This Ribadu Again!
By
Ngozi Saromi
Forwarded by Osita NWAJAH
onwajah@efccnigeria.org
Dele Momodu, publisher of the Ovation magazine and most lately a
columnist of ThisDay newspaper, attempts, through his piece of
last Saturday [Anti-Corruption War as a Cliché], to heighten the
frantic, well-organized and ongoing smear tactics against the EFCC and
the person of its Chief Executive, Nuhu Ribadu.
Incontrovertibly, Momodu's opening claim, unsupported by any shred of
argument or justification, that "the anti-corruption war has come to a
dead-end" is at best a wish rather than a fact that serves the delusion
of bringing cold comfort to the dirtiest section of the Nigerian
thieving class whose image this article ultimately hopes to burnish. As
a word of caution however, the beneficiaries of this image management
enterprise will be well served to stick to reality and continue their
desperate shopping run for a better apologist because this is indeed a
poor entry.
In the twist of Momodu's untidy logic, however, a number of fixations
were thrown up and it would be helpful to unpack them in the interest of
readers of this famous newspaper and in the interest of the facts as
they exist.
Arguing that the EFCC, and in some respect the anticorruption war, is a
flash in the pan needlessly designed for protection and victimization,
Momodu rehashes, in an unfanciful manner, the discredited claims of
those who had worked tirelessly in the past to stop the march of
accountability on public officers. The original chorus, made famous by
the likes of the garrulous spokesman of the Action Congress, Lai
Mohammed, used to be that the EFCC was selective in its
operation, but in fairness to even Lai Mohammed he never crossed the
line of reason as to suggest that his patrons and paymasters should be
immunized from criminal scrutiny solely on account of their status as
public officers. At other times other arguments like ethnic bias,
disobedience of court orders, that no one could never produce, and most
lately the rule of law have been canvassed in a shifting goal post of
excuses to discredit the Commission.
Coming late in the day to the discussion therefore, Momodu thinks he has
to reinvent the wheel of past arguments without as much as injecting
fresh breathe to the discourse, and this accounts for many of the
blunders in his article. He wonders, for instance, why the EFCC is still
necessary in the light of the existence of the ICPC and the Code of
Conduct Bureau, coyly dropping the hint that this was to merely satisfy
the ambition of some principals of the past administration.
It is part of the text of all kindergarten class today that the EFCC is
a response to the demands of the Financial Action Task Force of the G-8
nations that had cut off virtually all lines of credit to Nigeria for
presumed violations of the global money laundering provisions that the
EFCC would later come to address. For the avoidance of doubt also, it
must be said loud and clear that the EFCC was not an executive creation
but an international demand and condition upon which Nigeria would be
admitted back into the global financial community, and it was
specifically the National Assembly that rose up to that challenge. How
then can such a recent history become the subject of contention? Is it
possible that Mr. Momodu, a senior journalist, was unaware of these
basic facts? Indeed, for the records, Nuhu Ribadu never met with the
past president until well into the work of the EFCC if that will cure
Mr. Momodu's taste for conspiracy theory.
Nothing in his article is however as laughable as when Mr. Momodu's
attempt to spell out the functions of the EFCC. Why couldn't he just
grab a copy of the Act setting up the Commission [which he can even
access freely on the EFCC website] and save himself the embarrassment of
peddling gossip? In the wisdom of the National Assembly, and knowing
full well that corruption in Nigeria is of an endemic and pervasive
nature it thought it wise to respond to it through a multi-agency
approach.
Since Mr. Momodu's heart aches and bleeds for the police, and since he
thinks the creation of the EFCC was designed to weaken it, has he also
never heard of specialized agencies in those foreign land where he
lived? Has he heard of the NCIS and the SOCA in Britain where the
Metropolitan Police and the Serious Fraud Office also exist? Or in the
United States that has an endless chain of specialized enforcement
agencies? Perhaps Mr. Momodu should restrict himself to the
preoccupation of showbiz and stop meddling in higher challenges.
