his time as the governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe
Musa and most of his colleagues lived a spartan life due to
the fact that corruption was very minimal and governors
were excitedly submissive to the president and their parties.
But with corruption becoming a lifestyle rather than an
exception and corrupt politicians being worshipped as gods
and President Muhammadu Buhari wielding the
sledgehammer against the monster as a cardinal objective
of his administration, Musa has thrown his weight behind
the president’s renewed effort to eliminate the cankerworm
from the polity.
In this interview, Musa thumps up for Buhari’s anti-graft
drive and encourages him to build special prisons to
incarcerate corrupt Nigerians to serve as a deterrent to
potential treasury looters in the country.
By Soni Daniel, Northern Region Editor
How do you feel about governors, who use their positions to
amass wealth with impunity and make a mockery of public
office?
I feel bad because these are resources that should be used
to liberate the people and provide welfare and security for
them. It is even more worrisome that in most places those
in power have not provided even the basic things for their
subjects while they swim in opulence and mindless
extravagance, creating a big gap between them and those
who elected them into office. That is directly responsible for
the negative things the nation is grappling with today
characterized by unemployment, poverty, insecurity and lose
of confidence in public service.
National interest
That is why I strongly advise President Muhammadu Buhari
to urgently build special prisons for those people as a
matter of urgent national interest.
The danger is that if he does not go after those who stole so
much from the nation’s treasury, these malevolent elements
could use the ill-gotten wealth to topple Nigeria. Many of
them are believed to have stolen as much as trillions of
Naira and stashed away in foreign accounts. A recent report
revealed that some crooked Nigerians might have stolen
more than the annual budget of Nigeria.
Do we have strong institutions to carry out this anti-
corruption war?
Let us establish them.
What should he establish again since we already have the
EFCC and ICPC?
The President needs to strengthen them and give them the
needed independence to operate optimally and send corrupt
elements to prison. For instance, he should be able to set up
special judicial committees to investigate the fundamental
aspect of the state of the nation, which contributed more to
this level of mind-boggling corruption and stealing and such
committees would determine which aspect of corrupt matter
should go to the EFCC for further investigation or
prosecution.
It should not be left to him or the EFCC to decide who should
be tried because the EFCC itself has become an institution
of corruption. EFCC can also on its own identify such an
area and deal with. But certainly, the current state of
investigation and prosecution by the agency leaves much to
be desired and it is a serious setback to the anti-graft war.
Are you not afraid that Buhari may end up sending many
Nigerians to prison given his resolve to wage an all-out war
against the corrupt among us?
Let them go to prison. In fact I would advise him to build
special prisons for those who plundered Nigeria because it
has to be done. If you allow these thieves to continue
stealing and eventually controlling political power in the
country, you will lead this country to destruction, anarchy,
sustained instability, military coup and social revolution.
That is why I strongly advise Buhari to go the whole hug in
dealing with those who plundered Nigeria’s wealth.
You seem to be highly unpredictable given the way you have
been speaking about leaders in Nigeria. When Dr Goodluck
Jonathan was in power you neither fully supported him nor
distanced yourself from him. With the emergence of Buhari
it is all too clear that you really do not support him. Where
do you really belong?
Well, whatever my position is, is a matter of principle. It is
not personal at all. Now you got it slightly wrong because in
2003, 2007 and 2011 I supported Buhari because I
considered him to be the least risk. I didn’t say he was the
best among all Nigerians but I considered him to be the
least risk because in a situation where money and power
play leading role in politics it is not possible to know the
best but you will have to choose between two alternatives
that are not fundamentally different.
For instance, when it comes to the election of the president
in your country you may not have a suitable president but
there will be a president whether you choose one or not and
it is better to have reason to align with one because
remaining neutral may sometimes be negative.
Confidence of the people
In 2003, 2007and 2011 we considered Buhari as the least
risk in choosing who will become the president. We
supported him.
But since Buhari has been elected by Nigerians, what are
your expectations of him?
Let me tell you in totality without wasting time. We think
Buhari can’t deal with the negative state of the nation, which
is characterized by poverty, unemployment, hunger,
corruption, collapse of public institutions and lack of
