The handling of the trial of former Governors Ikedi Ohakim, Sule Lamido and Murtala Nyako, may point to the actual direction of the anti-corruption agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari administration, Editor, Politics/Features,EMEKA ALEX DURU, writes.
For some, when it rains, it pours. This appears to be the lot of former Imo State governor, Ikedi Ohakim and his Adamawa (Murtala Nyako) and Jigawa (Sule Lamido) counterparts. The three were, last week, arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over allegations of corruption and money laundering.
Nyako and Lamido were arrested along with their sons. EFCC is alleging that the former governors siphoned and diverted monies belonging to their states while they were in office.
Until their current encounter, the three had, in the build-up to the March/April general elections, drawn attention on account of their ambition or office that did not run full course.
Ohakim had for instance, angled for a return to Imo State Government House, from where he was dislodged by the current governor, Rochas Okorocha, in 2011 elections. His efforts did not pay off as he was chiseled out of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship primary. He is still agonizing over the way he was elbowed out of contention in the intrigue-infested party in favour of Emeka Ihedioha, former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives. Ihedioha, incidentally, lost to Okorocha.
Lamido had created waves when insinuations ran high that he would be running for the presidency. Certain developments at the time, watered the suspicion that he had eyes on the top job. The former Jigawa governor, then a chieftain of PDP, had for example, put up appearances that suggested that he was headed for a clash with the then President Goodluck Jonathan, who barely concealed his interest for a second term.
While the suspense lasted, there were reports of Lamido unofficially launching his bid for Aso Rock with branded campaign vehicles spotted in Jigawa State proclaiming his readiness to run. Posters bearing his name and picture, were also spotted in Kaduna State.
Though his Chief Press Secretary, Umar Kyari, had explained that Lamido was “yet to make any formal declaration” and that the posters were printed by people who probably wanted him to contest for the 2015 presidential election, not many bought into his argument. In fact, to even his supporters, the former governor was merely bidding his time for the big race.
His rumoured adventure, did not come to many as a surprise. Twice within the period, former President Olusegun Obasanjo had publicly tipped him for president.
In what was seen as a veiled reference to Jonathan on May 29, 2013 Obasanjo had said: “You know you can help somebody to get a job but you cannot help him to do it”. Obasanjo, actually played major role in Jonathan’s ascension to power before they fell apart.
But doing a pitch for his choice, he added: “If somebody cannot do the job, we have Sule Lamido who is competent to do the job.
“Some people are saying one person can’t make changes; this is rubbish. If you have a competent person who knows where he is going, he can make changes along with his team that would impact the lives of people as we have seen it in Jigawa State”. Analysts easily interpreted the remarks as veiled endorsement for Lamido.
The former governor, curiously chickened out of the race when the expectations had run high, settling rather for the senatorial ticket of his party. At the March 28 poll, he had his nose bloodied by his All Progressives Congress (APC) opponent. Lamido has since been making marginal appearances on issues in PDP and national politics.
Nyako’s predicament predated the March/April general elections, given his impeachment almost a year earlier. The retired Naval Chief was easily the first victim in the obvious rat-race between the PDP and APC in the build-up to the election.
In fact, following the outcome of the June 21, 2014 governorship poll in Ekiti, in which the then governor, Kayode Fayemi of APC lost to PDP’s Ayo Fayose, it became apparent that a quiet but defining battle line had been drawn for the 2015 general elections between the two parties.
PDP which then called the shots at the centre, did not hide its agenda at increasing the number of states under its column.
However, in what seemed strategic attempts at consolidation on its hold on power even before the election, states with APC governors but under PDP-controlled legislature, appeared as testing grounds. It was against this backdrop that Nyako, easily became the first to go down in the battle of wits.
After weeks of tension and intense political intrigues, Adamawa State House of Assembly on February 12, 2014, impeached him, following his indictment by the seven-man investigative panel which probed him over a 16-count charge bordering on gross misconduct and financial mismanagement.
Nyako has since, been fighting the battle of his life. At a stage in his travail, he had fled abroad, fearing arrest by the Jonathan administration. He returned to the country few weeks ago, apparently with a conviction that following the victory of his APC at the poll and inauguration of President Muhammadu Buhari, his travails were over. But that does not seem to be the case. As with Nyako, Ohakim and Lamido are currently under huge stress. Opinions are divided on the ordeal of the former governors. Babatunde Ibidun, a lawyer, in a telephone chat with our correspondent, sees nothing wrong with their trial. “They are only being tried on allegation of what they did or failed to do. There is nothing unusual with that. Their arrest does not mean that a verdict of guilt has been pronounced on them. They are still presumed innocent until and if found guilty. It is good for our system. It encourages people in authority to realise that they can be called upon even after service to account for actions committed by them or under them”, he said.
Political Scientist and public opinion analyst, Patrick Nwabunnia, agrees that there is nothing abnormal in the former governors being asked to answer to allegations leveled against them. If anything, he sees the handling of the trials as possible indicator to genuineness or otherwise of the touted anti-corruption stance of the Buhari administration. “This is a test case on the direction of the Buhari administration on the anti-corruption war. The process and conclusion of the cases will go a long way in establishing whether the government is really serious on the exercise or merely sloganeering”, he told TheNiche.
Critics however dismiss the sudden resurgence of vigour by the EFCC as mere sycophantic engagement by the chairman of the Commission, Ibrahim Lamorde and his men to win the attention of Buhari so as to retain their jobs. An executive director of a gender-based Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), who pleaded anonymity, argued that there is particularly nothing new in what the Commission is currently doing, stressing that EFCC under Nuhu Ribadu, the pioneer chairman and his successor, Farida Waziri, had at a time, put up postures that tended to advertise it as a serious anti-crime outfit but later went back to its lethargic state. “This is why nobody should be excited by the arrest and prosecution of Ohakim, Nyako and Lamido. We had seen such grandstand before. It is just to impress the President. With time, the current noise will die down and the Commission will crawl back to business as usual”, she sniggered.