Source ,Thisday
Lagos — In a marked departure from the norm, former military governor of the old Ondo State and former Deputy National Chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as well as the de facto leader of the PDP in Lagos State, Commodore Olabode George (rtd.), was sentenced to two years imprisonment last Monday. George was sent to jail having been found guilty of corruption allegations bordering on inflation and duplication of contracts while he held sway as the Chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).
George’s journey to jail came at the time hopes of Nigerians in the anti-corruption battle seemed to have worn out. Critics of the anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and its Chairman, Mrs. Farida Waziri, have dismissed claims of anti-graft war as nothing but a mere distraction. According to them, despite the obvious cases of corruption against former governors and other prominent personalities in the country, hopes of anyone being brought to book had daily continued to wear thin.
Therefore, the conviction of George and his eventual sentence to jail, have elicited hopes that Nigeria can still be a better place after all, if the battle against the corrupt minds is further intensified and the law is allowed to take its course against every Nigerian whether lowly or highly placed.
George’s conviction came to many, including the retired naval officer himself as well as his army of supporters as a rude shock. This is moreso that records of reckless corrupt practices perpetrated by former and current Nigerian leaders since the inception of independent Nigeria, had shown no instance of the imprisonment of any leader. Rather, Nigerian leaders had always been above board, whose corrupt acts were often celebrated with trumpets and loud cymbals. To this end, civil society organizations and human rights crusaders, notably the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi and Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti, fought desperately to no avail, to bring perpetrators of corrupt Nigerians to justice.
Nigerians’ hope of the possibility of combating the menace of corruption, which has eaten deep into the entire system of Nigeria’s national life, dimmed yet the more when the spirited effort by the former Chairman of the EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, to combat corruption, turned out to be his albatross as he was removed, humiliated and forced into voluntary exile for daring to grand stand in a seemingly corrupt friendly system. Till date, Ribadu lacks the courage to visit his country from the United States where he is taking refuge. He only sneaked into Nigeria to commiserate with the family of Fawehinmi in September and had to vanish about an hour later.
Besides, the Nigerian courts have been littered with several corruption cases perpetrated by former governors and other notable leaders. While some leaders are viewed as too powerful to be arrested, others have their corrupt cases abandoned in the court, while the government or the anti-graft agencies look the other way in the face of several calls for their prosecution. To this end, cases of no fewer than seven former governors arrested and arraigned shortly after their exit from office now seem to have more or less been consigned into the dust bin, while such former governors still walk in the paraphernalia of their past glory.
Similarly, Nigerians officials named in the Siemens and Wilbross scandals appeared to have been cleared as the noise which accompanied the outbreak of the allegations has formally disappeared from the scene, while the Federal Government seems to have achieved its objective to douse tension as agitation for investigation into the Halliburton scandal involving Nigerian officials has also subsided. The constitution of a committee led by the former Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mike Okiro, at the height of the clamour, seemed to be merely political as nothing has been heard from the committee.
It is against this background that the conviction of George appeared to many as a mystery, perhaps a miracle, being
the first highly placed Nigerian politician to be thrown into the gulag on account of conviction for corruption. First to be convicted in this dispensation was the former governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha. The embattled former governor was accused of money laundering to the tune of one million pound sterling in the United Kingdom in September 2005. Though eventually convicted, Alamieyeseigha walked away from the court following a plea bargain with the EFCC.
Also convicted on November 19, 2008, is the former governor of Edo State, Chief Lucky Igbinedion. He was convicted by the Federal High Court sitting in Enugu on a one-count charge of corruption. Like the case of Alamieyeseigha, Igbinedion walked away, as the trial judge, Justice Abdullahi Kafarati, only imposed a fine of N3.5million on him. The EFCC had initially declared Igbinedion wanted in January 2008 and later arraigned him on a 191-count charge of corruption, money laundering and embezzlement of public funds. The anti-graft agency later withdrew the charges and filed an amended 24-count charge against the first and second accused, Igbinedion and Kiva Corporation. He was eventually arraigned on a one-count charge.
