President Bola Ahmed Tinubu comes into office with loads of questionable credentials. Some of his allies have EFCC cases hanging around their neck. Can he confront corruption at any scale or allow some of those who aided his victory to be prosecuted? ISHAYA IBRAHIM writes.
President-Elect, Bola Tinubu, is one of the most accused Nigerians.
From allegations of falsifying his age and educational records, to hush talks that he earns 10 per cent of all Lagos Internally Generated Revenues through Alpha Beta, a tax consultancy firm, and the most damning, which is an allegation of involvement in narcotics. These allegations have made critics dismiss the capacity of the new President to fight corruption.
The allegations
Tinubu was forced to forfeit $460,000 to the U.S. government in 1993 as proceeds of narcotics trafficking, according to documents from the U.S. District Court in Illinois.
Tinubu’s son, the 37-year-old Oluwaseyi Tinubu, is reportedly the owner of an $11 million London mansion, according to Bloomberg, a global business media organization. In Naira terms, the property is more than N5 billion. The amount is about the size of Lagos State’s monthly wage bill which caters for the state’s 100,433 workforces.
Tinubu and his associates are linked to at least 20 properties in the United Kingdom, as per an allegation by a global coalition against corruption, the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).
According to the report, the properties were reportedly acquired when Tinubu was governor of Lagos State.
Tinubu’s anti-corruption plan
Tinubu ran on the record of his achievements as Governor of Lagos State between 1999 and 2017.
As a former Lagos governor, Tinubu said he helped modernized the city, increased its Internally Generated Revenue from about N600 million during the days of the military, to N50 billion.
Lagos is now the 7th-ranked economy in Africa. A corrupt regime would have failed in achieving those feats, his supporters would say.
READ ALSO
What Nigerians expect from Tinubu as President
Tinubu, in his 80-page Manifesto, detailed how his administration would support the “existing anti-corruption institutions” and also address the underlying issues of corruption in the oil industry.
In his manifesto, Tinubu said he would “streamline the civil service to fight corruption, reduce bureaucracy in government agencies and decrease inefficiency and waste.”
He said: “Such expenditures will have a low priority in our administration. Bona fide hard-working members of the civil service are to be commended for their public service and shall be protected. However, we will continue the process of weeding out ghost workers, as well as ghost projects and expenditures from the system,” the campaign document read in part.
In a recent event in Rivers State, Tinubu further explained how he hoped to fight corruption.
He said: “You don’t expect your judges to live in squalor, to operate in squalor and dispense justice in squalor. This is part of the changes that are necessary. We must fight corruption but we must definitely look at the other side of the coin.
“If you don’t want your judges to be corrupt, you got to pay attention to their welfare. You don’t want them to operate in hazardous conditions,” he said.
Elephant in the room
Tinubu has top-notch friends and allies who aided, first, his emergence as the APC presidential candidate, and second, his victory at the presidential poll.
The newly-elected president acknowledged the support of his friends and allies, saying victory was only possible because of the structural support they provided him.
The allies that provided the structural support for Tinubu’s emergence as President included those in the ruling APC and some dissident governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who go by the moniker, G-5. They were led by the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike.
Recall that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has long established a tradition of swooping on governors with corruption allegations hanging around their neck immediately after leaving office since they have immunity against prosecution while in office.
But those who aided their graft usually become the subject of EFCC’s probe until such a time when they (the governors) lose their immunity. Then the EFCC swoop on them.
Some of the Tinubu’s key allies that provided him the structural support, have these EFCC allegations lingering around their corridor.
Wike
The EFCC last year declared the Rivers State Accountant-General, Fubara Siminayi, wanted, along with some Rivers State Government officials over N435 billion in fraud.
Siminayi is now the Rivers Governor and would be immune from prosecution.
On the same day that Siminayi would gain immunity against prosecution, Wike would lose his.
Wike is one of the governors Tinubu singled out for praise among those that aided his victory at the presidential poll.
He had said: “Nyesom, I say thank you for your contribution to my victory. I couldn’t have done this without some structural support. In Wike, I see a man of principle.
“He took a good stand that the presidency must return to the South and he had the courage to stand by his conviction not minding those against him.
“Wike is indeed a man of great integrity, he did not choose to serve his own interests but rather the interest of the nation. You promoted unity, you promoted fairness.
“There was so much gossip and speculation but you stood your ground.”
In the case of Wike, would Tinubu be able to look the other way to allow the EFCC do its job? Or would he interfere as a matter of political expediency to keep his alliance with the Rivers State Governor?
Again, would the ongoing election petition hearings make the new president to tread with caution since the coast is not yet clear for him?
Bello Matawalle
There has been back and forth between the now ex-Governor of Zamfara State, Bello Matawalle, and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The EFCC has alleged that Matawalle has N70 billion embezzlement case to answer for. But the immediate past governor claimed his refusal to give the EFCC chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, $2 million as a bribe was the reason for the accusation.
Matawalle was one of the backbones of Tinubu during the APC presidential primary and the main election. Even when Matawalle lost his re-election, Tinubu won Zamfara in the presidential election.
Will Tinubu look the other way and allow the EFCC to take on his man? Only time will tell.
Yahaya Bello
Although Yahaya Bello contested the ticket of the APC against Tinubu, after losing the election, he became one of his staunchest allies.
Political pundits had predicted that the PDP would win Kogi, but Yahaya Bello proved them wrong by delivering the state to Tinubu.
Like Wike, Yahaya Bello has the EFCC sniffing around his corridor. But unlike Wike, the Kogi Governor would still be immune against prosecution until March next year.
The EFCC and the Kogi State Government have been in and out of court more than a dozen times this year alone.
In February this year, it culminated in the EFCC arraigning Rashida, wife of Yahaya Bello and a relative for alleged fraud.
Rashida was arraigned before a federal high court in Abuja alongside one Ali Bello, identified as a nephew to the Kogi governor.
EFCC spokesman Wilson Uwujaren in a statement said the duo were docked alongside three other persons on an 18-count charge “bordering on criminal misappropriation and money laundering to the tune of more than N3 billion.
The EFCC spokesman said since Rashida’s whereabouts are unknown at the time of arraignment, she was declared wanted.
Will Tinubu allow the EFCC drag the Kogi Governor to High Court when he loses his immunity? Only time will tell.
Tinubu will tackle corruption
Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko in Ondo State, Dr Tunji Abayomi, argues that Tinubu stands a unique position to effectively tackle corruption head-on.
Abayomi while responding to a question about whether Tinubu would be able to fight corruption, said: “I believe he (Tinubu) knows the heavy impact of corruption on national growth and will do great to reduce it.
“The irony of life is that those who have walked in a certain path know where the dangers are and can design appropriate strategies to avoid such dangers. Tinubu is an accountant. He worked in the past in the Oil industry and is conversant with the dealings therein.
“He was Governor of Lagos State, the most money-infested State. He is proficient in selecting capable people for the ends he seeks to achieve. Moreover, he has the last opportunity to leave a lasting testament against the many accusations against him,” Abayomi said.
Time will tell
Tinubu’s cabinet when he begins to make critical appointments, like the Attorney General, Finance Minister, the EFCC and ICPC bosses, will determine to what extent he can fight the scourge of corruption.
