SENATE PRESIDENT: THE CAP BEST FITS GEORGE AKUME

Distinguished Sen. George Akume, Senate Minority Leader and former governor of Benue State

As the race for the Senate Presidency and Chairmanship of the 8th National Assembly heats up, Distinguished Senator George Akume easily stands head and shoulders above other gladiators in the fray. He is by far one of the most experienced senators that would grace the chambers of the 8th Senate. A third-term senator, having first been elected to the Senate in 2007, he has the requisite legislative experience and leadership acumen that very few can match in the Red Chamber of the National Assembly.

The distinguished senator has acquited himself very well in his role as the Senate Minority Leader the past four years. He has with characteristic firmness, vigour, tact and maturity, kept the PDP-led leadership of the Senate on its toes thereby ensuring that the voice of the progressives is always heard and taken into account in the legislative business of the Senate.

He is a bridge builder whose maturity, humility and astute leadership qualities will ensure the stability of the 8th Senate. A sociologist by training and an expert in Labour Relations, he is gifted in the art of people management and has over the years built strong allainces across the country. These are qualities that a successful senate president cannot afford not to possess.

Senator Akume's executive experience as governor of Benue State for eight years has fully equiped him to manage the often acrimonous relationship between the executive and the legislature arms of goverment to ensure a progressive relationship between the National Assembly and the Presidency thus ensuriing a smooth delivery of the change Nigerians voted the APC to deliver.

Although the distinguished senator has not openly declared his interest to occupy the exalted office of the Senate President, were he to ascent to the fourth highest office in the land, this will undoubtedly win the support of the people of the Middle Belt (especially northern Christians) for Buhari's national developmental programmes.

After the APC emerged as a vibrant opposition party, it had to overcome many huddles and booby traps laid in the path to its preeminence. Indeed, in the early days of the merger that gave birth to the new party,  it was labelled by its detractors as an Islamists' party. This label was hard to shake off and for some time threatened to affect the party's acceptance by Christians especially those of northern extraction who had, in the 2011 presidential elections, voted massively for President Jonathan.  

Even after the party made strategic adjustments to nullify this threat, there were still doubts about whether or not northern Christians, who so often lost out in the power equation of the North, would support the APC. It took the herculean effort of notable northern Christian APC leaders such as Sen. George Akume,  Chief Audu Ogbe, Bar. Solomon Dalung,  Aminchi Habu et al to reassure the northern Christian bloc that APC is indeed a pan-Nigerian party that seeks to better their lot.  

The import of this reproachment between the APC and the northern Christian bloc can best be appreciated by the massive votes the latter delivered to the party at the just-concluded general elections. States that were normally PDP strongholds (Benue, Kogi and Plateau) fell to the APC.

Most of the credit for this feat deservedly goes to the distinguished Senate Minority Leader, George Akume. It was his vigorous campaign to sell the APC to his kith and kin in the North Central, especially in Benue State, that, more than anything else, earned his party the massive support it received from that region.

It is very clear that as far as the next Senate Presidency goes, the cap best fits Distinguished Senator George Akume. With him at the steering wheel, all well-meaning Nigerians should expect to see a stable, progressive 8th Senate that will work with the Buhari administration to deliver the change most Nigerians so strongly desire. 

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The Beautiful Bride Of 28 March

Gèneral Buhari Meeting With Catholic Bishops In Abuja Nigeria

The 2015 presidential campaign of the two main political parties has turned out to be a fierce battle for the hearts and minds of Nigerian Christians. Most Nigerian Muslims (especially those in the North) have already decided whom to vote for.

From the Third Republic, Christians tend to deliver bloc votes to their preferred candidates. The candidates that got the endorsement of the Christian community invariably emerged victors. The Christian community have in the past supported and voted for the Abiola-Kingibe, Obasanjo-Atiku, Yar’Adua-Jonathan and Jonathan-Sambo tickets. They all won.

The power of the Nigerian Church is founded on the biblical principle of the potency of Christian consensus: Whatever issue or decision the faithful collectively agree on, be it spiritual or temporal, it is also established in Heaven. “I tell you with certainty, whatever you prohibited on earth will have been prohibited in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will have been permitted in heaven” (Matt 18:18 ISV), “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my father in heaven” (Matt 18:19 NIV). Getting the Church’s support is therefore as good as getting God’s seal of approval.

