongoing, emphasising that defecting to the APC had no effect on the matter.

“Yes, Orji Kalu has left the PDP to APC, but that does not mean that his case under prosecution has stopped. I can recall that on May 11, the prosecution closed its case in that matter. That case is going on and I don’t see how political association can affect the matter that is being prosecuted in court. It has nothing to do with the corruption allegations against him,” he said.

In May last year, Bolaji Abdullahi, national publicity secretary of APC, also told politicians planning to decamp to the APC fold that the party would never be a safe haven for those facing corruption charges.

“People who are coming to APC have their reasons for joining the party. But we made it clear that APC will not provide a safe haven for anyone who is trying to shield himself for whatever he is being accused of. I don’t know any of these people who have decamped, who had corruption cases hanging on their necks and who after joining the APC, those corruption cases have been dropped,” Abdullahi said.

Barely three weeks ago, during the Passing Out Parade of 2017/2018 EFCC Detective Superintendents Course 7 at the Nigeria Defence Academy in Kaduna, Buhari had charged EFCC detectives and superintendents to be courageous in fighting corruption and combating oil theft in the country.

“You are trained to go after treasury looters and oil thieves; Nigeria will be grateful to you for adding value to the fight against corruption,” said Buhari, who was represented by Ibrahim Idris, inspector general of police.

No doubt, APC and its hangers-on would count Nyame’s conviction as one of Buhari’s achievements and would latch on to it to campaign for Buhari in the 2019 election. This is already happening as many of them who were hitherto silent about Buhari’s so-called anti-corruption fight have regained their lost voices since last Wednesday, even though it is clear that the case had been on long before Buhari.

But let’s even assume it is to Buhari’s credit that Jolly Nyame has been convicted, that alone does not give enough credence to the anti-corruption fight. The simple fact is that in the absence of so much real achievements, APC and members of its Alleluia Chorus are clinging onto anything.

But away from the APC-Opposition ping-pong, Buhari has not shown a strong resolve to fight corruption. The fact is that Nigerians get hysterical when they hear corruption. Buhari and APC understand this and are playing it to their advantage. That is why no member of the Buhari government or the ruling party today makes a sentence without mentioning the word corruption. It is now a sing-song. It is their joker.

If Buhari were not merely paying lip-service to the fight against corruption, he would rethink his insistence on Ibrahim Magu acting as EFCC chairman despite several rejections by the National Assembly, he would beam his searchlight into his own APC, and then, maybe, he would also look under his very nose, into his cabinet, and ask those who allegedly financed his 2015 campaign with looted funds where they got the money from.

Chinua Achebe was absolutely right when he said in The Trouble with Nigeria, “But to initiate change the President of this country must take, and be seen to take, a decisive first step of ridding his administration of all persons on whom the slightest wind of corruption and scandal has blown. When he can summon up the courage to do that, he will find himself grown overnight to such stature and authority that he will become Nigeria’s leader, not just its president. Only then can he take on and conquer corruption in the nation.”

Until then, the whole anti-corruption war will remain a charade.

CHUKS OLUIGBO

The post Nyame’s conviction: Kudos, EFCC, but… appeared first on BusinessDay : News you can trust.