Thoughts on a most puzzling appointment
Why am I raising and at the same time partly answering these questions concerning the appointment of Adamu Muazu? Well, the raison d’être for these queries is simple. As soon as the government of Alhaji Isa Yuguda who succeeded Adamu Muazu settled down to govern the good people of Bauchi, it realised that there was […]
Why am I raising and at the same time partly answering these questions concerning the appointment of Adamu Muazu? Well, the raison d’être for these queries is simple. As soon as the government of Alhaji Isa Yuguda who succeeded Adamu Muazu settled down to govern the good people of Bauchi, it realised that there was not much money left in the kitty of the state government by the government of Adamu Muazu as compared to the claims of the achievements Muazu said he left on the ground. The new government smelt a rat and promptly instituted a Judicial Commission of Inquiry to look into the activities of the government of Adamu Muazu from May 1999 to May 2007.
In order to make it clear that this move was not in any way another example of political victimisation of a predecessor by his successor which has somehow become an unfortunate part of our political culture, the Yuguda administration did not settle for a panel composed of political hatchet men with an axe to grind against Muazu. Rather, it went for a full Judicial Commission of Inquiry to bring to light what happened under Muazu’s stewardship. Muazu was given the opportunity as required by the Constitution of the land to defend himself and his government of the actions he took or did not take. But instead of availing himself of this golden opportunity, the man elected to go into self exile and remained in Dubai for three and a half year only for him to resurface last year and for him to be given this ‘lucrative’ appointment.
And what did the Commission of Inquiry come up with? Among other grave findings it unearthed against the former governor, the Commission said that Muazu diverted N113 million ecological funds meant for Bauchi State to private use; that the former governor also fraudulently authorised the payment of N10 million to a private company for the supply of 500 copies of the Hausa language version of the 1999 Constitution which works out at a princely cost of N20, 000 per copy. Not even a rare copy of the Dead Sea Scroll can cost that much.
The Commission said further that Muazu misappropriated the sum of N4.6 billion of Local Government funds under the cover of ‘standing security disbursements’. For these and other findings against Adamu Muazu, the Commission indicted and banned the former governor for a period of 10 years from holding any public office.
I am not accusing Adamu Muazu of corruption. I am merely relating here the verdict a duly constituted Judicial Commission of Inquiry passed on him. Since I am not a lawyer, I cannot say whether the pronouncements of a judicial commission of inquiry have a legal effect.
What is amazing is that while the commission’s inquiry into his administration lasted the former governor neither challenged his indictment in any court of law in the land nor did he take any step to vacate the decision barring him from holding any public office in the country.
The implication of the recent appointment given to Adamu Muazu is that President Goodluck Jonathan is saying that the work done by the Judicial Commission of Inquiry and its pronouncements on Muazu are of no effect whatsoever. In fact the NIMASA appointment looks like a carefully planned move to launder the image of Adamu Muazu. It is to say that he is not guilty of any of the charges levelled against him and that he does not need to even respond to some of the weighty charges against him.
The impression that has been created in the minds of many Nigerians who are aware of what came out in Bauchi during the sitting of the commission of inquiry is that Muazu is being rehabilitated because of the desperation of President Jonathan to secure votes during the April polls from whomsoever is willing to work to actualise his dream of winning the election. If this thinking is correct then Jonathan is paying lip service to his declared anti-corruption war.
Jonathan told a rally at the launch of his presidential campaign in Lafia, Nasarawa State recently that his administration will not sweep any crime under the carpet no matter how big or small. He said further that, ‘there will be no sacred cows’. For a president who made this declaration publicly to have in his team a man who is accused of many wrong-doings and found guilty of some of them by a Judicial Commission of Inquiry, sounds so contradictory.
It is very interesting to note that while Adamu Muazu was away in foreign land, the EFCC Chairman, Farida Waziri, kept insisting that he had several cases to answer only to see that the same EFCC is no longer interested in asking him to answer some of those questions concerning his tenure as governor of Bauchi. Some of us are curious to know why the EFCC is now unable to see the wrongs it alleged repeatedly that Muazu had done now that he is back to the country. Is there a conspiracy somewhere to ensure that a favoured man who deserves to face prosecution is shielded from facing the law?
The Adamu Muazu saga clearly bears out this truth. And this is a sad reality for Nigeria. It explains why we are not making any much progress with the anti-corruption war.
Abubakar lives at 12, Dass Road, Bauchi.