The two major political parties obviously recognise this power. Both have gone on aggressive charm offensives to woo the Nigerian Church in their desperation to gain priceless Christian votes nation-wide.

President Goodluck Jonathan, the presidential candidate of the ruling PDP, has toured several churches especially in Lagos and have met with many church leaders across the country. There are even allegations by a certain pastor from the North East that the president bribed CAN with the sum of N7billion to buy their support.

General Muhamadu Buhari, the presidential candidate of the APC, has gone a step further. He has once again, as he did in 2011, conscripted a pastor to be his running mate. Even though he professes to be a devout Muslim, he has not prevaricated when he had the chance to attend church services held by Pastor Enoch Adegboye in Lagos or to meet with a group of catholic bishops in Abuja. There are also reports that a group of 25,000 pastors planned to organize a service in Lagos to pray for the electoral victory of the Buhari-Osibanjo ticket.

It is worthy of note that both the PDP and the APC have concentrated their campaign fire on the church, giving little attention to the clergy of other faiths. This underscores the immense potency of the power the Church wields in the contemporary geopolitics of Nigeria.   

But today, that bloc Christian vote is less cohesive as it was in 2011. It is evident that the Christian community is divided on which direction to take. The unanimity of 2011 has diminished, even though majority of Christians tend to favour the incumbent president. This division can be attributed to two main factors: the insurgency in the North East and the Osibanjo factor.

The Boko Haram insurgency has adversely affected President Jonathan’s electoral fortunes with respect to the Northern Christian population especially those living in the north east of the country. The insurgency has cost the lives of thousands of Christians; decimating many of their communities in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States. Hundreds of thousands have fled their ancestral lands to seek refuge outside the ravaged region. For all intent and purposes, the North East has been effectively cleansed of its hitherto vibrant indigenous Christian population. Some of these people invariably blame the president for what they perceive as his “shoddy management” of the Boko Haram insurgency. A lot of them will not vote because they have been uprooted from their polling units. The few that will, may likely cast a protest vote against him.

Undoubtedly, the nomination of Prof. Yemi Osibanjo will earn Buhari a fair slice of the Christian electoral bacon in the South West. A scion of the revered Pastor Enoch Adegboye, General Overseer of The Redeem Christian Church of God, one of Nigeria’s largest Pentecostal churches, Osibanjo’s choice is no cheering news for the PDP. Many in the South Western Christian community admire him and regard him as an upright, God fearing academic. His association with Pastor Adegboye is also winning him a lot of supporters in the South West.  

In spite of the seemingly diminished unanimity of the Christian political bloc, most Nigerian Christians are deeply conservative. They tend to stick to what they know, what looks like them, talks like and behave like them.

Christian liberals are few. Even fewer are the nominal Christians and pseudo-agnostics, who, even though very vocal on social media, are but less than a drop in the ocean of registered voters. These liberal elements, often educated city dwellers, will cast their votes for the APC, if they are able to tear themselves from their computers and smartphones.

It seems then that at the end of the day, Buhari may not go home with more than just a little slice of the Christian electoral bacon. At most, he would be lucky to catch the bouquet of flowers the bride will throw as Jonathan looks most likely to be the Church’s groom on March 28 2015. 

CORRUPTION IS MUCH MORE THAN STEALING

When the furore about the president’s comment on stealing and corruption hit the upper decibels in the media, I was rather mildly amused by all the fuss. I marvelled at how some commentators twisted and imputed screwy meaning to an otherwise simple statement made in plain English.

If you browsed through the pages of most Nigerian dailies and that of popular social media platforms, you would agree that the President, not for the first time, was unfairly dragged to, and nailed to the cross, at the Golgotha of adverse public opinion. I read one such damning commentary by a certain civil rights lawyer on the pages of The Punch’s website. The lawyer asserted that President Jonathan’s “differentiation of the acts [of stealing and corruption] was clear evidence that the President’s government was corrupt.” He further opined: “Defence of stealing as different from corruption is indicative of the fact that President Jonathan is morally bankrupt. What the president has said is an admission of guilt and that his government is corrupt. It is a distinction without substance. It is calling one object two different names.”  

Of course, if you haven’t watched the broadcast of the Presidential Media Chat in which the President purportedly made the public “defence of stealing,” but read only the above commentary, your outrage would be excused. But what exactly did the President say?

