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THE ROLE OF THE CHURCHES IN COMBATTING CORRUPTION AMONG POLITICAL LEADERS IN ANAMBRA STATE, NIGERIA.
BY
ORJI, DANIEL ORJI PG/Ph.D/05/40383.
DEPARTMENT OF RELIGION AND CULTURAL STUDIES, FACULTY OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES, UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA.
MARCH, 2011
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TITLE PAGE
THE ROLE OF THE CHURCHES IN COMBATTING CORRUPTION AMONG POLITICAL LEADERS IN ANAMBRA STATE, NIGERIA.
A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF RELIGION AND CULTURAL STUDIES, FACULTY OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES, UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA, IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEGREE (Ph.D) IN RELIGION
BY
ORJI, DANIEL ORJI PG/Ph.D/05/40383.
DEPARTMENT OF RELIGION AND CULTURAL STUDIES, FACULTY OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES ,UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA.
MARCH, 2011
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CERTIFICATION
I hereby certify that the candidate, Orji, Daniel Orji with registration number PG/Ph.D/05/40383 has duly effected the corrections suggested by the External Examiner. I therefore, forward his thesis to you for onward transmission to the School of Postgraduate Studies. Thank you.
______REV.FR. DR.H.C. ACHUNIKE REV. PROF. A.U. AGHA AG. HEAD OF DEPARTMENT SUPERVISOR
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DECLARATION
ORJI, DANIEL ORJI a postgraduate student of the Department of Religion and Cultural Studies with registration number PG/Ph.D/05/40383 has satisfactorily completed all the requirements for the course and research work for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN RELIGION. The work embodied in this thesis is original and has not been submitted in part or full for any other degree or diploma of this University or any other University.
______REV.FR. DR. H.C. ACHUNIKE REV. PROF. A.U. AGHA AG. HEAD OF DEPARTMENT SUPERVISOR
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I sincerely acknowledge and appreciate God for his enabling grace and provisions to my family throughout the time of study. I am also grateful to my supervisor A.U. Agha, for his invaluable academic contributions, direction, sincerity, patience and encouragement. My thanks and deep appreciation go to H.C Achunike, Head of Department, O.U. Kalu, now late, for his very helpful input all the way from Chicago through e-mail communication. The history of my academic success would not be complete, if mention is not made of the priceless contributions of my academic mentors and motivators - M.I. Okwueze, C.O.T Ugwu, E.N Chinwokwu, , E.A Ituma, S.O Onyeidu, A.N.O Ekwunife. I am also grateful to the following for their contributions towards the success of this work - Ulu, Kalu Oko and Ogbonna,S.Omenuko sons in the Lord who painstakingly read through the work, , Ogbonna Mbah who typeset the work.. Others are Z.A. Ubanu now late, and his wife, B.B. Fakae and his wife, W. Onu and his wife, U. Udonsi and his wife, G.C. Ebere and his wife, O.C Sabeze, S A. Ama, M.O Okocha, M.E Ahuama, A.O Okoro, I.O Nwogwugwu, I.O Ore, Dimgba Kalu, and Ibe K Udonsi. I sincerely thank them for being the prime human factors in my academic achievement. I am also immensely indebted to my wife Hannah Orji who is a prototype of the virtous woman in Proverb. 31:10-31, she is a wife of noble character. She has been watching over the affairs of our household and has not allowed us eat the bread of idleness. Let her reward be many.
Orji, Daniel Orji.(REV) Department of Religion, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. March 2011.
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ABSTRACT The rate at which corruption spread among political leaders in Anambra state has frayed nerves and subjected the people to fear and trepidation. Avarice, greed and the get-rich quick syndrome have been identified as major causative factors. Hence the topic, “The role of the Churches in combating Corruption among Political leaders in Anambra State, Nigeria. The methods of data collection for the study include both primary and secondary sources. Primary data were obtained through oral interview. For the secondary sources the study relied on academic books, journal articles, newspapers, magazines, unpublished project works and periodicals, including internet materials. The historical and descriptive analytical approach was adopted in the analyzing of the data because it entails the interpretative understanding of the substance of various forms of communication, whether written, oral or symbolic. In the result, the work revealed that there are overt causes of corruption among political leaders in Anambra state arising from avarice and greed. This has affected the well-being of individuals and retarded progress in the state. The study also established that embezzlement of public fund, rigging of elections, kidnapping of political opponents, thuggery and politically motivated killings formed the core of activities of some of the political leaders. It was also discovered that the church has used preaching, prayer, social action, exemplary lifestyle and sacrifice as strategies against corruption. In conclusion, there is a fundamental and innate relationship between the Church and the State. The Church is playing her expected role, thereby challenging political leaders to engage in the activities that are for the interest of social progress in Anambra state.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page …………………………………………………………………….. i Certification ………………………………………………………………….. ii Declaration ….……………………………………………………………….. iii Acknowledgement …………………..……………………………………….. iv Abstract …………………………………………………………………….... v Table of Contents…………………………………………………………….. vi Map of Anambra State ………………………………………………………. ix List of Abbreviations ………………………………………………………… x CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the Study ……………………………………………... 1 1.2 Statement of Research Problem ………………………………...... 6 1.3 Purpose of the Study ……………………………………………...... 7 1.4 Significance of the Study ……………………………………………... 7 1.5 Scope of the Study ……………………………………………………. 8 1.6 Research Methodology ……………………………………………….. 9 1.7 Definition of Terms …………………………………………………… 9 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.0 Introduction …………………………………………………….……... 14 2.1 Corruption: A Historical Overview in Nigeria ……………………...... 14 2.2 The Nexus between Church and Politics ……………………………... 24 2.3 The Nature of Corruption …………………………………………….. 28 2.4 Corruption and Rigging of Election in Anambra State ………………. 39 2.5 Efforts at Fighting Corruption in Nigeria …………………………….. 46 CHAPTER THREE: THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF ANAMBRA STATE 3.1 History of Creation of the Present Anambra State …………………….. 52 3.2 Emergence of Political Crisis in Anambra State ………………………. 57 3.3 The Political Regime of Ezeife ………………………………………….. 58 3.4 The Political Regime of Mbadinuju ……………………………………... 59
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3.5 Political Regime of Ngige …………..………………………………….... 61 3.6 Peter Obi’s ongoing Regime …………………………………………... 76 CHAPTER FOUR: THE CHURCH AND POLITICAL LEADERS IN ANAMBRA STATE 4.1 Church’s Teachings on the Apostolic Governance in Anambra State .. 80 4.2 The Christian Faith and Politics: a Reflection on People’s Welfare …. 85 4.3 Church and Politics: The Indispensable Agents of Unity in the Society ………………………. ………………………………………... 87 4.4 Church in Politics: Rationalizing the Emergence of Liberation Theology ………………………. ……………………………………... 91 4.5 The Role of the Church in Anambra state Political System ………….. 98 CHAPTER FIVE: CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF CORRUPTION IN NIGERIA 5.1 Causes of Corruption in Nigeria ………….. ……………………...…... 101 5.1.1 Get Rich Quick …………….... ………………………………………... 101 5.1.2 Moral Decadence ………………………………………………...…… 103 5.1.3 Manipulation of Panel by Government ……………………………….. 105 5.2 Corruption and Impunity of Electoral Malpractices ………………...… 106 5.3 Politicians and Godfathers in Anambra State ………………………… 117 5.4 Political Godfathers and Funding of Violence in Nigeria ……………. 127 5.5 The Effects of Corruption ……………………………………...... 138 CHAPTER SIX: THE RESILIENCE OF CORRUPTION IN ANAMBRA STATE 6.1 Government Inability to Fight Corruption ……………………………. 148 6.2 The Passive Role of the Church in Fighting Against Corruption .…… 156 6.3 The Church and Corruption: An Exposition on Materialism and Simony ……………………………………………………………….. 159 6.4 Socio-economic and Political Decay: A Challenge to the Church …… 166 6.5 The Way Forward ……………………………………………………. 170
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CHAPTER SEVEN: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 7.1 Summary of the Findings …………………………………………….. 172 7.2 Contributions to Knowledge …………………………………………. 174 7.3 Recommendations ……………………………………………………. 176 7.4 Suggestions for Further Study ……………………………………….. 179 7.5 Conclusion ….………………………………………………………… 180 Bibliography ……………………………………………….…………. 183 Appendix …………………………………………………..…………. 197
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List of Abbreviations
ABBREVIATIONS MEANING A.P.G.A All Progressive Grand Alliance B.P.I Bribe Payers Index C.A.N Christian Association of Nigeria C.B.N Central Bank of Nigeria C.C.G Christian Council of Ghana C.P.I Corruption Perception Index E.F.C.C Economic and Financial Crimes Commission E.U.E.O.M European Union Election Observation Mission F.E.S.T.A.C Festival of Black African Arts and Culture G.B.C Ghana Bishops Conference I.C.P.C Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offenses Commission I.N.E.C Independence National Electoral Commission J.T.F Joint Task Force N.A.F.D.A.C National Agency for Food and Drug Abuse Control N.A.P.E.P National Poverty Eradication Programme N.A.P.T.I.P National Agency for Prevention of Trafficking in Persons N.B.A Nigerian Bar Association N.C.S Nigerian Customs Services N.D.L.E.A National Drug Law Enforcement Agency N.D.P.V.F Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force N.D.V Niger Delta Vigilante N.D.I National Democratic Institute N.O.A National Orientation Agency N.P.N National Party of Nigeria N.U.R.T.W National Union of Road Transport Workers O.B.T Obtained By Tricks P.D.P Peoples Democratic Party T.I Transparency International T.M.G Transition Monitoring group U.N.N University of Nigeria Nsukka UNI.PORT University of Port Harcourt U.P.E Universal Primary Education Scheme W.A.I.C War Against Indiscipline Commission W.A.I War Against Indiscipline
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CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
In Nigeria, bribery and corruption are hydra-headed twins that have eaten deep into the fabrics of the society. Starting from the colonial era of Nigeria, bribery and corruption have made steady and seemingly unstoppable progress up to the present. Whether during the colonial era, or when Nigeria gained her independence in 1960 or for the long years of military rule, bribery and corruption have become a recurring decimal (Achunike, 2006: 162). Chuta (2004: 17, 39) traced the problem of corruption from the pre-colonial to the colonial and self- government era. He further traced corruption to the First Republic (1960-1966) down to the different stages of military era, even to the second and third republics.
In all these cases, Chuta stood on the assertion that majority of Nigerian’s have been corrupt. Ugwu (2002: 16) traced corruption to colonial period when he posited that:
It has been argued that the major roots of corruption were sown during the colonial period when a lot of structures were created for the purpose of administration. The pro-colonial society knew little or nothing about corruption but soon after Nigeria’s independence in 1960 and shortly afterwards in 1963 after Nigeria had become a republic, there grew in galloping proportions corruption in every sphere of human life.
Kalu (2007: 2) posited that the under privileged are the victims of corruption while the ruling class hypocritically engaged in the condemnation of acts that benefit its fold. Over the years, the vast majority of Nigerians have
10 learned and experimented on bribery and corruption. Corruption therefore, seemed to have become part of the daily life of Nigerians. This is so because the situation most Nigerians find themselves today makes corruption easy and it is only when good and responsible governance prevails that corruption will recede. Not many
Nigerians think that hard work pays. Equally not many think that honesty is worth trying (Achunike, 2006: 163). Madu (2003: 1) opined that hardwork has been scarified at the altar of easy ways of making money like 419, ritual murders and corruption in its different ramifications. That materialism has gone deep into the psyche of people that spiritual values are de-emphasized, as even, one can discern from the prosperity sermons of many of the anointed men of God and their materialistic life-styles. Meanwhile, twenty-two years ago Achebe (1983:1) observed that:
The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely, a failure of leadership. There is nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian land and climate or water or air or anything else. The Nigerian problems are the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise up to the responsibility, or the challenge of personal example, which are hallmarks of true leadership. From the observation of Achebe, it is understood that the common man looks up to the rulling elite to learn and be directed to avoid corruption. But such expectation from the leadership in Nigeria has failed. Democracy which supposed to be the government of the people, has failed in Nigeria. When the first generation rulers in Nigeria became corrupt, Major Chukwuma Nzogwu and his military colleagues struck. Nzogwu in his broadcast pointed out that they have come to save Nigerians from the hands of inept and corrupt leadership. Nzeogwu cited by
Uju in (Ugwu, 2002: 3) opined that “Our enemies are the political profiteers, the
11 swindlers, the men in high and low places that seek bribes and demand 10 percent, those that have corrupted our society and put the country back by their words and deeds”.The above statement was contained in the national broadcast of Chukwuma
Nzogwu on 15th January 1960.The aim therefore was to give good governance to the vast majority of Nigerians. However, the military consistently failed to salvage the masses in their political governance.Corruption and abuse of power has long been features in Nigeria. Joseph, R. S and Taylor, A. A. (1996: 9) has described
Nigeria as an “unfinished state and as a truculent African state tragedy”. (Ayittey,
2006: 2) posited that in the midst of abundant human and material resources, efforts at building a democratic polity further entrapped it at the “political cross- roads”. Yet, with enormous wealth from oil resources, economic endowment, social and political strength, Nigeria has not qualified to be called the giant of
Africa. Kew (2006: 12) has noted that:
The giant was brought to its Knees by 20 years brutal and corrupt military rule, which left a legacy of executive dominance and a political corruption in the hands of Nigeria’s so- called “godfathers” powerful political bosses sitting a top vast patronage networks who view the government primarily through the lens of the own personal enrichment. As a result of the instability, the focus of the leadership became parochial with the overriding consideration for personal survival rather than national development. Attempts at promoting “democratic consolidation” were hampered by the personality cult of the emerging political gladiators who exploited the instrument of state power to promote their personal agenda.
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Nigeria’s political elite, as Skiar (2006: 3) observed
Vie for power and control over the vast spoils of office”. The centralized political and economic structures “made the military and civilian individuals who controlled key state posts fabulously wealthy, while 70% of Nigerians fell into abject poverty. Poor leadership has led to stagnation, and alienation of the citizenry, causing a low level of sense of belonging and none identifying with the political system
(Mayer, 1996: 10). According to Kew (2006:21):
The Nigerian government remains distant from serving the interest of its people. The powerful mandarin who built vast patronage networks during the military days and their personal fortunes dominates politics at the federal state, and local levels of the Nigerian federation. Moreover, many of those so-called “godfathers” have been cultivating personal militias to secure their positions, promoting a local arm race in some regions… even though several governors one under indictment for money laundering abroad and others are being investigated at home. The bonanza continues at public coffers for these power holders, while basic infrastructure in many parts of the country remains as dilapidated as it was under military rule. It is the situation that Ake (1995: 2-5) indicated as the product of the pattern of state affairs in the developing world. According to him, the high premium on political power, and the attendant intense struggle for it, further hinders national development for the promotion of the personal interests of the political leaders.
Eke further observed that:
Besieged by a multitude of hostility forces, most of the leaders in Africa are political insecure. They are as completely engrossed in the struggle for survival that they are hardly able to address the problem of development. Skiar (2006: 3-4) noted that the leadership problem in the Nigerian polity was a manifestation of the dysfunctional pattern of the years of military interregnum. The leadership pattern in Nigeria lacks the necessary focus capable of instilling national development and promotes political stability. Rather,
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Nigerian leaders are preoccupied with their desires for the appropriation and privatization of the Nigerian state. The fall of the second Republic, for instance, was precipitated by the pervasive corruption and, the attendant political violence that greeted electoral manipulations, in a bid to stick to power (Ayeni, 1988: 30).
Similarly, bad leadership also plagued the military coups and counter coups; although their successors did not fair better. Consequently, development programme was slowed down, and political instability continued to parade the polity, as focus was shifted to combat the looming force of insecurity and internal regime instability (Omololu, 2007: 30). Oyedepo who rarely speaks on politics condemned the attitude of the current corrupt Nigerian leaders at all levels, saying that a country with many of her 36 state governors adjudged corrupt cannot be regarded as being governed well. According to him, the Church should come out of its political docility to mobilize its members for active participation in the political process (Ribadu, 2007: 23). Agha (1988: 106) posited that: “Any society is moralized by ideas, and ideas must work through the brains and arms of good and faithful men and women”. Obviously, the Church as a segment of the civil society should be concerned about arming their brains for good governance in the country. She has to speak out with any articulate voice on moral failures within the
Church as to reflect positively on the country’s political process to appreciable extent (Ojo, 2004: 1). As such, the Church has to carry out its missionary and prophetic mandate to the society. Against this background, this study examines the
14 role of the Church in combating corruption among Political leaders in Anambra
State.
1.2 Statement of Research Problem Corruption is ubiquitous phenomenon, as old as human existence and has adversely affected the society since time immemorial. In the pursuit of the specific purpose of this research, the assumption that are verified in this scholarly exercise are formulated and stated that it is believed that there is no positive relationship between Church and political leaders in Anambra State; and corruption has eaten deep and replicated itself in Anambra State since its creation. While the Church with its strength and spiritual authority has not ben able to wage offensive war against corruption in Anambra State. It is the expectation of the researcher that the work will help Anambra State Government and Church to reflect on the best strategy for fighting against corruption and redeeming her society from the apparent socio-economic and political decay.
The Church with its institutional strength and moral sanity should be able to pose frontal attack against corruption in Anambra State. Its voice has to be strong enough to fight against the spate of corruption, which has been looming large in the society.The Church which is the moral light of the society should be able to light up the dark clouds of corruption that has closed Anambra State. It is the expectation of the researcher that the work will help Anambra State Government and the Church to reflect on the best strategy for fighting against corruption and redeeming the society from the apparent socio-economic and political decay.
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1.3 Purpose of the Study
The main purpose of this study is to examine the role of the Church in
combating corruption among Political leaders in Anambra State.
Specifically:
1. To determine the nature of relationship between the Church and political
leaders in Anambra State;
2. To ascertain the extent the corruption has eaten deep and replicated itself
in Anambra State.
3. To examine how the Church with its institutional strength and spiritual
authority could wage war against corruption in Anambra and redeemed
the State from socio-economic and political decay.
4. To make policy recommendations in the study
1.5 Significance of the Study The significance and choice of the Anambra State crisis for this evaluation
of Nigeria’s democratic experiment is that it provided a platform for the
assessment of the performance of the existing democratic institution in Nigeria.
It is no exergeration that that corruption has eaten deep into the fabrics of the
society. This is highly perpetrated by all and sundry but with high profile
among the people in the governance both at Federal and State levels. This
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research is therefore poised to present to the general public at the alarming rate
corruption has eaten deep into the fabrics of the society. Again it is expected
that the readers would find in this work the contemporary causes of corruption
as regards the experiences of governance. Consequent upon this, measures that
would make this cankerworm be reduced would also be made known in this
work.
This study on the role of the Church in combating corruption in Anambra
State is of enormous practical and theoretical or academic importance. Indeed, this research is greatly significant because it is not only contemporaneous, but also apposite particularly at this historic juncture when Nigeria is conscientious in fighting against corruption, therefore it will serve as a source of informatiom to the members of the public. Evidently, this study is a practical one in the sense that it will provide a systematic, coherent and holistic view on the nature of relationship that exists between the Church and political leaders in Anambra State, as well as the place of the Church in fighting against corruption in Anambra State and therefore will be a data for future researchers. This study also provides the
Nigerian policy makers enough insight and an in-depth knowledge on the reality of the attendant evils of corruption in the phase of Nigeria’s development prospects.
The study will also be an addition to the numerous literatures in the library on the related topic.
1.5 Scope of the Study
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This research is about corruption in the leadership of Politicians in Anambra
State. Even though the research centres on the corruption among Politcal leaders in
Anambra State and the role of the Church in combating the evil of corruption, practical examples would be drawn from deferent parts of the country, in other to present a countrywide implication of corruption in Nigeria.
1.6 Research Methodology This is a qualitative research. Therefore, the method used is both analytical and historical. This is the process of gathering information on the contemporary politicians and government officials through primary sources of data. A primary source means the process of collecing data through oral interview from the knowledgable politicians, government officials and Church officials who have the knowledge of the subject or the topic. For the secondary sources, the study made use of books, unpublished project works and periodicals, journals, newspapers, magazines and internet materials.
1.7 Definition of Terms Religion: Religion as feelings, acts in the experiences of individuals in their solitude, and stands in relation to whatever that is considered divine. Durkheim
(1947: 5) defined religion as a “unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that are things set apart and forbidden, beliefs and practices which unite into a single moral community who adhere to them.” The twin elements of beliefs and practices appear to be very central because religion normally involves
18 certain ideas or beliefs on the one hand and on the other hand, certain observances.
These observances may be positive or negative. Acquinas quoted by Okwueze
(2003: 3) defines religion as the virtue, which prompts man to render to God the worship and reverence due to him as God.
Udoidem (1997: 153) defines religion as man’s response to his Supreme
Being who is his creator whose response affects his relationship with other creatures. Religious groups are referring to those persons who share in a pattern and social way of the relationship between God and man. They share similar religious values and common religious behavioural patterns (Fitcher, 1957: 115).
Umechukwu (1995: 17) in his own view, sees religion as “a belief in a
Supernatural Being” which often derives from the age-long search by human beings to explain their existence, the source of their ills and fortunes and their belief in a spiritual or Supernatural Being who has a ruling power; the creator and controller of the universe. Ballah, quoted in Diyrie (1975: 65), religion is the comprehensive reality of man’s attempt to integrate himself, his consciousness, the world and society in a pre-scientific and meta-scientific system of absolute symbolic”. Vernon (1962: 155) who posited that:
religion is that part of culture composed of shared beliefs and practices, which not only identify their supernatural and the sacred and man’s relationship to them but that which also relate them to the known world in such a way that the group is provided with moral definitions as to what is good and what is bad.
Politics:
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Ulu (2007: 40) sees politics as the totality of the act of governance and difined politics as“Who gets what, when and how?” David cited by Umechukwu
(2000: 17) sees politics as “the authoritative allocation of values, which aspires to include phenomena that are fundamentally similar in all societies no matter at what time or in which part of the world they have existed”. However, Nnoli’s definition seems to be comprehensive when he posited that:
Politics is all those activities, which are directly or indirectly associated with the seizure of state power; the consolidation of state power, and the use of state power.” It seizes power and “authoritatively allocates values” and determines and decides, “who get what, when and how, as well as all other political questions. (Nnoli, 1985: 7) He further said that “the nature and interest of this class becomes the motive force for the reorganization of the entire socio-economic, political, and cultural relations in society.” Asobie (2007: 10) defined politics as: “Creating a general environment that is conducive for organizing production, increasing productivity, thereby maximizing human and social welfare through an enhancement of quantum of the social product”. According to him, ‘politics is fundamentally about material and human development; and development begins with production and not with distribution or sharing’. Asobie understands politics as” the construction that identifies social and political values, development and implementation of policy with the state action”. According to Okwueze (2003:
152) “politics is the mere arrangement of allocation of power, which gives rise to authority.” From the above views, politics can therefore be defined from an
20 ethical point of view as legitimized efforts to use power responsibly to provide goods and services for the people.
Church: Willmington, (1984: 691) stated unequivocally that: The Greek word in the New Testament for our English word “Church” is ekklesia . It is derived from the verb ekkaleo . The compound ek means “out”, and kaleo means “to call or summon”. Thus, the literal meaning is “to call out”. More so, this word church was derived probably from the Greek Kuriakon (i.e. the Lord’s house), which was used by ancient authors for the place of worship. In the New Testament, it is translated from the Greek ecclesia which is synonymous with the Hebrew Qahal of the Old Testament both words meaning simply an assembly, the character of which can only be known from the connection in which the word is found. Similarly, Strong, (1890: 26) emphasized that the world Church comes from the Greek term Kuriakon , which means “belongs to the Lord” or
“Lords”.Strong also saw Chuch as the millitant body of living Christian believers, regarded as striving to combat corruption on earth. Northville (2008: 3) articulated that the Church or ekklesia is a compound Greek term derived from the verb ekkaleo . According to Northville, the prepositional prefix ek means “out” and kales means “to call”, thus compound word ekklesia (Church) means “called out”. The noun then would then be a “called-out group” or “an assembly”. The
Church simply refers to an assembly of called-out people. Northville maintained that many New Testament terms are derived from the Old Testament, and ekklessia is used in the Greek Septuagint to translate the Hebrew term qahal .
Northvilles (2008: 6) says that:
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The term qahal frequently used in the Old Testament for an assembly of the people of God. This was where the rule of God was to exist, and where teaching and discipline were carried out… this unfolds the basic relationship and truth underlying both the Old and New Testaments. Northvilles continued that the Church came into being soon after Jesus ascension (40 days after Easter) on Pentecost (the seventh Sunday after Easter), when 3,000 Jewish people repented and were baptized (Acts 2). By this explanation, one quickly understand the fact that Jesus Christ is the head of the
Church while the church is the body of Christ here on earth established for the purpose of representing Christ and to continue his good works (Ugwu, 2009: 27).
Corruption:
In broad terms, corruption is the abuse or misuse of public or government power for illegitimate private advantage. It is an effort to secure wealth or power through illegal means for private benefit at public expense (Lipset and Lenz,
2000: 112). Sen (1999: 275) opines it involves the violation of established rules for personal gain and profit. It may be for the benefit of one’s party, class, tribe, friend, or family (Tanzi, 1998: 3). Okeke (2003: 255) argues that political corruption can occur through the deliberate and orchestrated manipulation of the unsuspecting public opinion to win or get into political office. Igbo and Anugwom (2002: 109) opine that political corruption refers to fraudulent use of public funds for private gain.
Nnoli (2003: 21) asserted that political corruption in Nigeria
22 encompasses the use of official power and government resources for sordid and disrepute private gain.
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CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW 2.0 Introduction.
The views of scholars cannot be jettisoned in a subject matter like cottuption among political leaders in Anambra State and the role of Church in combting the scourge of corruption. It is not about thinking parochially that the matter of corruption especially in Anambra State situation is pronounced, which many people have written or said so many things about. Therefore, this section is to look at the views of scholars concerning corruption and its attending tributaries in
Anambra State political system.This chapter is, therefore, divided into five sub- headings namely-Corruption: A historical overview; the nexus between the Church and politics; the nature of corruption; Corruption and the Church in Anambra; and efforts at fighting corruption in Nigeria.
2.1 Corruption: A Historical Overview in Nigeria The word ‘corruption’ has become a household word in the minds of an average Nigerian, because of its endless and constant spreading and its stability in any government in Nigeria, which to finding its solution has been dificult
(Amujiri, 1997: 133). Okoye (1989: 6) referred to it as a phenomenon that has survived from one historical epoch to another in different forms. Amujiri continued that corruption has been described as “a living stone, which lives for ages”. Thovoethin, (2003: 101) said that Nigeria’s post-independence history had been overshadowed by the depredations of a series of corrupt, abusive and
24 unaccountable governments. He said that the basic contours of Nigeria’s political history is simply wholly and squarely the history of corruption and corrupt leadership; that Public office, be it political, bureaucratic or judicial, are nolonger held in trust. An occupant of any of these positions is expected to go into it with clean hands and goes out in a similar manner. But, this becomes impossible in the face of endemic corruption. Robinson, (1998: 21) quipped that corruption has played a major role in underminding political and economic progress in
Nigeria.He said that this has led to the resurgence of interest in analyzing the phenomenon and the diverse forms that corruption assumes in developing countries like Nigeria under different historical epochs. Okeke, (2003: 253) said that corruption whether in the form of bribe, fraud, embezzlement, kickback, etc has eaten deep into the fabrics of Nigerian society.
Going down the memory lane in relation to the pattern of governance of the
Nigerian State since the attainment of independence in 1960, one can rightly say that corruption has been the bane of Nigerian public administration. More specifically, since the First Republic in 1966, political accountability based on performance-responsibility, evaluation has been very weak due to the endemic nature of corruption. According to Lawal, (2006: 645), the cry against corrupt practices in Nigeria became disturbing under the Gowon administration as a result of the alarming rate of different forms of corrupt scandals. Maduagwu, 1995: 20) said that Gowon’s regime was unashamedly corrupt to the macro; that everyone knew it and did not hide it from public gaze. His pledge to enact an anti-corruption
25 decree like other promises was never fulfilled. And when an attempt was made to expose these evils, he suppressed the attempts with the very weight of his high office. He said that the level of corrupt under the Gowon’s regime came under public scrutiny when Murtala Mohammed became the head of state. Joseph in
Aziom, (2004: 254) said that Muritala’s regime came to power as anti-corruption government, which set up Assets Investigation Panel to probe the Governors that served under Gowon. The panel indicted ten (10) of the twelve (12) governors and subsequently had their certificates confiscated. The anticorruption crusade of
Muritala also spread to the entire public service. The purge of the public service led to the retirement/dismissal of over 10,000 public servants nationwide.
However, Muritala succeeded in instilling some measures of discipline, and ensured accountability in government, but it is on record that his antecedence as a corrupt army commander during the civil war generated some doubts as to his sincerity and capability to sustain the crusade. The numerous multi-million naira federal capital projects contract and so on, gave additional strength to these doubts.
He concluded that his untimely death hindered the confirmation or disaffirmation of these stands.
Ikpe, (2000: 250) said that General Olusegun Obasanajo regime that took over from Muritala, still provided enabling environment for corruption. For example, in an effort at expanding state capability and development through such white elephant projects, activities and policies as Universal Primary Education
Scheme (UPE), Festival of Black and African Arts (FESTAC 77), First Lagos
26
International Trade Fair, Construction of Permanent Barracks for Soldiers and the new Federal Capital Territory at Abuja. All these were avenues for private accumulation of wealth; and this revives the conception of policies as “An unremitting and unconstrained struggle for possession and access to state offices with the chief aim of procuring direct material benefited only his cabinet members.
He also said that during the second republic under the civilian administration of
Alhaji Shehu Shagari (1979-1985), one would have expected that the politicians of the 2 nd Republic would distance themselves from corrupt practices but the reverse was the case. It was rather disappointing that the politicians of the Second
Republic would not distance themselves from corrupt practices like their predecessors. Rather they engaged in different corrupt practices of different shapes. The era was marked by gross abuses of power by virtually all political officeholders. Lamenting the scourge of corruption in Shagari’s administration,
Achebe (1983: 47) declared that “corruption in Nigeria has passed the alarming and entered the fatal stage; and Nigeria will die if we keep pretending that she is only slightly indisposed”. It is in the light of the above that Ulu, (2008:1) likened corruption as “a deadly virus, which attacks the vital structures of the society, thus putting its existence into serious peril”. Furthermore, Maduagwu (1995: 19) continued that: Ministers, Governors, party officials, supporters of all the political parties, business associates, all rallied round to share the booty. Shagari’s regime raped public wealth. But parties were also evolved in the scramble for the national cake. The parties made sure that in the states where they were in charge public
27 funds were diverted to the parties and private accounts as subsequently revealed by panels of enquires after the overthrow of the politicians. He moved further to the regime of Shagari and said that much to chagrin, the ethical revolutions commission was an abysmal failure for the simple reason that Shagari’s regime epitomized the very opposite of ethics in governance. According to Obianyo
(2003: 58) “The profligacy of that regime (Shagari’s regime) was the antithesis of the ethical revolution it put in place”.He said that the military government led by
Major General Buhari/Idiagbon that succeeded the Shagari’s administration was determined to wipe out corruption from Nigeria. Various Tribunals both at the
Federal and State levels were set up to probe the political actors of the Second
Republic. The Paul Omu led Tribunal found most of the politicians guilty and sentenced them to jail of various terms. He said that the Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade did not go far because of the overthrow of that regime by Babangida.
