Let me begin by paraphrasing former President Goodluck Jonathan’s strange syllogism: “Stealing is not corruption. My officials only stole money. Therefore, they are not corrupt”. There is a sense in which Jonathan might be correct, and that is if the money in question was someone else’s personal money, like a home help stealing Madam’s money. The home help is a common thief. Nonetheless, she has committed an offence punishable by law.
In the case of public officials, the funds involved are public funds, otherwise known as taxpayers’ money. It is universally agreed that political corruption involves the misuse of such funds and other resources to benefit oneself, one’s family and associates, one’s political party, and others, who are not otherwise entitled to such funds or resources. Corruption also involves the misuse of power, by engaging in nepotism, cronyism and patronage. Other forms of corruption include extortion, bribery, graft, embezzlement, and money laundering.
It is against the above definition of corruption, rather than Jonathan’s, that one must evaluate the recent arraignment, for alleged N13bn fraud, of Sambo Dasuki, the immediate past National Security Adviser in the Jonathan administration. The ramifications of the alleged fraud are mind-boggling, and the consequences of the fraud are too painful to bear.
However, instead of using the funds to purchase arms and ammunition, Dasuki and associates allegedly diverted the funds to other purposes, including giving or paying N10bn to the Peoples Democratic Party presidential primary election delegates; N2.1bn into the account of DAAR Investment and Holding Company Limited (owned by Chief Raymond Dokpesi) to fund media activities for the 2015 presidential election campaign for the PDP; N380m to support some members of the House of Representatives for their re-election campaign; N1.45bn for organising prayers; N260m to Tony Anenih (Jonathan’s godfather); and N90m to buy a 7-bedroomed duplex house in the name of Dasuki’s son.
Let’s ponder for a moment on the implications of this diversion. Thousands, including military personnel, died in the hands of Boko Haram terrorists because the funds needed to purchase necessary equipment for the soldiers were diverted. This means that the soldiers, who complained about lack of equipment, were right after all. Those among them, who are being punished for refusing orders, should be pardoned.
Moreover, if so much money was truly diverted to the PDP 2015 campaigns, then the much-advertised PDP fundraising bing, during which over N21bn was purportedly raised, was no more than a ruse, perhaps invented to disguise the diversion of funds to the PDP campaign or to intimidate the opposition All Progressives Congress by parading a hefty financial war chest.
If the arms funds were truly diverted to fund the PDP campaign, then more people knew about the diversion than Dasuki and associates. In this regard, it will be necessary to question two groups of people connected with the scandal, namely, those who received part of the funds and those who authorised the disbursement. Already, there are leads to some of the participants in both groups. On the one hand, several names have been mentioned, including Dokpesi (already in custody), Chiefs Tony Anenih, and Bode George as recipients. On the other hand, President Jonathan has been named by both Okonjo-Iweala and Dasuki as the authorising officer.
It equally will be useful to have more details about the Jonathan-chaired committee referenced in Okonjo-Iweala’s memo, which decided that “recovered Abacha funds would be split 50-50 between urgent security needs to confront Boko Haram and development needs”. Who were the members of this committee, and what do they know about the disbursement of the funds they approved?
The fact that the funds being frittered away by Dasuki were sourced from “recovered Abacha funds” adds an interesting gloss to the arms scandal. We now know that the same funds were stolen twice, once by Abacha and now allegedly by Dasuki and associates. What is unclear is whether double stealing of this type has a place in Jonathan’s definition of corruption.
Be that as it may, the arms scandal must be recognised as the false foundation of the PDP’s 2015 campaigns, which was like a deck of cards. Each card had “lie” written on one side and “deceit” on the other side. No wonder Election Petitions Tribunals and Appeal Courts have been busy unravelling the cards from state to state, revealing the falsehoods underlying manipulated victories. Some PDP diehards have been crying foul as they did when the arms scandal first broke.
It must be admitted, however, that the arms scandal was not unexpected. Observers had suspected underhand deals, given repeated complaints by the army about lack of ammunition, despite the huge budgetary allocation to defence, and given the spate of scandals during the Jonathan administration, including the fuel subsidy, stock exchange, and the bulletproof car purchase scandals. Like the arms scandal, plenty of money changed hands in the Malabu oil deal reported by Reuters in October 2014. Over N80bn of the N171.32bn paid to Malabu Oil and Gas for the procurement of one of Nigeria’s richest oil fields by Shell and Eni was used to bribe Nigerian politicians and intermediaries who assisted in securing the deal.
The arms deal and other scandals raise several issues about corruption and its enabling factors. The major factors include weak governance, weak management controls, and lack of transparency and accountability, all of which characterised the Jonathan administration.
Beyond these factors, however, are pervasive moral decadence and the death of conscience. How on earth could anyone or group of persons, but the ethically challenged, divert arms funds, while fighting an insurgency, or share in the proceeds of such diversion?
This is one case that should not be allowed to go the way of similar scandals. It is not a case of corruption alone. It is also a case of moral depravity. Lawyers and judges involved in the case should remember the innocent deaths that resulted from the diversion of funds. They should also remember the Chibok girls still in captivity. This case should go all the way to conviction, if the moral fabric of this nation is to be recovered.
PUNCH
END
Be the first to comment