By these developments, George became the first scape goat in a country, where privileged individuals acted with impunity, raising hopes that Nigeria might have gradually been awakened from its years of preferential treatment for certain feudal lords. Only last Monday, human rights activists converged on Lagos Airport Hotel to bemoan the rising spate of corruption without any check. It was however, ironic that as the activists lamented the drowning state of Nigeria via corruption, George was being handed the red card by Justice Olubunmi Oyewole of the state High Court in Lagos.
Lamenting at the occasion, that corrupt elements are rather celebrated instead of being made to face the wrath of the law, Mr. Bamidele Aturu, the convener of the Second Lecture on Law and Social Development, regretted the adverse effects of corruption in Nigeria.
“This country cannot survive if we continue in this state of anomie or lack of morals. This is not a doomsday prophecy. Corruption is killing our nation. We must kill it first if we must survive. Those accused of stealing who ordinarily ought to either bury their heads in shame or at least keep themselves out of circulation rent crowds to attend their trials in court with full complements of orchestra bands as if they are giving out their children in marriage! Not only that, unless we want to deceive ourselves, the accused are the ones in charge of the commanding heights of the economy and politics,” Aturu said.
At any rate, both President Umaru Yar’Adua and some other notable Nigerian critics, have warned corrupt Nigerian officials to learn from the misfortune which has befallen George and shun corruption or risk imprisonment and humiliation, whose remedy might only be the grave yard once fallen victim. But will Nigerian leaders ever learn? This remains a one million dollar question. However, if the threat of Yar’Adua that a renewed fight against corruption has just been kick started is anything to go by, the pertinent question then will be who will be the next victim? According to the President, henceforth, corruption will be reduced to its minimal level to such an extent that governors and their deputies will no longer be allowed to hide under the cloak of immunity to perpetrate corruption in office.
The President vowed to provide incentives to the EFCC in its task of ridding the country of corruption. This threat of the president, if pursued with any sense of sincerity, will imply that the era of selective justice for a group of Nigerians may be over, while the next victim may just be waiting at the door.
“We continue to support the financial and moral independence of the anti-corruption agencies as well as try to make corruption unattractive by ensuring that anyone found guilty is sanctioned according to the law.
“The level of corruption in our country today does not justify the sustenance of the immunity clause, whatever its other merits are, since there is the need to make everybody accountable for all their actions. I hope the new laws to be enacted from the bills I sent to the National Assembly will provide answers to the question of free and fair elections in the country,” the President said.
By and large, the President’s expression as well as George’s somersault, may be instructive for Nigerian officials who see their ascension to public offices as an opportunity to amass wealth at the expense of Nigeria and the downtrodden masses of this country.
Besides, George’s downfall may again be a lesson for other Nigerian officials. This is moreso, that the one-time all powerful military governor, a prominent decider of who got what in the PDP and the godfather of the Lagos chapter of the party, is now clad with his prison uniform, taking instructions from persons who would have struggled in vain to catch a glimpse of his glory when the going was good. This inglorious transition of George invokes with nostalgic feelings, the notable Biblical expression: “How are the mighty fallen and the weapons of war perished?”
Disclosing the descent of George into the abyss as he took his place in the Kirikiri Maximum Prison last Tuesday, a prison official said the glory of the former politician ended at the court before his conviction and was nothing but an underdog in the prison who must respond to warders’ instructions with fear and respect.
Said the official: “It is mandatory for every convicted inmate to face the reception Board within 24 hours of his or her arrival at the prison. There is nothing special about Bode George. Like every other inmate, he and his co-convicts had appeared before the Board. They were given their uniforms and their prison numbers. They were also told the do’s and don’ts of the prison. If anybody tells you that Bode George is still dressed in his agbada in the prison, such a person is a liar. He has his prison uniform already.” George’s travail began in 2003 when Mr. Adebayo Sarumi, the then newly appointed Managing Director of the NPA alleged the violation of procedural law in the award of contracts at the NPA during the era of George as the Chairman of the Board. Consequently, professionals who audited the activities of the institution when George was in office discovered how items running into millions of naira were ordered repeatedly within a short period of time.
The exercise also revealed a huge differential pricing within the Authority such that different departments purchased the same items at vastly different prices. For instance, the five departments purchased berets (caps) at a unit price of N11, 804.77 while the police department bought same item at a unit price of N750.
kenneth uwadi