The last one month has witnessed a celebration of crime and corruption in Nigeria, from Ramoni Olorunwa Abbas, aka Ray Hushpuppi, to the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, and the management of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) which the president supervises as Minister of Petroleum Resources, to the Minister of Niger Delta, Godswill Akpabio, and the leadership of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), to the Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and everything in between. 

With each revelation, my mind would go to Mc Edo Pikin, the talented and creative comedian who has popularised skits that compare absurd topics and situations. I imagined Mc Edo Pikin working on the difference between Hushpuppi and what we shall call Hushpoliticians—the tribe of political and public officers who have mortgaged the estate called Nigeria. He did not do that. But he did not disappoint when he released the “Difference between NDDC and NCDC.” Nigeria is a nest of political Hushpuppies—from Dino Melaye, an ally of Hushpuppi, to Ayo Fayose, Orji Uzor Kalu and Theodore Orji, to Rochas Okorocha, the list is endless.  

Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the Director-General and CEO of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission was right when she said—in response to the Hushpuppi affair—that the actions of Ramoni Olorunwa Abbas do not reflect who we are as a people. If in defence of our national pride we can afford to “deny” Mr. Abbas, I wonder what Abike Dabiri-Erewa makes of the putrid news of corruption by our Hushpoliticians oozing from every national orifice in the last one month. As a friend remarked when I used the term Hushpoliticians in a WhatsApp group recently, “When you think about it, Hushpuppi is better than these politicians. He is stealing other people’s money while our politicians are robbing our patrimony.”

Of course, there is nothing new about the activities of Hushpuppi and his clan, which includes the likes of Obinwanne George Okeke, aka Invictus Obi, and Olalekan Jacob Ponle, aka Woodberry. The rise of Hushpuppi and others like him must be viewed within the context of the new mode of expropriation and accumulation under capitalism. I am sure there are many young people in Nigeria who want to live the Hushpuppi dream; millions who may never have the benefit of education and opportunity to get a job no matter how hard they try; millions who are daily incubating new schemes while mired in the pain created by Hushpoliticians. Those who do not advance to become Hushpuppi will pray their way to becoming sidekicks and thugs of politicians and ultimately grow into Hushpoliticians. 

But this piece is not about Hushpuppi—the young man whose ambition was to own a few commercial motorcycles and marry the daughter of a small-town restaurateur—who has managed to build global notoriety and a rap sheet as long as the Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai, UAE. There will be another opportunity to explore the different dimensions of the Hushpuppi phenomenon. Just to say that Nigerian Hushpoliticians are enablers of Hushpuppi and company; the Hushpolitician is the father of Hushpuppi. 

Stealing from Nigerians has been a favourite pastime of our Hushpoliticians since independence. But it does appear it has been given some veneer of legality in the last two decades. Let us use Mr. Godswill Akpabio, Nigeria’s Minister of Niger Delta, as a case study. Information available on Wikipedia.org notes that Akpabio has held political office since 2002 when he was appointed Commissioner for Petroleum and Natural Resources in Akwa Ibom State. Between 2002 and 2006, he served as a Commissioner in three key ministries: Petroleum and Natural Resources, Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, as well as Lands and Housing. He served as governor of the oil-rich state from 2007 to 2015 and senator from 2015 to 2019 when he was appointed a minister after his “uncommon defection” from the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Of course, there is nothing progressive about Akpabio and his APC. After leaving office in 2015, Akpabio was the subject of investigation by the Counterterrorism and General Investigation Section of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over allegations that he misappropriated more than N100bn. The allegations against Akpabio border on the award of bogus contracts to cronies who used the proceeds to buy several properties in Lagos and Abuja.

Three years ago, Mr. Akpabio and his colleagues in the “Former Governors Club” incurred the wrath of Nigerians when their allowances and other perquisites of office became public. In January 2017, a report in Vanguard newspaper noted that 47 former governors from 21 states in the country, drew as much as N37.4 billion from the public treasury. At the time of the report, there were 21 serving senators receiving pensions from government as ex-governors and deputy governors. There were also ministers receiving pensions as ex-governors. 

