Bandits in uniform, or a country of anything goes by Chido Onumah
Chido Onumah
http://www.chidoonumah.com/bandits-in-uniform-or-a-country-of-anything-goes/
I had a few sleepless nights last week. It had nothing to do with the searing heat in the country or the epileptic power supply by Nigeria’s eternally dysfunctional electricity company. My discomfiture had to do with the report about the heist at the Nigerian Air Force. The dizzying allegations of sustained robbery by the officers in charge, though not completely surprising, left me breathless. I ruminated on the trial of Alex Badeh. I reflected on the figures, did the math, and was driven to despair.
I then asked myself the same question I asked a few years ago while researching grand corruption in Nigeria and the looting of the Nigeria Police Force by an ex-Inspector General of Police, Tafa Balogun. From all accounts, Mr. Balogun was a pathological criminal who rose to become the chief law officer of Nigeria. By the time he was forced to retire in January 2015, he had stolen billions of naira belonging to the Nigeria Police in what would go down as the most barefaced stealing spree by a public officer in Nigeria. The question I posed was: what kind of country or system makes it possible for public officers to loot their establishments so easily, ceaselessly and shamelessly? To understand the Badeh and Balogun syndrome, this is the question every sane Nigerian ought to be asking. I shall return to this.
Alex Sabundu Badeh, 58, until his retirement last year was a four-star flag officer of the Nigerian Air Force who served as the 18th Chief of Air Staff (October 4th, 2012 – January 16th, 2014), the 15th Chief of Defence Staff of the Armed Forces of Nigeria (January 16, 2014 to July 13, 2015), and Commander of the Presidential Fleet during Olusegun Obasanjo's presidency, according to a Wikipedia entry. He was born in Vimtim (a town sacked by Boko Haram in October 2014) in Mubi Local Government Area of Adamawa State, North East Nigeria, into a family of peasant farmers.
Fast forward to Wednesday, March 16, 2016. The trial of Badeh began at a Federal High Court in Abuja where we were told that as Chief of Air Staff, Badeh made N558.2 million ($2.8 million at the official exchange rate of N197 to a dollar) monthly from the salary account of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), an account we were informed predated Badeh’s tenure. N558.2 multiplied by the 15 months that the diversion lasted (between September 2012 and December 2013) comes to N8.3 billion. We know that not all of that money went to Badeh. He had to settle the boys, perhaps going as high as the ministry of defence and the budget office of the federal government! But whatever the balance, as Chief of Air Staff, Badeh was a stupendously rich man. I don’t know any business, not even that run by Bill Gates or Warren Buffet that boasts of that kind of return on investment in 15 months.
Badeh’s loot, we understand, was the leftover after salaries and allowances of workers from NAF had been defrayed from the N4 billion received monthly and it was conveniently earmarked “for general administration for the office of the Chief of Air Staff”. And he administered it in the interest of the Badeh clan. Badeh bought a retirement home for N1.1 billion, a deserving prize for his trouble in ending the war against Boko Haram. He bought a commercial plot of land for N650 million and paid N878 million for the construction of a shopping mall and another N304 million to complete the mall. When his sons wanted to own houses, he bought a house worth N260 million for his first son, renovated it with N60 million and furnished it with N90 million. And when his second son turned down a house worth N340 million, he ordered that a second house be bought for N330 million to compensate for the indiscretion of his man Friday.
“The amount in most cases was usually converted into US dollars by the Finance Officer at Nigerian Air Force Headquarters, Abuja. Thereafter, it is brought to the Director of Finance who in turn takes it to the Air House which is the official residence of Chief of Air Staff at the Niger Barracks,” revealed a prosecution witness, Air Commodore Aliyu Yishau (retd.), who said he served as former Director of Finance and Account of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF). You still wonder why the country has a foreign exchange crisis.
Badeh obviously had no business being in the Nigerian Air Force or building a career as a pilot trained at the expense of Nigerian tax payers. But this is Nigeria, a country of anything goes, where perverse actions perpetually multiply and endure as instruments of governance. Badeh, of course, is not alone. The man who succeeded him as Chief (Thief?) of Air Staff, Adesola Nunayon Amosu, a retired Air Vice Marshal, has been indicted in the arms procurement scandal during his tenure. One of the criminal deals involved the procurement of two second-hand Mi-24V helicopters instead of the recommended Mi-35M series at a cost of $136.9 million. The second-hand helicopters were allegedly not operationally airworthy at the time of delivery while a brand new unit of the same helicopters costs about $30 million. On November 13, 2014, two officers were killed when the Air Force chief allegedly pressured them into flying one of the unserviceable helicopters which crashed in the North-east region.
