Ribadu’s Report Drama: Who Says Jonathan Wants To Fight Corruption? – By Chinedu Ekeke

Give President Goodluck
Jonathan hundred years to
rule Nigeria, he will not
successfully prosecute even
one person in his much
vaunted fight against
corruption. In fact, as a rule,
there’ll be a sort of
liberalization of corruption
under his watch. The image
of invincibility he creates
about corruption helps him
sustain his personal – but
nauseatingly pedestrian –
idea of corruption being a
Nigerian thing that can never
be tackled by anybody.
This isn’t one simplistic
assumption. I can stake
anything for this claim. Mr
Jonathan is a creation of the
corruption he tells people
that he’s fighting. In 2006,
he was indicted for false
declaration of assets by a
Joint Task Force (JTF) on
corruption that was set up
by Obasanjo’s government.
That powerful panel was
headed by Nuhu Ribadu (yes,
the same Ribadu you know)
then as the chairman of the
Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The Joint Task Force said Mr
Jonathan was in possession
of illegally-acquired property
such as homes and exotic
cars he could not explain
within his legitimate income.
While he was invited for
hearing, he claimed he
bought them from his
“savings”. Meanwhile, he
was a lecturer in the few
years following his becoming
a deputy governor. Now hear
the worth of the properties
which were brought from Mr
Jonathan’s ‘savings’: a seven-
bedroom duplex worth N18
million at Otuke Ogbia LGA
acquired in2001; a four-
bedroom duplex, valued at
N15 million at Goodluck
Jonathan Street, Yenegoa,
acquired in 2003; and a five-
bedroom duplex, at Citec
Villas, Gwarimpa II – Abuja,
valued at N25 million, also
acquired in 2003. There
were also two cars: a Lexus
Jeep valued at N18 million;
and a BMW 7351 Series
worth N5.5 million. If you
check the dates, the
purchases were made
starting from 2001, just two
years after becoming a
deputy to a criminal
governor convicted for
fleecing Bayelsa state.
So Mr President, a candidate
for prison who had no
business being in Aso Rock
ab initio, became appointed
the running mate of Late
President Yar’Adua by
Obasanjo, the same
president whose powerful
committee indicted him. This
is the core of the matter
with corruption under
Jonathan. He’s a cheerleader
for the corrupt, and he
seems, I have observed with
deep concern, to always be
excited whenever there’s a
stage-managed drama to
ridicule the outcome of
serious probes that indict
key members of his
government.
It is not that we all do not
have a past that we may be
ashamed of; it is about
having a sad past we still live
in and cherish. This
president still resides in his
past, a past he should not be
proud of, but a past he
desires, unfortunately, to
have every public official
under him share from. This
is why Mr Jonathan is
dangerous for Nigeria. Any
country that values decency
and is desirous of economic
growth cannot afford to have
as its leader a man who is an
apostle of primitive
acquisition of wealth.
In my previous essays, I
have insisted, and with
proofs, that Nigeria cannot
step out of where we are
economically if we don’t
wage a true war against
corruption and impunity. The
war I mean isn’t Jonathan’s
committee’s setting
approach. The war I know is
the type that’ll be led by the
president himself.
It requires a certain depth of
love for country by the head
of the country’s government
himself. Unfortunately, I
haven’t seen any sign from
Mr Jonathan that he loves
Nigeria. If he lays any claim
to ’love for country’, then I
can wager the reason:
enough free oil money to
corner.
I don’t know of any
administration in either pre
or post-independence
Nigeria that has been rocked
by the weight of financial
scandals under Mr
Jonathan’s gleeful watch. He
simply sets up a committee,
and have aides arrange how
to mock its outcome.
Last year, the legislature
approved for Nigeria N240b
for fuel subsidy, and then
before the year ran out, Mr
Jonathan’s government had
already spent over a trillion
naira on that without batting
an eyelid. Then when it
appeared their recklessness
had thrust illiquidity upon
their faces, they pushed the
cost of the roguery of their
friends onto Nigerians and
titled it subsidy removal. We
vehemently refused that,
and argued, as every
average thinking person
would, that the answer lied
in prosecuting those who
defrauded the Nation of
trillions of its revenue, and
recovering the funds from
them. They pushed their way
through. At a town-hall
meeting to sell their
untruths to Nigerians, Mrs
Okonjo-Iweala even delved
into the ridiculous when she
alluded to the need for us to
help them fish out those
who sabotage the nation
economically. Well, that
comment ended up being
one of the many jokes,
albeit very unintelligent
ones, that have been
dropping out of her mouth
since she joined this
government.
