It is no longer business as usual in some African countries, as they now subject their former leaders to the judicial process of being held to account for their stewardship. Sudan joined this growing list recently when it convicted and sentenced its former president, Omar el-Bashir, to two years’ imprisonment. He faced corruption and money laundering charges, following the discovery of cash in excess of $130 million in his residence when he was deposed in April.
The former dictator has been in custody since then. The trial judge ordered the government to confiscate the cash. However, el-Bashir, aged 75, will be sent to a reform facility, as persons who are 70 years and above are not thrown into prison, according to the country’s law.
El-Bashir’s comeuppance was preceded by a similar drama in Algeria, where two of its former prime ministers were tried and convicted of corruption early this month. The villains are Ahmed Quyahia, who got 15 years jail term and $16,000 fine; and Abdelmalek Sellah who received 12 years’ imprisonment and an $8,000 fine. The trial was televised live amid increasing public agitation for justice and for the discredited old order to be swept away. These are landmark judgements.
Both Sudan and Algeria had been in the whirlpool of public protests against the regimes of el-Bashir and Abdelaziz Bouteflika, which culminated in their ousters. Political analysts saw these events as an extension of the tidal waves of the 2011 Arab Spring, which swept President Zine Ben Ali of Tunisia and his Egyptian counterpart, Hosni Mubarak, out of office.
These developments against rogue regimes are encouraging as they entrench a trend that fosters transparency, accountability and good governance – variables that aid economic growth and development. Mubarak has just served out his prison term, having been convicted of corruption. Hissene Habre, a former president of Chad, was sentenced to life imprisonment with charges that bordered on rape, sexual slavery and crime against humanity. His trial in Senegal, where he was exiled, was unique as it was supported by the African Union.
This means the belief that the continent can serve as a safe haven for fugitives is becoming an illusion. A former Liberian president, Charles Tailor, currently serving a 50-year jail term slammed on him in 2012 by the Hague-based Special Court, backed by the United Nations, also realised this too late. It was Nigeria where he had been in exile that eventually put him to the sword with the country’s subtle arrangement that led to his deportation and eventual trial.
What the trials and convictions of these former leaders convey is that nobody is above the law. It is the foundation of justice, true democracy and good governance in Western democracies and in Asia. Driven by such jurisprudential equality, countries like France, Italy, Brazil, South Korea and Israel, have convicted their ex-leaders who abused their offices. Jacques Chirac (France), Silvio Berlusconi (Italy) and Ehud Olmert (Israel) were former leaders who have been so affected. Lula da Silva, a two-time president of Brazil, most popular, especially, for lifting millions of people out of poverty, has just completed his jail term.
Back to Africa, shortly after the immediate past President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, left office in 2018, the government pressed 16 charges against him, bordering on fraud, racketeering and money laundering in respect of a $2.5 billion arms deal, which even predated his Presidency.
Equality of all citizens before the law promotes orderly society and strengthens state institutions. This finds expression in the corruption charge against the incumbent Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. The Attorney-General, Avichai Mandelblit, in taking the decision, said: “Law enforcement is not a choice. It is not a matter of right or left. It is not a matter of politics.”
Unfortunately, this non-negotiable value of democratic governance is yet to resonate in Nigeria, the so-called giant of Africa, despite her nearly six-decade history of embarrassing misrule. The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, echoed a few days ago what many foreign organisations had said before, that Nigeria lost $400 billion to illicit financial outflows, “stolen and expatriated by corrupt leaders and foreign accomplices, including multinationals.” He said so at the just-concluded United Nations Convention against Corruption in the United Arab Emirates. Repeatedly, the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), had belched out such misgiving.
Ironically, Buhari has chosen not to rock the boat like his predecessors by his regime’s failure to bring some former Nigerian leaders to justice, amid the self-evident truths of their abuse of office. The late Sani Abacha is the only former leader to whom stolen funds have been traced. So far, the Swiss authorities have returned $752 million, $321 million in two tranches, while the US authorities have tenaciously held on to $480 million stashed away in their domain. There are more of such in other countries. But for his death, Abacha would probably have been walking the streets of Nigeria as a saint.
On account of this, the world would continue to deride Nigeria’s anti-graft as a veneer and duplicitous campaign. Therefore, the regime has to take the bull by the horns the way the afore-mentioned African countries have done. Perhaps, the late Umaru Yar’Adua would have made the difference with the presidential panel he set up on how the $180 million Halliburton contract bribe was shared. Interim report of the scandal, submitted in 2010, was quite revealing about those alleged to have soiled their hands. Those involved in this scam in the US and France have all been jailed and made to pay hefty fines, while Italy is at present demanding that a former Nigeria police officer be released to come and testify in a similar trial there.
Abuse of office or betrayal of public trust is not, therefore, limited to the 22 ex-governors undergoing trial or investigation, which Malami stated last week. Some ex-national leaders too should be called to account. More than 70 of such figures globally, have been brought to justice on this score. Nigeria should be entombed in this hurricane, which is gaining traction in Africa.