According to reports, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has seized houses and other properties belonging to Amosu, Air Vice Marshal J.B. Adigun, the immediate past Chief of Accounts and Budgeting of the Nigerian Air Force, and Air Commodore O. O. Gbadebo, who was the Director of Finance and Budget at NAF. When Amosu’s wife, Mrs. Omolara Amosu, was arrested by EFCC operatives, the sum of N3 billion was allegedly traced to her bank accounts. She has voluntarily returned N381 million in three tranches of N180m, N101m, and N100m.
Amosu’s putative boss, ex-National Security Adviser, Col Sambo Dasuki (retd), alongside Shuaibu Salisu, a former Director of Finance and Administration, Office of the National Security Adviser, Aminu Babakusa, a former General Manager, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Acacia Holdings Limited, and Reliance Referral Hospital Limited, is currently being prosecuted by the EFCC on a 19-count charge bordering on money laundering and criminal breach of trust to the tune of N13.5 billion. A committee set up to investigate Dasuki’s office indicted more than 300 companies and individuals, including serving and retired military officers. In one case, the committee found out that a company, Societe D’Equipment International, was overpaid to the tune of €7.9 million and $7.09 million.
True to form, the trial of Dasuki could not continue last week because he refused to show up in court. But he doesn’t have to. The important thing is for the trial to go on and if he is found guilty, bundled to jail. I am reliably informed that the rot in the military is far worse than what we have experienced with our politicians. And that is saying a lot considering the criminal proclivities of Nigerian politicians. We have seen a bit of the rot in the Air Force. We await the revelations from the Army and the Navy.
If you want to understand why Nigeria is not working, why we are a fourth rate nation, look no further than the Dasukis, Badehs, and Amosus of Nigeria, their compatriots in agbada (the grand boubou) and their partners in wigs. People like our billionaire judges, like Olisah Metuh, Stella Oduah, and Bukola Saraki, the Teflon President of the Nigerian Senate who is currently standing trial for false asset declaration and for repaying his personal loans with state fund. There are others like Ikedi Ohakim who as governor of Imo State paid $2.29 million cash for a property in Abuja, Ahmed Sani Yerima, Mohammed Danjuma Goje, Abdullahi Adamu, George Akume, and Josuah Dariye – executive scoundrels who have found refuge in one of the most disreputable institutions in Nigeria – the Senate. Not even the colonial masters could have damaged this country the way these men and women who claim to be Nigerians have done. Indeed, it’s a safe bet that the legendary unfeeling colonial chieftain, Lord Lugard, will weep no end if he were to return to the house he built in 1914.
Clearly, these thieving individuals like their alter ego, the fiendish late military dictator, Sani Abacha, have no concept of a nation of people. Their moral universe is limited to family and friends. That is why their politics, to paraphrase radical scholar and activist, late Prof Eskor Toyo, is reduced to a grabbing game, a cake sharing contest. So, for example, while Abacha was head of state, pretending to love Nigeria and working to uphold her honour and glory, he, his family, and accomplices were busy looting the country and stashing the loot where their hearts were: Switzerland, Liechtenstein, etc. In just one instance, in December 1999, the Swiss government announced the freezing of $550 million in different banks belonging to Abacha and his family, former National Security Adviser Ismaila Gwarzo, and Abubakar Atiku Bagudu (current Governor of Kebbi State). It is simply impossible to know exactly how much Abacha and those around him stole from Nigeria in the five years of his tyrannical rule.
There are many Abachas, Dasukis, Badehs, Amosus and Sarakis in the system, people who “pledge to Nigeria my country, to be faithful, loyal and honest”, yet they will steal from the same country at every opportunity. But why are millions of Nigerians who bear the brunt of the licentiousness of our thieving public officers not outraged? There is no outrage because most of us will behave the same way if we found ourselves in the shoes of Abacha, Dasuki, Badeh, Amosu or Saraki.
And the reason is simple: “Much of what passes for corruption is not simply a matter of greed but rather the byproduct of legislators or public officials who feel more obligated to family, tribe, religion or ethnic group than to the national community and therefore divert money in that direction.” That was Francis Fukuyama writing about the relationship between nation building and state building in his book, Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy. These bandits in uniform and agbada, according to Fukuyama, “are not necessarily immoral people, but their circle of moral obligation is smaller than that of the polity for which they work”.
