Self-indictment: The Ridiculousness of the Looters' List and the Judgment Flaws of All the President's Men.

Ehi Aidaghese

April 6 at 7:18pm · 

President Buhari is the democratically elected President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. His power as head of the Executive arm is infinite, except to the extent checked by the applications of the principles of separation of powers and checks and balances involving the other two arms of government - the Judiciary and the Legislature.

Without getting down into the nitty-gritty of the functions and responsibilities of the other arms of government, suffices it to state that the President as the head of the Executive arm, has unqualified control over the EFCC, ICPC, the Ministry of Justice, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, the Police Force, the DSS, the SSS, and all the innumerable security and crime-fighting networks in Nigeria.

That said, the above enumerated Federal institutions, are not, in the execution of their mandates, encumbered by any institutional framework as long as their conducts are executed consistent with the letters and spirits of the enabling instruments.

At this juncture, I call on all Nigerians to do a perusal of all the names on the so-called "Looters' List" and ask yourselves the simple question: why are they not apprehended, prosecuted, and sent to jail?

On that, we are in the woods. We have no clue. We do know, however, that none of the alleged looters is covered by section 308 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (the Immunity clause). And every one of them is a member of the opposition party. 

If the problem is procedural rigmarole (time factor related or delay tactics) most often deployed by defense lawyers, why not simply resort to seizures and forfeiture proceedings? In that case, your focus would be solely on the recovery of the looted public funds, but not the criminality of the conduct. By the way, what happens to a motion of summary judgment? Is it inapplicable in the Nigerian jurisprudence?

Nigerians do not know the answers to these posers. President Buhari, his Attorney General, and the Chairman of the EFCC have abdicated abysmally in their prosecutorial duties and fraud control mechanisms.

Publishing the Looters' list is the worst form of self-defense I have ever seen in any administration in modern times. It is self-indictment - exposing failures in the number two selling point of the Buhari's campaign (corruption). Number one, being security; where his performance is also worrisome.

If the purpose of the list is to elicit sympathy and ignite public support, it once again exposes the much-talked-about analog mindset of this administration in the age of digital and cloud computing. And I call it defeatist, a judgemental flaw unprecedented.

President Buhari's administration misunderstanding of the sophisticated bearings of the average Nigerian is inexcusably ludicrous. It is narcissism unchecked - pushing a false narrative of frugality in the midst of unbridled looting of public funds in high places. Spending without legislative approval is a crime.

The Attorney General of the Federation is a SAN. The Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is a Professor of Law and a SAN. Professor Sagay, supposedly the fraud czar of this administration is a legal giant, a SAN and a distinguished scholar. Yet, the best they could do in the face of unbridled wastage and squandering of public riches is publishing names of the culprits.

So, where are 'All the President's Men'? Is the criminal justice system dead in Nigeria? Those vested with the power of enforcement are figuratively dead and intellectually barren. And that is the ridiculousness of the publication of the Looters' List.

Granted, that the buck stops at the President desk, you are intellectually barren to the full extent of the meaning of the expression, if the decision not to prosecute, but to publish would not have sailed through, but for your willful blindness (I was not involved) and ignorance of the naked truth.

I am touched, really touched and disappointed. You guys can't be so lamed and jaded: Metaphorically in a judicial derailment, drifting endlessly in the murky waters of legal technicalities in the midst of thousands of outstanding legal strategists in want of engagements. We deserve better. I beg to move.