APC Coupist Call For Abrogation Of The 1999 Constitution: Voice Of Jacob, Hand Of Esau (READ)

 

by res | The Trent - Aug 12, 2015

 

Former Nigerian Military Ruler Muhammadu Buhari speaks during the presidential primary of the party in Lagos today. (Photo Credit:Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via Getty Images)

 

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The attention of the leadership of International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law (Intersociety) is drawn to a public statement made by a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and 2015 gubernatorial aspirant of the Party in Bauchi State, Northeast Nigeria, Dr. Ibrahim Yukubu Lame in which he called for “establishment of emergency powers for President Muhammadu Buhari” above the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended.

Dr. Ibrahim Yakubu Lame, who is also a former Minister for Police Affairs, further recommended for extra constitutional processes of fighting corruption to ensure speed and results. To him, the provisions of the 1999 Constitution and her processes are very slow. The referenced public statement was widely published in a number of print media including the Nigerian Pilot Newspaper of Monday, August 10, 2015.

ALSO READ: Suspend Nigeria’s Constitution, Give Buhari ‘Emergency Powers’ – APC Chieftain

We see Dr. Ibrahim Yukubu Lame’s call as not only ill-conceived, coupist and treasonable, but also a “voice of Jacob, a hand of Esau” situation. That is to say that he is not alone in that infamous statement and may most likely have gotten the blessings of his federally ruling political party and the Presidency. The riotous statement of his is a gross violation of Section 1 (2) of the 1999 Constitution, which forbids governing Nigeria or any part thereof except in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.

General Muhammadu Buhari as military head of state of Nigeria in 1984

Few years past under the Obasango’s corrupted and bastardized constitutional or presidential democratic government, a similar script (third term or tenure elongation) was prepared by his Presidency and a similar riotous character was hired to present it as a personal statement for the purpose of putting same into public consciousness.

In a matter of weeks, the statement spread like a wildfire and became a national debate. It later moved to the National Assembly and grounded the all-important national legislative businesses. The infamous plot was oiled by then Presidency costing Nigerians billions of naira.

Today, they are at it again. This time around, it is a constitutional abrogation project or theory with Dr. Ibrahim Yukubu Lame hired as its hypothesis experimenter.

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It is on indisputable record that the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari and his Party-APC has since 29th May 2015 observed the fundamental provisions of the 1999 Constitution in gross breach with impunity. Most of their conducts so far are clearly repugnant to the Constitution.

In other words, the 1999 Constitution under which President Muhammadu Buhari became the 6th electoral President of Nigeria has been enslaved and treated leprously. As we write, the Director General of Nigeria’s Secret Police, the Department of State Security Services (SSS), Retired Director Lawal Musa Daura and the acting Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mrs. Amina Zakari are occupying their positions in gross default or breach of the 1999 Constitution.

RELATED: A Closer Look At The Relationship Between INEC Chairman Zakari And President Buhari (READ)

There are several other gross breaches of the Constitution including gross lopsided federal appointments and composition, which grossly violate Section 14 (3) of the 1999 Constitution. Others are unconstitutional use or deployment of the operatives of the SSS to harass, intimidate, arrest and detain a number of Nigerians with trumped up or “trial by ordeal” accusations including INEC Resident Electoral Commissioners; deliberate usurpation by the SSS, with presidential backing, of the constitutional and statutory duties of the Nigeria Police Force, the Economic & Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices & Related Offenses Commission including dabbling into fraud and other white collar and non political crimes constitutionally and statutorily left in the hands of the NPF, etc.

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It is also constitutionally riotous and saddening that close to three months in office, President Muhammadu Buhari has not constituted a federal cabinet. Till date, the all-important offices of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) are constitutionally vacant.

Nigeria has never experienced this democracy sole administrator-ship since the adoption of presidential democracy in 1979 and the return to electoral civilian administration in 1999.

It is therefore, not surprised observing the unhealthy turn of events under the Buhari’s Presidency particularly its manifest coup against the 1999 Constitution. These explain why we hold that the APC chieftain’s riotous statement is the voice of Jacob and the hand of Esau.

