At 56, Nigerian ruling elite still united in corruption – Adeniran

With the mandate to use available means to cause relevant authorities to probe and bring to book all corrupt leaders both in public and private institutions, the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL) has been in the forefront in the fight against corruption in the present democratic experiment in Nigeria. Debo Adeniran, executive chairman of CACOL, tells NATHANIEL AKHIGBE in this interview how existence of sacred cows is stalling the fight against corruption. Excerpts:

Since the cardinal objective of CACOL is advocating for the arrest, trial, conviction and jailing of corrupt officials both in public and private sectors, how successful would you say CACOL has been in pursuing this mandate?

Thanks very much. But first and foremost I should tell you that we are not in a position to do accurate assessment of ourselves because most often, the ‘duty bearers’ (these are state actors), they don’t own up that certain reforms or changes are due to the pressure that civil society mount on them.

But the few we know are occasions when we forced the authority to make public statement or reversed some of their unwholesome policies. I can tell you that the trial of former Governor of Delta State, James Ibori was one of those we could say are our project; when at a stage he was arraigned in Kaduna for the crime he committed in Delta State, we were in Kaduna. It was our members that James Ibori’s supporters fought in the premises of Kaduna High Court and some of us were injured; but we were not deterred. We waited patiently because the case was adjourned. We kept up mounting pressure on the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) that they should continue with the trial anywhere in Nigeria. We were reminding the EFCC that look, Federal High Court is one; the head of the Court can assign a case that goes to Federal High Court to any division of the Court in Nigeria that they should not allow the claims by the defense to deter them. They (EFCC) didn’t bother until when the then Attorney-General said in the media that three former governors (Joshua Dariye, Bola Tinubu and James Ibori) have been cleared of any culpability of the offenses they were alleged to have committed. That infuriated CACOL because we knew, especially James Ibori, couldn’t have wriggled out of all the charges. One of the charges is the $15 million he attempted bribing Nuhu Ribadu with; and we knew that the enormous amount of money wasn’t in the Central Bank. If he was innocent of other over 100 count charges he would not be innocent of this particular one; especially when there is evidence on the ground. So we matched to the EFCC; and by this time, it was the regime of Madam Farida Waziri. She invited and discussed with us in the presence of the media. She told us the statement that the governors have been cleared of all charges didn’t emanate from the EFCC and that within three weeks from the date we met, Ibori would be back in court. It was alleged that Ibori had a hand in the appointment of Madam Farida into the EFCC. So, we now insisted that Farida Waziri should take the matter to court if she doesn’t want to stay indicted; that she got to office through unlawful means. We followed up with multiple petitions we wrote to the (National Judicial Council (NJC); the NJC said our case was lacking in merit and threw it out, and yet, we didn’t stop. We were following Ibori anywhere he went. When he went to Dubai our people were there to welcome him. It was members of CACOL that actually informed the Dubai authority that there was a fugitive in their own country and was not staying in conventional hotel. That forced him out of his hideout to go to conventional hotel where he was promptly arrested. And because the UAE has legal assistance treaty with the UK, which we didn’t have as at then, I don’t know if we have signed it in these Buhari days, they promptly acceded the UK’s request that Ibori should be extradited to the UK, and the rest is history.
The Obasanjo case was another credit to CACOL which we did public protest about in November 2007, as soon as he left office.
What was it about Obasanjo?
It was about monumental corruption under his regime: the raising of N6 billion to build a Presidential Library; the more than 400 shares in the Transcorp Hotel; the building of the Bells University; the upgrading of his farm; the $16 billion NIPP power money and several other corruption scandals that we noticed. We discovered that Obasanjo was stupendously richer than he should ordinarily be. We calculated his salary, which was less than N3 million on monthly bases and if he had earned that throughout his life time, he couldn’t have been able to accumulate as much assets as he had by then. So, we asked the EFCC to invoke the relevant portions of the Act under which they have powers, to investigate, if need be, to prosecute Obasanjo. They responded and we adopted the petition. But after that we didn’t hear anything. That was when Nuhu Ribadu was holding sway in the EFCC. But when Farida came, she made a public statement that there was no petition against Obasanjo that she could work on. That also got us infuriated. We went on the streets protesting against Farida that we submitted petition on so date and took the acknowledgement copy of the same petition which was received at the EFCC Lagos zonal office back there. Incidentally, it was the same person who received the original petition that received the re-submitted copy; and of course, the headquarters in Abuja sent Femi Babafemi, who was then spokesperson for the EFCC to join the then zonal head in Lagos to receive our petition again; which they did. The EFCC then promised to do something graphic about the petition. We met with Farida the following day who confirmed with her own mouth that she had our petition against Obasanjo. Two weeks later, they informed us orally that they have set up a five man panel to investigate the veracity of our claim and that they are coming up with a report. After about a year or two, we were asking EFCC about ‘the panel you set up haven’t they come up with any report?’ They told us that there was a discreet report but that it would not be released to us. It was another reason for us to agitate. It was after the same Obasanjo published his book “My Watch” that we discovered that the so called ‘discreet report’ has been released to the subject of our petition and we, the petitioners did not have any information about it. The report exonerated Obasanjo from the allegations without us knowing; they didn’t even sign us out, that is why we have every reason to believe that their report was wrong. So, in his “My Watch”, Obasanjo lashed out on us and said all sorts of negative things about CACOL and the person of Debo Adeniran. If not for us, Obasanjo would have wanted everything to be covered up completely.
Sir, when one looks at the EFCC as an institution since it was established in 2003, it has not sent many corrupt leaders it has tried to jail. Those it has convicted so far are not Nigerian political leaders. What is your view on this?
Well, you see, your observation is the true reflection of the kind of leadership we have been cursed with in this country; to the extent that our ruling elite always want to protect one of their own no matter how hideous the crime they have committed could have been. So, that is the reason you are not seeing public exposure of persons being prosecuted the way they deserve. The judicial system is a reflection of the rot that has pervaded the whole ruling atmosphere in this country. It is the criminals that are wining; the innocents are the victims of the crimes publicly exposed persons. So, most of the time, they leave those criminals off the hook and they (EFCC) arrest the small flies to show the world that at least, they are doing something. As a matter of fact, the Nigerian State doesn’t want any anti-corruption institutions to achieve the aim of setting them up. They only wanted to use them to bamboozle the world. And that is why CACOL in its activities have made it a point of duty that as dilapidated as the institutions are, we will assist them in actually getting them to see the reasons why they should perform their duty as diligently as possible. So, it doesn’t matter what the state wants; we will continue to encourage them and as a matter of fact, expose any shenanigan orchestrated by those running these institutions and make it impossible for them to cover up some of these crimes. Part of it is the Ibori and Obasanjo’s cases I have sighted earlier. Every year we keep reminding the agency this is the job you have not done. However, it is not totally tale of woes. You remember the case of Tafa Balogun, the former IG of Police; the case of Cecilia Ibru; the case of Bode George, although, he wriggled out of his own case, but it was a conclusive decision. Then there is this Abdulrasheed Maina, the pension funds scandal. Despite the fact that many of them are slapped on the wrist punishment; the Igbinedion brothers were also convicted. So, all of them were ex-convicts, no matter what we say. It is we Nigerians that should force our own institutions to do what they are set up to do; and we should shout on anyone that wants to impede their progress; when Nigerians begin to ostracise corrupt leaders from their immediate communities; when Nigerians begin to stone treasure-looters on the road; when they begin to face justice on the court of the people, then, we would have made progress. It is Nigerian people that should be ready to confront these elements that have made their lives almost impossible to live. Even the judges and lawyers who helped these criminals to circumvent justice should be treated as accomplices and should be stoned out of their communities. Once we don’t allow evil people to reside with us, they will also see reasons why they should do what will actually benefit majority of the people.

