Accustomed to joining the fray in anti-graft matters, the Senate, on December 21, took on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over its arrest of the Chairman of Innoson Motors, Innocent Chukwuma, an industrialist from Anambra State. From his residence in Enugu, he was flown to Lagos for questioning, a sequel to his alleged rebuff of an earlier invitation extended to him.
His arrest, according to the EFCC, is predicated on fraud. Its spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, in a statement, linked his travails to “matters bordering on N1, 478,366,859 fraud and forgery. The industrialist among other infractions allegedly used forged documents to secure tax waivers.” Media reports, quoting court papers dated November 30, said the EFCC had filed fraud charges against the suspect for “obtaining containers of motorcycle spare parts by false pretence between 2009 and 2011 in Lagos, goods belonging to Guaranty Trust Bank Plc.”
But the Senate, led by the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who brought the issue to its attention, in a debate, dissented. It accused the EFCC of brazen display of impunity. The senators argued that Chukwuma had a commercial transaction with the bank, which did not give room for the agency’s intervention or its “Gestapo display.” The suspect was released from detention a day after, and he has continued to insist on his innocence. The commission, he alleges, is being used by the bank to harass and intimidate him. For the avoidance of doubt, Section 5 of the EFCC Act empowers the agency to investigate all financial crimes and to adopt measures to identify, trace, freeze, confiscate or seize proceeds derived from terrorists’ activities, economic and financial crimes, among others. The law applies to all.
Curiously, lawmakers have an uncanny penchant for dabbling in graft cases when they involve the elite. It is also customary for many Nigerians to play up the ethnic or religious card in defending individuals facing graft charges. A few of such cases include the following: the Code of Conduct Tribunal trial of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, his wife Toyin’s invitation by the EFCC; Patience Jonathan’s bank accounts freeze over questionable ownership; last November’s suspension of the Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Munir Gwarzo, for alleged impropriety by the Minister of Finance; the Senate summons of the Comptroller-General of Customs, Hameed Ali, because of sundry non-import duty payments by vehicle importers and the parliament; and Senate’s intransigence on Ibrahim Magu’s confirmation as the EFCC chairman.
Graft is damaging the economy. The National Assembly should get serious about dealing with it. The lawmakers’ core mandate is making laws for good governance, especially transparency and accountability. For lawmakers to be so resolute in undermining the activities of a critical agency such as the EFCC is curious and undesirable in a democracy. Strong institutions in the country will never be built with these perverse and eccentric legislative tendencies.
The Senate’s sincerity in these matters is suspect, expressly advertised in its stance in the Saraki trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal for alleged false declaration of assets when he was the governor of Kwara State. It was perfidious for it to have initiated a process to confer immunity on federal and state legislators by an amendment of Section 308 (3) of the 1999 Constitution, shortly after the trial had begun. The constitution provides this privilege only for the President, Vice-President, governor and deputy governor. When lawmakers abandon their legislative business for which they are outrageously paid, to escort their leader and his wife to either the court, or to an anti-graft agency for an investigation, they make themselves dwarfs of moral agents in the public space.
Parliamentary imprudence cascaded in October when the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions ordered some banks to unfreeze suspicious accounts of (Patience) Jonathan, frozen by the EFCC on the order of a court, when another court order that set aside the earlier one had not been served the banks. The bank executives summoned said so, even as they succumbed to their pressure. A similar committee in the House made the same demand.
The two chambers of the National Assembly have issued countless summonses to Magu for doing his job, just as the Senate has not hidden its desire for him to be sacked. Twice, they threw away President Muhammadu Buhari’s request for his confirmation as the EFCC chairman. But Buhari remains adamant.
Among other measures, Singaporean Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, says his country achieved some measure of success in eradicating corruption through strong political will of leaders and by institutionalising a robust and comprehensive anti-corruption framework that spans laws, enforcement, the public service and public outreach. The Prevention of Corruption Act, the country’s anti-graft law, puts the burden of proof on the accused to show that he acquired his wealth legally. Any unexplained wealth disproportionate to known sources of income is presumed to be from graft and can be confiscated.
Nigerians should also demand a clean system. The anti-corruption agencies should be properly funded and independent. They have been empowered to investigate any person suspected of financial infractions. The National Assembly should not be a stumbling block in the anti-graft crusade.