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There is also a clear link between the riotous statement and the militarist antecedents of President Muhammadu Buhari. Under his military’s inglorious epoch, “emergency presidential powers” was the norm.

The 1979 Constitution, which gave birth to the 1999 Constitution with modifications; was brutally corrupted and bastardized to the extent that it was coded with “ouster clauses” including “presidential emergency powers” such as infamous Decrees Nos.2 & 4 of 1984. It is the same “emergency powers” that are now seemed being demanded presidentially through the backdoor.

On the other hand, it saddens our heart that leading civil society organizations and activists based in the Southwest, who used to be “Nigeria’s social saints” have slumbered and turned their “activism machineries” into “executive” or “consultancy rights activism”. It is no longer “street activism” but “INEC-CSOs Situation Room Interface” or “CSOs-National Assembly Interface”.

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The likes of popularly respected Femi Falana, SAN, who used to approach law courts from left, right and center, on matters of unconstitutional conducts by political office holders, have suddenly hung his wigs and gowns in the face of these manifest constitutional infractions. In their days, questions pertaining to “abuses of the spirit and letters of the Constitution” by political office holders were frequently sought and obtained judicially.

Today, it is only the “letters of the Constitution” that are looked at, and even at that, their gross
abuses no longer constitute “presidential and impeachable breaches” under the Buhari’s Presidency.

Another trigger of these social maladies is the corruption and bastardization of the country’s media industry by corrupt former and present political office holders particularly the print and electronic segments. Today, the referenced media segments have turned to propagandist or alarmist industry, oiling these monumental constitutional infractions with impunity. The roles of the mass media (sustenance of constitutional democracy, rule of law, good governance and human rights) contained in Sections 22 and 39 of the 1999 Constitution have brutally been murdered.

We, therefore, call on the authorities of the Nigeria Police Force to investigate the riotous statement of Dr. Ibrahim Yakubu Lame and prosecute him for treason if found culpable. Even if he denies the riotous statement by reprobation; a common feature of the country’s political office holders; circumstances leading to its issuance or utterance, including where he made it, when he made it, who he made it to, the media he made it to and recording gadgets used, etc should be thoroughly investigated and popular findings made.

The riotous statement under reference is grossly repugnant to Section 1 (2) of the 1999 Constitution. By that Section, Nigeria or any part therefore shall not be governed outside the provisions of the 1999 Constitution. Dr. Yakubu Lame’s “emergency presidential powers” recommendation is totally extra constitutional and amounts to recommendation for a military coup or anarchist governance of Nigeria.

We advise President Muhammadu Buhari again to follow at all times the dictates of the 1999 Constitution or step down inexcusably.

Signed:
For: International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law (Intersociety)
Emeka Umeagbalasi, B.Sc. (Hons) Criminology & Security Studies
Board Chairman (+2348174090052 (office)
emekaumeagbalasi@yahoo.co.uk , info@intersociety-ng.org
Uzochukwu, Oguejiofor-Nwonu, Esq., (LLB, BL), Head, Campaign & Publicity Department
Obianuju Igboeli, Esq., (LLB, BL), Head, Civil Liberties & Rule of Law Program
Chiugo Onwuatuegwu, Esq., (LLB, BL), Head, Democracy & Good Governance Program

As Nigeria's Peace Committee Resurrects.