One of the premises that brought the President Muhammadu Buhari led APC government to power was a stout promise to fight corruption. With the likes of Tukur Buratai, Chief of Army Staff who bought houses worth N120 million in Dubai against Nigerian military laws still in government, how sincere would you say this government has been in the so-called fight against corruption?
To a very large extent, when you get to the city of the blind, the one-eyed-man would be made the king. A situation whereby you have a preponderant of the ruling elite to be corrupt, you will just start from where you have the capacity to start. You want to be strategic and tactical. It is my imagination. I am not speaking for the government, neither have I signed Buhari out; but I believe that is what he is doing. I believe he must have accessed the situation and said that ‘if we want to round up all the corrupt public exposed persons, there won’t be anybody left’; and he would be alone, and it is not safe. Nobody is made to be safe under such approach. He didn’t start from the military, but he has dealt with some of its officers; he has dealt with some people in the Customs; in the Police and the rest of them. Then, some of the public exposed persons are undergoing trial. Under the new administration of Justice Act, I believe that what is going on in the judiciary is what needs to be tackled by the judicial officers themselves. A situation where they still allow indicted politicians to delay or try to circumvent the course of justice should be brought to an end. If that is brought to an end, then, it will not take time for the judiciary to dispense with adjudication the cases that are pending. The institutions themselves are overwhelmed. But that being as it may, a Buratai, who has admitted that he has so much but was being justified by the military hierarchy, is like a dent in whatever clean record that the regime has. We don’t have details of what they considered before exonerating Buratai. Until they show us the details, the regime stands indicted. We believe that you can’t fight corruption with corruption. If you allowed corrupt elements to remain in government he is going to do everything to protect his corruptly acquired properties. The same thing is happening in the National Assembly. Majority of those who are making and amending our laws; who are carrying out oversight functions on other arms of government, are indicted of one corrupt practice or the other. And this doesn’t speak well of a country like ours, the most populous black nation in the world. The issue is that if we are carrying the toga of a ‘giant’ in Africa and we are behaving like an ant, then, it is a point of shame. Because when you see the NASS Chairman, Bukola Saraki, oscillating between witness box in the Code of Conduct Tribunal and that exalted chair of NASS, you wonder what laws would he wants to make that will make it possible for CCT to send him to jail. He is not going to do that. When his wife was invited by the EFCC to answer questions bordering on corruption, many of the so-called ‘distinguished senators’, left the job they were elected to perform and went to the EFCC with the wife of their leader; with a view to intimidating the EFCC to submission. The whole of Senate is on trial by allowing a suspected criminal to be presiding over its businesses. Whether Saraki’s case is politically-motivated or not, the truth is that, he should prove whether he is guilty as charged or not. It doesn’t matter how we get the criminals to answer questions from the law. It is how the judicial arm of government treats the case that will determine whether he was being witch-hunted or not because of how he emerged as Senate President. Everything that has brought Saraki to political prominent has been politically-motivated. If you are not a fat rat you will not make yourself a target of the fat cat. Saraki should go through his own trial and prove his innocence. I also like to say that it is not true that the regime has not indicted members of its party. Whether we like it or not, Saraki and Dogora are members of the APC. We should not join their propaganda because they are just looking for every strand of straw to hold because they are already drowning; we should not amplify the position of those who want to thwart the corruption war or play into their hands.

