EFCC vs politicians, judiciary: How Nigeria’s losing war on corruption

The battle to eliminate corruption in the Nigerian public space is as strenuous as the fight to keep and sustain the executioners of the war on corruption. Fighting corruption in Nigeria has long been a perilous adventure that brutally consumed the heads of the ‘war commanders’ with some of their foot soldiers in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, the official government agency saddled with the herculean task of prosecuting the anti-graft fight.

It has since become a deadly game for anyone in Nigeria to try to check the looting of public funds and to arrest and prosecute those identified as suspects of economic and financial crimes in the country. This has been the trajectory of the EFCC since it was empowered by a law in 2002 to tackle corruption in the land with Nuhu Ribadu, the current National Security Adviser, as its pioneer chairman assuming office on April 13, 2003 under the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo. Although the terms and conditions for dealing with those caught stealing national assets have clearly been spelt out in the EFCC ACT of 2002, which was subsequently amended in 2004, entrenched political and personal interests have often struggled to stifle the hands of the anti-graft agency, leading to the frequent ousting of its heads and key officials by the very government that claims to be fighting graft.

This, in part, accounts for the fact that though every Nigerian government that comes on board openly touts the mantra of fighting corruption to a standstill, the body language it sends to the commanders at the EFCC weakens the fight substantially.

In the 20 years that the EFCC has existed as an anti-graft agency in Nigeria, it has produced and sacked six chief executives under very questionable circumstances that defy morality and the law governing the agency. This has aided some powerful and influential government officials and politicians to escape with looted prized assets while the nation’s treasury remains empty with the mandate of the EFCC seriously eroded.

For this reason, the anti-graft agency has largely remained a toothless bulldog in the hands of the government to do selective trial and prosecution of its real and perceived enemies rather than serve the overall interest of the country by tackling those who have been caught stealing from its safe. This chiefly explains why the focus of the EFCC has at various times drifted from actively pursuing the big thieves in the country who have cornered the nation’s commonwealth with impunity, to tackling small boys who were using the internet to exploit unsuspecting members of the public for quick financial gains. For example, out of the 3,785 convictions that the agency claimed to have recorded in 2022, petty internet thieves dominate the list while the names of notorious top politicians who looted the treasury over the years, are missing.

The situation remains the same with the list of the 2,220 convictions recorded by the agency in 2021.

Paradoxically, too, where the EFCC succeeds in preferring charges against corrupt politicians, many judges mostly dismiss the charges against some powerful persons in Nigeria no matter how strong the evidence may be, thereby complicating the predicaments of the agency in fighting economic and financial crimes. Thus, stampeded by the political class and emasculated by the judiciary, the EFCC has been stymied in its desire to clean the mess in the land, leaving the crafty to be more daring and boisterous in flaunting looted funds while the majority pine away in penury and with empty stomach.

With reckless appointment and sacking of the commanders of the EFCC war and the uncooperative attitude of major government officials and agencies in the battle to rid the land of graft, the soldiers of the war are often either mortally wounded or seriously decimated by the vile and corrupt while the spoils of war are easily looted and shared by those who should be held to account. That is why the war has since been lost and the combatants brutally bruised and incapacitated to launch any major offensive to clear the mess left behind by the powerful, influential and corrupt in Nigeria.

Yar’Adua removed Ribadu

Nuhu Ribadu, a committed police officer, understood the body language of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and substantially pursued most of the young crooks who were using the internet principally to steal money from unsuspecting Nigerians and foreigners and gave the nation a better image before international community. He was immediately acknowledged as the face of the anti-corruption crusade in Nigeria and given a resounding applause at home and abroad.

However, Ribadu got his fingers burnt when he attempted to replicate his success in fighting ‘419’ thieves with top politicians who had allegedly looted the public treasury between 1999 and 2007. While he was a highly treasured, feared and adored figure in the Obasanjo government, the next administration of Umaru Musa Yara’Adua and its key officials loathed him and quickly moved against him by finding a subtle way to ease him out of EFCC without raising an eyebrow, which nevertheless boomeranged. At first, the administration not having any justification to oust Ribadu, sent him to the prestigious National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Jos. But when that immediately triggered public outrage and rejection, knowing the work that Ribadu was doing to stem graft in the land, the administration came out unashamedly to say that Ribadu was required to proceed to NIPSS as a necessary condition for his promotion to the next rank in the police force.

That lame explanation did not go down well with him and Nigerians who knew he was simply being forced out of his beat so as to stop him from prosecuting suspected top administration officials, many of whom he had successfully barred from contesting the presidential polls with damning evidence of graft.

