What happened to all the anti-corruption cases?

Rewind to May 29^th 2015; as President Mohamadu Buhari was being sworn in at the Eagle Square, hundreds of our former rulers and people in administration were proceeding on self-imposed exiles; some under the guise of going back to school, some for medical checks, and when there was no excuse, others just upped and left. Why were they going away? Possibly to escape the assumed long hand of the new president’s promised anti-corruption crusade.

True to expectation, the retired general hit the ground running, and headlines began to scream about sensation arrests or indictment one after the other. The newspapers were beside themselves with revelations; 25billion naira stolen in one place, someone had been indicted for embezzling 150million dollars somewhere else. It was so bad that the minds of most Nigerians became desensitized to revelations of how huge sums were being alleged to have been stolen by public servants and politicians and their aides.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) were either arresting or declaring people wanted and charging them to court. Most famous of all these cases of course is the Arms Purchase scandal popularly called ‘Dasukigate’. The revelations of money changing hands through the botched arms deal made the average Nigerians cringe.

The other sensational news was the CCT trial of the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki. This one started really interestingly, with plots and counter plots, court appearances and postponements, with the Senate President parading a team of about 8o top rate lawyers at a point in time, all bent on making sure that the case was never tried. I would have thought it was easier to allow the case to be tried so as to prove the innocence of the man, instead of spending millions to prevent a trial, but then I am neither a lawyer or an accused person, so I wouldn’t know.

More than a year later, the fire seems to have gone out of most of these cases. Col Sambo Dasuki, the man at the center of the scam, is still in detention perhaps along with a few others, but most of the other indicted or accused fellows are still out of the reach of the administration.

Both of these trials and almost all the others that made headlines seems to have now grounded to a halt. The judicial systems and the intransigence of most of the people on the corrupt practices list have combined to ensure that nothing is really moving forward with these cases. In addition to this, it looks like the EFCC also may have bitten more than can be chewed, and perhaps it is that there is no articulated strategy from the EFCC to ensure that these cases are fought and bedded.

During the 1^st year anniversary of the administration, the president and his men promised us a big revelation, or can I say a big ‘near’ revelation. The nation was assured that the president was going to name and shame the people who have stolen money but from whom the government had recovered (some, obviously not all) loot. The day came but there was no list. Then there was a list, but only of amounts that were returned, not from who it was gotten. When Nigerians began to kick as to why there would be no names, the government suddenly remembered that naming names would be a problem in law. I am surprised that the Attorney General and the Honorable Chairman of the Presidential Advisory committee on Anti-Corruption, Prof Itse Sagay, didn’t see this ‘problem’ with naming names until that time.

I guess the whole point of this article is I, and I am sure a number of Nigerians also, have started to wonder what has happened to all the anti-corruption drive and to all the people whose names were variously mentioned in the newspaper as having dealt blows to our economy through embezzlement or mismanagement. I wonder what has happened to all the expectation of change in the way we do things in Nigeria. In the first few months after President Buhari was sworn in, people were looking over their shoulders as they probably didn’t know how this will all play out. But now, it looks as if we are back to business as usual. People are no longer afraid; they may have found a way to play the same game with a different strategy.

At the moment, we are close to the half year mark in the second year of this administration, and it looks to me like the forces of evil is triumphing yet again. Money has been carted away from this country, and these monies are being used to protect the people who have stolen them from being brought to book.

It looks like the bad guys are finally safe as they seem to have fought the government to a standstill. It will be a shame if the government does not get some success out of this fight in the first term of the administration. It will essentially tell the people that if you would steal money, steal a whole lot, and set aside plenty for the lawyers who will go on and pull out every trick in the books to keep you from being prosecuted, while you go on and enjoy the balance of your loot in peace. Better still, it tells Nigerians that once you get a chance to steal money, use that loot to buy some government position and you will be safe.

Altogether, this is not a good lesson to be teaching Nigerians. Unfortunately, with the economy in the shape it currently is, it will be very easy for the many Nigerians to embrace and learn this lesson. After all, what is good for the goose should also be good for the gander.