Selective prosecutions, moral contradictions, and the crisis of legitimacy in Nigeria’s anti-corruption war
ABUBAKAR Malami was the minister of justice and attorney-general of the federation. He served under former president, the late Maj-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, between 2015 and 2023. Buhari’s tenure must rank among the worst years of the country. They were not only wasted, but he took Nigeria back by at least 30 years.
For all of last week, at least up to Sunday, December 14, Malami was in jail in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Abuja. Like Buhari, Malami cannot be credited with exceptional skills, intellect or administrative sagacity.
He is not associated with any landmark reforms of the country’s judicial processes and system in the eight years of his stay. He is not known to be a brilliant lawyer though he is a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN).
He came. He saw. But he was not known to have done anything that could be said to be beneficial to the majority of litigants or the administration of justice.
Malami has remained in relative obscurity in the over two years he had been out of office and power, except for once when he claimed that the convoy of his cars was attacked by bandits under the direction of his political enemies.
He is of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), but it appears he is not of the branch headed by Nigeria’s president, Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Indeed, he had been linked to the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) faction of the late Buhari whose leading lights were said not to be favourably disposed to the reelection of Tinubu for a second term in 2027.
In addition, Malami is reported to be angling to contest for governor of Kebbi state on the ticket of an opposition party, African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Malami is yet to be arraigned in court. But if public media reports are to be believed, he may likely face grave charges which operatives of the anti-graft agency were reported to be framing.
There are reports that the former minister could face charges on alleged terrorism financing; questions over the handling of the former Head of State, late Gen. Sani Abacha’s part-loot of $322 million retrieved from Switzerland and the island of Jersey; money laundering involving his alleged link to 46 bank accounts; abuse of office including findings on decisions over asset recovery, seized asset disposal, and contract approvals during his tenure.
There are also other suspicious transactions in connection with N10 billion investment in his home state, Kebbi, as well as involvement in a $419 million judgment debt.
Malami has denied the allegations. His lawyers have argued that his continued detention was unlawful and unconstitutional. They claimed that the former minister had been cooperating with the government investigators.
That same last week, towards the end of it, another of Buhari’s ministers who was in charge of labour and employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, was arrested and taken into custody by the EFCC.
It was reported that he was still in his night gown (pyjamas) when he was whisked away in the early hours of the morning on that fateful Thursday.
Ngige was a former governor of Anambra state on the ticket of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). His victory was annulled after about three years in office.
He defected to the then opposition party and was made a minister when the APC stormed to power in 2015.
The ex-minister also spent last weekend in prison to await his application to be granted bail on Monday (yesterday). By the time you are reading this, he may have been sprung from jail and preparing for his day in court.
Ngige is charged with abuse of office; awarding seven contracts worth N366 million to Cezimo Nigeria Limited, a company alleged to be linked to his associate Ezebunwa Charles.
He is also charged with contract fraud for awarding eight contracts worth N583 million to Zitacom Nigeria Limited, also linked to Ezebunwa.
There are allegations of bribery; receiving N38.6 million from Cezimo Nigeria Limited, N55 million from Zitacom, and N26 million from Jeff & Xris Limited through his campaign organisation and scholarship scheme.
He is accused of granting unfair advantage; awarding contracts to Olde English Consolidated Limited for N664 million, and Shale Atlantic Intercontinental Services Limited for N161 million, linked to another of his associates, Uzoma Igbonwa.
There are other contracts; awarding N362 million worth of contracts to Jeff & Xris, owned by Chukwunwike Nwosu.
Ngige pleaded not guilty to all the charges which the EFCC described as offences which violated sections 17(a) and 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.
So Ngige was cooling his heels at the weekend in Kuje prison.
Ngige is also of the APC but he is not known to be full-throated in supporting the extant president of the country produced by his party.
He is not also known to be publicly antagonistic of his kinsman, Peter Obi, who was the Labour Party candidate in the bitterly contested and controversial 2023 presidential election.
Obi has been the nightmare of the APC for more than two years, probably because he defeated Tinubu in Lagos state in the last presidential election.
Tinubu was a two-term governor of Lagos and he was until 2023 touted as unbeatable in the state he holds by its jugular.
Olu Agunloye was a minister of power and steel under the PDP administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo. Though his trial did not originate with the current regime, he is facing prosecution by the EFCC over alleged $6 billion fraud related to the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project.
He is facing an amended seven-count charge on corruption, abuse of office, forgery, and disobedience of a presidential directive. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie is in charge of the federal high court in Abuja where his trial is being heard.
An investigator and other witnesses have testified that Agunloye allegedly forged the contract papers for the award in favour of Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited.
The contract was said not to have budgetary provision, no approval, and no cash backing. The former minister was alleged to have collected kickbacks totaling about N5 million.
Agunloye is free on a N50 million bail with two sureties in like sum.
There are a few other high-profile cases involving some APC party men who appear not to be enamoured to the presidency of their current party leader.
The same disposition to prosecution by the regime cannot be said to be the lot of other party faithful who had been alleged to have committed crimes.
One such person is Betta Chimaobim Edu. She was the pioneer minister of humanitarian affairs in the first Cabinet of this administration.
On January 8, 2024, Tinubu directed the suspension of Edu from office. Almost two years later, the former minister is still on suspension though her position has reluctantly been given to another.
Edu was accused of financial misconduct involving huge sums of money meant for vulnerable groups.
The main allegations included the transfer of N585 million to a private bank account which allegedly belonged to one Bridget Oniyelu.
The money was supposedly for vulnerable groups in Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Lagos, and Ogun states.
There was also an alleged fraud of N44 billion at the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA) which was under her ministry.