By Hamisu Salihu

The 2015 general elections Peace committee headed by former president Abdulsalami Abubakar must be commended for the roles they played towards the successful or peaceful conduct of the hotly contested 2015 presidential elections. They worked both on and behind the scenes to trigger and influence events that later culminated in the historic handing over from the ruling PDP to the opposition APC. We give kudos to them for that!
With the achievement of their primary objective therefore, one had thought the Peace committee would naturally disband and give the newly elected government space to do for Nigerians what it has promised them at the campaign trail. Alas, that appeared not be the case; as the Peace committee on Tuesday 11/08/2015 suddenly resurrected and abruptly paid President Muhammadu Buhari a visit many Nigerians found unusual and unexpected.
Speaking after ‘the closed door’ meeting, Mr Mathew Hassan Kukah while responding to a question about their mission which appeared to be on Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade, said: ‘I think what we are concerned about is process. It is no longer a military regime, and under our existing laws, everybody is innocent until proven guilty.’ Connecting the dots of events occurring prior to the peace committee’s meeting with Baba Mai Gaskiya such as the visit to Villa by two former heads of state, it won’t require any political expert to decipher the code and conclude that the Peace committee met with PMB purposely to intercede on behalf of certain interests or individuals likely to come under the loop of President Buhari’s anti-corruption or loot recovery crusade.
Unless we, ordinary Nigerians, were kept in the dark about the entire terms of what was called Abuja Accord signed on January 14, 2015, which the Peace committee mid-wifed, I do not think that allowing officials who stole from public treasury to escape justice was part of the agreement signed in the event of Buhari defeating the then incumbent Goodluck. But I stand to be corrected though! Thus, for the peace committee’s spokesperson to make the scathing innuendo and remark that Nigeria was ‘no longer a military regime’ is uncalled for as it all sounded like someone was wailing on behalf of the bereaved. For goodness’ sake, since when has it become the peace committee’s responsibility to hold forte for those suspected of looting our commonwealth in billions? Which is the import of the entire message of Mr Kukah and his committee!
The last time I checked Nigeria was not operating a caste system; we are all said to be equal before the law irrespective of class and status. And, as an enthusiastic follower of events and happenings in Nigeria, I have heard and read of how some ordinary folks involved in or suspected of theft of items not worth a million Naira were set on fire by angry mobs. And that is still the unofficial penalty for theft in many places in Nigeria! While I am not a subscriber to or a believer in jungle justice, the import of this is that majority of Nigerians are seriously averse to anything to do with theft or corruption. And, so far, I have never heard of a committee set up either by Mr Kukah or any of his Peace committee members purposely to fight such jungle justice meted out on ordinary oles or barawos! So what PMB’s anti-corruption fight style or ‘process’ typical of ‘military regime’ is Mr Kukah and his committee ‘concerned about’ that is worse than setting suspects ablaze?!
For avoidance of doubt, President Muhammadu Buhari was voted into power by Nigerians to specifically fight the cancer of corruption. In fact it has been said by someone that should Buhari fail in all areas but succeed in killing official corruption, Nigerians will ultimately be happy for it and with him. And I agree with this. In essence, the whole pedestal upon which the charismatic statute of PMB rests is his anti-corruption credential; hence any individual or group who arm-twists, cajoles, intimidates or blackmails PMB into soft-pedalling or jettisoning entirely his anti-corruption campaign does PMB and Nigerians a great disservice and disfavour. And, history and posterity will not forgive that individual or group for setting corruption free from the hands of Nigerians after it was chased, caught, wrestled to the ground, tamed and handed over to the only alpha/Mallam Nigerians believe knows best how to slaughter the monster–That is President Muhammadu Buhari!
Salihu is of the department of economics, University of Surrey, UK

Buhari sacks heads of NNPC subsidiaries, appoints 4 new Group Executive Directors

 

 2015Premium Times

Photo credit: Bloomberg

 

Maikanti Baru, GED Exploration & Production

The Management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has appointed four new Group Executive Directors to man the four new Directorates that have been approved by the Presidency.
The new Group Managing Director, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, disclosed that the new appointments are in line with the Federal Government’s aspiration to transform the Corporation into a lean, efficient, business-focused, transparent and accountable national oil company in keeping with international best practices.
The appointments, which were approved by President Muhammadu Buhari, include Dr. Maikanti Baru, Group Executive Director, Exploration & Production; Mr. Isiaka Abdulrazaq, Group Executive Director, Finance & Services; Engr. Dennis Nnamdi Ajulu, Group Executive Director, Refining & Technology; and Dr. Babatunde Victor Adeniran, Group Executive Director, Commercial & Investment.

