Let’s Talk about Corruption Under Buhari

RingTrue  By  Yemi Adebowale

Phone    08054699539

Email: yemi.adebowale@thisdaylive.com

Sheikh Ahmad Gumi is the latest high profile Nigerian drawing attention to the colossal corruption under Muhammadu Buhari as President for eight years. He urged President Bola Tinubu to show courage by bringing back all those who have enriched themselves under the Buhari government to vomit what they have stolen. “They have to vomit what they have eaten. Nigeria is broke now and instead of taxing common Nigerians to raise funds to run his government, let the stolen money be retrieved and appropriate punishment meted out to the looters. If he (Tinubu) can do this, I will support him 100%,” declared Gumi.

Few days back, the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Matthew Kukah, professed that Nigeria witnessed the ugliest face of corruption during the Buhari years. Corruption festered under the ex-president’s watch, avowed Kukah at a forum in Ekiti State.

Of course, I won’t leave out my very good friend, Senator Shehu Sani, who is insisting that Tinubu must probe the Buhari’s government and recover all the looted funds. Well, to be honest, I can’t see that happening. Why? I will return to that later. But the truth that must be told is that corruption poured under Buhari’s supervision. Many heads of ministries, departments and agencies brazenly looted our commonwealth unrestrained by Buhari. A huge number of top civil servants lined their pockets unhindered. Talking about civil servants, the former Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris. and his cronies were able to steal over N109 billion from the system. The case against Idris is clearly heading nowhere in our compromised court.

Under Buhari, a few influential public and private individuals fed fat on fuel subsidy and on NNPC. Rent seekers continued to collect a large part of crude oil sales. Refineries did not work, yet, his administration spent billions of Naira on turnaround maintenance. Some boldly looted the Central Bank of Nigeria. Outflows on Buhari’s Social Investment Programme were likewise puzzling, with doubtful outlays on School Feeding, Trader Money and N-Power programmes. Even with COVID-19 lockdown in 2018 and schools shut, our blessed children were fed at home with billions of Naira. Many could not understand how this “magic” was done. The 9th House of Representatives’ Committee on Public Accounts was not impressed with a presentation on the feeding programme by the managers when they appeared before the team. The lawmakers then summoned the CBN Governor and the Director General of the National Bureau of Statistics to tender records of payments/details of the nine million children and 84,000 schools across the country the managers claimed benefited from the programme. It did not happen.

Payments for comical services by the Buhari government often left me wondering whether the interest of Nigerians is paramount. There was this $4 million paid to a lawyer in 2019 from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) for God knows what. The 9th Senate asked the then Accountant General of the Federation to supply details of the lawyer who was paid the $4 million from the already depleted ECA and the nature of the job done. Till date, the office of the AGF is still struggling to come up with the information. 

One of the “Buhari boys” that had a field day was the then Minister of Justice/Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami. He became dangerously wealthy. I was shocked when a few months before the primaries of the 2023 elections, Malami gave out cars worth N1 billion to his supporters in Kebbi State. No fewer than 14 Mercedes Benz, eight Toyota Prado, four Toyota Hilux and four Lexus LX, were given out. Malami did this because he wanted to be Kebbi governor, but eventually, he failed. Where did such huge money come from? Your guess is as good as mine.

I will similarly not forget how Malami in 2020 unilaterally approved the auctioning of some sea vessels, holding crude oil and diesel, seized by security agencies for illegal oil bunkering. Malami obviously acted beyond his powers when he independently gave approval for auctioning without the authorisation of the EFCC. Section 31 (4) of the EFCC Act gives powers to the AGF to only make rules for the disposal of seized assets to ensure that the power of sale is not abused by the EFCC. Malami gave a unilaterally approval for selfish reasons.

What about this former minister of Justice’s dubious payment of $16.9 million fees to his friends as FG’s new lawyers for the recovery of the loot traced to the late Sani Abacha? This was after a Swiss lawyer, Enrico Monfrini, hired and fully paid by the previous government to help in the recovery, had completed his brief. Monfrini openly declared that fresh lawyers were absolutely unnecessary because he had concluded all legal work. Malami has a lot of questions to answer on the re-looting of recovered Abacha loot under Buhari’s watch.

There were sleaze allegations against the then Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme, Prof. Usman Yusuf. The then minister of health, Isaac Adewole, set up a panel to probe Yusuf’s transgressions and the panel found him culpable. He was suspended by the then Acting President Yemi Osinbajo and the case transferred to the EFCC. Shockingly, A public servant under investigation by anti-graft agencies was reinstated with fiat by Buhari when he returned from his medical trip.

