The arrest of Ibrahim Magu, the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has erupted another controversy in a nation weighed down by the pang of corruption, that has deformed and retrogressed its growth.
The news was greeted with mixed reaction on Monday, as a man once taught infallible, whose name sends cold in the spine of the corrupt, who was the torchbearer of a nation bedevilled by corruption was whisked away to the presidential villa, to face a panel of anti corruption. The next day he was replaced and suspended as the acting chairman of the EFCC.
According to a statement by DSS and EFCC spokesperson they reported that he wasn’t arrested but was taking in for questioning by the DSS, based on a petition written against him by the attorney general of the federation Abubakar Malami.
His arrest has once again raised dusts over the clamp back of corruption, moral bankruptcy of the Buhari’s administration and how the anti corruption war has been used as a tool for witch-hunting oppositions and silencing critics.
Fredrick Nietzsche the German philosopher said, “Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.” To quote this in the context of Magu’s situation, will help us understand better the complexities of Magu’s case, is the abyss of corruption gazing back at Magu? Or did he transmorgrified into a monster during the process of fighting the monster?
In 2016, Magu was rejected by the Saraki-led senate after screening him for the post of the EFCC chairman, the despotic government of Buhari who was obdurate and will always force his way through refused to drop him and replace him with another candidate. The president, in an attempt to prevaricate due process and the constitution, installed him as the acting EFCC chairman.
This prevarication of the senates approval led to condemnation by critics, while the hailers of the young government accused the senate of being corrupt and trying to take down Magu so they can loot with impunity. While the issue raised a series of debate about the personality of Magu, the senate claimed Magu has been scrutinized and found guilty of shady dealings in the past which include; buying properties abroad.
The president who was deeply attached to magus personality and has always wanted to have his way refused to take cognizance or heed the advice of the senate. After Magu’s installation, the corruption war became fierce and brutal, many top officials of the erstwhile government of GEJ, were indicted and some of them jail, recovery of looted fund became a daily news, some ex governors were jailed. The opposition party PDP who ran the former government, became uncomfortable as the anti corruption war drifted to a more partisan fight that saw an exoneration of members of the ruling party and incarceration of the opposition. Many of those who were indicted were later released and some of them sentenced to jail including former heads of government parastatals.
As the EFCC continued their indictment and arrest spree, many skeptics saw it as an opaque and unbalanced war that didn’t sought to exterminate the real foundation of corruption, and labeled it a “shambolic fight” . While the anti corruption czar continue to unleash terror on the corrupt ruling class.
Many corruption case against the ruling party sprung and was totally ignored by the EFCC, some of these cases include the reinstatement of Miana, the grass cutting contract of the SGF, the bullion van saga at Tinubu’s residence during election and the worse of it the video of Ganduje of Kano state collecting bribe from an international firm. All these cases were ignored by the EFCC thereby casting public cynicism on the anti-graft war.
As Magu continued his detention in the police den, his apartment has been ransacked, and malignant information has surfaced without proof claiming he transferred 4billion naira to the vice president Osinbajo, albeit these reports were strongly refuted by the vice president and the allegations were marked as false. Buhari’s government whose campaigns promise include the total annihilation of corruption, has become the anti thesis of the same corruption it claimed to be fighting, with numerous government agencies been unaccountable and various report of diversion of looted funds, corruption still keeps glancing at us.
However, Magu’s offense which includes buying of exotic properties abroad, flying on private jet and many others according to unverified sources, continue to raise speculations about his plight, some have claimed he went to search the homes of Abdulsalam a former head of state and TY Danjuma, a former military general, who has been involved in several coups in the country before the total transition to civilian rule.
Last week, Danjuma met with Buhari at the aso villa, although the content of their discussion was not revealed. Many Magu’s supporter claimed corruption is fighting back and it was part of the reason for Danjuma’s trip to aso rock. While many critics and opposition claim the charges against him are true, because of the ineptitude and the grandiose corruption in the Buhari’s government.
Overtime, corruption has become a cultural norm in Nigeria, according to a report by international transparency group, 47% of Nigerians pay bribe to police. The report automatically shows the permeation of corruption into the Nigerian culture, according to Thomas Sowell “Cultures are not museum-pieces. They are the working machinery of everyday life. Unlike objects of aesthetic contemplation, working machinery is judged by how well it works, compared to the alternatives.”
To put this in context since corruption has permeated the fabric of the Nigerian culture, corruption comes with its appurtenances like, bribery, extortion, nepotism and unethical work cultures. As it eat deeps into the society the more these other vices that comes with it keeps spreading. It has automatically been incorporated into our paradigm, at every level of Nigerian society corruption is evident.
To be able to neutralize its acidic effect one must be ready to fight against a culture and have a total paradigm shift, however cultural revolutions are most times very slow to take place, but with collective will we can make it happen.
To fight corruption from the top of the pyramid without creating a framework to kill it at the grassroot is a waste of effort, because the culture will keep regurgitating corrupt people. Buhari’s campaign slogan which was tagged “change” has totally failed to deliver the change it promised, instead has retrogresssed the nation back morally and developmentally.
While Magu is been held, in detention it is imperative to ask some salient questions; Is Magu truly guilty of the petition against him? If he was accused of corrupt practices why did the government leave him so long in that position considering how sensitive the position was?
Nigerians continue to ponder on this question, as the image of the country continue to get tainted around the world from cybercrime and security challenges.
For Magu, the hunter who became the prey. It is up to the law to prove his case if found guilty he must be sentenced. His case also reflect how weak and vulnerable our institutions are, and how they are under the influence of the executives. An institution that requires transparency should not be subjected to the whims and capricious decisions of the executives. It should totally be independent to create a level of public trust, but unfortunately, our institutions continue to be influenced and interfered by the executives which is disastrous for any Democratic society.
As these issues continue to come to the spotlight, there is a dire need to fix the cultural apparatus of our nation and to stop glorifying corruption, we need a cultural revolution to overturn the systemic corruption, and its start from reforming the law enforcement agencies, because when the law is corrupt automatically the wheel of the nation is weakened and its moral compass is broken the society automatically degenerate into an unsustainable path that will breed more corruption.
While Magu’s investigation continues, it is obvious he may had been infected by the same disease he was fighting, and if he comes out clean it is up to him to reclaim his integrity. whichever way it goes the next few days will tell.
– Sunday Jude Abah, a freelance journalist and writer, wrote from Kogi state.