Engr. Dennis Ajulu, GED Refining & Engineering

A new Company Secretary/Legal Adviser and Managing Directors have also been appointed for the Strategic Business Units. They are: Chidi Momah, Group General Manager, Company Secratarty & Legal Adviser; Mrs. Esther Nnamdi Ogbue, Managing Director, Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC); Engr. Chinedu Ezeribe, Managing Director, Warri Refinning & Petrochemicals Company (WRPC); Mr. Babatunde Bakare, Managing Director, Nigerian Gas Company (NGC); Mr. Inuwa Ibrahim Waya, Managing Director, Hyson; Mr. Abubakar Mai-Bornu, Managing Director, Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC); and Mr. Ladipo Fagbola, Managing Director, NNPC Retail.
Others are: Mr. Rowland Ewubare, Managing Director, Integrated Data Services Ltd (IDSL); Mr. Modupe Bammeke, Managing Director, NNPC Prpoerties; Mr. Abdulkadir Saidu, Managing Director, Duke Oil; and Mr. Dafe Sejebor, Group General Manager, Nigerian Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS).

Isiaka Abdulrazak, GED Finance & Services

The Corporation also retired 38 top management staff, reducing the number from 122 to 83.
Also in line with the aspiration to reposition the Corporation, 12 personnel have been recruited from the private sector into the top management cadre to jump-start a new business outlook to enhance the operational environment as a profit-driven business as against the current civil service orientation.

National Peace Committee: Jonathan Did Not Seek Our Intervention

*Says fight against corruption must follow rule of law
 By Tobi Soniyi in abuja
National Peace Committee, headed by Abdulsalam Abubakar ‎on Tuesday in Abuja said that former president, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, did not call the committee to intervene on his behalf to placate President Buhari in his anti-corruption crusade.
 Fielding questions from journalists after the committee met with President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House in Abuja, the Coordinator of the committee, Bishop Mathew Kukah, said:‎ "Anybody is free to come to our committee but President Jonathan never by telephone or another means talked to the committee. We went to see him, but that is after we had already seen members of the political party, members of the civil society. We planned to see the speaker because we couldn't see him yesterday.
 "This is a very planned series of intervention essentially just to hear out everybody and I think the good news is that Nigerians are committed to a new nation; they are committed to ensuring that the gains and blessings God has given us come to fruition."
 Asked why it has become necessary for the committee to intervene, he said‎, "This is not an intervention, it is a hearing out process. When we had election it was like a wedding; now the reality of government is now the marriage and people need to be encouraged.
 "We need to reaffirm that this is our country and the only thing we can collectively be opposed to is injustice, iniquity, corruption and in that regard we all had one single conversation."
 He said Buhari had also reaffirmed the need for the committee to continue and that the international community also welcomed the contributions of the committee.

Buhari to Abdulsalami committee: No mercy for looters

By Isiaka Wakili |



President Muhammadu Buhari has said that the prosecution of those who have stolen national resources will begin in a matter of weeks.

Presidential spokesman Femi Adesina quoted Buhari as saying this yesterday during a meeting with members of the National Peace Committee headed by former Head of State General Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd).

Buhari told the committee that his government was "irrevocably" committed to doing all within its powers to break the vicious cycle of corruption, unemployment and insecurity in Nigeria.

"Nigeria has to break this vicious cycle before we can make progress", President Buhari told Abdulsalami's committee.

The president also disclosed that his government was diligently getting facts and figures pertaining to the nation's stolen funds, before proceeding to the prosecution of identified culprits.

Buhari also told the committee that under his leadership, the Federal Government would ask for the return of stolen funds stashed in foreign banks and ensure that those who stole the funds are put on trial in Nigeria.

He also disclosed that his administration was reorganising the country's revenue generating institutions as part of its actions to address the national problems it inherited.

He that a single treasury account had been established for all Federal revenue to ensure greater probity, transparency and accountability in the collection, disbursement and utilisation of national funds. 

