Nigerians are great and very intelligent people. Their leaders are special specie of human beings blessed with confidence and guts in stealing what belongs to the development of fellow countrymen and women. After the stealing spree, they proceed to their villages armed with stolen public funds to ‘purchase’ traditional title for ego boosting, build places of worship, and donate vehicles to these that sing their praises.
Some Nigerian leaders were probably created specifically to end up in hell fire, while some were created to suffer on planet earth before subsequent transition to hell fire not minding the places of worship they built with sleaze funds, sponsorship of religious adherents to pilgrimages, and other claimed charity offerings all with stolen public funds that offers no expected heavenly reward.
Nigerians are the worst religious pretenders and hypocrites ever created. Those of them claiming to be adherents of religions (Islam and Christianity), are the worst criminals among criminals stealing from the commonwealth against the interest of humanity.
A shameless and morally bankrupt public servant steals what could have sustained over 100million lives at ago. The criminally-minded beats his chest publicly claiming to have been blessed. Yes, he is blessed with stealing techniques and shamelessness. Some Nigerians in leadership can best be described as agents of devil on planet earth created for satanic purposes against decent human existence.
Despite all said, the scale of official corruption in Nigeria may sometimes be a subject of speculation and even myth. We may think that our imaginations are outrunning reality. But when facts counter fiction with the obscenity released by the Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa (PPLAAF), in partnership with the Anti-Corruption Data Collective (ACDC), we can only wonder if there is ever an end to the plundering of our patrimony by crooks and rogues in power. can we recall how N210trillion is allegedly missing from NNPCL accounts under one Mele Kyari as Group Managing Director of the company?
Can we recall how Ahmed Idris, as Accountant-General of the Federation carted away N109billion from the federal coffers just to satisfy his internally built stealing urge?
What of Sadiyya Umar Farook who was trusted with an office far above her capacity? She ended-up messing accounts of the ministry before she flew into exile under the pretence of medical attention. The list of criminals who stole Nigeria is long.
Bad as it is, this piece focuses on the United States. We all know from evidence that the net of official corruption spreads worldwide, especially in Europe. The investigators unveiled several facts in a report, titled “Nigeria: Dirty Deeds……How Top Nigerian Officials Bought a Piece of America.”
The jarring part is the list of big names in the report. It revealed 39 of the 61 individuals examined were publicly accused, indicted or sentenced for corruption and stealing in Nigeria. They form part of the kleptomaniacs in power busy de-marketing Nigeria for any trust before the international community.
Just imagine, who is the fool that can be convinced to invest in a country, full of Diezanis, Emefieles, Ahmed Idris, Abdulrasheed Mainas, Sambo Dasukis, Yahaya Bellos, Joshua Dariyes, Jolly Nyames, AbdulHameed Aliyu Abatis, Stella Oduahs, Abubakar Malamis, Beta Edus, Sadiyya Umar Farouks, Gabriel Suswans etc?
Among the 39 individuals named in the report are Sambo Dasuki, supposedly a Sokoto Caliphate prince, and sacked National Security Advisor (NSA) to former president Goodluck Jonathan; Abdulrasheed Maina, sacked chairman of the Presidential Taskforce on Pension Reforms, and an ex-convict.
Others include; Orji Uzor Kalu, former Governor of Abia State, an ex-convict, and now a serving senator; Chimaroke Nnamani, former governor of Enugu State; late Ajibola Ajimobi, former governor of Oyo State; Stella Oduah, former Minister for Aviation; Dibu Ojerinde, former JAMB registrar; late Alex Badeh, as Chief of Defense Staff before his sack, had promised defeating Boko Haram insurgents within three months (3), but instead, stole monies budgeted for the defeat of the insurgents he promised to defeat. He was gunned down by hoodlums as a ‘price’ for betrayal of trust.
Chief Chris Ngige, a former governor of Anambra State and later Minister for Labor and Productivity; Willie Obiano, also a former governor of Anambra State; and Roland Ewubare, a former Group Chief Operating Officer of NNPCL, considered the cesspool of corruption.