Babangida administration that terminated Buhari’s administration via the palace coup of on August 27, 1985 did not show any commitment to the anti-corruption drive (Lawal, 2006: 645). Babangida was widely accused of institutionalizing corruption as a tool of political control and as much as US$12.2 billion in oil revenues simply “disappeared” under his watch (International Crisis Group,
2007:12). General Babangida’s delay or refusal to hand over power gave rise to local resistance and foreign pressure, especially in the wake of the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election. He was constrained to step aside in 1993.
Interim Government was formed, with Chief Earnest Shonekan at the head. The
28 arrangement lasted for three months, at the end of which, General Sani Abacha took over leadership of the Nigerian government. However, before he handed over leadership, Ernest Shonekan, who was the Chairman of the Economic Vision,
2010 under General Sani Abacha informed the nation that between 1960 and 1993,
Nigeria had lost N8bllion (eight billion naira) to corruption.
Lawal said that judging from the theoretical framework at which Abacha launched out for war against corruption, one would, without equivocation; commend him for his good intensions. He set up the National Orientation Agency
(NOA) and the War Against Indiscipline and Corruption (WAIC).Chuta (2004:
33) said:
Despite all that General Abacha set forth as his blueprint to dealing with corruption, his regime was noted to have incurred the worst palace of corruption in the history of Nigerian. The record of corruption which surrounded him, his family connection, and his supporters submerged whatever returns corruption may have accumulated in the wider society. Indeed, corruption had a free rein in Abacha’s government, and Abacha himself become an epitome of corruption in Nigeria. Godwin Agbroko in his work entitled “Corruption: Public Enemy No.1” presented a detailed account of the recovered ill-gotten funds and property belonging to Abacha himself, members of his family as well as those of his cronies thus: In Abuja seven choices property…along with a high raised building in Victoria Island, Lagos. The cash recovered from him included US$625, 263, 187.19, £75,306,886.93 and N100,
000,000, together with 30 percent shares of the West African Refinery in Sierra
Leone, worth $420,000 US dollars. Between Abacha’s son, Mohammed and his brother, Abdulkabir, the government recovered up to N346 million. As for
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Abacha’s Security Adviser, Ismaila Gwarzo, the Federal Government took possession of 13 properties located in Abuja, Kano and Zaria as well as cash worth almost N400 million and $2million (Agbroko cited in Chuta, 2004;33).
Remarkably, it was the mode of General Abacha’s exit from Nigeria’s political scene that made possible the uncovering of some details about the financial plunder during his tenure of office, for there is likely to be other politicians or public office holders in Nigeria who are worse than Abacha in terms of corruption.
Lawal and Tobi, (2006: 646) said that the Abdusalam’s administration cannot be absolved from the mass looting of the public treasury. Lawal cited an instance of Christopher panel set up to review contracts; incenses and appointments made under the Abdusalam administration came out with shocking revelation. The panel found beyond imaginable proportions that though Nigeria was already neck deep in corrupt practices, the Abdusalam administration made mockery of any sense of discipline and probity and a scale that practically made saints of his predecessors. The panels report revealed that 4072 contracts cost
N635.62 billion as against the N88 billion budgeted for it 1998. The panel also revealed the depletion of the foreign reserve which as at the end of 1998 stood at
$7.6 billion but shrank to a $3.8 billion by May 1999. He said that despite his short stay in office, General Abdusalami Abubakar in sheer scope beat all his predecessors in office in the game of willful destruction of the nation’s economy
(Thovoethin, 2003: 108). Corruption and moral ineptitude became national ideology in Nigeria especially during the military regimes. Nigeria became objects
30 of ridicule and laughing stock by anyone and any state who want to maintain some essence of moral decorum (Obianyo, 2003: 58-59). Chuta, (2004: 33) stated that the level of corruption in Nigeria has qualified her to vie for a top position in the world’s corruption competition.
The inaugural speech marking the commencement of President Obasanjo’s administration on May 29, 1999 was replete with sentences, which showed a serious commitment to the promotion of the culture of public accountability and transparency in governance. The aspect of the speech on corruption read thus:
Corruption, the greatest single bane of our society will be tackled head on at all levels. Corruption is incipient in all human societies and in most human activities.
But it must not be condoned...No society can achieve anything near its full potentials if it allows corruption to become the full blown cancer it has become in
Nigeria…There will be no sacred cows. Nobody, no matter who and where, will be allowed to get away with the breach of the law or the perpetration of corruption and evil (Obianyo, 2003:59).
The content of Obasanjo’s speech no doubt will convince any cynical observer of Nigerian politics of the president’s sincerity and commitment in steering the ship of Nigeria politics away from corruption and abuse of office by pubic officers. Obasanjo within few weeks of assumption of office introduced the anti-corruption bill to the national legislature, which was signed into law on
Tuesday, 13 th June 2000 after rigorous legislative processes. In this, Obianyo pointed out that Corruption was identified as number one enemy of development
31 and progress. Combating corruption was easily the number one priority action for our administrative…Corruption is a cankerworm that has eaten into the fabrics of our society at every level. It has caused decay and dereliction within the infrastructure of government and the society in physical, social and human terms.
Corruption has been responsible for the instability of successive governments since the First Republic. Every coup then has been in the name of stamping out the disease called corruption. Unfortunately, the cure often turned out to be worse than the disease….Nigeria’s external image took a serious bashing, as our beloved country began to feature on top of every corruption index.
He said that despite the sycophantic and hypocritical posture of Obasanjo on corruption, it became a popular belief that Obasanjo’s anti-corruption crusade is mere rhetoric as his government and people indicted for one form of corruption or the other populated cabinet. For instance, during the first year of his first tenure, the Senate President, Chuba Okadigbo was indicted to have received N22.95m as
Sallah and Christmas welfare packages in excess of approved allocation for furnishing of the Senate President’s house (Obianyo, 2003: 62-63). The National
Assembly that is expected to check corruption and establish accountability became an assembly that was polarized by greed. Yet, instead of the administration to apply the full weight of the law against them as is done to other criminals, they rather merely relieved them of their posts (Adams Oshimole commented in
Vanguard, Aug 16, 2000, p17).
32
The 2008 Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index lists
Nigeria as the second most corrupt country in the world behind Bangladesh.
Nigeria alone is reported to be responsible for over 30% of the incidents of corruption in Africa. The same report noted that corruption in Nigeria has accelerated since the civilian government of Obasanjo came to power. A staggering amount of $36 billion in public money was reported to have disappeared with a few traces (Fazekas and Fergusson in Bussiness in Africa, Dec.
2002/Jan. 2003: 6). Also in the 2008 Transparency International (TI) Corruption
Perception Index, Nigeria still ranked 152 out of 159 most corrupt countries in the world, while Nigeria is placed 94 out of 155 countries, in the World Bank’s 2006
Ease of Doing Business Index. Worst still, Nigeria is widely known around the world for a fraudulent activity known as the “419” . In a bid to further stem the trend of this social malaise (corruption), President Obasanjo constituted the
Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission (ICPC) in
2000 and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in 2003. Yet, corruption is still present and prevailing too at all tiers and branches of government. Ulu (2007: 108) argued that the anti-corruption policies have failed to yield the desired result of stamping out corruption in Nigeria because a criminal cannot prosecute himself.
It was on this note that Ifesinachi (2004: 1) expressly stated that “Africa’s wind of corruption wither anti-corruption policies”.On May 29, 2007 Yar’Adua rode to power on the back of elections in which corruption, violence and fraud
33 ensured victory for the ruling party - People’s Democratic Party (PDP). When he was sworn into office, Yar’Adua made some encouraging gestures and stated that there must be a respect for the rule of law and transparency in government as well as zero tolerance to corruption as the watch words for his administration. In July,
2007, Yar’Adua gave a nod to demands for increased transparency by publicly declaring the total value of his total private assert which was $5 million {BBC
News Online, June 29, 2007.) The above gestures mark steps in the right direction.
However, it is by his future actions that this administration will be judged, in fact, if President Yar’Adua’s government is to succeed where its predecessor failed, deep and wide-reaching persistent reforms are needed to transform the trend of corruption, political violence and abuse that have become part of daily politics in
Nigeria.
2.2 The Nexus between Church and Politics
Nigerian politics has since gone the religious lines. In the same way, it is no more hidden that Anambra State politics now trails some religious denominational lines. Many events have since been pointing to this direction and ignoring it means folly while facing the facts may need more than an ordinary courage (Muozoba, 2010:1). Umechukwu (1995: 12) argued that religious politics refers to governmental use of religion to achieve economic and diplomatic benefits. He mentained that it can be an employment of religion as a way of winning political score against the government of the day, as it is the case of
34
Northern State government of Nigeria. He saw the incursion of religion into politics and its attendant evil as the major issue that has always constituted an obstacle to Nigeria’s political integration with Religion. He says that the situation has deteriorated to the extent that many right-thinking citizens wonder whether religion has not jettisoned its primary role of ensuring peace between human beings and God, to giving way to chaos and anarchy. He believed that one sure manifestation of this problem is the incessant religious riots frequently unleashed on the nation.
He saw the threat posed by religious frictions to the political stability of
Nigeria as intractable, and many attribute the conflicts to a sinister design by powerful forces to undermine or topple the government of the day. Umechukwu concluded that misapplication of religion that exists in Nigeria makes it imposseble to see the relivance of the Church in the nation building. Ekwunife
(1992: 25) condemned this attitude when he averred, that once the selfish interest of these hidden elites is at stake, they sponsor the ever-willing fanatical religious group to rebel against constituted authorities and the laws of the nation.
He posited that religious rivalry in Nigeria has created an atmosphere of societal insecurity and has become an object of politics, which does nobody any good. He described it as quite unfortunate that is not uncommon to make political appointments enemies because of religious affinitve in Nigeria. Blanco (2003: 4) asserts that religion can act as both an agent to keep the status quo, as well as an
35 agent of change and revolution. He reterated on how the Church’s supremacy through the Middle Age was a clear example of how religion can be an effective instrument to mentain law and order and to causing mayhem in the society. He illustrated from the contemporary events of the power of faith and how it can be a strong means to social changes. The black civil rights movement in the United
States of America, Poland’s solidarity movement, the 1979 Nicaraguan revolution, south Africa’s anti-apartheid movement and so on.
Mayer (1996: 9) stated that, the religious order has a prominent claim over the believer and the social order of every day life, thus, extending its influence over the political domain when collective decisions concerning that social order are being made. Hence, the way the individual relates to the state and acts in the public arena are also determined by the religious order. He says that Politics is made relative to, and is validated by religion. Moyser argued that some of citizens, most visible political actions like voting or protesting may reflect the underlying beliefs values and options.
He cited another example of how religion also influences the decision- making process in the public sphere through law making regarding issues of education, family, sexuality or capital punishment – example, polygamy, homosexuality, inheritance, etc.that focusing on the context of developing countries and their colonial experiences, it seems that people in Nigeria tend to be more religious than being political as a result of different historical processes. He mentained that Religion is almost a political system or theocracies dominate in
36 geographical areas such as sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia prior to European colonization. Madu (1997: 43) said that “religion is at the core of the personality, exerting a tremendours influence on the lives of individuals, whether intellectuals or the illiterate masses.” This is because of certain claims religion makes on the adherents. Religion, for instance claims to be a connecting link between man and
God, who is a transcendental invisible being. This claim or assumption is made manifest when man finds himself performing some unintelligible functions in cults or worship, believing that what he is doing has some relevance in his life.
Smith (1991: 2) saw the ‘intrusion’ of western ideas and western power as the marriage between religion and politics with the introduction of the complex processes of secularization of religion as it opposes between Christianity and
Islam. He said that Islam and politics cannot be separated; Islam is politics and
Politics is Islam. Blanco (2003: 12) on the other hand said that the Christian Priest said; “there is a demarcation line between religion and politics. He claimed that both positions are fundamental to their religious doctrine. He said that the priests always referred to the Bible on account where Jesus proclaims that His kingdom is not of this world. In explaining this difference between Islam and Christianity,
Kukah and Falola (1996: 3) said that it is easy to understand Islam’s political nature because it was founded on politics and her political structure becomes part of the structural and architectural design of Islamic religion. He affirmed his assertion that it might be safer to assume that the Muslim view of society is a major cause of the problem of instability in Nigeria, as the effect which the other
37 factors exert on the society are merely the result of the socio-political structure which itself is influenced by this Muslim concept of, and the Muslims’ attitude to, the Nigerian pluralistic society.
2.3 The Nature of Corruption There are different ways through which corruption is viewed.
Notwithstanding, it has a common ground of opinion which conceives that corruption is the perpetration of a vice against the public well-being. Lipset and
Lipset (2000: 16) saw corruption as an effort to secure wealth or power through illegal means for private gain at public expense. Tanzi (1998: 7) in his own view saw Corruption as intentional non-compliance with ethical and moral behaviour which aimed at agalitarian society and also a determination to destroy the set moral institutions.
Tanzi also believes that corruption occurs in every human endeavour and often difficult to observe because corruption do not typically take place in broad daylight. Ackerman (1998: 34) viewed corruption from the payments that are made to obtain a benefit for avoiding a lost of interest on the part of the payer.
Such payment affects the behaviour of both payers and recipients. She went further to observe that different societies drew the line between legal gifts and illegal pay offs at different points.That in thinking about where to draw the line, one must ask what was the rationale behind the payments to such agents to underming public goals. She mentained that this is the critical element in
38 determining what constitutes corruption. She however said that depending on how a society is organized or disorganized will go a long way in explaining whether corruption succeeds and the degree of its pervasiveness. She said that the important point is that each society must define legally what constitutes a corrupt practice or behaviour and devise ways of sanctioning it. Although she said that it is not very easy since the dynamics of corruption keeps changing not only from one society to the other but also from one historical epoch to another.
She gave an instance; the way corruption is perceived in Nigeria in the
1960s may be completely different from the way it is perceived presently. Walecki
(n.d: 2) saw corruptipn as behaviour on the part of a candidate or a party that involves improper or unlawful conduct of financial operations for the gain of a political party, interest group, or of an individual candidate. Akanbi, (2001: 13) identified a long list of practices that constitute corruption. These include: the use of pecuniary advantage, gratification, influence peddling, insincerity in advice with a view to gaining advantage, less than a full day’s work for a full day’s pay, tardiness and laziness, failure to report cases of inducement to the commission.
Ayikeke (2006: 39) said that corruption in Nigeria has made election results to have very little or nothing to do with the performance in office of politicians. But effective democratic processes, parliamentary systems, political stability, and freedom of the press are all affected with corruption. With regard to the electoral processes, costly political campaigns, with expenses exceeding normal sources of political funding, and the absence of adequate controls to prevent bribery or
39
‘campaign donations’ provide room for corrupt practices (Dreher, and Steve, 2009:
68). Macrae (1982: 1) was of the view that corruption is primarily a problem of institutional weakness and inefficient public bureaucratic system. In his view, he saw corruption as a form of behaviour that results from the structural deformity of an under-developed political economy that is incapable of delineating between public trust and individual interest. He saw corruption narrowly as a negative form of behavioural pattern where an officer who is entrusted with public office abuses that office through personal misconduct or moral lapses that borders on greed, avarice or selfish desire. Macrae is more concerned with the official aspect of corruption. He fails to realize that so many corrupt practices can be unofficial and therefore does not entail somebody who occupies a public office.
Scot (2007: 3) said that even official corruption requires an element of covertness to work on a continuous basis. To him, the interesting point about corruption anywhere in the world is that it requires mutual understanding to work and prosper in it. It is not an ad-hoc and incidental affair like gift taking, which seldom happens by chance. Rather, it is an internally organized and well- coordinated arrangement between principals and agents or patrons and clients.
Ake’s explanation of corruption is derived from his analysis of character.
According to him, the postcolonial state of character molding in Africa was weak and crisis-ridden of non-autonomised. Consequently, politics becomes a kind of crude and relentless fight to gain access to state power and the spoils that it offers
(Ake, 1981: 30). In his view, he saw corruption as originating from the inherent
40 weakness of the state to mediate competing social forces. On the contrary, the state itself becomes an arena for political and ethnic conflict, rather than an impersonal institution capable of standing above and managing the incessant power struggle.
Furthermore, he concluded that the attendant politicization of development, crass consumerism vis-à-vis low productive base and the struggle for scarce resources make the state a negative unity of crooks in which collective enterprise and development is all but impossible. Consequently, he said all that matters is the calculus of force, greed and self-interest. Alatas (2008: 24) briefly viewed corruption as a situation where two people can act to increase their own pay-off at the expense of a third person. He said it does not mean that an individual cannot perpetrate the act.But the point here is that, most often, it takes at least two people to perfect an act probably conceived by an individual. Gray and Kaufmann (2008:
17) viewed acts of corruption to include bribery and extortions, fraud and embezzlement. To them, it manifests in governmental activities through the appropriation of public assets for private use and embezzlement of public funds by politicians and high-level officials.
Kaufmann’s assumption that only politicians in government are corrupt is naarrow. Most often, bureaucrats provide the templates for perfecting corruption.
Most corrupt practices are only exposed by bureaucrats when they are excluded from sharing in the proceeds. Hence they said that corruption in government cannot be a unilateral action. They therefore, mentioned in some places where corruption manifests itself- all facets of governmental activities via contracts, the
41 allocation of benefits, collection of public revenues, and judicial pronouncements.
That Officials involved in performing these duties partake at one stage or the other, in the abuse of the processes. This type of official misconduct as well as the rationale thereof has been vividly articulated by Klaveren (cited in Ikejiani, 1995:
139) said that
Corrupt civil servants regard his public office as a business, the income of which he will seek to maximize. The office then becomes a maximizing unit. The size of his income depends upon the market situation and his talents for finding the points of maximal gain on public’s demand curve. Besides regarding his office as business, a corrupt power holder could engage in activities that reflect his self-interest as he uses his public office as a springboard. This point was well captured by Fredrick (Quoted in Ikejiani,
1995:129) when he contended that the pattern of corruption exists whenever a power holder is charged with certain responsibilities do a thing which is against his office functions. He said that this may be through monetary or other performance not legally provided as part of his duties and thereby create damage to the public and its interests.
Corruption, as it has been revealed, does some damage to public because the action of the public office holder or the power holder is against the public interest, which the office holder is supposed to protect by his oath of office.
Njoku (2001: 1) has identified different forms of corruption .He enumerated them to include: economic, bureaucratic, political and judicial corruption. He said that under economic corruption businessmen, multi-national companies and other corporate bodies circumvent established and conventional procedures in order to
42 make huge profits. Those public officers who should normally and officially supervise them collude with them on agreed non-official terms.
Okoosi (1993:2) in his own view saw this type of corruption as an odeal and an abuse of public trust using official positions and responsibilities for self-serving objectives. He said that this does not usually result only in momentary gains but also employing wrong persons because of brotherhood and relation clique. For example, when the head of an organization employs or appoints someone based on personal relationship rather than merit. He said that a corrupt civil servant regards the public office as a business income. The office then becomes a household company. According to Okoosi, when public office is converted into an avenue for the maximization of income and/or property, market centred corruption has occurred. According to him, examples of this type of corruption include: the creation of ‘ghost’ workers, kick-backs and commissions on government projects and purchases, illegal oil sales and auctioning of public property, ranging form cars to seized goods.
Robinson (1998: 6) classified corruption according to the number of people involved in the act. He therefore, categorized corruption into three: systematic, individual, institutional for example the police force in a systematic society could still be collecting bribe in the open. These are confined to instances of malfeasance on the part of individual politicians or public officials and are episodic rather than systematic. One can cite an instance of police toll gates in every two kilometers of our roads. He said that in some cases, there are some corruptions that pervade
43 particular institution or sectors of activity, for example, bureaucratic corruption.
This is what Robinson categorized as institutional corruption. In the third case, corruption pervades the entire society and in the process becomes routinised and accepted as a means of conducting, everyday transaction. This is what Robison calls systematic or entrenched corruption, which affects institutions and influences individual behaviour at all levels of a political and socio-economic system.
From a conservative angle Chidoka (2001: 6) categorizes corruption into two main types according to the degree of the menace. The two types of corruption according to him include petty and grand corruption. Petty corruption is the abuse of entrusted power for personal gain or for the benefit of a group to which one owes allegiance. Grand corruption, according to Chidoka involves high public officials who make decisions involving large economic rents. Gray and Kaufmann
(2008: 17) identified seven factors that engender corruption. These are the value of wages and salaries, presence of strong opportunities and awareness of how to perpetrate corruption, weak measures against accountability, population manipulation, misdirection of natural resources, lack of political will and indecisive pressure. He maintained that the factors that enhance corruption vary from one culture to the other and from one political system to the other.
Nigeria presents a veritable case for understanding the connection between corruption and political malaise. Ribadu (2007: 32) gave a graphic summary of the situation of corruption when he termed the period between 1979 and 1998 “the darkest period” in Nigeria’s history of corrupt regimes. The civilian administration
44 of 1979 – 1983 was bedeviled with profligacy, wanton waste, political thuggery and coercion. Disrespect for the rule of law and bare-faced free for all looting of public funds through white elephant projects. Ribadu continues that corrupt public servants and others in the private sector bestrode the nation, masquerading as captains of business and power brokers with tainted and stolen wealth and demanded the rest of us to kowtow before them. He said that the period of military regime was pathetic. Under them, corruption became the sole guiding principle for running affairs of state. The period witnessed a total reversal and destruction of every good thing in the country. Adesenyoju (2006:16) noted that Systemic corruption and low levels of transparency and accountability have been major sources of development failure. Illegal activities such as the Advanced Fee Fraud
(known as 419) and money laundering have torn the fabric of Nigerian society.
He maintained that unconventional and fraudulent trade, misappropriation of funds, kickbacks, under and over invoicing, bribery, false declarations, abuse of office, and collection of illegal tolls, among other malfeasant practices, are the issues that ranked Nigeria one of most corrupt countries of the world. That it has also denied her its pride of place in the international community. He also said that corruption is far more dangerous than drug trafficking or other crimes because when it goes unpunished, the public losses confidence in the legal system and those who enforce the law.
Osaghe (1998: 68) said that corruption and bad governance were the two major reasons often cited by the military to rationalize their incursion into politics
45 in Nigeria. While Adekanye, (1993: 16) however said that the succeeding military regimes could not stem the tide of corruption to initiate good governance. Ikoku,
(1985: 4) saw the wholesale deployment of Nigerian polity as a way of deepening corruption and political instability in Nigeria. Luckham (1971: 9) asserted that the new set of political actors who had experienced military rule also imbibed an autocratic political culture, which provided a veritable environment for corrupt practices. These include the mentality of force, intolerance of opposition, and an unbridled appetite for wealth through the appropriation of state resources for private gain by force of arms. That it is because of the enormous resources, government officials took advantage of the state machinery to manipulate collective wealth for their personal use. For instance Ake (1995: 32) said that former military head of State, late General Sani Abacha “paralysed the machinery of governance and pauperized the citizenry in five years of dictatorship and frenetic looting.” He was reputed to have stolen US $1.13 billion and 413million
British pounds sterling, apart from US$386.2million defrauded through fictitious and inflated contracts. Ake insists that this should not happen to a state because when it happens, the state effectively ceases to exist as a state and compromises its ability to pursue development. The “Kamikaze” plunder by military bandits reduced the “giant of Africa” to a comatose midget. As money flowed into
Nigerian government coffers, military dictators went on a spending spree. “They frittered away the oil bonanza on extravagant investment projects” (Ayittey 2006:
30). Gray and Kaufmann 2008:18) posited that where there is systemic corruption,
46 the institution values, and norms of behaviour are adapted to a corruption modus operandi with bureaucrats and other agents follow the predatory examples of, or even taking instruction from their principals in the political arena . In such a polity, the likelihood of detection and punishment decreases and incentives are thereby created for corruption to increase. The military took corruption to its height and seized power from democratically elected governments; pervasive corruption was cited as the justification (Akin, 2007: 24). Sadly, the civilian government that took over in 1999 could not even take any positive step towards recovering the loot of the Gulf War windfall, in spite of its resolve to deal with corruption. Instead, corruption continues to grow and the “abuse of public office for private gain, coupled with nepotism and bribery gained ground (Lawal and Tobi, 2006: 19).
Odion (2008: 6) noted that developed countries are hypocritical about their avowed commitment to discouraging corruption in developing countries. He said that one of the conditions for debt forgiveness and improved development aid from abroad was the reduction in the level of corruption. However, foreign missions in
Nigeria were alleged to have mounted pressures on the budget office to ensure that the due processes for contract selection and approval were circumvented in order to favour their choice candidates. The bait was that such favour would induce them to pressure their home countries to support debt forgiveness for Nigeria and, or, give additional development aid what a contradiction. This is the kind of situation that might have prompted Hawley (2009: 12) to condemn the activities of the multinationals that aid corruption in the developing countries. Hawley therefore
47 proposed that effective action against corruption has to involve effective sanction by developing countries against multinationals, which engage in corrupt practices; greater political transparency to remove the secrecy under which corruption flourishes; and resistance to the uncritical extension of privatization and neo- liberal economic policies.
The argument here is that multinational companies supported by Western governments which are supposedly waging a vigorous war against corruption in order to promote good governance and their agencies, were surreptitiously engaging in corruption on a grand scale in the developing countries. Hawley believes that this type of corruption was caused by the promotional activities of unscrupulous multinationals, with the active connivance of local politicians, to encourage useless industrial ventures in order to sell plants and machinery.
According to him, such ventures invariably cost money and worsened the country’s balance of payment problems. They were often tied to exploitative management agreements, which not only threatened their economic viability but also their ability to promote self-reliance .
2.4 Corruption and Rigging of Election in Anambra State The history of elections in Anambra is the history of rigging of election with impunity, brutality, thuggery, intimidation, maiming, stabbing, killing, snatching of ballot boxes or ballot boxes openly stuffed up with ballot papers, electoral officials reported of massive turnout of voters in areas where no voting took place at all or
48 election results fabricated. A journey into the past in relation to Anambra’s political history will justify and validate the above propositions and claims (Muozuba
2010:3). He cited an instance from Human Right Watch interview with Anambra
State Political godfather Chris Uba (Human Right Watch, Feb.2007) at his Enugu residence in February 2007 has this to say:
I have been in politics from 1999, but it is now my time to produce a Governor for the State. Since 2003 I have been handling PDP party and we have been doing well and did not have any problem in the party. When he (Ngige) became Governor he started playing funny. That is where we disagree. Yet we signed an agreement before he became Governor. From the interview, he also maintained that Ngige promised him that he would produce (appoint) six to seven state commissioners. Ngige himself would appoint the remaining. He said that the promise was that he will produce more of the commissioners while the Governor will produce lesser. He also said in the interview that he spent a lot of money to put him there but I never asked him to pay the money back. He kept on re-echoing that Ngige was trying to be smart and tried to run the government on his own. That the problem is Ngige being a politician who did not invest one naira, not even one kobo, wanted to run away with everything and not even share one appointment. He claimed that Ngige heaped blackmail upon him, which he did not tell him to give #3 billion because he knows that he does not have it. He said he was supposed to bring the commissioner for Finance, and the man who speaerheaded the campaign was supposed to be commissioner for Works. He said that he reminded him that he did not sign the agreement under duress. According to Muozuba, (2010:7) the Ngige-
Uba saga came to an end in March 2006 when a Federal Court of Appeal ruled that
49
Ngige’s 2003 election victory was fraudulent and threrfore null and void. The result was Ngige’s replacement with his 2003 electoral opponent from one of the opposition parties – All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), Peter Obi (Bolade
Ominjo in Vanguard, March 18, 2006). It is a fact that godfatherism has turned
Anambra State into an epileptic State in terms governance and even made the state ungovernable! This was much more demonstrated by the unconstitutional process of impeachment against Governor Peter Obi, just seven months after he assumed office on November 2, 2006; and his deputy Stella Etiaba was sworn in. After Obi was re-instated in February 2007, his tenure was further disrupted by 2007general election, as Andy Uba was sworn-in as the governor of Anambra State on May 29,
2007. All these show of political instability and crisis were as a result of the manipulations of the restive godfather in the state.
However, Andy Uba’s celebration as the new governor was short-lived.
Months prior to the elections Governor Peter Obi had filed a law-suit arguing that he had been robbed of his term of office because of the years-long delay in declaring him the winner of the 2003 election. A day after Uba was sworn in as
Governor, Nigeria’s Supreme Court ruled in favour of Obi in that case, granting
Obi the right to serve for four years in office. Uba’s election was null and void, and gubernatorkal elections will not be held in Anambra State until 2010 (See
Editorial 2007, The Guardian, June 27, 2007).
Ayua (2001:21) argues that political corruption should be considered as dangerous as it transforms power into a means not of governing for the common
50 good but of enriching those in power and/or spreading all manner of rewards among loyal supporters. The challenges facing corruption analysts begin with how to define it. Most people know corruption when they see it. The problem is that different people see it differently. The mostly commonly specified definition is the abuse of public office for private gain (Klitguard, 1991:211). The assertions made by the various scholars in their attempts to find out the elements of the definition is subject to debate and that a contention over what those terms mean is often the most important in political dimension of the corruption problem. Ribadu (2007:
30) gave a graphic summary of the situation. He termed the period between 1979 and 1998 “the darkest period” in Nigeria’s history of corrupt regimes. The civilian administration of 1979-1983 was bedeviled with profligacy, “wanton waste, political thuggery and coercion… disrespect of the rule of law… bare faced, free for all, looting of public funds through while elephant projects”. He further posited that corrupt public servants and others in the private sector bestrode the nation, masquerading as captains of business and power brokers with fainted and stolen wealth and damaged the rest of us to kowtow before them. The period of military regime was pathetic. Under them, corruption became the sole guiding principle for running affairs of state. The period witnessed a total reversal and destruction of every good thing in the country. It also reduced the “giant of Africa” to a comatose midget. They frittered away the oil bonanza on extravagant investment projects
(Ayittey, 2006:31). These culprits are presently ‘powerbrokers’ in Nigeria and
51
‘godfather politics’ seeking democratic avenues to perpetuate their rule (Skiar and others, 2006:31).
