No

No, To Compromise With Crime, Please!

Na-Allah Mohammed Zagga

In his Thursday column entitled “Why we should rally round behind Farouk Lawan” Dr. Jideofor Adibe, was effectively asking Nigerians to forget about asking questions about the integrity of our leaders (Daily Trust 21/6/2012). Though I relate with Dr. Adibe very closely and respectfully, I will nonetheless politely beg to differ with his sophistry, which advises us to pretend about Lawan’s alleged corrupt conduct and focus instead on recovering the 250 million dollars, which Femi Otedola of Zenon Petroleum allegedly collected without supplying a single litre of fuel under the subsidy regime. Superficially, this argument may sway the uncritical reader but its fundamental flaws cannot be dismissed with the wave of the hand.

One of the most difficult public relations efforts is to attempt to turn a monkey into a model by whatever sophisticated methods! In Adibe’s words, “though Farouk has not been found guilty, there is need to rally round him and pretend that he was either framed up or a mere victim of the system dynamics which has a way of swallowing those that want to rapidly change the way it works. After the oil thieves have been dealt with, we can call Farouk aside and demand explanation for what really happened between him and Otedola.”

As Lord Chesterfield said, “people should be supported in difficulty always, in error sometimes but in crime never.” If our lawmakers morally compromise themselves on account of their inordinate greed and venal disposition, it may weaken the efforts to punish corruption and fraud. Once you take it upon yourself to hold others accountable, you must be able to demonstrate enough and credible moral standards to investigate and punish others. Didn’t Farouk Lawan originally delete the name of Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited from the list of companies indicted over the fuel subsidy fraud as part of the deal going on behind the scenes between him and Otedola? If the two the guys didn’t have a disagreement over the payment of the balance of the 3 million dollars bribe money, Zenon would have been effectively exonerated. Even the manner Zenon’s name was expunged from the list on the day Lawan presented his report made many Nigerians to smell a rat.

The emergency plenary session of the House, which was held against the background of the bribery scandal that exploded on the faces of the lawmakers, was itself a damage control measure to salvage whatever remained of their reputations. In fact, the hurried manner the name of Zenon Petroleum was put back into the list of indicted companies during the emergency session suggests something fishy.

Was Farouk Lawan taken to Otedola’s house at gun point? Was it proper for him to take himself to the house of someone he was investigating? Was it normal to go to Otedola’s house at an unusual hour to receive an unusual “gift” or bribe from Zenon’s chairman? Was Farouk’s conduct not an abuse of public trust? By initially denying ever visiting Otedola at 4 a.m. and receiving bribe in whatever form and later admitting doing so, didn’t Lawan tar himself with the brush of criminality as the man he was entrusted to investigate?

It was clear Farouk Lawan had under-estimated the mood of Nigerians towards bringing seemingly untouchable Nigerians to account. Any lawmaker that connives with crooks to betray the public or the voters that gave him the mandate automatically disqualifies himself from seeking public support when he runs into troubled waters. As one thinker argued, the best time to keep your mouth shut is when you find yourself in deep water! Surprisingly, however, despite collecting the 620,000 dollars bribe money from the oil mogul, Lawan was shouting at the top of his voice on Ray Power Radio and BBC Hausa service, denying ever meeting the Zenon Chairman, let alone collecting the filthy lucre.

He didn’t realize the limit one can go to deceive the people. In law, both a bribe giver and taker are liable and what makes it interesting in this case was that it was negotiated. When greed unites with impunity, the public is the victim. Farouk Lawan betrayed the people and, therefore, he must stew in his own juice. We have no duty to rally round someone that sought to short change the public for private gain.

The House of Representatives has been frequently torn by scandals and Lawan’s refusal to learn any lessons is incomprehensible. His decision to join the league of treacherous lawmakers means that he should face the legal consequences of his own action. You cannot eat your cake and have it. It is important to remind my friend Dr. Adibe that corruption is deeply entrenched in the psyche of our lawmakers so much that they tend to forget that the positions they hold is public trust. It is public knowledge that members lobby to be appointed into lucrative standing committees. If bribe takers in the House are not severely punished just like fuel subsidy fraud offenders, it is hard to stop the incident of lawmakers committing misconduct against public interest. In the words of the American journalist, Mr. Brian Browne, “if you bend to injustice, you may be broken by it.”

Impunity will continue in this country as long as rich men donate to political parties without disclosure, with a view to controlling the government or influencing its policies to protect their private interest at the expense of the people. Femi Otedola is one of the biggest financiers of the ruling PDP and it is unlikely if a PDP President can willingly prosecute him or any other big man. Former Attorney General of the federation under the late Umaru Yar’adua administration, Mr. Michael Aandoaaka, did everything to frustrate the prosecution of James Ibori because the former Delta State Governor heavily funded the election of Yar’adua. In fact, Nuhu Ribadu was sacrificed as the then EFCC Chairman on the account of his obdurate insistence to bring Ibori to justice. It remains to be seen whether the Jonathan administration will have the moral spunk to be different by dealing with impunity without fear or favour.