Due Process Of Fraud

The unending revelations at the National Assembly suggestive of how a tiny cabal of public functionaries and their friends looted the treasury of this country under a regime that made due process its official motto indicate clearly that the concept of due process had a unique meaning as far as those fellows are concerned. When the investigations started we were hearing of how millions of Naira were misapplied or misappropriated.

Now, the figures have jumped to billions of Naira and of dollars. From money appropriated for road construction to funds allocated to put an end to the tragedy of aircrafts falling from the airspace with scary ease, doubts are being daily raised as to whether the resources were judiciously spent and for the purposes for which they were appropriated and borrowed. The questions that we need to ask those in charge of the due process office when this possible free-for-some (not all) looting was taking place are simple: where were they when all this was happening? Were they on sabbatical, drugged, charmed, sleeping or compromised? One or all of these must have been their lot for the things that we are hearing to have taken place.

There is little doubt that the press also shares in the blame for its lack of depth and superficial lionization of the due process office and officials. I was never taken in by the noisy celebration of the Czars and Czarinas of due process. My view of these people as uncritical purveyors of injurious economic prescriptions forced down their throats and, by extension ours, by the IMF and the World Bank is documented on this page and elsewhere. I have always known that some funny game was being played on the unsuspecting public, hence my absolute contempt for the due process office and their supporters. Our vindication does not give any joy because we are dealing with a real tragedy. The ease with which money is appropriated and there is nothing practically to show for it truly calls for national mourning.

Need we any further evidence that henceforth a certificate of mental health should be a prerequisite for holding any public office whether elective, selective, appointive or ‘imposive?’ I mean, to go really colloquial, who but mad people would be fiddling with billions of dollars, as our ‘leaders’ do, in the face of so much poverty in the country but lunatics? True, a sizeable proportion of the unaccounted moneys might have been used to oil the criminal rigging machine that produced the electoral wonders of 2007. Nevertheless, I insist that we cannot escape the conclusion that no normal persons would contemplate the kind of mind-boggling felonies that are being revealed almost daily at the National Assembly. The problem is for the people to decide early enough what must be done with these paralyzing revelations.

As I warned previously, if we do not act fast, we risk getting our people accustomed to the fact that stealing of huge amounts of money is normal or expected or simply shock ourselves to stupor. In either case, the people implicated will go without any punishment and those looting at the moment will do everything they can to up the figures. The end-result would, of course, be higher infant and maternal mortality, absence of electricity, impassable roads, shut primary and secondary schools, unpaid pension arrears, demoralized workforce, and poverty, et cetera. My suggestion remains that the law enforcement agents need not wait for the final reports of the National Assembly Committees before prosecuting anyone against whom sufficient case has been revealed.

A Born-Again EFCC?

HAPPILY, the EFCC seems to be waking up — or so it seems. We must encourage it to do more. The only caveat is that it should not create a new set of sacred cows and it should not violate the constitutional rights of any of the suspects, for they remain suspects until proven otherwise before a court of competent jurisdiction. The war against corruption can be waged without violating the laws as they stand. I do not know if President Yar’ Adua appreciates that the success of his seven-point agenda depends on energetic prosecution of the war against corruption. I expect him to give all the law enforcement agencies the needed support to make this war a success as the future of this country depends on it.

By the way we have not heard from government if it is satisfied with the reasons given by the Transport Minister for allegedly withdrawing or approving money on public holidays towards the end of last year. If the government is not satisfied, we need to know the difference between her case and that of Madam Grange. It is not good that matters as serious as this should be left to speculation and rumour-mongering or that government be suspected of double standards.