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Under the presidency of Alhaji Bola Tinubu, however long it lasts, seven months or four years or eight years, Nigerians will routinely thumb their noses [act of disdain and contempt] on whatever appears to be a war on corruption by his regime. That will be understandable because the man who was installed at the top carries a befuddling baggage. His name is questionable. His certificates were, still are, subjects of litigation in various judicial jurisdictions, including in the United States of America. His claimed sole citizenship of Nigeria is in contest because he is also alleged to be a citizen of the West African country of Guinea, whose national passport he was said to have owned. And it has been alleged that he had once claimed American citizenship. His true age is disputed with some claiming he is in his 80s and not 70s. Allegations of forgeries and perjuries have dogged his political career for more than a quarter of a century. His filings of personal particulars with the ‘Independent’ National Electoral Commission [INEC] in 1999 [for governor], and in 2023 [for President] have raised eyebrows because of their manifest gaps, flip-flops and contradictions.
Given the foregoing, and they are by no way exhaustive of the baggage of Tinubu, it will not be a surprise therefore if Nigerians are cynical of any attempt by the President to pose as an anti-corruption crusader. To make matters worse, he has been doubling down on the negative perception of him through his appointments since his installation as President. He has an unwieldy cabinet of 49 ministers, which includes himself, 80% of whom have corruption allegations trailing them. Indeed, his Minister of Culture Hannatu Musawa, a lawyer, is a serving National Youth Service Corps [NYSC] member. Under the former President, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, the Senate had in 2019 or so barred her from a federal board appointment for non-participation in the NYSC. In 2023, the same Senate approved her nomination for a higher position by asking her to “take a bow and go.” For our Senate, that phrase approximated the full rigour of screening nominees for high office. The appointing authorities, the Senate, the secret police otherwise called the Directorate of State Services [DSS], and, until much later, the NYSC conveniently forgot to tell Nigerians her status.
It can be argued that it’s still early but Tinubu’s appointments so far have been preponderantly awarded to persons from a section of his Yoruba nation. The man he single-handedly installed as the new chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress [APC], Alhaji Abdullahi Ganduje, was mired in allegations of dollars-for- contracts scam while he was the governor of Kano State between 2015 and 2023. There was even what was said to be a viral video of him stuffing the wads of bribe dollars into his flowing gown, which is locally known as agbada. The clothing is usually cavernous. So, Tinubu’s regime is peopled by persons with less than stellar qualities.
The preponderance of bad and shady characters dims the small bright spots in his council of ministers and party leadership. A party chieftain, Salihu Lukman, a national vice-chairman, quit in anger when the imposition of Ganduje became obvious. That action by Tinubu was said to be in contravention of the APC guideline that a replacement should come from the North-Central geopolitical zone of the ousted party chairman, Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu. It is obvious that, with the choice of cabinet members and party apparatchik, Tinubu has his eyes fixed on a possible rerun or run-off presidential election, should the charade of February 25 be voided as it should be by the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal [PEPT] in September and/or ultimately by the Supreme Court in November. For him, a hardly disguised campaign council will suffice for a council of ministers who should be ministering to the urgent needs of long-suffering Nigerians.
Allegations and perceptions of corruption dog the regime of Alhaji Tinubu. The inclusion in his cabinet of a man who has been exposed worldwide as a bag man [an agent who collects and distributes the proceeds of illicit activities] of former head of state, the late Gen. Sani Abacha, is a clear indication that Tinubu and corruption are one and the same. It is noteworthy that the humongous and legendary Abacha loot are still being repatriated to Nigeria from all over the world almost 30 years after his death.
Nigerians, noted for making jokes of serious problems, have said that Abacha was such a kind man that he has been sending money to citizens through the automated teller machines [ATMs] that he took to his grave.
Because of Tinubu’s antecedents and his present circumstances, Nigerians will be well advised to closely watch his every move. In the wake of the suspected death last week of Yevgeny Prigozhin, boss of the private military company [PMC], Wagner, in a mysterious plane crash, America’s President Joe Biden said nothing happens in Russia without the knowledge and approval of Russia’s President Vladmir Putin. The same will be the case in Nigeria under Tinubu. Two things loom large on the horizon, one has already happened while the other is still in the realm of speculation.
