…as Ozekhome, CSOs, activists, financial experts accuse anti-graft agency of complicity, double standard
Ebere Ndukwu, Ngozi Amuche & Adeleke Adesanya
A cross-section of Nigerians have challenged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to reveal the full identity of the female minister the anti-graft agency claimed to have nabbed for paying $20million cash deposit for the purchase of a $37.5million property.
Chairman of the EFCC, Abdulrasheed Bawa, had disclosed this during an interview on Channels Television programme, Sunrise Daily, early this week, raising the alarm that the country’s real property sector was being sustained by 90 to 100 per cent laundered funds.
But the EFCC boss did not state whether the suspect is a serving or former minister.
Bawa had alleged that the yet-to-be-identified female minister had deposited $20million cash with a bank from which she wanted to purchase the $37.5million property through a real estate firm.
He had declared that the nation’s real estate sector as one reeking with grand scale corruption.
Bawa had said, “One of the problems we have in the country is the real estate. Ninety to 100 per cent of the resources are being laundered through the real estate. Of course, they are being regulated but they are not enough in terms of how they give their returns to the Special Control Unit.
“We investigated a matter in which a bank MD marketed a property to a minister and agreed to purchase it at $37.5m. The bank then sent a vehicle to her house to evacuate $20m from her house in the first instance.
“The bank succeeded to put it in their system and paid the developer and then a lawyer set up a special purpose vehicle where the title documents were transferred into and of course, he is posing as the owner of the house.
“Without the help of the banker, the minister couldn’t have imagined collecting $20m from anyone with opportunity from the real sector; she could not have thought of where to launder the proceeds of crime.”
Recall that the EFCC chairman had on Tuesday cried out that some highly placed politicians had been after his life since he was appointed, alleging that he had been receiving death threats from these unnamed persons.
Bawa had told the same Channels Television on Tuesday, “Last week, I was in New York, as all Nigerians are aware of. A very senior citizen received a phone call from somebody that is not even under investigation. What he (the caller) said to him on phone is that; he is going to kill the EFCC chairman, the young man.
“He said, ‘I am going to kill him. I am going to kill him’. This is to tell you how bad it is. It is actually real. Corruption can fight back.”
But concerned Nigerians, including activists and financial experts, on Wednesday, in separate interviews with FirstNews Online correspondents, warned Bawa not to shield the female minister and any other indicted persons in order not to be accused of complicity in the crime and double standard in the handling of suspects of financial crimes in the country.
An economic analyst and political commentator, Mr. Chikelue Udenze, said by refraining from mentioning the names of the culprits involved in the money laundering crime, the EFCC could be encouraging corruption and protecting criminals.
He argued that it’s pointless and needless for the EFCC chairman to speak on such an issue on national television since he was not ready to reveal the identity of the suspect.
According to Udenze, “Is the EFCC serving the interest of the country or is he serving individuals and party interest. If such amount of money can be found in the home of a serving minister at this particular point in time, how did she get the money? What is her salary? The EFCC Chairman coming on a national television with such revelation is baseless, if he cannot tell Nigerians the name of the serving minister and the Bank MD.”
Speaking in the same vein, a Corporate Affairs Analyst, Adeyemi Akinola, accused the EFCC is of a double standard in handling the female minister’s case.
Akinola recalled that many opposition politicians caught for similar financial offences in the past were promptly named, shamed and even prosecuted.
He said, “For instance, I remember Orji Uzor Kalu, the former governor of Imo State and many others went to jail for a similar offence. Why is this particular one different? It is this type of attitude that gave rise to speculations.
“I challenge the EFCC chairman to name the culprits, if they are not from the North. This is one of the reasons why no one believes that EFCC is fighting corruption genuinely. It is called double standards.”
An activist and co-National spokesman for the Coalition of United Political Parties, Mark Adebayo, told FirstNews Online that the EFCC chairman’s utterances on the unidentified female minister could not be believed with his decision to keep the identity of the suspect undercover.
Adebayo accused Bawa of protecting a criminal by not revealing the suspect’s full identity, warning that such attitude by the anti-graft Czar could erode the confidence of the public in the EFCC.
He said, “Bawa’s statement is, at best, speculative and unreliable. Anyone occupying the leadership of an anti-corruption agency like the EFCC must not be seen to be engaging in speculative sensationalism or a protective exposé.
