The Stunted Fight against Corruption

Analysis

The fight against corruption is losing steam because President Muhammadu Buhari appears not ready to go the whole hog when members of his inner circle are alleged to have engaged in corruption, writes Shola Oyeyipo

It is no longer news that President Muhammadu Buhari was elected into office partly because he promised to be tough on corruption.
True to his words, he swung into action immediately he was sworn in as president in May 29, 2015.

Those arrested were mainly members of the Peoples Democratic Party, a party that had just lost powers. Although, the opposition cried fouls, accusing the president of prosecuting only its members, the All Progressives Congress countered the PDP by arguing that since members of the PDP were running the country before they lost power, they should give account of their stewardship.

Today, that argument is no longer sustainable. Members of the APC have been in powers for two and a half years now. Some have been involved in shady deals. Interestingly, however, the president appears reluctant to prosecute members of his own cabinet for corruption. The zeal and the eagerness with which the president clamped members of the opposition in jail are nowhere to be found when the allegation involved members of his inner circle. Once the allegation is raised, nothing is heard of it again. Just occasional bouts of corruption allegation.

This trend which has become common and is having a very negative impact on the much talked about anti-corruption crusade of the government.
One such case include the arrogance displayed by the suspended Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Prof. Usman Yusuf, when allegations of impropriety were raised against him.

After various petitions revealed alleged monumental fraud hovering around N900bn, which some classified as next to fuel subsidy fraud, allegedly perpetrated at the NHIS under Yusuf, the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, ordered Yusuf to proceed on suspension to pave way for investigations, but his response was most astounding.

Yusuf said the minister lacked the power to discipline him and that only the president “by virtue of the NHIS Act particularly sections 4 and 8 thereof” could remove him from office “whether by way of suspension or otherwise.”

He said Section 47 of the NHIS Act empowered the minister to merely give directives of a general nature to the Governing Council of the NHIS and such directives did not include discipline, suspension or removal of the NHIS boss.
Beyond the suspension, not much had been heard of the matter even though more damning facts were unearthed by investigation.

Even though, the government has satisfied itself that it had provided satisfactory answers to issue raised against Against the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Dr. Maikanti Baru, by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, only few people share such sentiment. The allegations which bordered on non-adherence to due process in the award of NNPC contracts and acts of insubordination have not been dealt with in a manner that inspires confidence in members of the public. Many believe that the issues have been conveniently swept under the carpet

Though Baru and the NNPC board contended that the law and the rules did not require a review or discussion with the minister of state or the NNPC board on contractual matters and that what was required was the processing and approval of contracts by the NNPC Tenders Board, the president in his executive capacity or as a minister of petroleum, or the Federal Executive Council (FEC), as the case may be, many people believed that a full investigation would have been proper in the circumstance.

The embarrassing reinstatement of former chairman of the Presidential Pension Taskforce on Pension Reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina into the civil service is yet an attestation to the fact that some persons in the administration are untouchable. Despite documentary evidence showing that top cabinet members acted in a manner that undermined the fight against corruption, those cabinet members have kept their jobs

The Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN denied knowledge of any letter reinstating Maina whereas the Head of Service of the Federation, Mrs. Winfred Oyo-Ita insisted that there were letters from the AGF to the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), directing Maina’s reinstatement. Even though, the president may choose not to investigate, Nigerians are confident they know what transpired.

While it is obvious that the end has not been heard about the Maina saga, the latest in the series of rancorous allegations and counter allegations that are usually swept under the carpet is the issue between the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun and the recently suspended Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, (SEC), Mounir Gwarzo.

Whereas it was gathered that the minister ordered Gwarzo’s suspension following official misconduct- he was accused of collecting a severance package of a N104 million, ignoring advice from SEC’s legal department not to do so, because he was still in the employment of the commission.

Before he was appointed as DG SEC in 2015, Gwarzo was an Executive Director. So, the acting head of the legal department was said to have objected to the idea on the grounds that severance packages were meant for officials who have disengaged from an organisation.
Gwazo was also accused of awarding contracts to companies, one of which is Outward Investment Ltd, a company allegedly controlled by his wife and himself, which has allegedly been supplying diesel to SEC since 2015.

Another company, Northwind Environmetal Services allegedly controlled by Gwarzo’s brother was awarded the contract to clean the commission’s Kano zonal office. Gwarzo denied any wrong doing. Under the law, he remains innocent until his guilt is proved.
SEC is currently in a tussle with Oando Plc over moves to conduct a forensic audit on the company’s affairs, an action Oando has kicked against, and had even obtained a court order restraining SEC from carrying on the audit. So very easily Gwazo attributed his suspension to his resolve to get to the root of the Oando matter which he said did not sit well with the minister. The minister denied any such claim.

Apparently disturbed by the allegation, Adeosun told journalists that Gwarzo attempted to blackmail her to stave off the sanction by threatening to leak a memo to the media.

Noting that Gwazo breached official procedures and protocol for mails delivery in her office, by delivering a memo to her through the SEC staff seconded to her office, Adeosun said: “The copy of the memo was delivered in a sealed envelope with a message that any action against Mr. Gwarzo would result in same (the memo) being leaked to the press.”
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She added that “It was this threat of blackmail that strengthened my resolve to suspend Mr. Gwarzo and allow the Administrative Panel of Inquiry (API) to proceed with its probe.”

The minister insisted that the probe of allegations of corruption against Gwarzo and into Oando PLC finances are two separate investigations that government was awaiting their reports.

“In fact, in October when the original suspension order on Oando took place, a group meeting was held with the leadership of SEC, not just with him, and they presented very clear evidence that Oando had a case to answer. We were satisfied with that. That remains our position,” she added.

When it was evident from that interaction that he was going to be suspended from office, the Minister said Mr. Gwarzo prepared a memo, dated November 28, on the subject of Oando PLC investigation.
But as usual, Nigeria may never know what actually happened because it is typical of this present administration to ignore such weighty allegation and counter-allegation.

This is no doubt a trend that is capable of defeating the anti-corruption war of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government and should be collectively condemned.
Those facing allegation of corruption should be asked to step aside to pave way for a through investigation. There should be no sacred cows. As long as Nigerians believe that some people are being shielded from prosecution, the fight against corruption does not stand a any chance of succeeding. If that happens, it will be a monumental tragedy.

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As long as Nigerians believe that some people are being shielded from prosecution, the fight against corruption does not stand a any chance of succeeding