Jonathan sacked Farida Waziri
Ribadu was quickly replaced with another top police officer, Farida Waziri, whose tenure, as rightly envisaged, did not significantly trouble the political class over theft of public funds and not many high profiled graft cases were successfully prosecuted within her three-year tenure as she was immediately sent out of the office by the Goodluck Jonathan government, which replaced her with Ibrahim Lamorde in 2011.

Buhari fired Ibrahim Lamorde

Government’s unending meddling in the affairs of the EFCC was further manifested on November 9, 2015, when President Muhammadu Buhari replaced Ibrahim Lamorde with Ibrahim Magu as the acting EFCC chairman, barely six months after coming into office.

Ibrahim Magu edged out on trumped up charges

Magu, a tough-looking police officer, had shown to all that he was ready to sacrifice his head in stamping out graft by arresting and trying corrupt politicians in the country. He was not merely talking tough but was acting tough as he moved to match words with his threat to deal ruthlessly with tainted elements in the system.

In his bid to actualize his desire to clean up the mess in the land, Magu sought to widen the operational bases of the EFCC by opening more offices in Ibadan, Kaduna, Benin, Makurdi, Sokoto, Ilorin and Uyo so as to aid the arrest and trial of corruption suspects without having to move them to Abuja or Lagos. Within five years of his stewardship, it was clear to Nigerians that Magu meant business and that many tainted politicians who had looted the treasury would certainly land in the gulag before long.

This tough disposition of the police officer resulted in the arrest of many politicians who were promptly slammed with charges and for the five years that Magu held sway at the EFCC, it was a gloomy season for the corrupt and those with itchy fingers.

But as it was with Ribadu and Lamorde, the administration of Muhammadu Buhari, which also appointed Magu into the tough post, quickly devised dangerous methods to remove him from the powerful post despite not producing any evidence to justify his ousting from the position.

The Buhari administration not comfortable with the way Magu was steering the graft war, edged him out on trumped up charges which have not been substantiated till date and replaced him with a young officer of the anti-graft agency, Abdulrasheed Bawa on February 24, 2021. Bawa had issues with some top people in government whose ears were close to Buhari and he fell.

Tinubu arrested, detained Bawa without any charge

Although Bawa, a young officer, was not up to the rank of being conferred with the chairmanship of the agency going by its extant rules, the government defiantly promoted him to the prescribed rank and enthroned him as the substantive chairman of the EFCC, and got tongues wagging, a negative development that the administration bluntly ignored despite the dent on its image. The erosion of confidence in the EFCC as a ready and capable institution in Nigeria to confront graft headlong continued to wane when the Tinubu administration quickly arrested and detained Abdulrasheed Bawa without any charge preferred against him.

He was first replaced by the director of operations of the EFCC, Mr. Abdulkarim Chukkol on June 14, 2023. After being held in detention for about four months, Bawa was finally dusted on October 12, 2023 with the appointment of Mr. Mr. Ola Olukoyede, a lawyer and a one-time secretary of the EFCC by the Tinubu government, thereby closing the chapter on Bawa.

Civil Society Organizations react
Although the government continues to sack and replace EFCC heads as it pleases each of the administrations, the frequency of doing so is a clear indication as to where the government stands in the fight against corruption and the message it sends to the suspects of graft.

Many leading civil society organisations in the country, which have been spearheading the graft war with the anti-graft agency are however no more convinced that the government of Nigeria is serious and committed to the battle to rid the land of corrupt officials going by the back-and-forth disposition of the administration since Ribadu was removed as the head of the EFCC by powerful political forces who were opposed to the graft war.

Political leadership undermines anti-graft agencies— HEDA

The Executive Chairman, Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), Olanrewaju Suraju, is not convinced that the government means well in the fight against graft given the way it has carried on so far. Surajo in an interview said, “We cannot claim that this government has implemented any substantial measures to combat corruption. What the government has primarily done is, at best, investigate some past incidents, particularly focusing on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). However, apart from that, there has been a lack of significant action.

Neither the President nor the Attorney-General of the Federation has made any statements regarding the government’s intentions, program or direction concerning anti-corruption. It is challenging, if not practically impossible, for any sincere individual to evaluate this government’s anti-corruption efforts.

“When reviewing the activities from 1999, it is evident that we have experienced a few steps forward and many steps backward in terms of the genuineness of the country’s leadership in implementing anti-corruption policies and laws. The political leadership has lacked consistency in translating their statements into actions, while also hindering the independence of the anti-corruption agencies, thus undermining their ability to demonstrate their authenticity.

Notably, the leadership of the EFCC, which appears to be the most effective anti-graft agency, has consistently been targeted and incapacitated by successive governments since its establishment. Additionally, deliberate efforts have been made to weaken the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), making it easier for those in leadership positions to continue exploiting the country’s resources.