Not everybody has the desire to support the cause of anti-corruption,
and if Mr. Momodu elects for this role, no one should grudge him for
that, but let him not sow seeds of disorder or disaffection among
partners in the campaign. What is to be made of his claim that the EFCC
leadership profile is scripted to bypass the IG of Police and The
Attorney General? Facts are stubborn things but the truth is that
under the law as it is today the Executive Chairman of the EFCC is not
answerable to the IG Police or the AGF. Indeed they both of them serve
on the EFCC board of which the EFCC Chairman heads. If he feels bad
about this he can head to the NASS but not try to demonize Nuhu Ribadu.
It may then be difficult to really address Mr. Momodu's palpable
anxieties since, like many of his type; debates like this reinforces the
tenacity of doubt within sections of the political class regarding the
degree of rigour the battle against corruption necessitates. For this
reason therefore it comes as no surprise that Momodu's article deploys
much tirade against Nuhu Ribadu's qualification for his job without an
iota of evidence as to what the Chairman justifiably brings to the
table.
It is indeed a mark of the debasement of argument that a man who has put
in about a quarter of century in legal practice as a tough prosecutor;
who actually is senior to the AGF at the bar; whose many classmates and
even juniors are now serving senior judicial officers at the federal and
state judiciary is still considered young for his job! Yet we are not
talking here of an obscure person but the same Ribadu who by world
standards is top of his professional class. Ribadu, as those who have
the records know is no pretender to the home of studious honour? From
the same Nigeria Police where he comes from, he was three times winner
of the Inspector General of Police Merit Award and was winner of the
Accountant-General of the Federation Award for 1999.
Now this may interest Momodu: here is one man whose merited placement
earns an honoured and velvet role in the police as one of its most
illustrious officers. Ironically, this is the same person Momodu
dreadfully sought to denigrate. There may be many but to be sure Ribadu
own place is assured among the ambassadors on the bus from the police
who have done much for the restoration of our national image profile but
this is the same man Momodu just wants to hang apparently to please some
hidden and not too hidden masters. But Momodu must simply slur Ribadu,
so he dredges the shallow pool of gossip by dropping the hint that
Ribadu was an Assistant Commissioner of Police when he got his EFCC job
and that he has risen today to become an AIG. What a revelation! Just so
that we all know, the current IGP, Mike Okiro, was Commissioner of
Police when Ribadu was Assistant Commissioner. The same Okiro had a frog
jump from Commissioner of Police to Deputy Inspector general of Police
yet no tongues wagged. Ribadu was even Acting Commissioner of police
when the last IGP, Sunday Ehindero, was a Commissioner of Police. So
what is so dramatic here? Is this just a tendentious mission of
disinformation?
The EFCC has come to represent a modest instrument in the national image
recovery project in this land either the likes of Momodu understands
that or not and that process has been under the leadership of Nuhu
Ribadu.
It is in homage to such fact that a thoughtful section of Nigeria's
civil society advanced a contrastive vision to Momodu's posturing vision
in a ThisDay advert a couple of weeks ago when they warned that: "While
the nation has achieved some recent phenomenal growth in portfolio
investment, it must not be forgotten that this has come in the wake of
the confidence people have in the fight against corruption; and that
tampering with the anti-corruption war portends grave consequences for
the recovery of our economy and risk damaging, afresh, the fragile
reputation we are in process of rebuilding."
These are people who know full well where we were as a nation, where we
are today, and where we can be tomorrow. They know that just four years
ago, Nigeria rated miserably as the second most corrupt nation in the
world on a nine-year back to back run on the Transparency International
ratings. They know that the Financial Action Task Force had delisted
Nigeria as a non-cooperating entity with all the implications of that
decision for our national economic development. They also knew that the
Wolfberg consensus among the world's 12 biggest bank put Nigeria on an
international credit blacklist which in essence meant that no
self-respecting person could/should do business with Nigeria. These men
and women had also taken time to reflect on the education sector, the
state of infrastructure in each of our 36 states and the 774 local
councils in the country. They have taken an honest look at the many
failed national projects like the refineries, the ambitious River Basin
projects of the eighties, the Nigerian Airways, the National Shipping
Lines, the motor manufacturing sectors, and so many endless aborted
hopes.
Above all they have
reflected on the challenge that a society like Nigeria which has the
challenge of using its powerful voice to present the perspectives of how
global justice can be effectively advanced in the developing world has
suddenly become a pariah nation, what with a debilitating debt overhang.
