The Yahaya Bello drama and the mockery of law

The current drama of the absurd starring Yahaya Bello, the immediate past governor of Kogi State, his handpicked successor, governor Ododo, a Lokoja high court, an Abuja high court, the operatives of the EFCC and Ododo’s security details, has tragic ramifications for the law, the rule of law and the right of the anti-graft commission […]

The current drama of the absurd starring Yahaya Bello, the immediate past governor of Kogi State, his handpicked successor, governor Ododo, a Lokoja high court, an Abuja high court, the operatives of the EFCC and Ododo’s security details, has tragic ramifications for the law, the rule of law and the right of the anti-graft commission to perform its statutory duty.

It is a monumental mess. It exposes what was always known and whispered loudly, to wit: the rich and the powerful manipulate and misuse the judiciary, mock our laws and cripple the rule of law. The poor penny pincher rots in jail but the law keeps the billionaire thief in the laps of his luxury. It is no secret that the judiciary is more often than not recruited into brazen attempts to help the big men with deep pockets bend the law, insult the law, mock the rule of law and replace the government of laws with the government of the rich and the powerful. Justice be damned.

Bello is evading arrest by the commission which, obviously, has reasons to believe that he is in a position to help in its investigation of allegations of graft against him. He enlisted the support of a Lokoja high court to block the commission. The commission in turn enlisted the support of an Abuja high court to unblock the order of the Lokoja high court. Two courts with co-ordinate jurisdictions are thus called upon, one to mock the law and the elementary rule of law; and the other to free the law and allow the commission to do its duty.

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This is stretching impunity beyond the limits of reason in a democracy and accommodating the right of the rich and the powerful to treat our laws with absolute contempt and the long running anti-graft war as a huge joke. It is unlawful to prevent security and law enforcement agencies from doing their duty in accordance with the laws of the land. That shouldn’t be difficult for the Lokoja judge or Ododo to appreciate.

This is a greater pity than you might think. The misuse of power and influence has since rendered the commission almost irrelevant, given the rising cases of corruption involving former state governors, ministers and other men and women who chose to steal what they were duty bound to guard and keep safe for the people. Corruption has taken a giant leap in our country. We no longer hear of stolen millions but stolen billions from our common treasuries at the national and the sub-national levels.

The commission is within its legal rights to question Bello over allegations of his alleged corrupt practices while in office. Many former state governors had answered the same call. Its enabling law empowers the commission to question anyone it has reasons to believe can assist it in its investigation into an alleged crime. The commission has reasons to believe that Bello helped himself to N80 billion of the people’s money put under his care as governor and he needs to explain himself the to the commission. This, he refuses to do.

In assisting him to evade the law, the Lokoja high court clearly indulged itself in a political power play and in doing so, mocked the role the judiciary is called upon to play in the anti-graft war. Bello is a rich and powerful politician, but he is still subject to the laws of the land and if he is invited by the commission or any other security agency, he must answer the call. His wealth does not put him beyond the reach of the law and no court in the land should prevent the commission from doing its duty. The interference of the court muddies the already muddied anti-graft war in which the camels saunter through the eye of the needle, but the small fries are impaled on the stake.

Bello’s drama is not strange, but it raises some fundamental issues about the prosecution of the anti-graft war. It is the longest war in the land. The harder it is fought, the more we are confronted with disturbing evidence that the nation is not about to win the war. Every federal administration, military or civilian, committed itself to the eradication of corruption. We have been at the war since 1966. That was not yesterday. That was some 58 years ago. Still, corruption has a smirk on its face.

Our immediate past president Muhammadu Buhari, promised to kill it “before it kills Nigeria.” It was a promise he could not keep. Indeed, there is evidence that the cankerworm thrived and sprouted wildly under his feet. It is tragic for the nation that almost all our former public officers have, to use an Agila expression, palm oil on all their fingers. Thus, the nation grows poorer, but its public officers grow richer.

We have reached a point at which we need to critically examine how the anti-graft war has been fought in the past 58 years. If it has not achieved the desired results, its failure invites us to consider two fundamental approaches to the war and its prosecution. It is obvious that we are generally ambivalent about the anti-graft war. We cannot celebrate corrupt men and women and still pretend that we are intolerant of corruption and the corrupt. We must choose either to fight it or let it thrive. We cannot have it both ways. However, at least two steps recommend themselves if we want to see a cleaner nation, we can all be proud of.

The first step is to re-examine the system itself. Is the system as it is sufficiently protective of public funds at all levels of government? We do not need a babalawo to consult his beads for an answer. It is clear that a system that allowed the former accountant-general of the federation, the now celebrated Idris, to allegedly freely pocket some N108 billion is not just porous but widely open to abuse. The same can be said of Bello and his alleged N80 graft as well as many others.

We should put in place a good protective system with an alarm system that goes off if an itchy finger wanders beyond its limits of responsibility. So long as this current system remains what it is, so long will the naked theft of public funds go on with unbelievable impunity. Once the system is tightened with all the loopholes blocked, there will be less, not more theft of more public funds at national and sub-national levels.

The second step is a constitutional matter. The state governors enjoy immunity from prosecution while in office. This means they are untouchable and cannot be called to account for their crimes unless and until they leave office. The courts have backed this interpretation and thus incapacitated EFCC. By the time they leave office, they are rich enough and influential enough to twist the law around their fingers.

Dealing with this second step is rather complicated. The way out is to amend the relevant section of the constitution and remove immunity from criminal cases from serving governors. Of course, the state governors and their legislatures will not allow this. So, the stealing goes on; so the law is bent out of shape by judges by the same corrupt system and the crooked are celebrated. Nigeria we hail thee.