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Anti-graft
war fails �cos govt protects corrupt officials �
Ahamba
In the first
part of this interview published yesterday, Chief Mike Ahamba (SAN) spoke
on April 19, 2003 election, which he alleged was rigged in favour of the
PDP, and the various petitions that followed. He also spoke on why he left
the PDP to join All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Imo State politics and
the judiciary. In this concluding part of the interview, he speaks on ANPP
crisis, the Adamawa governorship election crisis, and supports Transparent
International�s rating of Nigeria as the third most corrupt nation in the
world. He says the corruption index of the country is still much alarming
and dismisses anti- corruption organs, such as ICPC, EFCC and Due Process,
arguing that General Muhammadu Buhari would have tackled corruption
head-on if he was not robbed of victory in 2003. Excerpts:
What is your
view about the ANPP crisis and Buhari�s silence on this?
To whom is he supposed to
talk? You? For you to know that he is talking? He is talking to the
relevant people in the conflict the way a leader should. I mean if the
party is boiling, he should not be part of the boiling, he should be part
of quelling the boiling, and that is exactly what he is doing. Because of
his effort, very soon the party will be back together and stronger. In
fact, this crisis, perhaps, was a God-sent tonic to awaken those who have
been in slumber in the past. Everybody is now alive to his
responsibilities, alive to his right of membership, awake to his
objectives of realising democratic solutions on the platform for the ANPP.
That is why everybody is fighting for his position to remain. If the party
were to be considered dead, nobody would be fighting for any position
within the party. So, out of this crisis, a stronger ANPP will emerge that
will midwife true democracy in this country.
Why are the ANPP governors
not supporting Buhari?
All I want to tell you is that
there was a family feud and that family feud is being settled amicably and
the family will emerge stronger. That is all that I want to say now. Our
people say when you go to look for what caused a fight, you might fight
again. So, where we are, we are at the level of solution to the problem
we�ve seen facing us. No matter the misgivings from any angle, I want to
tell you that the party is back and will emerge from this crisis much
stronger than it was few months ago. Etiebet is still there as chairman.
He hasn�t been removed. That is the position. The issue is to get those
who are trying to remove him to reconsider their position. And, I want to
tell you that the solution is right there in sight.
Does the PDP get any blame
in this crisis?
I know that the PDP would wish
to see the ANPP in disarray if not completely obliterated from the
political arena in Nigeria because that is their number one contender. But
despite suppositions that since having that type of determined wish, the
probability of their showing interest in the negative way, the crisis in
the party might persist, but the truth is that these are all speculations.
The important thing is that we have a crisis and we are solving the
problem. We don�t care who caused it; the important thing is that we have
contained it for the better.
What is your position on
Igbo�s demand for presidency vis-a-vis ANPP/Northern demand for the office
in 2007?
The presidency has been in the
South for four years. Obasanjo is holding on statutory authority to hold
on until the petition is determined. Then, we will discuss the next
dispensation. I will not discuss the next dispensation until the current
one is solved. Even if it changes until 2007, we don�t mind. In the former
Russian Socialist Republic, Georgia, their own petition lasted for months
and their population is less than one state in Nigeria. If the Georgians
could wait nine months to decide whether an election was properly
conducted or not, we that are more than 10 times in land mass and
population over and above the Republic of Georgia should patiently wait
for two years if need be, to get a proper definition of what an election
ought to be in this country, because the issue is not only who wins
through the whole thing; the issue is how does an electoral body behave in
an election. That is a very major matter in this issue, so that even if
one doesn�t win the petition, we believe we have made a contribution
towards how an election ought to be conducted in this country. So, I want
Nigerians to see this as a project that is beyond what we are seeing. Let
me tell you this; if we continue with the present trend, I can assure you
that we have come very close to a situation whereby instead of candidate
going to campaign, they will be training militias for elections so that
whoever can grab a presiding officer and get him to write a result for
him, wins that unit. If we allow ourselves to come to that level, then we
must remember that it is easier to form a militia than to disband them.