There was also the case of the then Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency, Mustapha Maihaja, who has spent eternity struggling to explain how he disbursed billions of Naira allocated to his agency. At a point, a report by global auditing firm, PwC, revealed persistent corruption and several anti-business dispositions in some of Nigeria’s regulatory agencies. Osinbajo was worried by the report and demanded sanction. Nothing happened thereafter.

Under Buhari’s watch, corruption in almost all the MDAs was a big monster, depriving Nigeria of huge revenues. The sleaze in Nigeria’s defence and security budgets for eight years was most disgusting. While security agents were losing grounds to terrorists, money for equipment to help reverse the trend was obstinately mismanaged. In this country, a serving army chief under Buhari bought a $2 million property in Dubai and shamelessly defended it with impunity. The then National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, once pointed out the corruption in security outlays but recanted under pressure.

I always quiver whenever I remember the case of the then minister of education, Adamu Adamu. In 2019, the sacked Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TeTFund), Abdullahi Baffa, had alleged that he was forced out of office owing to his refusal to provide monetary kickbacks to Adamu. Baffa told BBC Hausa Service that the Minister had sent a contractor to him demanding his share of the N200 billion disbursed by the agency to tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

Bafa alleged on live radio interview: “If they bring any evidence indicting me, I’m ready to accept death punishment. I do not regret my refusal to obey the minister’s directives because I cannot sabotage my country. Go and ask the minister. Eight months ago, Mallam Adamu Adamu sent one of his biggest contractors to tell me that the minister was angry with me for three reasons. The issue was that TeTFund disbursed over N200 billion to universities without remitting the per cent kickback, amounting to at least N20 billion at 10 per cent rate.”

The allegations against Adamu were waved aside and Bafa was never questioned. That was how Nigeria operated under Buhari.

The corruption story of former aviation minister, Hadi Sirika, is pertinent here. This man turned the imaginary Nigeria Air project into his cash cow. He even hired a plane from Ethiopian Airlines, temporarily fitted with the logo of Nigeria Air, for the fraudulent unveiling of an airline that has no operating licence. The aircraft returned to Ethiopia the next day and the Nigeria Air logo was yanked off. This is the same man that inaugurated Nigeria Air in 2018 without any plane or management in place. Sirika spent over five years milking this country with this fraudulent project. He has a massive palace in Katsina to show for his escapade.

A number of independent reports like the United States’ 2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices and Transparency International reports confirmed massive corruption under Buhari’s command. Corruption was not only alarming under Buhari’s supervision, it was fully institutionalised by his administration. Will Tinubu bring these Buhari boys to account for their atrocities? I very much doubt it. I challenge Tinubu to prove me wrong.

Yusuf Bichi’s Lawlessness Must End

The Department of State Service has remained an embarrassment to this country ever since this vital security agency came under the leadership of Yusuf Bichi. Human rights of Nigerians are persistently violated with impunity by this DSS boss. We are in a democracy, yet, Bichi operates without respect for the rule of law. The latest is the case of suspended CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, who is being illegally incarcerated. Bichi has violated multiple judgements and orders of court directing the release of Emefiele.

Just nine days back, Justice Bello Kawu in Abuja declared as illegal, unlawful, null and void the continued detention of the suspended CBN governor. It is indeed a violation of subsisting judgement and orders delivered on December 29, 2022, by Justice M. A. Hassan.

Justice Kawu also made an order setting aside, voiding, quashing, invalidating and nullifying any warrant of arrest obtained or procured by the DSS for the arrest, detention and/or interrogation of Emefiele in connection with the allegations of terrorism financing, fraudulent practices, money laundering, round tripping, threat to national security before or from any court since the date of the judgement of Justice Hassan.

 Bichi cares less and has refused to free Emefiele held illegally since June 10. I’m happy that a group of lawyers have commenced a committal to prison proceedings against Bichi. I urge them to pursue this case to a logical conclusion. Bichi must be imprisoned to serve as a deterrent to his likes in government. Contempt of court and gross abuse of offices for personal vendetta must not be tolerated in this country.

It is even more embarrassing that all the allegations against Emefiele have turned out to be a ruse. What the DSS filed against him in a fresh suit made public last week were two charges relating to possession of a firearm and ammunition. This is laughable. What a country!

The rule of law is the cornerstone of democracy. We need it to build an orderly society. The DSS under Bichi persistently violates the rule of law. He must be sacked. Bichi has no business remaining a day longer as DSS boss. This is the second challenge I’m placing before Tinubu today.