EFCC operatives at work                            Photo courtesy

The corruption case against former Ogun State tyrant, Gbenga Daniel, that was thrown out on technicality grounds in Abeokuta is one in a series of corruption cases that the anti-corruption EFCC agency has bungled in recent times. Right from its inception, EFCC remains an albatross to both the looted and the looters.

The reason for EFCC recent losses ought to make us reorder the many causes of our inability to fight corruption in our rotten country. The most common cause often talked about is bribery and compromising of our entire legal system inclusive of the police, prosecution/defense lawyers, anti-corruption agencies and the almighty judges. But it appears gross incompetence may be a more serious cause, after all. Who knew? The EFCC has demonstrated blinding incompetence at putting their cases together, even following simple court administrative procedures.

Nigeria’s full market of corrupt criminals should have made EFCC busier than the New York Stock Exchange. Yet, EFCC has such a dismal record of performance which ironically points more to the number of cases they don't prosecute than those they screw up, making otherwise well-known crooks go scot free.

Initially, EFCC properly arraigned Daniel on a 16-count charge. Later, when they updated the charges to 27, they "forgot" to obtain the consent of a judge as required under the criminal procedure laws, thereby raising the fundamental issue of court jurisdiction over the entire case. The judge had no choice but to discard the case after four long months.

This was exactly how the corruption charge against former speaker Bankole was dismissed on technicality. While the EFCC followed the court administrative procedures in Bankole's case, they ended up charging the shenanigan speaker against maintaining a massive running account for the house which in fact he was allowed under our kleptomaniac laws of the land. The judge in that case had to educate the EFCC that Bankole was not only allowed to maintain a running account, but the thieving speaker could spend as much as he wished since the law did not affix any limit to the running funds. 

Incompetence has grown into a big snake that is now biting us in uncomfortable places. It is the first begotten child of our unrelenting culture of corruption. It is a national policy on its own. We have grossly underestimated the effect of incompetence in our journey to better Nigeria without knowing it. In its daily shower of visionless leadership, our nation scrubs with soap of corruption and washes in the water of incompetence.

I used to wonder why police officers should head our number one anti-corruption agency like the EFCC. Methinks experienced and fearless prosecution attorneys like Femi Falana or any from the few intrepid judges we still have would make more sense. But as is often the case, most of our national policies and thought processes don't have logic or rationale that could make us cross a small river into modernity, not to talk of Serengeti. Even so, how many prosecuting lawyers does EFCC really have to work the cases? How experienced are they?  How well do they prepare on each case? Do the EFCC lawyers know our country's constitution and its laws, much less become intimate with them?

These are the reasons our Ibori (a former governor in Nigeria) could be found not guilty in Nigeria, but had to plead guilty years later in exchange for potentially 10 years in prison on money laundering in the UK courts. The same Ibori almost became the president of our Federal Republic! Who says white people are evil? They even spend their money and time to chase Ibori all over the world to nail him for us. I say, let us call them back to come and run Nigeria for us, as long as they don't shove us across the Atlantic this time around.

The Yoruba leadership dance of shame.....aah, yes. I've said it before, "Ile Yi Ti D'ahoro".....this Yoruba house is desolate. It is pathetic that the name "Afenifere" could be associated with congratulatory antics of Yoruba "leaders" over squashing of Daniel's corruption case within minutes of the news. If it was Arewa that did what our so-called Afenifere did, we might have set up a protest radio station in Sao Tome by now.

A worthy pan-Yoruba organization should have been stoic and calculating in everything they do or say. Afenifere should have been the one with the bar of integrity and governance for SW regional politicians in office much higher than those of political parties or the Nigerian courts. When one Yoruba political office holder is charged with anti-people crime such as corruption, Afenifere should have its own socio-regional punishment for the indicted and be the last to react to verdict of not guilty. It shouldn't be the first to pay homage to Yoruba politicians immediately they are charged for embezzlement or the first to jump for joy the instant one is prematurely released.

Each of those "elders" falling on top of themselves to warm up to Daniel should ask her/himself, "what did I see when Daniel was in office as Ogun governor?" How much revenue came into Ogun throughout Daniel's 8 years in office?  How much was spent on the people? What was the condition and quality of the schools/education, roads, hospitals in Ogun before and after Daniel? The killings, the disappearances, the lockdown of the state legislative functional roles - what did I see? What is my position on Daniel's 8-year governorship tenure, on my behalf and on behalf of the Yoruba people that I represent?  Answers to these questions should inform reactions to Daniel's travails after leaving office. The instant jubilations of Yoruba "leaders" over Daniel's purported victory against corruption charges are not what I would call "Afenifere" aka wishing good for majority of Yoruba.

Yoruba youths had better start a brand new pan-Yoruba organization (Egbe) that befits today's time and needs. You may end up cannibalizing yourselves out of existence with corruption and senseless killings in rituals and power game. Pa Awolowo of blessed memory is long gone. If he was crawling, he would have reached heaven by now. So Abebis and Obes, you may as well go start a new-age Yoruba organization that looks after your collective interests in today’s Nigeria. Consider selecting a name far away from "Afenifere," to allow you to start a brand new and dispassionate chapter in the history of the Yoruba. Use all the social networks, smart phones and crowd sourcing ideation to organize yourselves. Have rules of engagement and enforce them doggedly so that your children do not become prisoners of impunity.

Make your Egbe as aggressively apolitical and non-partisan as possible. This way, all practitioners of politics and political jobbers in Yorubaland as well as other regions will fear and respect you. Don't use Nigeria as reference for your bar of integrity and quality of governance in the SW. Have a science-based observatory department that monitors the performance of your SW political leadership and record social indicators like population, level of corruption and security and standard of living of the people.

Use these tools and data to figure out how to checkmate the evil behavior of your SW slave-masters. This will make your SW politicians pay homage to you and look over their shoulders while in office as opposed to what you are seeing today. If you can achieve this, you will succeed far beyond what age-old Afenifere's best achievements were in its hey days.

By Qansy Salako.
kanzi@netzero.com