"We have really degenerated as a country. Our national institutions, including the military, which did wonderfully on foreign missions in the past, have been compromised. But we are doing something about it. The military is now retraining and morale has been resuscitated.

"As Petroleum Minister under Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo  in the 1970s, I could not travel abroad until I had taken a memo to the Federal Executive Council asking for estacode. Now, everybody does what he wants.

"That is why security-wise and economically, we're in trouble," President Buhari told his guests, adding that those who have stolen the national wealth "will be in court in a matter of weeks and Nigerians will know those who have short-changed them", Buhari said.

The presidential spokesman said Buhari granted the National Peace Committee, formed before the 2015 general elections, the permission to transform to National Peace Council.

He also quoted Abdulsalami and members of his committee as urging the Federal Government to be guided by the rule of law in its fight against corruption.

Members of the National Peace Committee who accompanied Gen Abubakar on the visit were Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, His Eminence, Alhaji Sa'ad Abubakar, the Sultan of Sokoto, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, President of the Christian Association of  Nigeria (CAN) and  Archbishop Nicholas Okoh, Primate of the Anglican Church of Nigeria.

Others were Justice Rose Ukeje (rtd), Prof Ameze Guobadia, Vanguard Newspaper Publisher, Sam Amuka, Dame Priscilla Kuye, Senator Ben Obi, Dr. Yunusa Tanko, and Dr Arthur-Martin Aginam.

Buhari’s Shuttle Diplomacy: Legal Implications for Nigeria

 

 

Norrison Quakers
The primary purpose of government as required by the constitution is to inter alia ensure the security and welfare of the Nigerian people.

This constitutional imposition, I believe is the basis of President Muhammadu Buhari’s shuttle diplomacy, the background of which is the request for military assistance in terms of hardware, training and financial support to quell insurgency in the North eastern part of Nigeria and rebuilding it including educating the people.
The other reason is to repatriate moneys illegally siphoned and deposited in foreign banks by politically exposed office holders or their fronts, allies or cronies.

I would prefer to consider the economic, political and social impact or benefits of the President’s Shuttle diplomacy for Nigeria and Nigerians rather than its legal implications.

Nigeria as a country operates as it were a constitutional democracy, the implication of which is that the constitution is supreme having a binding force over all authorities and persons. The shuttle diplomacy in my view is within the ambit of existing laws, legal aid/assistance and mutual treaties between Nigeria and some of the countries visited by the President either at regional, sub-regional, continental and global levels. The persons allegedly involved in the loot are presumed constitutionally to be innocent until otherwise established. It will therefore be out of place to express concerns or fears of possible human rights violations or breach of existing legislations knowing that the diplomatic shuttle is within legal, statutory and constitutional cover.

It is indeed worrisome that our common inheritance or wealth has been siphoned and/or stolen by persons supposedly having the mandate of the people to oversee, manage and control the resources. A cursory look of the provisions of the Constitution reveals that there are checks and balances particularly as regards financial matters e.g. all political office holders are to be paid allowances and salaries from the consolidated revenue fund, the quantum which is also determined by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, with corresponding provisions as regards State apparatus or institutions.

The general acceptance or good will of the current administration of President Buhari is a pointer to the fact that the world as a whole is nauseated by the financial recklessness of our leaders, which is essentially the reason; why they have decided to assist the country to recover the loot stashed away in foreign banks by our leaders. Until the emergence of this current administration, we did not know that military aids were stopped, suspended or seized by the US to Nigeria because military equipment were (somewhat in circumstances that appear questionable) found with and deployed by the insurgents in their attack on Nigeria.

I believe that, President Buhari has the discipline and character to rebrand and develop the nation and since democracy is an all-inclusive and participatory system of government, we must all support the government and do the right things, so as to enjoy global respect and recognition and create an enabling environment for investment.