Here is a nation where
enormous resources go hand in hand with the harsh presence of
astonishing deprivation and staggering inequality. Here is also where an
amazing number of children are ill-nourished, ill-cared, illiterate and
needlessly ill, with thousands perishing every week from diseases that
can be completely eliminated.
The reality that describes this absurdity is not as abstract as people
like Momodu would like it to be, the name of the game is called
Corruption. Practiced orchestras of opulence like Momodu may
not worry about the sources of people's wealth but the days are gone
when the opportunity of leadership is converted as an excuse for theft.
In this our same country a leader mismanaged $12.6 Billion of public
wealth and there is still no accountability till date.
To many of our compatriots, it sure looks like ancient history but
yesterday is just the day before, so let's try to put it all in
perspective. Today, Nigeria has been removed from the Financial Action
Task Force (FATF) list of non-cooperating countries and has been
accepted into membership of the Egmont group of Financial Intelligence
Units through which she enjoys global cooperation on a broad number of
issues that impact on our economic development. The capital market which
was modestly capitalized as N2.9 Billion in 1999 is today an admirable
resource of N67Billion. Nigeria now has a Fitch Sovereign Rating of BB--
similar to that of emerging markets and is now more attractive to
foreign investors. Today the national financial corridor has been
reconfigured to yield a robust mechanism vigorous and appropriate to
pull our economy to greater, safer heights. Did all these developments
just happen? Nigeria's strong commitment to improve governance by
vigorously tackling corruption has been serially cited as a preeminent
factor in this whole process. All these may be a tall order for
Momodu's appreciation. Lacking in a fact-based assessment of the
capabilities, operations, and principles of the EFCC, his preference
seems to be that the EFCC abandons its statutory roles for the
sanctification of blemished Nigerians especially those in high places.
Are we out of the wood yet with all the efforts of the EFCC? The answer
is an understandable NO. Beyond the jaundiced and parochial minds of
Ribadu or EFCC haters, the answer may well be in the active and
relentless work of a plural and cooperating agencies working for a
better Nigeria. The Police will always be in a pre-eminent relevance on
these matters but it is stupid naiveté to ignore that other specialized
agencies will not be needed to deal efficiently with peculiar patterns
of cases, like narcotics, immigrant crimes, customs and excise crimes,
terrorist financing, financial and economic crimes, cyber crimes,
governance crimes etc. No where in the world is it ever found that all
forms of crimes are invested in the enforcement response of one huge
police operation.
But beyond the challenge of multiple enforcement agencies coming to do
their work diligently, citizens must also respond in collaboration and
support to move the work forward. Institutions like the media that have
laboured for decades for the restoration of a national ethical paradigm
surely finds in what the EFCC a unity of purpose does and contrary to
the construction of people like Momodu; the EFCC has not for a second
tried to induce the media to its purpose. The truth is that on no other
issue has the media being in line with the patterns and feelings of the
people like on the anti-corruption war. Whatever anyone says on this
there is a loud consensus among Nigerians on the necessity of the war
and on the need to bring accountability to bear on breaches. This is
what the EFCC has doggedly sought to enforce and promote, and this is
what the media have accurately mirrored in its public spirited work. If
the likes of Momodu wish to deny this reality what other evidence do
they need that they are out of step with reality and with the times?
Unfortunately, the EFCC is not in the business of singing loud
Ovation to corruption. Momodu who lived and ran businesses in
Ghana for about half a decade without proper legal registration, and
without paying taxes in clear abuse of the hospitality of a friendly
nation, and who sought to abuse the security of that most hospitable
nation recently by invading its sovereign borders by importing armed
Nigerian policemen as his body guard certainly has no fitting conception
for the notions of crime and punishment. The mistake he will make
however is to imagine that those records are unavailable.
Ribadu-bashing is however understandable in an age of tense wrestle
between the forces of illness and progress. It is in the nature of
corruption to fight back. As those who fight corruption know too well,
if you fight corruption, it will respond with virulence and
ruthlessness. It has the resources, the will, and the inclination. It
certainly also has enough pipers and echo chambers but in the final
analysis the point must remain in our minds that it is the soul and
future of a nation that is at stake here not the name of Ribadu or the
institution of the EFCC and we all take position in relation to how we
want our nation to grow or decay.
Ms. Saromi is a Senior Assistant to the Executive Chairman of the
EFCC.