Long live Corruption

Nigerians are angry and upset. And their latest angst is being driven by their governments recent action of scoring an own goal on the critical anti-corruption flank.

After many years of peddling a narrative that it was stridently committed to taming the scourge of corruption in the country through particularly the prosecution and punishment of high net-worth culprits no matter how sacred and politically exposed they may be, President Muhammadu Buhari, in exercise of his power under the law to grant prerogative of mercy to convicted persons, has let go several bigwigs who had been spending time in custody to the chagrin and consternation of many within and outside Nigeria.

Two of such beneficiaries are former Governors Joshua Dariye of Plateau and Jolly Nyame of Taraba.

Even before now, many were yet to be persuaded that the anti-corruption war was delivering enough results. Hence it is doubly confounding that an administration that has failed to deliver results on the other two of its vaunted three-point agenda, namely economic progress and taming insecurity, has now gone ahead to gaslight itself on its third promise. So what is it to be remembered by?

On the specific issue of the pardons granted convicts of anti-corruption prosecution, concern has been raised on its potential for lowering and dampening the morale of officers of the country’s nominal anti-corruption agencies, namely the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC).

This is more so as Dariye and Nyame for example had been convicted and jailed for stealing state funds.

Before now, the bogeyman in the poor progress recorded on the anti-Corruption turf had chiefly been the judiciary. But there have also been other culprits. Poor prosecution has been one. And then there is politics.

From time to time, suspects have had their cases stalled, slowed or strangely run out of fuel on account of the fact that they had switched camps from the opposition end of the political spectrum to the centre. Indeed, in one very gory demonstration of how bad things had turned, former ruling party Chief, Adams Oshiomhole had been captured live on national television as he declared penance on those who were smart enough to shift their political allegiances to the side of the ruling party! Not a few are alleging that politics is at the centre of the recent pardons.

To put the pardon of Dariye and Nyame in even more context, the country was to be informed about it at the close of a National Council of State meeting held at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, where they were pardoned alongside 157 others, on the grounds, ostensibly, of health and age.

Predictably, some non-governmental organisations that include the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), and Transparency International (TI) have heavily condemned the pardon while also expressing their worry as to the effect it
will have on the anti-corruption efforts in the country. This is more so as the country has continued to score very low and uncomplimentary scores on the global Corruption Perception Index.

For context, almost no corruption case of a high-profile person initiated since 2015 has ended up in a conviction and Nigeria dropped five places in Transparency Internationals 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index. As we write, the most populous country in the African continent outranks only 26 other countries on the global corruption infamy sheets.

At the moment then, with corruption cases brought against high-profile politicians suffering setbacks on account of a lack of sufficient evidence by the prosecution, being discontinued altogether without any explanations whatsoever, nullified by the courts, and now the outright pardon of convicts, many are wondering whether it is not time to simply give up on what has clearly come to constitute a very embarrassing charade.

There is also the issue of costs and waste of public assets and resources. For example, it took 11 years to secure the convictions of Dariye and Nyame. Now all of that has gone up in flames. In the case of Senator Orji Kalu, after he was tried, convicted and jailed, the courts have nullified the whole process and ordered a complete retrial! Some other cases have simply just gone cold with no explanations being offered. Indeed, there are better ways to throw away money. Long live Corruption!