In his assertion, (Akin, 2007: 32) said that it is clear that military regimes were more than the civilian regimes as far as corruption was concerned. Hence political leaders assumed the activities in a dangerous dimension as contestant as they see their sucessors victorious in corruption. Instead, corruption continues to grow and the abuse of public office for private gain, coupled with nepotism and bribery killed good governance (Lawal, 2006: 2). Boer identifies two major issues that are affecting Church in Nigeria. “The first is corruption, which has penetrated every of society…” (Boer, 2003: 30). Eze realistically argues, however that “the survey of corruption in countries is not based on hard empirical experience and perception of those who are most directly confronted with the realities of corruption” (Eze, 2004: 1).
A critical survey of the state of things in the Churches in Anambra State shows that the Church has witnessed a phenomenal growth with an attendant increase in the rate of corruption. In a countrywide survey, Emenyonu (2007: 19) explained that the Church in Nigeria has witnessed a phenomenal growth over the past 100 years while the Christian population of Nigeria was just about 176,000 in the year 1900, by 2000 the population of Christians in Nigeria had risen to about
51 million. He said that it is projected to grow to 86 million by the year 2025”.
The Church in Ananmbra is not excluded from this growth. The number of
Churches has also grown astronomically. In the big cities, it is becoming rare to
52 find a neighbourhood where a Church is found within ten minutes walking distance. Numerous writers have commented on the growing influence of the body of Christ in Nigeria in particular and in Africa in general. Awoniyi, (2007: 11) said that with the numerical strength of Christians in Nigeria and practical living examples, corruption should not continue to thrive in the society.
The Church in Nigeria has not just grown numerically; the level of participation in the life and activities of the Church is commensurately quite high too. From experience most Anambra people can attest to this from the millions that attend places of worship for normal Sunday services, mid-week services, all night prayer meetings, retreats, and special conference programmes. External empirical validation of the level of involvement of Christians is provided by the World
Survey of Values, Global ranking of the levels of church Attendance. The survey indicates that Nigerian Christians with about 89% rate attendance are the number one in the whole world (Emenyonu, 2007: 17)
With this unprecedented increase in numerical strength among the churches in Anambra State, one may ask “why unrighteousness reigns”? The answers is very simple, greed, self-seeking and grab mentality, excessive quest for wealth and materialism, and other forms of corrupt practices among Church leaders and their members in Nigeria. Emenyonu continued that the number of Christians in Nigeria has been growing at a phenomenal rate; we also have empirical evidence that the people are actually going to Church and not just answering Christians without active involvement.
53
But Emenyonu (2007: 17) lamented that
The bad news is that while the numerical increase in the number of Christians in Nigeria is self evident, and church attendance is an all time high, it is however, unfortunate that there is no significant commensurate impact on the level of virtue and integrity in the Nigeria society. Nigeria has consistently ranked as one of the most perceived corrupt countries on earth. This has given rise to a befuddling paradox, namely; how can a people that profess so much faith and religiosity be regarded as the face of the earth. From the above, one can see that Nigeria ranks as the country with the highest level of Church attendance on one hand and also the country perceived as the most corrupt country. The juxtaposition of apparent spirituality should jettison grotesque infamy (i.e. absurd and normally wrong behaviour, bad reputation and being a source of shame which has become a blighting hall-mark of the rise of
Christianity in Nigeria. Agidimolaja (2008: 2) statedn that
my problem all along has been with our so called Christians and Christian Pastors. My problem is the various interpretations of our Bible texts. My problem is our various denominations and strange religious practices. My problem is lies and fraud in the house of God. Is it not supposed to a Holy Temple? Are we not supposed to be Holy people? Habba! He further added that nowadays, spirituality had vanished from the pulpit.
Health and wealth propagation (prosperity preachers) have taken over. Anywhere you go, it is money. Ministers of religions no longer care about life after death.
Life here on eath is of paramount importance to them. He said that they are the type Paul describes as “…their god is the belly, and thy glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things” (Philippians 3:19, RSV). The welfare of the flock is no longer their top priority. “God’s blessing upon them is on top of the list of their daily routine. They build mighty mansions for themselves and sit upon people’s money. All kinds of method have been used to pick people’s pockets and after
54 words nick-named the robbery as “God’s blessing”. In fact, the evils in the Church and corruption perpetrated by the church leaders are enormous.
As disappointing as the picture exposed above, Agidimolaja retorted, “Why then should I be a member of any Church? I need not be among these wogs. I better be alone. My church is my heart and that is where my God lives.” This confirms what Ozodo cited in (Minchakpu, 2009: 2) Chairman of the Nigerian
Evangelical Mission Association said earlier that: “A significant segment of the
Christian church in this country is gradually but steadily departing from the basic goals of Christianity… the entire church is in danger of losing its basic direction”.
He lamented that Christianity has been commercialized in the country with the love of wealth that has been introduced into the Church. No wonder the scriptures posited that “For the love of money is the root of all evils; it is through this craving hat some have wandered away from the faith and pierced their hearts with many pangs” (I Timothy 6:10 RSV). This love of money has brewed a “mercantilic
Church’.
Okafor, cited in (Minchakpu, 2009: 8) the then Secretary-General of
Scripture Union in Nigeria and a Pastor of the Chapel of Redemption at the
University of Nigeria, Enugu campus said that some ministers are most concerned about their own financial desires. Quite often there is an unnecessary spirit of competition and rivalry in the preaching of the gospel. They seek to be popular and cannot seriously call people to repent from sin, lest such people turn away.
55
In fact, he maintains that some preachers of the gospel are ignorant of the scripture and they also lack theological training that contributes to the lack of knowledge of the word of God.One must suggest that the reason why the Church has not been able to wage war against corruption in Anambra State is that the gospel bearers have carried corruption alongside with the gospel. Then the sinners wondered how hypocrites could change their lives for good.
2.5 Efforts at Fighting Corruption in Nigeria. Since independence, every Nigerian government has sought to fight corruption by devicing various means to curb corruption menace. During the first republic, Azikwe declared corruption as the nation’s enemy. During the Gowon era, The Corrupt Practice Decree No. 38 of 1975 was promulgated to deal with corrupt practices. Also reference has been to the anti-corruption crusade of the
Murtala/Obasanjo regime and how it purged the public service by sacking about
10,000 civil servants in a bid to curb corrupt practices. It also set up the Public
Complaint’s Commission. In the second republic of Shehu Shagari (1979-1983) was concerned about the high incidence of indiscipline and corruption inaugurated an Ethical Revolution Committee in November 1982. When Buhari became the
Head of State (1984-1985), he warned that his administration “will not tolerate kick back, inflation of contracts, forgeries, fraud and abuse of office (Iredia, 2005:
6). In fact, the Buhari regime was determined to inject sanity into the Nigerian polity via its “War Against Indiscipline (WAI) campaign.The Babangida
56 administration (1985-1993) resuscitated the Code of Conduct Bureau established by the 1979 Constitution and proceeded to the code of conduct Tribunal in 1989 to handle corruption. He also instituted the Kayode Esho Commission of Inquiry to investigate corruption in the public and private sectors, i.e, the National
Committee on Corruption and other Economic Crimes. The Babangida regime also came up with Corrupt Practices and Economic Draft of 1990. This decree expanded the definition of corruption to encompass the private sector. It also avoided unnecessary technicalities and provided stiffer penalties. However, that government did not really take issue of corruption seriously. It could actually be argued that corruption in Nigeria became institutionalized during this period
(Agbu, 2003: 3).
The Abacha administration (1994-1998) at its inception declared war against corruption through the “War Against Indiscipline and Corruption (WAIC).
Also, the Sani Abacha regime came up with the anti-corruption decree of
“Indiscpline, Corrupt Practices and Economic Crime (Prohibition) Decree of 1994 which was largely a replica of Babangida’s 1990 draft decree on “Corrupt
Practices and Economic Crimes. Abacha in his fight against corruption jailed many people while his own loot was later seen to be more than that of all those he jailed put together. “Ironically, revelations made after the death of Abacha and the amount recovered so far from family and cronies aptly showed that the Abacha administration was against corruption was a matter of rhetoric” (Lawal, 2006:
57
647). Abacha set up the Failed Bank Tribunal and promulgated the Advance Fee
Fraud and other Related Offences Decree No. 13 of 1995 to sensitize the nation.
Even the interium National Government which lasted for three months had something to say about corruption. In the 1993 budget speech the nation was told that “we can no longer ignore the issue of corruption which is now widely believed to be endemic in our country” (Shonekan, 1993: 5). It was only Abdusalami
Abubakar who was too preoccupied with the transition to civil rule during his short tenure, which did not design his own strategy against corruption (Iredia,
2005: 7).
The civilian administration of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo appeared to have had an agenda in fighting corruption in Nigeria when he came into office on May
29, 1999. His inaugral speech was replete with sentences which showed a serious commitment to fight agaist corruption and ensconce public accountability and transparency in governance. As he was out to match words with actions, he introduced the anti-corruption bill, which was signed into law on Tuesday, 13 th
June 2000. He identified corruption as a number one enemy of development and progress, and combating it was his number one priority action for administration.
The result was that Obasanjo set up the Independent Corrupt Practices and
Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on June 12th 2001 and mandated
Honourable Justice Mustapha Akanbi as the Chairman to investigate and prosecute cases of corrupt practices. Similarly, the Government also constituted in
September, 2004, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)
58 headed by Nuhu Ribadu, an Assistant Commissioner of Police to give an added impetus to fight against corruption.
The tempo of the anti-corruption crusade has since been high with many top government officials as the victims. Among them, were the public officers holding sensitive positions such as President of the Senate (Wabara, A), Inspector General of Police, many State Governors etc. however, a critical question comes to mind
“Can the Federal Government established an Act of empowering itself to review the finances, policies and activities of State governments and punish erring state official?” (Natufe, 2007: 9). Mallam Nuhu Ribadu (2008: 23), the then
Executive Chairman of the EFCC on Thursday 27 th December, 2007 in an
Interview revealed that: “Fighting corruption is an extremely difficult task, but it is a task that must be accomplished. It is a panacea for good governance … A couple of personnel of EFCC have lost their lives, but the battle must be fought and won by us”. He further explained that corruption is the reason why Nigerians are not maximizing the dividends of democracy. According to him, corruption is responsible for military take-over of governance. People take over government because it pays, it is a big reward. They see government as a place to go into, control public funds and do whatever they like with the fund. Though ICPC and
EFCC never functioned without a log in the wheel of their operations.The chairman of the ICPC lamented that ministers and State Governors are major hinderances to the successful prosecution of the was against corruption. According to Akanbi (2004:1) this is “not unexpected in a country where majority of people
59 go to accept office because of what they can take out of the oofice”. Similarly, a group described as the Northern delegates blast Obasanjo thus:
In spite of Mr. President anti-corruption pronouncements and actions, no significant success has been recorded. Rather it (corruption) has escalated beyond imagination involving officers in high levels of government. Neither the method nor the approaches used to stop corruption have worked so far. (Owete and Alli,
2005: 7). Regrettably, some officers of the EFCC are more corrupt than the people they are hunting to track down for financial corrupt practices. This is evident when eleven (II) top officers of the EFCC were sacked on 24 th August 2008 (See Daily
Sun, Monday August 25, 2008:1). Uju (2002:110) said that corruption is a household word in Nigeria that does not need definition. She opined that
Corruption has eaten deep into all the fibrics of the nation. It has become the lubricant or the oil with which every facet of the system is serviced. It no longer carries the negative connotation it ought to under normal circumstances. Ulu said that anti-corruption policies of Obasonjo failed to yield positive results.
As Obasanjo’s administration gave way, national mantle of leadership fell on Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua as the President of Nigeria on May 29, 2007. At inauguration, the President rolled out his seven-point agenda with emphasis on zero tolerance of corruption, respect to the rule of law and the notion of transparency as what will form the pillar of his administration. Yar’Adua inherited the ICPC and the EFCC. Within his first one year in office, none of the political big shorts or what his predecessor called “sacred cows” accosted, tried and found
60 guilty of financial corruption by the EFCC. Rather, he mentained the approach of romantization of crime. Only the poor bears the full weight of the law – a negation of his No. 1 agenda of the respect for the rule of law and due process, as well as a caricature of his posture for zero tolerance of corruption.
From the literature so far reviewed, it is a demonstrated fact that though many scholars of sound intellectual pedigree have exerted enormous intellectual energy in their conceptions and explications on the issue of political corruption in
Nigeria. However, the question that borders on the nexus between the Church and political corruption in Nigeria, especially as it concerns the place of the Church in the fight against corruption has not been satisfactorily answered in the existing literature. And this apparently spells out an existing gap (lacuna) in literature. As a matter of fact, it is the preoccupation of this research to fill this gap in literature with absolute adherence to the appropriate methodological approach adopted in this academic inquiry .
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CHAPTER THREE
THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF ANAMBRA STATE
3.1 History of Creation of the Present Anambra State
Old Anambra state was created in 1976 from part of East Central State and its capital was Enugu. A further re-organization in 1991 divided Anambra into two
States, Anambra and Enugu. The capital of the present State Anambra is Awka.
The State derives its name from the Anambra River, the largest, most southerly, left bank tributary of the River Niger. The creation of the present Anambra State resulted from the desire to spread gains of economic development and arrest the
National problem Northsouth, geopolitical dichotomy evident in the former
Anambra State (Wikipedia, 2011:1).
The present Anambra State is historically significant to Igbo people for many reasons. First, the town of Nri which has genealogical implications as their traditional home is located there. Secondly, several igbo personalities of National and Global acclaimed with proven records of excellence such as Dr Nnamdi
Azikiwe (Zik of Africa and first Indiginous Governor General and President of
Nigeria), Dim Emeka Ojukwu (the secessionist leader of defunct Biafra), Professor
Chinua Achebe, Emmanuel Ifeajuna, Asika Ukpabi, Chuba Okadigbo, Emeka
Anyaoku, Alex Ekwueme, are indigenes of the State. Thirdly, Anambra State has remained the cockpit of the involvement of Igbo people in Nigerian politics with its indigenes playing pivotal roles in the structure and functioning of the Nigerian
62 nation. It is important at this point to highlight that the involvement of Anambra people in Nigerian politics dates back to pre-independence era (Okereke, 2011.3).
Nnamdi Azikiwe was a prominent figure in the Nationalist agitations for political independence of Nigeria; others like Abyssinia Nwafor Orizu, Chike Obi,
Mokwugo Okoye and MCK Ajuluchukwu were prominent members of the radical
Zikist movement and the National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC). It is important to note that while these people played prominent roles in the early years of the Zikist movement, disaffection emerged in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. while Mokwugo Okoye registered his disillusionment in his book titled A Letter to
Dr. Azikiwe, Chike Obi chose to form an opposition party on whose platform; he secured a seat in the Eastern House of Assembly and for some time in the Federal
House of Representatives ( Okereke in The Guardianm August 5, 2004:65).
This party was called the Dynamic party. At independence, Dr Azikiwe became the Governor General representing the British monarch, while Abyssinia
Nwafor Orizu became the President of the Senate in the first Republic. The roles of emeka Odimegwu Ojukwu, Emmanuel Ifeajuna and Humphery Chukwuka in the early years of military misadventure in Nigerian politics, further demonstrates that Anambra people have played significant roles in the shaping of modern
Nigeria. For instance, while Ifeajuna took active part in the prosecution of the
January 1966 coup, Ojukwu frustrated the coupists. During the civil war, personalities from Anambra State also played significant role in the conduct of the war and the administration of Biafra. Emeka Ojukwu led the secessionist Biafra,
63
Dr. Azikiwe opted for the unification of Nigeria. Others like Ifeajuna was executed for treason under Ojukwu’s government, Christopher Okigbo was slain in battle,
Chike Obi was detained while Dr. Asika Ukpabi, a University teacher who opposed the secession from the onset was made the administrator of the post war
East Central State by General Gowon. It is significant to note here that these discrepancies and dissension has remained till date as the hallmark of Anambra
State politics. The evident division among Anambra State political elites was widened in the second Republic. While Nnamdi Azikiwe led the Nigeria People’s
Party (NPP), Alex Ekwueme and Chuba Okadigbo joined the National party of
Nigeria (NPN). MCK Ajuluchukwu was a leading ideologue of the Obafemi
Awolowo’s led Unity Party of Nigeria (UNP) while Chinua Achebe and Arthur
Nwankwo joined Malam Aminu Kano’s People’s redemption Party (PRP). The return of Emeka Ojukwu after thirteen years of exile and his subsequent declaration of membership of the NPN also contributed in compounding the divergent alliance and trends in Anambra State politics.
Okereke, (2011:2-3) continued that the State is significant because, the intrigues in Anambra politics during the second Republic was also characterized not only by the intense struggle for political control between the NPP and NPN which saw Jim Nwobodo and Christian C. Onoh at polar extremes of an intense political contest, but also by antagonistic dichotomy between Anambra north
(Wawa i.e Enugu State) and Anambra south (Ijekebee i.e present Anambra State).
This proved a potent divisive factor and a source of persistent tension in the young
64
State. The evident tensions attained National acclaim with the activities of Ikemba
Front (a gang of political thugs loyal to Dim Ojukwu, the ex-Biafran warlord) and their chains of violent confrontations with the then incumbent Governor of the
State, Jim Nwobodo which climaxed at the 1983 bloodbath at Nkpor junction. This complex web of crisis also manifested during the military administration of
Colonel Robert Akonobi (from Old Anambra South) who got entangled in the wawa-ijekebee controversy and consequently had a rough time contending with strong personalities of Wawa origin such as Chief Christian C. Onoh. (Source,
Okereke 2011:2-4). At this juncture, it is pertinent to mention the past non- indigenous Governors of Anambra State.
i. Joseph Abulu
Joseph Abulu was appointed Military Administrator of Anambra State on 27
August 1991 by General Ibrahim Babangida. On the 11th of October 1991, he inaugurated an Advisory Committee of civil society leaders to define how to improve the governmental infrastructure of the new State. During a temporary return to democracy, he handed over to Chukwuemeka Ezeife, the elected executive governor, on 2 nd January 1992. (Source: Wikipedia 2011:1).
ii. Dabo Aliyu
Police commissioner Dabo Aliyu (retired) was acting administrator of Anambra
State from November to December 1993. As the of his term service in the State, no significant record was kept about him.
65
iii. Mike Attah
Colonel Mike E. Attah was the Military Administrator of Anambra State from
9th of December 1993 to 21 th August 1996 during the regime of General Sani
Abacha. On October 25 th 1995, Mike Attah set up a commission of Inquiry to investigate violent disturbances that had erupted on 30 th September 1995 between the Aguleri and Umuleri communities. The commission found out that the attack by the Aguleri had been carefully planned, including use of hired mercenaries, and that the local authorities had done little to avert the crisis. In 1995, he made a grant of 12 million Naira to the Anambra State Polytechnic for reconditioning and renovation of the facilities. He awarded a contract for #650 million Naira to Chief
Christian Uba, a businessman, to build the new government house and the governor’s lodge, known as Zik’s place. In June 2006, the work was still not completed, and the contractor was suing for payment to cover costs to date.
iv. Rufai Garba
Group Captain Rufai Garba was the Military Administrator of Anambra State from 21 st December 1996 to 6 th August 1998 during the military regime of General
Sani Abacha. As Anambra State Governor, he approved construction of a headquarters building for the State Education Commision, but nothing was done until work started in 2009. In February 1998, a fire of unexplained cause burnt down the government house. In August 1998, he said that the citizens of Anambra
State feared the anti-crime task force as much as they feared criminals. He said this because, the task force was extorting money at road blocks and detaining the
66 people illegally.He made a promise that his government would crack down on the criminal activities of the task force.
Emmanuel U. Ukaegbu
In August 6 th 1998, wing commander Emmanuel Ukaegbu was appointed military administrator of Anambra State during the regime of General Abdusalami
Abubakar. It was every short regime.He handed over to the elected civilian governor Chinwoke Mbadinuju on May 29 th 1999 (Source: Wikipedia 2011:1).
3.2 Emergence of Political Crisis in Anambra State:
Varying interpretations have been emerging in attempts to unravel the persistent political crisis in Anambra state. First, there is the ethnic interpretation of the crisis. Proponents of this view maintain that the ongoing political turmoil in
Anambra is an attempt to disorganize Ndigbo in national politics. The argument here is that, since Anambra is the cockpit of Igbo politics and crème de la crème
(the best persons) of Igbo political elites are indigenes of Anambra, that the surest way to pocket Igbo people in National politics is to hijack the power base in
Anambra State. The Trend was wery evident in the second republic and manifests this time with the likes of Chuba Okadigbo, Alex Ekwueme and Emeka Ojukwu competing from different poles to influence the trend of governance in the State.
Yet, there is the inter class analysis which views the crisis in Anambra as a struggle by some to nouveau riche businessmen in the State to wrestle power from the established political class. Here, politics is conceived as a big investment to be
67 pursued with deadly seriousness. The activities of Chief Emeka Offor and Esele
Chris Uba buttress this point. Finally, there is another contention that the ongoing political confussion in the State was chiefly motivated by the attempt of President
Olusegun Obasanjo to settle some personal scores with his political opponents in the State, notably Chief Alex Ekwueme who contested against him in Presidential primaries in 1999 and 2003; Chief Emeka Ojukwu, who was the presidential flag bearer of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) and ther impeached Senate
President, Chuba Okadigbo who was the vice presidential candidate of the opposition All Nigerian People’s Party (ANPP). The strategy here is to use some political neophytes to embrarrass these heavy weights in their home state (Source,
Okereke 2011:2-4).
3.3 The Political Regime of Ezeife
In the botched third Republic, the short lived civilian administration of
Okwadike Chukwuemeka Ezeife was handed over on the 2 nd of January 1992. He was not isolated from the intrigues in the New Anambra politics.Nwokoye;
(2011:4) said that:
Ezeife won SDP primary simply because the brutal, semi-illiterate and mean Okey Odunze was disqualified by Humphrey Nwosu led National Electoral Commission (NEC). Odunze was traversing the State and intimidating every opposition on his way and was almost coasting to victory when Anambra State citizens swore that Odunze will never be a Governor of the intellectual studded State. Nwokoye mentained that Ezeife coasted to an easy primary and went ahead to defeat Nnamdi Eriobuna of National Republican Convention (NRC) to become
68 the first executive Governor of the new Anambra State. He said that it was during the tenure of Ezife that Nnamdi Azikiwe University and Federal Polytechnic, Oko were transferred to the federal government, which helped ensure that they survived in the ensuing military regime. The Okwadike of Igboukwu, as Ezeife was known was also a one-tern Governor. Ezeife though courageous, was not able to read the handwriting on the wall to know that General Sanni Abacha was going to take over from the Interin Government led by Ernest Shonekan. Okwadike was bidding his time believing that June 12 would be actualized and that M.K.O Abiola would get his mandate and become president and then he would work hand in hand with
Abiola being of the same party and then he would be able to develop the State.
Instead of facing his task of governance he kept the State money unused though un-embezzled until the military swept off the civilians.
3.4 The Political Regime of Mbadinuju
On May 29 th 1999, Chinwoke Mbadinuju was sworn in as a civilian governor of Anambra State, after many years of military rule. He was faced with many problems in his administration. i. Indictment over salaries:
Okereke (2011:4) said that the most notable problem in Mbadinuju’s regime was the teachers’ salary which was withheld for a long time. He continued that
It was the problem which led to a ten-month strike in all government secondary schools in the State. Also, before his rule, secondary education had been free of
69 charge. But his administration prescribed a tuition fee of 3000 Naira per term for all secondary schools, which led to an unprecedented massive demonstration by the secondary school students from all over the State. Many people attribute
Mbadinuju’s failure to political godfathers a debacle that also trailed his predecessor.
ii. Indictment over the killing of Barnabas igwe and his wife:
The former governor of Anambra State, Mbadinuju was fingered as the man responsible for the butchering of a lawyer and his wife because they opposed some of the antics of his governance of Anambra State. Several witnesses came up with witnesses that Mbadinuju killed the Barnbas Igwe and his wife. It was alleged that the assassination followed several death-threat telephone calls received by the couple over a 21-day ultimatum issued to the Mbadinuju-led government by the
Onitsha branch of NBA led by the late Igwe on salary arrears owed civil servants.
Mbadinuju’s administration was replated of crisis-renging from indictment to godfatherism. Chief Emeka Offor who could not get all his candidates for executive positions in the State and Igwe john Nnebeolisa (the Ibilibi Ogada na
Akwuzu) who claimed that the Governor had plans to dethrone him as the traditional ruler of his people compounded his problems. Governor Mbadinuju’s attempt to secure a second term in oofice was unsuccessful due to mounting opposition to his style of leadership. Having failed in his bid to secure the gubernatorial candidacy of his original party, the People’s Democratic Party
(PDP), he changed party and contested the 2003 gubernatorial election on the
70 platform of the Alliance for Democracy (AD). Mbadinuju was eventually defeated by the PDP candidate, Dr. Chris Nwabueze Ngige in the election. (Okereke
2011:4).
3.5 Political Regime of Ngige
After 2003 general election, Chris Nwabueze Ngige was sworn-in as governor on May 29th 2003. Shortly after the election and swearing-in Governor Ngige started having problems with his godfathers- multi-billionaire businessman, Chris
Uba. According to the report, shortly after Governor Ngige reportedly broke ranks with his godfather, he was abducted from his office on July 10 th , 2009 and taken to unknown destination (Wikimpedia, 2011: 1).
Since the July 10 th 2003 episode in Anambra State, several issues have emerged between the contending factions in the crisis. First Esele Chris Uba’s faction claimed that the Governor resigned from office and this provided the grounds for their attempts to swear in Okey Ude (the then Deputy Governor) as the executive governor. Chris Ngige refuted the allegations claiming that the purpoted resignation letter was signed by him under duress and that things fell apart between him and Chris Uba when he refused to mortgage Anambra State by paying #3 billion (about $22.8 million) State funds to Uba’s function.
The purpoted complacency, if not complicity of the PDP dominated Federal government becomes more obvious when it merely retired AIG Raphael Ige and refused to charge the principal actors in the abduction saga for treason under the
71 provisions of Criminal Code Act (cap. 77, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria,
1990) as a violation Section 1, Subsection 2 of the 1999 constitution (Federal
Republic of Nigeria: 1999) which categorically asserts that:
The Federal Republic of Nigeria shall not be governed, nor shall any person or group of persons take control of the Govenrnent of Nigeria or any part thereof, except in accordance with the provisions of the constitution (see appendix 1) To this effect, the attempted coup on the Anambra State government is an affront on the constitution which should be treated in accordance with what the legal statues of the country stipulated. There was a heavy police invasion of
Anambra State Government House as occurred on July 10 th 2003. A chronology of the events that followed the July 10, episode includes:
-The impeachment of the Speaker of Anambra State House of Aseembly,
Honourable Eucharia Anozodo and subsequent replacement by Honorable Mike
Belonwu.
-Retirement from service of AIG Raphael Ige and his subsequent death on suspected case of heart failure.
-Impeachment of the Anambra State Deputy Governor, Dr. Okey Ude and subsequent replacement by Chief Ugochukwu Nwankwo.
-Justice Wilson Eboh Eboh’s ruling in July, 2003 that Dr Chris Ngige should stop parading himself as Governor of Anambra State. This he later denied in reaction to adverse public opinion.
-Constant harassment of Governor Chris Ngige by Chris Uba and his group who have heavy police escorts. This culminated the reported assault on Governor
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Ngige’s convoy on November 24, 2003 at Amawbia along the Enugu-Onitsha expressway by Chris Uba’s faction.
-The expulsion of Chris Uba and some members of his faction from the PDP and their subsequent readmission into the party.
-Failure of the police to implement the ruling of an Awka Magistrate Court ordering the arrest of Chris uba and 14 others for harassing the Governor in a suit filed by the Anambra State government.
-Violent clash between the loyalists of Governor Chris Ngige on one hand and
Chris Uba on the other hand at the December 6 th 2003 at South East Zonal
Congress of the PDP scheduled to hold in Enugu.
-Peace deal in Owerri, Imo State between Governor Ngige’s and Chris Uba’s faction concluded in December 22 nd , 2003.
-January 2 nd 2004 ruling by Justice Stanley Nnaji of Enugu State High Court ordering the Inspector General of Police to withdraw the policemen attached to
Governor Ngige. The Inspector General of Police implemented the verdict with immediate effect.
-Mass rally in Anambra State in support of Governor Chris Ngige with demonstrators carrying the effigy of Chris Uba and his cohorts.
-In mid 2004, tales of the absurd reigned followed the discovery at Ogwugwu shrine in Okija, Anambra State where the purpoted Ngige-Uba Power Pact was sealed in secrecy.
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-Between November 10 th and 12 th 2004, Anambra State was subjected to an orgy of violence by political thugs believed to be working for Esele Chris Uba. The hoodlums shut down governance in the State for three days. About seven persons were feared dead while officers of the Governor, deputy Governor, State
Legislative quarters and House of Assembly, State Independent Electoral
Commission, Anambra State Broadcasting service, Onitsha South Local
Government Council, State Education Commission and Women Development
Centre were razed. Beside the dead persons, the destruction wrought by the hoodlums was put at about $230million (USD). (The Punch, November 17,
2004:16).
-On December 6 th 2004, Chief Audu Ogbeh, ex-PDP National Chairman, wrote an open letter to President Obasanjo, urging him to take decisive steps to end the political embarrassment in Anambra State.
-In January 2005, Dr. Chris Ngige and Esele Chris Uba were suspended from the
PDP and an Eight man panel handed by the Governor of Osun State, Brigadier
General Olagunsoye Oyinola (rtd) was set up to investigate the allegations.The suspension however did not affect Ngige’s position as a governor.
-In February, Chief Audu Ogbe was compelled to resign as National PDP
Chairman under what he termed “unsettled circumstances” He was succeded by
Colonel Ahmadu Ali (rtd).
-Dr. Ngige and Esele Chris Uba were eventually expelled from the PDP in March
20, 2005 (Okereke 2011:4).
