Debo Adeniran, an activist, is the National Coordinator of an anti-graft organization known as Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL).
In an interview with Daily Sun in Lagos recently, the Osun State born activist took a critical look at the crisis going on in the Niger Delta region and described it as a product of pervasive corruption in Nigeria.
The youthful bespectacled human right warrior also spoke on the objectives and activities of his group in the last 10 years as well as on other issues of national interest.
Excerpts:
Objective
The main objective of the coalition is to mount pressure on official anti-graft agencies and government departments to bring all corrupt political and corporate organizations leadership to justice.
We intend to compile all known cases of corruption and put them in petition format and submit it against all those leaders both in the private and public domain.
We started this coalition around August last year. We did meetings. And it was in those meetings that we decided to put the petitions together against the leadership of the past regime of General Olusegun Obasanjo. And that was what we did. And we have submitted the petition to the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, (EFCC), and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences, (ICPC).
We submitted separate petitions to them and we are doing follow-up since then. And the copies of the petition have also been submitted to the National Assembly in April this year. And we were well received. They even promised that they were going to look into all the issues that we have raised. They promised also that they would approach the anti-graft agencies that we have submitted petitions to and find out what their difficulties are in investigating and prosecuting the cases.
They promised also that they would invite us after meeting the agencies to brief us of the outcome of their meeting. What they want to do, according to them, is to make sure that those that have been indicted one way or the other are prosecuted.
Any hope on the anti-graft war?
We have the hope that if the Nigerian people mount pressure on these official anti-graft agencies and arms of government, that would spur them into action to do just what is right. We are not under any illusion that some of these people are not trustworthy.
What we just want to do is to remove excuses that they may want to give over lack of petitions against those corrupt leaders. That is why when we compiled the petitions, we submitted it in the open. We held a procession to the EFCC and ICPC offices where we submitted the petitions in order to prevent anybody denying the fact that they have petitions in their possession to work with.
Basically, we know that the anti-graft agencies are reluctant to do their work. They don’t want to do it, may be because the immediate past president, Olusegun Obasanjo was their mentor and they may not be willing to bring him to justice the way they have done to other people that they perceived as enemies.
We thought that what they did to Tafa Balogun, and Alamieyesiegha would be done to Obasanjo too. We expected that the anti-graft agencies would have been investigating him. Even when they could not prosecute him while in power, at least they should have commenced investigation all along so that at the end of the day, they would just use the product of their own investigation to prosecute him when he got out of power.
But their excuse was that they had not got enough information about him. And we have actually provided them with adequate information in our own petitions to them. So, what we are seeing now is that they are unwilling to go ahead with the investigation and prosecution of the former president.
The implication of that is that, they are proving those accusing them of being selective in their activities right.
Winning corruption war
If every Nigerian takes interest in the fight against corruption, we can win. But the truth is that what we are trying to do at CACOL is to take a lead in the fight so that every sector of Nigeria will organize itself and put anti-corruption crusade on their agenda.
What CACOL is doing is to have anti-graft activities every week on our own agenda. If every professional organization, civil society, pro-democracy and human right groups have it on their agenda and the pressure is coming left, right and centre, the political leadership of this country would take caution and would not want to perpetuate corruption.
Then, one of our campaign strategies is that we are sensitizing the communities that they should exorcise those known corrupt leaders who have not contributed anything to the society but they have drained the society to its marrow. So, if the communities do not allow those corrupt leaders to return to their communities, definitely, they would be moved even if they don’t have sense of shame. They would be uncomfortable. And when they become uncomfortable, it would become unattractive to flaunt the proceeds of corruption within such communities.
So, those are some of what we want to sensitize Nigerian communities to take up and practise wherever they find themselves. So, if every Nigerian does that, definitely the war would be won. We may not rely on officials of the anti-graft agencies because they have their ways of turning logics on their head. So, if Nigerians pull up the war and they decide that they are not prepared to respect any known corrupt person, then the corrupt person will either leave Nigeria for us or stop flaunting the proceeds of his corruption.
Niger Delta crisis
The Niger Delta crisis is a child of pervasive corruption in the land. If you destroy some people’s land and you destroy all their eco-system to the extent that they cannot fish and they cannot farm and cannot even establish factories for themselves, and yet, you fail to develop those communities, that is injustice and that is corruption. It is corruption and injustice when almost what brings you money and other revenues come from the land you destroyed.
