Ordinarily, for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and indeed other anti-corruption agencies, the fear of a mere mortal who christens himself the ‘White Lion’ of Kogi State, the political entity he presided over for eight years like a feral beast with neither conscience nor compassion, ought to be the beginning of wisdom. But alas, what have we seen ever since Mr. Yahaya Bello formally quit office in May last year and handed over to his minion and irredeemable stooge, Usman Ododo? The EFCC has turned out to be the lion-hearted and the self-styled white lion, Yahaya, no more than a feeble-hearted rat on the run for fear of having to answer questions the anti-graft agency has raised as regards the expenditure of over 80 billion Naira under Bello’s watch in the confluence state, one of the most richly endowed with natural and human resources in the country, yet whose long-suffering people are the most pathetically immiserated.
When he assumed office in a legally questionable manner following the death of the winner of the 2015 governorship election in the state, Prince Abubakar Audu, before the result of the poll was announced, Bello incessantly harped on the fact that he was the youngest governor in the country. He was a little above 40 at the time he became governor. But his performance during his eight-year tenure has proven, once again, that age cannot be the sole criteria for determining suitability for elective office. While you have many dynamic, gifted, focused, and result-oriented youth holding their own creditably in leadership positions in both the public and private sectors, there are also many who, like Bello, are hungry for public office but lack the discipline, character, vision, integrity, and capacity for the industry that such offices demand. Bello is surely the poster boy for this category of indolent and mentally vacuous youth.
It is difficult to understand why Bello is creating so much needless drama and hysteria over his invitation to respond to allegations against him by the EFCC, which was acting within the bounds of its statutory responsibilities as stipulated by valid laws of the country. What exactly is so special about this ex-governor that he presumes himself to be above the law? I recall that after handing over to his successor, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), on Tuesday, May 29, 2007, the former governor of Lagos State and now President of Nigeria, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, honored the EFCC’s invitation to clarify issues as regards the management of the finances of the state during his 8-year tenure. He reported at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja in the morning and left late at night after responding to questions by the commission’s interrogators on major contracts awarded by his administration and sundry matters. We can also all recall how a former governor of Ekiti state, Mr. Ayo Fayose, promptly reported himself to the EFCC after he left office and till date still has a case filed against him in court by the agency.
A former governor of Anambra State, Mr. Willie Obiano, also reported to the EFCC when he left office and is currently facing charges in court. Neither Fayose nor Obiano has been denied their liberty pending the determination of their cases in court. Under our laws, an accused person is presumed innocent until proven guilty. What then is Yahaya Bello running away from? Is it that he has confirmed himself guilty of the grave allegations against him and is thus seeking refuge in technicalities of the law with the aid of unscrupulous judicial officers who are trying to prevent anti-graft agencies from discharging their duties as stipulated by statute? Why should the Kogi State High Court give judicial orders that in reality seek to bind the EFCC from pursuing the cause of justice in the Yahaya Bello affair? This is not the first time that the courts would give blanket orders preventing anti-graft bodies from investigating and prosecuting politically exposed persons who lose their immunities once vacating office as governors. The case of Peter Odili, a former two-term governor of Rivers State, is an example. It is inexplicable why an injunction issued by a court restraining anti-graft agencies from investigating and prosecuting Odili if need be has remained unchallenged and the ex-governor continues to enjoy what can only be described as judicial immunity over two decades after leaving office and losing his constitutional immunity.
In seeking to bring Yahaya Bello to book in accordance with the laws, the EFCC is not just performing its statutory functions; it is also acting on behalf of the hapless and helpless people of Kogi State who remain bound to poverty despite the stupendous natural and mineral endowment of the state. The giant strands that could have been taken in Kogi had the amount of N80 billion allegedly misappropriated by the Bello administration been invested in infrastructure, qualitative social services, and poverty alleviation can be best imagined. The many analysts, pundits, and civil society activists, some of them accomplished professionals, who have gone on radio and television as well as in the pages of newspapers to defend Bello and excoriate the EFCC surely have no idea of the degree of suffering the majority of people were subjected to during the ex-governor’s tenure, the squandered years of the locusts.
