“So when they continued asking Him, He
stood up and said to them, ‘The one
without sin among you, let him first cast a
stone at her.”
– King James Bible, John 8: 7
Fellow Nigerians, anyone familiar with the
Holy Bible and the teachings of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth would have come across one of
his most famous quotes above. Jesus was
not trying to promote, defend and
encourage prostitution or fornication but
he tried to show that none of mankind is
without blemish. I’m yet to find any other
quote more poignant than this. It sums up
the hypocrisy of man and why we should
be careful about judging others so violently
without removing the speck in our own
eyes.
I love reading those verses in the Bible for
saying it as it is. Everywhere you turn in
Nigeria today, the hottest topic is
corruption. Even lawyers who should know
better are saying the magnitude of
corruption in our nation makes it
imperative to employ extra-judicial means
to try and convict alleged looters. The
situation is so grave that corruption cases
have become sensational thrillers on the
front pages of newspapers. And it is
obvious that we are all enjoying the
melodrama despite its tragic nature. Some
of the tales are stranger than fiction. They
depict the wickedness of man and our
incredible propensity for primitive
acquisition of wealth. The greed factor has
become so worrisome. Naturally, looters
should be pilloried, denounced and
convicted for looting their own people and
country. That is the expectation of most
Nigerians but I have not too pleasant news
for those that desire that they should be
executed for this kind of crime. That is
simply not possible under our laws. Even
the spectre of conviction has its myriad of
problems.
The battle ahead is not going to be simple
and straight forward. I will explain why and
advise the Buhari government on the way
forward. History is all about reminding us of
the past, where we are coming from, as a
veritable guide to our collective future.
Nigeria missed its best chance at curbing
corruption during the successive military
coups and rulership. As a matter of fact our
military institutionalised corruption through
the use of brute force to steal the common
wealth of the people. We were never
fortunate to have a military intervention
that came ostensibly to clean the Augean
stable. Rather ours came to odorise it
offensively.
Say what you will, Flight Lieutenant Jerry
John Rawlings came prepared like a man
with a clear vision and mission. Though he
trampled on human rights and wasted
human lives, Ghana was lucky to start her
journey towards economic emancipation
and infrastructural development. Rawlings
was able to set the tone and tempo for
subsequent governments. Today, Ghanaian
leaders are more disciplined than their
counterparts elsewhere. They have imbibed
the spirit of crime and punishment.
Ministers can be dismissed for merely
dreaming to use privileged positions to
make big money in advance. The money has
not even been stolen yet but punishment is
swift and sure. The culture was deliberately
and meticulously put in place and it has
been sustained.
The purpose of my sermon today is that it is
going to be tough for a civilian government
to achieve what military regimes failed to
put in place. Nigeria is at point zero when it
comes to issues of corruption. It is
foolhardy to limit corruption strictly to
those in government and power. It is much
worse. Those political leaders we love to
deride can’t pilfer exclusively without the
active connivance of members of the
private sector. The war against corruption
therefore has to be systemic and practically
thought out. It cannot and should not be
fought in a manner to suggest a lack of
understanding of the critical factors that
have oiled corruption and would continue
to sustain its attractiveness. My concern for
the Buhari government is about not making
the same mistakes made in the past with
concomitant results. All stakeholders in this
change movement should not abandon the
administration to commit perfidious acts
because some people are bloodthirsty.
I offered the same advice in the past to the
then Chairman of EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu,
at the peak of his highly celebrated reign.
He had erroneously mistaken me for an
enemy when I was indeed a true and
concerned friend. I see myself as a good
student of Nigerian history and political
science and had tapped into that
experience and exposure to warn Ribadu
of the danger ahead. But two days after I
wrote my open letter of admonition to him
on this very page, in this same Thisday
newspaper, he unleashed his agents on me
in a most ferocious manner. I was called
unprintable names and libelled for no
reason. What was my offence?
The year was 2007 and President Umaru
Musa Yar’Adua was in power. The EFCC
under Ribadu felt President Yar’Adua was
somehow lukewarm to investigating and
prosecuting James Ibori and others. It was
also believed that the former Delta State
Governor Ibori had nominated some of his
cronies into that government and Ribadu
was miffed. The media was used to harass
and blackmail the President and I felt
obliged to set the records straight.
My position was simple. I saw President
Yar’Adua as a man of honour who knew
and remembered how he came to power.
He realised how he came to power through
the networks, platforms and stupendous
resources of the bad gangs as many would
have described them. It must have been a
horrific dilemma for the simple and
unassuming President. President Yar’Adua
was under no illusion that nations were
governed by saints and he decided to give
the devil its due but under close
supervision. His determination was to block
the profligacy of government and ensure
that all drain-pipes were closed. But
pressure was mounted on him to continue
a vengeful vendetta against a selection of
former Governors who were in the bad
books of the omnipresent godfathers.
I wrote my epistle to Ribadu at that stage
and stated the following facts. Where was
EFCC when the Yar’Adua campaign was
being openly funded from government
coffers? Why should the President bite the
fingers that fed him? Why the selective
investigation and not a widespread and full
