fter a Christmas day of reflecting, praying, feasting and celebrating my attention was drawn to a report in the Nigerian Tribune Newspapers. I was tempted like some others to interpret it as the latest ploy to prise Nuhu Ribadu from clutches of the chairmanship of EFCC. The paper dated 25th December 2007 specifically reported that:
“IG orders Ribadu to proceed on 1-yr course. The battle to sack the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, may have been shifted to his immediate constituency where fresh plot to ease him out of office is allegedly coming from the top hierarchy of the Nigeria Police Force.”
It continued that:
“While politicians who are not comfortable with his activities are said to have been pressurising President Umaru Yar’Adua to sack the anti-corruption chief, the leadership of the police force, which is reportedly uncomfortable with his profile, is said to be spear-heading the new angle of “the war against Ribadu” project.”
I am inspired today to write within the context of Franz Fannon’s quote that:
“The future would have no pity for those men [and women] who, possessing the exceptional privilege to speak words of truth to their oppressors, have taken refuge in an attitude of passivity, of mute indifference, and sometimes of cold complicity? "
Many more distinguished people and I have been constant in our writing arguing for the need to find the courage of conception, for it is this that would allow us to speak truth to power.[1]
I still believe that those of us who consider ourselves to be intellectuals have a duty together with others to speak truth to power, but we must be aware that our very ability to articulate ‘truth’ threatens ‘power’ and ‘power’ in turn threatens ‘truth’[2]: However, for our nation to move forward and triumph over the paralysis of underdevelopment we have no choice but to speak.
And there is evidence that the Nigerian people are already speaking truth to power in their local communities where they are in close proximity to power. Recently some residents of Ikorodu in a letter by a reader to Punch Newspapers, published on 20th December 2007 on the construction of a bridge were reported to have drawn attention to the appropriate authorities to the current rehabilitation and repair works going on on the collapsed bridge at Ajegunle in Ikorodu area of Lagos State. The letter stated:
“Residents are of the opinion that the iron rods being used by the contractor seem too tiny for such a weighty project in an ever busy road.
Residents contend that since the bridge would accommodate heavy and never-ending traffic, it is imperative that the construction company use appropriate materials.”
I welcome evidence of the intervention of the residents of Ikorodu for they hit a raw nerve, for local accountability, an ingredient of any progressive democracy that has never been part of our political culture in Nigeria. For when local people speak no matter how ignorant they may seem is what we need to find ways to encourage if we must hold power accountable to truth.
These people and indeed many Nigerians face a context where the vast majority of the holders of 'power' see 'power' as a means of cornering riches, looting treasuries, left, right and centre, leaving their communities and areas of their governance even more impoverished than they met it.
The people of Ikorodu prove to us that we constantly need to get our shirts wet, to take risks, not staying on the sidelines and speaking amongst ourselves on the internet and sipping coffee and tea on the boulevards of Abuja, Lagos, London, New York and Paris. They have proven that local people can act as constructive critics in their community rather than fold their arms in ‘metaphorical exile’ acting as a witness against power.
For those of us that speak and write regularly are at the risk of sounding monotonous and are likely to be accused of replaying olds record and tunes but against the constant and even subtle onslaughts by the establishment in Nigeria we must speak truth to every challenge that power presents, we must question every position that is anathema to the interests of Nigerians and like Franz Fannon says use our exceptional privileges and abandon cold complicity and speak truth to the injustice that power represents.
It constantly amazes me that Nigeria is a country where good governance is marked by grandstanding and reversals of predecessors’ policies. For in our act of governance every new administration always attempts to return to ground zero to begin all over again. It is within this context that I place most of President Yar’Adua’s recent policy reversals, despite many protestations, that these are mere fine tuning.
A particular hallmark of this administration seems to be that in going slowly we are making progress for they argue that decisions are subject to greater scrutiny and consultation. However, Nigeria’s history already indicates that that approach has always been a smokescreen for inertia and has never served us well. It was the abruptness of Generals Murtala Muhammed of Muhammadu Buhari and Olusegun Obasanjo that moved us forward. Yes many a times this may give rise to mistakes but at least it moves us somewhere and some place. It is within this context that I sincerely hope that the many indications that President Yar’Adua never wanted the position and therefore may not have prepared for any long term strategy to develop Nigeria are groundless.
Some would argue that the only legacy that Obasanjo passed on to President Yar’ Adua was the setting up EFCC and its prosecution of many sacred cows. Many would deem Mallam Ribadu of the EFCC a hero, in a country where this is a rare commodity. Some would suggest that the EFCC has and continues to perform effectively against all odds. A few would suggest that Mallam Ribadu should be knighted and cannonised.
However, according to the Nigerian Tribune, the Inspector General of the Nigerian Police would rather at this critical time reward Ribadu with a year long course at NIPSS Kuru. This puzzles me because the police force he presides over continues to be riddled with corruption to the extent that 20 naira can buy off most of his men at road blocks, its detection and apprehension rates are abysmal and by many standards it continues to be a failure.
Ironically the EFCC appears to be the only agency that appears to be making headway in the fight against corruption but it is now the IG considers it expedient to send its boss away on a course? Some might argue that behind the IG’s hand is that of the Federal Government.
There is simply no logic at this time to this action, not when the battle and the tempo against corruption is assuming a new level. Now is not the time to relent or change the chair of the EFCC, now is the time to intensify efforts against the political profiteers, the swindlers, the men in high and low places that seek bribes and demand 100 percent; those that seek to keep the country divided permanently so that they can remain in office as ministers or VIPs at least, the tribalists, the nepotists, those that make the country look big for nothing before international circles, those that have corrupted our society and put the Nigerian political calendar back by their words and deeds.
In the concluding analysis one must note that Mallam Ribadu was appointed at the Executive Chairman of the EFCC under the EFCC Establishment Act 2004 by the President. The relevant part of the Act states in Section 2:
(3) The Chairman and members of the Commission other than ex-officio members shall be appointed by the President and appointment shall be subject to the confirmation of the Senate.
Section 3 goes on to state the term of office:
3: (1) The Chairman and members of the Commission other than ex-officio members shall hold office for a period of four years and may be re-appointed for a further term of four years and no more.
The term of office of the Chairman is defined by statute and It is the President of Nigeria not the Inspector General of Police who is in a position to relieve him of his functions. The basis and conditions of how such a relief may be effected is covered under the provision of the 2004 Act.
However, Mallam Ribadu remains a serving officer and I am reliably informed is subject to the Police Act. The Shenanigans therefore continue.
Let us continue to speak, for knowledge of the truth shall set us free.
[1] Sachs, Albie (1990)., The Soft Vengeance of a Freedom Fighter., London: Grafton Books.
[2] Morgenthau, Hans J, Truth and Power: Essays of a Decade, 1960-70 (London, 1970), p.14
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