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At this juncture, it is partinent to discuss the roles of State legislature, judiciary, mass media, State Police to find out their functions during the crisis in Ngige’s regime. i. The role of the Police during Ngige’s crisis
The role of the Nigerian Police in the whole episode stands significant. It raised question of national security on the one hand, while stimulating the demand for State police on the other. First, it must be realized that the abduction of governor Ngige was perfected by some men of the Nigerian police, led by
Assistant Inspector General (AIG) of police, Raphael Ige. It is interesting to note that AIG Ige was sent on summary dismissal after the Police authorities denied involvement. What happened to other men and officers involved in the episode was uncertain. It is also thought provoking that the then Inspector General of
Police, Tafa Balogun, found it easy to attach men of the mobile police to guard
Esele Chris Uba, a young business man, while it is a federal policy that top ranking public officers like Judges should be stripped of their police orderlies. Yet, it is even more thought provoking that the then Inspector General, acting on a court ruling of questionable jurisdiction found it easier to withdraw the policemen attached to guard the Anambra State Government House, and by extension the
State Governor, than to effect the arrest of Esele Chris Uba as ruled by an Awka
Magistrate Court of competent jurisdiction in compliance with the verdict. Yet, the
Nigerian police force which has attained global certification for competence in international peace keeping and which has often been used to quell ethnic
75 agitations in the Niger delta was unable to prevent the political brigand that wrought mayhem in Anambra State in November 2004 despite adequate security alert from the SSS (Anarado 2011:2). ii. The role of Legislature during Ngige’s crisis
The role of the legislative arm of government both at the National and
Anambra State levels has been a case of mixed spices. Anarado (2011:2) said that it is on record that while the National Assembly went out in theory to condemn the abduction saga, there was attempt on the floor of the Senate to deliberate on a bill that will encourage the declaration of a state of emergency in Anambra State with an aim of removing Governor Ngige. But for the likes of Senator Uche
Chukwumerije, who were vehemently opposed to the move and Senator Arthur
Nzeribe and his co-marksmen of the executive may have succeeded. Anarado continued that Anambra State House of Assembly on its part demonstrated initial legislative ineptitude and conspiracy in the attempted putsch. For instance, the then speaker of the House, Honourable Eucharia Anozodo, together with the members of the House, accepted the purpoted resignation of Governor Ngige without caution, mounted pressure on the State Chief Judge and moved to persuade the Chief judge of the State- U.N. Udechukwu to swear in Okey Udeh as
Governor while the where abouts of Governor Ngige was still unknown. The
Honourable members later retracted their action after the successful triumph of
Governor Ngige, claiming that they were misled into taking presumptive actions by the Speaker and members of Chris Uba’s faction. Their initial collaborating
76 with the coupists still leaves much to be desired from an elected legislative body in a supposed growing democracy. iii The role of Judiciary during Ngige’s crisis
This is another institution for the consolidation of democracy. It is important to note that there is no better test of the excellence of a government than the efficiency of its judicial system. This is because the citizenry feel secure with the awareness that he can rely on the certain, prompt and impartial administration of justice. Bearing this in mind, one will be at a loss at the role of the Nigeria
Judiciary in the Anambra State crisis. For instance, the unpopular verdict passed by a Enugu State High Court presided over by Justice Stanley Nnaji over a case of human right violation instituted by one Nelson Achuku (a suspended member of
Anambra State House of Assembly) against the Governor on January 2 nd 2004, during the courtsvacation, is not only seen as a re-enactmentof July 2003 ruling of an Abuja Federal High Court presided over by Justice Wilson Eboh Eboh which has been generally conceived as an evidence of judicial complicity in the whole episode, but it is also a violation of Section 308, subsection 1, of the 1999 constitution (Federal republic of Nigeria, 1999) of the Federal republic of Nigeria which grants immunity against civil or criminal proceedings to a Governor in any court in Nigeria while in office(see appendix 2). It is even more embarrassing to hearJustice Eboh Eboh retracting a judgement he signed and made public on the quise that the court register misrepresented his verdict.
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The conduct of the judiciary in the Anambra episode also gives credence to the so-called orders from above. This becomes obvious when one reflects that chapter 7, of the 1999 Constitution locates the recommendation for the appointment and promotion of judges throughout the country in the National
Judicial Council (NJC) which is a federal Executive body established under
Section 153 subsection 1 999) of the said document (see appendix 3). iv The role of the media in Ngige’s crisis
Anarado, (2011:3) said that the role of the media in the Anambra crisis demands commendation. First, the media by its strategic significance as the Fourth
Estate authenticated the news which initially rent the public conscience as rumour.
Subsequently, the media has kept the public updated with the unfolding events associated with the crisis. However, it is necessary that the media should be cautious in the discharge of its functions so as not to blow events out of proportion and in effect, jeopardize its principle of social responsibility. v Ngige’s impute in the crisis
Focusing on the input of Governor Ngige to the genesis of the crisis, first, he has been accused to have sworn before the Okija Shrine to abide by the wishes of his political sponsors and also to have signed his purpoted resignation before his swearing in as Governor. This is what the PDP termed willing accomplice to evil happeneings even when it was detrimental to his office and the State. It must be realized that Governor Chris Ngige acted in strict compliance to political morality.
This is consistent with the doctrine of Niccolo Machiavelli (Crankston, 1964:42)
78 that in the actions of a ruler, the end justifies that means and as such, The Prince should aim at conquering and maintaining the state and the means will be judged honourably and praised by everyone. To this effect, the Prince may renege on agreements and manipulate religion in the pursuit and maintenance of the State power. Relating this to the Anambra crisis, whether Governor Ngige went to Okija shrine to take an oath with a bible under his armpit as he claimed or whether he signed and reneged on the purpoted agreements and resignation letter, it must be known that all was done in the quest for political power and the interest of the
State. As such, Governor Ngige like, The Prince, should now consolidate on state power so as to enhance his delivery of public goods (Okereke, 2011:2). vi The role of the Presidency to Ngige’s crisis
This analysis of the Anambra State crisis will be incomplete without an examination of the role of the Presidency in the whole episode. Anarado (2011:2) said that it is on record that President Olusegun Obasanjo was away in Principe and Sao Tome when the abduction took place. On his return to the country, the
President was relatively quiet over the incident as he preferred to adopt a mere political solution over a treasonable felony of such magnitude. The so-called political solution was excusable in the Shariah controversy because the sensitive nature of the Shariah to the cooperate existence of Nigeria, but such an approach on the abduction and attempted overthrow of an elected governor of a State is an assault on Section 1, subsection 2 of the 1999 Constitution which the President swore under oath to uphold (see appendix 4).
79
Today, there exist mounting allegations that the President was deliberately shielding the culprits from the law to avert his complicity in the incident. It is a known fact in Nigeria that Esele Chris Uba’s Elder brother, Andy Uba is married to the younger sister of the President’s wife and wields much power in Aso Rock as Obasanjo’s aide in charge of domestic affairs. Consequently, the then Speaker of the Anambra State House of Assembly, Honourable Mike Belonwu openly threatened to hold President Obasanjo responsible for any outbreak of anarchy in
Anambra State as a result of his (the President’s) unflinching support for those he
(Belonwu) referred to as the band of treasury looter ad rascals of known pedigree
(referring to Chris Uba and his cohorts). In his words, the President is giving support to the shameless and heartless cabal whose main objective is not only to spoil but to descrate and dehumanizes and also to perpetually enslaves the good people of Anambra State physically and financially.
Even Professor Chinua Achebe, a man not usually associated with politics, in October 2004, rejected a national honour of Commander of the Federal
Republic (CFR); He hinged his reasons on the strange political happeneings in
Nigeria. In an open letter to the President, Achebe lamented that Nigeria under
Obasanjo is too dangerous for silence. In his words, Achebe stated that: For sometime now, I have watched events in Nigeria with alarm and dismay… I have watched particularly the caos in my home state of Anambra where a small clique of renegades, openly boasting of its connections in high places, seems determined to turn my homeland into a bankrupt and lawless fiefdom. I am appalled by the
80 brazenness of this clique and the silence, if not connivance of the Presidency
(Source, Africa Today, op. cit. p. 13)
On May 26, 2003, Dr, Chris Ngige was sworn in as the new governor of the state, but he was removed in March 2006 when Mr. Peter Obi of APGA dragged him to court on charges of electoral malpractice. The court of Appeal in Enugu asserted that his election victory in 2003 was fraudulent and ordered to leave the seat. Peter Obi was in turn ousted by a faction of the Anambra State House of
Assembly on November 2, 2006 and replaced by Virginia Etiaba his deputy. On
February 9, 2007 Mrs Etiaba handed power back to Obi after the court has nullified Obi’s removal.
On April 14, 2007, Mr. Andy Uba of PDP was “elected” the new governor of the State and, on May 29, was sworn in as the new governor. The election was reported to be massively rigged and was disapproved all over the country. On June
14, 2007 the Supreme Court of Nigeria removed Mr. Andy Uba from office and replaced him with his predecessor Peter Obi, on the ground that Peter Obi’s tenure had not ended, therefore there was no vacancy in the governorship.
Andy Uba’s grounds of Appeal
Uba’s basis for appeal against the June 14 th 2007 unanimous verdict of the
Nigerian Supreme Court which upheld Peter Obi’s appeal case that his tenure in office should be extended till March 2010 thereby quashing Uba’s short-lived pipe dream of serving as “governor” at Awka State House, can be summarized as follows:
81 i That the panel of 7-man Justices which adjudicated his case at the Supreme court was “improperly constituted” in that, principally, it included Justice P.O.
Aderemi whom he claims was biased against him because he was previously an
Appeals Court Judge who sat on the Enugu State Election tribunal in the previous
Peter Obi versus Chris Ngige election case which had upheld the election of Peter
Obi in the case, and that Justice Aderemi therefore “had foreknowledge of the facts of the appellant’s (Peter Obi’s) case, which did not guarantee a fair hearing
(to Andy Uba) and thereby occasioned a miscarriage of justice (against Andy
Uba).” ii That the procedure and rule of interpretation adopted by this Honourable Court in the construction of the appellant’s appeal was such that (it) deprived” the court’s decision or judgment “of the character of a legitimate adjudication and that it was not fair, impartial or unobjective. Stripped of all the undue verbiage and customary embellishment that accompany such legal presentations and submissions, Andy Uba’s central point for this appeal, can simply be summed up as follows: first, that the Nigerian Supreme Court should reverse itself – that it should overturn it’s own prior decision of just over 3 months ago, which was unanimous because, according to him, the Supreme Court- the same court – or, at least one or so among the members, was biased, impartial, ans unfair against him in its consideration of the facts and evidence involved in his case; secondly, that the supreme Court lacks Jurisdiction by even taking the case and handling it, in that, it claims, the case ought to have been handled by the Election Tribunal, and
82 not taken up the supreme Court; and thirdly, that the Court had been wrong and biased in its “construction” (interpretation) of the relevant clauses of the
Constitution pertaining to his case.
Reasons why Uba’s case fails woefully on the merits
There are several grounds for which the Andy Uba case founders woefully. But here, I’ll only limit myself to few major ones for reasons of constraints of time and simplicity of exposition. i. Uba’s case fails on claim of improper interpretation of the constitution
Justice Aderemi, “adopted a very narrow approach and literal rules of interpretation and deliberately interpreted section 180 of subsection 2, of the 1999 constitution in a “proper” manner, as well as some other relevant constitutional provisions (see appendix 5). Aderemi briefly stated that Uba’s line of contention is that the court panel that decided his case was not biased against him, and had interpreted the relevant constitutional provisions.He said that the provision of the law is very clear, explicit and all I need do is to apply it. “And hence, the court had promptly held that “There being no dispute on the fact that plaintiff/appellant
[Peter Obi] took his oath of allegiance and oath of office on 17 th March 2006, his term of office will expire on 17 th March 2010.” The Supreme Court’s supremacy in interpretation of the constitution indeed, there is absolutely no question whatsoever as to the fact, which is absolutely uncontested and incontestable by almost every constitutional scholar, that in any case or instance at all, it is the
Supreme court of Nigeria that is the final arbiter and interpreter of the meaning of
83 any court (and/or to the High Court or the Appeals court, and through it, to the
Supreme court). Section 233 (2) (b) or (c) of the constitution, which the Supreme
Court Justices cites in the instant case, provides as follows: 233 (see appendix 6). ii. Uba’s case fails based on issue of the court’s jurisdiction
There shall be established in each state of the Federation one or more election tribunals to be known as the Governorship and Legislative Houses
Election Tribunals which shall, to the exclusion of any court or tribunal, have original jurisdiction to hear and determine petitions as to whether any person has been validly elected to the office of Governor or Deputy or as a member of any legislative house. And section 184 of the Constitution, which was invoked by the
Uba camp and the two lower courts rejecting jurisdiction on the case and reserving it only for the Election Tribunal, provides as follows: Section 184. The
National Assembly shall make provisions in respect of – (a) persons who may apply to an election tribunal for determination of any question as to whether: (i) any person has been validly elected to the office of the governor of Deputy
Governor, (ii) the term of office of a Governor or Deputy Governor has ceased, or
(iii) the office of Deputy Governor has become vacant; (b) circumstances and manner in which, and the conditions upon which such application may be made; and (c) powers, practice and procedure of the election tribunal in relation to any such application (see appendix 7). As can be seen from the two provisions of the
Constituion cited above, neither of the two Sections (Sections 285 (2) and 184) which are variously Andy Uba and the two lower courts that refused hearing the
84 case before the Supreme Court took and heard it, is really directly applicable to the issues involved in the Peter Obi case (see appendix 8). Neither of them specifically states, or even fairly implies, that anything tangential which is related to or has to do with the life and term of office of an elected political office holder is reserved, exclusively or otherwise, for the Election Tribunal. For example, Section 285(2) merely provides that the Election Tribunals “shall have original jurisdiction to hear and determine petitions as to whether any person has been validly elected to the office of Governor or Deputy Governor or as a member of any legislative house.
“But it does not provide about the kind of issue brought by Andy Uba against
Peter Obi in the length of time for his tenure in office as governor. In summary, those two provisions of the constitution, though often cited and relied upon by
Andy Uba as his basis for purpoted meritorious appeal, and relied upon by the lower courts in refusing to hear the case, are patently irrelevant and inapplicable to the Peter Obi case and the special, specific issues it raises – namely the issue of the tenure or time of service in office to which a governor or an elected office holder shall be entitled. iii. Uba’s case fails based on the remedy and relief he sought for.
A very interesting aspect of the Uba’s case is the nature and kind of relief sought by him from the Supreme Court. Uba was asking the Supreme Court to hand-pick some other members of the Supreme Court to decide, all over again, what their colleagues in the same Court has already considered and decided upon, even unanimously, only some three months ago – with all disrepute, shame,
85 damage and ridicule, that such a strange action will bring upon that whole hallowed Court as an institution, were it ever to do any such thing! And Uba is expecting this newly selected Court panel of his dream, to come up with another decision contradicting and going directly against the prior one by their colleagues!
And why?for no real and concrete reason of egregious impropriety, or of reversible error, or gross miscarriage of justice, on the part of the original 7-man court, other than the unsubstantiated claim, according to Andy Uba, at least that their colleagues of 7 persons on the same Court who had already ruled on the case were “biased” and unfair, or did not conform to Uba’s personal “interpretation” of the Constitution, or were not quite objective in their treatment of Andy Uba’s case.
3.6 Peter Obi’s ongoing Regime
On Saturday, 6 February 2010, Peter Obi was re-elected governor for a second term of four years, after a hot contest with Chris Ngige, a former governor of the State; Charles Soludo, a former governeor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and Mr. Andy Uba who was strong voice in the states’politics. Other contenders included Mrs. Uche Ekwunife, Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu and many others.
Altogether, there were twenty-five contestants for the office. Mr. Peter Obi was named the winner of the election, with more than 30% votes above the immediate runner-up (Source: Wikipedia 2011:2).
Governor Peter Obi of Anambra is one of the luckiest politicians in
Nigeria’s history. He’s in danger of turning himself into one of the most
86 historically blind as well. In 2003, Mr. Obi ran as the governorship candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA). He won the election, his appeal buoyed by widespread disenchantment with the four-year banditry of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) in the state. Chinwoke Mbadinuju, the PDP’s one-term governor, had come to epitomize wretched governance. Few persons have mentioned certain problems in Peter Obi’s administration. i. Administrative problem in Peter Obi’s Regime
Chuma (2011:1) said that Peter Obi’s political quandary in the Anambra political election equation is that, he is out “chasing the shadows,” as one highly informed analyst recently summed it up, while being either unable to, or, much more likely, stubbornly unwilling to listen to or to confront hard, credible advice and questions about the real, fundamental issues and concerns with the Anambra people. Powered, perhaps primarily by the fact apparently of Obi’s natural love, affinity and preference for living in the fantasy land, than hearing the hard but bitter truths of life. He continued that Obi’s political problem is compounded by the fact that the governor is surrounded by a horde of ‘yes men’ and sycophantic bootlickers and incompetents who grossly serve him ill by feeding him only sweet but false bits of information about the facts of the Anambra politics. Chuma said,
“Lacking, rather woefully, any better arguments on issues or better strategy for political campaign in Obi’s administration is the ideas of attack and malign political opponents.
87 ii. Obi and Ngige political crisis
Anarado (2011:1) said that
A play of politics in Anambra State in the past few years has engendered the emergence of sublime patriots who have deployed all ingenious propensities towards an enhanced polity and better life among Ndi Anambra. By the same token a cult of participants in politics of the state has emerged whose defiant poise for political influence and power has tended towards imprisoning their impetus for rational reason. While Mr. Peter Obi, the Governor of Anambra State, enjoys the noble accolade of the class aforementioned, Dr. Chris Nwabueze Ngige, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) gubernatorial candidate in Anambra gubernatorial election of election of February 6, 2010, and now the CAN senatorial candidate for Anambra Central Senatorial Zone for the April 2011 elections, belongs to the ignoble second group. Anarado continued that the expose of the convoluted metamorphosis of Dr.
Ngige from a megalomaniac power swindler when in 2003 he, in concert with his erstwhile Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, colluded with the Independent
National Electoral Commission to defraud Ndi Anambra of their liberty to freely choose their governor) to an epic hero when he deared the fearsome cabals who after using the instrumentality presidential rascality to install him, sought like vampires to ruin the tenets of the governance in the state), then to an anticlimactic dive into a bland polital figure when the court of Appeal in March 2006, on ascertaining his 2003 electoral fraud, ignominiously threw him out of the government house which he so much coveted. He said that Ngige having lost favour with his PDP platform and did not want to suffer political obscurity or oblivion; he looked elsewhere through which to ventilate his pulsating political impulse. It is in the choice of an alternative to PDP that Dr. Ngige’s appaling sense of history became manifest when he joined Action Congress of Nigeria (CAN).
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Ngige contested in Anambra gubernatorial election of 2010. Chris Ngige in the manner of an orphan to a benefactor was adopted by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s
Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) which benevolently presented him as their candidate for Anambra State gubernatorial candidate.
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CHAPTER FOUR THE CHURCH AND POLITICAL LEADERS IN ANAMBRA STATE
4.1 Church’s Teachings on the Apostolic Governance in Anambra State
The nexus between the State and the Church or between the civil and the ecclesiastical authorities has been a subject of controversial discussion since the time of the Emperor Constantine. These differences are theoretical but have produced important results in all ages. This is because the Church and the State are already co-habiting the same environment. Even the fear of the Church being persecuted by the State is not yet wholly banished from civilized countries. Even in some Churches, the civil powers have been established to exercise authoritative control for consistent with the rights and liberties of the Church of Christ
(Cunningham, 2007: 2).
The Church being a supernatural institution, having direct relationship exclusively to man’s spiritual and external interests; and there is nothing can known about it except from the supernatural revelation, which God has given to man through his word. Agha (2002: 35) itemized the issues for realization of an egalitarian society when he posited that
To keep Nigeria one is a task that must be accomplished. Irrigation is the root of all season cultivation of crops. The life you save may be your own. Make Nigeria safe for democracy. We need liberty, equality and franternity. He said that God has prescribed His written word as the rule to be followed by Nations and their rulers in establishing and administering civil government. He has also given in his words sufficient materials to guide authoritatively in
90 determining all the truth which will be the reference point through which man may be called upon to give account of human affairs. Certainly, all the truth about the word of God, which bears the truth of the functions and duties of nations and the rulers, should be learned from the bible. It is the rule of the bible that determines the obligations and procedure of the Church.
The Church and the state are two different institutions. Two passages stand out in the New Testament: Romans 13:1-7 and 1 Peter 2:13-16. The Apostle Peter gives us the basic functions of civil government: “to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do well”. (1 Peter 2:14) .While Apostle Peter tells us that every
Government is appointed by God . Therefore, every Government should endeavour to create a climate where good living is rewarded just like the Church is striving to position her members. The State, among other things, provides protection against foreign invasion and domestic evils such as theft, libel and murder, so that its citizens can work and enjoy the fruit of their labours. The fundamental way that government and the Church should do this is by coercion ‘to punish those who do evil and praise those who do well’. Government’s task is not to change people’s hearts and make them saints; but to force hypocrites to obey and to promote the fundamental laws and to dispel outward manifestation of sin by bringing justice to bear against evildoers. But it is the duty of the Church to change people’s hearts and make them saints.
Saint Paul affirms the same truths about government and teaches that the civil ruler is “God’s servant” to whom God has given authority to use force. “But
91 if you do wrong be afraid, for he does not bear the word in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer”
(Romans 13:4).Therefore , all civil governments exist under divine authority. “For there is no authority except from God and those that exist have been instituted by
God” (Romans 13:1).
The nature and authority of the Church could not be different. The
“coercion” that the Church uses is that of fellowship and worship: singing, prayer, preaching of the word and sacraments. The only “punishment” is exclusion from the means of grace (I Corinthians 5). Further, like the state, the Church seeks to remove hypocrisy, for it does not aim at external conformity but at inner conformity and obedience from the heart. Its goal is that people do what is right as an expression of gratitude for God’s magnanimous grace in Jesus Christ, not looking for an immediate, temporal reward: “Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heat, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will as to the
Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free” (Ephesians 6:5-8).
While Christians must never disobey God and his word, the government and the led should not disobey the rule of the law (Acts 5:29, “We must obey God rather than men”. Cf. Daniel 1:8,19,20; 3:12,16-18,6:10) they are to obey even unfair authorities as an expression of love for God and trust in his promises:
“Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and
92 gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly” (I Peter 2:18, 19).
Paul’s view of government was positive in nature, although, like any of us, he could have found many aspects of it with which he would have taken in exception. He wrote to the Roman Church that the governing authorities are God- ordained. “There is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God” (Rom. 13:1) he regarded such governing authorities as being
“a minister of God” (Vs. 4) to accomplish its purpose. Indeed, Paul regarded the rulers as God’s ordained servants. His concern here was that these rulers themselves should carry out their duties in society (Vs. 6). Paul urged the Church to pray for those in government, “in order that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity” (I Tim 2:1-2).
Some justification for separation of Church and state is the response of
Jesus to the Pharisees and Herodians who sought to trap Him in a question regarding whether one should pay the poll-tax to Caesar (Mark 12:13-17). The
Lord said, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s”. Jesus was indeed making a distinction between secular and spiritual. However, he was not teaching non involvement in governance or total exclusion from secula affairs. He was advocating responsible involvement in both premises. Jesus was not promoting separation of Church from the state, however, teaching about responsible and godly involvement in both.
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From the foregoing discussion, it is imperative to note that any nation, which separates itself from religion or from the influence of Christian principles, is destined for ruin.Then when Christians seek to separate themselves from responsible involvement in the affairs of their nations, they shirk their responsibility to be a leavening force for good, and their lack of involvement actually contributes to the inevitable decline of their Nation. In other words, it is the conviction of the researcher that the people of God must be proactive and active participants in every aspects of the society in which they live. How can we ever truly expect to effect change if we isolate ourselves from the world about us?
The Lord never prayed for his people to be taken out of the world, but that through their godly influence and exemplary lives, they might transform the world. That can only be done by those men and women who are willing to come from the
Church into their communities to effect positive changes. Yeast does not work as long as it is still in the package; it must be mixed with the dough before change occurs! The important things Christian could do to return the nation to a responsible course, and to effect meaningful reforms, is to truly start being the light, salt and leavening force for positive change that are expected by God.
4.2 The Christian Faith and Politics: a Reflection on People’s Welfare. The Church has immemorial history of relevance in spiritual, socio- economic, political and cultural affairs of people. It predates nation-states in many parts of the world. As an ancient historical institution, it has demonstrated in its
94 long “life” significant continuity in serving in society. It has been many things at many times, and like any other institution has had its ups and downs (Ogbuagu,
1999: 144). The Holy Book said that the church is Christ’s body (Eph. 1:13) . The
Church is a gathering of God’s people who have repented of their sins, are baptized and assemble to pray and share the words of their God (Act 2: 38-44). St.
Paul stressed the fundamental character of the Church. The Church is not a building. It is all the flock, over, which the Holy Spirit had made us overseers, to feed the Church of God that Christ has purchased with his own blood (Acts 20:28).
In effect, the Church is a group of people that are united and often come together to demonstrate and reaffirm their faith in God the creator. Furthermore, Christ is the head of the Church (Eph. 5:23) . The centrality of Jesus Christ as the instrument of reconciliation makes the Church his body (Col. 1:20; 2 Cor. 5:18; Eph 2:14, 16,
20). A clear task of the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth
(Tim 3:15; Eph 2:21-23) is to serve as a uniting force. Uniting and reconciling men with God and people with one another – people of every race, colour, condition, class, tongues, and so on.
Generally speaking, the Church has over the years deservedly acquired a good reputation for caring for the faithful and in getting men and women to accept
Jesus Christ as their saviour. Secondly, it has also excelled in promoting and providing social welfare services for the less privileged in many areas of the planet, earth. Specifically, there are practical positive changes, reforms and contributions arising over time from the efforts of the Church to make the world a
95 better place. Among these are the abolition of slave trade, prison reforms, establishment of schools, health centres, etc, fight against anti-Christian practices such as worship of gods, ritual killing, human sacrifice, killing of twins, control of crime and crime-related activities (Ogbuagu, 1999: 144). He said that corruption is a cause of great concern today, in that it is also connected to drug trafficking, to money laundering to the illegal trade of arms, and to other forms of criminality.
Crepaldi (2006:4) observed that corruption causes serious harm from a material point of view and places a costly burden on economic growth; still more harmful are its effects on immaterial goods, closely connected to the qualitative and human dimension of life in society. The Church’s social doctrine should make use of all its fundamental guiding principles, which it puts forth as indications of personal and collective behaviour, placing them on the front line in the battle against corruption. These principles are the dignity of the human person, the common good, solidarity, subsidiary, the preferential option for the poor, and the universal destination of goods. Crepaldi continued that Corruption stands in radical contrast for all these principles. It exploits human person, disdainfully using men and women for selfish interests. It represents an obstacle for achieving the common good behaviour.
4.3 Church and Politics: The Indispensable Agents of Unity in the Society The issue of Church involvement in politics in Nigeria has been a debatable issue for a long time now. Many people have shared their views to either agree or
96 disagree on the issue. Politicians have also publicly either argued that the Church in Nigeria should not involve itself in politics while some Church leaders have tried to check what the Bible says on the issue, the entire body of the Church looks divided on the issue. No matter the viewpoint any person may have about the
Church’s involvement in politics, the Church under whatever circumstances need to get involved in the social, political and economic life of a nation. Even if it means getting involved in direct politics, the Church in its prophetic function has the God-given role of speaking when the country’s economy is sick. This is because the Church is part and parcel of the daily life of the country, politically, economically and socially. When the economy is collapsing and when corruption is high, the Church with her sound gospel becomes the instrument for reconciling man with his environment. Madu, (1997:126) asserts that this“Reconciliation of man with God in this world is possible through the vicarious death of the cross, a death which expiated the sins of man, bringing man again to God’s friendship”
At this standpoint, it is supported by copious biblical references. Right from the Old Testament, the Exodus liberation story provides a paradigm. The Bible clearly says that God heard the cry of his people (the poor Israelites) in their slavery and the remembered the covenant the made with Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob. God was concerned about them (Ex. 2:23-25). Thus God says: “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hands of the Egyptians and to bring them up
97 out of that land into a good spacious land flowing with milk and honey” (Ex. 3:7-
8a). This was oppression, which has social, economic and political implication to the daily lives of the Israelites (Qeko, 2007: 3). However, in such times of deep oppression (social, economic or political), there is God in heaven who sees all what takes place such that when the poor who are oppressed cries to him, He listens and hears them. He not only sees or hears their cries but also gets concerned with their welfare (Okwueze, 2003:152). Okwueze continued that the history of the Israelites in Egypt, God came down to rescue them. This is the God we serve, the action God who is able to redeem his people suffering from the social, political and economic oppression.
The issue is purely that of political and social oppression and subjugation.
To this God says –“I have come down to deliver them”. If God himself can intervene politically to stop human oppression, the Christian is equally exhorted to imitate him (Okwueze, 2003:153). In Lk. 4:18, Jesus says, “He has sent me to proclaim release to the captive recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed”. Jesus taught in parables and the parables were not mere stories but used as a confrontation to those who distort the law. Even in the Old
Testament, the prophets were criticizing the capitalist and extortionist. Amos and
Hosea were prominent in this. The Church, as Jesus and God did, must learn to show concern for human social problems. It must strive to create a humanly habitable society otherwise it would have failed in its mission to the world.
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The Church cannot escape from politics, for to escape from it means to fail and to divorce itself from all human relationships since all human relationships are involve in one way or the other. Robinson quoted by Okwueze (2003: 154) even went to the extreme to opine that no life is possible without power. Since all human relationships can be viewed as a process of adjustment of interest and power-position, the Church cannot avoid the process of adjustment of power. The
Church cannot therefore condemn politics, and politics cannot be foreign to the
Church. The Church must operate in politics with a deep sense of commitment, with a definite sense of ministry to the people. Okwueze (2003:154) opined that
Since all human beings are born into an inescapable network of power we find ourselves in the vortex of power structures – personal, domestic, social, ecclesiastical, political, industrial, economic, civilian and military powers. The church should be there to debunk any power intoxication since all these spheres of power have their impact on the freedom and right we exercise. A living dynamic church should not opt out of politics. Okwueze continued that Paul in
Rom. 13:3 testified that “there is no authority but by act of God and the existing authorities are instituted by him…” It is therefore clear, from Christian view point that power, social or political is from God and therefore divine. The God of the church is the same God of politics, therefore to regard politics as a demonic free zone is a distorted vision. In the words of Howard Crosby cited in Okwueze
(2003:155) “to let politics become a cesspool and therefore avoid it is a double crime”. The Church should know this. In fact, Kukah in Okwueze (2003:155) quotes Pope Gregory the Great as follows:
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A religious leader should be careful in deciding when to remain silent and be sure to say something useful when deciding to speak. In this way, he would avoid saying things that would better not be said, or leaving unsaid things that ought to be said…. Ill-advised silence can leave people in error when they could have been shown where they were wrong. Negligent religious leaders are often afraid to speak for fear of losing favour with people…they are acting like hirelings because hiding behind the wall of silence is like taking flight at the approach of a wolf…
They continued lamenting on the silence of the religious leaders thus:
If a religious leader is afraid to say what is right, what else can his silence mean but that he has taken flight? If he stands firm in defence of his flock, he is building up a wall for the house against its enemies. Anyone entering the priesthood accepts the office of herald and must by his words; prepare the way for the terrible judgment of one who follows. If then the priest neglects his preaching, what sort of warning cry can be, a dumb herald give? That is why the Holy Spirit settled on the first religious leaders in the form of tongues: because those whom he fills, the fills with his own eloquence.
