Date Published: 03/26/10

BAYELSA: EFCC on rampage Amidst Sundry Unresolved Cases of Graft By Matthew Owologbo

From the awesome Abacha loot to the Abdulsalam profligacy, from the Niger Dock scandal under Ozobia-led management to the controversy surrounding the removal of Auditor-General of the Federation, virtually all government agencies ranging from federal ministries to the National, State and even at the local government levels, have recorded one case of corruption or another. The housing scam Ikoyigate in 2005 committed by the State and its agents is another dimension to the collective mentality of corruption.

President Obasanjo did a lot to compromise the integrity of the EFCC. First, the Commission was answerable to him hence he administered selective treatment to reported cases of corruption. Before the PDP primaries in December 2006, the EFCC released an “interim report” on the state of finances in Rivers State. The report indicted the ex-Governor of the State and alleged that N100 Billion Naira was mismanaged, misapplied or embezzled. With such a damning report wonders aloud why Ex-Governor Peter Odili is still walking about a free man. Other known enemies of the people like Governor James Ibori are being beatified by the Law Courts. What has Farida Waziri done about the Ibori LOOTS?

Ex-President OBJ was using EFCC to protect those he loved and to persecute those who had fallen out of favour with him. Such fears were confirmed by the behaviour of the then EFCC Chairman. The alacrity with which OBJ pursued the cases of Governors Joshua Dariye and DSP Alamieyeseigha portrayed him as a man waging a war of vendetta of some sort. It was the same “holy war” he waged against the succession bid of Atiku – his Vice-President. As long as the battle against Atiku lasted, the then EFCC Tzar only took instructions from Obasanjo and treated people unfairly.

Whereas Senator Wagbara, Professor Fabian Osuji and others were promptly removed once corruption charges were leveled against them, most Nigerians are not happy that  Obasanjo’s first son was fingered as a dangerously rich oil mogul yet EFCC was not keen to establish any case against him. The National Assembly succeeded in resolving Ettehgate but EFCC under Ribadu turned deaf ears to the Iyabogate on the N3.5bilion contract scam. Prof Adenike Grange was summarily sacked but Senator Iyabo  Obasanjo-Bello has her umbilical cord in Otta Farm hence she subsumed among the group of the untouchables. Ex-President OBJ has retired into stupendous wealth and albeit even clerics have been calling for his probe, EFCC has ignored such calls and it may be put on hold sine die. The case of Olabode George was prosecuted by EFCC to save its face in a matters that was ab initio a bad case.

That was why the Pentascope saga; PTDF; the financial malfeasance of the ex-inspector General Sunday Ehindero; Bells University of Technology (owned by Obasanjo); the privatization and sales of many National corporations including the refineries; money stolen to fund the tenure elongation project and other sundry corruption cases have not been investigated. The divine standard of judgment is not crooked.

There are many unresolved issues the anti-graft agency has to tackle. The Senate Committee had asserted in a report in 2007 that  the President and his Vice were complicit in the PTDF funds issue and as a result asked the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) to step into the matter. Obasanjo was indicted over the N250 million fees purportedly paid for some PTDF projects. As the Senate Ad Hoc Committee on the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) started the probe of allegations of corruption in the PTDF, the Campaign for Accountable Governance through Elections (CAGE) has asked the Committee to uphold transparency, accountability and fairness in undertaking this important constitutional task. The Senate Committee was established following reports that out of about $700 million realized during the 2002/2003 bidding rounds only about $145million  is known to have been transferred to the PTDF account. All these are unresolved issues and those involved have, by their actions sentenced hundreds of people to death by denying them basic amenities such as health, education and road infrastructure.

Since late 2005, there was an upsurge of militancy, which is largely caused by corruption of the Nigerian State and the neglect by the Multinationals of their Corporate Social Responsibility. Militias have also carried out copy-cat abductions, robberies and oilfield invasions, seeking ransoms or benefits for their villages from oil companies. Western multinationals operating in the area, including ExxonMobil, Chevron, Total and Royal Dutch Shell, are on a heightened state of alert, and thousands of foreign workers and their families have left the country. All these were aggravated by corruption. The thousands of lives lost to the Niger Delta crisis, the job cuts in oil companies and the loss in oil revenues to the Nigerian State are all products of official corruption.