As they prepared to leave office in May 2015, many of these Hushpoliticians hurriedly signed or amended existing laws to give themselves fantastic lifetime “retirement benefits.” This was the subject of a 2017 essay and later the title of a pamphlet—The Politics of State Robbery in Nigeria—published in 2018. I shall quote extensively from that essay to underscore the depth of the current crisis.

Akpabio stood out in this official sleaze. While leaving office as governor of Akwa Ibom State, he passed the Governors and Deputy Governors Pension Law which entitles a former governor and spouse in the state up to N100 million a year, and a former deputy governor and spouse up to N30 million, for medical treatment. Of course, this is pocket money for Akpabio because he will be paid that money whether he and his wife receive medical treatment or not. With this allowance, there was no incentive for Akpabio to worry about the health infrastructure in his state if he could rob the state to take care of himself and his family indefinitely.

Akpabio’s law provides that as ex-governor, he and his deputy will receive pensions equivalent to 100% of annual basic salaries of the incumbent governor and deputy (note: 100% of annual basic salaries of the incumbent governor, emphasis mine), one house not below 5-bed maisonette in either Abuja or Akwa Ibom for the former governor and 500% annual basic for the deputy for accommodation. For transportation, he and his deputy will get one car and one utility car every four years. Add to this, a furniture allowance, every four years, that is 300% of annual basic salary. He will receive N5 million and his deputy gets N2.5 million for domestic staff. Akpabio was not done. He will get a car maintenance allowance that is 300% of annual basic salary, entertainment allowance, 100% of annual basic salary, utility: 100% of annual basic salary, and severance gratuity: 300% annual basic salary.

The Lagos State Governor and Deputy Governor Pensions Law of 2007 endorsed by ex-governor Babatunde Fashola, now Minister of Works and Housing, is even more lucrative. It provides that a former governor is entitled to six new vehicles (three cars, two back-up cars and one pilot car) every three years and a house in Lagos and another in Abuja, the country’s most expensive housing markets. His deputy gets five vehicles every three years. They and their family members—you only need to invoke the governor’s name to qualify as a family member—are entitled to unlimited free medical services. Their pension will be the equivalent of 100% of annual basic salaries of the incumbent governor and deputy. There   is a furniture allowance for these former “excellencies” that comes to 300% of their annual basic salary every two years. 

We can go on and on. There is no name for this other than robbery. That it is sanctioned by the state makes it no less grievous than armed robbery. I made these arguments three years ago. Since then, nothing has changed—the situation has gotten worse—except the fact that Akpabio has moved from the PDP to the APC. Of course, state robbery—or what the late Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti called Authority Stealing—has no party affiliation. This robbery unites our political elite, no matter their party, religious or ethnic affiliations. Once they are in power, they use the instrumentality of the state to rob their people and the country at will, while using laws to cover their crimes.

This is the scenario currently playing out with the corruption scandal at the NDDC. As Minister of Niger Delta, Mr. Akpabio has been accused of sundry acts of corruption by a former acting Managing Director of the NDDC, Joi Nunieh. Mr. Akpabio’s only defence for now is that Joi Nunieh had been married four times. You would think Mr. Akpabio works at a marriage registry not the Ministry of Niger Delta. Meanwhile, the man who ought to sanction Mr. Akpabio and rein in the banditry at the NDDC led by the fainthearted Prof Kemebradikumo Daniel Pondei has gone AWOL. Of course, this Daniel is not likely to come to judgement.

While we criticise Mr. Akpabio, Prof Pondei, and others for their malfeasance, we should not lose sight of the bigger problem: the issue of restructuring Nigeria, as well as the current leadership void in the country. We also have Mr. Akpabio to thank for his uncommon insight on why the problem of corruption in the NDDC—and indeed across the country—persists. In an interview with Arise TV, he said the president was not aware of the situation. That is the gut-wrenching reality. We are saddled with an absentee president. No matter how hard Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu, the president’s myrmidons, try to spin it, Nigeria is a ship without a captain. 