We did a report recently where we discovered that INEC is not auditing political parties and publishing its findings for Nigerians to know how elections are funded as required by law. How should Nigerians go about demanding that INEC do the right thing ahead of 2019 general election?
What to do is to change the system. As long as we are operating under profligate and prodigal system, we will continue to have circumvention of the course of justice. There is no institution that has not been shortchanging Nigerians; including the Customs, the Police, the Army and the INEC. The reason being that all of them have a hand in glove; they are all united when it comes to circumventing the course of justice. They don’t want any institution to work so that they will not be exposed and INEC is one of them. I have told you that majority of the elected officials, including Mr. President himself, cannot swear that nothing unbecoming happened during the process of their election. Mr. President is aware that the amount of money spent during his campaign is far and higher than what is recommended in the electoral act. But he is not going to say that to the world that the process that brought him to office is a corrupt process. Even when the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua confirmed that the process that brought him to power was faulty, of course he was the most honest of all of them, but he didn’t relinquish that power. He held on to that corrupt proceed of corrupt process. So, this is the problem with the system we are running. Until we have a system where anybody who wants to context election would not be allowed to spend his own money but government spending on behalf of qualified candidates, we will not make progress. As a matter of fact, all platforms, radio, television, open fora, would be organised by the state and nobody will go beyond that. It is then we are going to have sanity in the electoral process. INEC is incapacitated by inadequate funding. Those who don’t want them to audit political parties will also be working against them at the places where they can get funds. Until we have an INEC that is truly financially and legally independent, then, we are not going to get it right. They will be opened to manipulation. And as long as Nigerians are made to be ravaged by poverty and other social inadequacies, they will continue to accept bribe to do the wrong thing. Nigerians have been cowed by poverty and inadequate education. The political elite do not want our children to learn the way their children are learning. They want to relegate our own children to the level of perpetual hewers of woods and fetchers of their water; while they continue to lord it over us. That is why the education sector has been bastardised; you cannot go to school and come out with a degree you can successfully defend. You cannot compare a Nigerian degree to a degree obtained in a saner society; because you cannot pay extra money for extra lectures somewhere. Everyday things are changing and our universities are not changing. Even when our graduates come out of school there is no job for them to do. Many business buildings have been turned to Churches and Mosques. You even want to create a job for yourself, there are no incentives; when you decide to go to the bush to plant, there is no road to bring out the farm produce to places where they can be bought; there is no storage facility; there is no micro credit, every incentives for the creation of small businesses are not in place. These are some of the reasons Nigeria is degenerating day in day out. But sadly, Nigerian children do not know what to do about it; they do not know what constitutes their rights and defend it; they don’t even think they should make sacrifices for the good of their own country which will make it better for everybody. Nigerians have become complacent and passive onlookers.