By the time the drama of arrest between former Imo governor, Senator Rochas Okorocha, and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ended, you realised both parties deserved each other. As it happened last week Tuesday, the supposed anti-corruption agency, EFCC, was to arrest Okorocha at his house in Maitama, FCT—the latest in the series of his dalliance with the law since his governorship tenure ended—but he refused them entrance. Not to be rebuffed, the EFCC laid a siege on the house. Okorochas, ever given to a cheap display of drama, turned his arrest into a reality show and even managed to live stream the affair to the public. Coupled with some Okorocha’s supporters who supplied some emotionalism, what should have been a sincere and sombre process soon became as maniacal as an exorcism ritual.
Rochas was eventually arrested when EFCC officials broke into his house through the ceiling. By the time they were done with such tactless display of machismo, you had to wonder why there was so much iberiberism on the parts of Okorochas who resisted arrest and even the EFCC itself. Did the EFCC need that much display of force to arrest a non-violent suspect? Nigerians deserve better than the grand idiocy they folded into a spectacle.
First, let me firmly assert that I do not empathise with Okorocha over his issues with the EFCC. He can afford to hire a dozen SANs to follow him to court, why waste pity on him? I also think he suffers an inflated sense of worth to assume that directing all eyes to his predicament will move anyone other than his supporters who regularly queue in front of his palatial mansion looking for what to eat. For a man who lives in a posh estate in the nation’s capital to expect he could curry public sentiment if he turned his embattlement with the law into a television show means he thinks too much of himself. We have better things to do, sorry.
Apart from the fact that most politicians do not deserve the courtesy of sympathy, Okorochas is barely liked. I doubt that even his constituents in Imo State have lost any sleep over his issues. Some three years ago, I visited his state and virtually no one I encountered had anything to say in his favour. Instead, all they had to share about his tenure were horror stories. I do not think I have ever seen a politician who is not only unliked but also that unlikeable. His present mess with the EFCC is his problem. We can only wish him good luck as he sorts himself out. When he was accumulating wealth and power, he must have thought the party would last forever. Now that he faces the reality of life outside power, he cannot level up with the ordinary Nigerians by making himself look like a victim of repressive power.
Still, one must wonder at the perpetual crudeness of EFCC’s methods. From their earlier days when their former Chair, Nuhu Ribadu, manhandled ex-police IG, Tafa Balogun, not much has changed in their approach to arrests. They still apprehend alleged looters with virtually the same ostentatious display of brute force. The spectacular modes of arrests make one wonder at the growth of state agencies, like the EFCC, and their ability to reflexively evolve through the years. Is it that they have no ability whatsoever to think outside the box, or Nigeria’s problem just defies any progress? After almost 20 years of operation, should the EFCC still be breaking into homes to arrest people? By now, their processes of arrest and prosecution should have become level-headed and more efficacious.
I should also note that the EFCC is not the only Nigerian agency given to such crude and needless self-aggrandisement. You see a similar use of brute force with even the police and the Department of State Services. For instance, in December, when the police wanted to arrest Okorocha’s son-in-law, Uche Nwosu, they invaded a church during a worship service. They could have arrested him in his house or waited for the church service to end before approaching him, but no. Since they lacked an appreciation for the sacredness of their judicial duties, they cannot extend such dignity to people and places. Like common barbarians, they rushed into the church and dragged out Nwosu. Despite them beating and stripping off his cloth, nothing has come out of it. Nwosu was granted bail almost immediately and he is walking free now. So what was the point of the violent arrest in the church when there was no urgency to his case? With all the mania they displayed arresting Okorocha last week, the man is now out on a bail that—knowing Nigeria—might extend till eternity. Funnily enough, Okorocha was bailed in time for him to saunter to the All Progressive Congress presidential screening. So, what was the point of the EFCC undermining itself publicly by breaking through a roof to arrest him?
Please note that this is not an argument about if any of these people should have been arrested or not but whether the manner of doing so is productive. If the EFCC cannot develop better methods of tackling strong-headed suspects, one can rightly conclude that their investigative process must lack rigour and quality control. I wonder if the agencies that over-dramatise and militarise arrests ever ask themselves how much their over-the-top approach contributes to public ambivalence about corruption? These agencies routinely turn a blind eye to all the dollars politicians are handing to party delegates in the FCT only to go against another man with a show of force. They should not be surprised the viewing public responds to them with disaffection that sees their anti-corruption drive as political persecution.
Part of the problem is that the agencies themselves are hardly competent and dramatic arrests make up for their shortcomings. By the time they invite someone to give an account of their stewardship in office, their unassailable facts ought to be ready. Unfortunately, the linear process is reversed in Nigeria. First, they arrest you and then spend a decade looking for facts to prosecute and convict. That is why one person gets summoned or arrested a dozen times and still nothing comes out of it. The court cases drag on forever and the people whose money was allegedly stolen not only lose interest but even the worth of the money loses value. We are told Okoracha allegedly stole N2.7bn between 2014 and 2016. Since that time, the value of the said sum has so depreciated that we would have been far better served if the looting had been prevented in the first place. Naira value has tanked so badly that they might as well multiply the offences on Okorocha’s rap sheet by two. Agencies like the EFCC should be more focused on curtailing looting, not merely punishing the deed.
After about 20 years of operation, we no longer need a situation where the EFCC will be pursuing people over stolen loot and they get to turn their televised recalcitrance into heroism. The EFCC and allied agencies should have moved beyond that stage. They should, instead, be making broad recommendations to the government on how to tighten fiscal processes such that public officials cannot easily access the money even to move around. Rather than the endless rites of arrests and trials that we are routinely asked to endure year after year, these agencies should actively work with banks and other financial organisations to prevent the easy movement of money from government coffers to private pockets. If you do not create safeguards to prevent looting from happening, you will always be in a reactive position where you pursue thieving public officials. Crooked politicians like Okorocha will try outsmarting you by turning their arrest into a show and even spin a narrative of political persecution. For how many years of their corporate existence does the EFCC plan to break through doors and windows and ceilings to arrest? They better lay off the iberiberism and try more worthwhile methods.
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