• Powerful men and women turn weaklings in EFCC custody
Like a lion who died of an ass’s kick, their impotence did not catch up with them until they got caught. By the time they gathered their wits, Nigeria’s most powerful men and women have been reduced to minions and cowards behind the nation’s prison walls. At the last count, prominent men and women that paraded themselves as deities during the tenure of former President Goodluck Jonathan have been ushered behind bars for one grand felony or the other – thanks to incumbent Head of State, President Muhammadu Buhari.
There is no gainsaying President Buhari’s anti-corruption campaign has ruffled more than a few feathers. At the president’s directive, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), launched series of inquests into embarrassing cases of financial fraud and theft committed by former public officers, mostly ex-cabinet members, business and political associates of former President Jonathan.
Although the culprits screamed ‘witch-hunt’ at the beginning of President Buhari’s anti-corruption fight, their noise has since dwindled to inaudible whispers and plea for leniency. Many of the suspects have started returning outrageous sums embezzled from the public treasury while the immediate past administration was in power.
The cowards
Those that are yet to be prosecuted have absconded from the country to escape imminent jail term. Although he maitains that he is in the United States for an academic programme, Musiliu Obanikoro, former a former junior minister in the cabinet of former President Goodluck Jonathan, has chosen the life of a fugitive abroad in order to escape the harsh life of Nigerian prison. Former President Jonathan has also reportedly fled to Cote d’ Voire to escape prosecution and the ugly inconveniences of the country’s prisons; pundits argue that the former Head of State has also chosen to live as a fugitive abroad to escape imminent prosecution and jail term for gross acts of financial fraud and mismanagement of state funds committed on his watch.
Then there is Kingsley Kuku who fled the country purportedly on medical tourism. Likewise former Vice President, Namadi Sambo, who allegedly travelled to Washington DC, United States (US) to undergo a knee surgery. Kuku and Sambo are done with their medical treatment but the duo are yet to return to the country. Findings revealed that they are scared out of their wits at the possibility of spending time in prison.
And very few people will forget Nigeria’s former petroleum minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, on whose watch the nation’s petroleum sector plummeted down the steep slope of devastating fraud and embezzlement of public funds. Diezani is currently fighting tooth and nail in frantic bid to avoid prison term in the country. Having failed to warm her way into the heart of President Buhari, the former petroleum minister has allegedly resigned to her fears. She is reportedly singing like a canary to agents of the law and implicating most of her associates while she was in power. Diezani is desperately trying to strike a deal with the Nigerian state and avoid jail term, according to informed sources.
The minions
Those that are yet to refund stolen money and whose cases require the full attention of the punitive and corrective machinery of the law are still in detention. For the latter, life behind bars has been enlightening.
Stripped of their power, title, fame, material wealth and freedom, these men and women have been reduced to nothing in the eyes of the law and their fellow inmates. From the former military service chiefs currently on trial, to civil servants and aides of former public officers, Nigerian prisons play host to men and women constituting the crème of the country’s high society.
However, no sooner than they were ushered behind bars than they lost their pride and obnoxious ego. For the first time ever, reality dawned on them and they understood the depth of their vanity. One military service chief who got incarcerated for complicity in the arms purchase scam allegedly refused prison meals and insisted that his relatives be allowed to bring his food from home. What most people did not know was that, the ex-service chief had to practically beg and bribe prison wardens to have his way. Likewise his fellow accused languishing behind bars for heinous financial crimes. The Capital findings revealed that many of former President Jonathan’s henchmen who paraded themselves as giants on the nation’s power corridors now dwell like termites behind prison walls.
