Truthful talk from CACOL boss.


http://www.punchng.com/politics/pro-people-govt-may-not-evolve-except-theres-revolution-adeniran-cacol-boss/

Adeniran, CACOL boss

Pro-people govt may not evolve except there’s revolution – Adeniran, CACOL boss

DECEMBER 29, 2012 BY ADEOLA BALOGUN 3 COMMENTS

Debo Adeniran, Executive Chairman, Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, describes the Goodluck Jonathan Administration’s fight against corruption as a ruse. He speaks with ADEOLA BALOGUN

The government accused Transparency International of relying on media reports to rate Nigeria as the 35th most corrupt country in the world. What is your take on this?

The government will always have a way of defending the indefensible and that’s been the stock in trade of the present administration. It’s one of the extant policies of the ruling party to tell the people outright lies and to use all means to bamboozle the public. That is why they try to hide obvious truths by all means. There is no Nigerian today who doesn’t know that corruption has taken a preeminent place in the business of governance. There is no Nigerian today who does not know that the source of high cost of personal comfort is borne out of corruptive tendencies of this government. And instead of fighting corrupt criminals, it has devised a means of shielding them from facing justice. After (Ibrahim) Babangida institutionalised corruption, which subsequent military and neo-military regimes built on, the expectation for a better society was high when Olusegun Obasanjo started the current political dispensation. As a matter of fact, the setting up of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission by Obasanjo raised the hope that corruption would be uprooted from the society. Then he set up the Due Process Office, where the likes of ObyEzekwesili started well but at a stage, the corrupt elements started fighting back. In 2003, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission was set up to fight cyber crimes and advanced fee frauds. Nuhu Ribadu, being an ambitious young man, was put in the saddle to head the agency. He started well but no sooner had he started than the forces came in to fight back. During the days of Michael Aondoakaa, the office of the attorney-general saw to the frustration of the young man, making sure that not much was done in prosecuting people like James Ibori, Dan Etete and others. The forces did not stop at anything until they saw him out of the EFCC. It is only in Nigeria that elements who partook in the Halliburton scandal are still walking about free whereas those who were found guilty had been dealt with in other countries. The same thing with Pentescope and Siemens scandals. The forces thought they could compromise Farida Waziri but they didn’t find it easy. Even though they saw her out of the place, nobody had been able to trace any wrongdoing to her.

How do you see Labaran Maku, the information minister, who discredits the media?

Labaran is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. I never believed he would turn 360 degrees just like Reuben Abati. Labaran was a journalist and he knew how journalism works. If a media report is false, he should know what to do rather than going to the public to discredit his former colleagues. As a matter of fact, the President lied during his media chat that TI had rated Nigeria next to the US in the corruption index. He claimed that it was a notorious fact. Is Labaran now saying that his former colleagues are nothing but a bunch of falsehood peddlers? Is he now saying that the profession which made him to be suitable for a public office is fraudulent? Labaran is unfair to the media profession. But before then, Labaran was a member of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights and I was the first secretary-general of the organisation. I remember how we fought against this kind of rudderless governance in the country. Perhaps Labaran has forgotten that the world has become a global village. Even if the Nigerian media would not expose corruption, the foreign media is there to blow the whistle. After all, the Ribadu report on oil and gas was reported by Reuters. Meanwhile, this is part of the indices TI used to rate Nigeria. It’s unfortunate that somebody like Labaran, who used to be a member of the CDHR and a journalist, and Abati, decided to paint themselves black. Everything that Abati is doing at the Presidency now is diametrically opposed to what he was doing before he got there and it is very unfortunate. We thought that the two gentlemen would leave the dirty job for DoyinOkupe, who had always been an attack dog for the Presidency.

How would you assess Ibrahim Lamorde as the helmsman at the EFCC, bearing in mind his position as Director of Operations under Ribadu?

Lamorde is a fine officer but don’t forget that he is still a serving police officer who has bosses. Lamorde is determined and ready to work but the Ministry of Justice, which is headed by the attorney-general, a politician, is hampering his work. The AGF is there to shield corrupt friends and relatives of the people in government from facing prosecution. We don’t believe that any serving career officer can do the EFCC job successfully. We advocate that a retired individual from the private sector be appointed to head such anti-corruption bodies. That kind of person will have a level of independence. The funding too should come directly from the Federation Account, not through the MoJ. And with the way the present government is going, there is no sign that it is ready to fight corruption; rather, it is shielding corrupt elements.

Even with the arraignment of the son of the chairman of the ruling party for corruption?

We’re aware that the son of the chairman is there in court and the sons of the government backers, but what has become of these trials? It is not that their cases will not get to court but they harass judges to grant them bail. Even those who have been tried and convicted, all what they get is a slap on the wrist. Cecilia Ibru spent her six months at a five-star hospital; Tafa Balogun went away free after a lousy plea bargaining, Lucky Igbinedion was fined N3m, which he brought from his pocket and paid because he knew beforehand what to expect. They have planted their people on the Bench; they have their people at the Bar who they give fat briefs. If you run to the National Assembly, you are not going to achieve anything because most of the indicted personalities are in the Senate. Former governors that have been indicted are all there. If Ibori didn’t run to Dubai, he would have contested a senate seat and today, he would have been a senator. No matter what you think, yes, the sons of the chairman and backers of the ruling party will get to court as a ploy to stop people from making a noise. Now, they have secured bail for all of them. What has come out of all the many probes in the life of this administration? Has anybody been punished?

Are you in a way saying that nothing will come out of the Ribadu report?