Komolafe (2000: 33) opined that the the church:
Should be faithful in period of tyranny and oppression, in times of maiming and destruction, in periods of misery and regret, and when the sanctity of human life is being trampled upon the impurity. React to salient issues when the situation at hand involves how to replace resentment and frustration with laughter and joy, influence and oppression with justice and reconciliation and separation and alienation with caring and sharing. Should not fold their arms and watch in times of state coercion, in human treatment and retro-active laws, and the faithful are being indoctrinated with new ideologies of confusion, poverty and madness.
Church in politics must not lose her sense of mission and ministry. She will understand and particularly acknowledge that the concept of Christian and ecclesial ministry is opposed to domination and to selfish exploitation of power.
The objective of the church in politics should be a humanitarian one. It has the job of marrying politics and justice for the achievement of true peace and social harmony. The Church has to participation in politics if she is to exhibit herself as sensitive to the problem of men. A policy of political withdrawal and isolationism
100 means committing itself to a course of political sterilization and to do this would be to mutilate and fetter the dimension of the mission of the Church to the people and to society. The Church must be in politics to protect human dignity, rights and values. It must be in politics if an instrument of common good is to be maintained.
All put together, the Church in a dynamic society will do all it can to socialize the faithfulness into promoting social solidarity, faster stability in society, establish personal rights and status, flourish fellowship, support morality, exercise social control, provide social welfare and philanthropic needs, provide economic, educational and medical services.
4.4 Church in Politics: Rationalizing the Emergence of Liberation Theology. Church-state relation in Nigeria is largely a function of opposing understandings and interpretations of the meaning of democracy as it applies to the management of state affairs. The nexus between good governance,transparent, impartial, accountable distributive functions of the state and issues of civil liberty- has become a central issue in some Churches.The presence of the Church with her spiritual efforts will curb the arbitrary exercise and abuse of power. Such efforts are congruent with what Zunner (2007: 3) saw as “revival” within Protestantism and Roman Catholicism, accompanied by the emergence and growth of many
Pentecostal Churches with a charismatic message of salvation. The role of the
Church in Nigerian politics should be understood in the contest of ordinary citizens’ struggles to meet their daily needs. The Church should emerge in politics
101 to serve as an anchor on which people can rely for the provision of their basic needs and defend their fundamental rights.
Liberation theology, in form and content has become a permissive force in the Churches’ desire to realize human rights and local legislation. Liberation theology calls for the Church to combine preaching and administering the sacraments with a deep commitment to social justice. The Church should announce in word and action an integral form of salvation, or liberation from all manifestations of sin, and not merely offer individual the means of personal salvation through the sacraments.
From creation to God’s direct interaction with the world and, the issue of liberation in all the forms of human enslavement has been an important focus from the exodus to the cross, believers have understood that God’s intention has been to liberate the oppressed and the captive, so liberation theology is a relief from all forms of human indignity – material, moral and by regimes that keep them near total servitude. Therefore any Christian and Christian organization that fails to stand up against such practices by any government “ceases to be the light and salt of the world”, thereby rendering Christianity irrelevant and inconsequential. Christ himself was never mute and passive accomplice in the politics, since he engaged in activities that challenged the practices of the political authorities. It is perhaps with this ethical precept to reject slavery and oppression that the Church in Nigeria is engaged in trying to produce a new Nigeria that respects democratic values, and respect for human rights and transparency in the management of state affairs.
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The roots of liberation theology can be traced to Latin America in the
1930s, when popular movements began agitating locally against capitation. Their promoters believed that poverty, alienation, and exploitation were results of capitalism, and the only way of achieving authentic development for the region was to have economic, social and political liberations from the capitalist economics, especially the most powerful one, that of the united states of America.
This liberation also implied a confrontation with these groups’ natural allies, their compatriots who controlled the national power structures. In the same vein, measures have taken by the Catholic Church against corruption. The Catholic
Church which is the most populous Christian denomination in Nigeria is out to fight the numerous ills in the society today. On her efforts towards the fight against corruption were such strategies as:
i Catholic Bishops’ conference of Nigeria (CBCN)
The Bishops of the various Catholic Dioceses nation wide make up a
powerful and a well articulated body called the Catholic Bishops’ Conference
of Nigeria (CBCN) decided to demonstrate her eccleciastical power against
corruption. According to Ezeme in Ugwu (2002:265) “this body in her Annual
Conferences addresses burning national issues”. For instance, “two of her
plenary Assemlies in the month of September, 1998 and 1999 had as its subject
of discussion “Corruption in Nigeria: Implication for Nation building”. In his
contribution,Bagobiri(2000) quoted by Ezeme in Ugwu (2002:267) said that
the body (CBCN) critically looked into areas such as “The reality, Causes,
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Consequences and the way out of this unwholesome situation that we have
found ourselves in as a nation”. He said that at the end of every Assembly, a
communique is issued for the interest of the nation.That one of the
communiqué issued read thus:
We are painfully awere that corruption has eaten deep into the very fabric of the Nigerian society. It has become so pervasive that many now accept it as the “Nigeria way of doing things. People now speak about a so-called ‘Nigerian factor’ when they mean corruption has been institutionaliezed to a point where it almost passes for official policy in both the public and private sectors of our national life. The socio-economic and political system itself appears to be built on corruption and thrives in it. Even the Church and other religious organizations are themselves not completely free from corruption. Every communiqué issued after each of her session is sent to the presidency as well as made public for the cossumptionn o. Still in her fight against corruption, the Church through the CBCN came out with a crusade of prayer against bribery and corruption. The prayer is known as “Prayer against Bribery and Corruption in
Nigeria”. In part it reads:
…We are deeply sorry for the wrong use of … your gifts and blessings through acts of injustice, bribery and corruption, as a result of which many of our people are hungry, sick, ignorant and defenseless. Father, you alone can heal us and our nation of this sickness. We beg you, touch our lives and the lives of our leaders and people so that we may all realize the evil of bribery and corruption and work hard to eliminate it. Raise up for us God-fearing people and leaders who care for us and who will lead us in the path of peace, prosperity and progres. The above prayer which is recited at the end of every mass or prayer session is a meaningful crusade against corruption.The Church also goes beyond prayers in her bid to tackle corruption. As a vocal body, the CBCN has remained persistent in her call on the government to make sure that the war against corruption succeeds through carrying out of public businesses in honest manner. By going the
104 extra-distance of preaching against corruption in the Churches, the Catholic
Church is waging a serious war against the ills of the society. ii. Annual Conference of Catholic Laity Council of Nigeria 1999
The Catholic Laity Council of Nigeria (a body compromising unordained
Christians) focused her 1999 Annual Conference held at Uyo, Akwa Ibom State on the theme: “corruption in Nigeria”. The Conference was another giant stride in the
Church’s effort to help out in the crusade against corruption in Nigeria. Papers presented include:
• Corruption in the political Life of Nigeria: The Effects on Real
Evangelization in Nigeria.
• Morality agenda for the Next Millenium.
• The youth, Democracy and Common Good in Nigeria.
• The Role of the Christian Youths towards a Healthy 21 st Century.
• The Catholic Laity in the Democratic Process of Nigeria, etc.
Orji, (2008:19) in his paper titled: Corruption in the political Life of the
Church members: The Effects on Real Evangelization in Nigeria” deplored the attitude of Christians politicians who are corrupt, who after looting public treasures would go to Church to donate handsomely and receive rounds of applause. In a communiqué issued after the five-day conference, the council confirmed the existence of corruption in Nigeria. She implored the laity to go out into all corners of human life in Nigeria resisting corruption of every form and also turn others away from the path of corruption. The resolve of the council as a
105 matter of fact is a very great achievement in the fight against corruption because
Nigerians are religious people who to a large extent put into practice what the
Church teaches her adherents. iii. Social development, Justice and Peace Seminar 1999
The Social Development, Justice and Peace (SODEJUPE) of the Catholic
Diocese of Nsukka also on April 9, 1999 organised a seminar on corruption in the contemporary Nigerian society. Papers presented include:
• War against corruption;
• Identification of forms of corruption and suggestions on how to stop them;
• Corruption in our schools, Universities and other centers of Higher
Learning;
• Corruption on our streets – prostitution and acts of indiscipline, etc.
In one of the papers (War Against Corruption), Onuh cited by Ezeme in
Ugwu (2002:49) pointed that any remedy to corruption has to begin with a determination by every individual to eradicate it first and then in the environment around. He believed that in this way, the president, or the state governor or the
Local Government Chairman initiating the fight against corruption is remediable because it is part of the evil which Christ came to banish on earth.
The seminar in which the above mentioned papers were presented was aimed at making Nigerians realize that corruption is anti-sincerity, anti-honesty, and anti-truth, and as such must be eschewed by all Christians. If about 30% of those who attended the seminar or 20% of those who come across the publication
106 based on it entitled, “The Millenium Hope for the Afflicted” reduce their corrupt practices, the Church will be congratulated for a job well-done. iv. Objectives of Preaching to Christians
Another way the Church fights against corruption in our society, which is
very effective is through preaching in the Church, at crusade grounds and also
spiritual articles written by some priests that are at times published in National
Dailies and Magazines. There are fearless, objective and critical clergymen like
Rev. Fathers Ejike Mbaka, Mathew Kukah, George Ehusani and Archbishops
Anthony Okogie and John Onaiyekan of Lagos and Abuja Archdioceses
respectively who address regularly national issues and social ills. Rev. Fr. Mbaka
in his sermon at the Government Trade Centre, Enugu Adoration ground on 7 th
March 2002 captioned “This Wicked Generation” addressed fearlessly the issue
of corruption and other social vices in government circles. The actions of the
priest (Mbaka) in this direction are actually in line with Odey cited by Ezeme in
Ugwu (2002) comment that:
In the Nigerian context whereby the people’s awareness of God is being threatened by political, social and economic systems that hardly make room for good people to remain good, honest and just, the priest must be courageous enough to make an objective analysis and criticism of the system. Indeed outright preaching of clergymen apart from making the hearers to sit up at times curbs the excesses of those in power.
v. Awareness propaganda
As earlier stated, election in Nigeria is an exercise in which corruption is highly exhibited through massive rigging. The democracy monitoring Department
107 in Nsukka Diocese is working hard to curb the excesses of politicians in the forthcoming elections in the country. The body in the Sunday Bulletin of May 5,
2002 called on ‘all honest Catholics from all parishes who would like to serve during the coming election as special observers on behalf of the Diocesan office of democracy monitoring to come forward for registration and special training later.
This development is likely to be the decision of the Catholic Bishops’ conference of Nigeria and as such a plan for the entire nation. In an article entitled “An
Agenda for Democracy Monitor”, Ogara (2001:18) cited Ezeme in Ugwu (2002) drew attention to financial recklessness and impropriety of our legislators who have turned the national assembly into an arena for sharp practices and corrupt enrichment. He lamented that what we have in Nigeria today is not Democracy but lootocracy (that is Government of looters). He consequently urged the Democracy
Monitors to make it known to the power that be, that this situation is unhealthy for it creates suspicion and lack of trust in the minds of the people.
4.5 The Role of the Church in Anambra state Political System In pre-modern and enlightenment society, even kings appealed to God as the source of authority and themselves as mere viceroys, (Kalu, 1975:1). Christian
Religion can be intricately woven into the fabric of politics and provides the compelling touchstone of legitimacy or the love of the ruler to the ruled; the motive for exercising power; reason to be obeyed; the determinant of the moral standards and style of power and the engine that moves governance. In such
108 contexts, the structure of governance had tremendous impact on the modes of religious expression and religion could not be conjured out of politics. Mayer
(1996: 9) clearly states that:
The religious order has a preeminent claim over the believer and the social order of everyday life, thus extending its influence over the political domain when collective decisions concerning that social order are being made. Politics according to Mayer, is made relative to, and is validated by religions. Anambra State encounter with Church leaders started as powerful political and Christian activities in governance. The quest for the continuation of
Governor Peter Obi’s rule by the Presbyters of the Churches in Anambra State was a vital role by the Church to fighting against corruption in Andy Uba’s few days regime. The Obi’s regime wanted Bible and Christian priests to be used as the mediators of a new Anambra State. Hence he called clergy men to raly round him in his present administration.
The curious extension of his regime was borne out of the zeal of Christians in Anambra State. During the campaign, the Christians were told to rise with interest to vote for Peter Obi (Nwokoye, 2011: 1). He Qouted Amucheazi (1986:
132) who said that denominational differentiation was put to a stop to serve as a key aspect of electioneering in the early politics. This was the example of what took place in Anambra State for Peter Obi to win the election. He continued that it was the same in the early Christian movements. In the same way, it is no more hidden that Anambra State politics now makes used of some religious
109 denominations. The major gladioators seems to be the Anglicans and the Catholics and the other denominations join the Anglicans most of the time. The allegation of having a favoured candidate in the just concluded gubernatorial election has attracted some widely published and sponsored spurious stories against the
Catholic priests. Muozoba (2010: I) stated that:
When I ruminate on what happened before the election, I have every reason to believe that there was superbly master and arranged plans to bring a Catholic into gubernatorial office. A manifestation of this was when registration was done in some Catholic Church premises.
Then as early as November, 2009, a national newspaper published in its headingline: ‘the Catholic Church divided between Obi, Soludo and Ngige.’ This was followed by some allegation and instances of how some Catholic priests and bishops who were Obi’s supporters. Muozoba continued that:
This then open up a flood of criticisms against the Catholic Church and gave grounds to the sponsors of the publications to issue some statements in newspapers. As the allegations were peddled against Catholic Church and the priests, it was understood that the Church had given a directive that they must vote a particular candidate of their choice-renging from Peter Obi to Ekwunife as an instance.
He mentained that the game plan was that since they had three candidates, they had to vote massively for them so that the Cathlics would share their votes between Obi, Soludo, Ngigi and Ekwunife. In some of the major markets in the
State, it became a topic. He said that Okey Ndibe, a firebrand critic, while commenting on the Anambra Gubernatorial Election, said “I was ashamed to hear that some priests abused their vocation by campaigning from their pulpit for
Governor Obi”. He continued that it was a laughable accusation against the
Catholic Church that “some priests from some Catholic denominations and top
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Church leaders have been receiving monthly allowances from the incumbent governor, hence the endorsement for second term in the office, and that within just three months of interregnum in the state, that this denomination received the whopping sum of one million Naira. It is the conviction of the researcher that the
Church can play a crucial role if not unique role in Nigerian democracy if it can remove itself from suspected involments, thereby offering a place for serious, respectful interaction among people who differ politically.
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CHAPTER FIVE CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF CORRUPTION IN NIGERIA
5.1 Cuases of Corruption in Nigeria
5.1.1 Get Rich Quick
Corruption triumphs in Nigeria because of the desire to get rich quick which is now prevalent among Nigerians. It is no longer news to hear that policemen, directors, teachers and traditional rulers can openly and unashamedly demand for gratification of different kinds before doing whatever they are supposed or in some cases, genuinely employed to do for the development and progress of their country. Moreover, there is no doubt that a lot of factors are instrumental to the lingering crisis of corruption among the Nigerian populace. However, the basic and most central ones are due to lack of exemplary leadership, greed and inordinate ambition for material wealth, power and glory. There is also a great deal of support by government authorities. Eze, (2002:5) said that “it is true saying that one of the most agonizing aspects of Nigeria’s problem that had actually given license to corruption is the problem of ineffective leadership”. He mentained that for some decades, Nigeria has not been opportuned to enjoy the dividends of good and exemplary leadership, be it military or civilian, who have the interest of the people at heart and also ready to sacrifice personal gains for the greater number of the citizens.
Eze, (2002:6) continued that it is a common belief that poverty is one of the mojor causes of corruption and that it is no more arguement that there a great deal
112 of poverty in Nigeria. He said that in Nigeria today, it is just a few families that can boast of three square meals a day, wear good clothes or enjoy the basic necessities of life, such as water, good road network and electricity. Hence, everyone takes corruption, no matter one’s own capacity as a way of making up or balancing the prevalent inequalities. It is also true that corruption is perpetuated due to the degeneration and shaky foundations of our moral upbringing.
Corruption is therefore neither faceless nor is it perpetuated by the ignorant and the poor or less priviledged individuals in the society, but instead, the act of corruption is rampant with the educated rich who abuse their position and influence to wreck havoc to the people and society. They create fear and insecurity among their less priviledge neighours and as well expose them to all kinds of trmptations leading to corruption and other vices. Here, if one were to go by the
Socratic dictum, which says that ignorance is the cause of wrongdoing; one would pause to ask whether our leaders at different levels of governance are using their pens, positions and influences to promote corruption out of ignorance. Somehow,
Socrates can be vindicated on the grounds that our leaders and their partners in corrupt practices are yet to be convinced in themselves that by engaging in corruption they are laying a bad foundation for the coming generation of
Nigerians.
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5.1.2 Moral Decadence
Another ugly catalyst for the emergence of corruption in Nigeria is dilemma of incessant greed for money, power and glory. The urge for material acquisition is so alarming that those who have wealth become recognized in the society while those have not are abandoned to their fate. Popkin and Stroll (1981:63) quoted
Thomas Hobbes Leviathan to explain why these selfish desires exist in human beings. Hobbes was cited as saying that:
Man is by nature selfish and egostic. He is motivated by selfish desires which require satisfaction if he is to be happy. For example, all his actions can be explained in terms of the attempt to gratify some desires such as the desire for sex, for food, for shelter, for fame, for riches and so forth. However, Omoregbe (1990:116) emphasized that injustice in any society results ‘when the equals are treated unequally and the unequals equally; it is what is lawful and as well as what is fair and equal”. He says that there is neither lawful nor fairness of deals among Nigerians. Moreover, because of newly acquired social value in which everybody struggles to belong to a recognized class of people in society, things begin to go wrong since the emphasis or what counts in the society no longer bears on merit and honesty but rather “achievement” or “success” in whatever form, either by crook or foul means. The society has no option than to hail and glorify whoever has recorded more achievements. Morality has for long been thrown to the dogs; people have come to embrace and applaud in the wrong way of the ‘Machiavellian principle’. In his work, Machiavelli (1995:56) stated clearly that: In the actions of all men, and especially of prince, where there is no court of appeal, one judges by the results. So let a prince set about the task of conquering and maintaining his state, his methods will always be judged honourable and will be universally praised. The common people are always impressed by appearance and results. Therefore, the malady and agony of corruption manifest their ugly scar on business circles, governments, and schools; and cause a lot of worries and woes
114 for all and to all concerned Nigerians. Morality is an integral part of societal development and progress. Hence, a morally corrupt nation is in all ramifications dwarfed and incapacitated in all aspects of human development. It can neither develop nor attract development from foreign investors. It will consistently maintain a low per capita income and permanently be grouped among the poorest countries in the world and its citizens will continually wallow in abject poverty.
This is why Omoregbe (1993: x) wrote that:
An immoral society is also a sick society. By an immoral society, we mean a society permeated with corruption, dishonesty, fraud, selfishness, embezzlement of pulic funds and other immoral acts, such a society is sick and cannot be in sound order. Its organs cannot function properly becaue they are not in sound health conditions. Life in such a society becomes increasingly difficult, insecure and unhappy. Something has to be done to save the situation.
However, the immoral ways of life among Nigerians have not only affected the development of the country, but also greatly affected individual developments in relation to their psyche, learning and social environment. Odey in Ugwu
(2002:113) highlighted the nature and causes of corruption in Nigeria in the following statements:
The trouble with corruption, the reason why it lingers on, nay the reason why it has become such a huge industry in Nigeria, is that it has taken so many years to condition our minds for it, to imbibe it, to nurture it, to sustain it, and even to defend it as a virtue as long as it hulps us to achieve our end no matter what.
5.1.3 Manipulation of Panel by Government
Another cause of corruption in Nigeria is the support by Government authorities who do also institute numerous but ineffective panels for various
115 situations and incidents, as a way to diffuse tensions and bid time for the rest of the perpetrators, as well as the new breeds (Penalists) in the act to cut out their own share of the national cake as well. What is the utility of the so many commissions on inquiry; investigation and Visitation Panels, Negotiation Teams that had always emerged at one time and another to investigate certain proplems.
Well intentions could have been real but the outcome has remained doubtful, exploitative and destructive (Eze.2002:8). Eze continued by saying that if any government or authority is sincere to control corruption rather that create avenues for survival, how come that after setting up panels and commissions to investigate certain issues, the recommendations of such panels are not taken serious.
Odey (2001:59) said that:
After a bureau he inaugurated had completed its work and submitted its report, he quietly put it in archives. When News-Watch Magazine published the report, he promptly proscribed it. The next thing he did was to discard the report as a stupid political plaything. This is just one of the numerous cases of total neglect and disregard of such reports and recommendations of panels and commissions of inquiry over certain issues and incidents that have happened in the country. Odey’s assertion is that nothing has been gained from the anti-corruption law or the Human Rights
Violation Investigation Commission, when a lot of robbery and violation of human rights in the country still triumph with impunity. Experience has shown that even in the process of a panel’s investigations, there are cases whereby some authorities and members of the highly placed government officials are treated as sacred cows
116 and made to go free irrespective of the gravity of the offences they might have committed.
5.2 Corruption and Impunity of Electoral Malpractices. Against this background, the preoccupation in this section is to make an analysis of how Anambra State politics especially electoral processes are devoid of morality. In psephology, this is the study of how people vote in elections. It recommends that people should vote freely and willingly the candidates of their choice to positions of authority as their own representatives into the government.
Human Rights Watch, (April 17, 2007: 3) said that the case with elections in
Anambra State is a negation of this psephological analysis. It said that in real terms, the history of elections in Anambra is the history of election rigging with impunity, brutality, thuggery, intimidation, maiming, stabbing, killing, snatching of ballot boxes or ballot boxes openly stuffed up with ballot papers, electoral officials reported of massive turnouts of voters in areas where no voting took place at all or election results fabricated out of the thin air.
Igwe (2005: 132) added that “The campaigns and actual voting must equally be free and balanced, should meet objective standards and devoid of gerrymandering or immoral manipulation of voting districts or constituencies”.
Furthermore, a critical examination of Nnoli’s definition of election will on clearer terms define how Anambra has gone in doing the opposite as far as electioneering process is concerned. According to him, an election may be defined
117 as the process of choice agreed upon by a group of people. It enables them to select one or a few people out of many to occupy one or a number of authority positions.
This process of choice usually involves rules and regulations designed to ensure a certain degree of fairness and justice to all concerned” (Nnoli, 2003: 220).
Specifically, the last segment of Nnoli’s definition is of paramount importance to us here as he emphasized the obvious fact that there are rules and regulations designed to ensure a free and fair elections but the reality on ground shows that Nigeria has almost lost the real meaning or conceptualization and the truest essence of election in any society thereby plunging election processes and practices in Nigeria into a state of anomy and relegated the supposed election rules to the background.
Afuba (2010: 2) added that:
This is season of Church bashing in Anambra State. The west is hooked to the human frailty of priests in the theatre of pedophile. Africa at once criticises the church for aparty and involvement in politics! Indeed, if men use the green wood like this, what will they do when it is dry? The son of God was murdered for preaching salvation and social justices, is it any surprise that some Nigerians would seek to ridicule the church for upholding voter conscientisation in the February 6, 2010 Anambra State governorship election.
Here we see the Church being accussed of involment of rigging election
Anambra State. What a mess if this is the truth about the Church. He continued that:
Heaven only knows what new fairytales the losers of the election will put forward to water down their rejection by the electorate.They made much noise about the disenfranchisement of their supporters as if the omissions in the voters’ register did not cut across board. They had agitated for legitimizing invalid votes in the desperate bid to present the election as inconclusive. The latest antics have the thinly veiled suggestestion that the Catholic Church rigged the election in favour of Pater Obi. But even as this has become the new tale of the biter losers in advertorials and opinion
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articles sponsored by the heaviest of the losers, it is instructive that this allegation is not reflected in any of the three petitions before the election petitions tribunal.
Afuba retorted that, there would be no basis for a futher consideration of the rigging charge against the Church the politicians who peddled the tale did not bother to include it in their petitions. In the event, the scandalous campaign against the church and Governor Obi smacks of mischief and odd capacity for identifying all manner of factors as responsible for their loss of the election except acknowledge their very defeat. With their ostrich game, we are reminded of the words of Leo Tolstoy’s sadist: ‘I sit on a man’s back, choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am very sorry for him and wish to ease his lot by all possible means except by getting off his back. Their stubborn neglect of the home truths about the election does not advance their campaign in the court of public opinion, for as a proverb says, the bird that flies from the gound onto a termite’s mound is still on the gound. Let the misguided activist stop thinking that the Church can be intimidated and misled out of its conscientisation mission. The Roman Catholic Church is a prophetic Church with a divine mandate to propagate the teaching of Christ. Christianity is a way of life and as a prophetic institution; the Church makes proactive interventions in area of human society as diverse as health and politics. Social action has always been a component part of the Church’s calling. Expectedly, the nature and tenor of the
Church’s action varies in time and place according to local experiences.
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For instance, what is popularly refered to as liberation theology is the Latin
American Church’s declaration to alleviate the problems of the poor in the region.
In Africa, the transition from one party state and other forms of dictatorship were generally aided by the human rights policies of the Church. Notable are the advocacy roles of the South Africa Council of Churches, the Nigerian Catholic
Bishops Conference and the National Council of Churches of Kenya in the 1980s and 1990s. The heroism of Archbishop Oscar Romero who was martyred in 1980 for his stand against oppression and exploitation of the poor stands out in the annals of the Church’s social activism. From the foregoing, it becomes clear that the Church’s sensitsation role in the Anambra governorship election is consistent with her evangelization mission and humanitarian practices. As everyone knows,
Anambra State has had a fractured history, with the State treasury under siege and society’s redeeming values under assault. For a Church in Anambra State that had been monitoring general elections in Nigeria since 1999, its advocacy of voter conscientisation was neither new nor extra-ordinary should not stand aloof. The
Church was concerned and rightly so, that the faithful places premium on merit and that the people will prevail in the poll.
Afuba, (2010: 4) said that Anambra is a sophisticated society capable of sound political judgment as evident in the people’s navigation of the turmoil of the past. He mentained that it have would made sense for the people to have voted for candidates associated with divisive politics and instability of the past,than to vote for a candidates known for clannish politics. He continued that Obi had given
120 every community in Anambra State a sense of belonging with infrastructure projects. As such, in the February poll, the people of Anambra State freely voted for continuation of good his governance.
As we have stated earlier, the history of elections in Nigeria, beginning from independence till date, is shrouded in all forms of electoral malpractices and election riggings with impunity. A journey into the past in relation to Nigeria’s political history will justify and validate the above propositions and claim. For instance, Nigeria’s first post-independence government, led by Prime Minister
Tafawa Belewa, organized general and regional elections in 1964 and 1965. The polls returned the government to a second term in office but were characterized by widespread complaints of fraud, violence and intimidation (Osaghae, 1998: 31).
Protests in the wake of the regional elections, which in some areas had degenerated into violent exercise in competitive rigging, led to widespread violence and intercommunal rioting that claimed more than 200 lives (Anifowose,
1982: 207 and Garrison, 1995: 67).
As a result of the lingering post-election crisis, corruption and other alleged government failures, in January 1966 a group of five army majors planned and executed Nigeria’s first attempted coup d’etat with the justification to seize (take over) power and quell the crisis. The coup failed and the leaders who plotted it were arrested, but the Prime Minister and other key government figures were murdered in the attempt. General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, an Igbo man, was soon
“Invited’ by the tattered remains of Nigeria’s civilian government to step into the
121 resulting power vacuum and became Nigeria’s first military head of state. Ironsi was murdered in a successful coup after less than seven months in office by a group of northern military officers. His death was followed by ethnic rioting across Nigeria that helped precipitate Nigeria’s horrific Biafran Civil War
(Osaghae, 1998: 54-64). The military retained power from 1966 until 1979 but this was not a period of stability or peace (Human Rights Watch, 2007: 12).
The civilian government under President Shehu Shagari that was elected to office in 1979 was in place for only four years. Shagari’s administration, which initially had the blessing of Nigeria’s military establishment, was blamed for widespread corruption at both the federal and state levels, deepening levels of poverty and internecine political warfare that led ultimately to the electoral debacle of 1983. The elections organized that year were massively rigged in favour of Shagari and his National Party of Nigeria (NPN). The Country’s Federal
Election Commission and the Security Forces were widely accused of actively colliding to rig the elections, and all parties deployed hired thugs to intimidate their opponent across the country. A nationwide outcry greeted the results and the government proved unable to quell the political chaos that ensued (HRW, 2007:
15). Taylor continued that for four months after the 1985 election, the military overthrew Shagari’s government and returned the country under the leadership of
General Mohammadu Buhari. As in 1966, the coup plotters defended their actions by pointing to the chaotic and illegitimate 1983 elections along with massive corruption and the government’s failure to meet its basic responsibilities towards
122 ordinary Nigerians. Nigeria’s military then clenched power for sixteen years, until
May 1999.
However, it is important to note that before 1999, Babangida, the military head of State (1985-1993) organized elections in 1993 that were slated to hand over power to civilian describe the polls as the most free and fair election in
Nigerian history, annulled the same election. However, Babangida annulled the results of the presidential poll and imprisoned the winning candidate Moshood
Abiola, who ultimately died behind bars. Moreso, Nigeria did not return to elected civilian rule until after General Abacha died in office in 1998. By then, the excesses of the Abacha and Babangida years had thoroughly discredited the military’s claim on power and led to popular and international pressure for a return to civilian rule that had become impossible to resist. Abacha’s successor, General
Abdusalami Abubakar, soon organized elections that ushered the military out of power and installed retired General Olusegun Obasanjo as the democratic president of Nigeria on May 29, 1999. Consequently, since 1999, Nigeria; military has kept to its barracks. In that sense, the country’s transition to civilian rule has been successful. But Nigeria’s civilian government has failed to realize hopes that an end to military rule would lead to democratic governance through periodic free and fair elections, progress in combating poverty and corruption, and respect for human rights on the part of those in power. Since the end of military rule, Nigeria has only added to its history of fraudulent and violent elections. The 1999 elections that brought President Olusegun Obasanjo to power were marred by such
123 widespread fraud that observers from the US-based Carter Center concluded that
“it is not possible for us to make an accurate judgment about the outcome of the presidential election”( Human Right Watch, July, 2007).
General elections in 2003 were widely seen as a test of Nigeria’s progress towards more open and accountable governance after four years of civilian rule under Obasanjo, yet the polls were an abject failure. The 2003 elections were more pervasively and openly rigged than the flawed 1999 elections. More than 100 people died in the two weeks surrounding the voting itself, many in political clashes spawned by politicians’ efforts to employ and arm criminal gangs to defend their interest and attack their opponents (European Union Election
Observation Mission in Nigeria, April 2003 and Human Rights Watch, June 2004).
Similarly, elections for the 774 Local Government Councils in Nigeria were held in 2004, and it followed much the same pattern of violence, intimidation and fraud that characterized the 2003 general elections. Nigeria’s Transition
Monitoring Group observed those polls and concluded, “it is doubtful whether…the elections can in any way be considered to be reflective of the will of the people” ( HRW March 27, 2007: 12). April 2007 elections were widely regarded as a crucial barometer of the federal government’s commitment to some meaningful notion of democratic reform. But the polls marked a dramatic step backwards, even measured against the dismal standard set by the 2003 elections.
Worst still, elected officials, alongside the very government agencies charged with ensuring the credibility of the polls, reduced the elections to a violent
124 and fraud-riddled farce. Across much of the country, armed gangs in the employ of politicians raided polling stations and carried off ballot boxes. Electoral officials reported massive turnout figures in area where no voting took place at all. In many areas ballot boxes were openly stuffed or results fabricated. (Human Rights Watch
April 17, 2007 and Human Rights Watch News Release, April 25, 2007). As a matter of fact, the final results bore little resemblance to the realities reported by credible election observers, domestic and foreign but the Independence National
Electoral Commission (INEC) reported a landside victory for the ruling PDP. The
April 2007 elections were marred by widespread fraud and violence, largely perpetrated by the country’s ruling party. In few of Nigeria’s states was the balloting peaceful. In much of the country opposition candidates in the parliamentary elections were intimidated, their supporters barred from voting, and ballot boxes in areas known to favour them stolen by agents of the ruling party.
Consequently, foreign observers and Nigerian Civil Society Groups were unusually blunt in their criticisms of the polls, with many of Nigerian activities labelling them the worst in Nigerian history (Human Rights Watch Interviews,
Abuja and Port Harcourt, April, 2007: n.p). The Head of the European Union
Election Observation Mission (EUEOM) said that, “The whole thing was not at all living up to the hopes of the Nigerian people, it was chaotic, and was capable of setting them behind, democratically” (BBC News Online, April 23, 2007).
According to Eboh (2007:1) the EUEOM’s final report stated “Given the lack of transparency and evidence of fraud, there can be no confidence in the results of
125 these elections”. The US-based National Democratic Institute (NDI) said in its post-election statement “The electoral process failed the Nigerian people”
(National Democratic Institute.
Nigeria’s failed 2007 polls cast a harsh and very public light on patterns of violence, corruption and outright criminality that have come to characterize
Nigeria’s political system – and on the extent to which officials and institutions at all levels of government accept, encourage and participate in those abuses. Worst still, even when they have successfully rigged themselves into power, they disregard and discard the ladder (the people) through which they climbed to the top, with their empty promises unfulfilled. Odesola (2005: 1) affirms thus when he lamented that “after the politician made various pledges in election, Nigerians gave them mandate to take charge of their affairs…We are yet to see any fulfillment of heaven and earth pledges and promises made. So far nothing has been done”.
In fact, Nigeria’s fraudulent 2007 elections provided a vivid illustration of the unshakable confidence many Nigerian public officials and politicians have in their impunity. Just as remarkable as the massive scale of the fraud that characterized the polls was the openness with which violence, vote theft and other abuses were carried out. Human Rights Watch and Election Observer groups reported ballot box stuffing, intimidation and other abuses carried out in the most public manner possible, all in the name of election (HRW, 2007: 45). In the election of Funtua in Katsina State, residents complained that their local
126 government chairman gave a public address several days before the elections during which he bragged that the elections would be rigged in favour of the PDP.
According to Human Rights Watch interview, Funtua, (April 20, 2007:26):
The Chairman was stating publicly the people should just burn ANPP posters and that even if they cut ANPP supporters nothing will happen…He said Funtua is PDP and any other party is inconsequential and the PDP will win no matter what happens. He said whether through hook or by crook he had taken a promise to do whatever it takes to deliver Funtua. He said, “INEC is ours, the police is ours”. The hoodlums follow him wherever he goes.
The PDP, at the end of the day, won the nation-wide election in Funtua by a landslide and after the first round of voting the town erupted into violence between
PDP and ANPP supporters. Several buildings including the local government secretariat were burned to the ground. No one has been investigated, let alone held to account for the systematic rigging of Nigeria’s 2007 elections.Oyo’s 2007 election saw the same open vote rigging and intimidation of voters that derailed the exercise across most Nigeria. Observers and journalists reported attacks by thugs on polling stations who stole ballot boxes and several voters were reportedly shot or stabled while trying to cast their ballots in Ogbomosho and Ibadan.
Addressing this failure (problem) depends upon President Yar’Adua and those around him. The dilemma, however, is that they all owe their offices to this particular fraudulent elections.
5.3 Politicians and Godfathers in Anambra State Politics in Nigeria has become an investment where the investors are set to make profit at all cost, as a result, political brutality is pervading the society
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(Uwhejevwe, 2008: 1.) The phenomenon of godfatherism in Nigerian politics is crying out for extensive and thorough investigation. This has become imperative in the light of rapid escalation of this political malady, which obviously has potentials for derailing the present democratic project. Godfatherism is pervasive to governance and creates atmosphere of restiveness and deadly situations, especially when the relationship between the godfathers and the protégés is not cordial.
Imukkuede (2004: 13) saw the concept of godfatherism basically from the involvement of someone or group of persons “usually rich and all-powerful who take protégés under their protective wings and deploy their resources to promote their interest or advance their causes…and expect the protégés to remain subservient”. What can be deduced from the foregoing perspection of Imukkuede is that godfatherism involves an individual (godfather) who uses his overwhelming influence or tremendous resources to sponsor into public office a candidate
(protégé ) which then allows the godfather not only to control the government and the incumbent of the related office. A godfather also remote controls and appropriates the resources that are accruable to that office directly through the demand of cash payment of a huge amount of money, or indirectly through nomination of holders of key public positions and awards of contracts which are often not executed, even when executed are haphazardly done. Imukkuede said that “godfatherism implies the primitive accumulation of common wealth through proxies”. For purpose of clarity, the concept godfatherism is synonymous with
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Patron-Clientele politics. Igwe (2002:315-316) preferred the use of patronage politics to godfatherism. According to him, patronage politics is
a type of government and political society characterized by condescending autocratic rule and the arbitrary exercise of power in favour of friends, relations, allies and other persons whose loyalties have to be purchased with money, position or privilege, without a due legal process and often in violation of constitutional provisions. He further pointed out that informal friendship ties or cronyism, ‘settlement’ or the purchase of public support were some of the ways in which Patron-clientele politics express themselves in a number of countries. Godfatherism manifests itselves either as a collective clique or by despots, whose method is the corruption and diversion of national resources to private ends. This form of patronage politics involves the personalization of power and subordinates the freedom and rights of the individual in favour of personality cult, while its ultimate casualty is, of course, democracy. Notably, the nature of class struggle in reproducing leaders in Nigeria is the pervasive use of the state apparatuses to amass wealth. It is this unrestrained urge to accumulate personal wealth and the pervasive use of the state machineries to do so that accounts for the escalation and proliferation of godfatherism in
Nigeria. In another connection Jibrin Ibrahim explained that not all aspirants to political office in Nigeria can raise on their own the substantial resources usually necessary to compete in the country’s violent and corrupt political system – especially if they do not enjoy control over public resources to begin with. As a result, in many parts of Nigeria, successful candidates are often those who were
‘sponsored’ by wealthy and powerful individuals known in Nigeria parlance as political godfather (Ibrahim, 2008: 2).
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These godfathers are not mere financiers of political campaigns. Rather they are individuals whose power stems not just from wealth but also from their ability to deploy violence and corruption to manipulate national, state or local political systems in support of the politicians they sponsor. In return, they demand a substantial degree of control over the governments they helped bring into being - not in order to shape government policy, but to exert direct financial ‘returns’ in the form of government resources stolen by their protégés or lucrative government contracts awarded to them as further opportunities for graft. Godfathers also require their sponsored politicians to use government institutions to generate patronage for other protégés (Human Rights Watch, 2007: 33).
According to Uwhejevwe (2008: 1) every politician wants to become a political godfather. Godfatherism is as old as politics itself, godfatherism is even in the church, in the ease of Christendom, the godfather assists the godson to attain the level of a responsible person in the society. In other words, he teaches the godson the norms and values of the society and inculcates in him a better character. Meanwhile, political godfather is different ball game all together, it is the opposite. The political godfather usually brings the political godson to the limelight of politics. He (godfather) introduces him (godson) to the people that matter. However, the godson having successfully clinched to seat with the support of their godfather quietly wants to sideline their political godfather. This may be, as a result of over lordship, by their godfather wanting to dominate the government, giving directions and controlling the administration.
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Godfathers include those who had earlier served in government or are still serving in government, and those who are not in government but by way of marriage and/or friendship rapport well with the present political leaders and by this means have amassed a tremendous wealth and influence. In essence, godfathers are directly and indirectly linked to the central power base from where they derive their political and economic sinews. The greatest of which is the ‘fixer- in-chief’, Chief Anthony Anenih, who used money from Aso Rock to procure automatic second term for Obasanjo (Joseph cited in Azom, 2004: 35).
Obvioursly, the Fourth Republic in Nigeria has witnessed these ugly trends from inception soon after the governors were sworn-in on May 29, 1999. The Political actors and their political godfathers were in the verge of contending who should rule their States. Prominent among the axamples were Senator Modu Ali Sheriff versus Governor Mala Kachalla of Borno, Olusola Saraki versus Governor
Mohammed Lawel of Kwara State; Senator Jim Nwobodo versus Governor
Chimaroke Nnamani of Enugu State; Chief Emeka Offor versus Governor
Chinwoke Mbadinuju of Anambra State and Alhaji Abubakar Rimi versus
Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano State to mention but a few (Uwhejevwe,
2008: 1).
Uwhejevwe continued that in Anambra State, which has become the hot bed of Patron-Clientelism, the political tussle started with Governor Chinwoke
Mbadinuju and his godfather Chief Emeka Offor (1999-2003) who reportedly financed Mbadinuju’s governorship campaign. He later turned out to be a major
131 face-off, which threatened the soul of Anambra State. Uwhejevwe said that the situation was worsened by Mbadinuju’s inability to regularly pay civil servant and teachers who were owed nearly a year. This led to a strike action by the workers.
As a result, the Anambra State chapter of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) became critical of the governor and gave him an ultimatum to pay salary arrears or resign forth with. In the process of the agitation, the Chairman of Anambra NBA was assassinated along with his wife. In fact, Governor Mbadinuju made the people of Anambra State experience demonstration of craze instead of democracy.
The education system was a mess, social life and basic amenities were not met for the people of the state – Mbadinuju did not serve his people, rather he concentrated on his political godfather (Uwhejevwe, 2008: 1-2).
The vicious circle of godfatherism started in Anambra State since the inception of Governor Chris Ngige and his estranged political godfather Chris
Uba. Indeed Chris Uba is an iconic example of the godfather phenomenon in
Nigeria. Chris Uba, a member of the PDP Board of trustees, was at peak during the
2003 elections, when he “sponsored” PDP candidates and rigged their election to office across Anambra State. After that election he publicly declared himself “the greatest godfather in Nigeria noting that “this is the first time an individual single- handedly put in position every politician in the state” (Ibrahim, 2008: 2). Among the politicians Chris Uba “sponsored” in 2003 was PDP gubernatorial candidate
Chris Ngige. The terms of their agreement was spelt out in remarkably explicit fashion in a written contract and declaration of loyalty that Ngige signed prior to
132 the election. Chris Uba contended that Ngige later failed to live up to the terms of their agreement. Ngige promised in a written document to ‘exercise and manifest absolute loyalty to the person of Chris Uba as his mentor, benefactor and sponsor and agreed to allow Uba control all important government appointments and the awarding of all government contracts. The documented agreement referred to
Ngige as the “administrator” and a selected Governor.His (godfather) Uba as
“Leader/Financier” (Human Rights Watch, 2007: 68).
Anayo( 2003:11) said that Ngige reported that from the moment he assumed office, Uba continually ‘making personal demands for much money from the
State’s treasury”, Ngige also claimed that shortly before his inauguration, armed men broke into his home and forced him, at gunpoint, to sign a pledge that he would pay Chris Uba the sum of N3 billion ($23 million) immediately after assuming office, which Uba denied during a Human Right watch interview with him at his Enugu residence on February 12, 2007. Relations between Ngige and
Uba deteriorated the more, even to a point that on July 10, 2003 Governor Ngige was hijacked by armed policemen and forced him at gunpoint to sign a letter of resignation. Anayo (2003:43) continued in his ‘Anambra Coup! Who is
Responsible’: that “Ngige successfully partitioned refute his resignation, which he signed under duress. In 2004 thugs armed with firearms, and crude explosives attacked Government House in Awka burnt down part of the building. Chris Uba was alleged as being behind these attacks.
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The Ngige-Uba saga came to an end in March 2006 when a Federal Court of
Appeal ruled that Ngige’s 2003 election victory was fraudulent and therefore null and void. The result was Ngige’s replacement with his 2003 electoral opponent from the opposition party - All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), Peter Obi
(The Vanguard, March 18, 2006: 10). From the above trend, it is therefore our argument that godfatherism has turned Anambra State into an epileptic state in terms of governance and even made the state ungovernable! This was much more demonstrated by the unconstitutional process of impeachment against Governor
Peter Obi (just seven months after he assumed office) on November 2, 2006; and his deputy, Stella Etiaba, was sworn in, and Obi’s eventual re-instatement in
February 2007. Worst still, Obi’s tenure was further disrupted by 2007 general election, as Andy Uba was sworn-in as the governor of Anambra State on May 29,
2007. All these show of political instability and crisis were as a result of the manipulations of the restive godfather in the state.
However, Andy Uba’s celebration as the new governor was short-lived.
Months prior to the elections Governor Peter Obi had filed a law-suit arguing that he had been robbed of his term of office because of the years-long delay in declaring him the winner of the 2003 election. Few days after Uba was sworn in as governor, Nigeria’s Supreme Court ruled in favour of Obi in that case, granting
Obi the right to serve a full four years in office. Uba’s election was null and void, and the court also said that gubernatorial elections will not be held in Anambra
State until 2010 (Editorial 2007, The Guardian, June 27, 2007: 1).
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In Oyo State, Chief Lamidi Adedibu has been involved in Oyo politics since the 1950s. He had emerged as a powerful political force through a combination of populist politics, patronage with violence and extortion. Adedibu is an iconic figure in Nigerian politics, an example of the kind of power to which political godfather aspire. In an interview with the Human Rights Watch on February June
10, 2007 Adedibu stated that he has been sponsoring all the politicians in Oyo
State. This interview also revealed that Oyo’s current governor Christopher Alao-
Akala is a protégé of the Adedibu and everybody who is who in Oyo state politics has passed through Adedibu (HRW, 2007: 53) .
Also, Adedibu sponsored the 2003-2007 governor of Oyo State Rashidi
Ladoja into office. As soon as he emerged as governor, Ladoja immediately tried to break free from Adedibu’s influence by refusing to consult Baba Adedibu on appointments, patronage and constracts. This angered Adedibu even to the point of describing Governor Ladoja as ‘ingrate’, for having excluded him from the State’s decision-making and control. More so, Ladoja fell out with Adedibu shortly after coming into office in 2003 because he refused to allow Adebibu access to the state treasury, and alleged that Adebibu ordered him to turn over 25% of the government’s security vote (roughly N15 million) per month directly to him.
Adedibu continued to wield influence as a godfather in Oyo State until he finally had a date with his creator (joined his ancestors) in June, 2008.
In Osun State under the governorshop of Olagunsoye Oyintola (2003-2007) the political godfathers who besieged him with demands were Sunday Ofolabi,
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Okunade Sijuwade (the Ooni of Ife), Tunde Badmus, Ebenezer Babatope and Fatai
Akinbade. In addition to submitting the campaign bill of N300 million for payment, Sijuwade wanted his son to be made either a minister or at least a commissioner in Osun States. Badmus, a major financier of Governor Oyinlola wanted four slots including the post of commissioner for finance, which he wanted his son to occupy, while Sunday Afolabi wanted his son to be the commissioner for works and housing.
In Ogun State the main godfather of Governor Gbenga Daniel in 2003 was
President Olusegn Obasanjo and Jibril Marins Kuye the Minister of State for finance. These were ‘the seen and unseen forces’ that were actually in charge and controlled all the activities in Ogun state. In Edo State, the tripartite struggle for the control of the power base and resources of those state ranges among Chief
Anthony Anenih, Gabriel Igbinedion (the father of the state governor Lucky
Igbinedion) and Samuel Ogbemdia (Newswatch, April 19, 2004: 7).In Kano State, the godfathers of Governor Ibrahim Shekarau were Abubakar Rimi, Musa
Gwabade and Aminu Wali, who wasted no time in indicating their interest to influence the composition of the state cabinet. Ribiu Musa Kwankwaso, a former governor of the State and Rimi fell apart when he (Kwankwaso) began to support the then President Obasanjo.
In Borno State, Ali Modu Sheriff, the big time godfather of the erstwhile governor Mala Kachalla, the man he sponsored was not too amenable to control.
He therefore, withdrew his support and political machinery and in 2003, he
136 contested, won became king himself. Similarly, in Kwara state, Olusola Saraki former presidential aspirant and senate leader is the hub around which Kwara state politics revolves. When Mohammed Lawal, Saraki's protégé undermined the political machinery of his godfather, it became obvious that saraki would shop for a replacement. And this time around, Saraki sponsored his eldest son, Bukola
Saraki as the governor of Kwara state in 2003-2007.
Looking deep into the political mirror of Nigeria, godfatherism is seen as one of the pandemics that are endangering political system in Nigeria. It saps the elected officials the real political will, and compels the godson ( protégé ) to siphon funds meant for public infrastructural development for the settlement of their godfathers, thereby jeopardizing and mortgaging the future of the citizens.
5.4 Political Godfathers and Funding of Violence in Nigeria Godfathers are both a symptom and a cause of the violence and corruption that together permeate the political process in Anambra State. In Nigerian context,
Godfathers occupy a notable position in the nation’s politics because they sponsor politicians to deploy violence and corruption. Also, their activities help to reinforce violence and corruption in politics by making it even more difficult to win elected office without resorting to the illegal tactics.
In fact, there is a direct relationship between corruption and political violence in support of their ambitions. Undoubtedly, the money that is poured into mobilizing political violence in Nigeria by the politicians is usually substantial.
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Indeed, the youths have no money, if you show them the bag of money and the bag of guns, they will work for you. The situation in Anambra State could be likened to Niger Delta and Oyo States. In Rivers State for instance, the leader of an armed gang whose primary stronghold stretches across part of Delta State reported that in
2003 had numerous other cults and gang leaders who were paid between N3 million and N10 million each to “disrupt the election in favour of Governor Peter
Odili. He said that they stood at the election grounds so that people would not come to vote’ (Human Right Watch, 2007: 36). Also, Human Rights Watch interviewed said that more than a dozen people, including gang leaders, cultists and low level thugs organized and carried out acts of violence on behalf of the
PDP in order to rig the 2003 elections in Rivers State. All of them said that they worked on behalf of the State government or PDP candidates to intimidate voters, attack their sponsors’ opponents or rig the voting directly in favour of them –
Governor Peter Odili and the PDP (Human Rights Watch interviews, Port
Harcourt, December 2005, August 2006 and April 2007: 3).
Sadly, the trend towards armed criminality in politics sparked by the emergence of political sponsorship of armed groups during the 2003 elections which now spiraled out of control in Rivers State. Militias and gangs have proliferated, maintaining camps of fighters in the creeks that engage in oil bunkering, stage bank robberies and street battles in Port Harcourt. Naagbanton,
(2008: 14) was of the opinion that when the military’s Joint Task force intervened in August 2007 to combat warring gangs, Hassan Douglas, Chairman
138 of Rivers State Niger Delta Peace and Crisis Resolution Committee, in a telephone interview said that “he would stand on his ground untii the politicians who sponsored and helped to arm those gangs were held to account. Also Anyakwee
Nisirmovu (HRW April 20, 2007) commented that:
t see anything coming out of this unless these politicians are dealt with. What will this military intervention do to the whole idea of the politicians paying, motivating recruiting and keeping and protecting these militants? That is the whole problem… The politicians just a couple of months ago paid these boys to win the election for them – they paid them and also gave them the (unofficial) license to go and do oil bunkering. I don’
In Oyo State, the use and funding of political violence also assumed an alarming proportion. Often, rival politicians are coming from the same fishing pond and all of them make use of thugs. A group of young men affiliated with the outlawed O’odua People Congress (OPC) disclosed that they would work for anyone able to pay them to carry out acts of violence ahead of the 2007 elections
(HRW, 2008: 3-4). The thugs still echoed, bring money, bring guns, and bring the logistics. It is war now and we want to see action. Chief Lamidi Adedibu’s power flows primarily form his tremendous ability to mobilize and sponsor political violence. He also distributed cash and food to supplicants on a daily basis. His
Ibadan home patronage frequently referred acts as “amala politics”. It was reported that his stock in trade in politics is blackmail, violence and intimidation, and these made him notorious in Oyo politics.
In Anambra State, the act of political god-fatherism and the funding of political violence was glare in the State. It is as a result of this that Ngige’s abduction saga of 10 th July 2003 took place in 2004 with thugs equipped with
139 firearms and crude explosive attacked Government House in Awka and burned part of it to the ground while policemen stood aside and watched. Other gangs then staged several attacks on other government buildings throughout the state. As many as 24 people were killed during the ensuing violent clashes and lootings
(BBC News Online November 12, 2004:1). Tony Edike in The Vanguard ,
November 15, 2004:17 reportered that “Anambra State is now ruled by hoodlums who have taken over every nook and cranny of the state maiming, killing and attacking public buildings with out any resistance by the retinue of policemen deployed to maintain law and order”.
Governor Ngige like much of the Nigerian press and many civil society groups pointed to Chris Uba (an Anambra political godfather) as the one behind the attacks. Also, several well- placed sources told Human Rights Watch that Chris
Uba has recruited an Ogoni youth leader from Rivers State to help organize the attack on Government House in conjunction with thugs sourced locally in
Anambra (HRW, 2007: 70). According to press reports, Andy Uba campaign appeared to be over-funded and this made Tony Nwoye (a former student union leader and an alleged prominent member of the Black Axe cult later installed as state chairman of the PDP) to immediately set about mobilizing funds to recruit thugs to ensure Andy Uba’s victory in the PDP primaries in December 2006.
Human rights Watch interviewed several cult members who described how they were paid to rig the primaries in Uba’s favour by studying ballot boxes and chasing off legitimate voter intimidation. “In the primaries, we carried axes and
140 machetes and chassed away any voter that came near where we were voting
(Human Rights Watch Interview with Buccanears member, Awka, February 14,
2007:n.p). As a result of these sponsored thugs and cult groups, Uba won the PDP nomination after being awarded 97 percent of all votes cast. Similarly, one
Engineering graduate student in Anambra State disclosed that he had been paid
N25,000 by the campaign office of PDP gubernatorial candidate Andy Uba to help organize thugs that chased elected delegates away from polling areas on the day of the PDP gubernatorial primaries in late 2006. He said that he was bused to the voting centre along with at least two to three busses loaded full of cult and gang members who received the same payment.
Most of these youths have been turned into cultists, hostage- takers, armed rubbers, assassins, prostitutes and thugs are the posterity of the society, but today their future is rocked with violence and evil. Naagbanton (2008:4) said that
“Political violence in Nigeria is most often carried out by gangs whose members are openly recruited, financed and sometimes armed by public officials, politicians and party officials or theirrepresentatives”.
According to Human Rights Watch (2007: 23). “These gangs, comprised primarily of unemployed young youths who are mobilized to attack their sponsor’s rivals, intimidate members of the public, rig elections and protect their patrons from similar attacks.” Often, sponsors of political violence turn, the same criminal gangs, and violent campus- based “cults” are recruited agents of political leaders.
Those recruited are paid, often very little, and sometimes armed for the sole
141 purpose of carrying out violent abuses on behalf of their political sponsors.
As a matter of fact, Nigerians’ notorious “cult” organizations are a particular variety of criminal gang that begins campus fraternities. The first of which emerged in 1952 when a group of University of Ibadan students, including future Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka, organized a fraternity called the Pyrates
Confraternity. They have since proliferated and evolved into violent gangs that often operate both on and of-Campuses, with one foot each in the criminal and political spheres. Across much of Nigeria and especially in the south, “cult” gangs are the most widely feared criminal enterprise in the country. The power and prevalence of these groups grew steadily over the decades and especially since
1990. Many of such groups are powerful politicians, some of them have associations with cult organizations dating back to their days in the University
(IRIN, August 1, 2008:12 and Wole Soyinka in the Guardian , June 29, 2005: 4).
Cult groups in Nigeria today are numerous and include such groups as the
Buccaneers, the Black Axe, the Greenlanders, the Klansmen Confraternity, and the supreme Vikings confraternity (or Vikings) along with many others. Evidently, these organizations sow terror among the student populations of many university campuses in Nigeria, forcibly recruiting new members and waging battles between one another that have included the assassination of rival cult members and killing of innocent bystanders. For example the cults’ blood bath in the University of
Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) on June 19, 2002 and May 2, 2008 and the death-toll in the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) on Tuesday 3rd June 2008 (BBC
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News Online, June 19, 2002 and Starlight Newspaper (May 2, 2008: 2-3) and
Network News (Tuesday June 3, 2008, 9 pm).
HRW (2007: 24) said that a reliable statistics about the on-campus human death toll of Nigeria’s cult violence do not exist, but former Minister of education
Obiageli Ezekwesili estimated that some 200 students and teachers lost their lives to cult-related violence between 1996 and 2005. Cult groups have also been implicated in widespread of other abuses- including extortion, rape, violent assaults and recently metamorphosed into kidnapping. Akinyemi in HRW, (2007:
24-25) highlighted that “the reach of many cults has spread far beyond university campuses, with many groups involved in drug trafficking, armed robbery, extortion, oil bunkering, and various forms of street crime”
Alongside all of this, many politicians mobilize local cult members as the foot soldiers of political violence. Some politicians themselves are members of cult organizations. Human Rights Watch interview said that more than 20 current and former members of cult groups were recruited by PDP politicians either during the
2003 elections or in the run-up of 2007 polls in Oyo, Anambra and Rivers States.
Many spoke candidly about being paid to target the political opponents of their sponsors or to attack and intimidate ordinary voters.
One former cult member, in categorical terms, told Human Rights Watch that his group was recruited by the PDP in Rivers State to prevent people from voting during the 2003 elections. According to the cultist “my duty was to send you to hell,” he said (HRW, 2007: 1) . Members of an Ibadan-based gang
143 acknowledged having ties to Oyo State political godfather Lamidi Adedibu and said that they are paid to carry out political assassinations (HRW interview April
6, 2007: n.p). And just ahead of the 2007 elections, one member of the Buccaneers cult in Anambra State told Human Rights Watch that, “if there is a need to cause commotion during the election, they (local politicians) will call us”(HRW Feb. 14,
2007: n.p).
In some cases, cult and gang members claimed that they merely provided
“security” for electoral campaigns, but described their work as involving violent clashes with members of communities along the campaign trail. Two members of the Vikings cult group in Anambra State, for example, revealed that during the
PDP primaries in late 2006, they and many other Vikings members from the
University of Nnamdi Azikiwe Campus in Awka had been recruited by PDP aspirants in several southeastern states to accompany them on the campaign trail.
(HRW, 2007: 1I) further explained that ,
In some areas we played like a security role…. We went to others states like Enugu-we went there for security for the PDP. Also in Ebonyi … You go to some places to do voting and the local people, they don’t understand anything, they just start fighting you… one community they burned a vehicle, maybe because they did not like the candidate, they said he had done nothing for them. So we provide security for the PDP in those places
A few of the cult and gang members admitted that they had been paid to attend party rallies in support of their patron candidates, and that they routinely attended such events armed and prepared to fight. One gang member in Ibadan told Human Right watch during the 2007 election campaign that” I go to PDP rallies every day to get a little money. It’s survival; it’s an investment … to go to
144 rallies we prepare with machetes, clubs and AK – 47s.
In Anambra State, a group of NURTW members acknowledged that they had been hired by a PDP politician from their community to attack and chase away voters in order to stuff ballot boxes and rig the 2003 elections. Also, in
Anambra State, NURTW members have been at the forefront of a bloody and protracted period of election–related violence. The State’s chapter of the National
Union of Road Transport Worker (NURTW) was a primary source of political thugs. NURTW has several thousand members in Anambra State alone and is meant to represent the collective bargaining interest of drivers of commercial passenger vehicles and violent motor park “touts” who loiter about the motor parks harassing drivers and passengers alike. There is considerable evidence that the Union leader and others have long used NURTW, Anambra State chapter as a tool of political violence. With these thugs, elections are openly rigged. Oyo State
2007 elections saw the same open vote rigging, intimidation of voters, attacks by thugs on polling stations who stole ballot boxes and several voters were reportedly short or stabbed while trying to cast their balots in Ogbomosho and
Ibadan, especially in Ibadan, Adedibu’s proxy thugs from NURTW (HRW, 2007:
59-60).
Similarly, in Rivers State, cults and gangster politics was the order of the day. During interviews with Human Right Watch, Port Harcourt at different intervals December 2005, August 2006 and April 2007, said that more than a dozen people, including gang leaders, cultists, and thugs admitted having
145 organized or carried out acts of paid violence on behalf the PDP in order to rig the electrons of 2003 and 2007 respectively in Rivers State. All of them said that they worked for the State government or PDP candidates to intimidate voters, attack their sponsors’ opponents or rig the voting directly in favour of the then Governor
Peter Odili and the PDP (HRW, 2007: 81). The PDP’s primary instruments in using violence to rig the 2003 poll in Rivers were two gangs that have since been at the forefront of violent crimes and “militant” activities throughout the state:
The Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF), led by Asari Dukobo, and the Niger Delta Vigilante (NDV), led by Ateke Tom. As a matter of fact Ateke
Tom himself acknowledged the role he played in the 2003 elections, revealing that the then – Governor Odili had promised cash and jobs in great quantities for him and his ‘boys’ and then in return, “Any place Odili sent me, I conquered for him. I conquered everywhere (Ateke, 2007: 1-2). However, Governor Odili consistently denied any relationship with Ateke, Asari, or any other gang leader.
Beginning from late 2003, an all-out armed conflict between the PDP’s erstwhile agents – Asari and Ateke plunged parts of Port Harcourt and its surrounding communities into a state of terror. That violence is generally acknowledged to have been sparked by a power play on the part of the state government. Similarly, the spiral of violence that followed the 2003 elections repeated itself after the 2007 pools. Between May 2007 and August, 2007 under the temporal administration of the then, Governor Celestine Omehia, Port
Harcourt degenerated into a state of chased and fiasco, with armed gangs waging
146 battles in the streets of the city and wrecking devastation on the surrounding communities. This situation resulted in the intervention of the Nigerian military’s
Joint Task Force (JTF) engaging in a bloody battle with the gangs until peace (a tenuous calmness) was restored in Port Harcourt.
In Gombe State, the wave of political violence and criminality are unspeakably and unbearably high. This was orchestrated by the large numbers of unemployed young men who have formed loosely organized criminal gangs known as “Kalare” or “Kalare Boys”. The Kalare boys have proven easy prey for politicians who offer them small amounts of money, drugs, alcohol, motorbikes, and weapons (machetes, guns, etc) in exchange for engaging in acts of intimidation and assaults or simply to accompany their campaigns in a demonstration of muscle. In fact, those youths were used to help rig the PDP to victory in 2003 by stealing and stuffing ballot boxes, chasing away voters and intimidating INEC officials. This was the origin of a continuing wave of violence that had, by the time of Nigeria’s 2007 polls, gotten entirely out of control.
To this effect, a member of Gombe Elders’ forum on April 20, 2007 explained thus “Gangsters rule us. The major source of criminal activity in
Gombe is the politicians and their militias. Two out of three places the governor goes, people are injured afterwards”. It is alleged that between December 2003 and April 2007, at least 115 people were killed and many more were injured as a result of Kalare violence in Gombe state. Worst still, it was reported that many powerful figures within the Kalare gangs are in Gombe’s state and local
147 government payrolls. This implies that there is a thick nexus between the Kalare gangs and the Gombe state government in terms of funding and/or sponsorship
(HRW, 2007: 92-93).
The electoral period in Gombe was exceptionally violent. During the 2007 election campaign and on the election days, ‘Kalare thugs’ played a significant role in committing violence and intimidation on behalf of all major political parties. Accordingly, the PDP’s edge in terms of Kalare recruitment was due largely to the fact that the ruling party had more resources to spend to hiring them.
5.5 The Effects of Corruption There are many unresolved problems in Nigeria but the issue of the upsurge
of corruption is troubling. The damages it has done to the polity are astronomical.
Dike (2004: 5) posits that “the effects of corruption on a nation’s socio-political
and economical development are myriad.” According to him, the menace of
corruption leads to slow movement of files in offices, police extortion and slow
traffic on the highways, port congestion, queues at international passport offices
and gas stations, ghost workers syndrome, election irregularities among others.
Even the mad people on the street recognize the havoc caused by corruption – the
funds allocated for their welfare disappear into the thin air.
Against this backdrop, in a paper delivered in 2001 entitled, “The Fight against Corruption in Governance”, The Chairman of the Independent Corrupt
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Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), Mustapha Akanbi stated inter alia :
Corruption is a dangerous foe… The endemic nature and deliberating effect of corruption on the cultural, economic, social and political foundation of the society has been most harrowing and disconcerting. Corruption is, indeed, the bane of our society. It has been the harbinger of the messy situation in which we find ourselves today. Our economy has been ruined, our hopes for greater tomorrow have been dashed, our value system is destroyed so much so that the world begins to see us as men and women without honour and dignity. The above candid and forthright utterance is a factual pronouncement on the state of Nigeria on the issue of corruption. Agbroke in Chuta (2004: 37) branded corruption in Nigeria as public enemy No.1. Agbroke thereby confirms Justice
Akanbi’s viewpoint of corruption as a “dangerous foe” in Nigeria. It is however, necessary to examine in what ways corruption has become Nigeria’s dangerous enemy.Although it is argued that corruption is a universal human problem as it exists in every country of the world, however, there are countries where corruption is so pervasive that it make impossible any effort at progress. Unfortunately,
Nigeria is one of such countries. Corruption has eaten so deep into its fabrics and hardly can one see any segment of Nigeria that is free from the ugly effects of corruption (Emenyonu, 2007: 5). A communiqué issued by the Christian
Association of Nigeria (CAN) (2003:4) at the end of its 6 th National Assembly, 11-
13 November, 2003 summarized the problem of corruption in Nigeria, thus:
Corruption today is still a deadly disease in Nigeria. Corruption has been responsible for the collapse of our economy, the infrastructure and the collapse of educational and health sectors and other areas of life. Many Nigeria are yet to be free from it. The Christian Church in Nigeria cannot claim to be free from it. Corruption is present every where in Nigeria society. The Christian church and her leaders must be alive to their responsibilities to her people.
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The above quotation from CAN finds strong empirical support from a
World Bank Survey of the level of corruption in selected agencies and institutions in Nigeria, public, private sector, religions and Non-Governmental organizations.
Corruption has eaten deep in Nigeria that even Police degenerated to the extent of giving ‘change’ to commercial vehicle drivers in their quest for the bribe of
N20.00.
Additional indicting evidence of the extent of corruption in Nigeria comes from the Berlin; Germany based organization, Transparency International (TI) which has been conducting annual rankings of the perception of the level of corruption in the different nations of the world since 1995. As from 1996 when TI started including Nigeria in those rankings, she has always emerged as one of the most perceived corrupt nations on the face of the earth. In 1996, 1997, and 2000), she has also ranked second for four times and third in 1999, 2001, 2002 and 2003).
There is hardly any other country that has performed so badly consistently. That the Transparency International has rated Nigeria as one of the most corrupt countries in the world cannot be a matter of jubilation (Chuta, 2004: 66-67). Chuta maintaines that the image of the country in the international arena has become so battered that every Nigerian psychologically feel a scorching hurt inflicted on his individual psyche. The dent has gone so far that everywhere in the world,
Nigerians are said to be generally dreaded like mad dogs and criminals, cautiously approached like dangerous snakes, and avoided (Chuta, 2004: 67). In buttressing
150 the obvious fact that corruption has become so bleak in Nigeria, Ikpe (2000: 122) lamented:
I wonder how many of our public office holders, including those whose official positions entitles them to use he epithet, “Honourable”, can truly be said to be men and women of honour in their everyday conduct. I wonder too, how many of our people in leadership positions in our private sectors and non-governmental organizations can be said to reflect a sense of personal honour in what they do.
As far as Ikpe is concerned, a yawning gap exists in Nigeria for the values of dignity, integrity, conscience and honour”. Many studies have been conducted that show the evils or consequences of corruption. And corruption has taught the
Nigerians dangerous and wrong lessons that it does not pay to be honest, hardworking and law abiding (Dike, 2001: 6). Through corrupt means many political office holders acquire wealth and properties in and outside Nigeria; and many display their wealth (which is beyond their means), but the society does not blink. This has made politics a big business in Nigeria, because anything spent to secure a political office is regarded as an investment, which mature immediately one gets into office (Ogbodo, 2002: 14).
Corruption is politically destabilizing, that is it has the capacity of engendering political instability, breakdown of law and order, brain drain, inefficient of the public service among others (Lawal, 2006: 647). Natufe (2007: 5) said that the corruption is a major hindrance in ensuring good governance and development. He continued that corruption is no doubt an enemy of economic development. He said that in the international scene, it gives a nation and her people a poor image. Ojaide, (2000: 1) said that a nation that condones corruption
151 is often besieged with a lot of economic and social vices. In his assertition, he mentained that a corrupt ridden society, trade and commerce cannot thrive, as investors will be unwilling to invest in any trade or business in such country. Thus, corruption discourages honest efforts and valuable economic activities; and it breeds inefficiency and nepotism.
Oloja (2002: 3) regrettable said that, “corruption is one of the reasons for the ‘brain drain’ phenomenon in Nigeria, as talented professionals are leaving the country in search of employment somewhere else. In Nigeria, you can hardly enter an office and your ‘file signed except you drop’ some money. Even the security personnel at the door of every office will ask for (bribe) tips. In other words, corruption leads to slow moving files that surposed to get through to the desk of senior officers for signing, except the interested parties have compromised themselves. It also leads to “missing files that would resurface immediately the desk officer is settled”, unnecessary bureaucracy and “delays until fees are paid”
In the socio-cultural context, corruption apart from engendering poverty has the capacity of changing the social values of a good and progressive society dramatically to nothing else. This is as a result of crazy pursuit of wealth, affluences, power and societal recognition. People no longer appreciate the virtues of good morale, conduct and practices. They believe in the reverse order, that the means justifies the end. Without doubt these have been the scheme of things in the
Nigerian nation. In fact, corruption has been the bane of the Nigerian society as it
152 undoubtly upsets ethnic balance and exacerbates problems of national integration in developing countries like Nigeria.
Corruption becomes overall resulting effects of all these mal-employment, decline in output and deterioration in the standard of living of the people (Ojoide,
2000: 2). To this end Bishop David Peck rightly pointed out that “the price of corruption is poverty ” (Peck, 2002: 11). This is because, “while the political gladiators constantly manipulate the people for political processes to advance their own selfish agenda, the society remained pauperized, and the people wallowed in abject poverty” (Fagbadebo, 2007: 1). Alarmingly corruption is ubiquitous in
Nigerian society and this has constituted a cog in the wheel of our giant strides for national development. Miquel Schloss, the Executive Director of Transparency
International, in his address at a three-day Eight Nigeria Economic summit, held in
Abuja in 2001, was in total agreement that at the root of Nigeria’s underdevelopment, despite the abundant human and material resources in the country are the twin evils of graft and corruption. He further explained that:
Bribery and Corruption not only create room for more costly public investment, law government revenues, low expenditures on operation and maintenance but also make for lower resources surplus. All these can only engender poorer economic performance. And Nigeria is a classical example of one country whose economy has continued to stagnate because the spectre of bribery and corruption continues to haunt it. Funds which should have been used for public developmental purposes are now in the hands of few, selfish and greedy Nigerians. The insatiable and heartless crave for wealth by a handful of Nigerians has put the economic and social destiny of thousands of other Nigerians on hold and jeopardy. The above picture exposes
153 the extent, serious and far-reaching consequences of corruption in the country and on individuals. In response to the trends and challenges of corruption in Nigeria,
Chinua Achebe in 1983, openly declared that “corruption in Nigeria has passed the alarming and entered the fatal stage; and Nigeria will die if we keep pretending that she is only slightly indisposed” (Achebe, 1983: 47-48). In his hypothetical illustration, Achebe posited that a project, which, realistically should cost N80 million in Nigeria, could be contracted out at N200 million. Just as in the private sector, substantial financial losses are sustained through fraud in the public sector. There was the report of the Federal Government losing N50 million every month as salaries to non-existence (ghost) workers in the early 80s. Those losses amounted to N600 million in one year. With N600 million, as at that time, Achebe
(1983:49-50) speculates that:
Nigeria could build two or more international airports like Murtala Mohammed airport in Lagos; or if we are not keen on more airports, the money could buy us three refineries; or build us a dual express motorway from Lagos to kaduna, or pay the salary of 10,000 workers on grade level 01 for forty years. The above picture of unprecedented financial losses which has replicated itself in astronomical order over the years in the name of corruption is what has
(perpetually) kept Nigeria on her knees developmentally. Retrospectively,
Nigeria’s poor international image owing to corruption adversely affects her economic growth and development. No developing country has ever thrived, economically without the capital and investment support of the richer and more advanced nations. Chuta (2004: 70) posited that:
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In the presence of large – scale fraud and embezzlement of public funds and in the absence of foreign investment, the economy either retards or stagnates, but never progresses. The indices of this state of economy are manifested in high unemployment rate, general poverty, hardship, social insecurity, frustration and demoralization. Where the situation persists, honesty, hard work and patriotism are discouraged and there is a general loss of national pride and dignity. Consequently, the way is paved for further deepening of corruption in the society. It is however, in the threat to life and property that corruption clearly exposes itself as the greatest enemy of Nigerians. From time to time, we have reports of the collapse of public and private buildings, bridges and jetties, with the attendant loss of lives and property. A number of cases of death recorded on our highways are connected with the substandard, non-weather resistant roads.
Notably, awards of contracts nowadays depend largely on who knows the person at the top or who pays the highest price. When eventually the contract are awarded, the contractor(s) who has invested so much to “purchase” the contract, resorts to various means (admittedly unwholesome means), to recover the investment price he paid in order to secure the contract, and still aims at making sizeable profit. These means could involve the hiring of the cheapest but less competent labour acquisition of cheap but substandard materials, and bribing or intimidating the project supervisor.
The high level of mortality in Nigeria is accrued from consequence of fake drug production. Iredia (2005: 7) lamented that “the intake of any of these counterfeit drugs has the potentiality of turning into baleful poisons causing serious problems in the society”. He said that the economic backlash of the production of fake, substandard, and adulterated drugs in the country is ruining the
155 economy. He continued that a number of countries that had hitherto ordered pharmaceutical products from the Nigerian market decided to cut off acquisition of such Nigerian specious drugs because of their unwholesomeness. The action inevitably resulted in drastic reduction in the countries export earnings, a plunge in the value of Nigerian currency, lowering in the production level of such products, and eventually, the laying off of workers in these Nigerian Pharmaceutical companies. Worst still, Nigerians are living in delusion as a result of the incursion of corruption into the country’s judicial system. What was once looked upon as the last hope for the common man is now fast becoming an unrealizable dream.
Chuta (2004: 73) said that, “when culprits are no longer brought to book because of the free flow of financial gratifications and the foundations of justice totter with the whirlwind of corruption, life becomes a risk in Nigeria”. In the same vein, Iredia lamented that “a corrupt judge is more harmful to the society than a man who runs amok with a dagger in a crowded street” (Iredia, 2005: 6). In their opinion, the issue of corruption had made people question the validity of judicial. The danger that inheres from the erosion of public confidence in the judiciary is, indeed, a national calamity.
This has made Nigerians suffer from a great sense of insecurity. A situation where lives are threatened and Nigerian citizens are murdered and assassinated and there is still little or no hope of tracing down the offenders become very worrisome. Concretely, corruption has, in general terms, become the greatest impediment to the country’s economic development. Corruption is at the root of
156 the steady deterioration of our infrastructures and degeneration in our social and educational institutions, especially when it enthrones mediocrity. Political corruption which remains the central focus of our research stands in the way of true democracy in the country. For democracy to thrive and flourish there must be legitimacy, rule of law, equity, justice, fair play, openness, accountability and transparency. Thus, political corruption undermines the legitimacy of government and democratic values of trust and tolerance, as well as poses a serious development challenge in Nigeria. (Chuta 2004: 74; Aiyede, 2006: 39)
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CHAPTER SIX
THE RESILIENCE OF CORRUPTION IN ANAMBRA STATE
6.1 Government Inability toFight Corruption Corruption is neither an economic phenomenon nor is it solely Anambra
State affair. It is found in Anambra State and elsewhere. It affects both the public and private sectors and it involves all cadres of society (Muozoba, 2010: 6).There is no gainsaying the fact that Nigerian society is sick, and its diagnosis shows that
Nigeria is suffering from malady called corruption. Ordinarily, some human ailments could require many doses of medicines to be treated. Similarly, the menace of corruption, which has eaten deep into the fabric of Anambra State and
Nigeria at large, would require all the necessary “medicines” to be effectively treated or controlled. In other words, no single and simple remedies will treat it adequately; and the problem cannot be solved overnight, because, as we have noted, corruption has been ingrained into the fabric of the society (Dike, 2001: 8).
There is an opinion that judging from the pervasiveness of corruption in
Nigeria, any talk about wiping it out entirely is mere balderdash. At best, however, it can be drastically reduced. Since independence, every Nigerian government has sought to fight corruption. That is, each regime have at different times deviced various means to curb its menace.During the first republic, the Balewa government in a nationwide broadcast by the President, Dr. Azikwe declared corruption as the nation’s enemy. During the Gowon era, The Corrupt Practice Decree No. 38 of
1975 was promulgated to deal with corrupt practices.
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Reference has been to the anti-corruption crusade of the Murtala/Obasanjo regime and how it purged the public service by sacking about 10,000 civil servants in a bid to curb corrupt practices. It also set up the Public Complaint’s
Commission. The second republic President Shehu Shagari (1979-1983) was concerned about the high incidence of indiscipline and corruption inaugurated an
Ethical Revolution Committee in November 1982. When General Buhari became the Head of State (1984-1985) he warned that his administration “will not tolerate kick back, inflation of contracts, forgeries, fraud and abuse of office (Iredia, 2005:
6). In fact, the Buhari regime was determined to inject sanity into the Nigerian polity via its “War Against Indiscipline (WAI) campaign.
The Babangida administration (1985-1993) resuscitated the Code of
Conduct Bureau established by the 1979 Constitution and preceeded to the code of conduct Tribunal in 1989 to handle corruption. He also instituted the Kayode Esho
Commission of Inquiry to investigate corruption in the public and private sectors, i.e, the National Committee on corruption and other Economic crimes. The
Babangida regime also came up with Corrupt Practices and Economic Decree
(Draft) of 1990. According to Agbu (2003: 3)
This decree expanded the definition of corruption to encompass the private sector. It also avoided unnecessary technicalities and provided stiffer penalties. However, that government did not really take issue of corruption seriously. It could actually be argued that corruption in Nigeria became institutionalized during this period. Even the interium National Government which lasted for three months had something to say about corruption. In the 1993 budget speech the nation was told that “we can no longer ignore the issue of corruption which is now widely believed
159 to be endemic in our country” (Shonekan, 1993: 31). It was only Abdusalami
Abubakar who was too preoccupied with the transition to civil rule during his short tenure that did not design his own strategy against corruption (Iredia, 2005:
7). The civilian administration of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo appeared to have had an agenda in fighting corruption in Nigeria when he came into office on May 29,
1999. His inaugral speech was replete with sentence which showed a serious commitment to fighting public accountability and transparency in governance. As he was out to match words with actions, he introduced the anti-corruption bill, which was signed into law on Tuesday, 13 th June 2000. In that, Obasanjo identified corruption as a number one enemy of development and progress, he said
“combating it was easily the number one priority action for our administration”
(FRN Anti-Corruption Law, 2000: 4).
As the resulting from the above, Obasanjo set up the Independent Corrupt
Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) on June 12 th in the year
2000 with a related Jurist, Honourable Justice Mustapha Akanbi as the Chairman to investigate and prosecute cases of corrupt practices. Similarly, the Government also constituted in September, 2004, the Economic and Financial Crime
Commission (EFCC) headed by Nuhu Ribadu, an Assistant Commissioner of
Police to give an added impetus to the was against corruption. The tempo of the anti-corruption crusade has since been high with many top government officials as the first victims. Among them, were President of the Senate (Wabara, A),
Inspector General of Police, many state governors etc. however, a critical question
160 comes to mind “Can the Federal Government established an Act of empowering itself to review the finances, policies and activities of State governments and punish erring state official?” (Natufe, 2007: 5). Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the then
Executive Chairman of the EFCC on Thursday 27 th December, 2007 at EFCC headquarters in Abuja in an Interview revealed that fighting corruption is an extremely difficult task, but it is a task that must be accomplished. It is a panacea for good governance … because a couple of personnel of EFCC have lost their lives, but the battle must be fought and won by us.
He further explained that corruption is the reason why we Nigerians are not enjoying the dividends of democracy. According to him, corruption is responsible for military take-over of governance. People take over government because it pays, it is a big rewarded. They see government as a place to go into, control public funds and do whatever they live with the fund (Ribadu, 2008: 23). Even though there is a seeming success in the fight against corruption under the auspices of the ICPC and the EFCC, yet they never functioned without a log in the wheel of their operations. Baring this in mind, the chairman of the ICPC lamented that ministers and state governors are major hinderances to the successful prosecution of the war against corruption. According to Akanbi (2005: 16) this is “not unexpected in a country where majority of people accept office because of what they can take out of the office”. Similarly, a group described as the Northern delegates blasted Obasanjo thus:
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In spite of Mr. President anti-corruption pronouncements and actions, no significant success has been recorded. Rather it (corruption) has escalated beyond imagination involving officers in high levels of government. Neither the method nor the approaches used to stop corruption have worked so far (Alli, Mojeed and Owete, 2005:8). Regrettably, most officers of the EFCC were accused to have been more corrupt than the people they are hunting to track down for financial corrupt practices. This is evident when eleven top officers of the EFCC were sacked on
24 th August 2008 (Daily Sun, 2008: 1). The above squared into our earliest argument that the anti-corruption policies have failed because a criminal cannot prosecute himself.
As Obasanjo’s administration gave way, the mantle of leadership fell on
Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua as the President of Nigeria on May 29, 2007. At inauguration, the President rolled out his seven-point agenda with emphasis on zero tolerance to corruption, respect to the rule of law and the notion of transparency as what will form the pillar of his administration. Yar’Adua inherited the ICPC and the EFCC. Within his first one year in office, none of the political big shorts or what his predecessor called “sacred cows” accosted, tried and found guilty of financial corruption by the EFCC is languishing in jail, rather, he was toed the “usual” approach of romantization of crime under the smokescreen of
“big man talk to big man”. Only the poor bears the full weight of the law – a negation of his No. 1 agenda of the respect for the rule of law and due process, as well as a caricature of his posture for zero tolerance to corruption.
Worst still, within his fourteen (14) months in office, Yar’Adua has replaced the EFCC chairman (Ribadu) with a woman who will conform to his whims;
162 slashed the membership of the economic management team, turned down the governor of CBN Prof. Soludo’ pragmatic consolidation plans to standardize the
Nigerian currency (naira) to march with the U.S. dollar. Onuoha (2008:32) recorded that “Soludo’s sin is the fact that the consolidation he carried out did not favour the economic interest of a section (the Northern part) of the country.” He has also demerged the 30 ministries his predecessor merged into 19 before leaving office (The Guardian , 2008: 4). Essentially, the Obasanjo administration rolled out many programmes as a way of curbing corruption. Notably, national poverty eradication programme (NAPEP) the poverty Alienation programme. Olateru
Olagbeji in explanations on “Hunger Allows Corruption to Thrive” made propositions on the relationship between poverty and corruption. Poverty he said
“facilitates the creation of conditions for corruption” (Olagbeji, This Day , 2003:
34). The Central believe is that, “a people who are unable to meet their three square daily meals are prone to being involved in one form of corruption or the other” (Chuta, 2004: 77).
Furthermore, the Federal Government of Nigeria has made frantic effort to establish ministries, departments, institutions and agencies which are legally empowered for the maintenance of law and order in society as well as the power to issue and enforce sanctions and penalties on the perpetrators of corruption. Such includes the ministry of Justice, the Police, The Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), the national Agency for Prevention of Trafficking In Persons (NAPTIP), the
National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and
163 the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA). The ministry of Justice and the Police are recognized as crucial institutions in the maintenance of law and order. While the judiciary remains the bedrock of any society to dispense Justice without fear or favour, the Police are meant to maintain peace or order, protect people and properly and track down persons who violates the laws of the land and bring them to face the full wrath of the law. Indeed, “they have been legally empowered to issue and enforce sanctions and penalties on the perpetration of corruption” (Chuta, 2004: 80-81). It is expected, therefore, that under any circumstance, whosoever is recruited to serve in any of these institutions get committed to the realization of the objectives for which they were established.
However, the level of performance of the personnel of these institutions to achieve these objectives depends on the level of their moral standing. In fact, men and women in these institutions should demonstrate integrity and have the bounden duty to perform in order to uphold the honour of their positions.
Disappointingly, traces of corruption are now found among these agencies which were meant to check corruption in Nigerian. Instead of carrying out the primary task and responsibility of avading corruption in society, they are now the conspicuous perpetrators of corruption. To attribute the high level of corruption in both the Judiciary and the Police to inadequate funding by the government and low level of payment should be seen as untenable. To demand for and accept gratification in order to pervert justice or to allow a criminal to escape on the acceptance of a bribe are actions motivated by greed rather than lack.
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Apart from the Judiciary and the Police, there is also the Nigeria Customs
Service, the department that has the legal powers to enforce legislation on imports and exports. For they are face to face with professional tricksters (Fraudsters), whose ultimate intention is gain at the expense of every other person. Apart from their responsibility to check the excesses of smugglers, they have to contend with the high level of corruption practiced by operators in the port system, particularly between the importers, customs licensed agents and the preshipment inspectors, which paves the way for the flood up of Nigerian markets with fake, expired and substandard goods, as well as, the injection, circulation and consumption if hard drugs. The above situation has called for the operational services of such agencies as the NDLEA and NAFDAC.
The truth that corruption breeds corruption is the present degree of corruption in the country’s port system is the cumulative effect of one time belief that the Customs Staff depended more on bribe than on their salaries to live comfortably. Staff of the Customs Services should be resolute and determined to salvage the image of the department from the reproaches it has earned in the past.
From the foregoing explications of using certain strategies and Agencies by
Nigerian Government to fight against corruption, would substantially deduce that the Government has made frantic efforts at taming the tide of corruption in Nigeria in terms of rolling out policies and programme. But the problem lies on the
Nigerian leaders and for Government personnels to match words with actions; and
165 what defines this inability is because the leaders themselves are inextricably tied or implicated on these corrupt practices that have overtaken the society.
6.2 The Passive Role of the Church in Fighting Against Corruption The empirical verification of the role of the church in the political process, in enhancing good governance, in the evolution of the civil society, in strengthening the stability of government, in fostering transparency, accountability and above all in taming the vagrant flame of corruption in Nigerian society formed the central thrust of our analysis in this sub-section of the research. With respect to its spiritual standing and moral foundations, the Church is obligated to provide the moral distinctions that should dictate the moral climate of behaviour in all the spheres of the national existence. The church, the moral harbinger of the society should find its role indispensable as a moral watchdog of the people in society.
With regard to the Church in Nigeria vis-à-vis its geometric growth, one should expect Nigeria to be a safe-haven, where morality and transparency should reign supreme and the sovereignty of truth and honesty should be the national watchword. Emenyonu (2007: 33) articulated that:
With regard to the Nigerian Church, over the last thirty years, there has been an explosion in expression of faith. Church attendance by Nigerians ranks as one of the highest in the world. The Nigerian church in many respects has become a force to be reckoned with domestically and internationally. One would expect a proportionate rise in the national index of virtues which in turn will manifest in low levels of crime, reduction in incidents of fraud and corruption. However this has not been the case.
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Pobee (1991: 59) said that “the historic Churches have continued to be the voice of the voiceless, the champion of freedom, integrity and fair play in national politics”. He further pointed out that “the Churches stood as guard over human dignity and justice with human face”. Judging from Phobee, it is the true nature and character of the Churches to be the voice of the voiceless, the champion of integrity, as a guard over human dignity and justice. Inveriably determine the rightful place (position) of the Churches in the contemporary Nigeria in the fight against corruption.
Oyedepo (2006: 1-2) in a sermon titled, ‘Towards a Greater Nigeria’ in 46 th
Independence Anniversary said that “the Church should come out of its political docility to mobilize its members for active participation in the political process”.
However, it is sad to say that the church in general has not made much positive impact on politics and governance, let alone posing a critical war against corruption in contemporary Nigeria.
Obviously, the Church as a segment of the civil society has to be concerned about politics and governance in the country. The Church should speak out with articulate voice on the moral failure and corruption which the nation has sunk into.
The Church as a major force in the country should set the pace for good governance and accountability, and should be able to renounce the public perception of deep-rooted corruption with the society. Even though she is crying on the pulpit with the message of righteousness, should come out with other strategic protests against corruption. In Ghana, for instance, the Church stands tall
167 and questioned the excesses of the leaders’ corrupt practices and injustices. In a paper entitled “The Church and State: Christian Council and National Affair’ the
Christian Council of Ghana (CCG) had catalogued its moral and prophetic role in some specific socio-political issues from 1941-1994. The council sent two memoranda urging the government to “exercise justice, fair play, and respect for human rights” and also advised against “arbitrary death sentences” (CCG & Ghana
Bishops’ Conference (GBC) Pastoral letters, 1979: 2). In the second memorandum, the council expressed grave concern about executions and insisted that arrested persons should be given the opportunity of public trial (CCG & GBC,
26 June 1979, see also Pobee 1991: 61).
Therefore, the formidable standing of the Church in Ghana in decrying the evils in the Ghanaian society should be a case in point, and indeed a challenge to the Church in Nigeria, in their fight against political corruption in Nigeria.
Therefore, it is instructive to note that the Church with its institutional strength of having membership drawn from diverse cultures and background but solidly united can make formidable impact on the society in all ramifications especially in the noble fight against corruption. It is sad to say that the Church in general has not made much positive impact on politics and governance in contemporary
Nigeria. The Church with its institutional strength and moral sanity should be able to pose a frontal attack against corruption in Nigeria. And its voice should be strong enough against the wave of corruption. In fact, the Church as the moral light of the society should be able to light up the dark clouds of political corruption
168 that have closed face of the country. Without equivocation, the Church has no functional agenda in healing the nation of the socio-economic and political sickness called corruption.
6.3 The Church and Corruption: An Exposition on Materialism and Simony The Church may not make a meaningful impact in the fight against corruption if many of the Church leaders as well as the membership are the perpetrators of corruption. Ulu, (2007: 30) said that “the Church has gone into the world while the world has gone into the church”. He lamented that the situation is quite disturbing. He said that “the present spiritual quagmire the Church has plunged herself into because of her inordinate and excessive quest for materialism and the practice of simony is frays nerves”. He explained materialism as the tendency to be more interested in material possessions, physical comforts, etc than in spiritual values. As a result, they strategically pursue wealth and other material things with all amount of animated vigour. This excessive quest for wealth and ‘grab philosophy’ has consequently laid the foundation and/or introduced the sin of simony in the church, and this virus of simony has eaten deep into the church with it devastating effects.
The word simony is derived from the biblical sorcerer Simon Magus (in
Acts 8: 18-24) who attempted to buy spiritual powers from Apostle Peter. Simon
Magus offered the disciples of Jesus; Peter and John money so that anyone he
169 would place his hands on would receive the power of the Holy Spirit. Simony is the ecclesiastical crime of buying or paying for Holy offices or positions in the hierarchy of a church. In the canon law, the word simony bears a more extended meaning than in English law. Ayliffe defined simony as “a deliberate act or a premeditated will and desire of selling such things as are spiritual, or of anything annexed unto spirituals, by giving something of a temporal nature for the purchase thereof; or in other terms it is defined to be a commutation of a thing spiritual or annexed unto spiritual by giving something that is temporal” (Ayliffe, 2006: 11).
Ecclesiastical law forbids simony and condemns it as a sinful practice that bespeaks a shallow understanding of spiritual values. Prohibited are all monetary transactions surrounding blessed or consecrated religious objects, prayer and masses (excluding ecclesiastical authorized offerings for the support of the clergy), and church offices and promotions. Importantly, while the definitions of simony speak more of purchase and sale, it is imperative to note that it goes beyond that.
Expressly, any form of exchange of spiritual for temporal things is simoniacal. The intertwining of temporal with spiritual authority in the Middle Ages caused endless problems. For instance, in our present society, secular rulers (corrupt politicians) employ the educated and centrally organized clergy in their administrations. In fact, the canon law also outlawed as simony some acts that did not involve the direct sale of offices, but the indirect sale of spiritual things, such as: the sale of tithes, the taking of a fee for confession, absolution, marriage or burial, and the concealment of one in mortal sin or the reconcilement of an
170 impenitent for the sake of gain, charging money for healing sick person, prayer etc
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/simony).
A critical survey of the state of things in the Churches in Nigeria shows that the Church has witnessed a phenomenal growth with an attendant increase in the rate of corruption. In a countrywide survey, Emenyonu (2007: 15-19) explained that the Churches in Nigeria has witnessed a phenomenal growth over the past 100 years while the Christian population of Nigeria today was just about 1,760,000 in the year 1900, by 2000 the population of Christians in Nigeria had risen to about
51 million. This is projected to grow to 86 million by the year 2025”. The Church in Nigeria is also growing in influence, which cut across board, both in the government, in business in academia, etc. More and more highly placed Nigerians are not only Christians in general sense, but regard themselves as born again
Christians. The number of Churches has also grown astronomically. In the big cities, it is becoming rare to find a neighbourhood where you do not have a church within ten minutes walking distance. The influence of Nigerian Christians transcends the Nigerian border. Within African and other continents of the world, the presence of Nigerian Christians is being felt increasingly. Awoniyi (2007: 11) observed that:
n NigeThe Nigerian Christian community is one of the major institutions iria. In numerical terms, it is bigger than any political party, trade union, or the rank and file of the Nigerian army. So favourable have been the demographic changes in the post-civil was period that respectable projections rate Christianity as the faith with the greatest followers in Nigeria
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The Church in Nigeria has grown numerically; but the level of spiritual participation is commensurately quite high low. From experience most Nigerians can attest to this from the millions that attend places of worship for normal Sunday services, Mid-week services, all Night prayer meetings, retreats, and special conference programmes. External empirical validation of the level of involvement of Christianity in Nigeria is provided by the World Survey of Values, Global ranking of the levels of Church attendance. The survey indicates that Christians with about 89% rate attendance are the number one in the whole world
(Emenyonu, 2007: 17). With this unprecedented increase in numerical strength among the Churches in Nigeria, one may ask “why unrighteousness reigns”? The answer is very simple, greed, self-seeking and grabs philosophy, excessive quest for wealth and materialism, and other forms of corrupt practices among Church leaders and their members in Nigeria. From the foregoing, we know that the number of Christians in Nigeria have been growing at a phenomenal rate; we also have empirical evidence that the people are actually going to Church and not just answering Christians without active involvement. But Emenyonu (2007: 17) lamented that:
The bad news is that while the numerical increase in the number of Christians in Nigeria is self evident, and church attendance is an all time high, it is however, unfortunate that there is no significant commensurate impact on the level of virtue and integrity in the Nigeria society Nigeria has consistently ranked as one of the most perceived corrupt countries on earth. This has given rise to a befuddling paradox, namely; how can a people that profess so much faith be regarded as the face of the earth?
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From the above, we can see that Nigeria ranks as the country with the highest level of church attendance on one hand and also the country perceived as the most corrupt country. The juxtaposition of apparent spirituality and grotesque infamy (absurd and normally wrong behaviour, bad reputation and being a source of shame) has become a blighting hall-mark of the rise of Christianity in Nigeria.
This made Agidimolaja (2008: 2) to state unequivocally that “nowadays, spirituality had vanished from the pulpit”. Health and wealth propagation
(prosperity preachers) have taken over. Anywhere you go, it is money. Ministers of religions no longer care about life after death. Life here on earth is of paramount importance to them. They are the type Apostle Paul described as “…their god is the belly, and thy glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things”
(Philippians 3:19, RSV). The welfare of the flock is no longer their top priority.
“God’s blessing upon them is on top of the list of their daily routine. Similarly,
Agidimolaja, (2008: 3) said that one of Obasanjo’s Ministers, a Reverend gentleman who died in a plane crash not too long ago. After his sudden death, all his hidden mistresses showed up with kids to ask for their kids’ portion of his vast hidden wealth. The list of Priests/Pastors having sex with younger boys is still long. What a shame and gross abomination. Yet on Sundays every Church is filled to the brim, worshipping an unknown God.
As disappointing as the picture exposed above, Agidimolaja continued to lament, “Why then should I be a member of any Church. I need not be among these wogs. I better be alone. My Church is my heart and that is where my God
173 lives.” This confirms what Peter Ozodo, Chairman of the Nigerian Evangelical
Mission Association said earlier that, “a significant segment of the Christian
Church in this country is gradually but steadily departing from the basic goals of
Christianity… the entire Church is in danger of losing its basic direction” (Ozodo
1999: 2). No wonder the scriptures said that “For the love of money is the root of all evils; it is through this craving hat some have wandered away from the faith and pierced their hearts with many pangs” (I Timothy 6:10 RSV). This love of money has brewed a “mercantilic Church’.
Minchakpu (2007: 1) in his coments on materialism and heresy as plagues on the Church listed out the contributory factors to these evils as a result of ministers who are eager for materialism, overemphasize the “prosperity gospel’, are ignorant of scripture, “merchandize’ the gospel, steal in the name of the Lord, and introduce occultism into their Churches. Pastors preoccupied with material gains are hindering the Church’s discipleship task. The ministers involved in this distractive act claim that focusing the church’s message on the things of this world is the way to be relevant to the listeners’ mundane needs. However, “focusing on materialism causes Christian leaders to become worldly”. Okafor, (2007:2) said that:
Some ministers are most concerned about their own financial desires. Quite often there is an unnecessary spirit of competition and rivalry in the preaching of the gospel. They seek to be popular and cannot seriously call people to repent from sin, lest such people turn away. In fact, several analysts say ignorance of the scripture and lack of theological training have contributed to the apparent errant teaching and practices.
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All these are registered in the names of the founders and the board of trustees are always composed of the founder, who also doubles as Presiding Pastor, Senior
Pastor, His Holiness Mother in Israel or Mother in Egypt or Deputy Bishop while his sons or sons in-law are other members of the board, meaning that the church has become mere family business. All property that belongs to the church are procured through tithes, love offerings, seed offerings, multiplication offering and covenant offering the Pastor extorts from the gullible congregation but registered in the name of the Founder.
Ochiama (2007: 1) when he wrote on “Materialism, bane of Christianity in
Europe” said that an Australian Catholic Priest, Rev. Father Johann, lamented on the nagative effect of materialism on spiritual life in Europe. This was even as he expressed worry that the cankerworm has eaten deep into the fibre of the continent that used to be the bastion of Christianity. Father Zauner, who was on a two-week holiday in Nigeria told Daily Sun in an interview that “the Church in Nigeria is materially rich, but spiritually poor” (Zauner, 2007: 1). Remarkably, if the Church continues to lack in spiritual things and lose sight of its spiritual bearing, the
Church may degeneration to a social club.
6.4 Socio-economic and Political Decay: A Challenge to the Church The Church should rise and face challenges of political thrauma in
Anambra State. If the Church forgets that she is the light of the world, the evil of corruption continue in Nigeria Ojo, (2004: 7). The Church should feel uneasy at
175 the sight of poverty, hunger and suffering in the presence of wealth. Anambra is said to be a very wealthy state, blessed with both human and material resources with altra modern markets and Industries. but the paradox is that at present, She is still plagued with the problems of widespread poverty, large scale unemployment, technological backwardness, low-capacity utility, inadequate and decayed social and physical infrastructure, illiteracy, low life expectancy, high cost of living, low standard of living, high incidence of disease, environmental degradation, high crime rate, ailing economy, among others (Ulu, 2007: 128). The contemporary
Anambra condition is the empirical indicators of the degree of socio-economic and political decay she found herself.
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), being mindful of the necessity of the task at hand, Mbachirin (2006: 191) wrote:
The autonomous churches in the service of Nigeria, mindful of the challenges to the churches of the need for overall development in the country on the spiritual, moral, social, political and economic levels, determined that the church in the nation should increase rather than decrease the opportunities to play a diagonal and prophetic role for the devlopment of the people, convinced that, without prejudice to the autonomy and freedom of action of any fully constituted church group, only a massive joint church approach to national development issues can enable the church to make a worthy contribution to the improvement of the quality of life among the people in the period that lies ahead
CAN recognized that the problems that retard both the Church and the national development demands determined, persistent and concerted efforts by the
Church. In practice however, it has been very difficult for CAN to respond effectively to the problems of corruption that hinders the progress of the State. Key
176 to the impotence of CAN is the reluctance of the Church to take part in any meaningful activities that are organized by State. Indeed, the Church has the challenging role of inculcating the right values in her members so as to influence what they do in their professional and vocational lives. Agang (2007: 2) in his work “Repositioning religion, faith and ethics for a sustainable economic transformation of the Nigerian people ” said that:
In monotheistic religion (Christianity) as a creator of moral values has the capacity to encourage social and economic order, freedom and justice. Hence there is the need to re-instill value system, particularly, character virtues such honesty, truth telling, trust, hardwork, selfless service, moral rectitude, integrity, Godfearing, compassion, love and justice. The Nigerian people need to grasp the symbiotic relationship between faith and economy. He further added that “the gospel is the great resource; inspiration and grace for transformation from which both the roots for change can grow deeply and the fruitful trees can grow over time and be a source of health for many”. Matthew
5:14-16 pictured Christians as “the light of the world”, and adjured them “let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works…” instead of clouding the society with darkness (evils) Chritians are challenged to illuminate the society and overcome evil with good works, so as to bring glory to God. In rising to this challenge, Elfon (2004: 7) wrote that :
We must be content to chant our hymns and say prayers while the crisis deepens… There must be a change of thinking and attitude towards life and our responsibility for the condition of our nation and society. The great need of Christians in Nigeria is to realize that they are resposible for the present crisis because of their indifference and inactivity when they have the mighty gospel to solve the crisis Just like the Pentecostals and charismatics in Nigeria being concerned about the socio-economic and political decay in Nigeria Elfon continued that “Africa’s
177 deliverance does not lie in shrewd politicians, renowned economists or learned educationist, but in humble men and women, who would revert to the old but most potent strategy of evangelism”. The Pentecostals and charismatics in Anambra should be mindful about its spiritual role in the state. The Church should practically seek the face of the Lord. For example, the passage “if my people shall pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then I will forgive their sins and will heal their land” (II Chronicles 7:14). It is in search for a solution to corruption in Nigeria that Igwe (2005: 233-247) cried out thus:
Indeed, Nigeria has romanced with many economic policy and programmes such as Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) in 1985, liberalization, deregulation and privatization programmes, as well as the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategies (NEEDS) in 2004 etc., were all economic policies and programmes for the revampment of the Nigerian economy or salvage it from decay, yet, no positive result was realized from them. Instead of improving the economy, it has helped the more to peripheries our economy with its attendant consequences. The Church in Anambra has got to play the role of regulating and championing the implementation of this new policy process in Holiness and righteousness. Furthermore, the Church should intervene in the political sphere of this State and checkmate the trend of events and the excesses in Governance among the political leaders. We mean that the church should make her voice heard out of the thick clouds off political and bureaucratic corruption that are now deep seated in the state.
To this, the Church should stand on her grounds and be the voice of the voiceless and question the salary and allowances that the leaders are allocating to themselves, even when the masses are not sure of their daily three square meal.
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This mediatary role of the Church will go a long way in striking a balance between the government and the governed and to a reasonable extent reconcile the seeming irreconcilable interest and agitations of the upper and lower cadres in public service. Importantly, since the psychological and the spiritual dimension of the humans species are crucial factors in the analysis and determination of his actions, the issue of change of attitude (attitudinal change mechanism) becomes an indispensable mechanism in dealing with corruption (Chuta, 2004: 83). The
Church should use the instrument of the gospel (the word of God) for character remoulding and attitudinal change of Nigerians, especially, the political leaders towards their excessive desire for wealth and love of money.
Whatever that is unlawfully gained, cannot be comfortably used. All bribes, gratification, inducement, extorted money, kickbacks, proceeds from 419, graft etc should be seen as “bread of deceit” which is said to be “sweet to a man”, but with the waning that “afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel” (Proverbs
20:17). This implies that ill-gotten wealth attracts sorrows and does not last.
Where, however, greed turns out to be the instigator to bribery and dishonest riches, we have the following warning. “A greedy man brings trouble to his family, but he who hates bribe shall live” (Proverbs 15:27). In Ecclesiastics 7:1, we are reminded that, “a good name is better than precious perfume”. Considering the enormity of the challenge facing the Church in redeeming the nation from socio-economic and political decay, and being fully aware that a corrupt church cannot heal the country, the principle of “the physician must first heal himself”
179 must be applied. The battle against political corruption should be properly and impressively waged by the Church.The Church should wake up to do it.
6.5 The Way Forward
This study having established the existence of corruption and analysed its causes and effects in Nigeria; solutions is proferred as the way forward for a corrupt-free Nigeria. The remedy is that all Nigerians must say no to corruption.
Nigerians need a dynamic educational philosophy that gives awareness of self, a novel sense of dignity and new life value system. To this end, there is need to re- educate Nigerians on the true idea of man and what gives him real worth and dignity. Consequently, all laws on corruption must be strictly applied. Individuals who suddenly acquire wealth should be made to explain to the law enforcement agencies their source of wealth. Moreover, the government should ensure equitable distribution of wealth by provision of more social amentities like improved water supply, electricity and introduction of national system of social security health insurance and unemployment benefits for the aged and the unemployed people.
These ideals have to be translated to concrete reality. Nigeria has had the misfortune of getting many selfish, insincere and corrupt leaders. One way to correct this is to have visionary leaders who will place the interest of the nation first above all other considerations. Nigerian leaders must rise to their responsibility in this respect and demonstrate in their lives higher and more lasting values. Leadership by example is therefore one of the best strategy Nigerian
180 leaders can adopt in the present crusade against corruption. For Nigeria to move forward in its anti-corruption crusade, her leaders must be selfless and patriotic.
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CHAPTER SEVEN
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
7.1 Summary of the Findings
After a careful research on the fulcrum upon which this study is based, we are able to establish the findings that:
1. We found out that there is no fundamental and innate relationship between
the Church and State.
2. The study demonstrates that God is the God of the ruling class and the author
of the institution of politics.
3. The Church cannot escape from power (politics) for to escape from it means
to fail and to divorce itself from all human relationship which involves power
in one way or the other.
4. The Church need to be in politics to protect human dignity, rights and values.
It must stand as an antidote to the anonymity of power. It should be a moral
watch in politics and the conscience of the nation as it is necessary for nation
building. It must be in politics as an instrument of common good of the
people.
5. The Church with her natural and spiritual potentials should come out to
Influence public morality.
6. Since independence, all the regimes in Nigeria have so far had all neck
deeped into political corruption.
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7. We found out that there are varied degrees and types at which corruption has replicated it in the different regimes in Anambra State and in Nigeria at large.
8. Corruption has almost become a way of life in Nigeria.
9. The failure of many of Nigerian anti-corruption policies to yield positive
results was because the policies were only on book; the leaders were not seriouswith them in terms of proper implementation.
10. Regrettably,it was discovered that religion has been manipulated and used to
choose wrong leaders for the society. Many politicians go to religious leaders to make solenm vows which they hardly fulfil. Indeed, corruption has held
Nigeria hostage in terms of development.
11. In Anambra State, powerful and violent political “godfathers” have gained control over politicians who are dependent on those sponsors to provide protection and fight their street battles. In Anambra State, godfathers whose political power may now be on the wane nonetheless so far have gone unpunished for their roles in fomenting violence and corruption.
12. The escalation of corruption in Nigeria, which has defied all policy options, is because the crops of Nigerian leaders are without the political will for a positive social change. Achebe (1983:2) optimistically stated that “Nigeria can change today if she discovers leaders who have the will, the ability and the vision”.
13. News of corruption always oozes out from the National Assembly, but nobody has been prosecuted. And many of them often engage in frivolous oversea trips (with hordes of cronies and praise-singers) while civil servants in
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their states go for months without getting paid of their salaries. While some are
known to have acquired landed property or buildings in the United States and
Britain from the money they illegally carted away from the public funds.
14. The Church cannot make a meaningful impact in the fight against corruption
when some of the Church leaders as well as the membership are now the
perpetrators of corruption.
The Church as a force has not been able to erase the public perception of
deep-rooted corruption within itself as a result of reported cases of theft,
embezzlement and sexual sins among its hierarchy, as such the Church has not
wholly carried out its missionary and prophetic mandate of redeeming the nation
from the apparent socio-economic and political quagmire.
7:2 Contributions to Knowledge This study is important because it came when Nigeria is in conscientious efforts to fight against corruption. This study has provided a view on the nature of relationship that exists between the Church and political leaders in Anambra State, as well as the place of the Church in the current fight against corruption. This study has also brought to the lime light, the intricacies of corruption on the socio- economic and political development of Nigeria. The study has provided the
Nigerian policy makers a guide in the formulation of policies that would enable
Anambra State in particular and Nigeria in general to experience a pragmatic result in their corporate efforts to reduce the depredations of corruption to manageable
184 level. Undoubtedly, this study will also help Nigerian leaders to revisit and assess the operational mechanisms, efficiency and effectiveness of the anti-corruption policies, agencies and/or commissions such as the ICPC and the EFCC as it does appear that the makers of the law paradoxically represent the aberrant violators in
Nigeria.
At the theroretical level, the study provides the analytical basis for determining and ascertains how the Church has been able to wage war against corruption in Nigeria. It also provides the framework of identifying the indices and developmental dynamics of a country, where merit, honesty, transparency and accountability should be the guiding principles for choosing men of good behavour in her positions of governance.
At the academic level, this study will add to the body of knowledge that exists in the field of religion (Church) and politics vis-à-vis their effort in ensuring a virile society devoid of corruption. It will also contribute to the existing pool of literature on the subject of the discourse, and hence will serve as a data bank or potent reference-material in studies on the Church and corruption in Nigeria. It will equally be of great importance to scholars particularly, students of religion and society who may wish to know why Nigeria is still suffering and dying of abject poverty in the midst of plenty of wealth. Finally, the study generated ideas, and exposed critical topics or areas within the field that will be of interest to future researchers and call their attention for more inquiry on the nexus between the
185
Church and State with particular references to the place of the Church in Nigeria’s political systems and practices.
7.3 Recommendations The role of the Church in combating corruption among political leaders in
Anambra State: this study recommends the following:
1. The law making alone cannot solve the problem of corruption in this country.
Therefore, the best policy option must be explored to find the appropriate way to emphasize the importance of good behavior.The policies should be well monitored for effective implementation and periodically received feed back to guard against any loophole or inefficiency.
2. As it is clear that Nigeria cannot effectively control the menace of corruption by merely instituting probe panels, we hereby suggest that to tame the upsurge of political corruption in Nigeria, the general population (citizens) should be re- orientated to a better value system. The re-orientation of the people, especially the leaders and the youths in Nigeria should be to restore good value system, as against the survival of the fittest. The mentality of grabbing whatever comes our way has overtaken almost every Nigerian.So; rebranding campaign could help in the war against corruption.
3. The preaching of the gospel and practicing the biblical virtue is the ultimate solution to behavioral change and corruption reduction in Nigeria.
186
4. To win apparent war against corruption in Nigeria, the Obasanjo’s slogan of “no sacred cow in Nigeria” and the President Yar’dua’s standard point on “zero tolerance to corruption” should not be mere political rhetoric’s. Rather, our leaders must match words with actions and translates theories in paper into praxis
(practice) by prosecuting all the known corrupt political and bureaucratic “heavy weights” in the society. As a result all allegations of corrupt practices of the past should be duly investigated and affected public officers must be made to face the wrath of the law, else the average Nigerian will just think the on-0going crusade against corruption is a continuation of the rhetoric and sloganeering of the past.
5. To win the war on corruption, adherence to ethical standards in decision-making must be the foundation of Nation’s politics. Without ethics (moral principles) in the conduct of the affairs of the nation, the apparent war on corruption in Nigeria will not be successful. In other words, without ethics or moral conscience, any money budgeted towards fighting corruption in Nigeria is like a thing cast to the wild cat. The nation has to make sure that those entrusted to execute the war on corruption are men and women of proven virtue – those who recognize and always do what is right. They should be virtuous leaders and persons of honesty, integrity and trust in relation to the mandate and confidence the public repose on them.
6. For a true success to be registered in the contemporary war on corruption,
Nigeria has to make laws and implement them to the letter. As a matter of fact,
Nigeria has to fortify the institutional checks and balances among the country’s major social forces and separation of power within the government.
187
7. The federal government should be transparent, comprehensive and impartial investigations into allegations of police complicity of inaction or in the face of human rights abuse and fraud connected Nations. In fact, the Nigerian police need to be upgraded to the universal status and involve well trained personales to man it. The police should not be all-comers affair, but an elite profession, which would be open only to those with good characters. The government should launch a transparent and impartial inquiry into allegation of corruption, vote rigging, and sponsorship of political violence during election in Nigeria. The inquiry should aim at uncovering the architects and financial sponsors of such crimes.
8. Importantly, declaration of assets should be a must for all public officers. Law has to be enacted which must mandate the president, all members of the national assembly and all ministers in the federal cabinet follow and sustain late president
Yar’Adua’s example by issuing and publicizing annual declarations of the total value of all assets.
9.Nigerians and Nigerian civil societies organization working to promote transparency, accountability, and respect for human rights in the conduct of government institutions; should denounce the selective investigation and prosecutions by the EFCC and other anti-corruption bodies. The ICPC and EFCC should take action against public officials implicated in corruption through the
EFCC own investigation.
10. Essentially, pragmatic steeps should be taken to work out programmes and policies that would make it difficult, if not impossible for banks and other financial
188 institutions to accept money looted from the national treasury of any country, especially, the common wealth member nations. In fact, Nigeria should deny visa to any Nigerian public officials credibly implicated in systematic corruption or other serious criminal offences.
11. In the same vein, the mass media should be used in the campaign to educate the people on their rights as citizens and in exposing the rogues.
12. The Church should counsel Nigerians to endeavour to reduce and minimize the fear, anxieties and hopelessness that have characterized the Nigerian political scene since independence due to corruption and political violence.
13.In all the church in a dynamic society will do all it can to socialize the individuals to promote social solidarity, provide social welfare, exercise social control, support morality, and rebuke corruption and foster stability in society.
7.4 Suggestions for Further Study
This thesis basically centres on “Corruption among political leaders in
Anambra State: The role of the Church. As indept as this study has been, it is imperative to note that this work has in no wise given a wholistic touch on the concept of corruption vis-à-vis the Church, therefore, there are still areas that are untouched which are still beckoning the attention of future researchers. For those who may deem it necessary to conduct a research on this broad topical issue of the
Churh and corruption, the following topics have been suggested.
1. The Church and corruption in the educational sector in Anambra state.
189
2. The Church and the youth: A critical survey of the case of abduction in
Anambra state.
3. The Church and the get-rich-quick syndrome: The need for value reorientation.
4. The Church and the sovereignty of truth in society: A pernecea for corruption in
Anambra state.
7.5 Conclusion
Corruption is a vice which is as old as humanity and which has adversely affected society since time immemorial. The Bible draws attention to the instances of human corruption through such stories of Cain and Abel. Nigeria, indeed, has its fair share of the social malaise. Corruption is not only deep-rooted, but also deep-seated in Nigeria. It is not an exaggeration that Nigeria is mired in a crisis of governance and every effort of establishing a just and efficient administration has been frustrated by corruption. The evil exists in every facet of our society. Our nation has thus been disfigured for long by an endemic corruption.
Successive Nigerian governments have attempted to confront the corruption issue with minimal or no progress. There are many reasons that have been adduced for this, such as absence of commitment on the part of government to fight corruption. This is evidenced by the “sacred cow syndrome”, as well as failure to investigate and prosecute glaring cases of corruption. There is also weak anti- corruption watchdog agencies and other enforcement mechanism poverty and the dearth scarcity of basic public services; mismanagement of oil resources evidenced
190 by the ostentatious life styles and flaunting of wealth by the political elite and their apologists, whatever the reasons, corruption is the mother of most of the other ills that confront Nigeria and retard her development and hastens social decay. The consequence of corrupt behaviour on the society at large is thereby challenging the
Church to rise to its ecclesial ministry of decrying this evil. The distress through which society is passing is obviously not its inherent nature, but has been inflicted on it by man. In his magnanimity, God bequeathed to every society ample resources for human fulfillment. However, it is up to man in society to organize and administer God’s largesse for the benefit of all, guided by his regulatory principles, therefore, every human action in society contributes towards either the enrichment or impoverished of the living standards of members of that society.
Since corruption consists in actions, which violate God’s principles, each corrupt act deals a deathblow to the prospects of the realization of an egalitarian and prosperous society.As a matter of fact, poverty, underdevelopment and unemployment are, to a large extent, a function of man-made economic phenomena. They inhere in the selfish and impious attitude of the generality of the people towards wealth in society. Irrespective of the massive and abundant human and natural resources on the ground, where indiscipline in public life and unrestrained squandermania in handling of public funds characterize national affairs, there is bound to be a serious dent on the image of the country and crisis in the economy. Although only few citizens succeed in enriching themselves through means that are ignoble, it is the quality of life of the masses that becomes the
191 parameter for evaluating the performance of the government. For Nigeria, the present situation is pathetic, and calls for some fundamental re-orientation and re- organization in personal attitudes, so as to fight this challenging war against corruption.
Finally, the battle against corruption cannot be fought on the periphery alone. The war must be fought on all fronts, and the Church should play a vital role to fight against corruption. Emphatically, without effectively dealing with the political corruption, harnessing the boundless potentials or resources in Nigeria for national socio-economic and political transformation, corruption will continue to be a mirage.
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APPENDIX Appendix 1
The Federal Republic of Nigeria shall not be governed, nor shall any
persons or group of persons take control of the Government of Nigeria or
any part thereof, except in accordance with the provisions of this
Constitution.
Appendix 2
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Constitution, but
subject to subsection (2) of this section -
(a) No civil or criminal proceedings shall be instituted or continued against
a person to whom this section applies during his period of office;
(b) A person to whom this section applies shall not be arrested or
imprisoned during that period either in pursuance of the process of any court
or otherwise; and
(c) No process of any court requiring or compelling the appearance of a
person to whom this section applies, shall be applied for or issued:
Provided that in ascertaining whether any period of limitation has expired
for the purposes of anyproceedings against a person to whom this section
applies, no account shall be taken of his period of office.
Appendix 3
(1) The appointment of a person to the office of Chief Justice of Nigeria
shall be made by the President on the recommendation of the National
207
Judicial Council subject to confirmation of such appointment by the
Senate.
(2) The appointment of a person to the office of a Justice of the Supreme
Court shall be made by the President on the recommendation of the
National Judicial Council subject to confirmation of such appointment by
the Senate.
(3) A person shall not be qualified to hold the office of Chief Justice of
Nigeria or of a Justice of the Supreme Court, unless he is qualified to
practice as a legal practitioner in Nigeria and has been so qualified for a
period of not less than fifteen years.
(4) If the office of Chief Justice of Nigeria is vacant or if the person holding
the office is for any reason unable to perform the functions of the office,
then until a person has been appointed to and has assumed the functions
of that office, or until the person holding the office has resumed those
functions, the President shall appoint the most senior Justice of the
Supreme Court to perform those functions.
(5) Except on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council, an
appointment pursuant to the provisions of subsection (4) of this section
shall cease to have effect after the expiration of three months from the
date of such appointment, and the President shall not re-appoint a person
whose appointment has lapsed.
208
Appendix 4
The Federal Republic of Nigeria shall not be governed, nor shall any
persons or group of persons take control of the Government of Nigeria or
any part thereof, except in accordance with the provisions of this
Constitution.
Appendix 5
Subject to the provisions of subsection (1) of this section, the
Governor shall vacate his office at the expiration of period of four years
commencing from the date when -
(a) In the case of a person first elected as Governor under this Constitution,
he took the Oath of Allegiance and oath of office; and
(b) The person last elected to that office took the Oath of Allegiance and
oath of office or would, but for his death, have taken such oaths.
Appendix 6
An appeal shall lie from decisions of the Court of Appeal to the
Supreme Court as of right in the following cases –
(b) Decisions in any civil or criminal proceedings on questions as to the
interpretation or application of this Constitution;
(c) Decisions in any civil or criminal proceedings on question as to whether
any of the provisions of Chapter IV of this Constitution has been, is being or
is likely to be, contravened in relation to any person;
209
Appendix 7
The National Assembly shall make provisions in certain questions
respect of- relating to elections.
(a) Persons who may apply to an election tribunal for the determination of
any question as to whether
(i) Any person has been validly elected to the office of Governor or Deputy
Governor,
(ii) The term of office of a Governor or Deputy Governor has ceased, or
(iii) The office of Deputy Governor has become vacant;
(b) Circumstances and manner in which, and the conditions upon which
such application may be made; and
(c) Powers, practice and procedure of the election tribunal in relation to any
such application.
Appendix 8
(1) There shall be established for the Federation one or more election
tribunals to be known as the National Assembly Election Tribunals which
shall, to the exclusion of any court or tribunal, have original jurisdiction to
hear and determine petitions as to whether
(a) Any person has been validly elected as a member of the National
Assembly;
(b) The term of office of any person under this Constitution has ceased;
210
(c) The seat of a member of the Senate or a member of the House of
Representatives has become vacant; and
(d) A question or petition brought before the election tribunal has been properly or improperly brought.
(2) There shall be established in each State of the Federation one or more election tribunals to be known as the Governorship and Legislative Houses
Election Tribunals which shall, to the exclusion of any court of tribunal, have original jurisdiction to hear and determine petitions as to whether any person has been validly elected to the office of Governor or Deputy
Governor or as a member of any legislative house.
(3) The composition of the National Assembly Election Tribunals,
Governorship and
Legislative Houses Election Tribunals shall be as set out in the Sixth
Schedule to this Constitution.
(4) The quorum of an election tribunal established under this section shall be the Chairman and two other members.