Cockerel digs out a knife

In the unceasing public hearings at the national assembly, which altogether seek to probe activities of ministerial departments, agencies and public corporations; the House of Representatives Committee on Capital Market and other Institutions revealed during a recent public hearing that the Director General/CEO of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Ms Arunma Oteh spent N850, […]

In the unceasing public hearings at the national assembly, which altogether seek to probe activities of ministerial departments, agencies and public corporations; the House of Representatives Committee on Capital Market and other Institutions revealed during a recent public hearing that the Director General/CEO of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Ms Arunma Oteh spent N850, 000.00 in a day on feeding alone. In a seemingly desperate bid to further search for Ms Oteh’s financial rascality, the probe panel led by Rep. Herman Hembe ended up, like the cock, unearthing and exposing the panel’s own dirty linens; which are “reekingly” sharp enough to cut short the political career of committee members particularly its chairman, Rep. Hembe. This is a case of another figurative expression in Hausa which could be translated as “If you do not know how to catch a thief, the thief would (instead) catch you”. We shall return to this issue later in the discourse.

Media reports in Nigeria today are dominated more than ever before by bribery allegations. Misappropriation of public funds is in the news almost every day in the week. It has actually been a climate of corruption in the past twelve years of civil rule (but certainly not democracy) in Nigeria as if corruption were the only dividend it can offer Nigerians. The end to this ugly trend does not seem to be in sight because those who have the constitutional mandate as lawmakers or law enforcers to sanction law-breaking have themselves become accomplices or supporters of the same corrupt practices they are statutorily paid to avert.

The scandalous allegations brought against some public officers turned Nigeria in the past two weeks in to a gallery of scams. Committee rooms of the national assembly became, especially since January 2012, entertainment theaters where treasury looters converge to sing various “naira-rhythmic” tunes that so far include “N850, 000.00 worth of a meal; “N44 million bribe allegation”; and a complete album titled “N14billion siphoned pension fund” with many vampire tracks. A more cacophonic tune titled “guilty plea” came from a former Delta State governor James Ibori; a song he released in February 2012 at the South-Wark Crown Court in London.

Let us come back to Oteh’s trial at the probe panel of the House of Representatives. Members of the Hembe-led committee found themselves in the embarrassing situation they suffered during the public hearing because they veered off the track of genuine probe. Chairman of the probe panel, became the worst victim of the startling revelations that embroiled the panel and Ms Oteh. The probe committee could have succeeded in its job if from the onset of the sitting it focused on ascertaining factors responsible for the last crash in Nigeria’s capital market. Of course, exposing Oteh’s fraudulent activities at SEC is as important as every other task of the committee. However, investigations should have started from asking Ms Oteh to explain why Nigeria’s capital market has remained unhealthy.

Truly, Nigerians want to know more about what Oteh as CEO of SEC has done or is doing to improve the state of the sector. Oteh’s explanations could have led to other issues that relate to violating the commission’s financial regulations or compromising its regulatory position. But because the probe panel started off from a point that should have naturally come up in the course of investigation, it sooner than later lost bearing; discarded its main agenda (Capital Market) and replaced it with Oteh’s overheads.

Ms. Arunma Oteh opened a Pandora’s Box when she accused the probe panel chairman of asking her for a bribe of N44million to fund the public hearing. These allegations prompted Hembe to resign as chairman of the probe panel who similarly accused Ms Oteh of enticing him with N30million bribe in the run up to the investigation by his committee. This bickering over bribery allegations tells Nigerians of what they are likely to hear if every other sector of the economy were to go for public hearing at the national assembly. It’s really heartrending and unfortunate for this country.

It may be important here to outline some of the reasons that could explain why corruption thrives in Nigeria. The executives, judiciary and legislative arms of the structure of governance are respectively responsible even though the judiciary takes the largest portion of the blame. Offenders of criminal acts and corrupt practices are never punished according to provisions of the law. James Ibori, for instance, was arrested in December 2007 by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to face 170 count charges of money laundering. But two years into his trial, a High Court in Asaba, his hometown, dismissed the charges leveled against Ibori and acquitted him only for the same accused ((Ibori) to plead guilty in a London court to all the corrupt charges upon which he was earlier acquitted in Nigeria. Why then would corruption not thrive in Nigeria when judges help criminals to escape sentence? Ibori’s recent guilty plea is not only an indictment on the Asaba High Court but equally brings to public glare the rot and failure of the Nigerian judiciary.

Lawmakers on their part are turning their probes into mere narrative sessions that are followed by a long silence similar to that around graveyards. There are dozens of probes conducted by the national assembly from 2007 to date with no erring public officer sanctioned as a result of the probe reports. What happened, if we may ask, to reports of the House Committees that probed the N64billion Abuja Airport runway contract; procurement of police equipment; N4.9billion sugar fund; N29billion fuel import scam; fraud allegations in Nigerian Railway Corporation; and the $24million vessel overhaul contracts? Lawmakers must realize that transparency or accountability is not just about probes but more about ensuring that public officers found guilty of fraudulent practices are sanctioned accordingly.

prosecutors must equally stop intermittent amendment of their submissions especially after hearing in to cases had begun. Lawmakers would do posterity a great service by criminalizing the stealing of public funds. May Allah (SWT) guide us to shun all corrupt tendencies so that we may be spiritually admitted in to the company of righteous men and women, amin.