Now, apart from that, you said you would give these people 15 per cent, yet you undervalue the cost of petroleum products so that you have an account called Excess Crude Account where you can draw without recourse to the budget, that is corruption. This is why these people are really angry. Even if you give them 15 per cent, it is not up to half of what they deserve in the land.
And what they are demanding is 50 per cent. For heaven sake, they are the landlords and you are usurpers. Every other land has its own natural resources. Why don’t you explore these other areas and give them their 50 per cent to develop their land. Some of their governors are more corrupt than any other person. It is not a surprise though because some of them got to office through corrupt means because they were not voted for by the people.
The justice system has become so worst that you cannot rely on the judiciary to secure justice. That is why they resort to self help. And that is why we are warning that if you allow the judiciary to be trampled upon, then people would lose their confidence in judicial system, and resort to self help. Self help in this regard means jungle justice. You use what you have to get what you want and that is anarchy. And when you have anarchy, that is the symptom of failed state.
In Nigeria today, you cannot say there is no anarchy in town. Everywhere, there is anarchy. Mention it, Abeokuta, Ogbomosho, Osogbo, Abuja and even in the north, people are resorting to self help. The system is collapsing. If you don’t engage in physical combat on the street, armed robbers would not let you rest. There are hired assassins everywhere. People are dying everyday on our roads. So, several pains have brought our lives into mystery. And this is the highest indices of a failed state. And that is what we are experiencing now.
Activism in democracy
Of course, activists cannot rest. Let me clear one thing. There is no amount or level of democratic practice that will not leave room for improvement. That room for improvement is what activists are exploring in order to guide those who are in government to know that things are not completely comfortable for the people.
Besides, what we are experiencing in Nigeria today is not the type of democracy the forefathers of democracy anticipated.
What we have in Nigeria today is civilian dictatorship. And there is no reason we should have such a thing here now. If you say the first eight years we have with civilian governance was a learning process, it is understandable. You cannot say that after that period we are still learning.
The present president was a governor for eight years. You cannot say he does not have experience of governance. You cannot say that he does not know what the people of Nigeria want. He cannot say he did not feel the pulse of average Nigerians when he was Katsina State governor. So, if you say he is ignorant and would learn the rope and now begin to work, this is the second year in office and he has not done anything.
So, this fellow does not have any agenda for the common man of this country. So, the same thing for all other governors. Most of the governors do not do anything to benefit the ordinary people of Nigeria. Their only concern is to amass as many wealth as possible. And that is why we cannot rest; what you have is pervasive corruption everywhere.
It was during the tenure of the last regime that we have almost the worse scandal you can think of in this country. You have Siamese, you have Albros and several of them including the power sector scandal when people awarded contract that did not take place anywhere. They awarded contracts to people that had no registered companies anywhere in the world.
These are the anti-thesis of our time. It is anti-thetical to the ethos of democratic practice anywhere in the world. And you would discover that those people who set up anti-graft agencies are the worst culprits of corrupt practices. These are the reasons there is no basis to call this experiment democracy.
And look at the electoral processes. Most of the elected officers got to the offices through fraudulent means. Most of them, roughly 98 per cent did not win the elections they claim they won. And that is why almost all the elections that were conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) had been annulled by different courts and tribunals.
Another fraudulent aspect of our governance system is that the beneficiaries of fraud are being made to even benefit more from the fraudulent practices. It is amazing that those indicted for electoral malpractices are still being allowed to recontest using the proceeds of the fraudulent practice earlier perpetrated to force himself back to power and now renew his tenure. That is the worst form of oppression you can ever have in even the remotest country in the world. When you catch such a person, what you do is lock him up somewhere until he divulges himself of all these vestiges of thievery.
But here, you glorify them and even make them kings and heads of the family where they have been stealing. That is not good for us. So, a lot of things are happening that can make you weep. When I read Kunle Ajibade’s book: “What a country,” that this is a country where everybody seems complacent that people don’t even talk. They are suffering and keep smiling. No. This kind of thing cannot make one rest. Some of us worship our conscience. And that conscience would not allow us to see injustice and look the other way as if nothing is happening.
