2003 and the Illegal Use of Public Resources for Personal Political Campaign Activities

By

Dozie Ikem Ezeife

ezeife@yahoo.com

 

With the approach of the 2003 general elections in Nigeria there is a critical need to provide equal access to all publicly funded news media to all political parties and all contestants. This has become necessary in view of the fact that for sometime now, the Presidency and the various State Governors and their supporters have enjoyed exclusive access to publicly funded media outlets, such as the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Radio Nigeria, Nigerian Television Authority, the Daily Times, the various State broadcasting services, the various State television stations, and the various State newspapers. That was also the case in the1983 electioneering campaigns.

 

It is really sad that the political incumbents have turned the various publicly funded news media to their personal political campaign medium, spewing out destructive tirades against their perceived enemies and political opponents. These media have been turned into propaganda machines for the incumbent office holders to the detriment of their opponents and indeed the entire citizenry. It has become impossible to see, listen to or read materials from these sources that speak to real issues that affect real Nigerians. Nigerians are force-fed political slogans and claims of mirage projects completed by these incumbents. It has become impossible for unsophisticated Nigerians to separate the truth from the mass garbage out there. If not checked this trend would destroy our democratic experiment and usher in another “rescue effort” by the khaki boys.

 

We have an anti-corruption legislation that President Obasanjo claims is working to clean up the Aegean stable. He touts the fact that a lawyer, a judge and a few inconsequential public officials have been sent to the tribunal for corrupts practices. The President however has failed to send the Vice President before the tribunal for using Presidential jet, official vehicles and paid government staff to attend various political functions to welcome into PDP politicians that recently decamped from their old parties. The various state Governors who have converted their state radio and television stations to their personal campaign outlet using workers paid with government funds to aid their campaigns have not been tried for corruption. The state Governors, Ministers, Advisers and presidential assistants who traveled to Otta with government vehicles driven by government drivers, protected by publicly funded police and apparently stayed in hotel rooms paid for by the government, to beg the President to run for a second term have not been dragged to the tribunal for corruption. The PDP chairman Chief Audu Ogbeh in the recent past had the temerity to announce that his party may invite the Nigerian army to provide security at its forthcoming congress to curtail violence. One wonders if the Nigerian army is now a personal security outfit for the President’s party. Need I say more?

 

Obviously the Nigerian government does not appreciate the fact that the use of government funds, time, facilities and civil servants for personal political campaign activity amounts to theft (corruption of one’s office) and as such is an indictable criminal act. Recall the furor in the United States over the use of a presidential jet by first lady Hilary Clinton to make a campaign trip to New York. Eventually she was forced to pay for the use of that jet even though she was entitled to the use of the jet as the wife of the sitting  president. Apparently our own leaders are above the law and only talk about anti-corruption efforts just to pay lip service to their utopian promises.

The recent apologies rendered to the National Assembly by the Director-Generals of the Nigeria Television Authority and the Radio Nigeria is a brilliant illustration of the inability of the publicly funded media to appreciate that they are a public property and not the personal mouthpieces of the President. They had refused to broadcast the impeachment efforts of National Assembly as if it was not of news value to Nigerians. Meanwhile pages of private news media were replete with stories on the impeachment efforts.

There was even a suggestion in the recent past that the directors of radio Nigeria and the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria would be members of President Obasanjo’s re-election campaign team. That is how brazen this practice has become. The President must act now to correct this trend. He must instruct the appropriate authorities to look into this matter in other to stop the practice and punish the offenders. The Presidency, State Governors, Ministers and other government officials who have used government facilities and published their campaign materials on publicly funded media without paying for the services have corrupted their offices and ought to be sent before the Anti-Corruption Tribunal for trial. Corruption is not restricted to embezzlement of funds only but extends to theft of services paid for by the public.

The presidency is currently building and equipping 36 FM radio stations in the 36 states of Nigeria. The reason behind this selfish and senseless investment is obvious. The President and PDP are laying groundwork for the 2003 national election campaigns. It beats one’s imagination as to why the federal government would embark on these projects at a time the government claims to be making every effort to privatize government-owned companies and parastatals. The money being spent on this selfish project could have been put to better use. The funds could have helped revamp the Nigerian police and thus curtail the rising tide of violent crimes in the country.

Furthermore, these media organizations were supposed to generate financial returns from their activities. By allowing incumbents to use their facilities free of charge and in some cases refusing to air campaign materials from opponents (who are willing to pay for the services), they deprive citizens of the funds that could have been generated from these political activities. That happened to a Presidential aspirant Alhaji Abubakar Rimi in the recent past. The relevant governments must either require all users of these public media to pay for their materials or allow equal access to all parties and all contestants.

It is imperative that the Nigerian legislatures enact the necessary legislation to speed up the privatization of all government-owned media organizations. This would put an end to the present abuse and allow market forces to determine who airs campaign materials in the media. Privatization would guarantee all Nigerians equal access to these media and foster some balance in the presentation of facts and events. Privatization would also guarantee the sustenance of civilian governments in Nigeria. It would make it somewhat difficult for coup plotters to have a nationwide medium to broadcast their coup. With privatization, each medium is separate and independent and would not be required to hook up to Radio Nigeria for nationwide news or broadcasts. Coup plotters would therefore have to figure out a way to make contact with all the media without their intent leaking to the authorities in the process. That would be a significant improvement to the present situation where it is easy to have instantaneous access to virtually all radio stations in Nigeria once you penetrate Radio Nigeria in Lagos or Abuja.

Meanwhile, all publicly funded television stations, radio and print media must offer all candidates and all parties equal access to their facility. The access must also be limited. The media in question must also charge appropriate fees for their services.

 

 

 

Dozie Ikem Ezeife, Esq.

Attorney-At-Law

Oakland, California