The politically exposed persons were linked to 232 properties valued at approximately $238million. Of these, 195 properties, worth about $208million, were acquired without apparent financing during or after the official’s tenure in office.
According to its investigation, 284 properties in the US, collectively valued at nearly $271million, were linked to 61 current and former high-level Nigerian officials, their families, associates and affiliated companies.
The other break-downs are also stunning. Since 1991, 152 properties worth about $177million were acquired while the officials were in public service.
The purchases happened without apparent financing with the cover of companies and intermediaries that hid their larcenous identities. No less than 230 of the 284 properties, representing about 81 percent fell into this category for a combined value of about $232million.
The bold aspect was that 147 properties worth approximately $111million bore the names of the officials or their spouses. Others were transacted through legal entities registered in their names.
Also, 104 properties, valued at about $140million, bore the names of companies. In 12 cases, Nigerian officials used US-incorporated firms. They used their Nigerian companies to purchase, hold or sell properties.
The investigation found that 94 properties, worth approximately $135million, were acquired without an apparent source of financing while the officials were still in public office.
The report also said 79 properties worth approximately $73million remain connected to 27 individuals who have been publicly accused of corruption.
The report examined officials across six categories security, executive, legislature, state governments, other public officials and state-owned enterprises. Those NNPCL crooks that allegedly carted away N210trillion of public funds that is yet to be verified, fall within, the individual category.
Not only the carted away N210trillion, if further investigation is carried out on the source of properties owned by those crooks who almost muzzled life out of the corporation through stealing, several other hidden scandals would surface for address.
Security, executive and legislative officials accounted for properties valued at $222million, representing 82 percent of the total value identified in the investigation.
The investigation examined about 100 cases involving public officials, their immediate family members and close associates with links to US properties. The trend of obscuring ownership appeared to have increased over the past two decades. “At an unprecedented scale, these findings expose the failings of individual officials and the structural gaps that allow stolen public wealth to cross borders and settle quietly into foreign real estate.” PPLAAF Executive Director Jimmy Kande said.
These details tell us that impunity among our public officials always go unpunished. In spite of several submitted petitions accompanied with undeniable facts at the halls of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Crimes (ICPC), we still have a preponderance of cases of corruption in high places. Have we got to the stage where we have to surrender to the men and women who connive to defraud us? No one person steals public money alone. It is often done in collaboration with others of same make. This means it is a racket. If it is a racket, it means it is normalized. If it is normalized, the consensus is weaponized. That is the meaning of systemic rot.
We may say that we continue to need the services of EFCC and ICPC as institutional checks on those hardened crooks ‘blessed’ with itchy fingers that would not leave our collective cookie jar in peace. The EFCC and ICPC have been at work with many indictments and convictions. We must applaud those feats while noting that we have a very long way to go in defeating corruption with mere seizure and convictions. We have to introduce both seizure, conviction along with death sentence for total defeat of corruption. It is obvious that even great institutions with red eagle eyes may not be sufficient so long as we have persons who are bent on outwitting the system in immoral manoeuvres.
Some of the names mentioned in the report were voted into offices, and a few of them are still in public service of the country. Does it mean democracy is honey bun of corruption, or its institutions have not risen up to expectations? It is the failure of the gatekeepers rather than the system itself.
The snag about the UD properties is that they have hardly been reacquired for Nigeria. A Premium Times report examines the story of Maina, and how he has about three properties in Kentucky, “including a $215,000 home bought in August 2010, and used a company he controlled to acquire two others for $415,000 in 2011. In 2013, he purchased a two-bedroom Dubai hotel apartment for nearly $700,000, which is now registered in the name of his daughter. The purchase coincided with the period in which the EFCC alleged that Maina and his associates diverted millions of dollars from the pension scheme.”
The implication of our kleptomaniac officials’ triumphs in fleecing our resources is that they generate epidemic. Those who succeed and go without consequences only encourage others to venture into similar crimes. Impunity breeds impunity.
The Courts also grind, and it will take special Courts for corruption cases to handle public sleaze with speed and earnestness.
Muhammad is a commentator on national issues
