(First published in the Abuja Newsweek magazine in March 2003)
It is easy to understand why Justice Mustapha Akanbi is in pains. Here is a man who, by dint of hard work, uprightness and faith, attained the peak in his legal career as President of the Federal Court of Appeal, but the current politics of calumny is threatening to turn all that into rubbish. The chairman of the anti-corruption commission, lCPC, is agonised not just over the National Assembly’s proposals to limit the powers of the commission but also over insinuations that he is a mere lackey in the hands of President Olusegun Obasanjo and his “know-all” cabinet.
Justice Akanbi had been in retirement after 25 years as a judge before Obasanjo appointed him, much against his wish, as his anti-graft czar. After decades of unstained career and brilliant accomplishments, he must have feared delving back into administration during a political era, even if by playing beside the ring, could somewhat tarnish his image. The learned judge, however, must have also considered the President’s credentials as a no-nonsense man, a man that had received a baptism of fire in a penitentiary and became born-again, he could not, therefore, deal in trifles.
His acceptance to serve as chairman of such an august body could have been premised on the belief that fighting corruption had become a global phenomenon, with the leading dramatis personae assuming the position of sainthood. Men like the American Kenneth Starr had become synonymous with probity and the highest ethos of credibility on the world stage. A similar cast from a much-watched Nigeria would simply fall into the popular rank and enjoy the privilege accorded the others.
Obviously, Akanbi did not probably reckon with Nigeria as a case study unto itself. His high hopes about the nation, changing into a more sensible adult, just as Obasanjo and Co. had touted in those heady days following their momentous election in 1999, must have been affected by the ongoing events regarding his assignment, though.
The Senate recently announced a decision to amend the law setting up the Akanbi commission, in the process grossly limiting the wide-ranging powers of both its chairman and itself. For example, the commission will be stripped of its power to investigate corruption at first instance or confiscate property of corrupt officers. The new bill, when passed into law, will also remove the powers of the chairman to compel suspected individuals to give account of all assets owned by them; the chairman’s power to order those under investigation to surrender their passports and travel documents; remove immunity enjoyed by the commission’s officers in the course of their duty; remove the powers of the commission to inspect bank accounts, share-holdings or safe-deposit boxes of a suspect; remove the commission’s power to commence investigation upon receiving a report of corruption against a public officer, etc.
These are only a few of the sundry amendments the honourable members of the upper house are bent on making in the law passed on June 13, 2000. Looked closely, without these powers, the commission would be left with only a few powers to play around, but that would not save it from becoming a toothless bulldog. Unfortunately, even now when it enjoys full powers, many Nigerians regard it as a bulldog that can’t bite.
The question is: why should the commission be stripped of those power at this material time when the nation is heading to a general election? It might have been reasonable to limit its powers if it had abused them or if its assignment had been accomplished. None of the above has been proved. In fact, the ICPC has largely under-utilised its powers because, as its leaders argue, its kind of assignment is one that involves a lot of slowness of execution. Nigerians have considered the commission ineffective because, first, it hasn’t prosecuted many people and, second, almost all of those that it investigated or prosecuted were “small fish” in a country that Transparency International categorised as the second most corrupt in the world.
Justice Akanbi is understandably angry about the amendment. His explanation, offered in newspapers in recent times, is that his agency’s wings are being clipped because it had just begun to investigate corrupt charges against both President of the Senate and Speaker of House of Representatives, Chief Pius Anyim and Alhaji Ghali Na-Abba respectively. Although the matter is in court (they sued Akanbi for N500 million), it is puzzling that the National Assembly introduced and proceeds with the moves to cut the anti-graft body into half, thus making a complete U-turn in their initial objectives, at a time when its principal officers are under investigation.
Perhaps the Akanbi commission deserves no pity that these political heavyweights are in a do-or-die contest with it now. Reason is that these people and similar big fish ought to have been investigated right at the start of the commission’s assignment. Akanbi can only receive sympathies because he has explained himself out: the commission didn’t start to function fully due to lack of facilities and funds initially. However, it is difficult to understand why the commission has in three years failed to bring any big man or woman to book despite the fact that many corrupt practices were reported in federal, state and local governments, as well as the private sector, the commission enjoyed more powers than any security outfit in the country and enjoyed the support of all well-meaning Nigerians. Even the President was accused of engaging in corrupt practices, but instead of the commission to go into that it limited itself to investigating the lower echelons of power.
On March 3, Akanbi and senior members of the commission paid their first formal visit to President Obasanjo to acquaint him with the moves to weaken the commission. This writer doesn’t know what the President’s reaction to his honourable visitors was but one can guess that even he would be relieved that his Frankenstein monster is finally being leashed. This is because Obasanjo himself must be aware that under his tenure, corruption in top places must have reached the highest levels in Nigerian history, most of it self-created or sell-promoted.
Akanbi is pitifully struggling to maintain his hard-won credibility while keeping his job. The truth, however, is that he cannot eat his cake and have it. The big men of power in this country will never let him realise his dream of cleansing our Aegean stable of corrupt practices and tendencies. The most honourable thing for Justice Akanbi to do is throw in the towel. That way, he can at least enjoy retirement with a reasonable amount of integrity. To remain in the ICPC tower is to risk getting soiled over and over again. And the time to go is now when the new bill hasn’t been passed yet. After all, Obasanjo and Co can fight corruption their own way without men of integrity such as the Honourable Justice Mustapha Akanbi.
