By

Abu Muhammad

We are always reminded by the elites and the politicians that EFCC is selective and doing injustice in its war against corruption and fraud. This by itself is not worrying but recently the common masses have started to believe what these people are saying as the gospel truth.

In this article I will try and situate the whole issue in proper perceptive as I see it, I will try and show that the masses should celebrate the new found opportunity to be saved from the grip of the politicians who used our collective wealth for their own and families benefit leaving us to struggle with the crumbs, happy that we are left with no alternative than to go to them and knell down begging for our daily sustenance. I will also try and define justice in relation to the fight against corruption and show that the ultimate people that suffer injustice are not the corrupt people that are unfortunate to get caught while his partner in crime is free, but the masses whose wealth is consume with impunity. The issue of religious and ethnicity that is gradually being portrayed as being the reason behind the war against corruption would also be dispelled

The ordinary person in Beyalsa State, for instance, should ordinarily not bother that other governors are not investigated, but what should be his concern is the almost N50billion stolen from the treasury of his State by the former Governor that would have been used to better his situation and that at least the Governor is no more around to continue plundering the State treasury for his egoistic pleasure. Likewise the people of Plateau State, whose governor has shamelessly brought disgrace to the people of Nigeria by jumping bail in a foreign land and has openly admitted to misappropriation of public funds to fund political party activities. Ekiti State is also another example whose citizens should not mind that their governor is about to be impeached and here I have to commend the people of the state for having the courage to support the move for the impeachment of the governor and his deputy when indigenes of States like Plateau are reluctant to give any support to effort that would bring probity and accountability to bear in the governance of the State. I, for certain, will care less if my Governor is being investigated in as far as the allegation against him are well founded even if the main reason behind the investigation is for ulterior motive. I would not care if the Governor is impeached and prosecuted and I will also not mind that he is the enemy of say the President or enemy of the EFCC, what matters to me is that the state would at least have some respite and the process would serve as a deterrent to others that would come with the intention of stealing our money. I always differ when people argue that it is only the enemies of the President that the EFCC pursue. My argument is simple, let President Obasanjo bring all his enemies that are corrupt for EFCC investigation and prosecution provided that justice would be done to them in the process, that way the country would at least be free from a number of corrupt people. Let us have solace in the fact that Obasanjo cannot rule for ever, so we should all pray that the next president should also bring all his corrupt enemies to equally face the music with the same vigor and determination that is now being done to the supposedly enemies of Obasanjo. For me let the president after next also bring his enemies and the next after next. Just imagine that if today is the turn of Obasanjo’s enemies, tomorrow would then be the turn of the next president’s enemies. What then do you think would happen in the next few years if all the subsequent Presidents pursue this line of action? But Nigerians mostly think in the short term, that is why most Nigerian would prefer to consume the whole wealth of the nation, not minding what would happed to future generation, they will steal obscene amount of money meant for the people without caring what happens tomorrow, they would assist in the wanton destruction of public infrastructures not caring what the yet unborn citizens are going to use.   

This then bring me to the issue that EFCC is being unjust by being selective. What is justice? And who is more deserving of justice between the victim of corruption and the corrupt person? Is it the ordinary civil servant whose entitlement is not paid, the citizen whose state's infrastructure is so bad that he can not enjoy the good of this life or the accident victims that die daily because of bad roads on one hand, or the corrupt public servant who by just becoming a Governor or a Minister, has amass so much wealth that he can afford to send his children to school abroad, ride expensive cars and build houses all over on the other? Take the example of two corrupt public officers who pauperized the State treasury for their personal benefit. For one reason or the other, one of them is a subject of EFCC investigation while the other is walking freely amongst the people. The elite would hastily say that EFCC is not doing justice to the person being investigated because they have not touched the other. But why is the interest of the masses whose money was stolen not considered in the equation? Are they saying that it is just to steal people’s money in as far as the other person that also steal is not brought to justice? Why not situate it between the one person that was caught and the people that were deprived of the use of the money instead of relating the issue of justice between the two corrupt people. Justice as I see it should be more in relation to the person that steals and the person whose money was stolen than between two people that steal from the people. It would have been a different argument if it is a common thief that is punished leaving the big crooks to escape justice. Before the coming of EFCC this gross injustice has been happening and nobody felt disturbed. A thief who stole one thousand naira in Balogun market would be set on fire in the full glare of spectators and a robber would be summarily executed by the police without due process for robbing a victim of his car that is worth less that one million Naira, while a pen robber that embezzled billion of Naira is celebrated with chieftaincy title and further political office. It is not an irony that you would never hear an armed robber saying that it is because he is from a different part of the country that is why he his been prosecuted or a small thief blaming envy as the cause of his misfortune. This is not to diminish the weight of their criminal action, but to show that all the rhetoric of selectivity against the EFCC by the elite is self serving, diversionary and hypocritical.

