PRESIDENT BUHARI’S ANTI GRAFT WAR: BEYOND THE LOGIC OF THE THIRD MAN.

Olisaeloka Cletus Ekwosi

Plato’s philosophy is an interesting body of thought. Scholars are at home with the centrality of the “Theory of Forms” in his thought. But this theory that postulated a permanent world to deal with the problem of Change and Permanence in this world has a fundamental flaw.

Apart from being extremely utopic, duplicity was its main undoing. It invented another world of permanence to explain this world of change. It is argued then that in order to explain that other world (the World of Forms), another world needs to be invented and the infinite invention of worlds can go on. If in order to explain man and another man (the Form) is invented, then a third man is required to explain the second man. This is the argument of the third man.

If there is a recurring vocabulary that has saturated the national environment since the inception of this administration it has been corruption and anti-corruption. And one of her popular crusades has been the anti-graft crusade. Giant and laudable strides have been made in uncovering those “ancient gates”: Dasuki, Maina, Diezina, to mention but a few. EFCC and other anti-graft agencies have been on the rampage and, more than any time in the recent past, has demonstrated the acuity of the eagle, their symbolic animal.

Despite the many questions that have been raised regarding the process, the President today inaugurated the Audit Committee on the Recovery and Management of Stolen Assets Within and Outside Nigeria. The establishment of the committee is in recognition of the fact that “obvious fundamental gaps still exist in ensuring that the recovered assets are accounted for, and managed in an accurate, transparent and logical manner.” Thus it becomes “the next step in ensuring that all returns filed by the various agencies are accurate and consistent with actual recoveries made.” This is to be praised: the objective is defined and the scope is clear.

One, however can recall that one of the undoing of the previous administration was the “proliferation of processes” evident in the formation of various committees the height of which was the constitution of an Interim Management Committee for the National Children’s Park and Zoo, Abuja (IMC). There is need then to apply circumspection in order to avoid any undue multiplication of the process and making parody of the whole effort.

It seems unavoidable that such proliferation would open some unintended “gates” which it tries to shut. Our national history is replete with committees that embezzled fund. I fear therefore that any proliferation of processes in the anti-graft war may bear within it the arm to discredit its objectives. When this becomes the case, then a “third man” may need to be created to deal with the problem of the “second man.” Unfortunately, we do not have eternity to create the infinite men.

Beyond this, any such proliferation sets the process on a snail’s pace. Corruption in the public sector is a might ocean that cannot be emptied with slow and steady scoop. For this ocean to feel the impact of this administration, speed and accuracy cannot be thrown overboard. The advice of Prof. Pius Adesanmi openly given to Osita Chidoka the UPP flag bearer in the just concluded Anambra state gubernatorial election is worth re-emphasizing: “Again, whoever is not prepared to risk a single term or impeachment can never change Nigeria. If you are not prepared for this risk, you will never change Anambra [Nigeria]. You will deceive yourself that you will go easy and rush through your reforms after having secured a second term. Many have gone that way. Once you lose your bearing within the first two years and become status quo, you never recover.” This is how the proliferation of processes can mar any intended achievement of this administration in the fight against corruption.

My intention is not to flaw the establishment of this particular committee but to address certain issues that might follow from the “other steps” in the fight. So, do we need to create a committee to investigate committees? Do we need to multiply tenures to empty indices of corruption in our country? My answer is a firm and resounding NO! I think that what will impress Nigerians, beyond the failures of this administration, is the impact of the anti-graft war in the national economy before 2019.