In an interview with Daily Sun in Lagos recently, the Osun State born activist took a critical look at the crisis going on in the Niger Delta region and described it as a product of pervasive corruption in Nigeria.
The youthful bespectacled human right warrior also spoke on the objectives and activities of his group in the last 10 years as well as on other issues of national interest.
Excerpts:
Objective
The main objective of the coalition is to mount pressure on official anti-graft agencies and government departments to bring all corrupt political and corporate organizations leadership to justice.
We intend to compile all known cases of corruption and put them in petition format and submit it against all those leaders both in the private and public domain.
We started this coalition around August last year. We did meetings. And it was in those meetings that we decided to put the petitions together against the leadership of the past regime of General Olusegun Obasanjo. And that was what we did. And we have submitted the petition to the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, (EFCC), and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences, (ICPC).
We submitted separate petitions to them and we are doing follow-up since then. And the copies of the petition have also been submitted to the National Assembly in April this year. And we were well received. They even promised that they were going to look into all the issues that we have raised. They promised also that they would approach the anti-graft agencies that we have submitted petitions to and find out what their difficulties are in investigating and prosecuting the cases.
They promised also that they would invite us after meeting the agencies to brief us of the outcome of their meeting. What they want to do, according to them, is to make sure that those that have been indicted one way or the other are prosecuted.
Any hope on the anti-graft war?
We have the hope that if the Nigerian people mount pressure on these official anti-graft agencies and arms of government, that would spur them into action to do just what is right. We are not under any illusion that some of these people are not trustworthy.
What we just want to do is to remove excuses that they may want to give over lack of petitions against those corrupt leaders. That is why when we compiled the petitions, we submitted it in the open. We held a procession to the EFCC and ICPC offices where we submitted the petitions in order to prevent anybody denying the fact that they have petitions in their possession to work with.
Basically, we know that the anti-graft agencies are reluctant to do their work. They don’t want to do it, may be because the immediate past president, Olusegun Obasanjo was their mentor and they may not be willing to bring him to justice the way they have done to other people that they perceived as enemies.
We thought that what they did to Tafa Balogun, and Alamieyesiegha would be done to Obasanjo too. We expected that the anti-graft agencies would have been investigating him. Even when they could not prosecute him while in power, at least they should have commenced investigation all along so that at the end of the day, they would just use the product of their own investigation to prosecute him when he got out of power.
But their excuse was that they had not got enough information about him. And we have actually provided them with adequate information in our own petitions to them. So, what we are seeing now is that they are unwilling to go ahead with the investigation and prosecution of the former president.
The implication of that is that, they are proving those accusing them of being selective in their activities right.
Winning corruption war
If every Nigerian takes interest in the fight against corruption, we can win. But the truth is that what we are trying to do at CACOL is to take a lead in the fight so that every sector of Nigeria will organize itself and put anti-corruption crusade on their agenda.
What CACOL is doing is to have anti-graft activities every week on our own agenda. If every professional organization, civil society, pro-democracy and human right groups have it on their agenda and the pressure is coming left, right and centre, the political leadership of this country would take caution and would not want to perpetuate corruption.
Then, one of our campaign strategies is that we are sensitizing the communities that they should exorcise those known corrupt leaders who have not contributed anything to the society but they have drained the society to its marrow. So, if the communities do not allow those corrupt leaders to return to their communities, definitely, they would be moved even if they don’t have sense of shame. They would be uncomfortable. And when they become uncomfortable, it would become unattractive to flaunt the proceeds of corruption within such communities.
So, those are some of what we want to sensitize Nigerian communities to take up and practise wherever they find themselves. So, if every Nigerian does that, definitely the war would be won. We may not rely on officials of the anti-graft agencies because they have their ways of turning logics on their head. So, if Nigerians pull up the war and they decide that they are not prepared to respect any known corrupt person, then the corrupt person will either leave Nigeria for us or stop flaunting the proceeds of his corruption.
Niger Delta crisis
The Niger Delta crisis is a child of pervasive corruption in the land. If you destroy some people’s land and you destroy all their eco-system to the extent that they cannot fish and they cannot farm and cannot even establish factories for themselves, and yet, you fail to develop those communities, that is injustice and that is corruption. It is corruption and injustice when almost what brings you money and other revenues come from the land you destroyed.