On the Presidential Media Chat broadcast live on 5 May 2014, President Jonathan said, “Over 70% of what is called corruption [cases] even by the EFCC and other anti-corruption agencies, is not corruption, but common stealing.” He further clarified this position in the most recent episode of the Media Chat. He said he only quoted a statement made by a former Chief Justice of the Federation (Justice Dahiru Musdapher) during a meeting he held with stakeholders on how to fight corruption. Apparently, this view is not the exclusive preserve of the honourable Chief Justice. Ekpo Nta, the Chairman of the ICPC, have the same views. He was quoted by The Punch as saying, “Stealing is erroneously reported as corruption. We must go back to what we are taught at school to show that there are educated people in Nigeria. We must address issues as we were taught in school to do.”  

I am going to be fair to the President and take his statement at face value. Having said that, the ensuing debate on whether stealing is the same, or not the same, as corruption begs the questions: what is corruption? What is stealing? Are they one and the same?

Corruption is difficult to define. There is no one single universal definition that captures its multifaceted manifestations. In a broad sense, it entails the breaking away from, or departure from, morality, ethics and civic virtues. But let us look at two definitions from two key authorities: The World Bank and the provisions of Nigeria’s anti-corruption law.

The World Bank defines Corruption as: The abuse of public office for private gains. Public office is abused for private gain when an official accepts, solicits or extorts a bribe. It is also abused when private agents actively offer bribes to circumvent public policies and processes for competitive advantage and profit. Public office can also be abused for personal benefit even if no bribery occurs through patronage and nepotism, the theft of state assets or the diversion of state revenue.

The Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000 simply define corruption as, “bribe, fraud and other related offences.” It makes the following offences punishable under the Act:

1. Acceptance of gratification by a [public] official either directly or through an agentCorrupt offers to Public Officers
2. Corrupt demand by persons
3. Fraudulent acquisition of property
4. Fraudulent receipt of property; where the fraudulent receipt is related to postal matter, chattel, money or valuable security
5. Deliberate frustration of investigation by the commission (ICPC)
6. Making false statements or returns
7. Gratification by and through agents
8. Offer and acceptance of gratification to and by a public officer as an inducement or reward
9. Offence of using office or position to gratify or confer unfair advantage on oneself, relation or associate
10. Bribery in relation to auction transactions
11. Inflating the price of goods or services above the prevailing market price or professional standards
12. Award of contract without budgetary provision, approval and cash backing
13. The transfer of services on another project
14. Failure to report bribery transactions
15. Dealing with, using, holding, receiving or concealing gratification
16. Making of statements, which are false or intended to mislead
17. Making false petitions

Section 382 of the Criminal Code gives a clear definition of what a thief is in the eyes of the law. It states that a thief is, “a person who fraudulently takes…or fraudulently converts to his own use or to the use of any other person anything capable of being stolen”

What can we infer from the foregoing definitions? Is stealing the same as corruption?

I once chanced upon a discussion between a friend and a mutual acquaintance. The acquaintance was lamenting about how a couple of security guards working for his engineering firm had, over a period of eight months, connived with the company’s storekeeper to steal and sell the firm’s armoured cables worth more than N2.6Million. As I listened to his lamentations, I recalled another discussion I had with another friend a year earlier. Some staff of his ministry had complained to him about how their Project Manager had ‘cornered’ all the means of profiting from a World Bank assisted rural development project. They alleged that he had, overnight, transformed from a lanky Assistant Director into a bloated multimillionaire with properties in choice locations in the state capital and a palatial country home in his village. It is said that he, in connivance with the top echelon of the ministry, demands a hefty commission on every contract awarded to construction companies et al by the protect management team.

Which between these two scenarios qualifies as a case of corruption? Should the management of my friend’s engineering firm drag its security guards and storekeeper to the ICPC or the EFCC? If a neighbourhood rascal steals a loaf of bread from a corner shop or a cashier at a large super market pockets some of the cash from the day’s sales, are they in the same league with the Project Manager above or the top government officials who misappropriated funds from the Police Pension Fund?  

If you ask me, I will say no. Corruption is much more than stealing. It encompasses offences committed by public servants or other persons against the state. Clearly, not all cases of stealing would qualify as corruption according to the ICPC Act. By the same token, stealing government assets and diversion of state revenue are corrupt practices. In that sense, Mr President, Justice Musdapher and Ekpo Nta are right to say, “…[most of] what is called corruption…is not corruption, but common stealing.”