ABUJA: Like the popular idiomatic line;
‘a storm in a teacup’, the purported arrest of the immediate past Governor of Delta State, Senator(Dr) Ifeanyi Okowa by the EFCC, on Monday, November 4, 2024, after he allegedly honoured their invitation at their Port Harcourt, Rivers State Agency Office for the alleged misappropriation of about N1.3 trillion while he was in charge of Delta State, which erupted and disrupted the air waves like a strange apparition or an unimaginable aberration is beginning to draw the attentions of observers all-over the world.
It is like the sudden and unconscious collision of a hunter’s shoulder with a loosely hanging honeycomb that unleashed the buzzing of bees allover the atmosphere and even after the cannon has been fired, the echoes of the outburst still overrun the serenity of the calm forest as if such have never known any sound before.
This is not the first time in Nigeria a politician is being arrested by the anti-graft agency, infact with the political scenarios and circumstances successively prevailing and sectionally playing out in Nigeria, since the birth of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission – EFCC , under the fatherhood of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, who was the then president of the country, on December 12, 2002, it has become a curriculum for politicians leaving the seat of power to have a post-baptismal political class and one can easily predict who will be the next to be enrolled in that punitive academy.
Senator (Dr) Ifeanyi Okowa, having enjoyed a well loaded political adventure within the country and naturally acquiring different baggages and luggages that are filled with political enemies and rivalries from the ‘polling’ market, it is expected that a variety of accusing fingers will point at him at the end of the day.
For most political observers, some of the encounters politicians often have with the EFCC, is a certified retirement package for any gladiator that fell off the bench of momentary political control.
The list is endless, as both past and present political actors, whether currently in power or off power have taken a sip from that bitter cup, one way or the other and the global community wonder why this Okowa’s episode is generating so much gossips, hullabaloo and razzmatazz, especially from the media citizenry.
Recently, it was revealed via an impeccable source that the EFCC Chairman is reviewing all high profile cases, and has ordered the various investigators not to harbour any ‘sacred cow’ or treat anyone differently, especially the politically exposed persons, such as former Governors and Ministers, who were indicted for one form of money laundering or the order.
The commission also commenced the probe of some former Ministers, Olu Agunloye (Power, Mines and Steel), over an alleged $6bn fraud on the Mambilla Power Project; and Sadiya Umar-Farouk (Humanitarian Affairs), regarding an alleged N37.1bn fraud.
They also initiated investigation on the former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Ms Betta Edu, and the embattled suspended Coordinator of the National Social Investment Programme Agency, Halima Shehu, over alleged N81.6bn fraud uncovered in the ministry.
Still on the line of reference, so many erstwhile state Governors like Okowa, have been indicted and dragged by the anti-graft body over the years.
Willie Obiano the immediate past Governor of Anambra state’s indictment was the most recent case involving former state Governors that were duly held by the snare of these corruption fighters.
He was the 31st former Governor to be detained by the anti-graft agency, soon after leaving office.
Abdul’aziz Abubakar Yari who was the former Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, was on several occasions grilled by the EFCC for alleged illegal financial dealings and misappropriation of funds, when he was a Governor, although he was never taken to court.
The former Governor of Abia state, Theodore Orji, who was also the Senator that represented Abia Central Senatorial District, was under the radar of the anti-corruption agency, and was arrested in August 2021, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja alongside his son.
The former Nasarawa state Governor, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, was at a time arrested in company of his wife; The couple were grilled by operatives at the anti-graft agency’s headquarters in Abuja for alleged corruption cases under the former’s watch as the chief executive officer of Nasarawa state.
The current Senate President, who occupies the exalted position of the 3rd citizen of the country, Godswill Akpabio was also not spared.
The first hint of graft allegations against the former Governor of Akwa Ibom State, was in 2015.
After serving as Governor from May 29, 2007, to May 29, 2015, Senator Akpabio was accused of abusing his position and later entered the anti-corruption authority’s records of corrupt persons.
Read also:
- EFCC Arrests Former Delta Governor Ifeanyi Okowa Over Alleged N1.3 Trillion Derivation Fund Diversion
- Ika Communities Face Growing Insecurity from Kidnapping And Herdsmen Attacks
- Ekuku-Agbor Community Applaud Delta Govt For Restoring Power After 15 Years of Darkness
- Umunede Delta State: A Brief Cultural And Historical Gem – Elvis Ogboi
Mr Abdulfatah Ahmed, who governed Kwara State not quite long ago, was also arrested at a certain time, for the alleged diversion of N9 billion from the coffers of Kwara State Government while in office between 2011 and 2019.
Not left out of the list are Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko , the former Governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff, the former Governor of Borno State, and Alhaji Rabiu Kwakwanso, the ex-Governor of Kano State, to mention but a few.
In his own world, the immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, has become a fugitive in a bid to practically avoid the humiliation of the anti-graft agency as much as possible, thereby having the evil day postponed, so why would this version involving Senator (Dr) Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State be made to look different, amidst unverified speculations, proclamations and allegations, that are going viral in different variants?
In view of this independent, apolitical and uninfluenced opinion, I am not in anyways pitching the tent of solidarity with corruption and corrupt practices, but frowning at the discordant tunes as played by the media and her affiliates who have practically passed judgement on the former governor of Delta State in these past few days of his ordeal in the hands of the EFCC, without waiting for the jury to make their pronouncements.
The call to cast stones on a person just because the alarm is buzzing via sentimental speculations and intuitions must be abolished, if we must get to the finishing line as a country.
Moreover, if one is indicted as incited, let him be convicted, before he can be castigated.
Let the right thing be done and whoever that is caught red handed should be handed the red eye treatment.
For the sake of emphasis, Nigerians and particularly Deltans should not forget that as a matter of principle, that a person may not be considered guilty of a crime until a trial has been duly conducted and as such, the person is confirmed guilty.
This concept dates back to the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215.
The catalogue that contains the presumption of innocence, has it that the legal burden of proof is thus on the prosecution, which must present compelling evidence to the trier of fact (a judge or a jury).
Thus, the Latin phrase “Ei incumbit, probatio qui dicit, non qui negat,” meaning “the burden of proof is on he who declares, not on he who denies,”
With reference to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), the presumption of innocence is explicitly recognized as entrenched in Section 36(5), which states that.
“Every person who is charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed to be innocent until he is proved guilty.”
Finally, it is imperative to commendably note that the role of the EFCC as a watchdog in a corruption dominated system like ours, cannot be overemphasized, even when they are being accused of being used by the ruling party for the ruining of other parties.
It is to be made clear that their vigilance and brilliance have saved a corruption afflicted nation like Nigeria from the grip of lifelessness.
Nevertheless, we must quit giving the dog a bad name, before hanging it, just because of certain sentiments.
Written and compiled by: Stanley Mbulu (Esq)
