'Fighting Corruption Legally' The Critical Balance Between Institutions & Individuals

By: Ademola A. Adewale
Legal Practitioner

The war against corruption in Nigeria has recently taken a new turn, with the re-assignment of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC’s helmsman, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu to the Nigerian Institute of Policy and Strategies Studies, NIPSS, Kuru near Jos, Plateau State which effectively signals his removal as EFCC’s Chairman.
Ribadu’s going off to school has once again renewed the age-old debate between the role of the individual and the state in nation (organisational) building.

Some of the more popular axioms even expressed as cliches are: it is better to build institutions and not individuals, no individual is indispensable; institutions even nations, have (or at least have the potential) to exist in perpetuity. Individuals being mere mortals are in the words of the Holy Books like vapour which this moment is and the next no more or in the words of the English Bard Williams Shakespeare in Macbeth

“Like an actor that struts and frets his time upon the stage and then is heard no more.”
“It is like a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing.” So this school of life concludes that it is a waste of time, an exercise in vain when important institutions of state are woven round the activities even foibles of an individual.

Yet like most things in life, there is a second side to this matter. Institutions, even nations do not have a life of their own outside the individuals and personalities who run them. And usually at various times in history these institutions and nations are manned by certain personalities who not only distinguish themselves but leave enduring footprints in the sands of time that affect society even the whole humanity for generations. The Americans have about 43 presidents but a handful stand out from the crowd - Abraham Lincoln, F.D Roosevelt, John Kennedy, Bill Clinton etc.

The British Monarchy is more than a thousand years old but only a few kings or queens stand out - King James I, King Henry VIII, Queen Victoria and now Queen Elizabeth II. The same for the institution of the British Prime Minister; of the scores of the occupants over the ages, the readily remembered ones are: Sir Winston Churchill and Mrs. Margaret Thatcher.
And in the not too distant past, we recall round the globe for good or evil, Adolf Hitler of Germany, Mahatma Ghandi and Indira Ghandi of India, Martin Luther King Jnr. of U.S.A.

The recently assassinated Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan and Bill Gates of U.S.A are of course part of our present realities. Thus, if life is all about institutions and nations and never about individuals where do we locate the achievements of these larger-than-life personalities.

As already said, so much heat and hot air has been generated by the recent tactical removal of Nuhu Ribadu from EFCC by whatever name called. Some have argued that it sounds the death knell on the anti-corruption crusade, while others counter by arguing that the anti-corruption war under Ribadu was not only selectively fought but depended too much on the whims and caprices of Mallam Nuhu Ribadu who took maximum advantage of the undue publicity to play to the gallery. We are thus reminded that it is a great insult to the intelligence of over 140 million Nigerians that only one individual can successfully wage the war against corruption.

Amidst these stormy debates, the war against corruption must not only continue but with greater vigour. But for these objectives to be achieved, it is submitted that there must be a critical balance between the perpetuity offered by institutions such as EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices (ICPC) and the individual brilliance, charisma and genius of the human beings who man these bodies. Without prejudice to the faults of Mallam Ribadu, the fact remains that no public officer has fought corruption passionately like Ribadu has. Evidence:- yahoo yahoo boys who brought the nation to disrepute by their 419 and internet scams were put on the run. A number of them were tried, convicted and sentenced to jail.

* Then serving Minister, Late Chief Michael Afolabi put on the trial for corrupt practices, but unfortunately died in detention.
* A serving Inspector General of Police put on trial, convicted and jailed.
* A governor, although hastily impeached, put on trial convicted and jailed.
* Several former governors, arrested, detained and put on trial, Ibori, Orji Kalu, Turaki, Fayose and now Igbinedion on trial.

This work rate, comparatively with past records of no indictment and no conviction of a past public officer in Nigeria for corrupt practices is remarkable and makes Mallam Ribadu a ‘genius’ by Nigerian standards. Further, Mallam Ribadu at any forum leaves no one in doubt about his determination to fight corruption to a stand still in Nigeria. Nor can any one question his passion or zeal for the anti-corruption crusade. In the context of the zero-record of anti-corruption crusade pre-Ribadu, his modest achievement stands him out as an icon upon whose achievement further success can be built. Thus his removal at a time when the anti-corruption crusade was heating up was bound to raise much suspicion and generate much public outcry. His greatest critics cannot deny him a place in the terse roll of honour of genuine Nigerian patriots inspite of his many faults and failings. After all, being humans the best of us have feet of clay.

General Murtala Mohammed (late) is regarded as the nation’s best leader till date. Yet his mass sack of civil servants in 1975/76 is believed to have laid the foundation for insecurity and corruption in the civil service. Since it is natural that civil servants who might be booted out anytime will try to lay up something by hook or crook for the rainy day. And if that sack was inspired by the desire to rid the civil service of corruption, was the highly respected Dr. T.O Elias, former Chief Justice of Nigeria who was a victim of the sack, corrupt or incompetent? Since, if he were any of the two he would not have later become the President of the International Court of Justice, ICJ. The duo of Buhari/Idiagbon were also respected for their stance on discipline, yet they could only look the other way while the late Emir of Gwandu escaped the shores of Nigeria with 53 suit cases of Nigerian money for conversion into foreign currency while lesser mortals dared not be seen with more than N50,000. And was it not under these Lords of Discipline that Decree 4 was enacted making the publication of truth an offence as experienced by Messrs Tunde Thompson and Nduka Irabor of the then “THE GUARDIAN’ newspaper?

The crucial point is that in the assessment of an individual’s achievement for public service it is his general outlook and not his weaknesses and faults that should be the focus. And from that perspective Mallam Nuhu Ribadu Ahmed is a fearless and passionate anti-corruption crusader and a big asset to the EFCC under him. Herein lies the critical balance that must exist between an organisation and indeed a nation on one hand and the individual on the other. Both sides of the equation need to be fully developed and at their best for a nation to achieve her greatest potentials.
Putting it most graphically, to a soccer crazy nation, how many of us have been to Argentina? Yet, do we not know or have heard of Diego Maradona? Same for Pele and Brazil. So let us strengthen institutions while encouraging individuals to excel.