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By Onyedika Agbedo
Chima Emmanuel Nnaji is a former governorship candidate of the National Democratic Party (NDP) in Enugu State. A lawyer by profession, he spoke on the ongoing war against corruption in the country, saying the government will lose more corruption cases in court because they lack content.
What is your take on the anti-corruption war being waged by this administration against the backdrop of the cases lost by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) recently?
I have been very clear about my position in the corruption war. There is no way you can be fighting against corruption and you are not strategic. First you need to define what corruption really is; that means you are defining your target because there are so many things that will pass for corruption. But it appears this government is more interested in fighting what looks like economic corruption. But economic corruption itself is just a symptom of the main corruption. When you practice nepotism, that is corruption of the highest order. And that is what is being practiced in this country even as I speak. It gives fillip to economic corruption because in an attempt to survive, water must find its level. If you make legitimate income impossible, then be ready to grapple with illegitimate prospects by people who are minded to descend to that level.
So, you need to define what corruption is before you can define your target; and if you cannot define your target, you cannot determine the best weapon to come against it. That is why we have been having flip-flops in the corruption war.
Now, because there is an attempt by some people to be seen as working hard, they are so frenetic in their attempt to do the job. So when they see N10,000 somewhere they begin to shout, ‘we have seen N10,000’. That’s not how to do it because the issue is that you have to define who the owner is. And if you find the owner, is the source legitimate or illegitimate. Or are we saying that it is criminal for somebody to have N1 million in his house? Has he laundered it? Has he used it for illegitimate or criminal purposes? So, you must have proven that the source is criminal before you begin to shout. And that means that you have to do your job.
So, because they place the cart before the horse, most of the time, the horse would stumble on the cart and fall. If you don’t do your investigations, when you come to court, the court is interested in processes and procedures. There are rules of evidence. You cannot tell the court to convict someone because you saw him and he looked like an armed robber. So, whereas they go on media trial to prepare the minds of Nigerians to the guilt of the accused person, it is left for them to prove that the man is guilty in court and not for the man to prove his innocence. So, since our law doesn’t go the same way they are playing in the media, things won’t just work. The security agencies hardly prepare their cases and they naturally lose when they come to court.
It appears the EFCC has been operating under the pattern since the time of the founding Chairman of the agency, Nuhu Ribadu. What really do you think is at the root of this anomaly?
If you look at what happens in other climes, it has never been the duty of prosecution to insist that the person being prosecuted must go to jail. He is interested in justice and justice is of three ways – justice to the accused or the defendant, justice to the victim of the crime and justice to society. If we don’t achieve these three levels, then justice has not been done no matter the posturing. So, when you find that ab initio the intention is not necessarily to achieve justice but to satisfy the master so to speak, you see people alleging witch-hunt or partisanship in the corruption war most times an accused person is arrested. All these things are intended to dilute the judicial process. Now, the judicial process is kick-started when somebody is arrested; that is not within the purview of the judge. But when you come to court, the judge will look at how the man was arrested; what abuses he was subjected to and whether there is a fundamental human right issue. Of course, the lawyer at the other side will point it out if there is any.
There are also cases of compromise by some of the so-called investigators. He is so poorly paid and equipped. So, when he stumbles into a man who is alleged to have stolen N1 billion and the man offers him N100 million, do you think he will still be loyal to the state? Is the state his grandmother? He would rather spoil the case, collect the money that was promised him and even come to court to make sure that the evidence fails. So, when they ask him questions in the box, he will be flip-flopping and the court will be compelled to dismiss the case. Even when the judge will be questioning the competence of the man, he will be saying in his mind, ‘this judge does not even know what he is talking about’.
As a father, you don’t need to tell people when you pay the school fees of your children because it’s your responsibility. And because you know that it’s your duty, you don’t advertise it when you do so. I earlier said that prosecutors elsewhere are interested in justice and they do that with due diligence. That’s why the law says that rather punishing one single innocent soul for an offence he/she did not commit, it is better that 100 criminals are let off the hook. But it is not so in this country. In fact, 100 criminals will be left and the innocent person will be held to ingratiate those people in positions of authority that they are working and it can never take us anywhere. That is why we have been in a circus. More cases will fail. I was in television programme recently where I said that all these razzmatazz will fail because there is no content. What the security agencies now do is to prepare 100 charges and release 20. If the 20 fail, as naturally designed to fail, they will re-arrest the accused and charge him again. That shows gross incompetence.
How then can the competence of the agencies be improved to strengthen the war against corruption and make it credible?
First and foremost, competence must go with motivation. Let me tell you; some people in private practice as lawyers will never accept to be judges. As much as the judges have powers, they don’t have money; also, it is a sedentary job. You cannot make appearances and if you take a drink they will look to see if the cost is higher than your earning. They believe you no longer have friends and relations or that you never even had an inheritance from your parents. But you can have a multi-millionaire judge on account of his background or the wife’s background. What I’m saying in essence is that government has to look at ways to motivate the agencies that are executing the corruption war.
Moreover, this idea of everybody is guilty until proven right is completely wrong. It shows the demented process of reasoning of people in authority. We have made nonsense of the legal principle that he who asserts must prove. And usually, these security agencies are very derogatory to the judicial process. They violate court rulings and decisions. If you win cases against them, they look for another way to charge the defendant again. We cannot continue this way. There is no justice!
Do you see the military background of the President as contributing to the excesses of the EFCC and other agencies of government?
This is not even a question of the background of the President alone. It is the system we are used to from the Obasanjo administration till now. The system is endemic; but it requires somebody that is so ennobled in terms of character, learning and experience to prevail on the system and turn it around. You see, there is what they call body language in this country so if they feel you are incompetent and that you don’t know anything, those who want to exploit the system will go haywire. It’s just like a father who is away but doesn’t brook nonsense. Any moment the children hear the sound of his vehicle the entire home becomes calm as if nothing was happening in his absence. In the same way, if you have leadership that is not ennobled, this is what you find. I said some time ago that corruption has developed hands and legs under this administration. It’s when they shout ole (thief) that stealing takes place more easily and effortlessly. The innocent ones will begin to pursue the thief far away from their homes such that the intelligent thief will go to their freezers to take bear, have lunch and walk away quietly.
Finally, what is your take on the N13 billion recently recovered in Lagos by the EFCC?
There is nothing hidden under the sun. Something must be fishing; it’s either one of the agencies is trying to protect somebody and the other one is aware that there is such a move and is trying to truncate it or that both of them could not agree on certain terms; and so it went burst. But what I know is that what has happened is good for the polity. Let this government feel the embarrassment.
