The recent move by the Nigerian Senate to make the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) independent of the executive arm of government is one step that holds a very promising future for the growth of Nigeria’s democracy. One distinctive element has till date, been clearly missing in the exercise of democratic practices in Nigeria and that has been the active exercise of the instance of prosecution in the judicial system. Even though Nigeria's judicial structure makes due provision for the Office of Public Prosecution, almost nothing is or has ever been heard of the function of this public body in the present landscape of democratic practices. If general knowledge of elementary law is anything to go by, the Office of Public Prosecution should play the role of the judicial watchdog in the monitoring and prosecution of individuals of all status getting anywhere near illegality.

A neutral observer will no doubt read about judicial investigations against the President of the United States for gross misconduct in circumstances unbefitting the office of President. Investigations of the activities of the President of Israel are not new to recent headlines in the mass media. Given the prevailing and long-standing chaos in the Nigerian political mainstream, one may be tempted to ask if the Presidency is so clean and unblemished in Nigeria that the only dissenting official voices against it are usually from the parliament. That this can hardly be the case may seem underscored by the chains of scandals rocking other segments of government at various levels. Yet nothing is ever heard of any form of judicial investigations against any wrong doing. It even appears far more scurrile as claims emerged of a Presidential jet being used for money laundering. No Public Prosecutor rose to check if any law was broken.

Against this backdrop, the establishment of the Special Commission against Economic and Financial crimes a few years ago was hailed as a milestone in keeping one major weakness of Nigeria’s social life under control. The ensuing activities of this commission soon turned out to be even more immense and daring than mere window-dressing under the watchful eyes of its capable Chairman Nuhu Ribadu. At the same pace however, it soon became clear as well that the commission will be subjected to charges of bias and one-sidedness. It is consistently accused of clamping down selectively on people that seem to have fallen out of favor with the Presidency. Even though no objective analyst would shed tears for many (if not all) of the politicians and high-profile personalities that are prosecuted by the commission, questions are incessantly asked and in some cases, justifiably too, why some obvious characters (like Gov. Igbinedion of Edo State) are ostensibly sidelined in prosecution. Most often, those left out are said to be sharing just one property in common: cordial relationship with the Presidency.

Cries of foul have therefore, taken control of public echoes and protests against the activities of the EFCC. In the heat of political bickering though, some shots have even been fired far beyond acceptable lines of intelligible reasoning. The steadfastness and uprightness of Nuhu Ribadu has consequentially been called into question and obvious criminals under prosecution have been upgraded to the status of the spotless angels of Immaculate Conception for being gloriously opposed to the President. Most often though, pragmatic and realistic calculations do not play any meaningful role in the psyche of such critics.

Though driven by political motivations, the move launched by the Nigerian senate to amend the law on the control of this commission has come as a highly laudable and invaluable step to fuel the fight against Economic and Financial Crimes. With the proposed law to regulate the control of the EFCC, there should be no more Bermuda triangle of perpetual disappearance into oblivion, for obviously corrupt but highly protected individuals within the triangular enclave of the Presidency.

Alas there is a problem. Voices in the Presidency are silently protesting to my greatest surprise. Aside from the reality that a clear conscience fears no accusation, any credible attempt to sustain the EFCC beyond the present Presidency must place the EFCC on an independent footing. If Nigeria is the common subject at the heart of the folks and the Presidency, EFCC must be freed from all possibilities of political manipulation. Whether or not the present President eventually falls victim of this same EFCC, the achievement of the President in creating the commission in the first place, will be a legacy for which Obasanjo will ever be remembered.

Unfortunately however, a lot will be conditional upon the quality of persons to run the commission in an eventual post-Ribadu era. Future governments with a different agenda may end up standing juxtaposed to the EFCC with unforeseeable consequences.

Worse still, the current looming signs of anarchy widening slowly in gyres of threats and counter-threats leave one crucial question unanswered: “Where are we heading?”

In an unlikely Presidency of Abubakar Atiku, it is not unthinkable to see Police Commissioner Nuhu Ribadu and Prof. Maurice Iwu thrown in jail. It will surprise no one to see efforts being devoted at the prosecution of Obasanjo-loyalists. Since this option of Presidency is highly unlikely however, a growing spate of sponsored protests and demonstrations and responsive brutality in riot gears is one highly realistic option in the days and weeks ahead. Many disqualified and disgruntled candidates may see a chance for vengeance and therefore join forces and resources. Court decisions may end up being ignored and jungle justice sought to correct perceived injustices. If this spirals out of control, one may ask if anyone in the Niger Delta may seek to take advantage of any such chaos and disorder, in an attempt to overstretch the resources of law enforcement.

Poised to hit the landmark of being the first civilian President to have handed over power to another civilian successor, President Obasanjo may stay his course with determination and enforce a counter strategy. The grass on the battleground may be caught singing “Lord have mercy and Halleluiah” while the stalwarts fight their die-hard battle to salvage their personal aspirations.

All these fears of uncertainty pose a serious threat to the future of Nigeria as a country. In this equation of existential philosophy, who will have time for the EFCC? Hoping that the legislative amendment exercise was not in vain, questions and lots of them too, will be begging for answer today, tomorrow and forever more. Will this democracy ever grow? Did we start the experiment a bit premature? Is Nigeria indeed suited for western style democracy? If yes, shall we ever reap the dividends of democracy? In short: Shall we ever see the Promised Land?

Robot  Villager

# 1 The recent move by the Nigerian Senate to make the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC)...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 18.03.2007 08:00

TEchi  Villager

# 2 This vortex of political juxtaposition will eventually turn into a bigger wild wind of uncontrollable magnitude if this selfishness prevails. Another issue of selective prosecution by EFCC is that of Adedibu, the murderous king of Ibadan. The last time OBJ was in Ibadan on a political campaign with PDP candidature, Ya Ardua, he emphatically said regarding Adedibu who was also among them, that “if a Yoruba elder does something wrong, you don’t rebuke him in front of everybody, you talk to him privately. And that this man (Adedibu has been in politics a long time we should leave him alone.” Can you imagine that? This is a man who is involved in many dubious murderous acts of innocent people for political gain. People knew that the Presidency has his hands in the EFCC selective prosecution.. Regardless of the fact that many of us do not like Atiku but I think Iwu of INEC by disobeying the court decisions is dealing out his own jungle justice. Iwu should allow Atiku his right under the constitution to compete as presidential candidate. We all know he is going to loose but let him have his rights to compete as orderd by the court. The equation of existential philosophy is being complexioned by none other than political selfishness, which I’m not going to delve into since a lot of it is already known. Can you imagine the magnitude of problems we would be facing if we were still under the military administration, if Nigeria had not opted to democratic dispensation? I will never support the idea that military administration will come close to doing a good of ruling this diverse and varied culture in Nigeria. We have seen it failures before, so what will make anyone think it should be an alternative at all? Hopefully in this election, a Presidential candidate such as Patrick Utomi might win. At least he has the support of Soyinka Posted by TEchi| 18.03.2007 11:47