In addition, there were questions raised about a controversial N438 million consultancy contract awarded by her ministry to New Planet Project Limited, a company allegedly linked to her colleague minister of interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo.
Edu denied any wrongdoing but remained sacked. Tunji-Ojo also denied any wrongdoing and remains in office.
If the anti-graft posturing of this regime is to be taken seriously, it must indict and prosecute Edu, or formally clear and rehabilitate her. The same treatment should be meted to Tunji-Ojo.
There was also the issue of the director of NSIPA, Dr. Halima Shehu, whose travails coincided with that of her supervising former minister, Edu.
She was suspended as the national coordinator of NSIPA over alleged financial impropriety involving billions of naira.
She was subsequently arrested by the EFCC and placed in the agency’s custody while it allegedly investigated the movement of N17 billion from NSIPA accounts to suspicious beneficiaries.
As usual, Shehu was promptly released from custody. As far as information in the public domain is concerned, the N17 billion payments to alleged phantom beneficiaries are still being investigated by the EFCC two years on.
In 2015, the EFCC investigated the current president of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, over alleged fraud and looting of Akwa Ibom state funds when he was governor.
A petition by a lawyer, Leo Ekpenyong, accused Akpabio of using aides to steal N18 billion from the state’s treasury.
Akpabio was grilled by the anti-corruption agency before he was installed as the president of the Senate and chairman of the National Assembly.
But he was neither indicted nor cleared.
Even in his present post there have been allegations of improper conduct. We know that even in his present position he has no immunity against indictment and prosecution if found culpable.
There are serving ministers who have allegations of fraud and money laundering against them prior to their appointments by this regime.
The defence minister who just resigned his appointment and the defence minister of state who is still in office have been accused of having links with bandits and terrorists.
The budget minister was accused of being a bagman for Abacha.
No Nigerian in their right senses would oppose the fight against corruption. The excesses of office holders across the board and nationwide are so brazen and egregious.
Their proclivity and capacity to loot the commonwealth are unfathomable. Their tendencies to steal border on the abnormal.
For instance, why would an office holder in his 50s steal N1 billion, a sum he cannot exhaust in one lifetime no matter how profligate he might be.
By the way, life expectancy in Nigeria is barely 55 years.
But we read reports of not just looting billions of naira but billions of dollars.
So Nigerians and their government should be angry and fight such corrupt lunatics with every fibre in their body that they can muster.
However, that administration that should mobilise Nigerians to battle the looters of the commonwealth is not the Tinubu regime. It has no moral standing. Its credentials are sullied.
For this regime, mmiri siri n’isi gbaruo (the stream was polluted from the fountainhead).
As the Good Book asked, if the foundation is destroyed, how much can the righteous few do?
This government is led by a man whose name is mired in mystery. And this is being generous.
The parents that Tinubu claimed are said not to be his. The schools he allegedly attended including primary, secondary, and university are still subjects of controversy.
He was the man who graduated from a secondary school in Lagos four years before that school was founded.
In 2023, he fought spiritedly in law courts in the United States and Nigeria to ensure that the certificate (diploma) which he claimed was awarded to him by the Chicago State University was not made public.
He had been accused of forging the diploma which he had been using as a qualifying document in his contests for political offices since 1999.
A lawyer, Festus Keyamo, once battled Tinubu on the authenticity of his credentials for office as governor.
The same Keyamo is now a minister in the administration of Tinubu whom he accused of malfeasance.
In light of the antecedents of Tinubu, it has not come as a surprise that he runs an opaque regime.
His government has been accused of spending over N17 trillion on contracts for crude oil pipeline security in just one year.
There is no evidence yet that the money was appropriated by the National Assembly.
He has neither debunked the grave allegation nor provided evidence to the contrary.
The regime is adroit in deflection and propaganda, but its most potent tool when cornered is to ignore.
That is the tool it has chosen on the bogus, if not rogue, N17 trillion pipeline protection contracts.
Now the opaque regime has cranked the engine of wholesale auctioning of the country and its citizens.
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has reportedly signed a memorandum of understanding with France’s DGFiP to “modernise tax administration”, ensure “data-driven enforcement”, and “information exchange”.
When you strip the jargon, this simply means Nigeria has surrendered the engine room of its tax system to France at a time Nigeria boasts of some of the best brains in fintech.
Nigeria’s taxpayers’ data is being exposed to a French firm ahead of the commencement of the tax reform laws next month.
In every other country, tax data is a national security issue. Not in Tinubu’s Nigeria.
Under Buhari, the country of first call was Britain. With Tinubu, France is home.
It has even been alleged that Tinubu’s recent military intervention in Benin Republic to foil a coup was at the instigation of Emmanuel Macron.
This government that is pretending to be fighting corruption is the same that awarded a N15 trillion contract for the construction of a coastal highway from Lagos to Calabar without appropriation, without public tendering, without competitive bidding, and without environmental impact assessment.
And to the business partner of the president.
His son is also alleged to be a shareholder in a company associated with the contractor.
Meanwhile, the regime keeps prevaricating on how much the road would cost per kilometre.
Even the N15 trillion project cost is bogus.
If the government is unsure of the cost per kilometre, then it cannot claim to know how much the 700km road would cost at the end of the day.
The route for the road is not certain.
Reports suggest the president extended the highway coverage to Ebonyi and Edo states, which were not in the original plan.
Ebonyi is the home state of the minister of works supervising the contract. Edo is governed by the president’s Man Friday.
These are the bona fides of the man who is prosecuting former government officials.
Again, as the Holy Bible says, it would be helpful if the president first removed the speck in his own eyes before…
Ugo Onuoha, Veteran Journalist, was the Managing Director, Editor-in-Chief, Champion Newspapers Limited. He writes in from Lagos.