Now, apart from that, you said you would give these people 15 per cent, yet you undervalue the cost of petroleum products so that you have an account called Excess Crude Account where you can draw without recourse to the budget, that is corruption. This is why these people are really angry. Even if you give them 15 per cent, it is not up to half of what they deserve in the land.
And what they are demanding is 50 per cent. For heaven sake, they are the landlords and you are usurpers. Every other land has its own natural resources. Why don’t you explore these other areas and give them their 50 per cent to develop their land. Some of their governors are more corrupt than any other person. It is not a surprise though because some of them got to office through corrupt means because they were not voted for by the people.
The justice system has become so worst that you cannot rely on the judiciary to secure justice. That is why they resort to self help. And that is why we are warning that if you allow the judiciary to be trampled upon, then people would lose their confidence in judicial system, and resort to self help. Self help in this regard means jungle justice. You use what you have to get what you want and that is anarchy. And when you have anarchy, that is the symptom of failed state.
In Nigeria today, you cannot say there is no anarchy in town. Everywhere, there is anarchy. Mention it, Abeokuta, Ogbomosho, Osogbo, Abuja and even in the north, people are resorting to self help. The system is collapsing. If you don’t engage in physical combat on the street, armed robbers would not let you rest. There are hired assassins everywhere. People are dying everyday on our roads. So, several pains have brought our lives into mystery. And this is the highest indices of a failed state. And that is what we are experiencing now.
Activism in democracy
Of course, activists cannot rest. Let me clear one thing. There is no amount or level of democratic practice that will not leave room for improvement. That room for improvement is what activists are exploring in order to guide those who are in government to know that things are not completely comfortable for the people.
Besides, what we are experiencing in Nigeria today is not the type of democracy the forefathers of democracy anticipated.
What we have in Nigeria today is civilian dictatorship. And there is no reason we should have such a thing here now. If you say the first eight years we have with civilian governance was a learning process, it is understandable. You cannot say that after that period we are still learning.
The present president was a governor for eight years. You cannot say he does not have experience of governance. You cannot say that he does not know what the people of Nigeria want. He cannot say he did not feel the pulse of average Nigerians when he was Katsina State governor. So, if you say he is ignorant and would learn the rope and now begin to work, this is the second year in office and he has not done anything.
So, this fellow does not have any agenda for the common man of this country. So, the same thing for all other governors. Most of the governors do not do anything to benefit the ordinary people of Nigeria. Their only concern is to amass as many wealth as possible. And that is why we cannot rest; what you have is pervasive corruption everywhere.
It was during the tenure of the last regime that we have almost the worse scandal you can think of in this country. You have Siamese, you have Albros and several of them including the power sector scandal when people awarded contract that did not take place anywhere. They awarded contracts to people that had no registered companies anywhere in the world.
These are the anti-thesis of our time. It is anti-thetical to the ethos of democratic practice anywhere in the world. And you would discover that those people who set up anti-graft agencies are the worst culprits of corrupt practices. These are the reasons there is no basis to call this experiment democracy.
And look at the electoral processes. Most of the elected officers got to the offices through fraudulent means. Most of them, roughly 98 per cent did not win the elections they claim they won. And that is why almost all the elections that were conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) had been annulled by different courts and tribunals.
Another fraudulent aspect of our governance system is that the beneficiaries of fraud are being made to even benefit more from the fraudulent practices. It is amazing that those indicted for electoral malpractices are still being allowed to recontest using the proceeds of the fraudulent practice earlier perpetrated to force himself back to power and now renew his tenure. That is the worst form of oppression you can ever have in even the remotest country in the world. When you catch such a person, what you do is lock him up somewhere until he divulges himself of all these vestiges of thievery.
But here, you glorify them and even make them kings and heads of the family where they have been stealing. That is not good for us. So, a lot of things are happening that can make you weep. When I read Kunle Ajibade’s book: “What a country,” that this is a country where everybody seems complacent that people don’t even talk. They are suffering and keep smiling. No. This kind of thing cannot make one rest. Some of us worship our conscience. And that conscience would not allow us to see injustice and look the other way as if nothing is happening.
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