They set up committees to bamboozle Nigerians and when they set them up, they put landmines in their paths to hamper their work. That was what happened to the Ribadu-led task force. They planted elements like Bernard Otti and Steve Oronsaye to play the spoiler role. They wrote the script from the beginning and we said so, more so when the petroleum minister remains the chief executive of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. They thought they could launder their image with Ribadu as the chairman of the task force but the man knew what he was doing. Most of the time, these elements would not attend meetings of the task force in order to make it look like a one-man show, forgetting that the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative had come out with a report earlier on the same issue. They forgot that all that Ribadu needed to do was to accentuate the indictment and recommendations of all the previous reports and confirm those that can be confirmed. That is the way to show that the present system does not want anything against corruption to work. They all belong to the same cartel; they know that they are operating the government as a cult. That is why you see all kinds of ostentatious spending on party halls, presidential jets, VIP residents, forgetting about roads and electricity. Unless there is a revolution, it’s not likely that any pro-poor government will be able to take over from the present administration.

Overall, how would you assess the Goodluck Jonathan presidency?

So far so bad: he is likely to be the worst president we’ll ever have. He is even running a government that is totally blind and impervious to correction. When people say he is running a clueless government, I agree; when they say his government is rudderless, it is. I honestly don’t know what is wrong with the President because he cannot claim it is inexperience. He rose through the ranks as a politician. He rose from the post of the deputy governor to acting governor and then governor. And from being a vice-president, he became an acting president and now a President. What else does he want?

Nice interview. He expressed very well the opinions and feelings of most Nigerians..

However a revolution in Nigeria will be converted to an opportunity for ethnic cleansing, extermination of perceived enemies etc.

GARRI (x7):
Nice interview. He expressed very well the opinions and feelings of most Nigerians..

However a revolution in Nigeria will be converted to an opportunity for ethnic cleansing, extermination of perceived enemies etc.

Indeed. Overall, I do feel the revolution thingy is rather impractical. Nigerians are not united enough to carry out all-encompassing actions against their leaders. Sadly, even the most clear issues will be factionalised in the Nigeria of today - creating the perfect environment for looters and thieves.

Gbawe:

Indeed. Overall, I do feel the revolution thingy is rather impractical. Nigerians are not united enough to carry out all-encompassing actions against their leaders. Sadly, even the most clear issues will be factionalised in the Nigeria of today - creating the perfect environment for looters and thieves.

true talk

Gbawe:

Indeed. Overall, I do feel the revolution thingy is rather impractical. Nigerians are not united enough to carry out all-encompassing actions against their leaders. Sadly, even the most clear issues will be factionalised in the Nigeria of today - creating the perfect environment for looters and thieves.

So what's your point considering the title of your thread?

Ymodulus:
true talk

Even as the CACOL boss tells the entire truth about the dire state of affairs vis-a-vis corruption, only a merger creating a powerful opposition platform will depose the PDP in my opinion. Attempts at revolution is a waste of time and may actually turn into sectional/ethnic infighting. The CACOL boss could not have missed all that happened during the fuel subsidy protests where sections of the Country, even as they would pay more for PMS also, preferred to cut their nose to spite their face via labelling the protests a Yoruba/Hausa/Fulani attempt to rubbish GEJ. Revolution is therefore out.

Nigerians, though frustrated, are now badly divided, disillusioned and distrusting of each other. The solutions must be political. I.e float a mega-Party in good time. Define roles early. Reel out a workable Manifesto, mobilise from the grassroots and simply utilise the concept that democracy is a game of numbers.

wesley80:
So what's your point considering the title of your thread?

Revolution ke? From these cowardly smugs?

What exactly do you expect from these clueless children of anger who know not what they want.

The topic and their comments shows clearly that it's all about power grab for the sake of it.

Listen to them: 'form a mega party, wrest power?'

That is what it's all about for the children of anger, politic for the sake of politics; politics as mean and end. Nothing more nothing less, and you wonder why the country is in such parlous state, when all people care about in the country is to scheme how to grab power, and start their criminal empire ala AC.N/Tinubu in SW.

We shall see how all these pan out. Thank God Nigerians are wiser now.

Provided PDP does not rig the 2015 elections, kicking PDP out of government, whether the pope is their candidate, will be our true revolution. And if the next political party plays the same game with us, we will kick them out by 2019. there's no need for bloodshed in a democracy.

Only a mad man does the same thing over and over again and expects a different result. 16 years is enough

All political parties in Nigeria are the same. Only when they realize that they need the people's vote would they start to work for the people.

Gbawe:
The CACOL boss could not have missed all that happened during the fuel subsidy protests where sections of the Country, even as they would pay more for PMS also, preferred to cut their nose to spite their face via labelling the protests a Yoruba/Hausa/Fulani attempt to rubbish GEJ.

Haven't that "section of the country" been vindicated today? Y'all have been buying petrol for upwards N110 for months now, how many protests have we seen against the clique of marketers that hold the country to ransom? And you really believe it wasn't all about rubbishing GEJ?

trillville: Provided PDP does not rig the 2015 elections, kicking PDP out of government, whether the pope is their candidate, will be our true revolution. And if the next political party plays the same game with us, we will kick them out by 2019. there's no need for bloodshed in a democracy.

Correct. No saintly political Party in Nigeria simply because the current political environment does not allow for such. What makes the "nest of killers" particularly odious is the pervasive 'take all and give nothing in return' mentality of its most influential 'Dinosaur' members who still think they are in the barracks and that Nigerians must automatically comply with their orders.

Nigeria truly deserves a sophisticated and opinionated President with a history of excelling at providing solutions. The PDP will never give the nation that type of President because such a person is an abomination to those who make no concessions whatsoever in the belief that their interests must override that of 160 million people. PDP will go at the centre in 2015 given their abject performance to date. It is up to the opposition to throw victory away , along with the chance to liberate Nigeria, if they want.