Savagery rears its head when we believe something that belongs to us is stolen, when anyone comes into our small circle of moral obligation. So, somewhere in Aluu, Rivers State, four undergraduates are lynched and burnt by mortally offended fellow citizens for allegedly stealing laptops and cell phones; somewhere in Lagos a woman is beaten and sexually assaulted by an incredulous and bloodthirsty mob for stealing pepper; in Ondo State, a man is mercilessly bludgeoned to death by “irritated angry youth” for being gay; and somewhere in Kano, a man is set free after more than two decades in prison for allegedly stealing a transistor radio. Yet each time Dasuki, Badeh, or Saraki appears in court, oozing splendor, they are not tailed by “ordinary” Nigerians mocking and jeering but by a throng of well-heeled lawyers, friends, associates, and family members. These high-profile supporters know that it is not only Dasuki, Badeh, or Saraki that is on trial.
What they seem to be saying is, “That is the way the system works. Only a fool would want to be law abiding in a patently lawless society.” So, Dasuki, Badeh, Saraki, and company, can sleep comfortably at night knowing full well that there is a chance that in the end they will be free to enjoy their loot. As a people, we have imbibed the dictum that when evil is commonplace it becomes a tradition. That is the case with corruption in Nigeria. Corruption is a national tradition. It has been with us since independence, got worse through many military regimes and became a directive principle of state policy in 1999 when the military again foisted one of their own, Olusegun Obasanjo, that exemplar of everything wrong with Nigeria, on a hapless nation.
It is for this reason that these indicted public officers, rather than going to court to prove their innocence, shout “persecution” and “political witch-hunt” at every opportunity. You can’t really blame them! Why should they be punished for upholding tradition? It is for the same reason that we have not heard a word from the military high command or from retired military officers, including ex-heads of state, on the revelations about our military.
Knowing how powerful the thieving class is in Nigeria, President Buhari should be praised – I can’t think of any politician who would have done this – for his courage and political will. Of course, the issue goes beyond President Buhari to the question posed at the beginning of this essay. As long as Nigeria remains the way it is, public office will be nothing but sinecure for self-serving individuals.
We need to create a country where there is no incentive for Nigerians to steal from Nigeria. No sane person steals from himself. When people feel ownership of this country, we won’t see the high incidence of wanton pillage of public fund currently going on at all levels and in all sectors.
In the interim, let Nigerians who suffer the effect of corruption pick up the gauntlet and act. After all, the enfant terrible of Rivers State and now HONOURABLE (emphasis mine) Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, once remarked publicly that he and other thieving politicians get away with murder because Nigerians have not risen to defend their patrimony by stoning those who gratuitously steal from them.
con...@hotmail.com; Twitter: @conumah
This piece is an excerpt from an upcoming book: We are all Biafrans – A Participant-Observer’s Interventions in a Country Sleeping Walking to Disaster.
Warm regards,
Chido Onumah
Coordinator, African Centre for Media & Information Literacy,
P.O.Box 6856, Wuse, Abuja, Nigeria
www.africmil.org
www.chidoonumah.com
Cornelius Hamelberg
This is a very important, thoroughly & superbly written exposé, explication and challenge by Chido Onumah!
Justice must be done to those who have been swimming in the cesspit of corruption, without a thought to the poor, long-suffering and helpless masses.
I have often regretted that I did not join the army. Just one coup, just one. Give me six months and I clean up thoroughly – line them all up no big grammar no defence lawyers and no corrupt pastors to beg for you . Yes I am a military thug and you have five minutes to start vomiting di money or else yu go quench here right now and the vultures nah dem go eat you tomorrow morning.
The irony : di military : Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
“The important thing is for the trial to go on and if he is found guilty, bundled to jail. I am reliably informed that the rot in the military is far worse than what we have experienced with our politicians. And that is saying a lot considering the criminal proclivities of Nigerian politicians. We have seen a bit of the rot in the Air Force. We await the revelations from the Army and the Navy.” ( Chido Onumah)
This means that there should be scrupulous vigilance failing which there could be a coup – remember how Buhari was toppled by Babanginda's coup d'état on August 27, 1985…
“There are many Abachas, Dasukis, Badehs, Amosus and Sarakis in the system, people who “pledge to Nigeria my country, to be faithful, loyal and honest”, yet they will steal from the same country at every opportunity. But why are millions of Nigerians who bear the brunt of the licentiousness of our thieving public officers not outraged? There is no outrage because most of us will behave the same way if we found ourselves in the shoes of Abacha, Dasuki, Badeh, Amosu or Saraki.”( Chido Onumah)
The bold letters are for emphasis and I’m sure that the Adepojus and Ikhides might disagree - even violently - and bloody hell the Zalangas could be shouting most vehemently against the idea that they could possibly “behave in the same way if they found themselves in the shoes of Abacha , Dasuki, Badeh , Amosu or Saraki”
In my opinion such a preposterous idea is a low blow to the good citizens of Nigeria and an insult to their and our collective integrity . But obviously Chido Onumah intends that this low blow should prick the accused and thus affronted intelligentsia to the quick and more radical than what the Buddhists call right action, for justice delayed is justice denied and as the saying goes, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing…” Nothing at all.
