Buhari’s war against corruption

The Buhari’s government is predicated on a tripod: security, war against corruption, and economic progress. Even while his party, APC, and a plethora of spokespersons might not be communicating the tripod clearly to Nigerians, his focus is evident in actions and off the cuff speeches of the president. None perhaps has he made so much noise about than the famed war on corruption. The obsession with the word ‘war’ is understandable for a retired general and veteran of many military engagements, even though he tries so much to distance himself from his military background as seen in one of the earliest statements on how he wants us to address him.

A friend of mine who is a linguist is conducting a content analysis of our president’s speeches to ascertain which issues are crucial to his government in order to predict or ascertain why he acts in a particular way. His initial findings are interesting when he spoke with me some weeks back, he has analysed Buhari’s inaugural address which weighed heavily on security and rightly so for me as that was our major problem then.

Sadly, some of the initial gains on the war against Boko Haram seemed to have been lost, as the terrorists have stepped up their game in the last month with casualties increasing as well. It is quite possible that the many operations our soldiers are engaged in across the country are taking a toll on the war against insurgency, but we shall address that on another day.

Today, however, we need to critically examine Buhari’s war against corruption. Yes, it is the president’s war as majority of those he works with are definitely not on board with him in the battle. Cynics have actually said repeatedly that there is actually no war against corruption but a personal vendetta of the president against perceived political opponents. While this might be a bit farfetched, one will find it difficult to disagree that there appears to be no systemic war against graft. This column has made a case for the war to be waged within the ambit of the law or seeking reformation of our laws first before commencing prosecution, but Buhari has allowed close advisers and aides to dictate whom to arrest or what to investigate in the so-called war. True, all cases of alleged corruption cannot be investigated at once but when most of those under scrutiny are those who are not political associates of the president, one must do a double take.

Just last week, Femi Falana, senior advocate, asked the attorney general of the federation to apologise to one of the justices whose residences were raided nearly two months ago as his only offence was giving judgment against the SSS, till date nothing has been said about that. Two ministers in Buhari’s cabinet have been named by two of the justices charged to court with a court actually granting leave to sue them last week, nothing has been said on that too by the government. Let’s not forget the Dubai property saga of our chief of army staff and the defence minister as well, the government merely issued a statement exonerating the duo as there was no investigation whatsoever on the cases. The president’s chief of staff has been alleged serially to be peddling influence for money with detail provided by Sahara Reporters, but mum has been the word from the president.

But all these pale into insignificance compared to the revelation by the senate last week on the atrocities and monumental fraud perpetrated by the Presidential Initiative on North East (PINE) under the chairmanship of Theophilus Danjuma, retired general and one of the power brokers in our country. It is ironic that a government mouthing anti-corruption as its mantra could make a senate whose ways are not right look like an assembly of saints when senators became the ones to bring out the sleaze and malfeasance by an agency domiciled in the presidency. ‘The Committee is domiciled in the Presidency and is charged with responsibility for developing the strategy and implementation framework for rebuilding the North East region,” Buhari said on October 26 while inaugurating PINE’s board. So, right under the nose of our president, a committee could not account for N2.5 billion in this era of recession? Maybe I miss it, there has been no reaction too whatsoever from the presidency on the senate findings.

Umar Gulani, PINE’s boss claims that the agency spent N203 million to clear taipa grass in Yobe State was disputed by the state’s commissioner for information at the hearing just as the claim of N253 million on clearing “invasive plant species” around river banks in the state was found to be a claim alone. Please find out more about other bogus claims of this agency on how it spent N2.5 billion of money sourced from federal, state and local government appropriation, private sector and development partners.  This was money meant for a region, which UNICEF claimed 4.5 million people are in dire need of assistance with one million in danger of extreme malnutrition. The president has to look closely at his office if he really wants to wage war against corruption.