Nigerian social critics and legal practitioners on Monday expressed disappointment over President Muhammadu Buhari’s failure to make go...
Nigerian social critics and legal practitioners on Monday expressed disappointment over President Muhammadu Buhari’s failure to make good on his promise to reveal details of stolen assets recovered from corrupt officials.
Mr. Buhari had on May 14 said that he would personally provide specific details of all recovered stolen public funds and individuals who plundered the country’s resources because he believed that what Nigerians were fed by the media was not detailed enough.
“So far, what has come out, what has been recovered in whatever currency from each ministries, departments and individuals, I intend on the 29th to speak on this because all Nigerians are getting from the mass media because of the number of people arrested either by the EFCC, DSS. But we want to make a comprehensive report on the 29th,” Buhari said while attending the anti-corruption summit in London.
But during his nationwide broadcast on Sunday morning, the president only repeated previous claims that his administration was grappling with bureaucratic hurdles that make it difficult for stolen assets to be recovered from foreign jurisdictions.
“We are also engaged in making recoveries of stolen assets some of which are in different jurisdictions. The processes of recovery can be tedious and time consuming, but today I can confirm that thus far: significant amount of assets have been recovered. A considerable portion of these are at different stages of recovery,” he said.
Rather than personally speak on the matter and provide specific details as promised, Buhari only said he had directed the Ministry of Information to periodically publish details on the assets recovered so far.
“Full details of the status and categories of the assets will now be published by the Ministry of Information and updated periodically. When forfeiture formalities are completed these monies will be credited to the treasury and be openly and transparently used in funding developmental projects and the public will be informed,” Buhari said.
Based on the President’s May 14 promise, millions of Nigerians had on Sunday morning stayed glued to their radio and TV for the Democracy Day speech.
Hours after the president’s speech on Sunday evening, the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, said the president reneged on his promises for “legal reasons.”
“Yes, he initially said so (that he’ll give specific details about recovered loot), but he was advised against doing so for legal reasons,” the Cable Newspapers quoted Mr. Mohammed as saying during an interview on Channels Television.
But in separate interviews on Monday morning, the commentators said the administration’s excuse was untenable, adding that Buhari missed another opportunity to show Nigerians that his words were his bond.
“The president is a retired general, and a soldier’s word is supposed to be his bond,” one of the respondents, Yinka Odumakin, said. “For this reason alone, I find his ‘legal issues’ excuse highly untenable.”
Mr. Odumakin, a pro-democracy campaigner, said the president should have carried out extensive deliberation over what it entails to name those who have returned stolen assets before going to the public to enunciate it.
“Now before you come out as a president and say I’m going to name looters, you must have gone through the whole process,” Mr. Odumakin said“Now that you’re supposed to redeem that promise, you’re silent about it. Instead of you to say fellow Nigerians for this so so and so reasons I cannot fulfil my promise.
Mr. Odumakin chided Buhari for allowing his goodwill, which he enjoyed as a result of his perceived integrity, to erode within his first year in office.
“The only asset the president brought to the Nigerian people is his integrity. He’s not an orator. He’s not an economic wizard or anything. The only thing he said he had was integrity. Now Nigerian people are beginning to wonder where the integrity is and the goodwill he’d been enjoying from it is now waning,” Mr. Odumakin said.
“This is a man who denied most of his campaign promises. Some he said he never made and others he said they were made on his behalf by his campaign and he won’t be responsible for them,” Mr. Odumakin said.
Mr. Odumakin said such gaffes as the one Buhari made with this matter was why citizens were becoming disillusioned with the anti-corruption war.
“I can boldly tell you that more than 90% of those currently being tried will walk free after all these noises simply because of all the errors the president is committing. If he’s not careful, even the one he committed yesterday will also make Nigerians become more embittered about the anti-corruption war.”
He said Buhari’s failure to explain why he won’t be able to fulfil his promise left him and other Nigerians “disappointed.”
“I think it was an error of judgement for the president to have committed to such a thing in the first place. If the president had released those names, yes maybe we would have had a lot of rancour here and there with people saying why did he put this one and not that one,” Mr. Omojuwa said.
In her reaction, Victoria Ohaeri, a lawyer and executive director of the non profit, Spaces for Change, said Buhari’s action was in tandem with his antecedents which included his failure to publish details of his assets, a clear departure from his campaign promises.
“If you remember that he has not disclosed his assets, then I don’t think a lot of people are surprised,” Ms. Ohaeri said. “He said he would set an example that would go a long way with other political office holders with his assets declaration, but he quickly abandoned that promise when he got power.”
Ms. Ohaeri warned Buhari to desist from publishing names of alleged looters, saying corrupt cases were better left to the agencies that were established for such purposes.
“It’s not the duty of the executive to publish names of criminals,” the lawyer said. “Let the law courts and investigative agencies do their work.”
Ms. Ohaeri further stated that Buhari should pay more attention to deterrence than to the severity of corruption cases.
“The president may be fighting corrupt people but he’s not fighting corruption. Are there more stringent procedures for taking money from government, including the Office of the National Security Adviser?” Ms. Ohaeri queried.