Another dangerous rhetoric that is currently gaining ground is the issue of religion which has long being used by the political class to create disaffection among the adherent of different faith thereby taking their mind away from the real issue of corruption and mismanagement. The issue of religion should not even be brought to bear when the issue of fraud and corruption is being discussed. I was telling one of my friend that EFCC is doing a lot of favor by punishing the offenders right here in the world, I said to him “what is Tafa Balogun going to tell his God in the hereafter if the over N17billion that was recovered from him were not recovered”. “How is he going to account for the money?” Is it not better for him to be relived of the burden now on earth than to go the next world with that additional excess baggage?  Corruption is not only a sin against God but also against the people. You can not deprive the people their wealth and expect forgiveness in the hereafter if you do not seek forgiveness from the victims here on earth and refund the money you stole from them. It does not matter whether you are a Christian or a Muslim, a thief is a thief and you can not hide under the guise of religion to perpetrate corruption on earth, nor will sincere religious leaders protect you from the consequences of your own misdeed, to do this would be the greatest disservice to whatever religion they profess. When the going was good nobody among the corrupt would even bother about the religion of the other since both religions prohibit stealing and fraud, but when the chips are down it is only then that the issue of religion and ethnicity would surface.  The same argument goes for ethnicity, people should no more be deceived by the call from the corrupt that they are prosecuted because of their ethnic background.  When they were committing their atrocities by conniving and conspiring to steal from the treasury, nobody among them care about the ethnic background of his partner in crime. They were also not concern that the same people they now claim to represent are deprived of the use to the money they steal. Nobody among them would care, for example, that his co-conspirator is a Hausa, Igbo or Yoruba man. In many cases they would even prefer to connive with people from different ethnic background in order for their misdeed to be hidden from their people. 

EFCC has told us the antics of this people, today they will say it is because they are in the opposition, at other times is because of their religion while at other times they shout that it is because of their ethnic background, nobody among them would even argue convincingly that the charges are false. But what is even laughable is the case of Ekiti, were the incumbent governor is accusing the opposition for his tribulation. So if the EFCC is accused as being used by the people in power and the opposition then it is pertinent to ask who the EFCC is actually working for. I would be glad if the people of Nigeria would agree that EFCC is then essentially working for the people. In the case of fraud and corruption the divide should be among us the common people and the corrupt people, not between the north and the south or any other divide that would tend to mix the innocent citizen together with the corrupt. Let Nigerians rise and celebrate the Commission for the unprecedented work it is doing to liberate the common man from the grip of the corrupt few who have benefited and are continuing to benefit from the rot of the system. Let us tell them that enough is enough. Time has come for them to be accountable for there deed and face the people who for long time have resigned to faith, not in their wildest dream do they ever think that a time would come when the people once considered the untouchables would be asked unsavory question on the management or mismanagement of the resources trust under their care.

Finally, Nigerians should be happy that a time has come in our history where our leaders are called to be accountable for their action, where public servants are now afraid to dip their hands directly into the public till, where the consciousness of the populace have shifted to the issue of accountability and corruption, where the country is building a proud institutions like the EFCC whose work has brought to justice people who hitherto are considered untouchables, where the institutions of government are strip bare for all to see, where the working of government is no more shrouded in secrecy like before, where  working in public offices is becoming less attractive thereby giving room to selfless and competent people to aspire, where brave and dynamic young people are working tirelessly at great risk to their self and family just to make sure that the polity is rid of fraud and corruption.