– Jeffrey Smith has accused
President Muhammadu Buhari of threading a perilous path
– Smith said Buhari’s
anti-corruption campaign has been almost entirely one-sided
A U.S
democracy advocate, Jeffrey Smith, has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of
threading a perilous path with the affairs of the country.
Smith
who is the executive director of the Vanguard Africa Movement in a opinion
article said Mr Buhari who was elected ethical leadership, fairness and
a consolidation of democracy “has
turned his back on these goals.”
Commenting
on the President’s anti-corruption campaign, Smith said it “has been almost entirely
one-sided.”
“Of principal concern here is that the Buhari
government’s anti-corruption campaign has been almost entirely one-sided,
seeming to focus overwhelmingly on his predecessor’s allies, namely members of
the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). An overview of the actions thus far taken
by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the law enforcement
agency tasked with investigating financial crime in Nigeria, bears this out.
Since January of this year, the EFCC has either arraigned or arrested 124
individuals, includingprominent government officials who have been
implicated in a range of financial crimes.
“Of these documented cases,
only 4% involve individuals affiliated with Buhari’s All Progressive’s Congress
(APC). What’s more, this discrepancy seems to only be getting worse. Taking
stock of the past two months, only one of 34 known EFCC cases has involved
a member of the APC: AbdurRahman Abba Jimeta, the chief of staff to one of
Nigeria’s state governors,” Smith
added.
Upon entering office in May 2015, Nigerian president Muhammadu
Buhari faced the daunting tasks of living up to exceedingly high international
expectations and meeting the needs of a nation that was clearly yearning for
change.
Indeed, one would be hard-pressed to recall an African head of
state that came to office with more pressure, but also the amount of goodwill
that President Buhari immediately assumed after his predecessor, Goodluck
Jonathan, conceded power. Buhari’s main selling points were his
stated commitments to ethical leadership, fairness and
a consolidation of democracy. One year into his tenure, however, and
it seems as if Buhari has turned his back on these goals.
Nigeria is both an economic and political powerhouse on the
African continent, and much of what happens inside its borders heavily
influences – for better or for worse – both perceptions and the real trajectory
of an entire region. On the whole, the Economic Community of West African
States (ECOWAS), of which Nigeria is a member, has made tremendous strides in
recent years on a wide range of issues, spanning political and economic rights
to civil liberties. One could argue, in fact, that ECOWAS – with a
few notable exceptions– has recently outpaced the remainder of the African
continent on many of these fronts, all of which are vitally essential to
building sustainable democracy.
Another
significant building block of democracy is confronting the scourge of
corruption, which has severely stunted socio-economic progress in
Nigeria since its independence from the United Kingdom in 1960. A widespread
concern in Nigeria that actually helped to push Buhari’s predecessor out of office
was the billions of dollars of oil revenue that disappeared under his
administration, in addition to credible allegations of graft and
runaway illicit outflows.
Unsurprisingly, Buhari was
elected on an anti-corruption ticket and has since cracked down on graft in
various sectors of the government. Indeed, the country’s Interior Minister
recently reported that over $10 billion in looted cash and assets had
been confiscated in the past year alone. More recent reports indicate
that only afraction of that figure has been recovered, with estimates
perhaps closer to $600 million.
Of principal concern here is
that the Buhari government’s anti-corruption campaign has been almost entirely
one-sided, seeming to focus overwhelmingly on his predecessor’s allies, namely
members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). An overview of the actions thus
far taken by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the law
enforcement agency tasked with investigating financial crime in Nigeria, bears
this out. Since January of this year, the EFCC has either arraigned or arrested
124 individuals, includingprominent government officials who have been
implicated in a range of financial crimes.
Of these documented cases,
only 4% involve individuals affiliated with Buhari’s All Progressive’s Congress
(APC). What’s more, this discrepancy seems to only be getting worse. Taking
stock of the past two months, only one of 34 known EFCC cases has involved
a member of the APC: AbdurRahman Abba Jimeta, the chief of staff to one of Nigeria’s
state governors
It is foolish to suggest that
corruption and related financial malfeasance are relegated to a single
political party or group of individuals in Nigeria. That the country routinely
ranks in thetop 10 in the world in terms of cumulative illicit financial
outflows signals a more pervasive problem. What is more, the one-sided affair
currently being conducted by the Buhari government may ultimately plant the
seeds for both social and political conflict.
Of further concern is that
the apparently biased anti-corruption drive has coincided with other events in
Nigeria that should raise our collective eyebrows. For example, summary
detentions and extrajudicial killings have gone unchecked or
otherwise rewarded. When Buhari reinstated a senior military general implicated
in the wanton murder of hundreds of detainees, Amnesty International called
it a “mockery of commitments to end war crimes.” Biased targeting of
certain political parties, while simultaneously turning a blind
eye to malfeasance in his own, are all worrisome trends that could lead to
the consolidation not of democracy, but of entrenched power around a single
man. We have witnessed this scenario unfold time and time again, including in
Nigeria.
One is indeed compelled to
recall Buhari’s not-so-distant past when he ruled the country as
an unabashed military dictator, a period during which he isolated
himself and his allies from both accountability and prosecution for the myriad
crimes committed under his watch. Perhaps sensing this negative course, a
coalition of Nigerian human rights groups has already appealed for international
help, with others sure to follow suit.
A crucial consideration for
world leaders, international donors and even business executives interested in
Africa’s future is to identify which political leaders are serious about
building modern states premised on the rule of law, good governance and respect
for human rights. President Buhari was given tremendous leeway and
was lauded across the world upon entering office. Many observers –
and even those in the human rights community – were willing to give him the benefit
of the doubt, desperately wanting to believe his claim of being a
“born again democrat.”
All told, it would be highly
unfortunate if Buhari were to squander that political capital and to willingly
allow Nigeria to backslide on the many key indicators of a functioning and
sustainable democracy. The warning signs are there, demanding vigilance and a
sense of candor among those concerned not only with Nigeria, but also with the
democratic trajectory of the surrounding region. As undemocratic regimes become
more entrenched, so does the level of corruption in all of its ugly and
contagious forms.
I imagine that many in
Nigeria, and even outside observers, remain willing to provide Buhari the
benefit of the doubt. But true leadership begets scrutiny, and the
international community has a role to play in preventing the brazen
consolidation of power and the sidelining of democracy. The silence that has
met eerily similar developments across Africa, from Angola and Zimbabwe in the
south, to Gambia in the west and Uganda in the east, has produced devastating
consequences. We should therefore learn from these mistakes and not be
satisfied as cautious bystanders to unfolding events in Nigeria.
Jeffrey Smith is executive
director of the Vanguard Africa Movement and an international human rights
consultant. Follow him on Twitter at @Smith_JeffreyT
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