Good words : “Knowing how powerful the thieving class is in Nigeria, President Buhari should be praised – I can’t think of any politician who would have done this – for his courage and political will”
As Lord Mailafia Obadiah (a good man) observed not too long ago “But it has also been said that the world has been prevented from utter destruction because of the existence of the 36 secret holy ones who are also presumably Jewish -- the Tzadikim Nistarim “. And then he went on to express the hope : “Let us all aspire to be counted among the secret holy ones who will redeem Africa!”
In this respect, in my heart I pray that the relentless Lord of Knowledge Ogbeni Kadiri will be counted amongst the righteous ones because already he is sounding a little like the Prophet Jeremiah , sent to Nigeria and the Africans and hollering just like Fela : “This is an African court !”
And as he had occasion to ask someone just the other day, “So what a hell are you waiting for?”
That was a question….
Cornelius
Chidi Anthony Opara
Thank God that you did not eventually become a military officer/ruler. The age long practice of an accused being presumed innocent untill proved guilty(by the courts) would have been abolished and the consequences would have been grave. Like my brother Chido Onumah, who is a good writer by the way, you would have been the accuser, the prosecutor and the judge.
One of the problems I have with the Chido Onumah well written narrative is that
Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, who should be in trial with others for allegedly plundering the resources of his state as governor is now being subtly presented as a role model
I have no problems with anti-corruption campaigns, I have advocated them in my poems long before the current hysteria, but I have serious problems with President Buhari's one sided anti-corruption.
Finally, I am happy that I joined this forum, otherwise, how would I have known that jungle justice is not peculiar to the motor parks.
CAO.
Cornelius Hamelberg
In other words what you’re saying is that the devil should be put on trial (by the courts) and if not found guilty, should be set free. You can call it “jungle justice “ if you like and this is where I support Donald Trump: when all else fails, we should start with a little waterboarding to begin to recover the loot.
Cornelius Hamelberg
Justice Opara,
I’m glad that at least you take me seriously
and by extension so should some of your political allies
of the class known as the lootocracy
the crooks most directly responsible for bleeding the Nigerian people’s economy.
A holy sonnet by John Donne
Dear Chidi almost every day I study about this and I am aware of God’s mercy in our lives.
How do you think I feel when I read this? I should presume them innocent? No, I’m not bloodthirsty.
With me as commander-in-chief of the military, they should then have every right to fear Justice – and that includes Goliath. Just as you too have the right to presume lootocrats their innocence in spite of the mountains of evidence against them and the fact that in their hearts, they themselves know that they are guilty. In fact I should like Ogbeni Kadiri to be my Tunde Idiagbon! Babatunde O ye, to help institute some of the structural reforms that His Highness John Mbaku Esq has been insisting is the sine qua non to rooting out corruption that is otherwise so endemic and so deeply ingrained in some bureaucracies that it’s popularly known as “ the system”
You are absolutely right! If by the grace of the Almighty, I had been blessed as the next military man in charge of a certain African country, then, “The age -long practice of an accused being presumed innocent until proved guilty(by the courts) would have been abolished and the consequences would have been grave”. That was a good poetic word that you used there: “grave”. Better still, less abstract and even more directly to the point, you could have ended that sentence with the word , “deadly”. “The age -long practice of an accused being presumed innocent until proved guilty(by the courts) would have been abolished and the consequences would have been deadly”
Here’s the Devil’s dictionary definition:
DEAD, adj.
“Done with the work of breathing; done
With all the world; the mad race run
Though to the end; the golden goal
Attained and found to be a hole!”
Only six months…
You would be doing me, you yourself , your good friend Goodluck Jonathan and my Ikwerre Brother Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi injustice if you think that as supreme military commander, I would send innocent men to the gallows or line them all up to face the fire squads, just for nothing. As I pointed out : five minutes to start vomiting di money or else yu go quench here right now and the vultures nah dem go eat your dead body tomorrow morning !