Quakers SAN practices in Lagos

President Buhari's Shuttle Diplomacy, Strengthening the Fight Against Corruption and Insurgency

 

 

Francis Moneke
President Muhammadu Buhari recently returned from the United States of America where he engaged with President Barack Obama and other top functionaries of the United States government on issues of mutual cooperation and assistance. President Buhari seized the opportunity to solicit the assistance and support of the US government in two critical areas, to wit, the fight against insurgency and corruption. During his election campaign, President Buhari pledged to Nigerians that he would address the twin problems of Boko Haram inspired terrorism and the nagging problem of corruption, both of which assumed alarming proportions during the regime of former President Goodluck Jonathan, bringing the security and economy of the country to a very low ebb, as it were. Buhari’s election was largely predicated on the perception by a majority of Nigerians that he has what it takes, given his antecedents, to effectively tackle the intractable monsters of Boko Haram and corruption.

Two months after President Buhari’s inauguration, the Boko Haram insurgents are far from relenting on their macabre agenda of bloodletting, and the Buhari administration seems already at its wits’ end on how to contain their fiendish escapades. Hence, the visit to the United States offered President Buhari an opportunity to renew the plea for assistance from the global ‘chief policeman’. In the past few years, however, the United States government has failed or refrained from rendering any tangible assistance to Nigeria in the struggle to overcome Boko Haram. Some attributed this non assistance or non-committal attitude to a sour relationship between the White House and former President Goodluck Jonathan. The pertinent question is whether the United States would now harken to President Buhari’s request and run to the aid of Nigeria to defeat or at least subdue this menacing sect that has defied the combined forces of the military regiment and police troops that had hitherto been unleashed against it.

The prospect of the United States changing its mind to assist Nigeria in combating terrorism is very bleak to say the least. The decision by the US government to render any form of military assistance to a foreign nation is always weighed against the strict criterion set down by the LEAHY AMENDMENT.
The Leahy Amendment is a US Human Rights Law that prohibits the US Department of State and Department of Defense from providing military assistance to foreign military units that violate human rights with impunity. Pursuant to this law the US government would normally vet potential recipients of security assistance, and if such a recipient is found to have been credibly implicated in or indicted for gross violations of human rights, assistance is denied and such a country is labeled untrainable forever, unless and until the government of that country takes effective steps to bring those responsible for such violations to justice.

The US State Department has interpreted ‘gross human rights violations’ to mean a small number of the most heinous acts such as murder of non-combatants, torture, enforced disappearance, and rape as a tactic. On what is considered ‘credible evidence’ the standard of the State Department is that evidence of the alleged gross human rights violations need not attain the same standard as would be required to admit evidence in a US court of law. Therefore, to blacklist a country as a violator, as it were, reliance is placed on a wide array of sources including the Annual Department of State Country Report on Human Rights, records of US Government Agencies, human rights reports by NGOs, and information garnered from the press.

There is no gain-saying the fact that the Nigerian military and Police have been consistently indicted for human rights violations by Nigerian and international NGOs, local and international media, lawyers and US State Department Annual Reports on Nigeria. Indeed, the Nigerian media is constantly inundated with a plethora of allegations of human rights abuses by the military and police. Recently, Amnesty International made an allegation of gross human rights violations against the Nigerian military forces engaged in the war against Boko Haram. As dire as the situation foisted on the country by Boko Haram might be, and as difficult as the job of the military and police in trying to combat terrorists might be, under no circumstance is gross and wanton violation of human rights justifiable or acceptable. The military cannot hide under the umbrella of fighting terror to unleash untold human rights abuses on innocent citizens, even the terrorists themselves must not be treated without any regard to human rights, because the State is the custodian of the law and must not condescend to the same level of impunity and lawlessness that characterise the activities of the terrorists. The Nigerian Police is even worse, with an unenviable record of extrajudicial killings, torture and enforced disappearances.

The evidence of gross violations of human rights against the Nigerian Military and Police is therefore overwhelming, and the United States government had no difficulty in applying the Leahy Amendment to refuse repeated appeals for military assistance from Nigeria – be it training of military personnel, provision of necessary intelligence and most importantly, supply of weapons and other military hardware. The argument is that such equipment if provided for such an indicted country would ultimately be used by it in furthering its agenda or practice of human rights violations.