The push of Nigerians for
transparency in the
management of their oil
revenue led the responsive
House of Representatives
into setting up an adhoc
committee that probed the
management of the subsidy
regime. Headed by Farouk
Lawan, the committee
doubled-down on
government’s complicity in
the subsidy fraud, and even
the roles played by key
government agencies and
parastatals in destroying the
country they were set up to
serve. But as the committee
was at work, Femi Otedola,
one of the three closest
businessmen to the
president (the other two are
Aliko Dangote and Aig
Aigboje Imoukhuede of
Access Bank) was out to
rubbish the report and
render it useless. He set
Farouk up and bribed him
with some dollar bills. When
it was time to use the ploy
in the achievement of its
original purpose, Femi
Otedola proudly informed
Nigerians that he gave bribe
to a legislator. There was joy
in Jonathan’s presidency. As
you read these, Otedola is
the president’s Man-Friday,
walking freely on the streets
and even attending some
important state functions
with him.
The Jonathan camp changed
the narrative. Farouk
Lawan’s report was now
labeled as lacking in
credibility. It was shocking.
Nobody talked about why it
should be implemented
while the culprits in the
bribery saga get prosecuted
for such massive economic
sabotage. Don’t prosecute
them since Femi was
involved. Just rubbish Farouk
and then kill the report.
And then came the
Petroleum Revenue Task
Force headed by Nuhu
Ribadu. It was set up by this
same government to look
into the affairs of the oil
industry from 2002 – 2012.
The committee’s report has
long been ready. It was
formally presented to the
president on Friday where
another comedy, in the
manner of Otedola’s, played
out. Mr. Steve Oronsaye,
Nigeria’s former Head of
Service and Vice Chairman of
the Task Force played the
spoiler. He was part of the
committee but was not
attending deliberations until
it was time to discuss
recovery of funds owed by
some companies. He
attended the meeting and
then scuttled the Task
Force’s efforts to recover
$1.5billion from Addax
Petroleum.
Justifying his well calculated
attempt to make nonsense of
the report, Mr Oronsaye
claimed he was a believer in
processes, and that the
process that led to the
compilation of the report
was flawed and so
‘unimplementable’. Oronsaye
did not have the courage to
tell Nigerians that he
accepted appointment into
the board of NNPC even
while still serving as a
member of the Task Force,
and that such was a
necessary condition to erode
his objectivity on the matter.
Oronsaye did not have the
decency to resign his
membership of that Task
Force when he took up the
board membership
appointment. That must be
how ‘credible’ people act in
the world Mr Oronsaye
happened from.
Which leads to the next
question: Who appointed
Steve Oronsaye in the NNPC
board while he was carrying
out another task that
entailed auditing the same
NNPC? Was the presidency
not aware of the conflict of
interest in that regard? Was
Steve the only Nigerian
qualified to be a board
member of NNPC such that
he would need to serve in
the committee that probes
the corporation a board
member of which he is? Mr
Oronsaye must have been
planted in that Task Force to
discredit it.
And if the only issue Mr
Oronsaye has with the
recommendations is the
process in their compilation,
and not the
recommendations
themselves, why did he
declare them
‘unimplementable’? One
would have thought that the
real issue is in whether the
recommendations were
outside what the Task Force
members collectively agreed
upon.
My understanding of how
this corruption-building
administration of Goodluck
Jonathan works tells me this
was designed to ensure
corruption in the oil industry
remains blossoming.
The report reveals that
between 2008 and 2011,
Nigerian oil ministers
handed out no fewer than
seven discretionary licences
and claimed that a total of
$183 million (about N28.7
billion in signature bonuses
was missing from the deals.
The report also claimed that
three of the oil licences in
question were awarded
within the tenure of the
present Petroleum Minister,
Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke.
Diezani was indicted by the
Task Force. This isn’t the
first time she’s being
indicted in a probe of this
manner.
The whole drama is to rub it
on our faces that Goodluck
Jonathan is comfortable with
corruption. He will neither
sack Diezani nor give
Nigerians any reason to
assert that she is indeed
corrupt even in the face of
prima facie evidences. And
there are always Oronsaye’s
and Otedolas who are willing
to help out.
Those who are surprised – I
wonder who should still be
by now, anyway – about the
game of deceit in President
Goodluck Jonathan’s
government may need to
take time to study more the
man they expect good
governance from. A man
who desires everybody
around him to share from
the proceeds of sleaze will
not stop the growth of
sleaze. What you tolerate
you cannot exterminate.
Any leader who doesn’t see
as evil the mismanagement
of public funds isn’t fit to
lead even himself, let alone
his household. This is the
character that runs today’s
Aso Rock. And this is
unfortunate.

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#CONSENSUS 2015