Posted by By Mustapha Usman on
Early this month, some media organizations went to town with what they considered exclusive stories. They alleged that Governor Attahiru Bafarawa of Sokoto State had been caught in the web of money laundering currently rocking the polity with the searchlight hit on a house in London owned by him.
Early this month, some media organizations went to town with what they considered exclusive stories. They alleged that Governor Attahiru Bafarawa of Sokoto State had been caught in the web of money laundering currently rocking the polity with the searchlight hit on a house in London owned by him. They did not stop there. They claimed that the house with title number NGL 836183 located at 9 Raduor place London W22TF was purchased for E295,000 on June 1, 2004.
The media houses must have considered the publication of their respective stories on the Bafarawa House saga timely, given the on-going onslaught by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC, in the country on corruption and money laundering.
The EFCC has apparently made good the battle against corruption and money laundering which, as it were, has paid off in many respects. The disgraced former Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun, is currently fighting the battle of his life having been accused of corrupt practices running into several billions of naira. Balogun in the last couple of months in an ironic twist of fate has been in and out of EFCC custody.
Erstwhile Senate President Adolphus Wabara and the immediate past Education Minister Fabian Osuji also bit the dust courtesy of the N55 million bribe-for-budget scandal. They lost their jobs and are yet to clear their names on their alleged involvement in that scandal. Governor Joshua Dariye of Plateau State escaped by the whiskers after the London Metropolitan Police, in collaboration with the EFCC, accused him of money laundering. He was arrested but granted bail that allowed him to return to Nigeria pending full investigation of the allegations against him. Once back in Nigeria, he finds himself protected by the immunity clause and out of the reach of the long arm of the law in London. Perhaps the London police would reopen the case against him when he leaves office in 2007.
Governor D.S.P. Alamieyeseigha of Bayelsa State is not so lucky. He was arrested also in London on account of money laundering. The British police, having ostensibly learnt their lesson on the escape of Dariye to Nigeria where the immunity clause covers him from arrest and prosecution, restricted Alamieyeseigha to Britain pending the determination of the case against him.
All these underscore the will of the President Olusegun Obasanjo's administration to stamp corruption out of the polity. Although many Nigerians have commended the government's disposition, given that the underdevelopment that has been the lot of the nation over the years, inspite of its huge resources, has been linked to corruption in government, some people have been skeptical about the anti-graft war on the grounds that it is one sided; that it is only those in opposition to the Obasanjo administration that have been at the receiving end.
That is a subject of debate but it was easy to situate the publication of the Bafarawa house saga within the context of the Alamieyeseigha saga so that the London police can equally beam their searchlight on the Sokoto governor. It has been suggested that the publications were the handiwork of those in opposition to Bafarawa trying to get even with the governor.
If this were to be true, then the opposition, it would appear, met their match in the Sokoto governor.
The same weekend the stories hit the newsstands, Bafarawa spoke in a manner that gave him away as somebody who had nothing to hide on the matter. He admitted to owning the controversial house. The governor told reporters in the United States that he leased the house in May 1999 and took full possession shortly thereafter.
In a society where corruption thrives, many top government officials facing similar allegation would have chosen to remain silent, hoping that the offensive with time, would ease.
Bafarawa's challenge that anybody who has evidence that he procured the house from proceeds of corrupt practices should make them public has shown that he does not have any skeleton in his cupboard as far as this matter or any other matter concerning the finances of Sokoto State is concerned. He also disputed the price tag of E295,000 put on the house by the media although he did not state the exact price. To cap it all, the governor did the right thing but which many people would have thought unthinkable at least, given the Nigerian experience over the years; He heeded to the state House of Assembly where he asked the legislature to investigate the allegations of corruption and money laundering against him.
Bafarawa's action is significant in the light of recent graft allegations against President Olusegun Obasanjo.
When Governor Orji Uzor Kalu of Abia State levelled grave allegations of corruption against the president, the opinion in many quarters was that Obasanjo should have brought the National Assembly into the matter and ask the parliament to investigate the claims with a view to determining the authenticity.
That would have seen the president complying with the relevant provisions of the constitution. In any case, it was believed that the National Assembly would have been an impartial arbiter on the matter.
But Obasanjo did the opposite in asking the EFCC to investigate the matter. Many analysts agree with those who faulted Obasanjo's action on the grounds that the EFCC cannot do a thorough job of probing the president since he appointed the commission's boss. The critics argument is that it is like asking the piper to investigate the person paying him whereas the person ought to be dictating the tune. The outcome of such an investigation would be a fact accompli.
Bafarawa did not appoint the EFCC's boss, so it would have been easy for the commission to probe the allegations.
Nevertheless, if the governor had wanted to behave like Obasanjo, he would have asked the EFCC to collaborate with the British authorities in investigating the London house saga.
However, the governor did the right thing by putting the matter before the relevant government organ - the Sokoto House of Assembly - constitutionally vested with the responsibility to do the job.
By so doing, Bafarawa has laid an example that must be followed by leaders of the three tiers of government if we must get out of the quagmire of corruption that has been the nation's lot since the military hijacked political power in 1966.
In mandating the Sokoto House of Assembly to investigate the London house, he restated how he came about the property. Said the governor: 'For the avoidance of doubt, I would like to aver that I took possession of that house in the second half of the year 1999, months after I assumed office as the governor of Sokoto State."
To underscore the fact that he did not acquire the property illegally, Bafarawa told the lawmakers that he declared it, according to the Code of Conduct regulations, at the expiration of his first term and commencement of the second term.
His words: 'By the Code of Conduct regulations, I was required to declare my assets, both on assumption of office and at the expiration of my terms. As the house was not acquired before May 1999, it was not to be declared then. However, it was declared at the end of my first tenure and the beginning of my second tenure respectively - both in 2003. The records are there at the Code of Conduct Bureau for anybody wishing to cross-check."
Bafarawa described the allegations of money laundering against him as ridiculous.
He went further: 'In the history of governance in Nigeria, I have been one of the apostles of accountability and efficient management of financial resources through informing the governed the position of their finances at every point in time.
'Without blowing my trumpet, we all know that Sokoto State has never had it so good. One, therefore, wonders how our numerous projects on roads, education, health, agriculture, rural development, etc, are being financed consistently without recourse to borrowing."
The governor did not end his address to the parliament without a word of advice for his critics.
His counsel: 'May I use this medium to advise fellow politicians and other people who have any grudges against my person, my administration or even my associates to always channel their grievances through the state House of Assembly which is vested with the constitutional responsibility to investigate those allegations and not through the pages of newspapers.
'I have the firm conviction that any politician found wanting in the discharge of his duties, including my humble self, should honourably resign to allow democracy to grow."
Bafarawa has invoked section 128(b) and sub section 2 (b) of the constitution on this matter; it is now left for Sokoto lawmakers to do their job.
By referring the matter to state legislators, the governor has played the ball into the legislature`s court. We look forward to hearing from them.