What is your comment on
Adamawa governorship election?
We won at the tribunal but
lost at the Court of Appeal and we are not happy with the manner in which
we lost and we have made no secret of it. I addressed a press conference
in September 2004 telling the world at large that we were robbed of
victory by a complete negation of clear legal principles. For example,
when witnesses are declared to have no probative value just because they
are said to be members of the ANPP. It is contrary to the laws of this
country or anywhere because members of a corporate body are the people who
should testify for that corporate body. There is no law here that
disqualifies one because of his membership of the party. The Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials who testified for INEC were
left untouched. The PDP members who testified for Boni Haruna were left
untouched. Is that the way we do justice in this country? That is just one
example. There are a number of them.
Do you believe the panel
compromised in reaching its verdict?
I don�t know what happened to
them; that is the mystery. We are trying for a search as to what happened
because something would have happened, we don�t know what. We have no
evidence of bribery. We also believe they are knowledgeable people. So if
it�s not bribery and it�s not ignorance, what is it? I have never believed
in condemning the judiciary as an institution. I have always limited my
searchlight on a particular panel or judge at any particular time. I say
this because it is the bad stories that get told; the good stories don�t
get told. In any given working day in Abuja here, 60 rulings could be
delivered in court and this can go on for six months or one year without
any crisis. Then one day, one negative one is delivered and it appears
that that is the only mirror the people see of the judiciary. This is not
fair to them. I would want this issue of judiciary to be discussed and
considered on specific instances and not to condemn the establishment
because there are many good judgments and rulings being written and, from
time to time, something goes wrong somewhere. The judiciary is the only
arm of government that has, in the last four years, taken steps to do
in-house cleansing. I�m aware that not less than seven judges or justices
have been reprimanded or punished one way or the other for what would be
considered anti-constitutional acts. But in the executive, the highest
thing you can do to a public officer who has embezzled N20 billion is to
retire him with benefits. For the legislature, nothing happens at all. So,
if you now look at it as which arm of government has been doing some sort
of in-housing cleaning, it is judiciary. So, I want it to be understood
that my concern about the Jos issue was that if allowed to remain
uncondemned openly, with time, like the single finger that pulls oil, it
will get to soil the other fingers. The panel that handled the Adamawa
appeal, that is the people I am attacking, not the Court of Appeal, not
the judiciary. The panel of five Justices, they are the people I am
putting the searchlight on as to their coming out to tell this nation
exactly what happened. If I had opportunity to go to the Supreme Court to
contest that Adamawa judgment, I would never have gone to the press. It
wouldn�t have mattered to me whatever the Supreme Court decided. If it
were to decide that they are right then that becomes the law of the land
and we shall all be subject to it.
So, why don�t you go to the
Supreme Court?
The constitution says you
can�t go to Supreme Court on governorship elections. That�s why I�m
calling on the National Assembly to amend it. I do not see why a dispute
over two persons that exchange blows in the market place can go to the
Supreme Court and a dispute over who becomes the governor of a state
cannot go to the Supreme Court. I think there is something wrong there. If
I were in a position to punish the members of that panel, I would make
them explain what happened or go home. And I have not ruled out the
possibility of writing to the NJC to demand that answer from them because
things were unbearably brazen. If I had my way, I would tell them to go
and rest.
What is your comment on
Transparency International�s rating of Nigeria as the third most corrupt
nation in the world?
