Here we go again. An institution that was established by the constitution to help Nigerian government fight corruption is gradually been bastardized and delegitimized by the same government who was elected largely on their promise to fight corruption. Nigerians from all regions, ethnicity and religion knows that corruption is a cancer that has done incalculable damage to the well being of all Nigerians. It has impeded the social and economic development of the Nigerian state. Nigerians are in full support of any leader who will fight corruption in a proper manner. President Buhari’s election victory was partly due to his promise to wage relentless war on corruption.
The Nigerian Code of Conduct Bureau(CCB) was established to handle asset declaration by politicians and other government officials. They are supposed to verify assets declared by public officials and prosecute public officials who fails to declare their assets or those who made false declaration. Their effort is supposed to help law enforcement officers trace and recover looted funds from Nigeria treasury.
Bastardization and de-legitimization of this great institution occurs when it is used to settle political scores as we are seeing now. Senate president, Bukola Saraki was the governor of Kwara state from May 29, 2003 through May 29, 2011. He declared his assets as mandated by the constitution. The code of Conduct Bureau discovered that he falsely declared some assets and never bothered to prosecute him from May 29th 2011 up till few days ago. So they basically woke up from their slumber few days ago and leveled 13 charges of false asset declaration against the sitting senate president. Why was these charges filed now. Every Nigerian knows that the ruling party, All Progress Congress (APC) desperately wants his ouster as senate president because he was not their preferred candidate. Senate president Bukola Saraki connived with the opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to garner the required votes to become senate president. A faction of PDP senators have already filed charges in courts seeking his ouster.
The timeline of this Bench arrest warrant has less to do with Bukola Saraki’s actual crime, but has more to do with APC’S desperate attempt to oust him from office in order to reclaim what they believe is theirs. If Code of Conduct Bureau is interested in his alleged crime, they should have moved shortly after he left office as governor or during his 1st senate tenure. Nigerians will definitely connect the dots of this bizarre arrest warrant. The end result of all this is that the image of the Code of Conduct Bureau will be destroyed for the foreseeable future. It will be seen as a tool the federal government uses to go after their political opponents. President Buhari’s integrity will suffer as a result because Nigerians will start seeing him as insincere and indistinguishable from other corrupt and morally bankrupt former Nigerian presidents.
I am not implying directly or indirectly that the senate president, Bukola Saraki is innocent. I believe he is as corrupt as or more corrupt than other former state governors. He was instrumental in looting and liquidation of his family bank. He should be prosecuted for the crimes he committed but it should not be done this way. His wife is already under investigation by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission and may face serious charges in the future. To make the matter worse, a federal judge already summoned the Code of Conduct Bureau and the senate president’s legal team to his court to decide if any case against him should be allowed to proceed. Bukola Saraki’s shunning of the courts was not wise as well since two wrongs does not make a right. Other officials may follow his example in the future which will lead to lawlessness.
Revenge does not accomplish much. Avengers in some cases ends up losing the battle and their integrity in the process. We saw that with former president Obasanjo and his vice president, Abubakar Atiku. President Obasanjo did not succeed in nailing his vice president because he went about it with ferocious hatred that Nigerians stopped believing him. Nigerians thought that former president Obasanjo had a personal vendetta against his vice president and stopped paying attention whenever he levels any charges against him. Nigerian leaders including the sitting president, Mr. Buhari need to understand that they cannot accomplish much if they cannot conduct themselves with dignity and utmost sincerity which is lacking in this case. President Buhari will be a disappointment to Nigerians if he continues the way he is going. President’s dislike of the senate principal officers should not prevent him from working with them. Nigeria is a democracy not a dictatorship.