News Star newspaper

Candid Voice
Anti-corruption race: And God gets the baton!
Dada Aladelokun

His voice cracked in palpable fit of anger and despondency. He gave his name as Amos Ejimonye. He had called me from Kaduna in quick reaction to this column, entitled, “Ramadan fast and terror in our stomachs,” last week. He had said inter alia, “I’m really touched by your view and I agree with you; this Ramadan will continue beyond September 30 because our so-called leaders have no solution for the hunger that is ravaging the land.” He later submitted, “God can never change Nigeria because He didn’t create it; it was some British elements…” “Epoo!” I shouted.
“But the Holy Bible says with God, all things are possible,” I told myself immediately my eardrum and handset divorced after receiving what passed for an emergency call from Mr. Ejimonye. But then, I appreciated his frustration as a human being like most other equally troubled Nigerians whose hearts have not ceased weeping over the cocoon of hopelessness in which, for years, the nation’s life seems to have been locked up in.
With Mr. Ejimonye’s worry still reinforcing mine, a colleague of mine drew my attention to the gripping confession of the Lagos State police boss, Marvel Akpoyibo, about his old life as a cultist before God “arrested” him. The Sun reported it on Monday.
Suddenly, in the same newspaper, my eyes caught what I considered more engaging. “Prayer is the only way to win corruption war,” one of the headlines read. “That must have come from an unrepentant believer in the ilk Pastor E.A. Adeboye,” I quickly soliloquised. But poor me; I lost the mark! It came from the Chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, Justice Emmanuel Ayoola!
By the story, it was at an “anti-corruption prayer service” held last Sunday at the National Christian Worship Centre, Abuja. And it was jointly organized by the ICPC and Christian Lawyers’ Fellowship of Nigeria. As it seems, they must have understood one fact: That practically, our situation, especially fighting the cankerworm of corruption in the land, had defied all known empirical permutations!
Out of total desperation, which was apparently hinged on patriotism, the retired Justice of the Supreme Court had traversed the length and breadth of the country, with his men, preaching the gospel of integrity and proper ethics to re-orientate Nigerians against corrupt tendencies. To him, it is, as we can feel now, cheaper to prevent corruption than cure it. But, too bad; as the esteemed Justice had probably realized, Okere (the squirrel), as a proverb says, has found its way to the top of Iroko tree. All that remains for the hunter is to un-cock, hang his gun and accept his fate; chikena!
However, in dire situations, the masquerade does open up, though with a voice as guttural as the Lagos boys’! Justice Ayoola felt it, and hence, decided to take Nigeria’s case to God rather than throw in the towel like a poor loser. He has said at the service: “Our country has since been trapped by the devil of corruption…I believe strongly that if Christians in the country pray earnestly, the menace of corruption will be reduced drastically. So, I call on Christians – and other religious bodies in the country - not to fail in their responsibilities…”
Oh yes, he said it, and I don’t blame him! If you are a friend to the friend of one of the man’s nephews, you know you can count the number of times you have had a sound sleep since “your own” Justice Ayoola – who may not even know you - was named the helmsman of the commission. Yes, we are in Nigeria. I’m sure that if there have been gory under-currents the man will never have the liver to disclose to Nigerians. Only the dead can recount his experience in his grave. Let’s leave it at that. You should understand why I may not begrudge the senior learned man for hastily taking our case to the “Supreme Court” of the spiritual realm. Presumably, besides the pressures, the nauseating judicial bureaucratic bottlenecks that have posed a shield for the financial criminals among us, no doubt, did not help the man and his men. Oh, don’t let us remind ourselves of the pecuniary and material resources that have gone down the drain on the operations of the ICPC all these years!
I still maintain that in this country, as corruption-infested as it seems, there are still some, though few and far-between, who won’t give it a second thought to throw any of their children into jail for mere spying on his friend’s purse. Such men do write their wills, moments after their birth. And at age 45 or so, it is not strange to see them sleep and wake up with their coffins under their dining tables! They may be few, but you and I know them.
Legendary late Dr. Tai Solarin! He once denied his only son, Tunde, an admission into his own secondary school – Mayflower Schools, Ikenne – for his low score in Mathematics. Tunde had to wait till the following year when he passed the subject after burning the midnight oil. “Unbelievable!” Yes, I knew many would so exclaim!
The departed educationist and his like remind me of one of my childhood friends. He was known by the appellation, Kogbebe (the uncompromising one). As close as we were, I wouldn’t dare step on his nails, let alone step on his toes or stomach. And drag him before King Pharaoh; he would take his pound of flesh in return, especially if he was on the side of justice!
We need such no-nonsense men like Jerry Rawlings of Ghana; men with lionic hearts, who would not spare the rod to spoil the nation. But for the time being, perhaps as our peculiar case demands, the baton has been passed on to the Creator of the Universe. Off we go, at the blast of the whistle!!!