To think we must endure another three years of Buhari’s House of Commotion. 

Did I hear someone say #RevolutionNow!

•Onumah’s latest work, When is a Nation: Remaking Nigeria at 60 is due October 1, 2020. He can be reached via [email protected] or @conumah

Apart from going to church every Sunday and surrenderring to the Catholic Church’s century-old worship rituals observed in Latin, my dad was hardly an overly religious man. I remember being in this one prayer session where everyone spoke in tongues except him. It couldn’t have been that bad if cynicism was not written all over his face. His eyes darted back and forth in disbelief, as if he was querrying the celestial power of anointing. That day, I felt like the holy spirit perceived that he wasn’t there yet and decided it was best to let him alone. I watched my mother bury her head in shame but dad couldn’t be bothered. He was doing just fine with his Sunday-Sunday routine and wasn’t sure what that was all about. This was early in the days when the Charismatic Movement started making its grand entry into the Catholic church. Today it’s not about my dad and his faith. It’s about Christianity and the church in Nigeria, but I will get back to dad in a bit.

On 12 April 2020 while a wedding was taking place in Tegina Kabata village of Niger State, armed herdsmen stormed the church. In the end, 12 Christian faithfuls were macheted to death while the couple and some church members were later abducted to an unknown destination.

Between the third week of June and middle of July, there have been no less than five attacks visited on the people of Zangon Kataf. Today, the Christian communities of Southern Kaduna state live under the terror of killer herdsmen and Jihadi groups who daily murder, rape and maim them on a whim. 

Sometimes these murderers go the extra mile just to make some bold and unequivocal statements. On 21 January 2020 Rev. Lawan Andimi, the chairman of CAN in Michika local government area of Adamawa state who was abducted by Boko Haram fighters earlier that month was beheaded. This was after CAN already made a commitment to pay a whooping N50 million  ransom as demanded by the insurgents to secure his release. This happened while we were still morning the gruesome murder of 11 Christians the group beheaded in Maiduguri on Christmas Day of December 2019.

The whole idea is not to cause you nightmares by throwing up the scary statistics. That said, when you combine the wanton killings, burning down of Christian churches, looting and religious persecution of different kinds, there is no doubt that Christianity is under siege and no worst time in history to be a Christian in Nigeria. As I write this piece, Nigeria ranks only second to Pakistan in the number of Christians killed for their faith.

Following the killing of the CAN chairman, the Northern Christian Forum of Nigeria issued a statement to the effect that “Murder of CAN chairman won’t break our trust in God”, the tone of which was defiant and commendable. What the body might not have reckoned, however, was that when God created us in his own image, he trusted that we will do all that is necessary to protect that image. And that situations may sometimes require more than fasting and prayers. Did the Bible not talk about our Lord’s army? Ok, maybe not in a literal sense but the blood of those faithfuls cries every passing day to high heavens. 

Somebody once defined insanity as doing same thing over and over again and expecting different result, yet that seems to be the factory reset for the Christian Association of Nigeria. 

How about send a delegation to the Vatican, UN or wherever? By now we expect to see western media houses flooded with videos of the gruesome killings. If you can’t fight for yourself, at least appeal to the conscience of the civilised world. Or maybe I have no idea on how to go about it but for Christ’s sake try something else beside fasting and prayer. CAN has since been operating as a loose association of Christian bodies and now is the time to come together as one under a strong leadership. After all, the killer’s knife makes no distinction between a Catholic or a Protestant.

The Nigeria church is home to mega-churches and influential pastors who have the wherewithal to organise and make a difference but are busy darting around the globe in luxury birds, serving up arsinine conspiracy theories. Of course most come complete with fully armed security details even as they ask the rest of us to pray for God’s protection.

