LIFE is a tragedy. Life in politics is like a hallucination. In our living years, false images appear real. In just one weekend, the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, has transformed himself from a retiring lawmaker to a law evader to an ordinary man now in custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Credit must be given to the EFCC boss Farida Waziri and her agents for remaining steadfast in their determination to pluck Bankole from his glitzy residence in Abuja in order to interrogate him. If the man had nothing to hide, he should have responded much earlier to the request for an interview.

Allegations of corruption against Bankole have tarnished the man’s public persona or whatever might be left of his image as a former Speaker of the House. I am reminded that corruption is like a quick ladder. With it, some politicians attain high positions of power. But it is an unstable ladder because it can quickly hurl all those who benefited through corrupt enrichment to the bottom of life. The last days of Bankole epitomises this metaphor. He has hit the lowest end of life. He now sleeps with minimum comfort, as he ponders how his life has unravelled and what might have been.

In detention, Bankole can only dream of his former retinue of aides, his lavish lifestyle, his bulletproof cars, his security aides, as well as his interactions with political leaders and leading men and women of industry. Life is a satire. When you are in power, everyone craves your friendship. When you fall from the status of an honourable member of the House to a dishonourable member, people sneer at you. When you fall from media spotlight into the rarefied world of a detention room, you lose your entitlements to nobility. You are denied access to extravagance. Everyone avoids you like a man overwhelmed by the bubonic plague.

How could Bankole, a man who symbolised the hallowed institution of lawmakers, suddenly become a subject of caricature in national newspapers? How could Bankole, a man whose world before now was marked with sunny smiles, slip so quickly into a planet inhabited by villainous men? For days, Bankole refused to respond to the invitation by the EFCC. Now the same agency he tried to evade has slapped him with a 16-count charge, including charges relating to financial malfeasance, as well as undue and fraudulent increases in contract money to the amount of N894 million. These, of course, do not include the N10 billion loan scandal which hangs on Bankole’s muscular shoulders like an albatross.

Politicians never learn. Bankole was naïve to the core. He was expected to learn from the character flaws and financial misconduct that tainted his predecessor Patricia Olubunmi Etteh. During the time she reigned as Speaker, the House of Representatives constituted the Idoko panel to investigate cases of financial and ethical impropriety against Etteh. There were widespread allegations that Etteh abused her office by authorising a huge sum of money for the renovation of her official residence and that of her deputy, as well as for the purchase of a fleet of cars. Unlike Bankole who gagged official debate over allegations of financial misconduct that occasionally popped up during his tenure, the panel that investigated Etteh found her guilty as charged.

Looking at what is happening to Bankole now, Etteh must be feeling like a virtuous ex-Speaker. Etteh was a different Speaker or so it seemed. Within the first few weeks of taking office, she was already engulfed in scandals of sorts – ranging from her repugnant birthday celebration overseas to queries about how she supervised the award of contracts for the renovation of her official residence and that of her deputy. Etteh is now an awkward winner. When the House panel found her guilty of financial transgression, she was not arrested and she was not charged by the EFCC. So, she could at least claim, even if in a bizarre way, that she kept a cleaner sheet of accountability than Bankole who has now been charged for corrupt enrichment. Different speakers, different levels of misconduct, different outcomes! This is high level abuse of the law in our homeland.

Like a deaf and blind politician, Bankole failed to learn from his predecessor’s cardinal sins. He failed to learn from history and from other people’s misfortunes. But that is what usually happens when privileged politicians dip their filthy fingers freely into other people’s money. They assume they will never be caught, that the good times will last forever, and that their godfathers will protect them in times of hardship. This is perhaps why Bankole called on the Inspector-General of Police to rescue him from the stalking eyes of EFCC agents. Suddenly, the Inspector-General of Police found himself pleading for a man who was evading arrest.

When he was cornered by his chasers in his Abuja residence, Bankole argued that he should be allowed to hand over office on Monday this week (June 6, 2011) before he could honour the EFCC invitation. That was nonsense. The case against Bankole was much stronger than the handing over notes (or whatever puny project he wants to accomplish) before he could respond to the call by the anti-graft agents. Anyone who is evading interrogation has no right to determine when he or she should be interviewed.

It was not right for Bankole to tell the EFCC when it was convenient for him to be interviewed. Our legal system does not extend that right to suspects. Part of the reason why nothing works in Nigeria is that some people believe they can break the law and get away because they see themselves to be above the law. This goes against the spirit of the rule of law. The law was not made so some people can determine when it is alright for them to respond to official request for interrogation.

Prior to his arrest and detention, Bankole created an absurd situation. He behaved like a man with a guilty conscience. He had not even been charged and he was already fretting, sweating, calling on his godfathers to save him from embarrassment. All that hiding game has come to a screeching halt. Bankole delayed his arrest because he was not sure that he would acquit himself very well in front of the EFCC interrogators.

Great men and women attract various levels of sympathy when they leave office gracefully or in disgrace. Bankole left office in humiliation. He was neither a great Speaker nor did he leave office stylishly. He made many enemies when he was Speaker. Sometimes his actions bothered on small-mindedness. For example, when a Federal High Court in Abuja ordered on 2 December 2010 the immediate reinstatement of six suspended members of the House of Representatives, Bankole and two other members gave notice of appeal. He didn’t want the suspended members to return even thought the Abuja court had ruled that the continued suspension of the House members was a form of “tyranny of the majority”.

If Bankole was a man of honour, he would have honoured the invitation by the EFCC for two main reasons. First, he needed to demonstrate to the public and his conscience that he was innocent. Second, he also needed to show maturity and an obligation as former Speaker to lead by example. Avoiding interrogation is not a good way to illustrate leadership by example.

By arresting and detaining Bankole, the EFCC has recovered some grain of its diminishing credibility. Before now, the impression used to be that people in high positions of power in Nigeria were untouchable. The EFCC has quashed that feeling, at least to an extent. Now, the greater challenge is for the commission to go all the way to show that as a bulldog it can bark and bite at the same time. The EFCC must not enter into any plea bargaining with Bankole. People who have the temerity to raid the treasury and violate the law must be prepared for the consequences. The integrity of the government’s fight against corruption depends so much on how the EFCC handles the case against Bankole. Everyone is watching.

-Guardian

Posted by admin on Jun 10 2011. Filed under House, Legislature. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry