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The arrest of Bayelsa State Governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, in London over suspicion of money laundering, is instructive. One million Pounds Sterling (about N250 million) was allegedly found in his London house.
The arrest of Bayelsa State Governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, in London over suspicion of money laundering, is instructive. One million Pounds Sterling (about N250 million) was allegedly found in his London house.
The development came on the heels of investigation of President Olusegun Obasanjo by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, over allegations of corrupt practices levelled against him by the Abia State governor, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu. What is of particular interest, however, is the Federal Government's curious decision to fight corruption from outside the nation's borders, when it has several anti-corruption agencies at home.
Recently, American security agents searched Vice President Atiku Abubakar's house in the US, over his suspected involvement in unethical business transactions. Before then, the British Police had quizzed the Plateau State Governor, Joshua Dariye, over a large sum of money allegedly found in his house in London. Dariye was subsequently granted bail. In the latest incident, Governor Alamieyeseigha was allegedly handcuffed and his passport seized, to prevent him from leaving Britain pending his arraignment in court.
As has been the country's unfortunate experience in the past, strong ethnic sentiments are being expressed about Alamieyeseigha's arrest. One Ijaw group, for example, is threatening reprisals on British interests and nationals in the Niger Delta over the governor's ordeal. Alamieyeseigha is the self-styled 'Governor-General of the Ijaw nation," even when his government is being accused of achieving little or nothing to justify the huge derivation funds Bayelsa has collected so far.
The admission by the EFCC that it cooperated in the arrest of Alamieyeseigha, and President Obasanjo's open endorsement of the arrest, might have given the impression that the exercise was meant to witch-hunt. To buttress its resolve to pursue the case, however, the FG has reportedly beefed up security in Bayelsa State, while the British Government has urged its citizens who feel unsafe to leave Nigeria.
In a cashless society like Britain, which experienced some bombings recently, the shock find of a million Pounds Sterling was enough to fuel suspicion of money laundered from drugs proceeds, loot or terrorism. Britain's action, therefore, is in order. By the same token, the threat by the Ijaw against Britain is uncalled for, since the latter has not been accused of jumping the due process in the handling of the case.
Indeed, the Ijaw threat is surprising when placed side by side with the public claim, some months ago, by Bayelsa's Deputy Governor, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, that the Central Bank of Nigeria was aware that 'a state" uses commercial banks to siphon overseas up to 60 per cent of its monthly financial allocation from the Federation Account. Mrs. Nenadi Usman, the Minister of State for Finance, once levelled similar allegations against state governors. Likewise President Obasanjo and the EFCC, both of whom confirmed that looted funds are still being stashed abroad. One report says up to $50 billion have been ferried abroad since 1999.
It has been virtually impossible for the FG to plug these financial leakages because the nation's anti-corruption agencies are impotent, in view of the fact that key public officials accused of funds' misappropriation are shielded from trial by a blanket constitutional immunity. The President, Vice President, governors and their deputies constitute the 74 public officials so protected.
Unfortunately, too, the anti-graft agencies have allowed several public officials accused of corrupt deeds to escape justice. These include ex-governors, National Assemblymen, ministers, council bosses, etc. This probably explains why the Ijaw see the arrest of the Bayelsa governor as a set up. The Ijaw, however, must not take the laws into their hands or heat up the polity. Their concern for their governor can be better expressed by the calibre of lawyers they are able to assemble for his defense. Everything should be done to strengthen the hands of the FG in its fight against corruption.
The PUNCH, Thursday September 22, 2005