Lest I forget to finish off the story of my dad. There was another interesting part to his Christianity. Dad prided himself as a practical Christian which was to say he would meet you halfway between Moses (an eye for an eye) and Christ (giving the other cheek). In fact, his favourite quote from the Bible was “Faith without good work is dead” King James version. Which is why I can only imagine what he would have to say to the current leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria and the well worn call for fasting and prayers. In the current spate of unprovoked vicious attack on Christian faithfuls, he probably wouldn’t advise a reprisal attack but at same time might not have minded amputating the hands of the attackers. And no he will not do that as a punishment but as a means to keep the offenders from continuing on the killing spree. That was the man I called dad. 

Now just so we are clear, this whole piece is not about Muslims fighting Christians. It’s about an army of depraved men who belong in the societal fringes carrying out the most cowardly dastard act using the cloak of religion. I know it’s hard to imagine for us Christians given recent experiences but majority of our Muslim brothers are good people. 

The word Jihad reflects crimes against humanity and evokes the images of mass slaughter and forced religion. What most of us easily forget is that jihad (holy war) also played a significant role in Christianity’s dark days. There was once upon a time in history when “Christians” killed both Muslims and Jews in the name of God. If in doubt, don’t just take my word for it. I recommend the book “An important evangelical work, Christian Jihad” by Caner and Caner for your reading pleasure.

Today, Christianity is under a serious attack by enemies that are unrelenting and constantly evolving. I believe it’s time to heed the Caners warning that vigilance is needed also today to see that the church’s freedom is not impeded by the state or a group. To protect that freedom, it’s imperative we deploy all that is necessary.

“Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith , and I have works: show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works…. For as the body without the spirit is dead , so faith without work is dead also”.

Because sometimes you need to hear it directly from King James himself. 

•Dr. Agbo is the President and CEO of African Center for Transparency and writes from the United States

Email: [email protected]

By Tiko Okoye

A new bill to replace the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA() of 2004 has reportedly passed second reading, meaning that it could soon become law. And such a likelihood is giving the top management staff of the CBN sleepless nights, vis-à-vis what they consider “omitted provisions.” These include the creation of a Credit Tribunal, right to intervene in the process of managing a failing bank and revive a financially distressed bank, and sweeping powers to freeze crime suspects’ accounts. According to a multiplicity of reports, the CBN Director of Legal Services, Kofo Salam-Alade, demanded last Wednesday (15/7/2020) at a Senate Committee Public Hearing that the “missing” provisions to be reinstated.

Let be categorically declare that I completely support a review of the existing BOFIA. The financial architecture and landscape have changed significantly since when it was enacted sixteen years back. There is too much emphasis on deposit money banks and not enough on microfinance banks, primary mortgage banks and other specialised financial institutions and the concept of one size fits all, especially by way of sanctions and penalties, has constituted a big drag on the deepening of the banking sector as a whole.

I fully support of the creation of the Credit Tribunal. I support granting the CBN unabridged powers to intervene in the management of failing/financially distressed banks with a caveat. But I am totally against granting the banking regulator sweeping powers to freeze the accounts of individuals willy-nilly.

Data published by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) – the ‘toxic loans bank’ – clearly reveal that the total amount of non-performing assets is about equal to the federal government’s annual budget. They also reveal that less than 15 percent of the total number of borrowers are responsible for the messy situation.

The cop-out argument that loan application appraisals by banks are poorly conducted is strictly not true. As a matter of fact, barring force majeure happenstances, big-time borrowers have the ability and capacity to repay their loans; what is missing is a willingness and motivation to do so.

The lethargic pace of conventional courts in treating such cases constitutes another major impediment to economic growth and development. It is not uncommon for a lawsuit brought against a defaulting bank customer to be ‘sterilised’ at the court of first instance for as long as 7-10 years, talk less the entire appellate process! The “big” men and women involved would rather spend funds contracting expensive lawyers with considerable influence to compromise the judicial process by exploring every loophole and trick in the book than repay the loans they owe. But the widely renowned capacity of banks to create credit is unduly curtailed when cases of high levels of nonperforming loans remain intractable over long periods. The Senate should therefore seriously consider the establishment of a specialised Credit Tribunal to serve as an efficient and effective regime for the recovery of eligible loans of banks and others financial institutions and enforcement of rights over collateral securities in a very timely manner.

