Oshiomhole And His Liberalisation Of Stealing – By Kazeem Akintunde

Aliu Adams Oshiomhole, needs no introduction in Nigeria’s politics. From his days as a labour leader, after being elected President of theNigerian Labour Congress (NLC), to his days as a politician, starting as the National Chairman of the All Progressive Congress, (APC), and as a two-time Governor of Edo State and now as a Senator representing Edo North in the Senate, Oshiomhole is an old war-horse who calls a spade by no other name. 

On Monday last week, he propounded a theory that is worth considering by those in the ivory towers. Speaking during a forum on Local Government autonomy organized by the House of Representatives in Abuja, Oshiomhole said that it is preferable for Nigeria to have 774 local government chairmen who are corrupt than to have a single centralized leader who controls and steals all the resources of the nation. 

Let me quote him: “The issue we have to address is about character. Whether money allocated to local government chairmen is stolen or shared with other non-state actors and abused regulations, what will change? The bottom line of this conversation is that if we transfer money directly to the local government, will that mean more development at the local government level? That, for me, is a matter of character. If we want to reduce local government stealing money, I have argued that it’s better to have 774 thieves, with each local government producing one or two billionaires, than to have one big man taking everything. I am completely for local government autonomy. I also believe that whoever has power must account for it at whatever level. I only hope and pray that God will give the National Assembly the wisdom to review the legal framework such that it is easier to punish a local government Chairman (that steals)than the Governor who is in office, and you have to wait for eight years (to punish him)”.

That was the new theory propounded by Oshiomhole. In essence, we should allow 774 council chairmen to steal rather than a Governor or a President doing all the stealing. More or less liberalising stealing and justifying it at the local government level.

Ronald Hope Sr. and Borrwell Chikulo, in a seminar paper titled: ‘Corruption and Development In Africa: Lesson from Case Studies’,noted that ‘’corruption in Africa has reached cancerous proportions. In fact, so pervasive is this phenomenon in the region that it has been labelled the ‘AIDS of democracy’, which is destroying the future of many societies in the region. The corruption problem in Africa reflects the more general, and now legendary climate of unethical leadership and bad governance found throughout most of the continent.’’

Also, writing in African Journal on Politics and Administrative Studies, the trio of Ibrahim S. Muhammad, Sanusi Abdul Wasiu, and Muddassir Ahmad Gado, also examined ‘Corruption and Its Impact On Socio-Economic Development in Selected Countries of Africa’,and noted that Africa is indeed a continent blessed with an abundance of natural resources, ranging from valuable minerals like gold, diamonds, copper, and oil. These resources, they noted, hold immense potential for fostering economic growth and development across the continent. However, Africa continues to grapple with extreme poverty and underdevelopment, with corruption being identified as a major impediment to progress. 

In their work, the trio focused on the pervasive issue of corruption in Africa, with Nigeria, Uganda, and Zimbabwe as case studies. 

Their findings revealed the staggering impact of corruption on Africa’s development, with annual losses of approximately $60 to $100 billion due to illicit financial flows, while highlighting that the flows divert resources away from political and socio-economic advancement, exacerbating widespread impoverishment. In their conclusion, the authors underscored the corrosive effect of corruption on Africa’s development and offered several recommendations to address the issue, which include promoting merit-based leadership selection, enforcing stronger legal actions against corruption, empowering anti-corruption agencies, engaging citizens and civil society in the fight against corruption, and strengthening the rule of law and judicial independence. These recommendations aim to pave the way for a more transparent and accountable future in Africa.

Indeed, the impact of corruption in Nigeria is glaring for all to see, with 70 per cent of the population swimming in multi-dimensional poverty. With hunger and deprivation walking on all fours, taking its toll on the hapless majority while a tiny fraction of the elites seem to have cornered the nation’s wealth for themselves and their nuclear families. 

