In August 2015 President Muhammadu Buhari appointed a Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, with the task to advise his administration on anti-graft war, as well as, implementation of reform in the criminal justice system.
Itse Sagay, a professor of law and civil rights activist, was chosen to head the committee; a responsibility Sagay took on with all enthusiasm. But he never thought the monster called ‘corruption’ in the country would turn back and attack him viciously. In fact, he seemed bewildered to the point where he had to ask, “Do we have a psychiatric problem? How can a person loot what he cannot spend in ten lifetimes?”
The ever loquacious lawyer has never minced words when talking about the menace that has plunged the country into unquantifiable darkness. At such events where he gave speeches, he had said, “In the case of Nigeria, corruption has attained such proportions that it can now be said to threaten the very existence and survival of the nation. Humongous sums of ill-gotten wealth have found their way to safe havens and vaults located in various countries of the world such that there is a lot of merit in the view that corruption should be considered a crime against humanity, with all the consequences. Accordingly, the hydra-headed phenomenon warrants collaboration among all states in order to bring it to heel.”
“Corruption is omnipresent in Nigeria. High and low office holders, public and private sector, the Executive, Legislative and Judicial Sectors, Customs, Immigration, Police, the Civil Service, everywhere,” he had said.
And so, the fiery lawyer continued to talk against corruption both in word and deeds; but recent happenings have shown that many in the administration he has been defending are not on the same page with him and also that the appointment he received has made him throw caution to the wind in his utterance.
On his take on the delay in confirming the acting EFCC boss, he says, “This is one of the best appointees we have ever had in the fight against corruption. If you look at it, he is a Nuhu Ribadu’s incarnate. He is incorruptible, indomitable, and indefatigable. You can’t approach him. He work round the clock, his face is so hard you can’t try to dissuade him, and they know that. Many of the people who are opposing it have cases and they know he is going to come after them.
“Nobody is going to surrender to people who want corruption to be the culture of this country. We will frustrate them. All these cases which are being delayed for example if you go to the Code of Conduct Tribunal where witness was cross examined for one months by senior advocates who know the law, who ought to have sense of ethics and justice, they hope that by doing that they will drag out the case; that is corruption fighting back. The fact that the president is ill and many of them are happy and already writing obituaries on his behalf; that is corruption fighting back, but we will defeat them, we will fight back harder and crush them.”
No wonder when Shehu Sani, representing Kaduna Central was credited to have said that the Buhari administration was treating corruption in government with “deodorant”, Sagay lashed out at him, accusing the senator of fighting his own political battles which influenced his views.
“I know the case of Magu thoroughly. And the allegations (of corrupt practices against him) are spurious. There is no reality in them. The whole thing was distorted to give a wrong impression about Magu,” he posited.
“People afraid of the good work of Magu are against his confirmation by the Senate. It is corruption fighting back. People afraid of Magu’s independence are behind his travails.” These and more were statements credited to Sagay.
So, it is no surprise that the All Progressives Congress (APC) cautioned the Professor, asking him to desist from making utterances that may be misconstrued as an attack on the institution of the National Assembly.
Meanwhile, Professor Sagay has written to the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, demanding a withdrawal of the Senate resolution summoning him to appear before it. Should the Senate fail to do so, the professor said he would challenge the summons in court once they are served on him.
The Senate had recently asked Professor Sagay to appear before it for criticising its call on President Mohammadu Buhari to sack Ibrahim Magu, acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
In the letter he personally signed, dated 3 April, Sagay said his criticism of the Senate was founded on Section 171(1) of the Constitution, which gives power to the President to appoint any person to hold or act in the office of the head of any extra-ministerial department of the Federal Government.
He explained that though he is yet to be served with any summons from the Senate, he is willing to join issues with the Senate over what he considers a potential violation of his constitutionally guaranteed freedom of expression.
The professor noted that the National Assembly is empowered by Section 88 (1) and (2) of the Constitution to conduct investigations into the affairs of the Federal Government, with a view to promoting good governance and curbing corruption. He, however, argued that such powers are not limitless. He contended that the wide-ranging investigative powers of the National Assembly are circumscribed as they are exercisable subject to other provisions of the Constitution.
Sagay cited a number of cases to support his position and also referred to the case of the Senate vs. John Momoh (1983) at the Federal Court of Appeal, which held that the Section 82 of the 1979 Constitution was not designed to enable the legislature to usurp the general investigative functions of the executive nor the adjudicative functions of the judiciary.
According to reports, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, National Publicity Secretary to the party described the statement credited to Sagay as regrettable and uncalled for.
The party frowned at Sagay’s call on the Senate to withdraw invitation extended to him, adding that “as someone appointed by our government, we find this kind of posturing unacceptable and potentially injurious to the peace efforts by the party.
“We believe the comments attributed to Sagay are uncalled for, regrettable and could further complicate the relationship between these vital arms of government. Our expectation would be that as a Law Professor of repute, Sagay would appreciate the need to not denigrate the institutions of democracy, be it the executive, legislature or judiciary.
“Moreover, as an appointee of the president, we should expect the learned professor to key into his principal’s temper and help him to make friends that would make his job easier and not make enemies of people who, by virtue of the position they occupy under our law, are critical to the running of government and the nurturing of our democracy,” the report stated.
Of course, the Senate has every reason to summon a man who is hell bent on making them accountable, and coming across as selfish and unfeeling to their constituents, a man who said of them, “The National Assembly bought vehicles costing N30 million each. This was cruel in these hard times.”
He has become their nemesis, a thorn in their flesh, causing them serious discomfort and untold soul-searching.
In a recent interview, he was asked how far his committee has gone in supporting the fight against corruption, he stated that they have done a tremendous job and interacted with judges all over the country.
“We met not less than 70 judges all together and interacted with them on how to deal with corruption cases and apply the Administration of Criminal Justice Act in effectively dealing with corruption cases. We have also prepared a manual for prosecuting corruption cases which we have presented to the anti-corruption bodies to use in order to equip their capacity to prosecute cases. We have trained prosecutors, about 160 of them, all over the country, on how to draft charges and how to prosecute cases. We have done it to all federal prosecutors and we are now going to states to train their prosecutors on how to draft charges for prosecuting cases. We have prepared protocols in key areas. We drafted a law for the establishment of special criminal court. The list is endless”.
But sad to say the reality on ground is indicative that both the president and Itse Sagay are waging a protracted war against corruption, and the question on the lips of many is, “will history be kind to Prof Itse Sagay? …Only time will tell.