confidence of the people in the leadership.
But why would Nigerians lack confidence in a president they
freely elected?
I want to say that in spite of what I believe, Buhari is still
better than all those he contested the election with and that
is why he won. Buhari is still better than even those who
have already begun to position themselves for 2019 even
though we are still in 2015. I am very confident that these
elements will not do better than Buhari given the way they
have tried to position themselves almost through the back
door.
Given what you have said, what do you think that Buhari
should do to succeed in his war against treasury looters?
What he should do now is to convert himself into a
revolutionary.
What does that mean?
What it means is that he will confront the problems of the
country realistically without pretence and without deceit and
face the problem of the country with open mind in order to
change the system.
He and his cabinet should enthrone public interest over and
above self interest. Nigerians have suffered enough under
corrupt administrations and he needs to adopt radical
measures to change the way things are being done in the
country and give Nigerians a new lease of life, restore their
hope and sense of pride as citizens of the largest black
nation on earth. It is his place to make Nigerians to be
respected across the globe by adopting global best
practices in all facets of our national life.
But how should he do this? Is it by way of legislation that we
don’t have or deploying political will?
He should show the needed political will in confronting our
problems. For instance, in prosecuting this anti-corruption
campaign, he shouldn’t spare anybody. But at the moment,
he seems to be sparing some of those who looted the land
with impunity. He said he would probe only Jonathan’s
administration; he would not probe the other
administrations. That is negative, that is short sightedness
and it will not solve the problem.
So you want him to go the whole hog?
Yes the whole hog from 1966 up till date because it was
from 1966 that this level of corruption started to disable the
government; that was when the military took over and they
are the people who brought about this level of corruption to
Nigeria. He should probe everyone including himself.
Public resources
If he cannot probe himself, he should appoint a
dispassionate committee to do so. All those found to have
corruptly enriched themselves while serving in one capacity
or the other should be jailed.
Do you support the setting up of a committee to advise the
government on how to end corruption in Nigeria?
Absolutely but my only fear is that the committee is too
small compared to the size of our country. Nigeria is very
big. Let the president expand the committee and even spend
the next four years to deal with the monumental level of
corruption and criminal waste of public resources and
register progress there.
Even if progress in other sectors is relatively smaller than
what he has done in stamping out corruption, at least at the
end of four years, he would have dealt decisively with the
issue and he would never be forgotten and he would have
made it easier for any other leader to continue with the
campaign successfully.
During the colonial era and the First Republic, there wasn’t
this level of corruption and I can tell you that whoever stole
a kobo of public funds was investigated and prosecuted.
Some have called for the setting up of special courts to
tackle corruption. Do you think this would help?
O yes, that should be done immediately because these
general courts are even part and parcel of the problem.
Where do you think the judges for the special courts will
come from? Are they not still Nigerian judges who have not
performed well in the normal courts?
Look, there are courageous and incorruptible judges from all
parts of Nigeria and they can do the job satisfactorily.
What was wrong and what was right with the Jonathan
administration from your own point of view?
In the first place, Jonathan should not have been the
president of Nigeria.
Experience and competence
I am saying so because he did not have the experience and
competence. Look, we are talking about Nigeria with over
170 million people and it is not a joke. America can have
anybody as its president because there is a system which
controls everything and there is a standard of conduct in
public affairs, which nobody is expected to go below.
But we don’t have such standards and it is whoever
becomes the president that sets up that standards. For
instance, Umaru Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan never
had such standards. None of them had social experience in
terms of public or private sector service before becoming
president and vice president of Nigeria.
Yar’Adua never had more than two years’ experience in the
public sector of Nigeria. The same thing goes for Jonathan
who was in the university. But simply because it served
Obasanjo’s interest, he brought the two inexperienced men
to rule over Nigeria. But none of them was capable of
running Nigeria. So one can say that Obasanjo brought the
tragedy of selecting unqualified Nigerians to rule over the
rest of us.