On June 16, about 18 days after Tinubu acceded to the presidency, he invited and met with Asari Dokubo, a militia leader.
The meeting held inside the sprawling Presidential Villa. And there was a photo- op to boot between the President and the militant. While inside the Villa, Dokubo, a notorious Niger Delta militant, addressed the nation where he deprecated the Armed Forces whose Commander-in-Chief he just met with. It was even insinuated that Dokubo may have been mandated to do what he did. There was no evidence of his acting a pre-determined script but the fact that he was neither reprimanded nor disclaimed by the Presidency should be instructive to watchers of this regime.
Soon after the Villa performance, Dokubo officially proclaimed that he was not just leading a rag tag militia but that his armed group was a private military company [PMC] which has been officially working for the federal government ostensibly for a fee in some states of the country. The federal government has yet to deny the assertion of this man who has publicly said he is a die-hard supporter of Tinubu who would do anything to keep him in office.
The other troubling issue which is currently in the realm of speculation is the plot to spring plea bargaining in the case between the Federal Government of Nigeria versus Godwin Emefiele, the suspended and incarcerated governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria [CBN]. It is a rumour for now but in our country there is no smoke without fire. And given Tinubu’s antecedents, no such thing will happen without his knowledge, approval and direction. And that’s why Nigerians should be anxious. A grand cover up is loading.
Before Tinubu, plea bargaining over criminal matters had been abused with looters getting away with dizzying heists in exchange for a slap on the wrist. Such insensitive exchanges happened under Buhari who was sold to Nigerians as a man of impeccable integrity. Though it turned out not to be so. To be fair, ahead of the so-called presidential election last February, none of Tinubu’s handlers marketed him as a person possessed of such bona fides. It is no longer an accusation that his ways are crooked.
On July 24 we had written that the continued detention of Emefiele [and Abdulrasheed Bawa, the suspended Economic and Financial Crimes CCommissin’s-EFCC- chairman] was illegal and wrong. We had traced the travails of Emefiele to November 2022 when the secret police approached a law court for power to arrest and detain Emefiele, who was a sitting CBN governor for allegedly financing terrorism, among other crimes.
Two courts- a federal high court in Abuja and a federal capital territory court- rejected the DSS. We had written then that both Emefiele and Bawa should be allowed to have their day in court. And that remains our position.
Economic crimes and terrorism financing for which Emefiele had been imprisoned since June 10 should never be allowed to be traded on the corrupt altar of Nigeria’s plea bargaining. This country will be better served with a full and public trial of Emefiele in court. There was no way Emefiele would have acted alone in everything that he has been accused of.
He had accomplices and they were [or are still] well placed. To afford the suspended CBN governor a plea bargaining option will be a state-sponsored GRAND COVER UP, the like of which has not been experienced in the 63 years of Nigeria come October 1. Emefiele should be made to name names if Tinubu is sure of himself and that he is not beholden to anybody as he claims.
We acknowledge that plea bargaining is a relatively recent procedural tool in our country’s criminal justice system which was designed to ensure quick dispensation of justice, save time for all parties to any dispute, save resources especially for the state and reduce prison congestion, among others. However, one Habeeb Abdulrauf Salihu said correctly in a scholarly paper published in February last year that our experience in Nigeria has been that the prosecuting authorities hide under plea bargaining to disregard the provisions of the law “and the essence and purposes that punishment serves” and that “the application of plea bargaining in various corruption cases has resulted in lighter punishments for the culprits”. Drawing from Deterrence Theory, he submits that “the way plea bargaining is being applied in corruption cases may encourage corrupt practices, rather than deter offending” and that “to achieve a reasonable outcome in fighting corruption in Nigeria, the rule of law must be upheld”.
In the impending case of allegations against Godwin Emefiele, the suspended governor of the central bank, the rule of law must be allowed to trump our “compromised, contaminated and corrupted” rule of plea bargaining. We so submit.
