Twenty cheers to the EFCC

BY WILLIAMS OSEGHALE

It was the late Afrobeat music icon, Fela Anikpulapo Kuti, who in one of his evergreen songs, ‘Authority Stealing’ highlighted the magnitude of corruption and stealing of public funds by government officials and public servants. In his song, Fela stated that stealing by government officials with the use of a pen was more than armed robbery. Permit me to reproduce part of the lyrics here: “Authority Stealing pass armed robbery. We Africans must do something about this nonsense, We say we must do something about this nonsense, I repeat, we Africans we must do something about this nonsense. Because now authority stealing passes armed robbery“.

Though the song was released in the 1980s, a period when Nigeria’s two most notorious and deadly armed robbers, Lawrence Anini and Shina Rambo held the nation hostage, terrorized the citizens before they met their waterloo, Fela’s song signposted the level of decadence and malfeasance in the country. Matters were made worse with the advent of advance fee fraud aka 419 which became so rampant that, at the international level, Nigeria almost became a pariah nation due to their activities. For many Nigerians who had to travel outside our shores, holding the green passport was akin to being infected with leprosy as they were despised and subjected to all kinds of inhumane treatment at embassies and airports. Foreign investment dried up as Nigeria was considered an unsafe place for investment. Nigeria was haemorrhaging due to corruption.

Determined to tame this monstrous cancer, President Olusegun Obasanjo established the EFCC on April 13, 2003, to combat the menace of corruption, economic and financial crimes. Saddled with the onerous task was the no-nonsense Nuhu Ribadu, a courageous, intelligent and daring police officer. Ribadu gave the assignment his all and sanitised the space not minding whose ox was gored as those who were hitherto regarded as untouchables were arrested and prosecuted for fraud. This set the tone as EFCC became a household name with enormous goodwill. The commission was unyielding as Nigerians saw former governors, ministers and other politically exposed persons (PEPs) arrested and prosecuted. The fear of EFCC became the beginning of wisdom.

Truly, the commission in 20 years has performed creditably in the discharge of its core mandates of prosecution, enforcement and asset recovery. Today, it stands tall in the midst of other anti-corruption bodies globally. It can proudly showcase its achievements which include securing thousands of convictions and recovery of monetary and other assets running into billions of naira.

Significantly, these convictions cut across all strata, as PEPs, law enforcement personnel, internet fraudsters, bankers and others have been convicted. The commission expanded the scope of criminal jurisprudence by testing the law in its efforts to get justice and deal with those who infringed on the law. And on the strength of their diligence and knowledge of the law, hordes of commission’s lawyers have been appointed judges at state high court and federal high court while a few have been conferred with the revered rank of Senior Advocates of Nigeria.

On prevention, the commission collaborates with relevant agencies and regulatory institutions to nip corruption in the bud. It has also initiated programmes targeted at ensuring that Nigerians buy in and take ownership of the fight against corruption. It has strategically engaged impressionable young minds through enlightenment and re-orientation to uphold the right values and shun acts of criminality. This success in its core mandate is why Professor LMO Lumumba, former director of Kenya Anti-Corruption Agency and a renowned public speaker posits that with EFCC, there is hope not only for Nigeria but the entire continent of Africa. “The EFCC stands out as one of the best on the continent. They are the best in the continent, not only because the building that houses them is the biggest in the world, but also because they have demonstrated by word and deed that corruption can be tackled, and tackled without sacred cows”.

As the commission celebrates its achievements, the reality is that corruption, like a cat with nine lives, still permeates every sector of our society. So why does corruption thrive despite concerted efforts to tame the monster? Perhaps, as suggested by a 15-year-old boy whom I met in one of the secondary schools during an enlightenment campaign on the ills of corruption in our society, corruption is in our DNA and may have been inherited from our forebears. I did not agree with his submission as there are many Nigerians who have displayed utmost integrity. We have seen cleaners at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, on several occasions, return money found at the airport to the owners.

We have also seen taxi drivers return valuable property left in their cars to their passengers. Of course, Nigeria’s only premier minister, Abubakar Tafewa Balewa who was assassinated in a military coup in 1966, had little or nothing in his bank account when he was killed. He did not amass wealth nor did he bury his money in the sand as many politicians are doing today.

While there is no medical proof that corruption is in our DNA, what is obvious is that there are enablers of corruption around us. It is pathetic and despicable when society celebrates and eulogises those who stole our commonwealth rather than loathe them. We have seen situations where hundreds of supporters of a PEP undergoing trial wear asoebi to court to drum up support for the alleged suspect because “he is our person”. We have also seen hirelings go on electronic and social media space to castigate the commission for daring to investigate or prosecute “our person”. Recently, some young people bearing posters and banners, demonstrated on the streets because EFCC dared to arrest some internet fraudsters.

Though the commission is undeterred by all this, critics deliberately misconstrued the work of EFCC and termed it as media trial. Truly it is difficult to decipher or understand what they mean by media trial. As a law enforcement agency, the commission is duty-bound to be open and transparent in its operations. So when the commission arrests a suspect for alleged offences or arraigns a high-profile suspect in an open court and informs the public about it through journalists whose professional duties are to report events as they unfold, the EFCC is criticized for engaging in a media trial. If a high-profile suspect is invited for interrogation and he chooses to organise a press conference on top of his invitation, or goes to court, seeking to bar the EFCC from performing its statutory duties, the commission is castigated for engaging in media trial.

Fighting corruption has been a herculean task fraught with landmines, challenges and difficulties. But in spite of all this, the commission like the eagle continues to soar higher and break new ground. Ray Ekpu, one of Nigeria’s foremost journalists, in his opinion piece on the presidential election, alluded that the ‘advantage of disadvantage’ was fundamental to the emergency of the winner. For the EFCC, it has been the advantage of many challenges.

Oseghale is head, public affairs unit of Benin Zonal Command