examination of all public holders?
As normal in our clime, it was alleged that I
must have been sent on this errand by
some people. But such conspiracy theories
never bother me. My freedom of expression
is always sacrosanct to me. I was happy to
state what my mind felt was right. The
attack on my person was blistering and
vicious but I could not be cowed. Thisday
gave the response from Ribadu a front
page treatment. I could not believe the
extent Ribadu’s acolytes went to vilify me. I
was livid. Within a few hours, I prepared a
response with my brilliant lawyers and
mailed it to the then Editor of Thisday,
Simon Kolawole. We waited for the
publication the following day but it was not
published. I headed straight to the home of
Thisday Publisher, Prince Nduka Obaigbena,
who thought I was coming to join him for
our occasional breakfast and jaw-jaw.
As soon as he saw my face, he knew
something was terribly wrong. He asked
why I was frowning and I told him how his
publication, of which I was pioneer Editor,
was being used to attack me. He requested
for details and he told me to calm down. I
said I was ready to sue him and his paper
and he said that was not necessary and
called Simon Kolawole. He told him to
publish my own rejoinder and end the
controversy right there. This was done the
day after.
I took time to tell Mallam Ribadu why the
rule of law must be respected at all times.
That was when I coined the phrase that
“we must never set fire to an entire village
because we want to catch a few rats.” It
was obvious that some personalities had
been targeted for obliteration of their
businesses or even physical personal
annihilation. Homes were being invaded,
windows shattered to gain access to those
wanted dead or alive. Alleged criminals
were tried and convicted on the pages of
newspapers. They were pronounced guilty
and treated as felons ahead of any judicial
process. No one ever thought that pursuing
one man and killing his business could ruin
the lives of thousands of his staff and
dependants. Finally, I prophesied that
Ribadu himself may be haunted and hunted
some day through our vindictive system.
President Yar’Adua read my piece and told
Segun Adeniyi, his Special Adviser on Media,
to call me. Segun informed me of how the
President enjoyed reading my rebuttal and
how proud he was about the way I
marshalled my points. Like President
Yar’Adua, President Muhammadu Buhari is a
compulsive and voracious reader of
newspapers. That is why I write these
articles to keep him abreast of the reality on
the streets.
No matter how angry and disappointed
President Buhari is, he must constantly
remember that he is a civilian President
now. He must work closely with all arms
and tiers of government and do nothing to
suggest his deliberate disdain for orders
and others. He should lay a solid foundation
for the rule of law and accountability. He
should employ the instrumentality of law to
achieve his aim. In a situation where we
over-dramatise the war against corruption
and advertise to the world that we are the
most corrupt people on earth, we can be
sure that investors will run away. Nobody
wants to live in a society where no man is
innocent and every alleged is guilty. The
hoopla is getting out of hand and it is
difficult not to see a pattern that indicates a
witch-hunt the sort of which we saw in the
past. We must seek a true change that
protects the human rights of saints and
sinners. We must do nothing to prolong the
regime of fear and over-concentration of
the power of life and death in the hands of
privileged agents of government who
would use coercion rather than persuasion.
When tomorrow comes, the rat race may be
turned full circle to avenge the past. Recent
history tells us this is likely to happen.
Ribadu had to run out of Nigeria. Mrs Farida
Waziri who took over was summarily
dismissed. Today it is the turn of his former
deputy, Ibrahim Larmode, who is now
under investigation. I’m certain he will soon
scream victimisation. Who knows
tomorrow? If they had all worked for the
establishment and rigorous enforcement of
the rule of law, it would have become a due
process too difficult to alter. We should not
allow this trend to persist. We can penetrate
homes through the normal doors instead of
crashing through the roofs.
When we learn to trust our judges more
and give them the true respect they
deserve, many of them will reciprocate.
When they are being insulted recklessly and
endlessly, they may get hardened and
respond in kind to a thankless society.
After-all, the masquerade is a human being
and not a deity from above. The system is
bad but it can be made better. Even in
America, an appointment to the Supreme
Court is being politicised despite over 200
years of constitutional government…
Ribadu and I have since become friends. He
now knows I was never his enemy. He
ended up in the same party with those he
considered villainous once upon a time. We
both contested the Presidential race in
2011 and he visited me a day after he got
nominated as ACN Presidential flag-bearer.
We dined together and spent hours
discussing how to make Nigeria better.
Neither of us won the race because of the
Nigerian factor. The Ribadu I see today now
knows Nigeria better. I’m sure that given
another chance, he would handle his job
with maximum respect for fellow citizens
no matter the prejudices he may harbour
against some.
It is what we must all learn in the school of
life; that no condition is permanent.www.thisdaylive.com/articles/the-dilemma-of-anti-corruption-crusaders/233059/

A country where people with no visible source of income are riding around in $65,000,000 private jets and buying $50,000 champagne.........
A country where the spouse of a judge in the Supreme Court is well known as a morbidly corrupt person who empowers thugs and militants
A country where military chief and generals steal the money meant to arm their men

What exactly is Momodu getting at?

What he is saying is that human right and the rule of should not be trampled up on all in the name of fighting, that due process should followed at all time. And I quite agree with him but this I must add, that the president should all this institutions to do their job and not his.