Therefore, given the status quo, rather than hope on the US government for military assistance, the Buhari administration should look inwards or to other climes for such assistance. Better still, it should embark on a total overhaul of the Nigerian Military and Police by taking steps to uproot the many bad eggs in the forces, investigate all reported cases of gross human rights violations by them, and ensure that all those indicted sequel to such investigation are brought to justice. If the Nigerian Military and Police are properly sanitised, we do not really need the assistance of the United States government to win the war against a small and faceless sect such as Boko Haram.

On the issue of corruption, President Buhari during his visit to the White House requested the assistance of the US government to recover over $150 billion stashed away in different US banks or otherwise invested in the United States by corrupt Nigerian government officials.

This is a legitimate request, and the US government has no reason not to assist Nigeria in recovering this humongous loot of public funds domiciled within its jurisdiction. Nigeria and the United States are signatories to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (General Assembly Resolution 58/4), and both countries have ratified that Convention.

Article 31 (1) (a) of the aforesaid Convention provides that “each State Party shall take, to the greatest extent possible within its domestic legal system such measures as may be necessary to enable confiscation of proceeds of crime derived from offences established in accordance with this Convention or property the value of which corresponds to that of such proceeds.” One of the offences created by the Convention under Article 17 is “embezzlement, misappropriation or other diversion of property by a public official.” Article 51 of the Convention emphasises that the return of confiscated assets is one of its fundamental principles, and State Parties must therefore afford one another the widest measure of cooperation and assistance in that regard. It goes on to provide under Article 57 that assets or property confiscated by State Party shall be returned to the legitimate owners thereof.

By virtue of the foregoing provisions of the UN Convention against Corruption, the United States Government is bound, in the spirit of international cooperation which underscores the Convention, to take all necessary and reasonable steps to discover, confiscate and return to Nigerian government all funds, assets and/or property illegitimately imported into its jurisdiction by Nigerian government officials. President Buhari may consider presenting before the Conference of the State Parties created under Article 63 of the Convention an official report to the effect that there is about $150 billion of Nigeria’s assets sitting in US banks or otherwise invested in that country. This may serve as a stronger persuasion on the US government to investigate, discover, confiscate and return such funds or assets.

Article 66 (1) & (2) of the Convention stipulates that disputes between State parties as to interpretation or application of the Convention should be settled by negotiation, failing which the parties may resort to Arbitration. If after six months and there is no agreement as to the organisation of Arbitration, either or both State parties may refer the matter to the International Court of Justice.

It must however be recognised that the main fight against corruption in Nigeria does not rest with recovering looted funds by past government officials nor with probing previous administrations; the crux of an effective war against corruption lies in putting in place measures to restore discipline, probity, transparency and sanity in public service and thereby forestall and prevent future acts of corruption. While corruption has many causes, it is strongly inter-related to poor governance failure in economic policy limits opportunities, weaknesses in public administration result in a decline in the probity of public servants and inadequate legislative oversight of government.

All of these factors contribute to an environment favourable to the growth of corruption. In turn, corruption erodes the authority and effectiveness of public institutions. Indeed, the Preamble to the UN Convention against Corruption recognises that corruption poses a grave threat to the stability and security of societies, undermining the institutions and values of democracy, ethical values and justice and jeopardising sustainable development and the rule of law. There is therefore no gainsaying the fact that the institutionalised culture of corruption is to blame for relentless insecurity and perennial underdevelopment in Nigeria. The correlation between corruption in Nigeria and the menace of Boko Haram is therefore not far-fetched.

During his tete-a-tete with President Obama, President Buhari was eulogised by the American president as a man of proven integrity with zero tolerance to corruption. It is indeed mainly for this reputation of integrity that President Buhari finally got the mandate of the Nigerian people in the last presidential election. The ball is therefore in the court of the President to live up to the great expectations of the Nigerian people that he would wield the magic wand that would put paid to the monster of corruption and its sibling that is insecurity.

Francis Chigozie Moneke is the Executive Director of Human Rights & Empowerment Project Ltd/Gte.