EFCC’s Selective Treatment And Harassment Of Bayelsa State Officials

A  spokesman of the Bayelsa State Ministry of Finance and Budget Mightyman Ayebanoa Dikuro has taken a swipe at the recent EFCC arrests in the Ministry.  In a statement made to our correspondent the spokesman said media reports after the arrests revealed that EFCC officials came to the office of the Secretary to the Government of Bayelsa State, who in turn called the Ministry of Finance and Budget.  The EFCC officials were informed that the Commissioner Dr. Opuala-Charles Silva travelled out of the for a Conference.  It was then agreed that the Accountant General, the Director of Treasury and Director of MOFAB should be invited for questioning on the condition that they would be promptly released. But the EFCC officials not only breached the agreement, they also lied.

The spokesman dispelled the rumours as false the insinuations that the Commissioner of Finance & Budget escaped arrest and warned EFCC to be objective in its reports. It should be placed on record that for the past two years, the Commissioner, Dr. Opuala-Charles has been invited several times to the EFCC Headquarters for clarifying the financial transactions of the State. ‘The Finance Commissioner is no stranger to EFCC !, the spokesman said!.

On the allegations that government has misappropriated the monies recovered from former Governor DSP Alamieyeseigha, the spokesman advised mischief makers to cross-check their facts before publication. According to him, the N3.1 billion cash returned to the State is securely kept in the States’ account with an indigenous Bank for a specific capital project. He enjoined any member of the public seeking further clarification to contact the Ministry and stop peddling vicious rumours to disparage the office the Commissioner- who is a professional and tested technocrat.

When the issue of  the plot o stop Jonathan came up, it started as a rumour. So many names were mentioned to have contributed monies for the purported project. Among the names mentioned include: Alikor Dangote, Isa Yuguda, Bukola Saraki, Timipre Sylva, Nduka Obiagbena, James Ibori etc. It was also reported that the people had contributed the sum of N30 billion. Now, if they allege that Governor Timipre Sylva contributed N.5billion, which means that other people contributed N29.5 billion.

Lets assume that the story is true, WHY is the EFCC particular about Bayelsa State? Has the EFCC arrested the other people who allegedly contributed money? Any objective analyst would know that the arrest of the officials of the Ministry of finance in Bayelsa State is political pure and simple. This double standard by the EFCC is what has led to the contemplation that the Agency has been politicized and its integrity compromised. EFCC is supposed to deal with financial crimes and not political issues. This Is Where Femi Babafemi And Farida Waziri Got It Wrong. EFCC should release those officials and look for better charges that are not political. EFCC should rather refund to the appropriate quarters,  all the monies it has recovered from corrupt officials. The EFCC should concentrate on its statutory mandate and not meddle into politics.

The truth of the matter is that the Presidency has been zoned to the North and even before Timipre Sylva became Governor, the Ag. President blatantly refused to make him Governor. He preferred on Chief Francis Doukpola. The political calculation now is that since the Ag. President’s tenure is short-lived, his desire is to anoint a surrogate so that when he leaves Aso Rock, he would retire as a godfather of sort and dictate the dynamics of politics. Already, the Ag. President has put forward Plan A and Plan B.

Plan A has to do with the impeachment of Governor Timipre Sylva so that his Deputy Hon. Peremobowei Ebebi becomes the Governor till the end of the tenure. Elections would then be conducted to give the Governorship to Senator Paulker Emmanuel with Chief A.J.Turner as his Deputy. Plan B seeks to antagonize and rubbish Governor Sylva so that by the end of his tenure, he becomes un-electable. Timi Alaibe and Ebebi will then run on the PDP ticket.  So the whole story of graft and corruption of Governor Timipre Sylva and his Cabinet is a cooked up propaganda, fueled by those elements who were just sacked as Commissioners in the State. The renegade faction of the PDP leadership in Bayelsa State is also feeding the Ag. President with lies and half truths, and a section of the media succumbs to this blackmail without hearing from the other side of the divide. This not only negates the ethics of the Journalism profession; it is an indictment of media practitioners that their reportage is not objective.

Matthew Owologbo , writes from Yenagoa