If it is true that the powers of the CBN to intervene in the process of reviving a financially distressed bank was omitted in the bill under consideration, it portends grave consequences for the stability of the banking and financial sector, and the omitted extant provisions should be reinstated – but with a vital caveat. A provision must be made for how the shareholders and directors of a financial institution whose fortunes plummet from bad to worse/irredeemable as a result of proven cases of mismanagement on the part of CBN during the takeover period can be adequately compensated.

This foregoing would go a long way in checking impunity and a cavalier management style on the part of those designated by the apex bank to resuscitate the financial institution. Then again, there must be a signed recovery plan outlining the problem(s), causative factors, objective(s) to be attained, restorative measures and timelines prior to any takeover or guided intervention.

Grant the CBN sweeping powers to freeze so-called crime suspects’ accounts. No! No!! No!!!

I must say that it reeks of gross insensitivity for the apex bank to be making such a demand at a time the nation is being regaled with horrendous tales of the corrupting influence of the misuse of power. It essentially portrays the CBN top management staff as living in a time bubble on an alien planet.

Besides, it is difficult to tell what the apex bank seeks to achieve. Is the management claiming that they would do a better job than institutions like the EFCC and the Police Fraud Department already statutorily empowered to play the same role? An English adage posits that too many cooks spoil the broth. The last time I checked, the CBN was not designated a crime-investigating agency so why not leave the job of ferreting out criminals through diligent investigation to institutions and personnel best suited for the task?

The CBN is already imbued with enormous powers to conduct monetary policy by virtue of both the Amended BOFIA and the 2007 CBN Act. Any additional powers would make it operate like a state within a state. English historian and politician Lord John Acton succinctly put in this manner: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

A case I am very familiar with makes me even more apprehensive about how the apex bank is likely to misuse and abuse such sweeping powers and act like a tin god. The apex bank was once invited by a financially distressed national microfinance bank (name withheld at this stage) to shore up its weak capital base (eroded by a huge internal fraud) and reinstate it back to sound financial health through the provision of a relatively small bridging loan. But the CBN in its wisdom decided to completely take over the management in view of what it perceived as an “embedded systemic risk.”

The exited directors and management staff kept writing memos to the apex bank pointing out that the course they had embarked on would ultimately lead to the bank’s demise. But the imperial CBN gave no heed to their warnings. About 10 months after taking over the bank, it was liquidated! The senators must creatively insert new provisions into the Act that make the apex bank accountable for its wrong-headed decisions and compensate hapless shareholders in proven cases of gross dereliction of duty.

Why is it only now that the apex bank is seeking powers to freeze accounts of “suspected criminals”? Is it not a recognition of the fact that it was fully aware that it had no such powers when it decided to freeze the accounts of some top management staff of the affected microfinance bank without valid court orders? The exited MD/CEO filed a lawsuit at an Abuja High Court seeking the reversal of the illegal act but it was extirpated for “lack of diligent prosecution.” Why? Because he could only afford to ‘pay’ the pupil lawyer representing him a “fuel allowance” of N5,000 each time he appeared in court on account of the illegal blocking of his account. Meanwhile, the CBN easily expended taxpayer’s money hiring as many as three Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), with one frequently flying first class in and out with his team from Lagos!

If the CBN could easily commit an illegality without blinking when it had no powers to do so, one can only begin to imagine the mayhem it would create if given such sweeping powers. The Senate must, therefore, refrain from reinforcing asymmetrical patterns of supervision that foster impunity and highhandedness! No institution in a constitutional democracy – the CBN inclusive – can and should be allowed to be both prosecutor and judge in its cases!