How impunity fuels Nigeria’s underdevelopment

Over time, I have been reflecting on Nigeria’s underdevelopment status despite our great potential. Many say our problem is leadership; others think it is followership. Not a few have also identified corruption, nepotism, lack of rule of law, tribalism, incompetence, self-aggrandisement, religious bigotry, indolence, and the like as our bane.

While I agree with this school of thought, I am of the considered view that impunity trumps all the other aforementioned factors or variables.

There is a cliché from George Orwell’s classic, “Animal Farm,” which says all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others. Crimes and criminality are global phenomena. They are two evils that defy clime and creed. However, while the chances of criminals getting away with their crimes are slim in many countries, in Nigeria, the chances are very high.

Look at election riggers in Nigeria. I know of about three prominent Nigerian politicians—a former Deputy President of the Senate, a former governor of a state in the Niger Delta region, a former Chief of Staff to a governor in the South-South region—who have openly confessed to election rigging. None of them was arrested, investigated, or prosecuted. In fact, the former chief of staff even said he should be lauded for being a whistleblower. Can you beat that? Of all the people arrested for electoral malpractices since 1999, how many have been successfully prosecuted and jailed? Little wonder we continue to have flawed elections.
A former senator, during the valedictory service of the Senate last year June openly said he sought the help of his wife, who was a former president of the court of appeal to assist his colleagues at the election petition tribunals. Recall that the Court of Appeal president is responsible for constituting the Election Petition Tribunals in Nigeria. The senator regaled his colleagues in the Senate chamber with the tale of how he infringed on his wife’s freedom and independence to assist his colleagues who sought his help at the election tribunal. He was severally cautioned by the then President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan.

The culture of impunity has so much festered in Nigeria that people will openly boast that they will kill a fellow human and “nothing will happen!” It is impunity when people are rewarded for bad behavior. A former national chairman of the All Progressives Congress asked opposition members to defect to his party. He promised that once they do that, their sins will be forgiven.

Remember that two former governors that EFCC prosecuted for many years before they were found guilty and jailed were granted state pardons by former President Muhammadu Buhari. Another former governor who was jailed was let off the hook on technical grounds― that the judge who heard his case and convicted him was already promoted to the Court of Appeal before coming back to the High Court to give judgement in his case. An ex-governor who was vying for the position of President of the Senate in the 9th Senate was persuaded to step down, and as a tradeoff, all the corruption allegations against him by the EFCC were withdrawn when the former Attorney General and Minister of Justice filed a nolle prosequi in his case after retrieving his case file from the EFCC.
In April 2022, learned silk and human rights lawyer Femi Falana alleged that some officials of the Nigerian Correctional Service allow criminals to escape court verdicts by getting young men who will serve jail terms for criminals.

Speaking at a media session titled “Forget the past, forfeit the future: A nation seceding from humanity,” Falana said inter alia that “This will surprise you when a judge pronounces a jail term, sir, before getting to Kirikiri, at Mile 2, warders have an arrangement whereby some prepared young persons will replace the convict. That is the person that will enter the prison; he’s paid. The second one, in the court premises, there’s a syndicate by the defense counsel, prosecutors, warders, and court clerks. Once the judge turns his back, the convict will arrange and pay them, and the convict will walk back home.” Naturally, this allegation was vehemently denied by the Nigerian Correctional Service, which claimed it was a wild and unsubstantiated allegation.

Recall that a similar allegation has recently been levelled in the case of the crossdresser, Idris Okuneye, a.k.a. Bobrisky, who was alleged not to have served his 6-month jail term for currency abuse at the prison. Controversial social critic Martins Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, had shared a voice note allegedly belonging to Bobrisky that he paid N15m to some Economic and Financial Crimes Commission officials to drop the money laundering charge against him. In the audio, Bobrisky also claimed that a “godfather,” alongside staff members of the Nigerian Correctional Service, ensured he served the six-month sentence in a private apartment and not in prison. However, this claim has been debunked by the federal government panel set up to investigate this claim. The panel however agreed that he enjoyed certain privileges. Could this be a cover-up?

There have been several allegations of corruption and abuse of office against successive EFCC chairmen, which is why they are routinely removed unceremoniously. Despite these claims against each of them, from Nuhu Ribadu to Farida Waziri, Ibrahim Lamorde, and Ibrahim Magu down to Abdulrasheed Bawa, none of them has been prosecuted in court. Were they all framed? Why has none of them sued to clear their names? Interestingly, the pioneer chairman is the current National Security Adviser. Many staff of EFCC have been alleged to have corruptly enriched themselves in the course of their duty; I have yet to hear or read of any that have been successfully prosecuted for this gross abuse of office beyond just being sacked.

Still on EFCC, I often wonder why big thieves, be they bank executives or politically exposed persons, are allowed plea bargaining, in which they forfeit part of their stolen wealth to get “a slap on the wrist”—a punishment such as six months imprisonment for stealing or embezzling billions of Naira. Some of these thieves, having gotten off the hook lightly, end up enjoying their loot. Some are known to build private universities from the proceeds of corruption. Is that not “blood money”?

Same with our corrupt judges; the National Judicial Commission routinely asked them to be compulsorily retired or dismissed when they should have been prosecuted in court and jailed for their corrupt practices. That is how the culture of impunity thrives. Unless we do away with double standards and mete out stringent punishments for bad behavior for all categories of offenders, be you influential or ordinary citizens, crimes and criminality will continue to soar. It is said that the biggest incentive for crime is the ability to get away with it. The cliché in the US is, “If you do the crime, be ready to do the time” (in jail). That should be the scenario in Nigeria too. Otherwise, people will continue to be lured into crime, believing that their chances of never being caught or being punished are slim.