EFCC under Farida Waziri
HALIMS ODODU

The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Farida Waziri, is a trail blazer who has already earned her place in history as the first woman to head a major law enforcement agency in Nigeria. But the super cop whose surprised nomination for the sensitive EFCC job ruffled a few feathers appears determined to be remembered for a more enduring legacy than that offered by her gender.
Within the few months that she has been at the driver’s seat of the anti graft campaign, she has spoken so much of what needed to be done to give the fight against corruption and financial crimes a new focus and meaning.
From the onset, she promised that she would step on toes; then added that she would rein in on banks and cut the excesses of fat cats in the sector who are circumventing regulations with impunity and abetting money laundering. She also said she would keep a tab on the nation’s army of contractors and thousands of contracts that are daily being awarded in the three tiers of government; and lately, that she would police all of the nation’s 774 local councils in addition to the 36 state governments and over a dozen federal ministries that are already under the commission’s watch.
This by any stretch of the imagination is a very ambitious agenda. Considering its size and resources, one wonders whether Waziri is not saddling EFCC with far more responsibilities than it can cope with in the short term. A one –problem- at –a- time approach seems more attractive for the simple reason that it could insulate the agency from the possible dilemma of over promising. But that would also amount to shying away from facing challenges that should not be deferred. In any case, Waziri does not strike me as a woman that would shy away from taking on challenges head on.
She comes across as a woman who is burdened by the rot she sees everywhere, and worried stiff by the threat that grand corruption poses to the collective health of our country. She obviously believes that something drastic and urgent needs to be done to rescue Nigeria from the stranglehold of corruption. As she has correctly diagnosed, corruption remains the greatest problem militating against the country’s progress. And for the nation to survive and achieve its potentials, corruption and economic crimes must be fought to a standstill.
To achieve this, the new EFCC boss believes that a new strategy that de-emphasizes law enforcement is key. This would seem simplistic to those who think that grand corruption has become a mighty monster that will take a laser guided missile to shoot down. But given her antecedents, there is no doubting the efficacy and precision of the new strategy which is heavy on moral suasion. What we hear is that a programme whose bits and pieces are already in the public domain is being carefully designed to enable Nigerians of all backgrounds take interest and get involved in the fight against financial crimes and corruption. Waziri has aptly called it the anti corruption revolution. A revolution indeed! Because the way the war against corruption was fought in recent past tended to alienate the people- who stand to profit from the war- from enlisting in the fight. It was perceived as an establishment thing which was why all manner of motives were imputed into the attempt by the agency to bring some of those who were accused of stealing from the public till to justice.
Against this background, the new initiative represents a major opportunity to get things right by allowing the people to take ownership of the fight. The programme is still at a delicate embryonic stage but there is need to get it right.
 This revolution is not Waziri’s nor is it about Waziri. She may have been the driver but the only way success can be made out of it is for Nigerians to see her idea as a clarion call to join this important fight. We cannot afford to be onlookers any more, we cannot afford to helplessly bemoan our plight anymore without raising a finger. We cannot afford to keep ruminating over what might have been, by drawing comparison with other countries. Ghana, Uganda and other countries that are today success stories in terms of dramatic developmental turn around in Africa were at one time or the other in corruption quagmire. But their leaders had the courage to say enough is enough and backed by the support of the people they succeeded.
Now, Waziri is throwing at us a major challenge to take our destiny and those of our unborn children in our hands. We must all in our little ways lend support to the fight against corruption. The starting point is to take that important decision not to feed or tolerate corruption by submitting to the wiles of the corrupt. Instead we should learn to become whistle blowers by reporting acts that compromise the integrity of the Nigerian system. In this regard, it is imperative that we begin to discard received notions that have no basis in fact and logic. Notions like the often repeated Nigerian factor should have no place in our psyche. There is nothing innately crooked about the Nigerian and our system. Rather it is the negative attitude tolerated over the years that has assumed a life of its own in the shape of a Nigerian factor. Who says that the Nigerian system cannot work if we all decide to do what is right and submit to the laws of our country?
I will willingly sign on to be part of the anti corruption revolution and expect all citizens and critical groups like the media and the civil society to do likewise. The media in particular have an important role to play as vehicle for social mobilization. Unless the media buy into this lofty vision, it will be difficult getting the ordinary man on the street to embrace this revolution.