Ribadu and Selectivity in the anti-corruption war
By Idang Alibi
I have noticed that each time something is said negatively about the former EFCC chairman Nuhu Ribadu, the main charge against him is always that he selectively victimized the enemies of the former President Olusegun Obasanjo under whom he served. Those who say that will then grudgingly concede to him that he did a good job. I am tired of hearing this charge of selectivity.
I am not here saying that it is right for certain known criminals to be exempted from facing the law while some others for whatever reasons are made to account. What I just want to point out is that given the nature of human beings, accusation of selectivity will always be heard. My concern is that we Nigerians are spending far too much time on arguments about which criminals were overlooked and which ones accosted than on the real issue of fighting corruption in our public and private lives. I think that if we are serious, we will not spend valuable time on such a distraction but continue to focus our attention squarely on the war against corruption.
One fact I know is that since we are not governed by angels but by imperfect human who harbour fears, sympathies and prejudices of their own and who are also susceptible to pressures, threats and blackmail, anti-corruption war will always have elements of selectivity.
We must not forget that Buhari was accused of selectivity. The ‘progressive governors’ of the time said he was biased in favour of the NPN gang. During the Babangida administration there was one well-known case of selectivity. To date, Babangida’s anti-corruption war has the single most important distinction of catching only one man who happened to be an outspoken former minister in his government who later became an outspoken critic of his administration. The man, who was also the only victim of Babangida’s anti-corruption war, was Tam David West. And what was David West’s grievous offence? The administration looked through a huge haystack in order to get a pin to puncture the well-earned reputation of David West for honesty and patriotism. He was jailed for collecting a ‘bribe’ of a wristwatch whose value was put at about 3,000 dollars! West was the only casualty in IBB’s war against corruption. That is certainly some achievement. It is sad that a judge in Nigeria was on hand to legitimize this meanness and wicked spite by jailing David West. I beseech heaven to forgive my countrymen for the many dammed wicked things some do to their neighbours and which governments do to sometime completely innocent citizens they are supposed to care for.
My own honest position is that whether it is Nuhu Ribadu or some one else, it is not possible for any human being who is a prosecutor whether in Nigeria or anywhere else in the world to prosecute all criminals known to him. The truth of the matter which my oga the veteran lawyer and journalist Prince Tony Momoh told me several years ago is that in all societies, the decision to prosecute is political. You can abuse me or the man who told me that honest truth as much as you want but that will not change the truth. Whether in traditional or modern society, the ruling elite determine who gets prosecuted, when and for what end.
Whether it is deliberate or not, it is simply impossible to get all the criminals at one time. Moreover, any war fought by an intelligent man requires tactics or tactical maneuvers. Sometimes, it is wise for tactical reason to ignore some trouble makers so that the larger war against other trouble makers is not altogether aborted. It would have been a tactical blunder of monumental proportion on the part of Ribadu for him not to have been blind to some of Obasanjo’s friends if he knew that taking them on would have led to his own frustration and removal. We are not in a developed country where institutions are independent and the operators manning them can act independently and fearlessly for the protection of the state. Any one who does not take account of this in the assessment of Ribadu and what he was able to do for this country is unfair and unrealistic. It is for this reason that I have not joined the bandwagon in condemning INEC chairman Maurice Iwu. Iwu may have his faults but I do know that if those who control the levers of executive power want Iwu or any other person who is chairman of INEC to conduct free and fair elections such an Iwu man will do exactly that.
Here in Africa our presidents and prime ministers are still medieval kings wearing modern robes. It is only a foolish man who ignores the president’s or prime minister’s wishes or interests or desires and lives to tell a success story. The press and the people are not cohesive enough to be counted upon to defend you if you take on headlong some entrenched interests for they can be quite formidable indeed.i am not saying this to discourage those who so wish to take courageous actions. Am only warning of the dangers in that. If you take a foolish step you may be forced to live a life of regrets almost all the rest of your life. My thinking is that this is a passing phase in our life. With time the moral climate will not permit a leader to use the institutions of state such as the EFCC, the police, INEC, the SSS, etc to serve his political ends.
As far as my small intelligence serves me, it is fool-hardy for any Ribadu in Africa to take steps to prosecute a sitting president, his friends and family members without his (the president’s) authorization or tacit endorsement. I am not a survivalist or advocate of survival politics. I am speaking realistically. Not even in South Africa will this happen today in our Africa. We simply have not matured to that level yet. This may sound derogatory on us but I am saying the truth that I know. It is easy for especially our brothers in the Diaspora who live in climes where civilized norms reign to urge the likes of Ribadu to resign on the basis of principles. Our society is different. I am not advocating cowardice or lack of principles on the part of our public officials but
I also know that some of those who urge the likes of Nuhu Ribadu to resign on principle or to make a point are being insincere and hypocritical. If they are given the kind of position they urge others to resign from and they are faced with similar challenges, will they resign? I doubt it. Some of them will even go to witch doctors to carry out some voodoo acts so that they can remain in office beyond even a third term if the office carries a two-term limit. I know my compatriots very well: that what they sometimes self-righteously urge others to do, they never can do them themselves if given the same set of circumstances. It is unfair of such persons to sit in the comfort of their rooms and urge the Nuhu Ribadus of this world to resign. Sometimes you betray the cause of positive change by resigning peremptorily just to keep up with the image of a radical or reformer. Sometimes a Nuhu Ribadu needs to sit tight to be able to effect whatever little change he can bring about.
I am not some starry-eyed idealist. I am a hard-nosed pragmatist who knows that in the game of life, what is sometime needed to succeed is to see what little compromise you can possibly and reasonably make to be able to forge ahead and carry out your mission in life. If by the grace of God I attain a fairly visible public office in our country one day, the only sort of compromises I may be required to make that will force me to resign is when I am asked to murder, to engage in idolatry or to carry out some unspeakable evil that will offend my God and man. I will not, for instance, throw in the towel just because a president I serve has not allowed me to prosecute his friends or family members. If I have a chance to prosecute his enemies who have actually done wrong, I do not see the ethical issue involved in that! Some one else after me can prosecute my boss’ friends who he did not want me to touch!
How many of those who urge others to resign have ever resigned from any position in their life in the little offices they occupy? You do not need to occupy a high office before you can demonstrate principle. You can also resign from whatever little office you are holding to make a moral point. But how many lowly placed Nigerians have ever resigned from their little positions on the basis of principle?
The truth or reality of our situation in Nigeria is that a head of a government agency can only be as successful or as courageous as the leader of that government wants him to be. Those who say that people in the shoe of Ribadu should resign if the president who appoints them is acting as obstacles to them are living in a fool’s paradise. If Ribadu had engaged in some quixotic act of radicalism by resigning he would not have achieved the success he recorded. Campus style radicalism cannot solve our problems today.
Idang Alibi is an Abuja-based journalist and can be reached on idangalibi@yahoo.com