National unity
The problem with Nigerians is that they don’t assess their
leaders before bringing them on board.
But there were certain things that Jonathan did very well
and was applauded by Nigerians.
Of course, even the devil himself sometimes does things
right.
So, how would you advise Buhari to succeed?
I would like him to convince himself that he is morally and
politically capable to undertake the responsibility of cleaning
up Nigeria. I would advise him to constitute a government of
national unity drawn from the major political parties in
Nigeria. He should deal decisively with this monumental
level of corruption in the country and should do so honestly
without emotion and ensure that the interest of Nigeria and
Nigerians is protected. He should not do it with any malice.
Do you support the claims by the opposition that Buhari is
going after his opponents and being selective in the anti-
graft war?
Yes, it is Buhari himself who made it clear that he would
only go after those who served under Jonathan. I will not
mention names but I want to say that there are people in
both the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and All
Progressives Congress, APC, who are even dangerous than
Jonathan.
Looking at the National Assembly and what happened
during and shortly after the election of principal officers, do
you think all is well with the polity?
I am genuinely worried over what happened because it has
the potential to torpedo the system and distract the
government from working effectively for Nigerians. It may
make it very difficult for Buhari to get the cooperation of the
Senate in carrying out his set agenda for the country.
Agenda for the country
We know there have been issues that the president has
taken to the Senate and they were approved with dispatch.
But when you look at the body language, the behaviour and
relationship between the president and the Senate president
you would doubt that when it comes to critical issues
whether there would be this cooperation.
If this develops into something worse and a complete
breakdown of relations between the president and the
senate president, to the extent that Nigerians have to choose
between the President of the country and the President of
the Senate, then the choice would be quite obvious: They
would stick with the president of Nigeria because Nigerians
elected him to conduct the affairs of the country.
As important as the Senate and the House of
Representatives are in the country, they were merely elected
to play their roles as legislators to assist the president to
succeed in promoting and defending Nigeria’s sovereignty.
Breakdown in relationships
So, if Nigeria faces anarchy, as a result of the fact that there
is no cooperation between the president and the National
Assembly, Nigerians know who to blame. Nigerians should
be mindful of the consequences of such breakdown in
relationship between the President and the Senate which
may include military coup, anarchy, social revolution etc,
and I hope the NASS will hear this and begin to work
harmoniously with the President and for Nigerians.
But from your own point of view, was it right for a few
members of the NASS to have gone ahead of the election of
principal officers when most of the APC senators were
waiting to have a meeting with President Buhari on June 9?
We cannot blame them for that. The blame cuts across.
Both the APC and their senators were at fault. In the first
place, the Senate election was well publicised. Why did the
APC senators go for a meeting with the president at a time
they were expected to be at the NASS for the crucial
election?
Perhaps they did so out of respect for the President of the
country and the leader of the party who we were told,
summoned the meeting?
But the President should have said no and allowed the
members of the Senate to go for their election. In fact, the
president should have avoided any meeting with the APC
senators until after the inauguration. In the case of the
Senate they should have respected the president by
recognising him as their leader and shifting the time of the
inauguration until after the meeting with the president. So,
the blame cuts across the two parties. Again, it is the
responsibility of the president to have used his skill to
convince the Senators to let bygones to be bygones and
forge ahead. And if the president has not done so, then he
shares another blame. In spite of that, the senate should
remember that it is the president who is the leader of the
country. If there is need to surrender, it is them who should
surrender to the president and not the other way round.
What do you mean by that?
The Senate should agree to review its position on Senate
principal officers for peace to reign and not to be at odds
with the president.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/08/build-special-prisons-for-corrupt-nigerians-balarabe-tells-buhari/

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too long to read but we get the gist.

good.... hmm this one nah epistle of St Paul to the Romans. though he made valid points.

Long post.

Good advise from Balarabe coming at the right time!!!

BALARABE, R U NOT CORRUPT?

that has being my advice ever since.

K