ICPC and Disappointment in High Places: Fighting Corruption with Tainted Hands

Must We Always Recruit from the Pool of the Discredited Few? How many are we as a country? We produce the highest number of Lawyers, Accountants, Economists, Public Affairs/Policy Administrators, and MBAs every year than all the African countries combined. Yet, Acting President Osinbajo and his Screening Team, if at all there was one, couldn't fathom the reasonableness of going beyond the pool of the usual suspects - the connected, the influential, the thieves, and the rich and the famous on public funds - in constituting a new team, to reinvigorate the ICPC. This is an embarrassment, to put it mildly. Or was it just a situation of a hapless Presidency falling victim to Saraki's high-handedness and dubious manoeuvring?

According to the Premium Times of August 4, 2017, "two of the 14 members announced to the board of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Offenses Commission (ICPC) are being investigated by the anti-corruption agency for alleged corruption in the region of N1billion, the ICIR is reporting. The two nominees are Maimuna Aliyu and Sa’ad Alanamu. While Mr Alanamu is being investigated on corruption charges allegedly committed while he headed several institutions in Kwara State, Ms Aliyu has a longstanding case of abuse of office, misappropriation, and diversion of public funds against her."

If Police had probable cause to indict these individuals long ago, as the story goes, but they were not tried or prosecuted by the EFCC ICPC or the Ministry of Justice, must we now reward them by appointing them to head one of the institutions that were helpless in prosecuting them?  Where is the face of wisdom in this administration?

And to the Acting President, granted this is not your exclusive ticket, but you are in charge now realistically speaking. My suggestion: Copy and Paste President Donald Trump, if you are in want of a roadmap - recruit people who are willing to push your agenda, unless you do not see any reason to disengage yourself from the status quo. You don't have to like Mr Trump; he is pushing a philosophy of change (a significant and dramatic change) that is inconsistent with the established order in scope and style, whether by Democrats or by his own Republican Party. And it is called motivations in power. 

Again, ask yourself, what would Papa Awo have done in your shoes? How did he manage Yakubu Gowon and his Military Officers and fought a Civil War, without resorting to external borrowing? It is about knowing what works (visions) and the ability to identify individuals who can bring them to fruition. That's what Papa Awo did in the old Western Region - recruiting selfless professionals in structuring and implementing social welfare programs that were available to all, and creating an economy that rivalled those of the Developing Western World. That's what President Bill Clinton did. And that's what President Barack Obama did.

To say Nigerians, deserve an explanation from the Presidency on how these individuals scale the Screening Process is an understatement.

If I may add, what exactly is the function of Professor Sagay and his Advisory Team on Crime/Fraud Prevention in this Administration? If after two years in office, you couldn't, as the head of a team, use your office to define and push for ICPC and EFCC ascertainable pragmatic and proactive mechanisms for fraud prevention, purposeful prosecution of the indicted, and curtailment in the embezzlement of public funds in the political system, you shouldn't be a reference voice in the war against corruption. 

And to the Acting President and the Presidency, heal yourself, but do it fast. That the culprits were not prosecuted or convicted of any crime is immaterial. Drop the names immediately, if the Police indictment is true.

AN UPDATE

On August 7, 2017, that's a day after the publication of the above essay, it was reported by the Vanguard Newspaper and other Nigerian Newspapers that the Acting Vice President, Professor Osinbajo, dropped the names of the two nominees mentioned in the essay from the Board of the ICPC.