“Such a statement must bear a clear identity of the culprit for it to be taken seriously and shouldn’t be left hanging in the air as to what fate befell the so-called female minister.
“His statement portrays the agency as protecting a criminal by not revealing her full identity and telling Nigerians what happened to the case. Such an attitude is unbecoming of a man heading an anticorruption agency like the EFCC. It has the potential of eroding public confidence in the agency. He has to come clean!”
But human rights activist and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mike Ozekhome, told FirstNews that the EFCC should have arrested the indicted minister and arraigned her in court for proper trial.
Ozekhome, who deplored the anti-corruption war of the government as being “very poor”, argued that revealing the identity of the suspected minister won’t be enough, adding that Sections 35 and 36 of the 1999 Constitution support such action by the EFCC.
He said, “Why should they mention her name? To gain what other than to merely ‘name and shame her’, a very poor anti-corruption policy of this government that I have strenuously fought against in the last six years? What of High Chief Aleogho Dokpesi and Olisa Metuh, who were so named and shamed but were later completely exonerated by the courts? How many Nigerians read about these discharges and acquittal? What restitution was accorded them over the colossal embarrassment, public odium, obloquy and societal denigration? None! Rashid Bawa shun the babel of lynching mob.
“What Bawa should do is simple: arrest and arraign the Minister in court immediately for proper public trial. She must be allowed the opportunity to be defended by a lawyer of her choice. That is what Sections 35 and 36 of the Constitution provide for. The whole press can then lawfully and properly cover the entire proceedings. That is how corruption is fought decently with a human face in a constitutional democracy such as we operate.”
An activist and Chairman, Ogun State branch, Civil Liberties Organisation, Yemi Enitan, accused the EFCC chairman of harbouring an “ulterior motive” for withholding the identity of the female minister.
Enitan said that no law prohibits the anti-graft commission’s boss from revealing the suspect’s identity, adding that if it could parade and even identify suspected ‘Yahoo Yahoo’ boys it should not have hesitated to extend the same treatment to the female minister.
He stated that there should be no discrimination or preferential treatment when it comes to handling of criminal suspects.
The CLO activist said, “Section 36(5) of the CFRN, 1999 provides that any person charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed innocent until proved guilty. If truly the female minister has been found in such a mess, though, it is only the court of competent jurisdiction that can give verdict on such allegation, then nothing stops the EFCC from revealing the name of the suspect. She’s still a suspect and every suspect is a natural person that has a nomenclature. If her name can be shielded, it means Bawa himself has ulterior motive. A suspect remains a suspect and not yet an offender until it is proved beyond reasonable doubt. See Section 135 of the Evidence Act.
“What about the yahoo boys that are often paraded by the EFCC, are their names not often mentioned? If those suspects’ names can be mentioned, why not the name of the female minister?
“I will also refer you to the stories of some young men who were accused of killing a police officer last year 2020, were their names not mentioned in the national dailies?
“Section 42 of the CFRN, 1999 provides for freedom from discrimination. Is this not discrimination? My brother, if her name is not mentioned, that’s a continuation of corruption.”
Spokesperson of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party in Lagos State, Gani Taofik, also told FirstNews that Bawa’s utterances have portrayed both the government and the EFCC as unserious about fighting corruption.
He noted that the EFCC’s attitude in the case of the accused female minister was a clear indication of the failure of President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s anti-graft war.
Taofik said, “It is simple, these people are in totality not serious about fighting corruption. Why should the head of such an agency be the one who will be afraid of giving full details to Nigerians on whatever investigation that is going on in that agency? This is very disheartening, this is very embarrassing, and is a reflection of failure in this so called fight against corruption.
“It was the same thing that happened under Ribadu, when Ribadu came on the floor of the Senate to say that some person were stealing more than imaginable. He used that alibi by saying that he did not specify their names. This one should go and keep quiet if he has nothing to tell Nigerians about, he should come out clearly and let Nigerians know who the minister is. If he cannot mention the name of the minister, he is either embarrassing Nigerians by telling us he is fighting against corruption or he is being crowded by some cabal.
“If that is the situation, he should let Nigerians know, so that Nigerians can help him, civil society organisations, they are all there, they can carry placards to support him so that he can begin to do the proper thing. But as far as I’m concerned, there’s not going to be anything different from the other heads who have fought corruption but failed. This is simple, the APC is a corrupt party.”