President Buhari Is Not Fighting Corruption, He`s Only Looking For Money! By Ogundana Michael Rotim

A purportedly incorruptible President will not appoint and keep an allegedly corruptible Secretary General to the Federation on his team and pretend like all is well- forget about the Kangaroo investigation by the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF). Well, that`s a discussion for another time.

It is on record that fighting corruption- a serious endemic that has left our nation battered and shattered, was one of the primary reasons why President Buhari was elected, asides for battling the Boko Haram Insurgency.

However, events unfolding since President Buhari came on board after the general elections in 2015, (that saw the incumbent president- Dr Goodluck Jonathan, voted out of office), confirm that as against expectations, President Buhari is not fighting corruption, but more keen on getting money to fund his campaign promises through loot recovery and that is exactly what he has been doing.

Nigeria, since independence have suffered from a total breakdown of law and order in the hands of its leaders, who technically legitimized corruption- squandered and laundered its resources and left its citizenry to the mercy of aids. However, with high hopes and aspirations President Buhari was elected to do the needful- to clean up the system, go after looters, prosecute them and in the process recover the loot and make them pay severely for their unlawful actions.

Make no mistakes; just as loot recovery is of great importance, especially in a time like this when the country suffers from low income as a result of the dwindling global oil price, adequate punishment for looters is also much more needed- this will send a strong message to intending looters and others of like minds that our society frowns at any form of corrupt practices.

Ironically, since President Buhari came on board, quite a number of people that worked directly or indirectly with his predecessor have been alleged for one corrupt practice or another. From Obanikoro to Omisore to Dikko to Badeh to Fani to Abatti to Okupe just to mention a few, have been directly or indirectly linked to one form of financial crime or another in the course of investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) - the official agency that investigates financial crimes and money laundering, confirmed to. In the process, some have pledged to return parts of the loot while others have already returned a fraction which is infinitesimal as compared to the value of fund they are being alleged to have loted. An approach like this cannot be tagged a sustainable and efficient fight against corruption. It is squarely an approach for loot recovering alone and nothing but a fund raising approaching.

A productive and systemic fight against corruption will put in place a framework and structure that will reduce crime to the barest minimum, possibly put an end to it and in the process comfortably recover the loot. With a strong political will as its foundation, the framework will consist of these four globally recognized anti corruption pillars: 1. Effective Government Administration. 2. Effective Anti-Corruption Laws. 3. Adequate Punishment. and 4. Effective Anti- Corruption Agency.

Hitherto, none of these pillars seems to be efficient and sustainable. The government apparently seems handicapped, the laws are flawed, there are basically no sound punishments which could serve as deterrent to offenders and the anti-corruption agency on its part cannot be said to be effective when its tools are not working.

The EFCC brags about the value of loot recovered so far in the last one year, forgetting that loot recovering is secondary to the objective of its establishment but the restoration of sanity to an already messier and stinking society and for the maintenance of a transparent and accountable society- which in the process can then recover loot.

Painfully, since the president came on board, it's quite obvious that he is more concerned about loot recovery than about creating a regime of punishment that is severe enough to hammer home, audible and clear, the message that corruption does not pay. A regime that offender is not allowed to enjoy any of his or her ill-gotten gains. 2 years since he was sworn, no conviction has been made as related to any corrupt case that the EFCC have been investigating.

Some may choose to fault the role of the judiciary in the fight against corruption. Some may argue that the judiciary is hampering the success of this struggle- indeed they are! However, whose fault is it if that is the case- My fault or your fault or the fault of the common man on the street? Of course not! The bulk stops at the table of the president. If we had in place those 4 pillars earlier mentioned, it would be difficult for the judiciary to compromise.

The president must understand that it was both on the premises of loot recovery and severe punishments to looters that he was voted- turning around to do one and ignoring the other is like doing nothing- as this approach will have little or no impact on combating corruption.

We can`t run a system of loot recovery alone and confidently say we are fighting against corruption or expect to have a cleaner society- not possible. Even more terrible is when the loot recovered is quite small as to the value of what was stolen. In saner countries around the globe, offenders pay more. For instance- some time ago in Singapore, a manager of a Multi-National Company (MNC) was convicted of a corruption- for receiving kickbacks for contracts he granted to others. He was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment and ordered to pay a penalty of about $300,000- being the total of bribes received by him. After the sentencing, the MNC commenced a civil action under the Prevention of Corruption Act to recover the bribes from the Manager. The manager appealed to the Court of Appeal against the claim on the ground that he had already paid the penalty to the State for the bribes he had received and he could not be liable to pay the claim to the MNC, otherwise, it would be tantamount to making him pay twice for the same bribes. However, his appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeal. The court ruled that this was not double jeopardy and the law allowed for it. The manager is thus still liable to pay the MNC.

In another Appeal case in Singapore, involving a private banker convicted of corruption involving bribes of $150,000 (Wong Teck Long vs PP), when the accused appealed against his conviction and sentence, the prosecution cross-appealed on the sentence, the High Court not only dismissed the accused’s appeal but enhanced his original sentence from 4 months to 15 months imprisonment. In passing this judgment, the Chief Judge said: “To safeguard the overall public confidence in the integrity of our banking and financial industry as well as Singapore’s reputation as a regional and financial hub, punishment for deplorable and corrupt acts, such as that of the appellant, must be swift and harsh so that a strong message will be sent out to the offender at hand and would-be offenders that Singapore does not, and will not, without exception, condone corruption.” Those are examples from a country that is indeed fighting corruption.

Fact is, we are doing a grave injustice to millions of Nigerians who have suffered and still suffering from the consequences of corruption, if we focus on loot recovery and zero deterrent to looters. We are doing ourselves a disfavor when we give looters the impression that they can bargain their way out by offering to return an itsy-bitsy portion of the value looted and they return home to enjoy their ill-gotten wealth.

With the current happenings, Mr President is not fighting corruption he is only raising funds from looters. The irony of this ideology is, most of the loot may end up being re-looted and we may be back to the same point.

Again, an effective fight against corruption will put into consideration the four pillars of anti-corruption movement- Effective government, effective law, effective anti-corruption agency and adequate punishment to serve as a deterrent to others.

Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!!!

Ogundana Michael Rotimi is a Nigerian Biochemist, Socio-economic & Political Commentator, and Public Speaker. He tweets @MickeySunny.