We don’t want to take anyone’s life. All we want is that the loot be returned and that includes that Bank Manager at number 10 Aba Road in Port Harcourt who stole my gratuity, 15% of my gross salary for two tours plus some other emoluments stashed in his bank in £ Sterling. I could have used connections but thought it better to let justice run its course. Personally, money is not that important to me but I hate corruption.
Some of these guys get held up with the alternative “your money or your wife” and without hesitation some could say, “Please leave my money alone, but you can take my wife” – but ask the same man wearing pants “ Your money or your life” and they will start bargaining, “How much do you want?” and will invariably choose life….
This should not take long, as I said, just give me six months to clean up and then I would hand over to civilian power , after recovering much of the loot and good riddance to the most criminal elements in the corrupt elite. Does that sound too idealistic to your poetic ears?
And how do you like this part of Hamlet’s to be or not to be soliloquy:
“For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despis'd love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of th' unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin?”
Six months!
“The difficult we do immediately. The impossible takes a little longer” was the motto of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during World War II. Other variations of this include ”The impossible we do immediately, miracles take a little longer.” Now dear Chidi, as commander-in-chief, if some of the religious Naija people were to then demand a miracle from me, just as they asked of Jesus,
“Then some scribes and Pharisees said, "Teacher, we want you to show us a miraculous sign", the first part of Jesus’ reply ( King James Version) should come in handy: An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign…
And there you have it.
Yours sincerely,
Cornelius
It’s time to update this:
On Thursday, 31 March 2016 13:36:43 UTC+2, Chidi Anthony Opara wrote:
Chidi Anthony Opara
Would you advocate the military optio:n if the "lootocracy" occure in Sweden or in any other part of Europe or is that brand of justice reserved for Nigeria and other African countries?
CAO.
Cornelius Hamelberg
A Military option for Sweden to combat any kind of lootocrazy ?
That’s a very difficult question. Maybe, we should consult with Lord of Knowledge Salimonou Kadiri, since he lives here and is more engaged with Swedish politics than I am. But let me just say this - and please don’t accept or reject my opinions as facts: among the very many differences between Nigeria and Sweden it’s relevant to point out that in our democracy here in Sweden there is the rule of law which seems to be largely absent in Nigeria and therefore the unparalleled looting and corruption in Nigeria which has largely gone unpunished and to the detriment of the morale of the nation and in no small measure one of the causes of mass poverty, not to mention the mass killings by Boko Haram which is still going on unabated under the very noses of Nigeria’s military commanders - even though according to some critics both Boko Haram and Fulani marauders are invaders from outside of Nigeria who are inflicting mega death and destruction on hapless citizens of Nigeria and their undefended properties, and with such impunity!
After such knowledge what forgiveness?
Chronologically speaking, I did state this: The irony : di military : Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? This was meant to clearly indicate that I do not, did not and cannot “advocate” a military option for Nigeria, especially not after your Brother Chido Onumah’s galling exposé of unbridled corruption in the Nigerian Military, Navy , Police and Airforce - that would be like setting up Barabbas & the Mafia to investigate the mob. But let’s ask Ogbeni Kadiri for his opinion on this – for me, since I was first here on a honeymoon in the summer of 1970 – and up till today I have almost never listened to Swedish Radio (I have level A Swedish Language – but since I don’t have the whole register, I prefer English) but one this one occasion when I accidentally switched on the radio on summers day in 1987 this is the very first sentence that I heard and I’m translation from the Swedish : “Nigeria : Where between the airport and my hotel I was robbed twice, first by the military and then by the police” he continued with his story. At first I thought that I had just tuned in at the middle of some radio theatre ( had a friend Anthony Swerling (a Cambridge man) who sometimes wrote dialogues etc. for radio and was interested in Nigerian English ) but no – this was a factual reportage of someone sharing his experiences of Nigeria. I thought that I should report the programme for hets mot folkgrupp // hate speech
President Buhari has talked about developing an Industrial military complex – by which I understand him to mean that Nigeria should be able to produce at least some low grade weaponry and not have to be dependent on purchasing from South Africa for example. More power to the Nigerian army, but I do hope that the Nigerian army does not became an economic power just like the Egyptian army. And when the army is entrenched in power and becomes corrupt, it’s not a matter of “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?” – but a matter of who is going to overthrow them --- aye – there’s the danger.
Over here in Sweden the military gets more budgetary allocations as Russia continues to flex muscle in our neighbourhood – so our military is becoming more and more powerful.
Other matters:
The Sabbath Queen is drawing nigh….
Ciao
Cornelius