If
you are an avid social media follower, one of the sneering comments from those
suspected to have been engaged to hound the acting chairman of the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Mustapha Magu, a police
commissioner, is one that portrays him as incapable of expressing himself.
Although Magu would be the first to admit that he does not really enjoy facing
the camera, the truth however is that he is lucid enough.
Even
then, the EFCC chairman is a police officer, an excellent one at that. He is
not a movie star! As a police officer he is trained in the art of bursting
financial crimes. Those who have crossed his path, especially his colleagues
and of course some thieving former governors—be they in the Senate or out of
political office—can attest to his incredible ability in sniffing out a crime
from afar. He is that good!
Perhaps,
out of usual cynicism or orchestrated mischief, those decidedly against the
fight against corruption in the land pretend not to see how effective Magu has
become in his position as head of the anti-corruption agency, EFCC. Indeed, we
had to wait for foreign nationals and international organizations to nudge us
into the reality that we have in our hands a rare jewel leading the fight
against graft from the front at EFCC.
Baroness
Patricia Scotland, the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, came around and
applauded Magu as a "dogged fighter" who is doing a fantastic job and
who in the last three years had recovered more money for the country than at
any other time; Thabo Mbeki, the former South African president is effusive in
his praise for the good work Magu is doing; George Opon Weah, the newly inaugurated
president of Liberia, is negotiating with Nigeria to have EFCC to help his
country to establish and mentor their own anti-corruption agency in the way
Magu is doing wonders; the Commonwealth Africa Anti-corruption Agency has
equally taken note of the exploits of the EFCC under Magu and therefore chose
him to lead this very important group on the continent; and at the last African
Union Summit in Addis Ababa, African leaders unanimously chose President Buhari
to lead the line in the fight against corruption on the continent. Those close
to the President gleaned that President Buhari openly admitted that his Addis
Ababa honour came from the good performance of the EFCC chairman!
Is
it not an indictment on the Senate that the man they claim on two occasions was
unsuitable for the office of the EFCC chairman continues to draw accolades from
home and abroad? Is the Senate really representing the Nigerian citizenry who
on daily basis continue to see Ibrahim Magu as the new champion of the masses?
Yes, it has to be because the poor, the hard working and the ordinary citizen,
bear the full brunt of the thievery going on in our country in the name of
politics. And anyone who is seen to be fighting the dangerous battle of
confronting the looters of our common patrimony like the EFCC chairman, easily
passes as a man of the people. Let allegedly corrupt politicians, especially in
the senate continue to whine; let them continue to sponsor counter narratives
against Magu, Nigerians are already seeing results of his dangerous assignment.
Make
no mistakes about this, it is not only in the Senate that the daggers are out
for the EFCC chairman. Even among President Buhari's appointees, there are many
who out of petty jealousy, rivalry and the frustrations of their own failure
are questioning what this Magu has done to attract all the public support and
endorsement. They are even wont to accuse the media of unnecessarily bloating
Magu up without any verifiable achievements. What other achievements do these
people want bigger than the fact that there seems to be a sense of normative
shift in the conduct of public affairs in our country today?
There
is equally a sense of action and consequences in the handling of public finance
in our country now. The days when public officials treat and handle public
funds as prebends are at least for now, gone. There is now this fear that the
big eagle eye of the EFCC is watching and public servants and even private
business people now know that they must conduct themselves in transparent and
less opaque manner in all their financial transactions or risk being arrested
and prosecuted. As a country reeling from the debilitating effects of past
wanton looting of the economy, this is a significant milestone.
And
talking about tangible and verifiable achievements, EFCC under Magu has earned
all the praises being heaped on it. Over N738.9 billion of looted funds has
been recovered in the last three years; 605 convictions have been secured; Magu
recently completed a magnificent office complex for the EFCC, an architectural
masterpiece which, Mrs. Farida Waziri, a former chairman, considered a big
"shock". And talking about convictions, cynics have questioned the
quality of the convictions alleging that only pickpockets and petty fraudsters
get convicted.
Although,
it is not the duty of the EFCC to pass judgment but that of the courts, in the
last month the EFCC has successfully prosecuted two former governors, Rev. Jolly
Nyame and Joshua Dariye, of Taraba and Plateau States respectively. The good Reverend
is now serving a jail term of 14 years and his colleague, until his conviction,
a serving senator of the Federal Republic, was jailed for 14 years.
Interestingly, both Nyame and Dariye are of the ruling APC. Does that send any
signal? Of course, those accusing Magu of going after only members of the
opposition will not like that fact! Lest we forget, Senior Advocate of Nigeria,
Joseph Nwobike, and Mohammed Dakingari, former accountant general of Kebbi State,
had earlier been convicted and sentenced to one month and 70 years,
respectively.
In
the weeks ahead, more convictions or acquittals may just come to us like the
thief in the night just as Nyame's and Dariye's did. This is so because some of
the corrupt cases involving high profile politicians have been slated for
judgment. This might be a huge harvest time for the EFCC and the Nigerian
people.
Although President Buhari and indeed activists like Mrs. Oby
Ezekwesili, Professor Akin Oyebode, Professor Chidi Odinkalu, Femi Falana, Jiti
Ogunye and civil society organizations have called out the judiciary to take
its rightful place in the fight to save this country from the vice-like grip of
corruption, I am told that there is nothing the judge can do when the
prosecution cannot argue a strong case. And the prosecution can equally do
nothing with a poorly investigated case.
It
is interesting to know that Magu personally investigated the cases of the two
convicted former governors, Nyame and Dariye. He also investigated many of
their other colleagues hiding away within the sanctuary of the Senate. Once
again, I am told he is a crack detective, highly respected in the profession abroad.
Some people in the Senate already have this strategic information and have
allegedly sworn that Magu can only be confirmed as substantive chairman of the
EFCC over their dead bodies, to use that weather-beaten cliché. You now know
why!
*Ugboajah,
a public policy analyst, wrote from Abuja.
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