‘You be thief/ I no be thief,
You be rogue/ I no be rogue,
You dey steal/ I no dey steal,
You be robber/ I no be robber…
Argument about stealing,
Somebody don take something wey belong to another person…’
Lyrics of Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s song, ‘Authority Stealing’
“Tafa, you are a thief. Ole!” For a minute, the highest-ranking police officer in Nigeria didn’t know what his boss, President Olusegun Obasanjo, was talking about. He was not totally taken aback though because he was familiar with Obasanjo’s capacity for crushing banter. As he drove towards the Presidential Villa, the symbol of raw power in Nigeria, after receiving an emergency call from the self-effacing but highly powerful Chief of Staff to the President, Retired Major General Abdullahi Mohammed, that he should come to the Villa immediately, the Inspector General of Police Tafa Balogun could not have suspected what was in store for him. Tafa was still trying to figure our what manner of a cruel joke he was participating in when Obasanjo, in his rustic manner, barked accusations of theft at him again. Looking at the president’s countenance and that of his chief of staff, Tafa knew that something had gone wrong. It was no joke. Obasanjo had started speaking Pidgin: Tafa, you be big thief.
The just uncovered grand corruption of the man who was the chief civil law enforcer of the Federation was what angered Obasanjo. As the president pointed to the documents in front of him, the proof of Tafa’s corrupt deals, confirming several millions in accounts in both local and foreign currencies, multi-million Naira real estate holdings and others, Tafa knew that he was in deep trouble. As Obasanjo fumed over the sleazy details of the IG’s alleged corruption, Tafa, the bulky, dark, six-foot frame, came crashing down to a prostrate position, as is customary in Yoruba culture and tradition. He fell on his face and began to plead for mercy in his native Yoruba tongue. Earlier in 2002 when he took over as Police IG, he had announced an 8-point agenda with the credo, ‘Operation Fire for Fire.’ Now the chief crime fighter was fighting imminent public exposure as a criminal-in-chief. This was in 2005.
How did it all start?
In late 2004, Nuhu Ribadu, a lanky handsome Deputy Commissioner of Police, of Fulani stock, who was seconded to the dreaded newly created Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in 2003, visited Louis Edet House, the police headquarters for some business. He needed to see one of the top-ranking officers, a Deputy Inspector-General of Police, whose office was on one of the topmost floors of the building. He made for the elevator, only to be told that it was not working. “Why?” he inquired from his colleagues who came around to greet him. NEPA don carry light, he was told in Pidgin. The National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) as it was known at the time was one of the most significant public symbols of the rank corruption that had defined public governance in Nigeria. Billions of Naira had been sunk into NEPA without light for Nigerians. The more money NEPA received from government coffers, the darker the darkness. When it changed to Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), it got worse. Many Nigerians believed that the corporation’s major function was to hold power, and not to distribute power.
So when Ribadu was told that there was no light, he asked about the generator. He was told that the big generator set at the police headquarters had broken down. Without asking further, the athletic anti-graft czar took the stairs up to the tenth floor of the building. At any rate, he was furious about what he had just heard. What he witnessed in the office of the DIG he went to see was even more shocking. The DIG had taken off his top uniform, and was left only in his undershirt and trouser. It was mid-afternoon and the tropical heat was blazing outside with high humidity. Without an electric fan, let alone an air conditioner working, the DIG and his staff were left to blow some air with whatever they could find. When the man could no longer cope with the heat, he decided that the best option was to take off his shirt.
“What is the problem?” Ribadu inquired from the DIG. Contrary to the information Ribadu received downstairs that the generator was bad the DIG told him that the problem was diesel. There was no money to buy diesel to power the generator in the police headquarters. The police had received its entire subvention from the government, but no one knew what had happened to the money for diesel, like many other votes, under Tafa Balogun. “So the IG is also suffering heat and discomfort in his office?” Ribadu asked. “No!” He had a small generating set that served his office in the penthouse to prevent him from suffering what his other colleagues and officers were suffering. As Ribadu left Louis Edet House that day, he vowed to himself that Tafa Balogun would not go scot-free. It was no empty boast. Tafa’s stupendous wealth was open knowledge to the small circle of power in Abuja, but no one had had the guts to confront him. Ribadu assured himself that by the time his investigations were completed, Tafa would find himself in jail for his crude greed.
