The renewed war against corruption embarked upon by President Muhammadu Buhari has kindled oodles of intrigues in Nigeria and beyond, anti-graft agencies responsible for battling corruption are on the fore with the judiciary becoming a point of convergence.
Since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999, all previous governments made promises of combating corruption but surprisingly, little or no success has been achieved so far.
With the establishment of two anti-graft agencies to facilitate the fight against corruption, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) by the Obasanjo administration, Nigerians anticipated a though battle against treasury looters and thoughts corruption will eventually be stamp out if not completely but to a reasonable length. However, the two anti-graft agencies were able to make some progress which were neither enough nor worthy of commendation, perhaps the so-called fight on corruption was as dead as never. To make things worst, these agencies were rendered blunted and pointless under the administration of late President Musa Yar’Adua, not to mention of the corruption tainted regime of former President Goodluck Jonathan where stealing of public funds was officially glorified and separated from corruption
Instead of a decrease in the level corruption within the Nigerian system, corruption continued to escalate in the last sixteen years of democratic rule. Experts attributed Nigeria’s inability to stamp out corruption on the lack of readiness and fairness in the entire system, with the anti-graft agencies indulging in corrupt practices themselves. While these institutions have had their own share of the blame, the judiciary also has contributed tremendously in frustrating the fight against corruption. Unfortunately, the institutions created by the law to fight corruption has found themselves completely and deeply submerged in corruption.
The judiciary may pretend to be clean but under no disguise, can it exonerate itself from the allegations of clear corruption cases established against some of its top officers. The courts also cannot absolve itself of blame in the past government’s inability to secure major conviction and prosecution of those involved in high profile financial frauds.
It is typical of Nigerian courts to delay proceedings and convictions of suspects brought before its for prosecution, and later handed them soft judgments. A typical scenario is that of a pension director, John Yakubu who agreed to have looted over N2 billion from the pension fund but to everyone’s dismay, Justice Talba ordered the self confessed thief to pay N250,000 fine, John Yakubu immediately paid the so-called fine and was told to go home and enjoy his remaining ill-gotten funds. Similarly, numerous high profile cases of corruption are still pending in court for about 5-15 years without conviction.
The judiciary also sabotages the war against corruption by issuing injunctions to shield corrupt officials from facing the wrath of the law. As in the case of Diazeni Allison-Madueke, a former minister of petroleum who was alleged to have spent N10 billion annually to maintain a chartered jet for her office, but when the National Assembly invited her for questioning, she quickly ran to court and the judge surprisingly ruled that the NASS and all security agencies should completely stay away from the corruption tainted minister.
Just last month or so, the Economic And Financial Crime Commission (EFFC) went after the immediate past governor of Kano state and now Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, for alleged financial scandal. The senator was accused of misappropriating over N10bn meant for pensioners in the state but to my greatest dismay, one Justice Mohammed Yahaya of the High Court of Justice issued an injunction restricting all anti-graft agencies from arresting, investigating or even inviting Kwankwaso for whatever amount he was alleged to have embezzled.
Similarly, an Abuja High Court, presided by Justice Valentine Ashi, few days ago barred the Department of State Security Services, Police, Immigration, ICPC, EFCC and the National Security Civil Defence Corps from arresting, interrogating, detaining, inviting or investigating the immediate past Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Kingsley Kuku over alleged diversion of billions of Naira meant for amnesty programmes for former militants in the oil-rich Niger Delta.
Annoyingly, these menace of granting interlocutory injunction to shield criminals from arrest is fast becoming a constitutional right in Nigeria. The case of Senator Buruji Kashamu who had been on the wanted list of the United States government for drugs trafficking for several years now is a clear example of Nigeria’s judicial deformity, there’s no reason whatsoever for any legally founded court to restrict the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) from arresting a drug baron like Kashamu or extraditing him to the United States to face the wrath of his action. This is a clear repugnance of the law and a mockery to the Nigerian judicial system, why won’t the court allow his extradition for him to prove his innocence once and for all? It is absolutely barbaric and constitutionally ridiculous, this is akin to a Boko Haram suspect or an armed robber getting a court injunction stopping the police or the military from arresting, investigating, detaining or charging him for a déjà vu crime.
This judicial gross irresponsibility, flagrant abuse of power and judicial misconduct has been going on for decades, casting doubts in the minds of many spectators that nothing much will be achieved in the renewed fight against corruption in the country as long as the judiciary continues to do things in the old order, but now that the era of impunity is over, things have to change. This reminds me of a judicial rascality in 2009, when one Justice Ibrahim N. Buba of the Federal High Court granted the former governor of Rivers state, Mr. Peter Odili, a blanket immunity from prosecution by issuing a perpetual injunction restricting all security and anti-graft agencies from arresting or investigating Mr. Odili for life, after the former governor siphoned off billions of dollars belonging to the people of Rivers state into his private accounts. This Judicial Misconduct and Violations of the Code of Conduct for Judicial Officers must stop now or never, it is time Nigerians call a spade by its real name ‘SPADE’ not a farm implement.
The judiciary should not be a clog in the wheel of progress as today’s case may be, it should be concerned more with substantial justice rather than resorting to or hiding under the subterfuge of legal technicalities to undermine the efforts of anti-corruption agencies in ensuring that corrupt politicians and other avaricious public servants who looted public resources are punished. And by this act of letting corrupt corrupt officials off the hook, the judicial arm of government are undermining the nation’s national development.
Unlike the previous government which paid lip-service to the fight against corruption, the present government of President Muhammadu Buhari has made it clear that it will not condone corrupt practices either by the courts or any individual. The recent declaration by the Chairman Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption – “any judge who grants preliminary objection or interlocutory injunction to stop a court, police or anti-graft agencies from arresting, investigating or prosecuting anybody is joking with his/her job and will be guilty of obstruction of justice. She/he will be disciplined by the NJC. There will no longer be sacred cow as all corruption cases will now be revisited” – further substantiates Buhari’s readiness in the renewed efforts to eradicated corruption.
In the ongoing offensives against corruption, efforts should not be directed to the arrests and prompt arraignment of some former governors and other political figures implicated in corruption and the plundering of public funds alone, it is imperative for the anti-corruption crusade to visit the judiciary, which is undoubtedly responsible for making the fight a success or failure.
There is the need for the federal government to sustain its non-interference attitudes in the work of EFCC and other anti-corruption agencies, for them to be credible and effective while the agencies must also be free from political interference. The anti-graft institutions must enjoy full independence and operational autonomy, while acting within the bounds of the rule of law.
The EFCC, ICPC and DSS especially must sustain the new drive to rid the country of corruption, they should not to be distracted or blackmailed to shy away from doing what is right under the law to ensure that corruption does not kill Nigeria. Alas, “we must kill corruption before corruption kill us.”
Usama A. Dandare
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