The Transparency International
monitored us well. We should be courageous enough to accept the truth. I
must confess that I did not know that any other country could have been
more corrupt than Nigeria. The Federal Government should take that
judgment very seriously because President Obasanjo was very involved with
its activities before becoming President. I remember that my first close
contact with Obasanjo was at a workshop he conducted on behalf of
Transparency International at the Gateway Hotel, Abeokuta, in the early
1990s. It is therefore surprising that he should be presiding over a
greater dimension of what he was fighting in the early 1990s. What should
bother Nigerians is why corruption thrives in this country. I believe that
it thrives because government does not protect the interest of public
officers who stood up against corruption. There are many cases of public
officers who are today suffering because they spoke up and took steps
against corrupt practices, not knowing that those against whom they were
speaking up were enjoying the protective coverage of high government
official (the powers that be). So it is difficult for public officers who
have seen the experiences of those their colleagues to stick out their
necks.
Second reason is fear of
the unknown. The absence of proper retirement programme for those who have
served this country, both in public and private sectors, forces most of
them to make effort at making hay while the sun shines.
It is a pity that after a
citizen has put the best of his lifetime in the honest service of his
country; he retires into abject poverty and hunger while his dishonest
colleagues are leaving in affluence. Such a citizen becomes an object of
ridicule in his own country. Most civil servants and public officers want
to avoid being caught in this situation since government has considered it
not important or necessary to take care of its elder citizens who have
given their best, including soldiers who gave their life fighting under
the flag of the country.
If we address some of these
societal problems by taking steps to guarantee each citizen some shelter
over his head, food on his table, education for his children and some sort
of convenient means of transportation, the incentive for corruption could
be reduced. We have to address these problems immediately otherwise the
award will not be bronze but gold.
But the Federal Government
has set up anti-corruption agencies, like the Due Process, ICPC and EFCC.
Don�t you think the government has reason to reject the TI verdict as it
has already done?
It�s true we have ICPC, Due
Process and EFCC which, as far as I am concerned, is the biggest avenue
that any government has put in place in the history of this country to
siphon public funds. This we can only find out if we take a good look at
what is going on around us. For ICPC and EFCC, I won�t consider them as
being necessary in fighting corruption in this country. If I had my way, I
would use funds spent on these bodies in enhancing the capabilities of
existing structures � the judiciary, police and the SSS. Any specially
trained arm of the security agencies mentioned would have been more
effective than creating a rival body thereby putting in place competition
and rivalry that has bogged everybody.
I read in the media the EFCC boasting because
they had put over 500 people in detention. What this means is that they
have been very good at infringing on people�s rights than in fighting
corruption. I do appreciate the commitment of the young man in charge. I
blame those who have created the task without considering the attitudinal
problem of the average Nigerian. For the ICPC, after reading the law that
set it up, I don�t know if it is a court or an investigative body. That is
why it has neither been investigating or trying. Any government that
protects corrupt people, whether for political or parochial reasons,
cannot fight corruption. Unfortunately, we have such a government in place
right now.
For Due Process, it has become
an internal arrangee organisation with departments of government. It works
thus: we approve an amount for you in return for getting part of it. Every
civil servant is complaining silently but they can�t complain openly. Is
it only contracts? What about departmental approvals? It�s a pity that one
knows what is going on but cannot lay hands on evidential facts to present
a positive charge because of the cowardly disposition thrust on our people
by bad economy. But this pretence will not be for all the time. Someday,
sometime, the truth will come out.
Do you think Buhari would
have done it in a different manner?
Buhari would implement the law
to the letter. He means business and nobody would risk him because there
would be no sacred cows. Nigerians are ready to follow you when you start
any project, but if the first person breaks the law and you do nothing for
one reason or the other, a second person does the same and you don�t act
for another reason, then all Nigerians would break the law, no matter what
you do. I am aware that a few people have been retired for corrupt
practices without anything being done about it. Secondly, the way PDP
members have moved from poverty to opulence is so glaring that everybody
sees it. And, since I don�t have my clients� permission, I won�t mention
names, but I have cases in my chambers in which the minister of justice
has been fighting to stop the reinstatement of people sacked because they
stood up against corruption, and this, despite appeals to the attorney
general of the federation! Because of this, many would not be bold enough
to speak up. Let someone deny what I have said then I would speak
more.
� Concluded
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