“Unfortunately, the judiciary has been unhelpful in enforcing laws against corruption. This is evident in the way politicians are granted court adjournments during trials and how the court gives orders preventing anti-graft agencies from investigating or prosecuting them.”

Nigerian govt not keen on fighting corruption — CISLAC

On his part, the Executive Director Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) and Head, Transparency International (Nigeria), Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, said available evidence points to the fact that the Nigerian government is not keen on fighting corruption in the country.

According to Rafsanjani: “First and foremost, let us be clear: this government doesn’t appear to be committed to combating corruption. All the existing legal instruments designed to aid the fight against corruption are either suspended, diluted, or completely disregarded. For example, the Fiscal Responsibility Act, the Freedom of Information Act, and the Public Procurement Laws.

Regrettably, we have not witnessed the enforcement of these legal frameworks by this government. “Similarly, the manner in which the Executive arm of the government interferes in the activities of the anti-corruption agencies is a significant reason the fight against corruption seems ineffective, particularly in cases involving politically exposed individuals. However, when it comes to internet fraud committed by the so-called ‘Yahoo Boys,’ the agencies appear to be more successful. In cases involving politically exposed individuals, the anti-corruption agencies often face obstacles such as compromised files, intentional ignorance, or abandonment.

This is evident in the current Senate leadership case, which appears to be in limbo due to executive manipulation. Additionally, there are ministers in the Federal Executive Council (FEC) who face serious corruption allegations. Despite numerous damning petitions and cases against them, the President seems to disregard them. Such actions are demoralizing for the operatives of the anti-graft agencies.

“Since the current Government came on board, we haven’t seen that profound commitment either to strengthen the fight against corruption or block the leakages. For example, oil theft is still going on in connivance with public officials. corruption is still going on even the in Judiciary. Fighting corruption is not propaganda because lack of honesty and sincerity of purpose will make it fail.

“Since the current government came into power, we haven’t witnessed a profound commitment to either strengthen the fight against corruption or prevent leakages. For instance, oil theft continues to occur with the collusion of public officials, and corruption persists within the electoral system and even the judiciary. It is important to note that combating corruption is not mere propaganda, as the lack of honesty and sincerity of purpose can lead to its failure.”

We’ve lost the war on corruption — CLO
In his view, the National President of Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), Mr Igho Agheregha believes strongly that Nigeria has lost the corruption war given the way successive administrations have dealt with the issue of monumental corruption in the country.

Agheregha said: “We have lost the war. The vision of the various anti-corruption agencies, established by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who was a leader that some Nigerians believed was committed to fighting corruption, has been shattered. After him, we saw Umar Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan, both of whom made feeble attempts at combating corruption.

However, the worst of them all was former President Muhammadu Buhari, who claimed that if we did not fight corruption, corruption would kill us. Unfortunately, corruption prevailed, and Nigeria paid the price as he failed to take any decisive action. As for me, the war is lost. I don’t see President Bola Tinubu taking a comprehensive approach to fighting corruption. He rarely uses the term ‘anti-corruption’ publicly, and it has been more than five months since he assumed office. And, of course, Abdul-Rasheed Bawa, the former EFCC chairman, demonstrated a certain level of commitment in fighting corruption. He was prosecuting the current Senate president and numerous governors.

Some governors even claimed that he possessed a list of individuals to track and apprehend once they handed over power on May 29. However, in the end, Bawa himself was arrested. The hunter became the hunted, and corruption fought back.

“Therefore, in my opinion, those in charge are some of the most corrupt leaders Nigeria has ever witnessed,” the CLO leader claimed.

FG considers establishing anti-corruption court —Attorney-General
Notwithstanding the positions of the CSOs, the federal government has maintained that it is committed to ridding corruption in the land by all means, according to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Mr Lateef Fagbemi. As a means of combating corruption, the government said that it was considering the growing demand for the establishment of an International Anti-Corruption Court, describing it as a paradigm shift in its approach to combating corruption at the global level.

Fagbemi, who spoke through the Deputy Director of Public Prosecution, Yusuf Abdullahi Abdulkadir, said, “Nigeria, as a country that has been deeply affected by corruption, could benefit significantly from the establishment of an IACC. Such a court could provide a platform to address cases that involve individuals and assets located abroad, often tied to grand corruption schemes that have a devastating impact on Nigeria’s development efforts.

“It could serve as an additional tool to complement and strengthen the nation’s domestic anti-corruption efforts. The corrosive impact of corruption on Nigeria’s development, stability, and prosperity cannot be overstated,” the AGF said.