As the presidential election date draws closer, frontline candidates are rolling out odd policy statements almost every hour. At a campaign rally in Kaduna last week, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Muhammadu Buhari, stunned many people when he said he would pardon a certain class of corrupt people if he were to be elected president on 28 March – just 10 days away from today. I was amazed that Buhari could undermine his own election campaign with such ill-informed comment.
In a statement that surprised even his own supporters, Buhari said he would not probe corrupt leaders who had been in charge of national affairs since 1999. How self-serving! Addressing the audience, Buhari said: “On the issue of past corrupt leaders facing trials in various courts across the country, I would allow the courts to decide on those cases, but whoever that is indicted of corruption between 1999 to the time of swearing-in, would be pardoned. I am going to draw a line, anybody who involved himself in corruption after I assume office, will face the music.”
That is not tough enough, sir. It is precisely this kind of lily-livered manifesto on corruption that has compelled some people to see Buhari as a symbol of irony. In one moment, he will say all the right things that will endear him to the people. However, within the blink of an eye, Buhari will say unwise things that will wipe away all the gains he has made with regard to winning public support.
It beats me why a presidential candidate such as Buhari, who is looking more serious in this forthcoming election than his performance in three previous presidential elections which he lost dishonourably, would make the kind of imprudent comment about how he would tackle corruption if he were to be elected president. Perhaps Buhari does not have smart advisers and assistants who guide him on how to say good things in the public sphere.
It is not a clever thing for a presidential candidate to say he would exempt from prosecution some people who are certified to be corrupt. Corruption is corruption. There is nothing like big corruption, little corruption, or average corruption. I am not aware that there is an expiry date for corrupt acts. It seems to me that Buhari has already decided, even as he presents himself as a no-nonsense anti-corruption crusader, that he would pardon people who were found corrupt by a court or independent panel of investigation within a certain time or date. This is unthinkable. This must not be allowed to happen because Nigeria is a country blemished by corruption.
The fight against corruption must be total and unequivocal. There must be no space for exemptions. There must be no statute of limitation for convicted corrupt officials in the country. I am not aware that there is a law in Nigeria that stipulates clearly that people who were convicted of corruption in the past should be pardoned after a certain period. Buhari should re-think his position on corruption.
This is why I disagree with Buhari in his eagerness to please all sides of politics. How, for example, would Buhari distinguish between the seriousness of corrupt practices committed between 1999 and today and other crooked practices committed from 29 May 2015 and thereafter? This is more perplexing than anyone would imagine. People who committed corruption between 1999 and 29 May 2015 are not more immaculate than people who engaged in corruption from May 2015.
Buhari must be short of ideas about how to advance his anti-corruption manifesto beyond political rhetoric. His inability to clarify his position on how he plans to confront corruption has exposed the duplicitous side of Buhari. If he is truly committed to the campaign to rid the country of the festering stench of endemic corruption in public and private spheres, he must be prepared to punish everyone who is convicted of corruption. It is immaterial to consider the period when the crime was committed.
Buhari’s latest policy statement on corruption is disappointing. Over the years, Buhari has carved out an image as an austere leader who brooks no hot air or people who adopt evasive measures to avoid their economic and social obligations to the society in which they exist. As the saying goes, what is worth doing is worth doing well. Buhari must sit up and reconsider his commitment to the war against corruption.
In a swift response to Buhari’s half-hearted explication of his position on corruption, an organisation known as “Move on Nigeria” said “it is not up to Buhari to probe or not to probe past governments. No president has the constitutional mandate to execute such fiat as this is within the orbit of the National Assembly.” The national coordinator of the organisation, Clem Aguiyi, said: “Nigeria is sick and tired of corrupt individuals and impunity in public places hence what is required is the strengthening of our anti-corruption institutions so that they can do their jobs effectively without any executive interference.”
The statement continued: “It is unfortunate that General Buhari still sees himself as a military dictator and envisages that the new position he is aspiring to will confer the power of a military dictator on him, but facts are that the constitution of Nigeria does not give the president the power to probe former regimes or choose which job to do as president or what not to do.” Aguiyi said: “It is disappointing to note that a person aspiring for the number one job does not have a clue of the job requirements and more disturbing that a man who accuses others of corruption and based his entire campaign on the mantra of change and promise to end corruption is not prepared to stand his ground when the push comes to shove.”
Corruption in Nigeria is a hydra-headed monster. There are reasons why everyone must look suspiciously at Buhari whenever he talks about his duty to fight corruption. In June 2008, Buhari joined Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar to pay tribute to Sani Abacha, the most feared dictator in the history of military rule in the country. At the 10th anniversary prayer session for Abacha which was held in Kano, Buhari, Babangida and Abubakar contended that Abacha did not ransack the nation’s treasury because no evidence had been presented to sustain the allegations. At that time, Buhari said: “All the allegations levelled against the personality of the late Gen. Sani Abacha will remain allegations. It is 10 years now, things should be over by now.”
Essentially, Buhari argued in support of a statute of limitation on the interval when corrupt leaders should be prosecuted in court or be allowed to go home to enjoy their corrupt wealth. Seven years after Buhari made that disagreeable comment he has resurrected the same argument about why he would pardon some corrupt people and prosecute others based on the time when they committed the crime.
Buhari’s argument is weak and absurd. If he wants to fight corruption, he must come out with ‘all guns blazing’ (pardon this cliché). He cannot wage a war against corruption in a lenient way. Weakness of character, inconsistency, and ambiguity are not the attributes you expect to see in a presidential candidate who is campaigning against corruption. Across the society, allegations of corruption continue to worsen. This is why corruption must be dealt with forcefully and unreservedly.
In the public service and in the judiciary, you will find cases of corruption. With regard to the situation in the judiciary, the Nigerian Bar Association once acknowledged the challenges facing the judiciary include “debilitating corruption eating into and corroding the entire judicial system”.
To be sure, it is not only Buhari who has demonstrated reluctance to fight corruption. Although President Goodluck Jonathan has made numerous statements affirming his commitment to eliminate corruption in our society, little evidence exists to show how he is fighting corruption. Take, for instance, the statement Jonathan made at the graduation ceremony of the Senior Executive Course (No 34, 2012) of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, near Jos on Saturday, 24 November 2012. Jonathan said categorically that no corrupt person, regardless of their standing in society, would avoid punishment. He said: “We are vigorously fighting the endemic corruption at all levels and in all sectors of our country. I can assure you that there will be no sacred cows. Whoever is found to have transgressed will be made to face the full wrath of the law.”
The problem is that Jonathan’s government cannot point to many high profile persons who have been successfully prosecuted in the courts for corrupt practices. This is why many people choose to consign to the waste bin Jonathan’s anti-corruption slogans. Here is one existing case. Ever since news broke on the oil subsidy fraud, the government has not successfully prosecuted any of the alleged offenders. It is alright to hear that some people have been taken to court. However, going to court is not the same thing as getting a conviction against accused persons.
The crusade against corruption has not yet started in Nigeria. The current breed of politicians has shown they lack the capacity, the determination, and the passion to take on the challenge.
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