Should we then examine Oshiomhole’s queer suggestion that we should fully liberalise the persistence looting of the country in the hope that it would have a wider spread and impact and either directly or indirectly work towards the eradication of poverty amongst the masses? A ‘fantastically corrupt’ local government chairman, (apologies to Donald Trump) would have at least 10 members of his immediate family that would benefit from his looting of the treasury which would also percolate to several others who could also benefit from the looting. In a sense, hundreds, if not thousands of their children, wives, side chicks and relatives of these council chairmen stand to gain massively from the direct allocation of resources to the third tier of government as sanctioned by the Supreme Court. 

If we liberalise stealing at the local government level, at the end of each election cycle, whether it is three or four years, we would have produced hundreds, if not thousands of billionaires instead of just 36 Governors and the FCT boss directly in charge of local government funds.

Oshiomhole’s argument has also been strongly validated by the discovery of 753 duplexes in Abuja owned by the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN), Godwin Emefiele. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), also, during the week, secured the final forfeiture of those duplexes to the Federal Government. While ruling on the Commission’s application for the final forfeiture of the property, Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie held that the respondent had not shown cause as to why he should not lose the property, “which has been reasonably suspected to have been acquired with proceeds of unlawful activities, the property is hereby finally forfeited to the federal government.”

Yet, this is just one of the properties that has been associated with the former CBN Governor. There are several others outside the shores of the country. Since the revelation by the anti-graft agency, most Nigerians are still wondering why Emefiele would contemplate such a huge estate, given the level of poverty in the land. Again, it goes to show how loose our institutions are as well as the lousy accounting structures that makes it possible for an individual to steal such humongous amounts of money from the system. 

In the last couple of days, social media has been awash with some Nigerians calling for a ‘wedding’ between Emefiele and Diezani Alison-Madueke, another former Minister of Nigeria that has been identified as corruption personified owing to the frightening amounts of monies and assets she acquired from alleged corrupt practices while in office. 

There is no denying the fact that corruption has brought Nigeria to its knees. This country is already tottering on the precipice. We all must be determined and resolute in our efforts at taming the monster of corruption in our midst.  Until we Africans decide to react forcefully against the stench of corruption to which we are currently subjected, corruption will remain a societal norm, poisoning civil society and splitting it into rent-seeking elites and helpless spectators. 

Most Nigerians can no longer afford three square meals in a day in spite of the God-given resources at our disposal. Many of those in government steal what they do not even need and in the process, hinder the growth and development of the people and the country.

While Oshiomhole is pushing for his liberalisation of stealing, in the belief that it would eventually spread wealth and reduce the inequality gaps in the system, I would however, canvass for the death penalty for those who are cornering our wealth for themselves and families alone. However, my own recommendation would have a human face. If you are caught stealing below N10 million, the money should be recovered and the individual sent to jail for one year. The thinking here is that the person concerned is hungry and was looking for what to eat. Those caught stealing above N10 million but below N100 million should have the fund recovered and sent to jail for five years without an option of fine. 

Any Nigerian caught stealing any amount above N100 million up to a N1 billion should be sentenced to life imprisonment, as such anindividual is not bothered about the welfare of his fellow citizens;while anyone caught stealing any amount above N1 billion should face the firing squad after the loot must have been recovered. It is believed that those in the last category are hired killers who have no scant regard for their fellow citizens. Their lawyers should also get some form of punishment. If those that are ‘fantastically corrupt’ are put to death, it will send the right signal to other prospective looters and there would be sanity in the system. China and Vietnam have the death penalty for government officials involved in fraud and other vices.

We should be bothered as a nation that corruption has eaten deep into the fabrics of our national life. We need to strengthen our institutionsto prevent widespread abuse and large-scale looting of our treasury. It is so easy for those in power to steal billions of Naira and get away with it. Except that is done, we can rightly describe Nigeria as a Banana Republic, where anything goes.

See you next week.

• Akintunde is a journalist and columnist