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Under EFCC custody prior to his arraignment in court, Balogun was pleading with low cadre officers: “I can change your lives, please. Let me settle you and let’s settle this matter. I can make you rich for life.” He was speaking to rank and file policemen who were so junior to him that they would ordinary have been at attention, hands raised in salute while be passed by and ignored them. Now he was suffering humiliation at their hands. In just about three years as Police IG, a total of N2.7 billion had been traced to Tafa in five different banks – funds meant for the Nigeria Police Force. Yet it was only a fraction of what he had allegedly stolen. It was really a big heist going on at the police headquarters.
At the height of Tafa’s saga, the fierce anti-graft chief, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, latched onto the opportunity to further sell the urgency of the war against corruption to Nigerians. “People should see this war as necessary for all of us and for our country. It is not a government thing. Every Nigerian should be proud to earn a decent living. There is more dignity in honesty and labour than in filthy wealth. We should not destroy our children, our tomorrow and our integrity because of our mad rush for riches.” We all know how Tafa’s story ended. This account is from Wale Adebanwi’s book, A Paradise for Maggots: The Story of a Nigerian Anti-graft Czar (2010).
Today, if Tafa Balogun hears about the billions of Naira and Dollars that are being talked about with reference to the arms deals, he would simply cringe and laugh uncontrollably. Barely ten years after Tafa’s travails we have simply upped the tempo of sleazy malfeasance in this country! The irony of the matter is that with all our passionate talk about corruption no high politician in Nigeria has gone to jail for stealing public funds. Until we are able to get one big public official behind bars for stealing we are yet to start the war against corruption!
We are all witnesses to the staggering revelations of mind-boggling financial heist emerging from the investigations into the arms deals of the previous administration under the immediate past National Security Adviser, Retired Colonel Sambo Dasuki. Less than two years ago, we all watched, as soldiers on the field in the North East were being court-martialled for all sorts of alleged offenses, from treasonable felony and sabotage to disobedience and mutiny. The military hierarchy alleged that these soldiers refused to fight. They were called cowards in the face of a rag-tag army, as Boko Haram was nicknamed at the time. The soldiers complained that they lacked the necessary weapons to confront Boko Haram and that facing the insurgents was like walking hands-free into death. The government of the day claimed that superior ammunitions had been ordered and that they were arriving the country in instalments. Many soldiers died, civilian populations were massacred gruesomely in thousands, and livelihoods destroyed, as a rapacious bunch of political middlemen and military contractors gulped the billions of Naira voted for security.
As more Nigerians died in the hands of Boko Haram, so did the budget for security skyrocket. While blood was flowing in the North East, a few ‘untouchable’ Nigerians were busy drinking Champagne and smiling to the bank at our collective expense! It is rather shocking that our own men in high offices could betray the entire country in this way. Nothing seems more inhuman to me! We hope that the rule of law will prevail in the arraignment and prosecution of all those involved in this matter, which is clearly one of the most scandalous cases of outright stealing in the history of military operations in Nigeria. No matter the way this issue ends, one thing is clear: Nigeria has proven itself once again to be a republic of thieves. Wale Adebanwi was right when he titled his book about Nigeria “a paradise for maggots”.
When those who had facts and figures about the brazen theft that went on under the PDP-led government of former President Goodluck Jonathan spoke out in the past, many Nigerians who were blinded by short-sighed political considerations rose up in defence of their principal and his sympathetic acolytes. Whistle-blowers were branded as supporters of the opposition, truth-sayers were tagged as enemies of progress and critical voices were either silenced or muzzled up in verbal gymnastics. The truth is gradually emerging before our very eyes, and we shall hear the full story of how those into whose hands we entrusted the affairs of our nation abused the privileges of office and betrayed us.
When I spoke to a friend about the ongoing revelations in the arms deal, he was visibly enraged. He said to me, “This nonsense must stop in this country. I don’t care whoever is involved – even if it is my father – let him go in for it.” I am sure many Nigerians feel this way. We have seen first-hand what official corruption has done to this nation, in terms of its toll on human lives and its impact on development. For how long shall we continue to tolerate the brazen theft of our national resources while our people wallow in poverty, misery, and death?
I believe that it was this situation that prompted a former Head of State, speaking on the topic, “Leadership and Accountability in a Period of Moral Crisis” at the Fourth Annual Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Lecture at Arewa House, Kaduna, on May 15, 1998, to make the following statement with specific reference to fraud against the Nigerian state: “Nowhere else in the world can we find a society tolerating the theft of its precious resources in broad daylight with nothing happening to the thieves. A day in the office, as far as the general public is concerned, often means eight hours of converting public resources to private purses. Few societies seem to reward embezzlement with ‘honours’ as does our own.” Interestingly, that former Head of State was Muhammadu Buhari. Let’s watch and see how it goes!
Ojeifo is a Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Abuja ([email protected]).