Neither the workforce of the Kogi State public nor those of the state’s local government service ever received their full statutory stipulated salaries during Bello’s tenure. Most of the critical roads across the state are dilapidated or totally eroded. The state remains one of the least secure in the country and yet some professional associations of journalists offered him awards for his imagined accomplishments in the area of security. It was these kinds of dubious recognitions that encouraged Bello to think that he was more than qualified to contest for the presidency of Nigeria, a misbegotten venture that cost the state’s treasury billions in local and foreign currency all in the pursuit of a megalomaniac’s delusional fantasies. Beyond raising questions as regards whether or not the EFCC followed due process in seeking to arrest the ex-governor, most of those who have spoken out vehemently and vociferously in his support have paid scant attention to the grave allegations for which the anti-graft agency wants to interrogate the fabled white lion.
Of course, Bello is only one example of persons of mere moderate means who become stupendously wealthy after occupying ‘lucrative’ public offices such as state governor. Their suddenly acquired riches cannot be traced to any productive enterprise, special or unique natural talents or endowments or investments that add value to the public good. One of the sources of the immoral accumulation of wealth by state governors is the security vote. This is a humongous amount that, for inexplicable reasons, is shielded from public knowledge and is neither audited nor accounted for. While security is very critical and requisite amounts of funds must be allocated to ensure the safety of lives and property within given jurisdictions, shrouding the security vote in secrecy and making it immune to audit screening actually undermines the security of the polity. This is because, in reality, most governors simply convert such funds to their private purposes and their respective jurisdictions remain as unsafe and insecure as ever.
As the famous author of the classic, ‘Black Man’s Dilemma’, the late Chief Areoye Oyebola, a radical journalist and social critic, scathingly put it in a 2012 publication titled ‘Grave Issues Nigeria must Tackle’, “To millions of Nigerian workers who wallow in abject poverty, sickness and hunger, especially the lowest paid workers in the public and private sectors who earn starvation wages of N18,000 and below per month, will regard the recent disclosure by Transparency International that N241 billion per annum was expended on Security Vote in 2017 as very sad indeed. This unconstitutional illegality called security vote which was transferred by the Military Government to the civilian rulers who joyfully accepted it…has provided a direct way of looting massive public funds by Nigerian rulers without any accountability or sanctions whatsoever.”
Another means of illicit material accumulation by governors in Nigeria is the alleged hijacking and diversion of local government funds. Indeed, it is alleged that it is in this area that much of the funds allegedly misappropriated by Yahaya Bello came from. It is perhaps no surprise then that the ex-white lion chose and imposed as his successor, the current Governor, Usman Ododo, who was Auditor General of Local Government under Bello. The underfunding of local government councils has been identified as a critical factor in the continued poverty, decay, and underdevelopment of grassroots communities across the country. Yet, if their potential and trapped energies are unleashed, the grassroots can play invaluable roles in helping to actualize the possibilities of Nigeria in the direction of greater productivity, self-reliance, and prosperity.
The EFCC Chairman, Mr. Ola Olukoyede has been accused in some quarters of being overly emotional at a press conference organized by the commission to state its position on the Yahaya Bello affair. Others contend that he had subjected Bello to what they describe as a media trial. But it is noteworthy as a guest analyst put it on a TVC programme that the EFCC Chairman had, until the Bello affair, not held any press conference since his assumption of office. He cannot therefore be said to be in pursuit of publicity and self-glorification. But the commission could understandably not stand idly by when Bello’s horde of mostly paid defenders were running rampant particularly in the electronic media, peddling falsehoods in a bid to muddy the waters and portray the former governor as a victim of harassment and unjust persecution. The EFCC obviously had to prove that it had concrete allegations necessitating the ex-governor to defend himself.
In any case, Mr. Olukoyede had given a foretaste of the passion he was bringing to the job when he was screened by the Senate before his confirmation. On that occasion, he had told the Senators that a survey he conducted between 2018 and 2020 revealed that the taxpayers lost $2.9 trillion to contracts and procurement fraud alone in those three years. The amount, he noted, was enough to pay for the construction of at least 1000 kilometers of roads, and 200 standard tertiary institutions and educate about 6000 children from tertiary to tertiary levels at N16 million per child. In his words, “For Nigeria to earn a reputation for transparency and accountability, there must be a collective decision that, indeed, corruption must be eliminated. We must build an international reputation in transparency and as an agency I can investigate even the Senate President because we must call a spade a spade, we must look at evil and call it evil, no matter who is involved”. It is a good thing that so far President Tinubu has not sought to influence the operations of the agency as Yahaya Bello so obviously wanted. It is critical that the President maintains this stance.
(The Nation)
